Summer Vacations

Soon, summer vacations begin.  I shall get an early start.  Heading to Austria Monday.  The next day is full of nervous preparations.  I will not have much time for myself while I am there and do not expect it to be a good photo trip.  But the air should be fresh and the views wonderful, and perhaps something there will recharge my batteries.  Business, not pleasure, but it is free.  I will make the most of it.

Departure, however, reminds me of all the things I am leaving undone.  Have left, that is.  They are overwhelming and impossible to do now.  When I return, I tell myself, I will put my house in order.  Much in my life is in transition at the moment anyway, major changes taking place while I am gone.  I will not come back to the same life I left.  Am I being vague?  Yes, yes.  Everything gives way.  Time erases it all.  I heard that in a trailer for a movie last night.  We only hear, of course, what we are prepared to hear.

I read yesterday that suicides now outnumber murders in the U.S.  Something telling there.  First time ever.  Do you wonder what that means?  The demographics shifted in that group, too.  Much younger now.  Another report on the same front page (New York Times) linked LED lights to insomnia.  Seems that they fool the brain.  Did anybody ever think, though, that they were good for us?  I'm sure we should quit it.  All of it.  But we won't.  I will, though, for awhile anyway.  Fewer movies and more books.  Less time with a computer, and never after dark.  I have other changes in mind as well.  I will work more with my hands.  I will be more primitive.

But it all starts with the trip on Monday.  I will post tomorrow, but after that, it will be intermittent until June.  By then, you will be on summer vacation, too.