Just down the road here in rural Georgia, Nine Line Apparel and Black Rifle Coffee Company thrives. From their website; “In the military, a Nine Line medevac is a request for a soldier that is injured on the battlefield. As a lifestyle brand, Nine Line Apparel aims to reinvigorate the sense of patriotism and national pride that is disappearing daily from our society.” A pleasant surprise for me? I found virtually nothing political in their establishment. Bravo! More below….
Like always, incessant change is upon us.
I thank YOU for helping me make some changes to the format of this newsletter.
Dateline September 30, 2021
Location: Rural Savannah, Georgia
A heads-up: Last month, I combined this newsletter with my RV blog update. Feedback was positive, with one exception – it was too long. I am not known for brevity. Of anything. I vow to continue working on that.
I am also grateful to some of you for another reason. Researching and writing my latest (sixth) novel, my most ambitious project to date, consumes most of my time and mental energy. That, and living a traveling life with my bride of fifty-two years, is exhausting. I try to maintain some sort of balance between writing and all the other important stuff normal people spend time on, but frequently fail to do so.
Imagine my delight when you informed me it really was okay to combine my RV Blog updates with this monthly newsletter. I share what’s on my mind with all of you here instead of once to my RV friends and separately to those of you who subscribe to this newsletter.
And I promise they’ll be shorter too. And more focused (another personal challenge). That helps me as well. Thank you all.
So here goes, and keep the feedback flowing my way–good, bad, or ugly. I can handle it. After all, I’m a writer, and writers don’t last long without a thick skin!
Maybe like you, I don’t spend enough energy celebrating the lives of everyday heroes. Toward that end, today I’m asking you to celebrate with me the lives of some folks I’ve met recently. You know some of them too. In addition to all the truly extraordinary heroes we may know of–there are never enough–let’s celebrate everyday people living extraordinary lives:
Sometimes, just getting by is extraordinary. This is no recreational vehicle–this is home for one everyday hero.
The single mom I met working double shifts at a rural convenience store lives in a travel trailer in order to provide for her six-year-old son and teenage daughter. She didn’t smile much, but spoke of her little soldier’s bravado and her princess‘s burgeoning talents. She didn’t really need to smile. I could see the pride in her tired eyes as she leaned on the counter between us for support. Said she felt terrible for not having brought photos.
A young couple I met yesterday had just sold everything so they could purchase and move into their very first RV the same day. They enthusiastically dove into a new life together overnight so now they can choose where they will employ their portable skills while home-schooling their fourteen-year-old daughter to avoid exposing her to the ravages of COVID in their old neighborhood.
A gentleman I met last week had broken his back not so long ago. John was forced to retire from his job due to his injury. For two decades, he had serviced chillers for industrial air conditioners. After several surgeries to embed structural pins in his spine, he now is able to care for his asthmatic wife who is still recovering from a near-fatal six-week stay in the hospital. Just released. Yup, COVID again. She cannot survive for the foreseeable future without a pressurized breathing apparatus. They’re hoping for the best. And he’s taking her camping!
Then there’s my new pocket-rocket friend, Vicky, the first female fire chief in the state of Florida, recently retired. She is traveling through North Carolina with her son, David, who suffers from severe MS. Her husband was not with her as he is a sea-going tugboat captain out of Houston, too near retirement to take time off just now (?) Vicky was trying to manage the captain’s RV for the first time, and I was glad to help her. She shared with me she was granting David’s wish before he succumbed completely to MS – he wanted to go on a trip. This strong woman trembled.
A dear long-term friend worked tirelessly for decades to become an influential executive in a multinational corporation, and succeeded. He and his wife retired to enjoy the fruits of their labor. One sunny Minnesota morning a few years ago, for no apparent reason, she lost consciousness in the kitchen of their new dream home and struck her forehead on the corner of a countertop before bouncing the back of her head on the hardwood floor. The result: a severe traumatic brain injury. Now they make the best of it. He spends almost all of his time and energy caring for her. She spends most of her time sleeping. Dreaming too, maybe? We look forward to spending some time with them in two weeks.
This week, a young woman named Shannon Harrel and I shared stories about writing. She works in a campground here in rural Georgia. Shannon writes about caring for the horse that killed her mother, for a talkative cat named “Bad Ass,” who is well past his prime, and for her father who is possessed by advancing dementia. Shannon writes and publishes stories of her earthy experiences, salted with both fact and fiction. Check out her debut novella entitled Legacy. You will be touched, as I was.
A young man named Evan drove himself mercilessly to become a Green Beret, later a CIA officer, and now continues his service to others as the youthful CEO of his own company with the goal of hiring 10,000 veterans – his tribe, his family. Evan’s company, less than a mile down the road from where Kay and I are parked right now, inspires the locals. A visit to his website, Black Rifle Coffee, will inspire you too. Check out their apparel at NineLineApparel.com. The few words we shared, well, I was impressed.
My remarkable niece, Connie, and her husband Jason, raised two children in the Kingdom of Lesotho, which is surrounded by the country of South Africa. Later, they moved to war-torn Mali for a brief time. She served as a missionary in Africa for fifteen years, while Jason served as a bush pilot in support of their mission. Oh, the stories of recovering live HIV-infected infants from dumpsters, tipping aircraft off mountaintops because the landing strip was too short, and warlords invading their village to pillage homes–including theirs–and…. Jason now instructs missionary pilots in Nampa, Idaho at Mission Aviation Fellowship. Connie is the founder and executive director of the Idaho Learning Center and Academy. When Connie’s own daughter struggled to learn, she felt compelled to help her and other children who absorbed information differently from the way standard curriculums in traditional schools taught, so she started ILCA. Like most of her earlier life, the ILCA, aka Joshua Institute, was born out of Connie’s personal necessity and desire to serve others. Connie recently returned from a trip to train instructors in Zimbabwe, located in Southeastrn Africa. Like I said, remarkable.
I could go on, but I won’t for the sake of brevity (oops, too late?). I am grateful for so many heroes in my life, especially my own Miss Kay right here in our movable home. Plus, I am delighted to discover more everyday heroes each day. We have but to see them, and listen.
That’s another reason I write – to celebrate, in my own way. What do all these folks share? A desire to get through each and every day the best way they know how – often in service to others, whether it’s just to one or two other family members, to their community, to thousands of others, to their nation, to their brothers and sisters in arms, or to humanity. Some serve by sharing their remarkable stories to inspire the rest of us. These are the everyday heroes I wish us to celebrate together, at least for today. But why not every day?
Why not reach out to all the everyday heroes in your own life and thank them for their service to others, and maybe even for their fealty to themselves and to their passions? I’m convinced that this is how we can be our own hero, the best version of ourselves, by expressing gratitude to others, and to ourselves for what we have and can accomplish–every day. You game? Let’s do it!
Help me celebrate by sharing this post with others you might like to inspire! Copy this link: https://gkjurrens.com/2021/09/30/everyday-heroes/ and post it in an email, on Facebook, Twitter, or wherever you believe a little positivity is needed to counter SO much negativity. Thank you for helping me restore some balance. It all helps.
I celebrate you too!
With pen in hand… wherever… and until…
Gene
Now how can I plunge the everyday heroes in my latest manuscript into even more deep guilty? What emotional lies will they tell themselves to ease their pain, or to justify their actions? To what tiny prejudices will they surrender or defeat to protect their own? How far are they willing–or able–to go? Look for “Black Blizzard” Winter 2021-2022by GK Jurrens
for a mix of stories you just won’t find anywhere else…
“Here’s to the allure of the obscure!”
