Juan Ponce DeLeon, returning to his university after five years’ imprisonment by the Inquisition, resumed his lectures with the words, “As we were saying yesterday . . .”

While we have not been imprisoned by the Inquisition, or anything else but our own foibles, it appears it has been around four years since we said we were cranking up the blog again. Where does the time go?  Anyway, we are back, and hope to be a little more consistent in talking about the beach and The Little Hacienda, and our thoughts about art and writing and birds and bugs and such.

To that end, we have an addition to The Little Hacienda to crow about, our Crow’s Nest, pictured here.

We can almost see Portugal from up there, and its a great spot to enjoy a single malt scotch and a cigar of a summer evening, long as you’re real careful descending. So far, so good.  It only took us twenty-three years to get this done.  Don’t want to rush anything, even a good idea.

Other changes have accompanied the aging process.  We had open heart surgery to repair a couple of valves back in 2013, and then a left carotid endarterectomy last September after we had a little episode where we lost the ability to speak for a harrowing five hours while camping at 9000 feet out west. Whatever.  Consequently, we are now on blood thinners, meaning we had better not get a good whack on the noggin, or else we might get a serious brain bleed.  Therefore, in an effort to address what really matters at almost 72, we have decided to abandon the venerable 9-foot fiberglass surfboard, which, being twenty years old, is waterlogged, and weighs about fifty pounds. That could do some

damage to the old cranium. So, we have gone soft, and recently got this 8-foot soft top.  Great floatation, and is mostly like getting hit with a big sponge when it goes rogue. You do what you must.

We also have seen our resident Indigo snakes quite frequently, through the spring and early summer, and at least two red rat snakes. Must be plenty to eat around these parts.

Anyway, all is well around The Little Hacienda. We are looking forward to a long, quiet summer with no major storms, but we are prepared.

Stay tuned for announcements about upcoming publications.  We have been raiding the desk drawers, filing cabinets and computers for stories that have been gathering dust. Looks like its time for them to see the light of day.  Links and further information will appear in these pages as they become available.

Its good to be back, y’all.