MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2013
Another summer has fallen in the endless battle of seasons, and so the skies have begun to grow darker sooner as we measure time. In the blink of a mortal’s eye, Jack Frost will run his not-so-gentle touch over the whole of the night’s form, forcing us to cover ourselves in woven fabric and thick, colorful blankets.
The cycle is immutable.
Trees, far from immune to the forces of entropy, wither, their leaves deposited to the ground by the fading vestiges of the summer’s breath.
Species we share this world with – and in many cases, have displaced – must now fight to survive winter’s wrath by foraging for our scraps, as nature’s offerings have been greatly diminished by the presence of mankind. We see them every day, squirrels, birds and the like, and yet, how often do we consider their life-cycle, their battle against death?
The soil will no longer be fertile.
The bodies of water we enjoy so freely will be uninhabitable to the masses.
And the hordes of travelers, upon whom the citizens of my hometown are economically dependent, will be but be a series of memories translated into stories for my faithful followers.
As it always has been, so shall it always be.
The summer of 2013 has officially been laid to rest.
- SUMMER IS DEAD.
LONG LIVE SUMMER!
And what of the scribe of this ongoing chronicle of the modern traveler? Has his fate been decided?
Not quite. I’m certain my health issues are but a blip on the radar, especially when one considers that my blood work and heart tests have failed to yield answers, but since a solid answer remains out of reach, I find myself forced to consider my limitations.
And so, after listening to my family and blogging friends I have decided to scale back my cyber-activities for the time being, at least. I’ll blog here and there, of course.
(I’ll have plenty of time to scribble posts into worn notebooks now that the clientele and work load have decreased at the hotel.)
But Sarah deserves my time and full attention to ensure the first volume of The Misadventures of Misery is everything it should be. And VampireLover deserves a mate who isn’t dead on his feet or worse yet, mad at the world because his body is failing him. (The wife is incredibly understanding, but she isn’t above kicking my butt if necessary. And trust me , it’s come to that on more than one occasion.)
I’ll have a guest post available for your reading pleasure on The Indie Chicks mind-blowing site on September 18, and I’m sure I’ll visit a blog or two during my hiatus.
Hey, you know what just occurred to me? Don’t rack your brain, I’ll let you off easy; if the Power That Be at one of the big television networks ever decided to translate my life into a series, they could use one of the following titles:
- Breaking Bags.
- Tons of Anarchy.
- Luggage Dynasty.
- Mad Bellman.
- Game of Gold Carts.
To name but a few.
And now I bid you farewell, my friends, if only for a short while. Be well.
See you in the lobby….
You've Been Hooked! 
I wish I could slip you a big huge tip right now but know that I wish you the best, ebbs and flows my friend – you see them in the lobby and the lobby represents life!
That was as zen as i get
cheers!
Was “huge tip” a euphemism?
Dearest Hook,
Be well my dear friend. We will certainly miss you, keep us posted on how your doing.
Wishing you the very best in all your endeavors
Your Friend,
Anastasia
Be well!
Thank you – both of you!
You will be missed, hope you’re feeling better soon and we would be happy to showcase your books when they’re ready!
I can never thank you enough. But I’l sure try.
Take care of you, you’ve thanked me more than enough. 🙂
You will definitely be missed during your hiatus. I hope you have a productive time outside of cyberspace and are able to recharge your batteries.
I hope so too. Thanks!
Awwww ! Well, be well and be happy, and contented.We’ll wait for your return.
I appreciate your patience and support, my world-traveling friend.
Very sorry to hear this dear Hook. I hope you get back to normal fighting & writing stance soon. I know I will be one of many who will really miss your regular observations. I’ve come to enjoy them like a good morning cup of coffee – and it’s also become almost a tie as to which one I am addicted to most.
Take very good care, and wishing you the best..
That was one of the greatest compliments I’ve ever received, Blog Woman.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Wishing the best for you
Right back at you. Thanks!
You will be missed, but it sounds like a good time for a break…….we will be here when you come back. Take care….
Will do. Thanks!
Ah, I hope your hiatus is very small, as I’ve only just recently discovered your blog and love it! I wish you health, happiness and a winter full of sunshine and no snow. (Hey, we can dream, right?!).
We HAVE to dream, Lindsay!
Thank you. I’ll try to return soon.
Look after yourself and your family Hook. Although we will all selfishly miss you 🙂
You’re one of the most unselfish people I know, Daile, but thank you.
And thank you x
Aww! I’ll miss reading about your adventures, your take on this and that. I will look forward to your return…. with a vengeance I hope!
Vengeance can be fun, so sure!
Be well and hurry back!
Will do, Jim. Thanks.
Enjoy yourself, and tell that body of yours to acknowledge that you are the master!
I can’t even get the dog to listen to me, do you really think an organism as complex as my body is going to heed my words?
One can hope that your body’s capable of understanding that its evolutionary history is the one that created the mind to prevent it from self-distructing.
XP
Brilliantly said!