Dateline August 28, 2021
Location: Rural Rodanthe, North Carolina
In this issue:
USNaval Academy
Washington DC
Flight of Fancy
Beaching It
Featured Guests
Put Me In, Coach!
P.S. Vegan? Really? Why?
Warning: I’m combining this newsletter with an RV blog update for this issue. Thanks for your patience. Life is overflowing these days. We are so blessed!
We’ve crammed in a lot of living this summer, probably because we missed much of 2020. I hope your summer also flows like melting honey. It’s been a robust August for us.
My feet have grown too ugly to prance around naked, so socks are de rigueur for this old vagabond. I’m okay with this arrangement.
We enjoyed thunderous F-18 fighters “in the pattern” at our Virginia Beach RV site from 8AM to almost 10PM daily. That never got old for Kay. We camped directly under the flight pattern of Naval Air Station Oceana just blocks away.
1. US Naval Academy
Miss Kay and I took a guided walking tour of theUnited States Naval Academy before we left Annapolis, Maryland. Steeped in tradition, exploring this fine educational institution and launch pad for Naval and Marine officers’ careers yielded an appreciation for many of their wonderful traditions.
2. Washington DC
No trip to Washington is complete without visiting the White House. After Kay unsuccessfully but cordially negotiated with the US Secret Service to gain entrance to the White House grounds (imagine that – we are not VIPs), we chose a more traditional self-guided walking tour of the National Mall instead. We visited the Washington Monument, walked the Mall, and enjoyed veggie wraps near the Lincoln Memorial. We did not walk toward the Capitol. Too painful. Armed only with a phone camera, we posed as simple tourists for a day. I left my research folder in the motorhome anyway.
We hiked the National Mall from the Washington Monument, the length of the reflecting pool to the Lincoln Memorial with stops at the World War II and Viet Nam Memorials. Heart-rendering, especially seeing names of high school friends who never returned.
Kay: “Yes, I get it. We REALLY can’t get any closer. So how do you like your career in the Secret Service?“
At least the DC street vendors know how to achieve bi-partisanship!
The Viet Nam memorial hit close to home
I wonder if Looey and I would still be friends had he survived…
3. Flight of Fancy
Skydiving was one of my things a few decades ago. So I signed up for indoor skydiving in Virginia Beach. I recommend it! Thanks to Jason and his crew.
Check out a sixty-second video of one of my flightsherewith Jason, my instructor.
Am I too old for this? Nah!
Jason stays vertical & immune to the 100 MPH winds from below.
Look, Ma! No hands, or ground!
Thirty feet may not sound like a lot, but…
Indoor skydiving uplifted me–about thirty feet.
4. Beaching It
We sought out two beaches during a two-week stay in the city of Virginia Beach. One was a trolley ride down the road from our campground, and it is indeed a big-city beach with lots of people (fewer than normal, though, due to COVID).
Kay gravitated to the handsome young lifeguard.
I’m told this “boardwalk” along the ocean normally “bustles.”
The season draws to a close soon, but the crowds on the streets were already sparce due to COVID. All stores required masks indoors.
The other Virginia beach we visited required a drive across the CBBT. That’s the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel, an adventure in itself. Almost nineteen miles long, they charge fourteen bucks each way. The toll would have been $43 for the RV, but we just day-tripped in the Jeep. Two tunnels and lots of bridge-spans connect Virginia proper from what is called the Eastern Shore on the Delmarva Peninsula. The bay is on one side, several barrier islands and the Atlantic Ocean on the other. It feels more like an island than a peninsula.
This long finger of land contains most of the state of Delaware to the north, Maryland’s eastern shore in the middle, and Virginia’s eastern shore to the south. By the way, the term Delmarva is derived from the letters in the name of the three states that share the peninsula: DELaware, MARyland, and VirginiA.
Once we reached the southern tip of Delmarva via the CBBT, a short ten-mile drive found us in the sleepy village of Cape Charles, Virginia. Their short beach at the edge of a four-block-long downtown felt much more intimate than VB. Plus it faces the bay, not the Atlantic. If we’re ever in this part of the country again, this might just be where we’d choose to hang out. Their water tower fascinated me. I couldn’t tell if it doubled as a functioning lighthouse. If we spent more time here, I would have researched that.
We found the village of Cape Charles a delightful combination of old Victorian homes, a historic downtown area, more than a few ramshackle properties, and an intimate beach. Unlike Virginia Beach where you have to park blocks or miles away from the beach, and most probably in a multi-story garage structure for $3-5 per hour, we parked free with only a curb separating us from the sandy dunes.
Water tower? Light station? Both?
And this was on a weekday in Cape Charles!
Just, well, lovely
Coffee ‘n tea ‘n music ‘n art ‘n mahjongg….
A nice bay beach at Cape Charles.
The private beach at the Chesapeake Bay KOA on the Eastern Shore.
Kay’s passion for lighthouses drove us to a military installation called Fort Story north of Virginia Beach (I once dreamed of being a lighthouse keeper in my youth). She needed to see two lighthouses near the shore at Cape Henry, often called the gateway to the Chesapeake.
Note that Cape Henry guards the entrance to the Chesapeake with Cape Charles on the eastern shore just to the north.
Aside from its strategic location, the original Cape Henry lighthouse was the very first American public works project in the late 1700s after the revolution (the war of “insurrection,” if you’re a Brit), and the formation of our nation. Remarkably, it still stands, although the keepers said it was too hot for us to climb the stairs (115+ degrees inside that day).
The “new” Cape Henry lighthouse (built in 1881 from modern materials like cast iron sections and a fresnel lens and light visible nineteen miles out) as viewed from atop the fifty-foot dune upon which the old lighthouse rests.
We moved the rig down the road a couple hundred miles to North Carolina’s Outer Banks (OBX). This series of barrier islands from Corolla to Ocracoke lay between the mainland and the Atlantic. These slender fingers of sand stretch a couple hundred miles generally north and south. Most are connected with bridges.
The population here is mostly seasonal, but even during the season (it’s just winding down), it feels SO much more intimate (and relaxed) than big city life and big city beaches. Here, we could acquire a permit for building a fire on the beach (below the high tide line). We could also acquire an ORV (Off-Road Vehicle) permit to drive on some of the beaches and sandy trails, but only in designated areas. There are many. But this is not a notion to be considered lightly, even with a four-wheel-drive vehicle.
For example, we would love to take the Jeep (a large Grand Cherokee) off-road within the Hatteras Wildlife preserve (where permitted). But required equipment includes a shovel, tire boards, a jack support board, a tow strap, a fire extinguisher, etc, and we’d need to deflate our tires from their customary 36-38 PSI down to 20 PSI or we will get stuck. This is soft powdery sand out here. I do have the ideal compressor onboard for re-inflating to road pressures, but I’m lacking some of the other gear, and maybe a little courage. We’re still debating.
Meanwhile, we’re parked in a small campground in Waves, North Carolina, in the mid-OBX (see the area circled above). When we step out of our motorhome, we can hear the Atlantic surf rolling in if the wind is up, and it usually is. Only a hundred yards and a small grassy dune stand between us and a private Atlantic beach. Last night we sat fifty feet from the water watching a few folks surf-fishing in the near dark. A few others played frisbee golf, flew kites or sat around a fire. All in all, it felt very much like 1960s SoCal.
They shovel sand off the roads here, not snow…
Let’s watch stars & listen to the surf!
“Our” beach…
Our rig is just a few sites away from the beach.
The color from the beach fades as the sun sets from behind.
If you sit close to the dune grasses, they whisper as the surf roars…
We drove down the road a few miles from our campground to visit the famous Cape Hatteras Light Station which has been moved away from the shore twice due to erosion, and to prevennt rising sea levels from consuming it. She is the tallest brick lighthouse at ~210 feet.
