Exposing Oneself

Friends often tell me I'm "brave" to share my life's path in this blog. I always respond that it is certainly edited for publication - that I do not share my very most private thoughts here - I reserve those for my paper journals, which I never share with anyone. There's a magic to pen and paper that keyboards will never replace, although I love my keyboard.

Each month I get over 90,000 hits to my website and the vast majority of them are coming to read the blog. When I started this a couple of years ago I thought it would be nice for my family in Kentucky to learn about what was happening in my life here in Hutchinson, Kansas. It was also just to be a chronicle of my life. It never occurred to me that anyone I knew would read it because they all know what's going on in my life. And I never imagined anyone who didn't know me would want to read it. Oh, I thought maybe a couple of people here or there might check in but I had no idea anyone would flatter me by reading regularly. And flattered I am.

A funny thing happened. I got in on the early stages of a trend - "social content."

When I was a journalist, one of the things I learned was that *everyone* has a story to tell. The trick is can you get them to tell it to you. And blogging has become one of the ways we learn each other's stories. Many of them are fascinating.

Of course, we all go through periods where our lives are very mundane. But most of us also have times when what we're thinking about is very interesting, even if what we're doing on a daily basis is the routine.

At least once a week I read the blogs I keep up on. I love to read about the art, the kids, the details of life. Life is made up of these little bits and pieces that we forget about if we're not keeping track on a regular basis. If we're not careful we can miss the little sidebars that ultimately make up the story of a life.

This is a good opportunity for me to say thank you for reading, and sharing my life through this blog. I'm honored that you spend some of your day here.

Fresh Food

Tonight I'm feeling very grateful that I can cook. It's not that I'm an exceptional cook or anything - but I can cook and take advantage of wonderful fresh foods that are so abundant this time of year. I'm generally not this much of a foodie, but it's so nice when things are fresh.

Last night the neighbors brought over some green beans and new potatoes. I cooked them with some garlic and shallots, and they were great. I also bought some Gaedderts Farms corn on the cob today. It was delicious. They pick it fresh every morning and sell it at their stand on 30th street. I understand Smith's market has it, too, but I don't know if it's picked the same day and that really does matter.

Going to the farmer's market is great, but so much of what is sold there isn't really grown locally. I'm really disappointed by that. It amazes me that people don't realize that they're just buying things shipped from somewhere else half the time. Of course, some of it is fresh, but much of it is not. When I go to a Farmer's Market I want to be buying direct from farmers, not just more food that has been shipped in. I can buy that at Dillons or WalMart. I guess I'll miss the Farmer's Market Saturday because I have an event for the MHA that morning and they close by 12:30. Oh well, I've got enough food in the house to last me for a few days anyway.

Teresa stopped by today on the way home to get some basil. I went out and picked her a few sprigs and told her to let me know if she wants more. I put in two plants and it's way more than I can use. I also took some over to Sondra. We had lunch today and I mentioned basil and she said she'd like to have some. I had a meeting tonight in her neighborhood so just dropped some off at her house.

I'm really thinking a lot about travel... I have a travel voucher I need to use in the next few weeks, but fortunately I just have to buy the ticket but can travel after the expiration date. I'm thinking the fall would be a nice time to travel. I need to meet more people who want to travel. Definitely something I need - more potential travel partners.