A LESSON FOR LIFE

A professor stood before his philosophy class holding a large and empty pickle jar.

Google and Rescue Operations

What was the last thing you searched for online? Why were you looking for it? 

Photographers, artists, poets: show us SEARCHING.

I did a search on Rusty the Cat!

Strange timing for this prompt from my standpoint. We just had one of our cats euthanize yesterday. His name was Rusty. He was 19 years old. We have had him since he was less than a week old. We were on a hike in Colorado Springs and spotted this cat at the park dumpster. My wife loved it. I thought it was the ugliest cats I had ever seen. That cat turned out to be Rusty’s mother, Elizabeth. Liz took us on a little hike and stopped at this overturned snowplow. Underneath the snowplow were six little kittens. We kept three and found homes for the rest. Rusty was the last one alive. The picture below is…

How will you be remembered?

Not like this I hope!

Here:

“Weep not for us who early made our beds,

Wrapped in our blankets, saddles for our heads,

We tamed the west when this, our land, was young,

And sank into our graves unknown – unsung!”

Gunned down in the saloon:

In Dodge City:

So, as planned earlier this fall, Trapped in Paris and I were part of a Mystery and Imagination Book Festival.

As said earlier this month, I always go through a prep routine to get myself ready for this kind of events.

A few words about book events: even though all books are now available online, nothing beats a physical venue.

Meeting other readers and writers in person is a unique opportunity to share a common passion for words and stories, expand our network, renew established contacts, rekindle the writing flame, and yes put a face on online relationships.

As said earlier, there is always for me some apprehension.

Writing in a foreign language is hard enough, but being a speaker brings an unsettling mix of anticipation and anxiety to the nonnative.

As always, this book event was a mix of learning lessons and good time.

Since we were six…

I’ve already written about lots to see on the Mediterranean island of Malta, including  the historical town of Mdina, tempting swimming at the Blue Lagoon, and the colorful local buses that will ferry you around the island.

But Malta’s history stretches far back, as evidenced by the Neolithic temples scattered around the island.

One of the best examples requires some advance planning, but it is well worth the effort. In the town of Paola, just outside the capital of Valletta, is the Hypogeum. The Hypogeum is an extensive  underground shrine spread over three levels and built between 3600 and 2500 BC.

The temple was discovered in 1899, when routine work in the homes above the site revealed one of the temple’s underground chambers. Excavations have revealed that over 7000 bodies were buried here. Artifacts and jewelry were also discovered.

The famous “sleeping lady” statue was unearthed in the…