Hello everyone. I know it's been a long absence, but I believe it is safe to say that I am back. I may not be able to be here every day with any certainty, or to post with any true regularity, but my daily routine should be calming down to the point that I feel in control again. I want to apologize for "disappearing" like I did, but I never intended to go away or to stay away.

Summer sailed by so quickly for me because I kept myself busier than I have for years. I, or we, literally went somewhere or did something every weekend, and I did an awful lot of walking, photographing, and what-not on any days of the week when I had the chance.

As some of you know, I also had some extra responsibility at work which required that I be at the office and managing the business while my boss underwent heart bypass surgery and went through the initial recovery process. That was supposed to last until the end of September or in the early part of October, but, although my boss was back in the office a little bit more each day after the end of September, I wasn't relieved from those office duties until last Friday. I am still "on call" if needed, but I will now be back working at home full time, which is part of the reason why I will be able to spend more time at the computer again.

I walked in the Memory Walk to help raise money for the Alzheimer's Foundation, and I want to give special thanks to my blogging friend who made a nice donation ("you" know who you are!). Edie and I also walked in the Making Strides Walk to help raise money for breast cancer research and to increase awareness. We attended the "Out in the Park" special event at Six Flags New England, a Providence Waterfire (always a special treat, but this one was held in conjunction with special activities and events to benefit the breast cancer facility here in the state). We went to see a local repertory company's performance of Grease and we went to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show, complete with the RKO Army Performers on Halloween night. And, most recently, Edie and I celebrated our 14th year together! In addition to voting on November 4, our anniversary was the latest special "thing" we "did".

I hope everyone is well and doing ok. I really have missed reading your posts, so I know I have a lot of catching up to do. I intend to read your new posts so I can get myself current with everybody's news, but I will be visiting older posts on the in-between, too. It just might take me some time to get through all of it, though.

I am going to try not to be a stranger ever again. I've missed all of you and your wonderful posts. All I can say is...I've got a lot of reading and writing to do and I am really glad to be back!