My first Post. Many thanks to those who have lit the intellectual fire under my ass and inspired me to get my own blog going. Actually,

it's more been more like a smoldering flame but just recently, enough things have happened to fan the flame- it has burst, shooting high, wide and bright, like freshly-airbrushed orange and red licks on a Harley gas tank.

Special thanks to my blonde blogging muses;

• Beth Humprhey, pictured here at last year's b'day @NWHC-we celebrate this year on Sept 7; stay-tuned), Actually- Beth, I must call you out on this; I've never seen your blog. However, you have ritually insisted I should get one going; write a little bit everyday. Thank you.
  FYI Beth has saved all my letters I ever wrote her and given them back to me for not-so-fictional biography fodder. Let's just say they are under lock-n-key until the time is right!Check out this FABULOUS artist www.bhumphrey.com
• Courtney Pyle, bon vivant, travelouger and non-western antiquities expert (I'll wait to post a link to her blog-not sure what the etiquette is...)
  
• Cornelia Read, author extraordinaire, www.corneliaread.com . I'm reading and immensley enjoying her book "A Field of Darkness"
  

Though they are not related, except by hair color and knowing me, they each embody the power of open journaling; sharing travel tales, vivid visuals, humour, and wit right along with self-deprecating emotional tail-spins and plain 'ole pain.
Courtney and Cornelia's blogs are worth emulating; light-hearted-descriptive narratives, poingant prose, and Nat Geo quailty photos -or aptly funny researched google-reference pics. BUT I'm sure whatever is going to come of this; out of my head and my eye, will be purely "me."
It will take a while before I reach their heights. For now, I will try and write complete sentences and spell things right.
Beware: I will still use CAPITOL letters and ...s, and dashes for emphasis. I will try not to use too many exlamation points or unecessary words. Strunk & White still has a place on my desk. I'll give it a going over if I really get into this free-writing thing. I've been lucky to have good editors work over my recent pieces: "Make Room for Basil" and "The Finer Side of Upland Hunting and Target Sports in the Hudson Valley".
At this moment I really should be doing a cooking class schedule email notification...and spending a little time with my new husband. He's just back from BASS FISHING (see photo of last year's catch) at the neighbors and kibbutzing with their college-aged son, Elliot, about HOME-BREWING. (see photo of FIRST batch)
But I'm really enjoying this (20 minutes so far) and I hope to keep it up. I aspire to use the phrase "Dear Reader..." or some such nonsense IN THE FUTURE ...
I know I can't stop this blog yet because I have many more muses to thank and rave about. What do you call a male muse?
Over-n-Out. Jessica