Take a deep breath and find a good seat. A lot has happened in the last 48 hours; all of it is good, or at least good enough.

Just for the simple nature of it I’ll start with a personal best. Today was a low low tide, an excellent day to walk a greatly expanded beach. The birds noticed it too. Personal best: 48 great blue herons + several bald eagles + a few osprey + more gulls than I wanted to count. And very few people were out there. Two teenagers walked across the Cultus Bay channel without getting their knees wet. It was a low low tide for sure. Nice.

A walk like that ends with me kicking off my shoes and dumping out my socks because sand from the beach gets carried home. But that was interrupted because I had a surprise in the mailbox. I forgot that my newest book, Kettle Pot Cup, was due today. I couldn’t open it though because I didn’t want to smudge anything. Some clothing maneuvering and hand-drying later and the book was unveiled, revealed and met with my happy approval. It was not good enough before, but it is now. I got myself inside, opened the computer, approved the copy, and the publisher/printer, lulu.com, released it for distribution.

Pour myself a cup of tea, of course. Hmm. Pardon me as I pour another. (A garden blend partly from herbs from Dandelion Botanical, who also inspired the book, and partly from various plants in my neighborhood.)

OK. Cup refilled.

Well, the computer was open so it was easy to see if a video I’d been working on had finally uploaded and synced. Joe Menth over at Feather and Fox polishes my photos for my Twelve Month series on Whidbey Island and had delivered the final photos in the format I needed for the video. According the YouTube the video was ready. I added the description and such, and well, here’s that, too. Much better than using the unpolished photos that were good enough, but not as good as he just made them.

At the same time I continue to get to respond to people asking questions about the talk I gave at Langley Library two evenings ago. It was the first return to public speaking (something I enjoy) about real estate and affordability trends on Whidbey Island. (Disclosure: I’m a broker at Dalton Realty, Inc. http://whidbeyrealtor.com/). Evidently it was good enough, too – especially after I fixed a link to the slides. (Includes a link to the video, too.)

Weird Years For Whidbey Real Estate – May 2022

I’ve also started receiving consultation calls (I help artists, inventors, entrepreneurs, and creatives as I can.) And of course, real estate continues to be busy.

What’s next? Everything. 

Real estate always catches my attention because, in this market, there’s an urgency and a need to be responsive. My twelve month series continues as I collect the photos for the tenth (and possibly last) book in the Whidbey Island series. (There’s also a three book series of the Cascade Mountains.)

The tea book, Kettle Pot Cup, now enters the busiest phase. The common perception is that writing the book is the hard part. So is telling the world about the book, which will be particularly the case this time because the book proceeds are going to be donated to various charities that support the people who pick the tea. The launch event needs to be scheduled, posters and graphics arranged, and I have to order enough books (using a loan) to have enough to show off and distribute. Then, there’s the first of hopefully many talks at libraries, online events, and wherever else is appropriate and reasonably possible. Besides, if people want signed copies I have to give them opportunities to meet them and their book. 

And just in case I was going to take time off, there’s another of my favorite projects, my first sci-fi novel, which I intend to finish this autumn. That one takes much more effort, and so does its promotion. I might even get engineering-ish and sketch the ship and the colony, but maybe that’s loading too much work onto my To-Do list.

To-Do list? The grass is growing as I type. Life maintenance continues. It is also the time for more fun. It is the season for hiking, dancing, and bicycling (if the bike shop ever finishes fixing it.)

That’s a lot to be doing, and then irony delivered another element. As I started typing this I happened to have YouTube on. The rocket scientist in me had to watch a NASA launch that represented to me my past career. Those were busy times, too. They paid better, but sadly the culture had a price. It made for an intriguing counterpoint to everything that just happened.

I enjoy what I do. My passion is for people and ideas. I like introducing them to each other. Such introductions can inspire creations and solutions in a world that needs them. So far, that work has been good enough for my creativity (and I always have more ideas), but not good enough for my bank account. See, I did turn this post back into commentary on personal finance, the reason for this blog.

At the end of my real estate talk a member of the audience proclaimed what others have proclaimed, that I am a modern renaissance man. (Proof of that was that I didn’t have to look up how to spell ‘renaissance’.) My quick reply was that many creative people in the Renaissance survived because they were compensated for their work. Maybe that will happen for me, too. I look forward to that being more than just good enough. 

Doh! I just remembered. This is about the time to restart work on my game based on Whidbey Island. So many ideas. Same amount of time as anyone. Let’s see what I can get done.

Should I re-read it and check for errors? Nah. It’s probably good enough.