Photographer that Gave Amazing Gift to the World...Needs Some of our Love Now

Hannah Stonehouse Hudson and Jim Hudson (c) 2005

Hannah Stonehouse Hudson touched the world. She probably touched your heart and you didn't even know it.

Especially if you are a reader of this blog  - because so many of you are animal rescuers, animal lover's and basically just beautiful compassionate people who understand that animals have souls and that it is our privilege and responsibility to care of them while they're here. To make their lives happy and safe and escort them from puppy or kitten hood to the harder years when they experience a myriad of problems that we all will face some day, if we aren't already facing them now. We can tell someone when we hurt. They can't. Hannah captured this in her famous photograph below. Unfortunately, Hannah lost her 34 year old husband, Jim Hudson, to a tragic accident on January 26th, 2013. .

(c) Hannah Stonehouse Hudson 2012

Please click on this link to help Hannah with expenses and support which she needs now. She not only lost her husband but his business and income and there are so many things she has to deal with now, she needs any help to make this even a tiny bit easier. Below is an article about the accident and more information on the Hudson family.

 http://www.giveforward.com/hudsonfamily

Wisconsin angler, husband of 'John and Schoep' photographer dies after snowmobile goes through ice
Twin Cities Pioneer Press. (c) 2013.

Joy. Three Letters. Short Word...Huge Meaning

Joy. Three letters. short word. One often used during the Christmas Holidays. Joy to the World. Something uttered when a new life enters the world. Joy? Well, it's the word on my mind and in my heart  - and one that I feel requires a real effort that won't leave my mind these days.  It's not a small word. It's a huge word and it's connotations, legacy and overall arching effect it has on the lives of those who understand what it truly is - is probably at the core of meaning that all of us, in some way,  are searching for.

My brother-in-law Joe was someone who illustrated joy. Not just at holidays or at fun events, photo opps or family gatherings. He exhibited and understood and shared this joy with anyone he came into contact with. Someone with an impressive education and a brilliant mind. A prestigious career and an ability with the written word that puts mine to shame. And, you'd never hear him talk about it. He'd been published in multiple magazines and law journals. He was voted one of the top attorneys of 2012 by New York Magazine. But he never told anyone about it. I only found out after he was gone. He wouldn't of told me anyway and if I'd asked about it he would've poured me a glass of my favorite wine that he went out of his way to order anytime he knew I was coming. He was a busy man, but he always made time to make people feel special. When my book was published my friends and family were so happy for me...he, someone who had been published multiple times, a highly respected lawyer at a prestigious firm, a busy Dad who spent most weekends working with community youth groups, .well he went nuts! He got me this crazy orange scarf that looked like it came from Hollywood...and a large pair of expensive sunglasses "as to avoid the paparazzi" like that would ever happen. My relatives were happy, but he brought more to it. He brought his joy.

He fought a valiant battle against Pancreatic Cancer for almost 7 months. He went from healthy, fit, active, and fine to terminally ill in a blink of an eye. You looked at him and said "No. It can't be. This is some huge misunderstanding." His faith was amazing....I can't even begin to explain how awesome his faith was here because it belies understanding. I still can't stop thinking that God made some huge mistake....but those thoughts here would insult what he believed and I need to work on that. He was lying in bed after Hospice came on massive doses of pain killers while texting me while I was at a hospital the first rough night after reconstructive spinal surgery in October...almost 2 months to the day he would die. He made me laugh, he gave me advice. More than that...he thought of ME. Why? I would be fine. This in comparison to Stage IV Pancreatic Cancer is nothing...less than nothing, but it didn't matter. He wanted to connect with me to make me feel some relief. If he could he probably would've come over and poured me a glass of that rare red wine he searched for to have for me because I once made the comment that "I really like this wine." That's all you had to say to Joe and you can bet that the next time you were around him....he'd have it for you.

His daughters can write their memories of him, the importance of Christ in his life and in his death, his love for his family so much better than I can. He did an amazing job of describing his spiritual and physical journey in his own words on 

J. Joe Korpics Walking with God through Pancreatic Cancer

The last entry is December 15th 2012, written by his youngest daughter Mallory. It is extraordinary...just like her.  He was diagnosed in May of 2012...but he had had this for many years and it had never been diagnosed accurately. Pancreatic cancer is like that...once you have symptoms there isn't much anyone can do.

