The Colonel Hits the Road ...

What do you get when you add eleven herbs and spices to your asphalt? Road crews are finding out in Louisville, Kentucky, as a well-known restaurant chain proposes a new canvas for its brand. Of course, civic-minded businesses have long been a staple of society ... and this effort addresses a problem we have all faced at one time or another.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

What's In a Word? ...

... more than you might realize. At least, that's what I thought when I read this report from KOSA-TV/CBS 7 about efforts to address sinkholes in Pecos County, and how those sinkholes are affecting a state highway.

"Pecos County is in cahoots with TxDOT to keep an eye on the levels, which as of now, poses no threat to drivers," the report states. I have to ask, in an otherwise-very-good report, did they really mean to use the phrase "in cahoots"? Just in case my own understanding of the word was a little off (wouldn't be the first time), I checked dictionary.com, which offered "Questionable collaboration; secret partnership" as a definition.

Just about anyone in 'the business' will tell you, a single word CAN make a difference. IMHO, this little slip was an exception to the rule at KOSA, where some outstanding people are doing some award-winning work. It happens to just about everyone one, at some time or another ... I know it's happened to me!

Movies, Mygar and Me ...

Other local bloggers may have what Jessica's Well once called the "super secret right wing blog astroturf network" ... but I have a cosmic connection! Now, if I could just get Mygar to bump "Day the Earth Stood Still" up to #1.

TOP 8 MOST INFLUENTIAL ALIEN MOVIES
WASHINGTON, DC - Mygar, one of the galaxy’s biggest movie experts, presents the top 8 most influential depictions of aliens in film.
Read the rest of the story in the Weekly World News

Little Car ... Big Celebration ...

It's been forty years since the first 'Hot Wheels' rolled off the assembly line. Me? I was probably a bigger fan of Corgi and Matchbox ... but with the help of Elder and Younger sons, we have plenty of Hot Wheels around the house ... on the shelf, in a toy box, under the couch.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Lunch Hour ... in Nassau …

Just 24 hours earlier, I had been in Freeport, wishing for Bahamian food to go with my Bahamian beer. Now I was in Nassau, and my wish was coming true.

There was nothing methodical, really, about my search for ‘a little Bahamian mom-and-pop’ … just keeping my eyes open as I walked the streets of this island nation’s capital, making some stops as planned, and others as the situation arose. My family was part of an excursion group to the nearby Atlantis resort, and I was free to set my own itinerary, eschewing a guided van tour of the city in favor of one on my own feet, on my own schedule.

I’m glad I did … it allowed me to find just the place I wanted for lunch!

It was already mid-afternoon, I had seen most of the sights I had planned to see, and had discovered a couple of others along the way. I had promised to stop-and-shop at the Tortuga Bakery (famous for its rum cake) and was looking for that while looping back towards the berths for the cruise ships, when I saw a small sidewalk sign for the Bahamian Bar & Restaurant. It had not shown up on my tour map, but I liked what I saw on the menu posted on the sign … I went in.

I’m glad I did … half-an-hour later, while visiting with restaurant’s owners, I was sitting down to a very full plate of cracked conch, peas & rice, Caribbean macaroni & cheese, and fried plaintains … all washed down with bottles of cold Kalik beer, brewed in Nassau by Commonwealth Brewery, Ltd.

I had never had conch before. It was served with some tartar sauce (which I did not try) and some local hot sauce made from yellow peppers and spices (which I DID try) … but I liked it best with just a little fresh-squeezed lime.

NOTE: These posts have been delayed a week, as I focused on enjoying the actual world … then writing about it in the virtual world.

Enjoying the Works of Man, Too ...

Family vacation during spring break offered plenty of natural wonders for everyone to experience ... but I also enjoyed the works of man.

In Freeport, the Bahamas, our ship was berthed near a containers facility, and the endless activity of giant cranes and specialized vehicles loading thousands of containers on and off the ships, proved a popular attraction.

NOTE: These posts have been delayed a week, as I focused on enjoying the actual world … then writing about it in the virtual world.

Free-for-All at First Prez ...

In this post at Into the West Texas Sun, John answers the question, 'What do you do for church music on the fifth Sunday of the month?'

Lunch Hour ... in Freeport …

The morning we berthed at Freeport, in the Bahamas represented my first venture onto a Caribbean island, and a chance to exercise my senses to different sights, a different sounds and different flavors.

