in the sun: a summer update

Mt. Rainier, Paradise.  No, literally.  It's called Paradise.  For good reason.

Long time, no talk.

I hate it when bloggers are all like yeah, so it's been awhile. I've been busy., because chances are, none of us really noticed. The buzz of social media gets all loud, and nobody really pays that much attention to blogs anymore, anyway.

So, that said:

Yeah.  So, like, it's been awhile.  I've been busy.

Or, rather, I should say, I've been evolving.

As one does, y'know.

I can't remember if I last posted a year ago, or if it's been two now.  Time sort of all runs together into a giant wad of chewed gum as I get older.  One minute, it's November, and I'm doing one thing, and when I glance up again, it's, like, August and I could have sworn I just updated XYZ, like, a week ago.

Oops.

(Why is that?  Time's so smooshy now that I'm all old and junk?  Summers used to feel like they stretched on forever, and now, an entire year can go by if I blink too fast.  WTAF, time.  We need to talk about your job performance.)

BUT I DIGRESS.

(like y'all expected less.)

I honestly can't remember where I left off last.  What I've already recorded for posterity in ones and zeroes, and what I've been quiet about.  (Mainly because I yammer incessantly on Facebook, so it feels like the world knows everything about all the minutiae of my life already, so...)

So let's bullet point what I can remember thusfar, shall we?

• I finally started making soap again.  I missed it a lot.  It's one of those creative outlets that makes me feel all deliciously mad-scientist-like and such.  I'm selling it here.
• I sort of re-discovered a love of YA fiction.  My only-12-volume physical library re-exploded.  I'm working through the stacks again, and while I read an insane amount, I wish I could read faster, because I can't seem to stop buying yet more books.  (You can see what I'm reading here.  Apparently, I've read 140 of them in 2019 already.)
• On a whim, I joined Duolingo and picked Norwegian as a language to learn.  I'm 450+ days into it, and still can't speak it as well as your average Norwegian three-year-old.  But I'm still having fun, so there's that.
• I've been trying to go on more adventures, now that I've got a car of my own and J's out of town for work so much.  Lots of mountains and forests and beaches and waterfalls and strange little shops tucked into backstreets in big cities and small towns.  I like this part.

HONESTLY, THOUGH....

I'm kind of restless.

I'm feeling the end of summer coming, and while I've been out in the mountains a little, it hasn't been enough.  I haven't had enough trees yet this year.  Or ever, really.

I took a little bit of a break from social media this week (thus, my yammering here, obviously) and have been away from the screen, and I just want to go somewhere.  Do something.  A million somethings.  Preferably right now.  (Though it's three a.m. as I write this, and it may be a bit early to to tramping around a mountain trail.)

It feels like something big is coming, but I can't make out what it is yet, exactly.

I'm thinking about making a monthly newsletter.  Physical.  In the mail.  Just snippets and sketches and stories and fun stuff I find in my travels.  Nothing all high art or anything.  Just fun.

And I've been gravitating back toward dirt and ferns and drawing things, anyway.

Evolving.

Should be interesting to see how all of this shakes out.  Whether this'll end in superpowers or a mutated third limb in the middle of my back.  (As happens, y'know.)

One thing I know for sure:  I need to write it all down.  Keep a record.  For me, not for posterity or anything; I'm not that important, in the grand scheme of things.  But I do like looking back down the mountain at the way I've come, so I can more fully appreciate the journey I've been on.

So, yeah.

I've been busy.  Sorry it's been so long.

(p.s.  I have no grand designs of being A Blogger™.  Just some chick on a couch reading books about teenagers and occasionally making all the things.  For the record.)