Visiting the Ocracoke Island Light Station required a high-speed ferry ride, an hour in each direction at 28 knots (32 MPH). We really enjoyed this exhilarating cruise in the Pamlico Sound. There are only a thousand full-time residents on Ocracoke.
5. Featured Guests
A head’s up to all of my friends and family who may have experienced one or more traumatic brain injuries: keep reading.
Meet Chief Ron Keller and Chief Dale Oran, both US Navy Retired. We met and enjoyed the company of Dale and Ron awhile back. Both still live in the Virginia Beach area, near where they spent a portion of their careers, and where we spent two short but busy weeks.
Left: Dale. Right: Ron. Our new friends surround Kay at Naval Operations Base Norfolk.
Dale’s expertise spans ordnance (weapons) on eleven platforms (types of aircraft). Ron piloted Navy hovercrafts (LCACs). Both adopted us as friends, and for that we are grateful. Both advocate an emerging therapy for traumatic brain injuries and other maladies that assist the human body with self-healing, such as burns and other tissue damage. It’s called HBOT, or HyperBaric Oxygen Therapy. They actively work with and advocate for a local provider, Renova.
Aside from sharing their enthusiastic experience with HBOT for themselves and for their compatriots, Ron and Dale were kind enough to provide us with a peek inside the largest US Naval installation in the world, the combination of Naval Station (formerly NOB) Norfolk and Naval Air Station Oceana. There are no words…
A photo can’t do justice to three aircraft carriers in port! Big boys are in town.
The Navy’s newest carrier under construction. Note the compact superstructure with all the latest technology.
An angular profile, combined with plywood and kevlar sheeting provide unparalleled radar stealth.
Some naval aviation history….
The F-14 Tomcat with its wings swept back and folded.
Dale describes the physics of the venerable F-14 “Tomcat.”
Ron and Dale got us as close as any civilians to three aircraft carriers (one still under construction), destroyers, cruisers, support ships, including some state-of-the-art vessels. And they took us through the “petting zoo” (aircraft collection on display) at Naval Air Station Oceana (the largest NAS in the world). And we deemed it a privilege to be escorted by two knowledgable veterans like Dale and Ron. Thanks again, guys!Watching those F-18s come and go still thrills us, even if you grow tired of all that blustering might 😉
6. Put Me In, Coach!
Sharing my experience with other writers is fulfilling, but taking this past-time seriously consumes a significant amount of energy. So as awriting coach, I work with just a few clients who are serious about growing in the craft with me. This does compete with my own writing efforts, but I too grow as a writer by helping others, and this is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s also a team sport!
Speaking of which, research continues on my historical fiction project. As this city boy digs into farming practices and social challenges of the 1930s, family history, and anecdotes from those who lived through the ’30s, this quest seems endless, but gratifying. It’s a long game.
In “the office” hailing passersby on the beach, “Howdy! Do you read books?”
Meanwhile, it is also gratifying to teach writing seminars and to sell my books face-to-face. I’ve so enjoyed placing signed copies in the hands of appreciative readers. So far this summer, I’ve had the opportunity to do so in Florida, Indiana, Minnesota, Iowa, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina.
I’ve been witnessing first-hand a fascinating phenomenon. Most folks rarely meet published authors. When they do, and learn a bit about their lives, possessing their books makes for a powerful social connection. At least that’s my perception. All I know is I’m selling books the old-fashioned way—by connecting with people, and by making friends. It feels damn good.
With pen in hand,
Gene
P.S. You are likely not a vegan, or even a vegetarian, but you might be curious what could possibly possess those of us who are. I offer you two tidbits you probably won’t discover anywhere else today.
Read a few articles on a website called “Forks Over Knives.” Better yet, do yourself a favor and invest the time to watchthis film on that site, or at least part of it. It’s a real eye-opener.
Moving to a new area every few weeks presents Kay and I challenges when we choose to dine out. We’ve just discovered a wonderful app for our smart-ass phones that finds restaurants nearby who offer healthy food options. It’s calledHappy Cow, and is well worth the free download! You will also be gratified to support small restaurants dedicated to sustainable agriculture and who support local farmers. Karma, baby!
Do you know why the cow is happy? We’re not killing and eating her!
Food pics, directions, phone, etc. Even a map. You can select “filters” to only show restaurants you prefer (vegan, vegetarian, take-out, delivery, bakery, breakfast…)
Photos of a recommended establishment may be included with its listing.
Three screenshots of the Happy Cow app above. Okay, now I know where we’re having breakfast at least once! Thanks, Happy Cow!
for a mix of stories you just won’t find anywhere else…
“Here’s to the allure of the obscure!”
Dateline July 31, 2021
Location: Rural Annapolis, Maryland
From “First-and-Only-Draft Bill” himself…
"So we'll live, and pray and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh
At gilded butterflies ...
And take upon us the mystery of things
As if we were Gods' spies."
- Wm. Shakespeare, King Lear, V 3
In this issue:
Rally Up & Ante Up!
Mastery of Life
Cycle of Life
Hate the Gorilla?
Featured Guest
1. Rally Up & Ante Up!
Miss Kay and I attended two week-long back-to-back RV rallies in July (whew!). Those of us who live and travel most of the time in our RVs call ourselves full-timers or itinerant vagabonds. We particularly enjoy a special camaraderie and product understanding with other full-timers who live and travel in the same brand of motorhome as ours–Newmar. Fifty-plus coaches gathered in historic Wytheville, Virginia.
Since it can be community-lonely living on the road, these rallies are a great opportunity for fun and friendship. We also collectively contributed over $14,000 to a charity that feeds hungry children, the homeless and shut-in seniors in Wytheville County and environs, the Hope Foundation. That amount included a generous matching donation from our host campground, the Wytheville KOA.
HOPE feeds anyone who is hungry, whether they can pay or not. H.O.P.E. is their acronym for “Helping Overcome Poverty’s Existence.” Please consider offering them a donation here.
The HOPE Foundation fed us with their farm-to-table fare. In return, we collectively contributed to their coffers.
That’s our coach left of center nestled in the SW Virginia mountains at our Newmar Full-timer’s RV Rally. Owners of fifty+ Newmar motorhomes gathered for a time of camaraderie “on the road.”
The following week, almost five hundred motorhomes gathered on the West Virginia State Fairgrounds in Lewisburg for the Newmar-sponsored International Rally, their main annual event. Factory service reps worked on coaches for free or at a reduced rate. Vendors offered products and seminars. I offered a couple of my own seminars on “Writing and Selling Your Novel.” I also signed and sold a couple cartons of my own books (that’s about all I have room for in the bus).
The entire two-week flurry exhilarated and exhausted us.
Oh, and once again, we shared our bounty with the less fortunate children of West Virginia by collectively raising another $12,000 for the Children’s Home Society of West Virginia.
We toured the Fort Chiswell Animal Park near Wytheville (pronounced WITH-ville). Our new friend Puff the camel would not leave us alone! At least the bus (sans window glass) afforded us some protection (from Puff, not from a driving rain earlier in our tour).
Have you ever seen a ze-donk? Yup, that’s what happens with a zebra hooks up with a donkey. You still don’t want to ride ’em. Very wild like its zebra mother.
2. Mastery of Life
That is an illusion, of course. But now and then, moments of brilliant clarity blind the mind’s eye. Maybe they are microscopic moments; nevertheless, they remain moments to remember. These cursory moments offer me a perfect sense of tranquility–an emotional fullness that displaces everything else, an afterglow where time and place and space seem irrelevant, lost in the embrace of a glorious and profound silence. I briefly experience that sometimes when I meditate.