I can't adequately describe the 28 years of marriage to his college sweetheart who always remained the love of his life so many years later. You could see it in their faces, how they were with each other, how they always sat next to each other and cuddled and held hands and especially how respectful and in awe of each other they still were after three children and many years of marriage. They had so much fun together too. His daughters inherited his talent with words...I can not write his eulogy nor would I try. I just have to write something and since his death on December 14th, we've lost so much more than we imagined. My husband lost his only brother and his best friend, my mother in law sat and nursed and loved and watched her firstborn son pass away in front of her. She talked him through it, encouraging, calming, making him smile, easing his way out of this world and into the next. She is so much like him. One of the kindest and strongest people I've ever known. I am in awe of her and her strength and faith. I am so sad for his sister and his brother who are stunned and going through the motions of what we have to do when we are the ones who survive. I ache for his daughters and especially for his wife who spent the larger part of her entire life with him at her side. They grew up together. I worry about her everyday.

I could go on and write how much I love all of my family. My two sister in law's who are more like real sisters to me than anything an "in law" would stand for. My beautiful, smart and happy joyful nieces who will have a hard road ahead of them but they have his joy and his intense faith. That was one of the many gifts he gave them...the one that right now and in the months to follow will provide them with what they need most. Strength. Faith. Clarity. Love.

I see it in all the photos and videos. I saw it at the funeral when they got up and spoke so eloquently about what their Dad meant to them and what he taught them. Megan made me cry but not because of sadness but because she was so profound...exhibited depth and a profound grasp of something unfathomable that I am in awe of her too. I am only his sister in law, but that man taught me so much and continues to do so everyday. These are hard lessons though, one's I'm not doing too well at at the moment... but that would also be his way. He wanted you to work hard to understand God's love for us, even through sorrow and pain and doubt...that's what he wanted most. For all of us to know God's love. 

This is the first thing I've written since he died. I've gone through a lot the past year and the silence where he used to be... making everyone else laugh...is deafening to me. The phone doesn't ring anymore every time something happens during a football game. He won't be sitting on my deck this summer relaxing and listening to hours of his favorite music...him and his brother's favorite past time. No more meetings down in the city to see a play or go to Chinatown for soup dumplings....he won't be pulling up in our driveway in his convertible with a huge smile on his face. His absence is a black hole in our lives right now. 

But the message I got from all of this was to write. Write what I ask myself? 

I'm filled with emptiness right now....I can hardly write a post-it  or a text to my son or daughter. I haven't wanted to. I haven't cared enough to. I was angry at so many things and all I could think of were words of anger and that wouldn't have been what someone like Joe, a person who really understood joy, would want for me.  So, Joe...this blog entry as sad and humorless and probably not even incredibly interesting to anyone other than those of us who went through this the past year...is because of you. It's because I have to start  grasping hold of what you understood and I never did. I can't say I'm moving on ...but I'm moving ahead. For my husband and mother in law and sister in law, and your nephew and niece who are also struggling so much now.. They are searching for their own way to navigate their grief.  Especially for  Diane, Megan, Mallory and Cara. They will have to move on now that all the others surrounding them have moved on to their regular lives and own problems. That is the hardest part of loss. But,  I'm going to write. More as time goes one but I'm going to write again....maybe nothing about animals and I apologize to those who only want me to do that but I have to forge new roads and explore this gift that sometimes allows me to give others a bit of Joy. 

Small word, Big meaning. It doesn't come as a fact of life. It doesn't wait for you....it comes when you call it. I'm whispering it it right now and maybe someday I can at least possess a third of the amount of Joy that Joe had in his life. I think he knew something that the rest of didn't...the way he met his fate and how he was so concerned with not himself, but for those who would be left behind. He knew something...I just know it. Something he couldn't tell us and I'll just have to wait for him to tell me someday unless I figure it out myself. Right now it's beginning with this. A blog entry that has nothing to do with animals or to make you laugh or even feel something heartwarming. It's full of pain actually...but you have to walk through that to get to the joy. 

These are my first steps.

Transitions...Sending my Son to College

You Are Not a Blogger! Accurate Criticism from Luann and an Attempt to Right this Wrong.

I received an email from my best friend Luann who in essence sort of summed up this blog lately with one word. Boring.

