So long we have nutshells or synopses early on so you’ll know what to expect. The magazine format, BTW, doesn’t permit the standard read more process.Â
Here’s whatâs in the Annual—Â jump right in via the linksÂ
The Climate Crisis
Itâs no longer climate changeâitâs now a crisis. That means the change is seriousâand getting worse. We need to deal with it NOW. Why? Because of the accelerating change and the trend line. You probably already believe itâs happening. This article will help you inform friends, family and others of the factsâand what needs doing.
The Third AgeâLiving It and Loving It
Are you retired or will be soon? Are you living your dreams? Enjoying your golden years? Got a plan if youâre not there yet? We have the info you needâmoney, travel, staying involved, health and more. You donât have to be rich, you just need ideas. We have some, plus a guide to finding many more.
Perspectives on the Eternity of Lifeâand a Remembrance
We all will die somedayâthatâs a certainty. How we live our lives will make a difference on what happens thereafter. Heaven, hell, rebirthâyour faith and your choice. If nothing else, a life lived well offers an easier death and good memories of you by others. Read on for perspectives on a different view of eternity.
More Writing TipsâNew and Revisited
If youâre a writerâaspiring or otherwise, tips are always welcome. You can never know too much about the art or craft of writing. More tools, more ways to connect with a reader. We get so many, so often, itâs hard to keep up with them. Bookmark these. Then try them when you have the time.
Images from Here and ThereâLandscape and More
A photo gallery from our own homeâoutdoors. Southwestern New Mexico may be arid but itâs not a desert. Lots of beautiful flowers bloom hereâeven if they are atop cacti. The rocks are pretty in the West as well. So too further north. We love it here but weâre going more places in the Third Age.
Works in ProgressâComing from Eagle Peak Press
We have an ambitious schedule for the next several years. Lots of books comingâshort story collections, Sci-fi, mysteries and more. Read all about it in this compilation of works in progress. PLUS read excerpts or samples of the new short story collection coming for the 2019 holidays. The stories range from flash fiction to traditional.
We had a very nice–but very short, visit to Puerto Vallarta recently. It’s a resort on the Pacific coast of Mexico, south of Guadalajara–midway between the north and south. We had the time and wanted a brief getaway. Gave us the opportunity to meet face-to-face with my writer friend D.G. Kaye and her husband. We also went for some very nice sunny/warm (not hot) weather.
Left to right, bottom row: my wife, my self, Faye, Ted. 2nd row, Deb’s hub, D.G. herself, Colette and her husband Freddy. above at a very good steakhouse
We spent no time in the ocean–OK, we did walk on the beach and nearly got our feet wet.  How is it possible to go to a beach resort and not go in the water? Easy, you walk in the sand and swim in the pool.
In days gone by, my wife would comb the beach for shells on Ocracoke or Hatteras. Iâd splash around close to shore, watch the kids or the dog. Later on, weâd be on the sound side of the Outer Banksâswimming and playing with the dogs. That was then, this is nowâin Puerto Vallarta.
A guy asked where we were from and the weather there. After I told him, he asked why we here. OK, itâs not super cold in southwestern New Mexico. It is cold enough, however, to welcome the 80 sunny degrees of a Pacific bay in Mexico. Watch out thoughâall inclusive resorts are fattening if your discipline falters. Mine did. Try a little of this, a little of thatâand then a little more of the other. But the few pounds added are coming back off. (You don’t have to go all-inclusive)
What a view from our 18th floor balcony! An enormous balcony for a room with only a king-sized bed and no chairs. The chairs were on the balcony. Did I mention big? Yes, 20 feet acrossâthe width of the bedroom plus another eight feet it shared with the dining area outside the sliding glass door. The ocean side had an outsized L-shaped sofa seating eight and two chaises. The dining area had a table with six chairs. They called it a âromantic suite.â Maybe romantic parties with friends? Yes, the view itself was romantic, as you can see from the sunset picture above and the balcony below.
We watched the people in the pool from our vantage point, people on the beach under thatched umbrellas, sailboats, kayaks, fishing boats and more. Plus, an abundance of parasailers plying the skies. Oh, and a couple cruise ships coming into the three-pier berthing area a mile away.
If youâre under forty (or an adventurous middle-aged and up sort of person) the aerial adventures might be just your thing. Or you could go zip-lining, off-roading in the jungle or on somewhat less extreme tours of the nearby mountains. Not for us–maybe the mountains, another time.
We didnât go in our pool, we visited my fellow writer friend D.G. Kaye and a few of her Canadian cohorts at her pool. Not without some hassles from the security folks at the palatial condo complex she and her hubby were staying in. There were the inevitable chaise reservation warsâpeople putting toys and towels on preferred lounges early in the day. I didnât have to take her word for how much Canadians like Puerto Vallarta. We saw a quarter-mile long and three or four people wide line at the departure counter for a flight to Montreal. On that score, a word of warningâdonât depart on the weekend at the local airport. Thereâs not nearly enough seating for all. Also, watch out for the time share hawker gauntlet you must pass through to get to cabs when arriving.
Aside from the airport hassles, itâs a great place to get away from wintry weather up north. Daytime temps in the eighties and nighttime lows in the sixties in January and February. Wonderful places to stay at reasonable rates. If you like luxury you can try the upscale Nuevo Vallarta area farther up the shore. There are things to see and do for middle aged and up. Nightlife, museums, walking tours and shopping. We werenât there long enough to do many of them. But we did eat out at some tasty and nearby restaurants. We also took a walk along the Malecon Boardwalk. I wonder, can a concrete surface of pavers, etc. be a âboardwalk?â Regardless, the evening stroll provided some very interesting sculpture. One might think Dali sculpted one or more, as surreal as they appearedâbut I canât say whether any were his or not.