You need to take care of you. You and your family will be in my thoughts. I hope the best for you…hugs.
L.
Thanks, L.
NOOOOO!!! Well … . . . Ok if our going to take a brake I guess….. I guess I can part with you. (That was SO big of me) Seriously wishing you the best, my best regards to your wife and family! See you SOON!
You’re the best, Jasmine.
And by the way… YESSSS!!!
I know!
Do what you need to do. Your family comes first, this family can wait. And we will be.
Thanks, Jennifer.
I miss you already – but GET YOURSELF WELL~ keep us updated when time allows so we know you’re A-OK. Much mushy emotion, my friend. You’ve made my blogging experience very special.
Likewise. Thanks.
Take care, My Friend. You will be missed but it will be worth it to have you back healthy and happy. Don’t you wish we all came with an automatic de-stress button?
I will look forward to your return with a worm on my tongue. 😉
A worm? You truly are fearless, Michelle!
(Baited Breath)
Keep in touch, but most of all take good care of yourself my friend. Your presence will be missed, even for a short while. I wish nothing but the best for you and your family!
Thanks, G!
Godspeed, Amigo.
We’ll keep the Web warm for you.
I appreciate it, Fearless One!
Get well soon, partner. We’re going to miss you!
And lots of luck to Sarah! I hope her book becomes the next big thing
Sarah has a lot of talent, partner; she just needs to take the time to polish her work and release a finished product that is reflective of her vision.
There will be a huge, Hook-shaped hole in my blogging life. Wishing you the very best and looking forward to your return when everything’s sorted out. Take it easy.
You too, Jonny. Then again, you always take it smooth and easy, don’t you?
I do indeed. It’s the only way to live.
You must do what you must do. Be well. We’ll still be here when you get back!
That’s great to know, V.
Thanks!
Hope you are feeling much better soon.Will miss the blog and look forward to reading all your new adventures when you are back to full health.You are bound to get a lot of material, relaxing is not easy for an active mind.Be well and Happy.
I’ll do my best. Thanks!
I hope you enjoy your time away. I hope you find the health answers you are looking for. I hope Ellen takes notice of “The Misadventures of Misery.” We’ll be here when you get back. Oh, the stories you’ll have to tell when you do return…
Your hopes fill me with joy, my friend. Thanks.
You’re very welcome. I’m always happy to be spreading joy. 😀
That’s so you.
Robert, it’s always a treat visiting your blog (and shall keep doing so). However, we want a healthy happy Hook here, so do the right thing!! 🙂 🙂
PS that ‘right thing’ better not take long!!!! (joking – take your time!)
I’ll make every effort to return to form soon, Marina – promise!
Hope to see you back, well and rested, soon-ish. Take care.
You too, my friend. Thank you.
How about “The bell rings for you”?
Sometime the body and soul will force you to listen and stop – to rediscover what’s important.
We’ll know you will storing images and snorting at the insanity – and that will give us a smile. And More than one of us will find themselves saying – “Boy, Hook would make a wild post out of that….”
The stage will be waiting when you’re ready to roll.
The Game of Carts. Don’t laugh, you are a tv series…solid gold.
Be kind to yourself and take care.
See ya’ on the flip side
You never fail to impress, old friend.
Thanks.
>I have decided to scale back my cyber-activities for the time being, at least.
– Oh, Hook, I am grinning so widely, I can barely see what I type.
You know what else this smarty pants knew? That you could do it.
Thrilled to bits for Sarah, Wife and Chelsea. And Mummy and Daddy-in-law.
Proud of you, Hook.
Kate
Your approval fills me with happiness, Kate. Your e-mail had quite an impact on our family. Thank you for being such a good friend and ally.
Be well, my friend.
As threatened on my blog:
>And thank you for your enlightening e-mail;
– Oh-kay. Since you’ve, um, taken this outside, I mean, brought up my e-mail out here in the open, I’ll follow suit. I’ve noticed you’ve dunnit on your own blog, too. So I shall post my response to that e-mail out there, too.
To be completely honest, I wrote that e-mail because I was worried about Sarah.
As I wrote, I have been worried about something happening to you because after your wife’s brush with a false alarm, it appeared that you just seemed to carry on with your blogging life as if your personal world hadn’t turned upside down for a while.
I know that writing/blogging is a healthy release and a distraction to a certain extent, but you are no ordinary blogger, Hook. Like me, you reply to every comment and you visit every commenter’s blog. Unlike me, (I *think*) you comment on their posts, too, because via your responses on your blog, you go beyond superficial pleasantries; it’s like you know (the majority of) your commenters.
All this – responding to comments on your blog, visiting their blogs, commenting out there – takes time. A LOT of time. That means less time dealing with that painful issue (of your wife’s health scare) that you’d swept under the carpet of your blog. So as I said in my e-mail, it was only a question of time when the whole thing would blow up in your face. And in Sarah’s face. 😦
I was older than Sarah is right now when Daddy got a stroke. Until that point in time, he had never been ill. I can’t even remember him having the flu. Daddy was active physically, an occasional tennis and (field) hockey player, a non-smoker and a poor excuse for a social drinker i.e. even at social functions, he drank one beer on Sunday afternoons and a half peg of stronger stuff only on a Saturday night. He didn’t touch alcohol through the week, no matter the occasion.