Impending Storm. (c) Eric Metzler. 1950's

She's right. I have neglected this blog and I am truly sorry. The simple fact that she still checks it shows you what a loyal friend she is. Never one to mince words as evidenced by her accusation above - I am going to try and write something here that is not boring. Since this is a blog for a nonfiction book, I suppose my post should be nonfiction as well. So, in reference to my exciting life at the moment - I decided to write a brief description of yesterday as it really happened...then I will attempt to jazz it up.

Sunday, August 5th 2012. It was a stormy day. My husband asked me to check accuweather to see how close the storm was. This involved finding the live radar site, refreshing it at intervals since it would freeze, and then tracking the coming storm on the screen as it approached. Apparently I did not do this quickly enough, or well enough, as Jason seemed irritated at the speed at which I was checking the track of the storm. The dog sat on my lap. Finally, the storm arrived and he closed all the blinds in the family room to go stand in the kitchen, where he opened the blinds wide, to watch the storm standing up, several feet away from where he was sitting when he was waiting for the storm. For some reason he felt this made sense.The storm came. There were several comments made about the storm. It ended.

Sunday August 5th, 2012. The darkening sky was ominous. Something in the air hinted at what was to come - the stillness, the absence of sound, a thick, almost palpable sense of dread settled in among us. Watching the approaching storm clouds we knew we were powerless in the path of this monster. Our faithful dog, relying on primal canine instinct, never left my side. She was protecting me as best she could from the impending onslaught. (Not really. She had no clue. She's a pug. The only thing probably going through her mind was "I am comfortable here. Why are you moving around. Since you're up, can you fetch me a snack?")

 My husband, pacing back and forth approached me suddenly and said

 "The radar. Go to the radar!" 

Knowing that this was the only thing we could do as we lay in wait for the inevitable, I quickly punched in the website for accuweather. The computer slowly started trying to load the page. We watched as the circle spiraled - attempting to bring forth accuweather.com - I felt it was mocking us.

"Why?!" Jason yelled, shaking his fist at the sky, (well, ceiling actually...we were indoors and there's the ceiling and then another floor above us, followed of course by the roof unless you don't consider the attic, which of course you should if you're trying to be accurate.) He became increasingly agitated, his pulse visible in the veins of his neck.

"Hit refresh!" He bellowed. (I've always wanted to use the word "bellowed". It's not often one gets the opportunity to use that word. I just may use it twice.)

"I did!" I bellowed back. (See.)

Finally, the page for accuweather.com came forth, (much more dramatic than"loaded" don't you think?), and the truth was laid out before us. Any hope that we would avoid this storm was stripped bare. (Stripped and bare....how about that. I'm SO like that 50 Shades of Grey writer except that I'm not a gazillionaire.)

In the same instinctive way men of past generations have prepared to save their families from the wrath of mother nature, Jason battened down the  hatches. (Read "closed the blinds."). The wind picked up, whistling through the trees, ( I really couldn't hear the wind because the windows were closed.)

"Don't look!!" I bellowed. (That was too much wasn't it? Twice was good, three times not so much.) I cried.

"Why?! WHY!!!?" Jason yelled, cursing the storm. (This is actually the truth. I told him that this was akin to that line about it being futile to curse the darkness which I thought was not only an astute observation on my part, but also pretty witty. He did not seem to find me as witty as I find myself and just looked at me and said "Huh?".)

The storm was upon us, wailing against our home - and then almost as suddenly - it was gone. We hugged each other, knowing that next time, we might not be so lucky. (That didn't happen. What really happened is that it was still raining in our yard, yet the sun was shining in the field behind our house and Jason, for some reason, did not approve of this. I think he said something to the effect of; "What the hell is this?")

We grasped hands and silently walked out to survey our territory. (We have like a HUGE amount of land...almost the size of Vatican City. I think it's like almost an acre!) Jason put his arm around my shoulder and said "Look, the sun is shining for us.". (Actually he stayed on the deck suspiciously eyeing the horizon and I said something like "This is cool." and walked down to stand in the sun shower, expecting him to follow and join me in appreciation of this rare and rather unique situation. He did not. Rather he asked me if bees can fly in the rain and I said "I don't think so." Thinking back on this I probably should've said "I don't know", because I really don't know. When people ask you about bees you should probably know what you're talking about. I'll note that for next time.)