Kay and I practice Transcendental Meditation (TM) twice daily where we revel in such moments. Our nervous systems shed deep-rooted stress at such times. I feel a certain mastery, not of life, but of such quiet moments, of a great weight lifted from deep within. I taste a state of consciousness different from waking, dreaming or sleeping. There is nothing like it. And words fail to describe the experience of this simple but transformative practice. I thought you should know, though. So simple anyone can do it, but so profound I feel fortunate to have discovered and been formally taught TM in 1972. I practice it to this day.
3. Cycle of Life
It is said the only constant in life is change, so why not embrace it?
You already know Kay and I live and travel in a motorhome much of the time. Nowhere more than in our transient lifestyle do we witness bold banners of impermanence. What a great reminder to cherish each moment of every day!
I taught two writing seminars at the Newmar International RV rally. Both were well attended.
We’re so buried in the Maryland woods, we have no satellite TV for the next couple of weeks. But we’re so busy exploring the area, including Annapolis and Washington DC, we won’t have much time for TV anyway, not with everything else we want to accomplish.
Dinner for a thousand, please! Few locations can handle that.
Kay’s brother died in her arms this month in the Chicago area. We happened to be passing through on our way to the rallies. Kay arrived at his hospice facility in time to hold his hand for less than thirty minutes before the end. Some would say, a new beginning. It was nothing short of serendipity she was there when he passed.
Yup, I’m waxing philosophical this pre-dawn morning parked outside of Annapolis, Maryland. Our bus is buried in the woods–a reflective setting made more so by the absence of satellite TV. We’re staying put for a couple of weeks in a place we had never heard of before we reserved this spot at the KOA in Millersville, Maryland.
We venture out today to forage for provisions in stores and farmer’s markets, all of which we’ll visit for the first time. Tomorrow I attack another set of perennial repairs, this time fixing an errant drawer slide, with a little help from my friends at Lowe’s, and with Kay handing me tools.
We also hope to check out an interesting vegan restaurant our favorite search engine (DuckDuckGo) located for us. Everything is strange and new again in the 140th campground we’ve visited within the last six years (if my count is accurate). We’ll also venture into DC for a day or two as it has been decades since either of us has visited our nation’s capital.
Kay and I spent the afternoon exploring the back streets and colorful alleys of Annapolis. Next, we’ll tour the Naval Academy.
4. Hate the Gorilla?
Say what? Look, most folks will admit to appreciating the painless customer experience of “the big gorilla” of online retailers. You know–Amazon.
They have elevated their online shopping experience to an art form. Having admitted that out loud, many authors I know begrudgingly make their titles available as Kindle and/or paperback editions on “the big gorilla.” Others go wide, that is, they offer their books in as many different places as possible.
Many local bookstores adamantly refuse to buy from Amazon or their distributors, preferring to “buy local.” So what does all this mean?
I want to provide you with a “buy local” option for your books from a network of independent bookstores–small businesses–you can and should patronize. Try it! Feels great.
As an author, I am an affiliate of IndieBound, and receive a small commission each time you buy any books from their stores. Just tell them, “GK Jurrens sent me!” And if you are an author, consider signing up as an IndieBound affiliate. It is a useful membership when approaching bookstores to sponsor your signings and sales.
Look, I still use Amazon, but also feel compelled to do my part to aid local small businesses wherever we travel. One such example is the Old Fox Bookstore in Annapolis, Maryland. And what a find on IndieBound.org! Kay and I incorporated a visit into our walking tour of historic downtown Annapolis.
I was particularly drawn to OFB’s lower level (basement) where at the bottom of a tight-radius spiral staircase they feature obscure artifacts and volumes (medieval, apothecary, mysticism, magic, alchemy, history…)i, some in multiple languages. Its ambiance felt a bit like a literary dungeon! Delightfully obscure.
A new and used bookstore (Old Fox Books) disguised as a coffee shop, a tea and spice shop featuring exotic wares, and charming cobblestone streets leading down to the city dock, the Severn River and the Chesapeake Bay? What’s not to like about a visit to Annapolis, the sailor’s mecca? Oh, and we outran a severe storm. Success! Next week? The US Naval Academy and Washington.
5. Featured Guest
Sometimes we meet people who are larger than life. Sometimes, this means they possess a fullness of contagious spirit that seems to define them.
Allow me to introduce Dave Burton. He owns a company called Every Detail. He and his crew came to us. In addition to performing mobile oil changes, they wash, wax and detail… anything. This is Dave’s passion. While they cleaned our bus and toad, I struck up a conversation with Dave. I sensed a kindred spirit.
The steamy SW Virginia afternoon raised a sheen on both our foreheads. He worked, I supervised. Dave said, “Do you know humans are the only species on Earth that drinks the milk of a different species?” Yup, we vegans can sense another vegan from subtle declaratives like that!
Even though a young man, Dave has already lived in Michigan, California, Florida, Tennessee, and now Virginia. He’s worked retail in the food and travel industries, trained as a police officer, and in medical emergency response before creating and growing Every Detail into a successful small business with four employees who seem happily dedicated to their mission.
Dave is blooming where he is planted. I respect that.
Dave’s crew work on washing and waxing our toad (towed vehicle) while he personally uses an extra soft brush in deference to our new paint job.
Dave’s “office” in front of our “home.”
I thank you for your infectious enthusiasm, Dave, for your stories of how you seek delightful and healthy alternatives to dairy and meat products, and how doing so has changed your life, as they also have changed mine.
If you support enthusiastic small businessmen like Dave, stop on over to his Facebook Home Page to say “howdy.” And if you ever find yourself in the Wytheville area…
Dave, may continued success be yours as you enjoy life’s bounty as it was meant to be, my new friend.
for a mix of stories you just won’t find anywhere else…
“Here’s to the allure of the obscure!”
Dateline June 28, 2021
Location: Southeastern Minnesota
Drink it in…
"June's Picture" Let me paint June's picture—first I take some gold,
Fill the picture full of sun, all that it can hold;
Save some for the butterflies, darting all around,
And some more for buttercups here upon the ground;
Take a lot of baby-blue—this—to make the sky,
With a lot of downy white—soft clouds floating by;
Cover all the ground with green, hang it from the trees,
Sprinkle it with shiny white, neatly as you please;
So—a million daisies spring up everywhere,
Surely you can see now what is in the air!
Here's a thread of silver—that's a little brook
To hide in dainty places where only children look.
Next, comes something—guess—it grows
Among green hedges—it's the rose!
Brown for a bird to sing a song,
Brown for a road to walk along.
Then add some happy children to the fields and flowers and skies,
And so you have June's picture here before your eyes.by Annette Wynne
In this issue:
New Memories
New Book Release
Not-So-NewInstitutional Insanity
Featured Guest(A New Perspective)
Did You Know?
1. New Memories
We’ve officially tumbled into summer where a new freedom is born, at least for Miss Kay and myself, along with four robin chicks in a nest just outside the door of our motorhome—a metaphor reflecting our own emergence from the Jurrens’ Florida COVID bunker after a year-and-a-half of isolation! Now, healthier than ever, we remain parked in Southeastern Minnesota, at least for a few more hours.
However you feel about COVID vaccinations, these injections have yielded such emotional relief for Kay and me, not only for our own protection, but for doing our part on behalf of all humanity to deprive this nasty little virus and its spawn a couple more hosts within which it can no longer grow and spread and mutate.
We are of a lighter spirit more so now than in the last eighteen months! For that we are grateful.
And so new life emerges!