What kind of sculpture you ask? Well, here’s a sample.
Swallow an egg?
a female diver?
A trumpet-faced creature?
As for the twist
Hereâs the background. Once, many decades ago, I resisted an urge to take a 100-foot leap from a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. It (didn’t) happen, near Red Wing, Minnesota. I was a kid, with no death wish. Why the strange draw to jump?
The corridor to the elevator from our 18th floor room was open to the skies. It had just a four-foot wall keeping us from the pavement 18 stories below. I felt that pull again, looking over the wall. However, I didnât feel that pull from our balcony. Why not?
The room next to ours had a red cloth banner strung diagonally across the door. We wondered what happened there. We didnât ask. Use your own imaginationâwe did. Just maybe, an answer to why I felt that urge in Red Wing so long ago. But this is a travel post, not a horror/thriller item. Could work it into a story thoughâlook for it on my writing blog, John Maberry’s Writings, someday soon perhaps.
It’s here–in living color! The October Eagle Peak Quarterly. Read it all at once or a little at a time.
We’ll try something new in this promo. Today, the list of articles with short excerpts. Then, for the next two weeks, we’ll post more of each article every other day. If we don’t get to your comment, it’s because we’ll be offline for a few days.
Most people, IÂ suspect, celebrate anniversaries as special occasions. These are different. Theyâre reference points in the tapestry of life. Signposts of events that have significantly affected the trajectory of my existence or describe it. Arriving in Vietnam 50 years ago. Writing a book about what transpired and how it changed me for the better.
Franco-American writer and professor Michele de Gastyne offers her views and agreement on SGI leader Ikedaâs proposal to put youth in the forefront of dealing with the problems of nuclear proliferation, refugees, xenophobia and more. Itâs a long and densely worded article, reflecting both the thoughts of Daisaku Ikeda and de Gastyneâs consideration of them.
Tony Goodlette spent eight years in Vietnam from 1967-1975. He still suffers health effects from that time. But the Buddhism he began practicing a few years later has enabled him to make even more valuable contributions to America and the world, with humanism and compassion. Read the interview for details of this manâs interesting life.
Itâs not cheap, but itâs worth it. Be advised: this is not a âwing itâ vacation. Planning is essential if youâre to make the most of your familyâs time and money. Juanita explains it allâwell much of it anyway. But she tells you where you can find out more.
Did you watch the PBS series on the Vietnam War? This 10-part, 18-hour film is among the best and most comprehensive feature on that warâwith interviews from both sides and more. Stream it from the web and much more on the PBS site. Or take a peek at some beautiful travel photos from Nat Geo.
More on financial planning (boring or drollâitâs important). Weight-loss techniques that actually WORKâthe publisher can prove it! You wonât believe how much heâs lost. Building that dream homeârealizing a boomer fantasy; another true-life experience. Weâll explain some alternatives and offer tips on buying a house. Plus the usual: Like an interview and items worth noting.
Sally Croninâs fabulous site is indeed a smorgasbord, with a potpourri of posts across a broad topical spectrum. Thereâs health, nutrition medical news. She freely promotes fellow authors. Most importantly, Sally tells readers about her own booksâproviding reviews and telling us where to get them. Sheâs been a storyteller most of her life, she says.
In honor of the upcoming travel season, D.G. Kaye is putting her book, Have Bags, Will Travelon promotion for FREE, from November 28th through December 2nd! The book will be available Free to all countries. This Universal Link  will take you directly to the Amazon book page of your country to download it. I encourage you to get it if you haven’t read it. I did, here’s my review from Goodreads.
In reviewing Have Bags, Will Travel I must first confess that I have never been a woman, at least in this lifetime. That, not to put too much of  a sexist spin on it, means I donât have the shopping gene. Still, having watched countless movies and TV shows over a lifetimeâand read a few books as well, I am familiar with the whole shopping zeitgeist. Then too, I have had the experience of traveling hither and yon. Not having the shopping gene has saved me from some of the travel travails that D.G. Kaye humorously recounts. The need for a travel scale to weigh suitcases. Customs enforcers frequently finding fault, or at least doubt, with her attention to limits on the value of goods brought into the country.
Whether youâre a shopper or not, thereâs no doubt that flying is not as much fun as it once might have been for many. The seats get smaller, the aisles narrower, the allowable luggage more compact and of course the security checks have become over the top. Ms Kaye covers it all in a breezy book, reminiscing on her adventures around the globe with friends and fellow shoppers. Itâs a fast and funny read.
One of the advantages of living in Silver City, New Mexico is the annual Blues Festival (now known as the Blues and Bike Festival). What’s really special is that it’s FREE! This was the 21st in the long history of blues festivals here, sponsored by the Mimbres Arts Council. It happens every Memorial Day Weekend from Friday evening through Sunday late afternoon (7 pm this year). A large crowd of (peaceful) bikers show up on their Harleys, Hondas and other bikes. Plenty of visitors join the locals for the music.
This year, the Taj Mahal Trio headlined Saturday night, from 7:30 to 9 pm with their slow blues. We really liked Zac Harmon, who preceded Taj Mahal. On Sunday we caught award-winning soul blues singer Missy Andersen and her band. We missed some other great bands or heard parts of their performances: the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Harlis Sweetwater Band, Edie Steed and the Roadrunners, Heather “Lil Mama” Hardy and more.
Here’s a short clip of Missy Andersen:
If you can’t live here, at least you should come visit! There’s lots of art galleries, some decent restaurants and other special events like the annual tour of the Gila (bicycle race), craft festivals, chocolate fantasia and more.
Seeing things as they really are, without the illusions or delusions
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