Going in, dukes up...

Quiet day, yesterday. Did a little writing, messed around the house, and enjoyed a bottle of wine last night with my neighbors, H&T.

Didn’t stay up too late, but still haven’t found my early-morning energy. Working my way back to respectability on the slow road, I guess. Good news is, the writing’s beginning to come again. Found an ending for one of my new stories. Piece isn’t finished yet, but I know where it’s heading now and excited to finally get there. Hope to put the final touches on a couple of pieces, then get back to the research I was doing for the new long piece. Meanwhile, letting things unfold in their own way.

K leaves for Venice tomorrow, so the world should spin back into its normal orbit before the week is out or shortly thereafter. Christmas clean-up, a few new projects undertaken, and who knows, maybe a snow shoe adventure or two before long.

Looking forward to getting back to the gym on a regular schedule. Hitting the bag. Skipping rope. Getting lean again. Gonna go into 2020 with a new, take-no-prisioners attitude.

Creeping closer to the new year...

Off the grid a while.

Many doings with mom, including a nice evening at the Fine Art Center seeing The Sound of Music.

Got the house back to ourselves on Christmas Eve. Quiet dinner of clams and linguini with K, scones for breakfast on Christmas morning, and a movie yesterday afternoon.

Not sure exactly why, but beat. Been having a hard time getting the old energy level back to normal, but did manage a trip to the gym this afternoon and a bit of writing this morning.

T.E. Lawrence tome is first rate. Really enjoying it. Got a new book on Dr. Johnson (The Club) from K on Christmas, so I’m all set for some great reading for a while.

Early coffee tomorrow with my buddy, G. Missed one another before the holiday, so eager to catch up.

Miss my boys.

Mid-week--already!

Feeling better today. Got a late afternoon boost.

Mom comes tomorrow. Week’s planned and everything’s in place—except for the grocery shopping. Will have to take care of that while she’s here.

Good day at the gym, if I don’t count the arm. Buddy there gifted me a set of Mark Twain’s short stories.

Best you can do...

Not sure where the day went. Up early, but lost all track after that.

Wrote a little, went to the gym…

Need to get a handle on things. Everything orbiting out of control.

Gonna rest tonight and try and get it together.

What weekends are for...

Quiet day.

Up early, like the old days.

Wasn’t any snow, but the sky was grey and a cold wind was blowing up from the south. Got in some decent writing time, then bagged everything to watch a football game. Nice to sit back and do nothing for a while.

Have an early appointment with the oral surgeon tomorrow morning. Feels like everything’s in place, doing what it should, so don’t expect the session to be much more than a quick checkup. From here on in, it’s just a waiting game.

Feel like I’m getting some of my mojo back. Expect it to wax and wane here over the next few days with company coming and going, but as long as it’s there and I can tap into it, I’m happy. Who knows, I may find a finish to one of the new stories yet.

Figure to hit the rack early again tonight. Get up early, shovel some snow, then find my way back to the keyboard.

Dinner and a movie night...

Almost got out of bed early.

Managed some revisions, a few distractions. The usual.

Went off to a movie early afternoon that lasted longer than expected, then hit Target for some new Christmas lights, and after that the grocery store.

Weather folks predicting big snow tonight. We’ll see. Temps have dropped more than usual since the sun went down, but maybe that’ll keep the accumulation to something manageable.

Gonna sit out most of tomorrow.

Try and get my head together.

An almost new me...

Feeling better today.

Up late—it’s the way things have been going—but got some work done on one of the new stories, and put in a little reading time, too.

Hit the gym early. First decent workout in days.

Mailed off the x-man packages, shopped a little, and eased back into the world. More catching up to do, but that’s a good thing. Whatever else, need to shake off the doldrums, start feeling better, and get ready for Christmas.

FaceTimed with Jackie and Matt tonight. Brief but nice. Fun to see them so excited about the holidays.

Taking it easy. Working my way back.

One day at a time, right?

Saw Santa tonight...

Minor comeback.

Didn’t get out of bed until after eight. Vicodin, I guess. Maybe that and everything else. Anyway, up and out of bed, and not much else to be said of the day. Not of the morning, anyway.

Went to the gym for the first time this week. Did what I could, then called it quits.

Looking to get back in the saddle.

Tired of feeling down.

Yup, still here...

Wow. Day layover while healing up from the surgery. A steady flow of nitrous, propofol, and vicodin didn’t do much for clarity, or energy, but it made the extraction a whole lot more bearable—especially after seeing the price tag attached to this baby.

Woke up this morning feeling almost as bad as I did before going to bed, but things got better as the day went on and the pain nearly went away until it came back again.

Finished wrapping a batch of Christmas presents for D and his pup. Now to find the ambition to actually mail them! Got a few notes sent off, the last of the N critiques, too. Still behind on the correspondence, but catching up.

