This little light of mine: The energy for this website, and where it comes from

Beauty is everywhere, if you look.

“You owe it to yourself to do something creative with every breath you take.” or something like that – Maynard James Keenan live in 2012 (I’d had a few beers, sue me. Great show though)

Writing a blog is more complicated than I thought when the idea first entered my head. I had some knowledge/ideas and a belief that they’ll be of value to others, and then the simplistic notion that these just flow out and onto the web endlessly, in some sort of attractive and intelligible fashion. Turns out not to be true…

First off, for a tech idiot, the hurdles of setting up a website appear insurmountable despite the vast quantities of guidebooks out there. These things are freakin’ complicated, if you have specific ideas in mind. Second, after the initial flush of ideas, it takes time to see what will work. And last, it takes a lot of inspiration, thought and time to keep it up. All require some substantial energy!

I am an extremely lucky person, to live where I do, in this time, surrounded by wonderful people, and with life opportunities that others around the globe can only dream of. In particular, I’m grateful for:

• My wonderful wife and family
• My wonderful wife and family for putting up with me – fierce individuality is hard to housebreak, and writing takes a lot of solo time
• My health – not much matters without it
• Those who supported this blog initially, I will try to be classy and not comment on your excellent taste but I do thank you

Inspiration, what helped me light my little light, is a delicate thing and can come from the oddest places. I’d been a wannabe writer for a decade, with many false starts, each time hitting roadblocks or excuses. Early in 2014 I was a bit closer but not much, hung up with a website that wouldn’t do what I wanted and a handful of ideas that were overwritten, embarrassing and unprintable. Then out of the blue, this past spring I had a totally random encounter in a bizarre location with a genuinely awesome person, and this person turned out to be a perfect catalyst, a great help on the website and a pillar of initial support, ideas and feedback for the website. This person, let’s say a Ms. T. San Diego, who can remain anonymous because those who know this site will have heard me brag about her, also provides numerous photos (having suggested the multiple photo idea in the first place) and has an appreciation for natural beauty that is remarkably similar to mine. Since photos are an important element of this site, her efforts have doubled both my photo library and also brought a fresh new viewpoint that adds great geographical scope with the same feel. One of her beautiful pictures transforms this very blog.

Some people take more out of this world than they put in, and some do the exact opposite. Ms T. is one of the latter, a picture of grace under pressure, helping others way above and beyond the call. I am extremely thankful for her help in dragging this site into existence and for becoming an unofficial member of my family. Should you meet her, please show appropriate respect and special consideration, she is one in a billion. And since you don’t know who she is, I suggest you treat everyone that way, just in case. Happy holidays.