On the church front, we now are on YouTube and shared on Facebook, so people who can’t quite make it to an 8:15 a.m. Sunday morning service can catch us anytime. We have been meeting at Wolf Creek United Methodist Church face to face ( er, mask to mask) for five or six weeks lately and things are going well. Some people are not comfortable yet with going out among people, so we don’t see them in person. As I write this, Polk County sits at 319 confirmed cases and two dead. We don’t know how many of those 319 cases are in the hospital, but the number has been climbing. And yes, we are better at keeping people alive than at the beginning of the pandemic, so that helps keep the number of deceased low. Last month Marina and I had the first person die that we knew, a good friend of some thirty years. Yes, she had many health conditions, but so did her husband, who got the virus, along with one of their daughters, both of whom are still alive and functioning well.
On the writing front, after some publicity about the release of the “mangled” fairy tales in paperback and e-book formats, sales have risen, as has readership via Kindle’s library option and some promoting by me on Amazon. I’ve also sold books in-person to people who heard some of the stories read. And speaking of that, I’ve had an initial discussion about possibly reading some stories as a fund raiser for the Milltown Library. The Library is looking for help to pay for its recent expansion. You may know that twice now I’ve read stories as a fund raiser for St.Croix Festival Theater. They’ve said they hope I’ll return to do more. Also, I was one of several authors that read as a fund raiser for Amery’s Classic Theater. I read “Snow Job and the Four Dwarfs”, which columnist Peter Kwong called “hilarious” and “the highlight of the evening”. Kwong is pretty funny himself, so I really appreciate his evaluation. (Beats the review I mentioned last month in this space!)
As I write this, my chainsaw is in the shop, hopefully learning how to keep going when I tackle the logs that are down in the back of our property. The beach property line dispute is going to an appeal; the many property owners involved feel that the airline pilot to our south got not only more than he expected, but what he wasn’t entitled to in the first place. Attention to that matter, as our newest spokesperson, and my duties as president of the Osceola Senior Citizens Club keep me more than busy. Then there are the routine things of life as it goes on. And then there is the challenge of weekly sermons: to find something that speaks to what people deal with today, something that is meaningful, something worth listening to. Some weeks, that ain’t easy!