Yet Daddy got a stroke. 23 ½ years on, I remember every miniscule, excruciating detail of the first twenty fours; from the time I received the news miles away to time I hugged his unconscious body in his ICU bed. One of the first thoughts that hit me then was, “I’m too young to suffer like this.” This = the terror of my daddy’s life being in danger.
Sarah already went through that rollercoaster with her mother’s scare a little while earlier. Something serious happening to you would … I’m too scared to even think what her fate might have been had something really happened to you, Hook.
I was scared for Sarah. So I wrote that e-mail.
>your words gave my wife ammunition which she used to make me see a necessary truth.
– I hope she whacked you nice and proper. I’m kidding!
Actually, I was very worried about your response (all of you, in fact) when I realised that I couldn’t zip it and I *was* going to go ahead with my instinctive reaction and express how I felt in that e-mail. I am hugely relieved that all of you accepted my mail in the spirit that it was … hammered out in. Yes, I banged away at the keys here with a desperate urgency to not quell my big mouthed self and in apprehension of a possible negative response from all of you.
>My family appreciates your friendship and concern, Kate.
>As do I.
– You’re welcome, Hook, Wife and Sarah. And Chelsea. 🙂 You’ve got to pat *yourselves* on the back first because Hook has always struck me as reasonable person. Oh, and you can’t be the good person you are on your ownsome, Hook. Wife and Sarah have moulded you and brought out the best in you.
Cyber abstinence is a breeze, isn’t it? The Stats columns, the Likes, the Comments; all those are good and fun and elating. But they are ephemeral and they can NEVER take the place of real life interactions.
That’s why this e-pal of yours is most delighted that you’re back with your flesh and blood (and fur!) loved ones.
I, of 01 (i.e. binary code) DNA, am happy to lurk around and wait for the bones you toss on your blog. They may be occasional, but I know they’ll be juicy bones, uh, posts. 🙂
Thank you, Hook, Wife, Sarah (and Chelsea!) for letting me be me. 🙂
Kate
You’ll be missed mate! Enjoy your time off and come back to us refreshed 🙂
All the best!
Rohan.
Thanks, mate.
Peace and good health Bellman.
And to you. Thanks.
i love the first few lines of this…melodic and ‘of nature’…which I love. I believe when we feel the need to take time for ourselves and our loved ones – we must.
The allure of an audience is something else but family are who keep us warm at night…
Andrea….best…best…..
Your good wishes are very much appreciated, my friend. Thank you.
I wish you all the, my friend! I will miss your regular posts and inspirations, but I’ll just be waiting for your return when everything is good again. Good health to you, Robert, and the rest of your family.
Thank you, my incredibly talented friend.
I’d love the powers that be to make such a movie.
Well hey, if it’s too much sometimes it just plain old is. I get that fully. I hope you take respite & rest & do whatever you need to. More than anything, wishing you wellness.
See you around, wherever or whenever you like 🙂
Sounds good, old friend. Thanks.
I must have missed something huge. This post seemed deep and well-written for me to fully comprehend last night. But now I get it.
Hey, you can’t be gone for too long now that I’m here :-). Just kidding. Take your time. Although I’ll certainly be missing you, my new friend.
Thank you, my new friend.
Everything’s alright with you, I suppose? No prob?
🙂
Nothing that has shown up in tests so far. So yeah, I’m good.
I’m glad to learn everything’s clear so far. Pardon me for being in the dark about it. I didn’t really have a clear idea what was going on. If you need someone to talk to, I’ll be here. Please take good care, my dear Hook…
Thank you, my friend.
You deserve a rest! Take it easy and be with the family. We’ll all be here stalking your page until you get back.
I’ve never been stalked, Katie. Fortunately, you make it sound way creepier than I envisioned it would be.
I know you’re taking a break, But I also know you are New York. And even more than that, you’re a friend. Much love and peace.
Your support means everything, old friend. Thank you.
And by the way, videos rock!
That was the most epic description of the coming of fall I’ve ever read. I wish you the best – enjoy your time away from cyberspace. We’ll miss you!
It’s nice to be missed, Miss Tiffany, as strange as that sounds. Thank you.
The break will be worth it…for you and your family. Trust me 🙂
Be well my friend.
xo J
I hope this reply finds you happy and at peace, my friend.
(I know “peace” is a relative term when you’re a crazy, working mom, but you know what I mean, right?)
I hope you return to your writing soon, you’ve been missed.
Hi Hook. I hope you are doing well and taking care of yourself. 🙂
I’m trying, Michelle.
Thanks for the friendship and concern.
Always take the time to laugh at a joke, smell a rose, hug a friend, share a smile…
Words to live by.
I wish you well and please take care of yourself.
Will do!
You too!