Not really a Vacation-vacation (with a capital V and those drinks with the little umbrellas).  More like an enforced vacation ala Survivor, with swamps of paperwork, deadline tightropes, and the like.  I work in the education industry, in a non-profit organization.  What this means is, while everyone else is off for the summer, we are in high gear planning out a whole year’s worth of curriculum and program services and readying everything for the teachers and children to come back in August.

In other words, I call my friends and family in May and inform them I won’t be seen again until September.  How I found the time to launch this blog and keep writing on it all summer can only be chalked up to madness or the cancellation of cable TV in favor of writing.  As with most things, it’s some of both.

Also, I noticed today that about 15 comments or so were posted that I didn’t get notification of this week.  I have my blog set to notify me of comments but to moderate the first comment made by a reader (the rest go through after that with only a “heads up” for me that you’ve said something).  So when I logged on today and found 15 sitting in the pending pile (and 78 in the Spam bin… joy), I wigged.  I’m online tonight and will be answering comments for a good while and getting a bit more writing done.  Thanks for your patience as I wade through it all!  (And a special thanks to Avren for dropping me the email saying “Hey, I don’t see a recent post this week… your blog down?  You ok?”  There is a special place in the Summerlands for folks who check on other folks!)

Anyhoo… I’ve been working on some new ideas for topics here.  I received some GREAT feedback about my Reconstructionist/Modern Paganism article on Witchvox this week.  And thanks to all of you, my readership is steadily increasing!  I had over 100 hits on my blog on Sunday and am nearing the 10,000 page reads point with my site.  I appreciate all of you who enjoy reading my site, who are spreading the word about it, and giving me that loving nudge to write.  I’d write anyway, but the nudge is like the extra dollop of whipped cream on… well, whatever!  Extra whipped cream — always a bonus!

Photo by Linda Davenport, 2009.