I did not mean to be, but I was. I had some unexpected company for a few days- an old friend from the USCG whom I met in Savannah in 2004 during the G8 Summit. (It was only eight nations then??) We have stayed in touch for all of these years via email and phone.

I don't understand his visit. Was he was checking me out for a possible relationship and very quickly- within hours- decided that I was not it? It took me a little longer to realize that he was not relationship material. Guess there is a reason why he is 59 and single. It was really weird spending three days with someone who never touched me- and I don't mean just sex. Even going places together he maintained more distance than necessary. (Maybe he is gay? He has a roommate and from what I know about him, it is not financial need. Maybe he is afraid to admit to his sexual orientation because of fear? He is a member of the military.) At any rate, it was a very strange experience. Oh well, I had the opportunity to visit restaurants I had never been to before and we drove to Air Station Clearwater.

Earlier in the week, before my friend arrived, I finished another newsletter. I wrote an article about WWII Beach Pounders. Usually all I ever do is edit articles or piece fragments of info into articles for which I give the members credit- "submitted by" rather than "written by"- but I took the time to do some research and wrote an article for once! That came about because I ran into some historical info about the use of horses and dogs by the USCG during WWII. Think I will post it here sometime. It is really interesting.

I also finished a painting. I did the under-painting last weekend and the final oils as soon as my friend left. The painting is of my son, Tod. I prefer to do under-paintings in acrylic because it is easier to fix if I get the features wrong. That may be cheating, but it works for me.

By the way- I missed you guys!