We celebrated Juneteenth quietly, without fanfare. After all, this first new national holiday in decades arrived so suddenly, we barely had time to truly understand its significance (click the link above if you’re interested in diving a little deeper. This new holiday possesses a fascinating heritage. So we made no elaborate plans other than educating ourselves over a dish of homemade dairy-free ice cream with a topping of personal reflection.
While our bus wasn’t parked under the now-famous heat dome out west during this last red-hot month, we did share in mid-90 temps even here in the upper Midwest. Thankfully, our two rooftop air conditioners performed flawlessly; however, I studied several articles on how to add a third. Maybe next year. The 2021 bus budget is now officially and irrevocably busted!
This was a memorable June, to be sure. Now here’s to creating more memories in July and beyond !
2. New Book Release
My latest non-fiction book entitledWhy Write? Why Publish? is now available on Amazon as of Juneteenth! In this new book I lay out my approach to an end-to-end paperlesswriting and publishing process for the aspiring writer (or for the seasoned author). Even non-writers will appreciate the “how” behind the “what,” even the “why!”
If I can make this process work efficiently for my own writing and publishing, anyone can!
So whypaperless?Because Miss Kay and I live in a beautiful old bus—and have for most of the last five years—but like most motorhomes, we lack wall and bookshelf space. So I had almost no room for endless post-it notes, timeline charts, a murder/mystery board, and even less space for a decent library of hard copy reference books. So I use this virtually paperless process that has turned out not only to be effective but efficient. And my rather extensive reference library weighs about the same as my iPad, although I do keep a few dog-eared paperback favorites on my end table.
I originally wrote this 170-page writer’s reference with generous help from some of the best authors I know or have studied so I could offer it as an instructive ebook to my seminar attendees this summer. But early reader response encouraged me to publish this in a paperback edition as well. I call this book a self-guided seminar. One early reader —an aspiring writer—said, “This just might be the best first book I’ve read on the craft of writing and publishing.” Holy moley! Alrighty, then!
For your edification, I offer you this book’s back-cover text:
“Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of independent writing, editing, formatting, publishing, marketing and selling. This book simplifies an otherwise daunting process.
“Are you an aspiring author? Or a published author looking for more control over your work? Either way, this book comprises a comprehensive self-guided seminar that starts shallow and dives deeper as we progress, but at your own pace, unlike most seminars.
“Are you struggling to spark your inspiration for the book you know is inside of you somewhere? This book’s initial chapters will jump start your creative journey.
“Do you wonder how to efficiently begin and sustain progress on this writing journey? I will ask you: why should you write, and where should you start? Then what? Find answers in this book that will streamline your own efficient and effective writing and publishing process, including a valuable survey of free or cheap software tools, cheat sheets and pointers to a treasure trove of resourcesfor authors and publishers.
“Why should you spend your precious time and creative energy on all the other stuff that comprises the business of being an author and a publisher? Or should you even bother? I’ll point you toward the condensed wisdom of dozens of my favorite industry experts who will answer the why and how. Fast.
“Get started now writing and publishing just one book, or embark on a fulfilling career. Sip or gulp. The choice is yours.”
So check out my latest title now offered in both Kindle and paperback editions: Why Write? Why Publish? Get yours now on Amazon by clickinghere. Or grab a free peek by clicking the link and then click “Look Inside” above the cover image.
Remember, you can read the Kindle edition of this book on any smart device (phone, tablet or computer) by downloading the free Kindle reader app also available by clicking on the link above!
3. Not-So-New Institutional Insanity – For Friends and Loved Ones of Authors (you know who you are!)…
Are you an author, or do you know someone who is so afflicted and you’re seeking a peek behind the purple curtain to see if the wizard is in the house? If you’re either, this article is for you.
Are you a stranger in a strange land? Do you feel like everyone thinks you are plagued by a creeping insanity? All because you represent this weird caricature—that of an author?
Do you especially perplex your friends and loved ones who perhaps unintentionally offer you that pitiful look?You know the one. Mostly because they either don’t read books at all, or more likely, the books you write don’t appeal to them?
So they naturally believe you don’t know what in your own unique brand of Hell you’re doing. All because you’re not yet banking a bazillion bucks, or because you’re not a household name. Maybe never will be. Or you’re investing a crazy big percentage of your life that takes away from other stuff, like what’s important to them?
If you’re even a quasi-serious writer who has publicly professed your allegiance to the craft, you know of what I speak.
“You write books? Oh, that’s nice. Good for you! So have I ever heard of you? Why haven’t I seen your stuff in my local library?” Or, “I’ve thought about writing a book, but just haven’t gotten around to it.”
Like it’s a trivial pursuit or an amusing parlor trick.
Or have you heard this?
“Why do you write about stuff nobody (meaning them) cares about?” or, “If you don’t make a lot of money with your little stories, what is the point,you poor thing?”
This latter clause usually isn’t spoken aloud, but you can see it in their eyes or hear it in their commiserative tone, can’t you? Bless their empathetic hearts. How could they possibly know until they’ve bled with you, sacrificed with you, died with you and your characters? And with me and mine.
Let’s face it, my fellow purveyors of prose, or worse, poetry, ours is a unique passion, not well understood by most earthlings, and that’s okay, isn’t it? We write because it is our passion, maybe even our destiny. Like I tell my seminar attendees, “Write becauseit makes you uncomfortable. You’ll write with greater authenticity.”
I’m most creative at 2AM, when I’m half asleep, incapable of plying pen and paper, or operating my iPhone voice recorder app always uselessly within reach. Part of our torturous trip, right?
Now that I’ve vocalized what many of you might be thinking or have heard, let’s get real. We write because we must. There exist worlds of wonder in us that scream to be set free. They keep us up at night. We imagine if we don’t stab them with our quills onto organic or digital parchment we shall surely burst. That can get messy.
If you’re like me, you’re feeding a need you likely can’t articulate with any precision. You are afflicted. But if you are anything like me, I know you want to do this, you must do this. And if you are very much like me, you’d have it no other way.
“Ours is a progressive disease. Many a life has been subsumed by the affliction of stabbing pen into parchment! For myself, I would suffer nothing less sublime, even IF I had a choice.”
GK Jurrens
When I started my literary journey years ago, I drove myself to finish just one book while I learned as much about the craft of writing as I could absorb while trying to balance that with everything else in my then-hectic life. I finished that book, a contemporary mystery/thriller, learned how to publish it, and did so.
Next, as I listened to other writers, I feared the self-sullying image of a “one-book wonder.” Not me, I quietly muttered! So I wrote and published another thriller—a sequel to the first. Yes, I had acquired the thirst I could not quench.
Then I wondered what it would it be like to tackle a different genre? So I invested two years in writing and publishing a science fiction trilogy, or so I thought. Not enough science, readers told me, but I had conjured plenty of solid twenty-second-century mysteries and thrills, I was told. I also created a reader magnet as an informative companion guide to this trio of gripping tales, two of which were of epic proportions (in other words, real thick books).
So now I’ve just completed my third work of non-fiction (mentioned above), adding it to a pair of earlier (non-fiction) coffee table books that failed to inspire all but a few hundred readers within the micro-niche of hard-core voyaging sailors. This, however, is my first book on the craft of writing. That makes seven new books in six busy years. All except the companion guide to my Mayhem trilogy will have been published worldwide in both ebook and paperback editions. With the two older non-fictions already in my backlist, my latest historical novel—very much a work in process—will comprise book number ten. At least I’m no OBW (One-Book-Wonder), damn it!
All this genre-hopping impacts my commercial viability, but I don’t seem to care because I believe my books represent metaphors for something that needs to be heard! And wait until you get a load of my anthology of, um, irreverent poems, essays and original images. That will be book number eleven, hopefully by year-end 2021, although this is also likely to be a real thick book!
