For days now, my first thoughtin the morning has been that today is the day that I must pick up the droppedthreads of my blog. After all, I’ve been blogging since 2006. I checked just now,and my last blog post was June 08, just shy of a month ago. But where to begin?I think I’ll go wash my hair.

Truly, that’s been sort of myattitude. A Scarlett O’Hara-type tendency to put off what I’m not sure about dealingwith. When this attack on my physical well-being began, I was woefully ignorantof how severe the impact would be. Just a minor problem while I went merrilyabout my family, writing, and social life. In the hospital I wrote, in my mind,great blogs and even roughed out a new Irene adventure (she told me she was notthrough yet, but where she got this hare-brained idea, I’ll never know). I hadno idea how hard everything would be. For goodness sake, walking from my bed tomy desk this morning with the four-wheeled walker was a major challenge. Writeanother Irene novel? Maybe on down the road, but not this week, thank you.

My blog started as a mix ofwriting, cooking, and grand-mothering. Pretty much all of that is changed now(yes, I sometimes want to howl, “I want my old life back!”) The grands aremostly grown—youngest is now sixteen (maybe seventeen—I lose track). Because Ihave had a tracheostomy, my meals are liquid and bypass my mouth and taste budscompletely—so boring. I guess I have always measured out my life not withPrufrock’s coffee spoons but with meals—they were like punctuation for eachday. Without that incentive, there goes maybe half my blog. Writing remains,but I am not sure even avid readers want to read about writers and their doingsall the time.

Originally the blog was a stewof those three elements, but eight years ago when I downsized to my cottage, Imade a half-hearted attempt to change it to “View from the Cottage.” It seemedto me that my view of the world then was limited to what I could see from thecottage—like the tiny sliver of the street in front of the house and the glimpseof children walking to elementary school. But that wasn’t really true then—to acertain extent I was out and about in the world. Now my view really is limitedto what I see—and hear and read—from the cottage. So what do I write about?

I am loathe to give up theblog. I’ve made so many good friends, met so many interesting people. For me,the blog is like Emily Dickinson’s letter to the world. My blog links me to awide, wide world, and I like that a lot.

So bear with me. I’m not extraordinarilyprivate, but I do promise not to share daily medical updates. I am known forstrong political opinions, and I’ll likely share more of that. I’ll watch forother topics, and maybe you’ll have some ideas to share.

Can we start View from theCottage, Part II together? I’d be so grateful if you’d take this new journeywith me.