I've been preparing to go away to start a new book and I've been preparing for it, reading and culling material I've been collecting for over ten years. And boy, have I gathered grist for my blog mill. I'll take that folder with me; it will feed me/you for some time. I've had hints as I study, teetering on the edge of creation, that this book may be a life-changing experience. Bit daunting, that, considering how old I am and with not much life left to live - but long enough, I hope, to do what I still have to do. Well, all life is change, or should be. Life is a verb, in fact. My blog is not supposed to be a report, but rather a speculation, a spinning out of my thoughts, in short a cobweb-blog. I have always been a tangential speaker and I can still return to the point of departure, the point where I took off on the tangent, without losing my way. I was going to use the metaphor of thread and that made me think of the Minotaur, but I'm not going into that labyrinth today. Anyway, a blog is a kind of tangent to one's life, I suppose, a sidelight and a footnote to the ongoing activity. Right now there's too much peripheral activity, which is why I'm going away. Too many tramlines confuse the thought process. Eastend Saskatchewan, where I'm going, will not have tramlines. Anon, anon.

...make a list. Or even if you're not in doubt. Lists clear the mind, use up paper, and are very calming, when they're not unsettling. Right now, I'm unsettled. Too many disparate things to do, remember, and neglect. Anyone who is a list-maker will understand that. I must do a few- several - blogs about lists. Right now I am bogging down in them. BLOG now goes from list to list and day to day. I think I've already said that a day without a blog is like a day without sunshine. Almost. It's getting there. Yesterday was blogless, but the sun still shone, because my daughter was with me. She's gone now and it's getting murky. Too many things, off the charts. The nice thing about my blog now is that it's so personal and banal, private and invisible, that no one notices or cares whether or not I check in, except me. I'm on a countdown now and if I'm not careful, I'm going to miss the train. That's next Saturday, actually, this Saturday. I am going on a retreat, to write. I know, I know, I write all the time but for the next month, my writing will have a specific focus, most of it. I'll still keep writing of course, other things. And that includes my blog. You know what they say about travel, that wherever you go, you take you with you. So me and my blog, we're joined at the hip now. We'll both be there.