Fleetingly Festive

So, as you may have noticed, we're not really here right now. Or at least, less so than usual.

Jon is capturing light, somewhere in the world - I'm never really sure where he is but I'm pretty close to getting some kind of electronic bell that goes around his neck and periodically texts me the words, "Hello, I am alive and I am at these coordinates, please do not tell the government."

And I am finishing (reading and writing) books, at home in Cape Town, a place you should visit if you ever get the chance. I have family visiting so I have an excuse to do the things that tourists do and even though I've lived here on and off since 1999, I am always amazed at how blisteringly beautiful it is and how lucky I am. I hope you occasionally find yourself surrounded by beautiful things.

If poetry teaches us anything, it's that finding a muse is not nearly as important as losing one. Every year around this time, I lose you all and there's a kind of comfortable silence we all must live in, while we acknowledge the fact that the giant spaceship has one again successfully navigated a course around the ball of fire in the sky that gives us all life. I hope it's been a good journey for you.

We walk the dogs and we are amazed that there are owls in the park and the dogs are amazed that there are squirrels and certain members of the older generation of my family are amazed at apple TV and aren't quite sure how hard to press the buttons on the remote. I hope you find things to be amazed by.

Someone once told me that it always rains somewhere pretty this time of year. I hope wherever you are at this time of year, the sky does something pretty for you.

My best,

Me