Feels like I haven’t done anything but sleep the past couple of days, and I suppose that’s not far off from the truth. Maybe I’ll find a way to get up early tomorrow and get back to work. Hope so. Gonna start rusting up if I miss anymore time at the keyboard.

Doing okay...

Busy day all around.

Up early to FaceTime with Jack, the off to the cottage to catch up on paperwork. Quit the office mid-morning to trim the tree and put up lights. Made pretty good headway, though there’s still a bit to do tomorrow. If we had one damned dependable string of lights, I think we’d have finished everything by now but of course it couldn’t be that easy. All the same, a nice productive day.

New N story showed up in my queue. Gonna have a busy week ahead of me.

Going to Denver tomorrow to see the Monet exhibit, and a show at the Oxford. Been good to move around the past few days. Stay busy. Keep my mind off Monday and the visit to the oral surgeon.

The perfect road trip...

Drove up to Buena Vista today, then to Clear Creek, the San Isabel National Forest to harvest our 2019 Christmas tree. What a beautiful day, beautiful drive. The Collegiate Peaks crushed it, as always.

Home late, but worth it.

More tomorrow.

Yeah, been there before but...

Big news of the day. Got an appointment with the oral surgeon to have the rest of my tooth pulled on Monday. Only need to survive the weekend now.

Driving up to Leadville tomorrow to cut down the Christmas tree. Looking forward to the drive, as I haven’t been able to manage much else in the way of productivity for a while. Maybe the fresh air will clear my head.

Pushed three N reviews out the door today. Feel good about that. Won’t have much time to look at the rest until Saturday, but that’s okay. Don’t think I’ll be holding anyone back.

Got another year old rejection to day. No sting to this one, though, as the story’d already been picked up—and by a better publication. Once in a while the gods show their sense of humor.

Been working to beat back the blues for weeks now, and think I hit a turning point yesterday. Feels like it anyway. So here’s to moving ahead.

Nice workout at the gym today. Real nice.

An appointment with dentistry...

Put in an hour or so at the keyboard before going off to the dentist to have the sutures removed. Saw the x-rays of last week’s “extraction” and found out a good two-thirds of the tooth is still buried in my jaw. Guess that explains the pain. Looking to meet with an oral surgeon next week and see if we can’t fix this thing up.

Didn’t feel much like writing when I got home, but I did. Read over some of the new N pieces, too, before taking off for the gym.

Good workout. Good day for reflection.

Feel like, for all the ugly that’s been showing up lately, maybe something good’s waiting up ahead. Be nice, wouldn’t it? Looking forward to getting out of town Friday. Nothing like a road trip into the mountains to set things straight.

Darkness at the break of noon...

Not much of a day.

Started slow, dragged a while, then fizzled out altogether.

Did manage a trip to the gym. A few letters. A trip to Big 5 for a croquet set.

Back to the dentist tomorrow to see what’s to be done about this broken molar.

We’ll see what sort of news that brings.

Kicking it...

No way of getting to sleep last night. Big winds. Got up around six—or was it seven—and went to work. Pawed away at the three new drafts, and somehow came up with a forth. Also got in some research for the new long piece. Not having any difficulty putting things down, but can’t seem to finish anything. Hope to get over that soon.

Spent the afternoon driving around town, picking up Christmas presents for the boys. Weather was cool all day, but turned cold, outright, when the sun went down.

Had a chance to go to the gym but passed on it. Can’t seem to get going there, either. Instead, opted for a quiet hour or so with Scout. Nearly fell asleep he was so quiet tonight. Nice to have time with him. He’s good company.

Black Friday...

Up late last night entertaining Thanksgiving guests. Had a wonderful time seeing everyone again. Woke early to have coffee with my buddy G, over at Jives.

Didn’t manage to get much writing done today, but maybe that’s all right. Been pressing hard lately, and don’t have much in the way of results to show for it. Maybe I’m overthinking things.

Abandoned the keyboard for the movies early afternoon. Saw Knives Out. Enjoyed it quite a bit. There was a good rain blowing up from the south when we left the theater, so we bagged a side-trip we’d planned and came home. Spent the last of the day with my buddy, Scout.

Extraction point is still sore and achy, but the sutures have stayed in place and I’m grateful it’s only as bad as it is. Been finding ways to distract myself, not the least of which has been reading and critiquing the last of the stories and essays in my N queue.

Looking ahead to a quiet day tomorrow. Might try and mosey over to the gym if I get a chance. Hope the wind and rain don’t get too bad tonight.

Got some new photos of my boys today, decorating their Christmas tree. Bad, how much I miss em. But I’m happy they’re happy, and February will be here sooner than I think.