All of which I got to do during lunch. Once again, I found myself getting accustomed to the combination of heat and humidity … so strange, at first, after spending so many years in West Texas. But I found myself re-adjusting quickly to the years I spent on America’s east coast and other parts of the world … and the constant breeze coming in off the ocean helped!


Also helping the heat was the application of liberal doses of cold beer, especially something locally-brewed, which I always try to do whenever I travel. Of all the material, earthly ties that bind people worldwide, and bring us together into a shared culture, one of my favorites is an appreciation for beer. Over lunch – which I went looking for while the family was shopping - it was Sands beer, brewed right here in Freeport, by the Bahamian Brewery & Beverage Company. Pretty good stuff … a golden beer, flavorful, but not strong … and a fine complement to a meal.

As it turned out, that was my meal. We were in an area that caters to tourists, cruise-shippers and spring-breakers, and the restaurants included a Subway, a Domino’s, standard U.S. fare, Italian, Greek … but nothing Bahamian, at least not during the lunch hour (there were some local fisherman with a fresh harvest of conch, getting it ready for dinner).

But while I didn’t have any food to go with my beer, I did have music, thanks to Mango. He’s a one-man show on electric-keyboard-with-percussion-built-in, offering traditional fare such as “Island In the Sun” and “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song),” but also reggae variations of such songs at Cat Stevens’ “Wild World” and that tune from the credit report commercials.

Not a bad lunch, really, though I have to make sure to devote one meal – at least! – to conch, plaintains, etc. while I’m down here.

NOTE: These posts have been delayed a week, as I focused on enjoying the actual world … then writing about it in the virtual world.

A Favorite Photo ...

Just about everybody comes back from a trip with an especially-favorite photo they took during the course of their journey ... this is one of mine from the trip my family took during spring break.


Sunrise over the Atlantic, taken from the aft lounge of our ship, as we berthed at the port of Nassau, in the Bahamas.

Eric at Fire Ant Gazette once said something to the effect that, when it comes to taking photos, he'd rather be lucky than well-trained or experienced ... something like that. Anyway, he was absolutely right in the case of this photo. It would have been a good enough photo as it was ... but I really like what happened when a gull swept into the frame, completely by chance, as I released the shutter.

Speaking of Eric and photos, if you haven't checked out his ongoing series of worked images of West Texas, you should.

Got Vision? ...

What is your VISION for Midland's future? Come share your dreams and ideas for Midland at the Midland Vision 2020 Community Forum.

Thursday, March 26, 2009, 7:00 PM
Lynn Hall, First Presbyterian Church
800 W. Texas Avenue
(on the corner of Texas and A streets, on the west edge of downtown Midland, with plenty of free parking in lots along A, Texas and Illinois streets)

For forty years, community goal-setting initiatives have helped Midland achieve great success by discussing challenges, addressing priorities and writing down goals for the next ten years. Here's your chance to be involved in planning for the next decade.

Forum organizers are grateful to Midland Vision 2020 sponsors: Abell-Hanger Foundation, Greathouse Charitable Trust, The Junior League of Midland, Inc., City of Midland, Midland College, Midland County, Midland Independent School District, Midland Reporter-Telegram.

... and Another Item From the 'Out of This World' Desk …

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — NASA's online contest to name a new room at the international space station went awry. Comedian Stephen Colbert won. The name "Colbert" beat out NASA's four suggested options in the space agency's effort to have the public help name the addition. The new room will be launched later this year.
HERE is the rest of the story from msnbc.com and the Associated Press, plus links to related stories and features.

History Off the Port Bow …

(Thanks to "an old salt" for helping me remember left from right ...)

You’d think someone who counted the Mercury 7 among his childhood heroes would’ve taken less than 45 years to get down to Florida and see a live launch in America’s space program.

But, such was the case with me. My father was posted to the south from time to time, but never that far south. So, I watched my heroes’ departures on television … wishing good luck and Godspeed to Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom and the rest … ESPECIALLY John Glenn (hey, I grew up in the company of Marines, after all).

Last Sunday evening, at long last, I made it to Florida … sorta … and I saw a live launch … sorta … in America’s space program … thanks to a series of fortuitous events that worked in my favor. One was the delayed departure of the space shuttle Discovery from America’s launch facility at Cape Canaveral. The other was the timely departure of our cruise ship from the seaport at Cape Canaveral, leaving us just a short distance away, and with a wonderful view of the brilliant flash of light on the northern horizon, the fire and smoke from the shuttle’s initial engines, then the jettisoning of said engines overhead, to the aft, off the port side of the ship, and watching the secondary engines kick-in.