As I turned back to watch the storm clouds receding and sun beaming through the light rain, Jason beamed at me (read "glared"), and gave me a knowing look. Yes. We had survived...and we would survive again. He pumped his fist in the air in that easily recognizable gesture of triumph used in many Rocky movies and I smiled. We had not only survived, but thrived. (Don't you love that trite sentence? If you Google it, it comes up all over the place. That's how much people love that sentence.). We would see another day I thought, watching our reflection in our private lake, (okay, it's an above ground pool..but it's one of those oblong ones so it's pretty close to a lake), noticing that my reflection was too thin - I reminded myself that I should eat more, (HAHAHAHAHAHA!).

Our faithful dog galloped through the yard, joyfully claiming her land back from the storm that had threatened to take it all away. (Actually, as you know...she is a pug. She doesn't gallop. She trots around sniffing and snorting, but that doesn't really create the same visual impact.)

Jason once again raised our flag, in symbolic recognition of our victory...and I knew...and he knew....and the dog knew....and AMERICA KNEW!!!!!, (that was good, right?),  that we'd overcome great odds. (We have a flag pole, but no flag. The people we bought the house from took the flag with them. Who does that? Anyway, I keep reminding myself I have to get a flag.). In silent homage, to those who weren't as lucky as us, who perhaps had lost satellite reception or worse...cellphone signals...we stood silently watching the flag wave in the wind. Yes. Life was good. Indeed.

(In reality I turned to talk to him after he asked me about the bees to find that he'd run inside. He ran back outstide...and those of you who know Jason, know that he really does run everywhere..and sprayed behind a piece of vinyl siding where there had been a huge bees nest. "WATCH OUT!" he yelled. "YOU SHOULD BACK UP AND GET AWAY FROM THERE AFTER I DO THIS. THEY'RE GOING TO FLY OUT OF HERE!". He sprayed and flew up the stairs back onto the deck and into the house. One bee sort of crawled out of the siding, like he'd been napping, and then walked back in. I think I might've even seen him yawn a little bee yawn.) Jason came back out and looked sadly at the siding.

THE END.

Okay Luann. How'd I do?   :)

My Appeal for Patience, Understanding, maybe a Box of Milanos...that would be nice.

I just wanted to let everyone know that:

I do love you.
I do want to talk to you.
I mean to return your call but I pass out with my phone in my hand.
I do miss you.
I don't mean to be so cranky.

Now that that's all cleared up - I'm at 55,000 words with 50,000 or so to go. I could bang this out if I didn't have a full-time job with a stress level of 15 on a scale of 1 to 10. I have ideas, paragraphs, a narrative arc, plot lines, endings, beginnings...excitement....I am loving this project...but what I don't have is time. And it's frustrating, although this is just the way it is. Opportunity knocks and you don't say "Hey, can you wait until my summer vacation?" Opportunity would tell you where to get off....although I don't think Opportunity would be that crude about it. I've always thought of Opportunity as sort of refined and well regarded. If Opportunity were at a party, it would wear beige...or something else nice and neutral with maybe one signature piece of jewelry...nothing flashy like Kim Kardashian would wear.

Please don't forget me. I haven't forgotten you....really. I'm just 55,000 words in with 50,000 or so to go and for those of you who know what that feels like, you know what I mean. For those of you who might understand  but not relate...just know that I'm still here...I miss you all very much and I'll call you back soon. :)

Loved this Review from Dogcatanimalcare.com!

Click logo above to go directly to Mary's blog.

Thank you to Mary Smith, an artist and writer from redhotkitties.com for her wonderful review of Tales from a Dog Catcher. 


Thanks Mary...your review really meant a lot to me, especially since you really grasped the theme of my book - that sometimes all we really can do is ""try your best, and cry afterwards."

     An unpretentious volume that you might pass by, if you saw it on the library shelf, this is one of those wonderful discoveries that you will instantly want to add to your animal tales collection! Author Lisa Duffy-Korpics offers a heart-warming-and-rending collection of chapters on special cats, dogs (and other creatures) she saved–or lost–while working as an animal control officer. I found myself devouring each story, connecting with Lisa in each joyful and successful or frustrating encounter.


 I’ve always wanted to be an animal rescue super-hero, able to leap in and make things RIGHT for every animal on earth. Lisa’s stories are a real-life version of this dream, but grounded in stark reality. Sometimes, all you can do is try your best, and cry afterwards. As when we saved our Precious, it was too littIe, too late, but at least we got to love her. I loved this book!! Every good thing counts.

