a drumroll for my blogroll, please
I’m building my blog slowly, savoring each new situation and choice.
It’s a genuine hoot being a neophyte in my golden years. I wanted
to build my blogroll slowly as I learned more about the craft and its
best practitioners. I hadn’t planned to start it this soon, but today’s
the day because I want to acknowledge the wonderful bump I got
yesterday from my mentor Kathy.
Kathy has been blogging (now at kitchenblogic) for ten years. I admire
her warts-and-all approach as she writes about her marriage, her cancer,
job layoffs, what have you. I don’t know if she actually writes about
warts, but she posted recently on tater tots and exercising at the Mall
of America. When I first considered trying this vibrant medium, I started
studying her blog. Then I started asking her questions. She graciously
took time away from braving the Minnesota winter to guide me.
Kathy and Jude are old buds. They met in 1979 or ’80 in Mankato, Minn.
They shared a bat-infested house. Actually, it was one bat which Kathy
used for tennis practice. Jude says Kathy was the social director of their
gang. I thought she once used the term “ringleader”, but she denies that.
Anyway, they got along famously until Kathy got into robbing liquor stores.
Jude married a Methodist minister who insisted that she only rob Baptist
discos. Jude and Kathy drifted apart when they went to different prisons.
But that was all bourbon and Holy Water under the bridge when they
reunited with some other old friends in Mankato during October ’03.
They hugged, cried, laughed and compared the tats they got in the pen.
That’s when I met Kathy. I liked her but we didn’t get to talk much. An
old friend of mine drove down from Fargo. Plus Kathy had that abrasive
ex-prisoner attitude that I find endearing in Jude but offputting from her.
So, Kathy, thank you a metric ton for the endorsement. I guess the years
have softened you since you stabbed me with a shank over that pork chop.
And, to answer your question, we live quite comfortably off the grid. We
have plenty of juice for our appliances and our satellite TV and internet.
We heat by wood and keep our central air-conditioning outside. When it
gets hot up here (high 20’s Celsius, mid-80’s Fahrenheit), we sit in the
maple tree swing with a refreshing beverage. Failing that, we swim in
the pond or go to the beach.