A wonderful sight … and no surprise that the hundreds of us who gathered aft – people of all shapes and sizes, ages and life experiences - shouted ourselves hoarse, cheering the sight.

It’s been said that the American space program has lost the luster it had in the 60s, as we first ventured into orbit, and in the 70s as we first ventured to the Moon … and that may be true in some respects … for myself, I can name each and every member of the Mercury 7 … but I can’t name a single member of our current shuttle crew. But good luck and Godspeed to each and every one of them, nonetheless!

NOTE: These posts have been delayed a week, as I focused on enjoying the actual world … then writing about it in the virtual world.

Homecoming ... Mostly ...

And that's a wrap to '09 Spring Break Family Trip. It was a great trip, really ... but it's also great to be home.

Good company and good times ... except that our luggage was having so much fun it decided to spend another day in Orlando!

I'll keep you posted.

Once More, If It's Friday ...

... then SpookyRach at Skewed View is probably Cemetery Blogging, discovering that the grave can indded be 'a fine and private place' ... and achingly lovely, and unwittingly humorous.

Savoring the Moment While I Can ...

Wednesday nights at nine o'clock, you still find me in front of the television, enjoying the latest installment of "Life On Mars" ... at least, for a little while longer. It's been announced that the first season of the program will also be it's last, with the final episode to air in two weeks.

"Life on Mars," the latest in a line of Brit hits to jump the pond in an Americanized version, had me tuning-in and turning-on to a blast-from-the-past that takes your average crime drama up a step ... and back in time.

The story line is an intriguing one ... in 2008, NYPD Detective Sam Tyler (Jason O'Mara), is struck by a car. Getting up from the asphalt, he realizes that something's not right ... the sight of the World Trade Center on the skyline, maybe? Somehow, his clothes, his car, even his identity places him in 1970s New York City, in the tumultuous times of the Vietnam War, Watergate, women's lib and the civil rights movements - without a cell phone, computer, PDA or MP3 player, or the modern-day police procedures in which he was trained.

While solving crimes, he's also trying to solve his own personal dilemna, to understand what has just happened to him, and how he can get back home. If you're a fan of the original British series, as I am, then this all seems very familiar. But if you're new to LOM, think about the possibilities of someone from today suddenly finding himself in the right place, but the wrong time, with sensibilities and values that must seem almost alien.

As was the case for so many other American adaptation of British programs, some episodes appeared to be the British series with an American accent ... but the new product didn't take long to start setting itself apart, establish it's own place and set its own course.

Initially, the program aired Thursday nights at nine o'clock (central) on ABC (KMID-TV in the Permian Basin). After it went on Christmas holiday hiatus (not a good idea, in my opinuion) it went to Wednesday nights, after "Lost." But even a good lead-in from that popular program could not boost LOM's numbers ... thus, the decsision to pull the plug on the program.

Okay, that's the bad news. But there's also some good news for me and the other seven people across the country (accordin to the ratings) that were still watching the show. The decision was made to cancel the show once its initial run of thirteen episodes was completed - rather than just ending it 'right here, right now.'

That final episode was still in production when the announcement was made, and it went back into re-write and re-shoot to produce a genuine finale, one that - we are told- will bring Sam Tyler's story to a proper end. We've also been told that ending will be different from the Brit version ... I know I'll be watching, to find out how - and IF - Sam gets home.

Finding the Words ...

Blogger John at Into the West Texas Sun is a relative newcomer to this area and it's age-old boom-and-bust economic cycle. Yet, drawing from something far older - timeless, really - he has composed verses inviting all who are thirsty, faint and sorrowed to receive rest, peace, and joy, in whatever stresses we face in life.

Good stuff ... check it out.

Good Luck, Chaps! ...

It's Spring Break this week on the campus of Midland College ... but NOT on the hardwood floors in Hutchinson, Kansas, where the MC Chaparral men's basketball team has made it to the semi-final round of the NJCAA National Tournament.

Oscar LeRoy, Sports Writer for the Midland Reporter-Telegram, is on the scene, and providing good coverage of the tournament.

Go, Chaps!

What Do You Think? ...

Discussion point, here... there's no denying that the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum remains a valuable resource to introduce the oil & gas industry to the general public ... just ask any of our out-of-town visitors who've had a tour of said institution as part of their visit to the Tall City.