All of this is to ask if you can relate to my smoldering dilemma, family, friends and fellow word players, an affliction that compels some of us to serve both readers and our own egos. And don’t even get me started on distractions!
Distractions suckle on the flesh of creativity. So just say no! (yeah, right…)
Ultimately, I cling to one inalienable literary truth. If I quit, I will have surrendered, and that is not an option, soldier! At least not yet. There are still mythical battles to be fought and won, characters to be punished, worlds to incinerate and victories to celebrate!
4. Featured Guest (And a New Perspective)
Meet Dorothy Ann Jones. More quickly than I could ask the question, she recounted precisedetails surrounding a storm on October 10, 1949, the year I was born!
As a writer, she makes me proud. Dorothy has documented every significant event in her life on the family farm they’ve held together for seven generations. She has witnessed events most of us can only read about and wonder.
I spent a few hours with this amazing matriarch to research topics I had only read about. I’ve mentioned my historical fiction project before, and I sought an understanding of direct visceral experience from someone who had lived through the 1930s and 1940s. You cannot Googlethat. Dorothy did not disappoint.
Her father had immigrated from Denmark to continue his profession as a blacksmith in the logging camps of Idaho and Washington state. There was still money to be made sharpening plow shares (blades with earth-turning points on the business end of a plow). Her father’s first wife grew ill, so they moved to Rochester, Minnesota where they could be close to the Mayo Clinic for her treatment.
After the tragic death of his first wife, this stalwart Dane later met and married Dorothy’s mother in 1930. They moved to the nearby small town of Eyota where Dorothy was born in the scorched summer of 1931. When she married Bill Jones in the late 1940s, they lived on the nearby farm that had been in his family since 1858.
As I was primarily researching the 1930s for my novel “Black Bllzzard” (which you may know I called “Jake’s Flame” before changing the working title), I needed to draw on Dorothy’s direct memories of her childhood as well as stories told to her by her parents. Like elsewhere in America, that period tested their mettle. Dorothy told me such a story. She said,
Between the Great War (World War One) and the Great Depression (1930s) some children spent hours daily in a horse-drawn school bus . We define the word “Great” somewhat differently these days, don’t we?
“The Depression came along. Husband Bill’s mom and dad couldn’t pay the mortgage on the home place, so they held an auction. They retrieved enough from the sale to make the mortgage payment, but they moved to the woodcutter’s shack on the farm and rented the rest until they could recover. They started over. Bill’s dad said of that time, ‘we weren’t living, we existed.'”
After Dorothy shared this with me, we both fell silent for a time. I asked Dorothy what routine tasks occupied them since working the land and attending church occupied all their time.
“Well, as kids on the farm in those days, we picked corn. Snapped it right off the stalk in the field, one ear at a time, to feed the pigs. Dad penned up stalls for the little pigs to separate them from their mothers who might accidentally lay on top of them and kill them. I also had to regularly check the heat lamps over our five hundred baby chicks. We were lucky. A lot of farms had no electricity. It was cold, and without the heat from those lamps, those chicks would huddle up so tightly together for warmth that they’d smother.”
Now this city boy had no idea, and you just don’t get such authentic stories like this from Internet searches or even from reading period novels! So I asked some more questions, and gained even more insights:
Shocks of wheat hand-tied into bundles with twine, waiting to be threshed.
“Life was quite primitive by today’s standards. My father worked in a dying profession. Less and less call for a blacksmith, but I can still smell the pungent smoke of red-hot metal. That smoke stung my eyes when I got too close, and I still remember the sound of Dad hammering a new point on a plowshare ringing in my ears. I can also remember the smell of strong coffee and cold sandwiches we’d deliver to the men in the field during threshing. The dusty wheat chafe they stirred up in the air clung to the sweat on our necks. That was so itchy!“
A threshing machine separates stems of the wheat stalk from the precious grain generating the always unfortunate bi-product of exquisite itchinessand a bone-tiredness that defy description.
She shuddered as she thrust herself back into that vivid memory. I shuddered too. She helped me remember my own distant memory when I was only five—before we “moved to town” upon losing our farm). I had forgotten.
Illuminating recollections poured out for two full hours with me furiously typing copious notes. What I found most remarkable was how intellectually intimidated I felt by this ninety-year-old amateur historian! I learned fascinating operational details of horse-drawn drags, plows, manure spreaders, threshing machines, and how hay and straw was hoisted up into a barn’s haymow with pulleys, ropes and literal horse power. This greenhorn bathed in a delightfully refreshing perspective. This was exactly the type of material I sought for my new book which I hope to finish by the end of this year.
This genre of historical fiction has spawned an unexpectedly ambitious project for me. But I’m finding this to be fulfilling as I just begin to scratch into a surface understanding of the non-stop chain of hardships these admirable titans of the period endured. They not only endured but thrived despite a lifestyle almost inconceivable to most folks alive today.
Thank you for moving my research forward, Dorothy, and for your delightful company on a sunny June afternoon on the farm!
5. Did You Know?
The Amazon rain forest produces more than 20% of the world’s oxygen supply.
The Amazon River pushes so much water into the Atlantic Ocean that more than a hundred miles at sea off the mouth of the river one can dip fresh water out of the ocean. The volume of water in the Amazon River is greater than the next eight largest rivers in the world combined, and three times the flow of all rivers in the United States.
With pen in hand,
Gene
P.S.After a prolonged period of unnatural isolation, we reveled in seeing and hugging so many friends and family this month.A cornucopia!Thank you all!
And just days before we were to leave Minnesota, we reveled in an extended family gathering that was so heart-warming, we were both close to tears. Mil gracias to Jim and Ellie White for hosting this party for nine-day-old great-grand-nephew Felix on behalf of his new parents, Will and Andrea. What a joy to see and hold this stout little fellow, but a greater joy to meet and talk and reminisce with his extended family! Yes, you now belong to him!
Jacob, you inspire me with your micro-wildlife tracker inventions! Jim, thanks for your tutilage in foraging for wild mushrooms (fabulous breakfast with your oyster ‘shrooms this morning!). Chuck, thanks for the stories of Europe and South America! Ellie, thanks for bequeathing my mom’s diary penned in May of 1930! Big sis Carol (80 going on 60), you’ve created an awesome family, and I look forward to the extraordinary journal you’ve described. Nicole, I hope you are soon reunited with the love of your life in Santiago, Chili. Becky and Gordy, so glad you and the girls could leave Alaska’s severely short summer to be there too! How long has it been?
So many other side discussions, so much love, so much food!
Well, 2020 was the weirdest year yet, wasn’t it? We seem to experience chaos at this advanced level at least, well, I was going to say once each century, but that’s not true. 2020 broke all the records and all the rules. Looks like 2021 will share in the weirdness, but wonderfulness too.
Having said that, we can and should gratefully acknowledge our good fortune, as individuals, and as a nation, even though many of us likely have experienced tragedy in some measure.
But we’ve shown a spotlight on important issues, we’re discovering ways to overcome a heinous global pandemic, and for many of us, we are re-thinking our humanity. That’s all good, kids!
For me and mine, Kay and I are blessed. We have a roof over our heads, we are okay financially, we go to bed with full bellies, and we talked with all our kids and grandkids over the holidays. Yes, we did that via Zoom or FaceTime, or just plain old phone calls, and we’re thankful.
Onward!
December 2020 – January 2021 News
So am I late with my December newsletter, or early for end of January? Both, I guess. So be it!
In this issue:
1. Naked Bus 2. New Book Links 3. Veganversary
1. Naked Bus
Say what? Yeah, we are taking the plunge. You might never see risqué images like this anywhere else, so viewer discretion is advised.
