The Journey

Okay. Stand back! This is a first attempt at blogging by two who've never kept a log or diary of any kind, much less one that's open to be read by all, so please bear with us.

(Oops! That's not quite true. "She" has kept a log. It's black walnut, bark on, about two feet long and eight or so inches in diameter. It stands on end in one corner of the bedroom. Someday, she'll probably give you the history of the black walnut log, but it's no big deal.)

Hmm. Looking at this from the point of view that... it's actually happening (!), whatever made us think that the world needs another blog? Is there anything to say that isn't being said on a thousand other blogs around the globe 'most every day?

Yes. Our thoughts and experiences are to be read nowhere else but here, though on some days, perhaps a guest blogger will sit in. Sometimes we'll be away from our computers as we, spouses/partners/co-authors, carry on with our determination to make a success out of our fairly new joint career as authors, illustrators, and publishers.

At present, that means we spend untold hours... researching, writing, illustrating, publishing, advertising, and shipping... and many miles (over 16,000 between April and November in 2006, 14,000 in 2007) with our books and our friends... not a bad life. But we have even bigger things we want to accomplish, so stick with us. All will be revealed in its time.

So far this year we have only been to Scottish events in Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, Florida. Fort Lauderdale was a new venue for us, and the weather was as warm and lovely as one could want on the 12th of January... about 80 degrees and sunny, as it was last year when we first went to Orlando. (I think it's the way of those Florida weathermen; give visitors great weather when they come for a first visit so they'll come back again!) We were delighted and made to feel welcome by the folks who came to our tent. We spent some generously hosted time with cousins (thanks for everything, Jim and Janie, Doris, and Ron and Connie) in The Villages between venues, and revisited Orlando's Scottish festival the next weekend.

January 19th started out with a heavy mist so permeating that we kept our books in their boxes, except for one each which we enclosed in clear plastic zipper bags for display. We still met a lot of Scots and chatted with them about our Rebel King series of historical novels. Sunday was as sunny as Saturday had been gray, but it was also cold and windy, and the people stayed away in droves. Generally not a good day for us as vendors, but we heard that several other vendor or clan tents had been lost to the wind and were in the nearby lake... with the 'gators! Fortunately, we managed to keep our tent over our heads until after the closing ceremonies, when we dismantled and stowed our gear for the trip back home to Virginia Beach. (In case you're keeping score, that's about 2160 highway miles, round trip.) Before leaving town, though, we capped our trip with a too-short visit with Alice, a fan of our books who has grown into a friend.

We're soon to head back to the Sunshine State, this time to Jacksonville, for the Northeast Florida Scottish Games and Festival on February 23rd, the "last Saturday in February". This will be our second time there, though our first visit to the Jax games was several years ago, as guests of Dunedin Scottish, and our good friends the MacDonalds, to whom we owe many thanks. Pat, we'll see you soon, if all goes as expected.

Visit this blog often, and we'll try not to bore you with drivel. Instead, if you will, consider yourself a friend, and just drop by for a chat, or a rant, or a deep discussion on any subject of interest. If you spot a typo, a misuse of a word, or an error of any sort, please drop us a line and let us know. We'll correct it. However, if you just disagree with an opinion, though you can tell us about it, don't expect to change it!

Meantime, we'll leave you with this thought from Meriwether Lewis, the great explorer who, with William Clark and a party of other frontiersmen, mapped a route through the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase lands to the Columbia Gorge and the Pacific Ocean:

The adventure, places and scenery along the way, the road untraveled, and the path not yet taken, a stream uncrossed and a mountain unclimbed, and the discovery of other ways are a memory savored when destiny is met, because it is the Journey, not the destination that leads us on.

CDHB