But while the museum's portrayel of the industry's history (and the geologic foundation for that industry) remains second-to-none, what about it's portrayel of the industry itself, particularly developments over the past quarter-century in technology and its application?

What do YOU think?

The Real World Calls ...

... and I have answered. From time to time, most bloggers will admit, communication and commerce in the virtual world must give way to that in the actual world.

Such is the case with me, at the present ... and blogging has been light of late. But that's fine ... went I went on hiatus earlier this month, more than one blogging friend advised me that TOO much discipline - blogging on schedule rather than on inspiration - was not always a good thing.

But that inspiration - and adequate time to give it adequate voice - IS forthcoming. More on that, in just a little while.

If It's Friday ...

... then SpookyRach at Skewed View is probably Cemetery Blogging, discovering that the grave can indded be 'a fine and private place' ... and achingly lovely, and unwittingly humorous.

Pictures Worth a Thousand (or more) Words ...

Can be found at "This Week in Pictures" at msnbc.com, and in "Photography" at Fire Ant Gazette.

A sampling ...

Still Fun at 101 ...

It was at this time in 1908, that youngsters in England - and their parents - were looking forward to the next installment of "Scouting for Boys: A Handbook for Instruction in Good Citizenship," the first book on the Scout Movement, written and illustrated by Robert Baden-Powell, the movement's founder, and based on his boyhood experiences with a cadet corps during the Boer War, and later at his experimental camp on Brownsea Island.

Personally, I think the value of Boy Scout manuals has diminished over time ... but that observation comes from a perspective that is archaic at best, and is based upon experiences with a Scouting that was older, and geared more towards a rural wilderness, rather than the urban variety ... navigating field and stream rather than drug use and self-esteem issues.

And besides, the dang-Yankee-from-back-east in me much preferred the old BSA headquarters in New Brunswick, New Jersey, over the corporate center near Dallas, Texas.

But that's just me.

Thanks, by the way to Frank at Books, Inq. for the heads-up.

A Man and a Topic That Will Not - and Should Not - Go Away ...

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

The Little Town That Could ...

More than once, I have said that the town of Fort Stockton has the greatest collection of over-achievers in the State of Texas. Recent headlines have me stressing that point once again.

This is the town that developed its local hospitality industry to a point that was the envy of the state and, on a per-capita basis, raised more hotel/motel occupancy tax dollars than any other community in Texas.

This is the town that, during the great oil-and-gas bust of the late 80s, decided to go into the private prison business. That venture got off to a rocky start, but local proponents persevered, and got together with the state to have the unit upgraded and adopted into the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Institutional Division, which brought a good number of state jobs to the local workforce. Under state direction, that venture proved to be so successful that, in the 90s, Texas built a second, larger unit outside of town - providing even more jobs to the local workforce.

This is the town that led so many in West Texas in developing the first windmill farms. It even tried to get wind power developers to locate a turbine assembly plant in Fort Stockton. That last part of the venture didn't work out ... but it provided a good indicator of how economic developers in Fort Stockton and Pecos County looked ahead and looked further than those in other communities.

This is the town that (in conjunction with neighboring Sanderson) welcomed an annual open road race ... something that Alpine rejected outright, and something that Midland tried - but couldn't maintain after it's single, innaugural run.

And now, comes word that SandRidge Energy will soon begin construction on a $1.2-billion plant to extract carbon dioxide from natural gas it drills in the nearby Piñon field. According to this report from the Odessa American, that project will bring in 500 construction workers for two years, which is good news for this part of West Texas, which has already felt the impact of the recent downturn in the industry. The OA's report goes on to say, "When the plant is completed, it will be turned over to Occidental Petroleum, which will use the carbon dioxide in enhanced oil recovery in the Permian Basin. Oxy will operate the plant and treat the gas under a 30-year contract," which means long-term jobs added to the local economy.

There is also this report from KWES-TV/NewsWest 9

Mentioned and quoted in these reports is Fort Stockton Economic Development Director Doug May, someone I came to know during the time I lived there, and worked as Managing Editor of the Fort Stockton Pioneer.

Doug is good people, and I truly believe that a picture of him should be placed in the dictionary, under the heading "economic devlopment and diversification." To me, at least, Doug is one of the big dogs in this town of over-achievers.

So, What's It Like ? ...

It would happen a lot ... not as much, nowadays ... but a lot more 'way back when' ... whenever someone found out that I made my living in the media, and they ask, "So, what's it like, I mean, what's it REALLY like, you know?"