Dogs Riding in Cars

photo courtesy of animalclinic.ca

On New Year's Day it's probably common to reflect on years past...or look optimistically towards the future.
Maybe to reevaluate old habits and forge new paths. Today, however, something struck me that just needed to be addressed here.

Dogs.

Dogs riding in cars.

While driving to pick up my daughter from her friend's house, I saw something that made me hesitate and struck me much the way odd things sometimes tend to strike people.

Thoughts like these are probably more common than you would think. As a matter of fact, if I were capable of seeing people's thoughts in bubbles over their heads like in a comic strip, I bet I would see a lot of thoughts like this. An awareness that some of the things we do in this era are so far removed from what is natural that if you thought about anything completely objectively you would have cause to stop for a moment and say "Hmmm, okay"

This goes against the grain, the nature of things. Like the dog riding in the passenger seat of a rusty old Trans-Am, (they stopped making those didn't they? Probably a good thing.), sitting up in the front looking quite dignified and entitled. A large Pit Bull Great Dane type of dog who, if it had been summer, might've had his paw leaning out the open window, wearing sunglasses. That's when

I thought. Dogs...descendants of wolves, pack animals, capable of hunting dinner and devouring it raw in a matter of moments...these powerful animals who rely on instinct and a keen sense of smell, are now riding shotgun in Trans-Am's.

What would his canine ancestors think? I wonder if the dog had his own presets on the radio station or played some of his own music....probably on an 8-track player given the year of the car, but I digress....still, the thought of humans driving around highways with dogs seemed to me at that moment to be really funny. It was like one of those thoughts I have sitting in the parking lot at Target when I think that somewhere, someone among the crowd of people getting swallowed up and spit out by those automatic doors has just purchased a chia-pet.

Perhaps this will make sense to some of you, or not. However I know out there that there are those of you who may think the way I do. That the next time you see a poodle wearing rain boots and a hat you may find yourself wanting to scream "Oh...the humanity!!".

The comic genius Charles Schultz was the master of this type of thinking. His characters often looked at life in a way that cut through the expected and right to the crux of the matter. One of my favorites is a line where Linus is sitting still, then makes an uncomfortable face followed by a look of fear and puts his hand over his mouth and says "Suddenly, I'm aware of my tongue!"

I guess you could say I had one of those Linus moments. The dog in the car probably feels as natural there as he would running through a field...maybe even more so. Who knows....as I look around my home with its microwave, convection oven, toaster and crock pot I think to myself that all these things do is provide a way to heat food to eat, and I feel a little like that dog...that I should shed some of these trappings meant to make life easier because maybe they're entrapping me?

 But then I realize that these are just thoughts and that the best way to handle these would be to go on my computer and blog about it, because after-all, in the human world I am the equivalent of small terrier.....I think I'm big and strong but in reality I'm small and weak and maybe a tad neurotic with a bit of an attitude....and I love my iPad and laptop and the internet. I'm not about to go outside and chop wood and carry water - although somewhere in my psyche I understand how far removed I've become from my ancestors who would likely look at me strangely.

Like a dog riding in a Trans-Am.

Christmas Reading for Dog Lovers: A Post that Borders on Inappropriate and Contains References to Penguins and Sex

"Tales from a Dog Catcher is quite an enjoyable read....once I got past the title."