When we bought our motorhome five+ years ago, we intentionally acquired an older higher-end unit. We couldn’t afford a new one with the quality and features we felt we needed for a mostly full-time live-aboard lifestyle (pre-COVID), so we went with a pay-as-you-go strategy.
She had everything we wanted, and more importantly, nothing we didn’t. We’ve been told by several knowledgeable sources that, “they don’t make ’em like that anymore.” That’s a good thing; for us, anyway.
Since we acquired our 2005 Newmar Mountain Aire (we often call her “Ma”), a grand old 43-foot diesel bus, we’ve continually upgraded her. She’s special to us, like a member of the family. But she can now use some new clothes after we traveled with her through forty-plus states since she joined the family. That’s what you do for a family member, right? You feed, clothe, and take her on family outings as you care for each other.
So last month we rode along with her to her birthplace–North Central Indiana–to the Newmar factory, and left her in good Amish hands for the winter. We had been working with folks up there since last June on designing her new wardrobe, deciding on some cosmetic surgery… a complete external makeover. I know she’ll feel like a kid again after all is said and done, and that will make us feel good too. She still possesses her inner beauty, although she’ll also get some new carpeting and a new bed, along with some other maintenance stuff.
By the time we pick her up again in April, she will have recaptured her vibrant youth on the outside. Her mechanical systems will be refreshed, including her roof and drive train, and she’ll be anxious for our next adventure together. For our RV friends, if you’re interested, I’ll post a more detailed article on our RV blog, although it might take a while as I wind down a few other projects (see #2 below).
But first, a fewbefore pics of Ma to set the stage. She wasn’t horrible-looking, but we grew tired of her complaining. You know how it is with fifteen-year-olds, right?
From a distance, she looked good (my doting parental diligence showed, I like to think). But as an example, notice the black bands around her fancy jewelry (mirrors). That covered up some painful cracks (especially when I was waxing her). She’ll get that new jewelry, for sure. And like most her age, she looks better from a distance, but up close? Well, not so much (don’t tell her I shared with you the less-flattering images below)…See what I mean? Her nose is a mess. She wouldn’t even go out in public anymore. We felt SO bad for her!Nasty complexion! You’re witnessing the breakdown of a clear film that covers her makeup. Crud gets in the cracks behind that film. No amount of bathing or ex-foliating will help this. Only a complete peel will help at this point. And that usually damages her paint underneath. This is a significant makeover task that requires professional help.Up close, you can see how a bad batch of fiberglass used in 2005 interacted negatively with dark (sun-beaten) paint–hundreds (thousands?) of tiny cracks that, left unattended, will further degrade rapidly. They’re not real obvious right now unless you’re really looking for them. Still, Newmar offered to replace all that fiberglass (sidewalls) and repaint the entire bus at a fraction of retail! Fifteen years and three owners downrange! That’s the class act we’ve come to expect from Newmar.
So here are a few pics of the two most significant projects now that the surgeons have started operating: first, cosmetic surgery (body work) and second new clothes (replacing fiberglass sidewalls, all the exterior lights, new mirrors, re-furbished roof and all new paint):
The bus was not happy. And if Ma (Mountain Aire) ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy! After a nose “peel,” I have it on good authority she looks and feels better already! Also she was sagging a bit (misaligned body parts) in places. All that’s gonna be young and shiny again (thanks to a fiberglass “chiropractor”). You see her here prepped for fresh paint.
Ma would be embarrassed by these “nudies,” but this body work and facelift is on Daddy’s dime, so… Notice the aluminum studs and beams. One of the quality hallmarks of the Newmar brand (no sticks ‘n staples here like some more economical rigs). She has “good bones.” And how about that insulation! Another quality hallmark in RVs. Also note she’s getting a “butt lift” (body work on her rear end), but I drew the line on implants. Hairline stress cracks are typical at her age. Ma prefers we call them “laugh lines.” She’s such a vain teenager.
Here’s progress on her driver’s side makeover. Note her new skin (using the old sidewalls as a pattern) is laying on the floor lower right. She’s gotta be chilly like this! Check out that monster beam on top of the main slide-out room (the one with two large window holes).
New skin in place on her passenger’s side, soon to accept makeup and tattoos (new base paint and four other colors in her–our–chosen graphic design).
There you have it. So far.
Ma is obviously a work in progress. She’d be apoplectic if she knew I was sharing these lurid images with you, so it’ll be our little secret. As far as she’ll know, I’ll only share pictures with you when she agrees she’s presentable (finished); however, she seems to be okay with the two pics that follow:
So here’s what she’ll look like by April (the design center’s rendering of our choices after weeks of considering and rejecting alternatives). A side note: Kay chose that maroon accent (cayenne red metallic) to match the color of our new toad (towed vehicle – the Jeep). And these are samples of our five chosen colors. Exciting, isn’t it?
2. New Book Links
I have been promising to release my new paranormal science fiction trilogy for a while now. Well, the time has arrived to introduce the Mayhem Trilogy–both paperback and Kindle versions–available by the end of this month, but you can pre-order now for auto-delivery on January 31st (click on the following links), OR you can order either edition of book 1 or the trilogy’s companion guide right now, and you could be reading it within minutes. And if you don’t have a Kindle, no worries. Just download the free Kindle reader app from any of the Amazon page where you find any of these books:
A month late, but wait! 😉 These three books tell an epic tale spanning three transformational decades in Earth’s future history through the eyes of real people who struggle to not only survive, but to serve others selflessly. I’ve also also produced a supplementary resource for you:
The sixty-page companion guide to the Mayhem Trilogy.
This handy little reference includes:
An overview of the entire trilogy’s story line in the mythical country of the United Westican Territories, aka Westica, which evolved from Old America,
Summarized history of the time between the twentieth and twenty-second centuries where our story of Mayhem is set,
Master character list for all three books,
Master glossary of the language (colorful terminology and street slang) used in each book during the last half of the twenty-second century,
Visual relationship map for each of the three Mayhem manuscripts that portrays the relationships between all of the major characters within each book. Below you see an example of such a map for Mayhem: Underground:
A Glimpse of Mayhem: Companion Guide to the Mayhem Trilogy contains relationship maps for all major characters in each book. This is an example of the map for characters in Mayhem: Underground. These diagrams are fully scalable and zoomable and will add to your understanding of these folks as you get to know them in these epic tales. A god’s eye view. It’s fun!
3. Veganversary
If you’ve ever thought about giving up meat, or are curious what veganism is all about, read on. All will be revealed. Well, the basics, anyway.
Over a year ago, Kay and I experienced an epiphany: we decidedto no longer treat our stomachs as either a junkyard or a graveyard.
So what the heck does that mean? Well, we committed to stop eating junk food or to consume anything that once had a parent. Sound extreme? At the time it did, but what did we have to lose… other than a bunch of adipose tissue. That’s fat, folks. All it required was an attitude shift (ya gotta wanna). It was easier than we thought once that shift of our tectonic plates happened.
Sidebar: COVID frightened us. Still does. We’re in our seventies, so they told us we were at high risk. No reason to doubt that. We’d rather over-react than the alternative. So our best preventative measure (yeah, we’re proactive as hell) was to boost the strength of our immune systems. That was our motivator.
How are we doing on our first veganversary, other than coming up with a corny term to describe the one-year anniversary of committing to this vegan lifestyle (more on what that means to us in a moment)?
We both feel great,
Our doctors are amazed at our blood work,
Eating “vegan” ain’t cheap, but what’s great health worth?