Looking back on it, long after I chucked it and went to work for the PIO office at Midland College, it was pretty interesting, really. And, sometimes, it was awfully tiring. And it can have moments of great exhilaration, and moments of great sadness. You learned - and, sometimes, re-learned - a lot of different things. It's life, really. ... and I suspect that hasn't changed much over the past year or so.

There are times when you would find yourself struggling to maintain a reasonable flow of oxygen to your brain ... listening to county commissioners debate, over the better part of an hour, the relative merits of competing bids to supply sand and gravel.

Then there are times when you're wide awake and cranking, when the story seems to write itself, when the pages fly off your typewriter (then) or word processor (now) with a speed and sense-of-ease that makes you think you're no longer in control ... that your mind and your fingers are possessed.

There's a lot to the business that has no direct impact on writing words, taking pictures or laying-out pages (in print or online), but are important to your business nonetheless.

There are some books out there that capture the business very well, and I'd like to recommend one. It's a collection of short stories called, "Quaint We Ain't: A Country Editor Confesses the Hilarious Truth About Life in Small Towns."

Author J. Tom Graham has drawn from his real-life experiences as a Texas country newspaper man to write the book. Comparing it to my own experiences editing a small-town weekly in West Texas, I have to say, "he's nailed it." And, it is a very funny book, thanks in part to Graham's skills at writing and storytelling, and in even greater part to the people he meets, and the experiences they share.

The emphasis of Graham's book is definitely upon small towns. Anyone with media experience large AND small will tell you they can be two entirely different critters. At least one of his essays has fun with the notion of television reporters from the city blowing into town to cover a story that has caught their attention ... I've been there, done that, from BOTH perspectives.

One thing I hope the book does for you, is give you some insight into the profession and - I hope! - some respect for those who take up that profession, and do their best at it. Pick up a copy, some time. It will answer, far better than I could, the question, "So, what's it like?"

Frank Would Like This ...

With no copies to be had at my usual stops - the Friends of the Library Book Store, or at Miz B's - I decied to pony-up for a new paperback copy of James Hilton's Lost Horizon, to replace a beloved - and nearly evaporated - old traveling companion of many years' acquaintance.

I ended up at Barnes & Noble, perusing the shelves while Younger Son worked the chessboards nearby. I finally selected this copy ... which turned out to be a descendant of my old Pocket Books Classic copy!

Here's something my fellow Keystone State'r, Frank at Books, Inq. - The Epilogue, would like. The new copy features period artwork on the cover, and period reviews on the back ... including one from The Philadelphia Inquirer, where Frank once plied his trade as Book Review Editor. "Haunting," that review tells us, "we warmly recommend the story of the Mountains of the Blue Moon." The Inq's archives only go back to 1981, so I can't share the whole review with you, or even the reviewer's name ... maybe Frank can help with that.

The First Blossoms of Spring ...

... have appeared in a tree in our front yard. A splash of color to lift our winter-dulled spirits, and convey the promise of new life in the months ahead.
... why, as a matter of fact ... yes, we DO have teenagers in our family ... how did you know?

A Yankee's Toast to Texas ...

“To Texas . . .

Joyous and sparkling,

Evergreen when it rains, enduring in drought,

Timeless, endless in boundaries, exciting,

Home to the adventurous of yesterday and today,

With shrines from the past, and space
and spirit for the future.

To Texas.

Everlasting in the hearts of your people!”

It was about ten years ago when, as editor of the Fort Stockton Pioneer, I was handed a letter from one of our readers, for publication in the next issue ... a letter admonishing our paper for not devoting adequate space to Texas Independence Day. She may have been DRT (I honestly don't remember for certain), but she was certainly something of a Lone Star zealot ... a perception of mine that was reinforced by her comment as she handed me the letter .....

"You probably won't realize the importance of this, not being from around here."

Well, actually, I do, and so do a lot of dang Yankees from back east, such as myself. True, I am someone who - to borrow the old saying - wasn't born in Texas, but got here as fast as I could. And the same could be said for Stephen Austin, William Travis, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, Mirabeau Lamar and Sam Houston.

DON'T GET ME WRONG ... I do NOT equate myself with them. But it doesn't hurt to remember that, with the exception of Juan Seguin and his company of Tejanos, there wasn't a 'native Texan' to be found on the Texas side of the revolution.