Gotcha! After not posting in so long I knew I need a flashy title to lure you in. I do promise I will not disappoint you.
I apologize to those loyal friends and readers who keep checking my blog, (and have likely given up), over the past few months. I've been incredibly busy with college search stuff for my son, chauffeuring my daughter around, and repairing cars that seem to be in a constant cycle of getting hit while parked!
     Add this to the changing curriculum standards in education that require someone whose been teaching for almost 20 years, to start changing everything they've done, (which seems to have proven successful for almost two decades but for some reason now needs to be different for reasons that have not yet been truly evaluated by any real data)...I guess you could say I've been shirking my blog duties. Okay...I'm done complaining now.
     "I just checked that author's blog...you know the one who wrote that book about dog catching? All she does is complain. If I want to read that I'll just write my OWN blog!"
     So, in light of the holidays...I will reduce my complaint index to an appropriate level. But...just one more before I start. I'm watching the news on this lovely Saturday morning. I looked up to see that a turkey vulture and a penguin are being featured on this morning news program. The Vet is explaining details about the penguin and the serious bifocal wearing host waits for her to pause between sentences and he says - in a very impressive and anchor-person sounding voice:
"So, as I'm listening to you, I'm waiting for this penguin to dance. Have you seen Happy Feet?"
     This is happening at the same time a news (news being a relative term apparently), scroll on the bottom of the TV screen announces something I missed but the words "penile enhancement gone wrong" followed by something about a student who wrote an article on premarital sex for his college newspaper resulting in him being suspended. Do you feel like we live in the 1950's? All of a sudden, what used to be acceptable opinion is suddenly cause for suspension? Premarital sex? In COLLEGE of all places? What about journalistic integrity? How can an article about premarital sex be "bad" at the same time a penile enhancement story is being scrolled across the screen - because obviously - this is breaking news?
     "What's wrong with this woman?! She writes these heartwarming stories and now she's talking about sex and penile enhancement? And...it's the holidays!!! I don't think I want to read anything she writes anymore!"
     Okay, I will revert back to more appropriate content....maybe I need more coffee. Maybe that's the problem. Maybe more coffee will make me stop - although it's more likely it will make me escalate so perhaps it's time for me to close and wish everyone a great weekend.
     I'm 3/4 of the way complete with the sequel to "Dog Catcher" and while it's still sweet and fun...it's a little edgier than the last one. If you want to drop me a line and let me know if that's okay with you...I would be most appreciative. If you're in the process of looking for a great gift for friends and loved ones - Tales from a Dog Catcher is a great idea, (if I do say so myself!), and is available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com and also at select bookstores in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Europe,  Asia, Australia, New Zealand and other locations across the globe. This book is not yet available on Kepler 22; that new planet discovered that shares many similarities with earth. If you're reading this on Kepler and would like this book to be available, (if indeed there are bookstores there), please send me an email and I'll contact Lyons Press to see if they can send a few boxes.
     "Now I know there's something wrong with this Duffy-Korpics, (she can't even decide on a last name), woman....she's totally off on some tangent. She seemed so well adjusted in the book. Maybe she's gone off the deep end?!"


     Happy almost holidays! 


Photo courtesy of publishersweeklyblog at PWxyz

New Driver on the Road

I noticed something the other day....time flies by whether or not I work on curriculum or projects or unpack boxes or wash the floor and pick up after messy teenagers or constantly call teenagers who just received their licenses and are now out there in the world driving without me sitting next to them saying;

"BRAKES! "HEY, HEY, HEY...Tail lights dude....watch for those brake lights!" "That was a stop sign, just in case you didn't notice....oh, and by the way, that was a red light just because you didn't see the stop sign." Funny how those things pop up in the road...of all places. He is a 17 year old boy...but all I see when I watch him drive away is that photo at the top of my blog.

I'm working hard on an exciting project...in the waiting stages now so I'm trying to learn Sociology so I can teach it in September. I have Psychology down pat...enough so that I would actually feel comfortable teaching a college course in it - even the neuroanatomy. I remember back to my days in nursing school...loved this stuff...neurotransmitters, dopamine, acetylcholine, GABA, effect of serotonin reuptake inhibitors... all good. But sociology? I have some reading to do. All my course work outside of that was history.

So...my son drives. He's preparing for his senior pictures. And I think I'm having a mid-life crisis. Good news: all the crunches and push-ups it's inspiring me to do...bad news: the empty nest syndrome is starting to encroach upon me. My daughter has four years more, starts high school i September. High school. September. I need a drink.

What can we do...just enjoy every moment while we have it. Enjoy it. Invest in it. Let it go because we can't stop it even if we wanted to....and in the meantime connect with old friends and family we miss....not lose sight of what's important.

And moisturize. Never forget to moisturize.

Stay Tuned

I know...I haven't updated this blog in so long that several politicians have had sex scandals in the interim...oh wait...that was only a week ago.

School is winding down and I'm working on a side project I'm very excited about - and the sequel is probably at least halfway there even though that will have to wait a little while longer. We're moving into our house - finally - after living in an extended stay hotel for 3 months. The movers have decided that they can't move our belongings until a week or so after we close, so we're going to camp out in our house with just a sofa and a grill. Who needs anything else anyway!

Just one adventure after another here in my world. More to come soon - when I get some rest and my creativity returns.

photo courtesy of remotebizbooks.com