Lynn Abbey's Blog, page 12

In The Beginning…

If it's 11PM on Wednesday, in the eastern US time zone, then the odds are that I'm on the phone, talking to Elaine.  We set our conversational dates (Wednesday and Saturday) and time back when I'd first moved to Florida and "unlimited long distance" was only a dream.
We have wide ranging conversations, but there are [...:]

The Happy Geek

Apparently I was successful in my quest to restore CJ's lost blog pages.  I had help.  Steve and others answered the bleg and gave me some quick lessons in mySQL and PHP.  I needed a few days to make use of what I'd been told but now the black box that was WordPress has positively [...:]

The 3/50 Project

There are over 1500 lakes here in Lake County,  FL.   A lot of them are plugged up sinkholes (which sometimes come unplugged, transforming lakefront property into a meadow fit only for goats).  Some of them are little more than seasonal retention ponds.  No matter what kind of lake, though, they have at least on thing [...:]

Still Cold…

I have heat, but it's not from a furnace.  I have a heat pump, which is a marvelous invention, most of the time.  Heat pumps can change my in-house air temperatures about twenty degrees.  In the summer, that means I can subtract about twenty degrees from the outdoor ambient and in winter, I can add [...:]

Cobalt Arrives

I bought my first computer in 1983…an Apple ][e with a monochrome monitor and 2 (!) 5.25" floppy drives.  A few years later, when I was thoroughly hooked on the idea of having my own computer, I bought the first Apple :][GS sold in Michigan….personally autographed by Steve Wozniak, no less.  It had a 20meg [...:]

So, when did you move to Florida?

Here in Florida we're in the midst of an El Nino (must learn how to get Spanish letters in Live Writer) winter….well, I suppose we're all in the midst of one, but I'm noticing the one I'm living through more…
Anyway, it's been cold rather than cool, about the way November was when I lived in [...:]

The Cover

I've been meaning to post this up for nearly a month….

The artist's name is John Kaufmann and it's the cover I dreamt about, but didn't get when the story was first published.
I've cleaned up the original text and added a 9,000 word short-story/epilogue, PAST TENSE, in which magick confronts  9/11

On the 12th Day of Christmas…

I finally wrote the dreaded letter.
I got the message that 2009/2010 was going to be as problematic as the rest of the year had been at about 11AM on November 9th when, with very little warning, I got up-close and personal with one of those "simple" machine types I learned about in high school.  Specifically, [...:]

Only in Florida…

 
My parents moved to Florida in 1980, when they were fresh-minted retirees.
Their community had a distinctly "Greatest Generation" feel to it.
But time passes. 
Boomers are moving in and I'm starting to think that I might have more in common with their newest neighbors than they do…
 
Wherever you've been, I hope you've had a good [...:]

Sounds of the proverbial season

Philosophically and theologically, I'm agnostic, without knowledge or wisdom, though what I really lack is faith.  It takes faith to believe in a god and just as much faith not to believe in one either.  (Where faith equates to a willingness to accept as true that which cannot be empirically proven.)
Culturally, though, I'm Christian (I'm [...:]