The Keystone Stater in me would like to point out that there were an estimated 13 Pennsylvanians defending the walls of the Alamo, and offering up their lives for the revolution and the ideals it represented. And well they should. Because it was something that had been important to them, their parents and their grandparents for more than half-a-century.

Maybe that's what bugged me about the woman's remark ... the fact that, 'not being from around here,' I would be unable to understand what was being decided in the Texas revolution. To my mind, it was something that all free-thinking people know ..... or should know.

You see, it wasn't just men that came to Texas ..... the ideals adopted at Washington on the Brazos had been conceived many years before, in Philadelphia ..... and the determination to defend those ideals in Goliad and Gonzales, San Antonio and San Jacinto, had been inspired - again, many years before - by what took place at Bunker Hill and Valley Forge, Lexington, Concord and Cowpens. And the material needed to pursue that defense came from all over the United States, from the decision by Alabama to strip its state arsenal of muskets and send them west, to the Twin Sisters - a pair of canons donated by the 'People of Cincinnati, Ohio' and arriving just in time to blast a hole in the Mexicans' makeshift breastworks at San Jacinto.

And so, I lift my glass, and I will join the toast heard statewide last week ..... but mine will be a private affair ..... and while I may follow closely the words printed at the top of this post, I will deviate on one point, and replace the word 'Texas' with 'America' ..... God Bless It!

Kind of a 'Wonderful Life' Kind of Thing ... Kind of ...

Trust me ... I am NO George Bailey, not by the longest stretch. But I HAVE been surrounded by an awful lot of Clarences lately.

They have been descending upon me a lot these past seven days, as I stood on a virtual bridge of the blogosphere, ready to chuck it all in and leap into the waters below, having convinced myself that there really wasn't much point to it all. Maybe I should spend less time listening to myself, and listen instead to what Abraham Lincoln once referred to as the "better angels of our nature." They are out there, and they've had more than a little to say about my decision last week.

Many shared their own experience, standing on a similar virtual bridge, and considering a similar virtual jump ... some of them having found themselves in that very spot on more than one occasion. They shared with me the new perspectives, the new attitudes they gained from that experience, and the new - albeit different - commitment to blogging that resulted from it all.

Every one of them told me they understood what had brought me to my decision. And every one of them encouraged me, in one way or another, to reconsider that decision ... and perhaps follow the paths they had taken.

It was powerful and pursuasive stuff ... filling the comments section of my last post at Archaeotexture, filling my e-mail box, and filling my ears in actual encounters on the streets of the Tall City.

So think of that day, last week ... not as "February 26" ... but as they day you helped me decide to pursue a different path, taking a step towards becoming a different and - I hope! - better blogger.

Time will tell. And whatever the outcome of this decsision, THANK YOU ALL for your input.

Ring-a-ling-a-ling ...

Think of Today as February 26 ...

It was on that day, in 2005, that I first posted to Archaeotexture, my own, personal venture into blogging ... and it was on that day, in 2009, that I planned to make my last post.

But, along comes this guy who decided that day to fire a virtual shot across my bow with a bit of silly bombast at his own blog ... and OF COURSE, I had to respond ... though not in kind.

Anyway, things got put off for a few days ... so, just think of today as February 26, and everything's back on track. THIS, then, is my last post to Archaeotexture ... at least for the foreseeable future. Could it return, someday? Sure, it could, and the account will remain open - though the content of the site will be shelved. But, for now, there are a number of reasons to take a break.

Sure, I could continue to post something, anything ... but that's not what I wanted this to be about. What's the old saying about 'quantity versus quality?' The words are there - but I always wanted it to be more than just words, and THAT's something (to me, at least) that's been lacking of late. Adapting a phrase I once heard on the radio, 'you can spend all your time making words ... you can spend all your words making time.'

You deserve better than what I've been making, lately ...

And while Archaeotexture goes into the vault, this does not mean I retire completely from blogging. I still plan to visit the sites maintained by the many virtual and actual friends I have made over the last four years, and contribute my own thoughts and takes on their posts, and offer encouragements to those who still work the keyboards.

BEYOND THAT, I also plan to continue posting on another local blog, West Texas Missioner, where I have been a contributor for the past fourteen months. It's a different blog, a different focus, less about me, and more about something bigger than me. It may be one of the least-visited weblogs in West Texas ... but I'm enjoying it, nonetheless.

As for Archaeotexture ... thank you, one and all, for the hospitality and the friendship - both virtual and actual - that you have shown me the past four years. It was a good run, really ... due in large part to YOU.

--30--