Takes more food prep time (I’ve developed wonderful chopping/slicing skills), but we have time, and we’re learning shortcuts,
We’re also exercising at least 4-5 days a week (at or around home), and that’s important mentally since we’re self-isolating (other than “safaris” for groceries and gas).
So here’s what “eating vegan” means to us:
No animal or dairy products,
No seafood ,
No processed foods (like sugar),
Learning to love new foods (a year ago, I’d have said, “Avocado? Yuck!” No more! A great source of good fat),
All or mostly organic foodstuffs (whenever we can find it, that is, no pesticides used or GMO–genetically modified food),
Our protein and other essential nutrients come mostly from G-BOMBS:
Greens,
Beans,
Onions,
Mushrooms,
Berries,
Seeds and nuts.
Augment our G-BOMBS with lots of fruit every day,
Focus on those nutrient-dense foods along with a few daily supplements:
A good multivitamin,
DHA (short-chain fatty acid that’s hard to source outside of animal protein),
A few other anti-inflammation supplements like tart cherry extract, selenium, etc.). We both are managing some arthritis.
Oh, in addition to both of us giving up all alcohol nine years ago now, I quit all caffeine over a year ago too. Kay never used that particular drug (and if you disagree on that term as an avid coffee or high-test soda drinker, try quitting cold turkey for a month – brutal!).
A few cheats: While we’re very disciplined about our eating habits, we’re not fanatics:
Dairy cheats: Between the two of us, we may consume 2-4 eggs per month. Kay likes easy-overs, and I’m still a sucker for corn bread once in a while (recipe uses an egg). We might also very occasionally make veggie burgers that uses an egg for a binder to hold the darn things together.
Processed food cheats: Kay still will buy the occasional bag of shredded cheese (for topping a veggie pizza, for example). We’ll have a few unsalted baked veggie chips instead of carrots with our black bean hummus as an appetizer.
Someone once famously said, “You spend the first half of your life acquiring vices, and the last half giving them up.”
But while we could look at these culinary changes as just a bunch of takeaways, we view them as an adventurous new way of living better and feeling really good about it. So how does this translate into daily reality:
Pretty standard daily breakfast for us. A smoothie plus maybe a small bowl of fruit topped with wheat germ, maybe ground flax seed or some sunflower seeds (unsalted, unroasted) and a dusting of Saigon Cinnamon. We throw in some plant-based protein powder into the shake too and blend.
Anti-cancer soup prep. Looks like a lot, and it is, but this’ll whip up a delicious nutrient-dense pot of soup that’ll last us for a week’s worth of lunches.
Okay, so it looks like purple puke, but it’s my favorite breakfast. Saturday mornings only. Raw oatmeal soaked in pomegranate juice with sunflower seeds, ground flax seed and frozen wild blueberries, all warmed in microwave (oatmeal is still chewy). Add plant-based protein powder, diced apple, pear, pineapple, nuts, and drown it all in cold almond milk. Oh, baby!
Daily Basics: We measure out our nuts/seeds for the day’s protein booster (1.5 oz for me; 1.0 oz for Kay – eaten at mealtimes only), we each take supplements twice a day, and other than meals or a pre-meal snack (see below), no snacks between meals! Period!
Breakfast: Giant smoothies of veggie protein powder, frozen mixed fruit, wild blueberries, banana, fresh pineapple, ground flax seed, wheat germ, maybe half of a Bosch Pear or a half apple…
Lunch: Once a week (Saturday mornings) we make a huge pot of soup or chili with lots of veggies and beans. We’ll freeze part of it. This will feed us lunches for a week. For variety, each day we might add something to that day’s lunch (more or different types of beans, fresh kale, etc.).
I’ve been at my goal weight for six months (at six feet, I’m at 158-160 pounds with a decent muscle mass), so I also choose to have a small glass of almond milk and a Wasa cracker with organic almond or peanut butter so I don’t lose more weight. Kay just drinks lots of (triple-filtered) water
Pre-dinner snack together: homemade black bean hummus on carrot sticks or baby carrots has become a nightly tradition together.
Dinner: a huge salad with romaine hearts, baby spinach, radishes, cukes, avocado (essential healthy fats), one medjool date, walnuts, brazil nuts, almonds, a few cashews, sunflower seeds, apple, pear, pineapple… Or we’ll share a big salad like this with a hot side dish. But the salad is always in the center ring under the big top.
How is this sustainable, you might ask?
Dinner is where we shake things up. Here’s a pasta dish… spinach-pesto pasta made with almond flour. The “meat” is TVP (textured vegetable protein) crumbles. This was a spicy dish with lots of other veggies (ala primavera).
First, I have not felt hungry since October 2019! We eat a LOT, but only good stuff, so it’s ok. Kay never complains about hunger (only irrational urges even though she’s “full”). She’s always suffered from this. A little nutritional yeast sprinkled on a salad helps.
Second, there are enough variations within this food plan to keep it very interesting. For example, we don’t just eat one type of beans as a source protein. We rotate between dark and light red kidney, garbanzo, pinto, black, great northern, lentils and tri-color beans. Each has a different flavor and texture. Plus it feeds the mind’s need for variety.
And we’ll also change it up with occasional bread (pre-sprouted whole grain = minimal “processing”: Ezekiel Bread!), or a gluten-free pizza crust made with almond or soy flour, or we whip up a monster Chinese stir-fry, but instead of meat, we’ll use TVP (textured veggie protein).
One of our faves: veggie tacos with organic almond flour tortillas. Lots of beans (both whole and fried, and a cornucopia of other veggies. Natural spices has us spitting fire (low flame). Note the cheat with a few sprinkles of non-fat cheese (this may have been a non-dairy cheese knockoff – I don’t recall).
This is definitely a thinking person’s lifestyle. We use Dr. Joel Furhman’s book, “Eat to Live” as our culinary bible, and so far, so good.
I’ve lost sixty-five pounds (and have kept it off for six months and counting). Kay has lost a lot more than that (her story to tell). We’re staying active, and feeling chipper, skipper!
Bottom line? Eating vegan is every bit as enjoyable as the way we used to eat. Just requires an attitude adjustment. We ain’t just talkin’ rabbit food here, folks! This is the good stuff.
Last night we conjured our customary salad with homemade cashew dressing made with a flavored vinegar (like pear, balsamic white or dark, strawberry, rasberry, fig, or whatever we can find), mustard, water and dates. The hot side dish: portobello spears with a quinoa/lentil/bean topping and a light Italian sauce. Some broccoli for added texture (stuff to chew!). Awesome.
Yes, we spend a LOT of money on organic non-GMO veggies, but we spend nothing on beef, pork, chicken, seafood or buffalo. We shop more frequently (twice a week) to score fresh produce (LOTs of it), and it takes more refrigerator space, but it is SO worth it. Once a week to buy bulk nuts from a store called “Earth Origins.”
Honestly, I can’t imagine eating anything else right now. I guess the transformation is complete. Kay still longs for a steak once in a while, but she’s loving her weight loss and her doctor’s report card!
Food for thought, eh?
A few mor pics below, but only if you’re interested.
With pen in hand,
Gene
We have veggie burgers once or twice a month. This batch will use just two eggs as a binder. So when we splurge on veggie burgers (because of the eggs), we go hog wild and hit the starch too (baked potato rubbed with EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) with some sea salt. Asparagus is one of our staples. This is about the smallest volume meal we have because it’s not very nutrient dense. Another favorite: veggie fajitas. The tortillas seem superfluous with all this flavor. We use a lot of Mrs. Dash (salt-free seasoning) to spice things up. This is the ONLY “flourless” bread I eat (toasted), and I’m careful not to overdo it (maybe one slice every day or two). Tastes awesome and satisfies my carb craves.
