Greetings from Texas:

As an introduction to those of you new to this journal (and you all are at some point) -

Why create a blog? I suppose 3 reasons, first because I can, second because its the next step in ultimate laziness (just beyond sending form letters at Christmas) and finally because it seems a logical extension of what began back in the 80s as the Christmas newsletter which evolved to become Texas Trivia.

With the loss of Chris nearly 2 years ago in December, Texas Trivia was retired and I created Keeper of the Memory for the annual Christmas communication. But often during the year things changed, and in this year of 06, major changes are occurring and I thought this might be a way to chronicle the events which are happening and about to happen for any of you interested.

This year, I had began to write the book Chris, Max & Me then in March it was obvious that I needed to hang up my spurs after nearly 30 years of sales, so I came home and began to consider what was next. I decided on two things, first I would set up a couple of webstores for pet supplies and next, with income minimized, it would be necessary to sell the house. The book project moved to the back burner, the webstore projects started well, but halfway through getting them online, the need to do a bunch of work on the house slowed their progress as well (there’s a pattern here, the back burners are filling up).

In early April while considering where I would go after selling the house here in Lakeway (we built it 21 years ago) I decided on Mexico yes, it was a surprise to me as well. After several months of saying it out loud most people have come to accept that I’m serious, they all (with the exception of my Daughter) think I’m nuts of course.

Everyone said you have to go down there and see it; you may hate it, so, on Sept 7th I flew to Guadalajara and spent 4 days visiting the Lake Chapala and Ajijic area and the people. The Road Trip 2006 report was written to friends and family to assure them I was still somewhat sane. Ultimately the report and pictures were posted on the Lake forum and I received a number of nice compliments and a couple requests for use of some pics.

That also brings us to the name of this blog, One Blue Flower. One of the pics I took was a single blue flower in a wall of orange, when I looked at it later I realized it was me in life I’ve always gone my own way, done things my way and now is no different, I’m still, or maybe once again without Chris - odd man out, the lone blue flower.

Chris and I always thought of life as "the great adventure". We didn't travel to exotic places, or do extreme things; life's great adventure to us was finding each other and then sharing our love through the years through all the things in our lives.

Even though I now travel the Great Adventure alone, except for my trusty gato Max, it will have many twists and turns and I hope to chronicle them for you with humor and the occasional bit of helpful news for any who may choose to tread this path as well.

THIS