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When I first set to work on Archipelago 2.0 the trees were green and the days were still warm with summer. As I pounded away at my keyboard the trees quietly turned to gold. I was about half way through my revisions when HyperCard 2.0 appeared and made my task that much more complex. Outside my window I could hear the cows moving down from their mountain pastures, singing like whales in the deep. And then the winds of Autumn descended and I awoke to find the forest lightly frosted with the first snow of the season. And now, at long last, with Winter coming on, I am finally ready to ship this sucker.
Much has happened to me since my last Hello card. The Squaw Valley Writer's Conference was the most fun I've had in years, a smashing success in every respect. I met some strange and wonderful people, including a most remarkable fellow named Tom Meyer. The rest of you will get a chance to meet him as well when he joins our little group next time 'round.
I had intended to write a lengthy card all about Squaw Valley, sort of a companion piece to my "Wedding of the Century" story in the last issue. On the surface the two events were very much alike, in as much as they both involved spending a week in a far-away majestic mountain setting with oodles of warm and interesting people. But the wedding had a built-in plot, with a climax and everything, while my Squaw Valley experience was more complex and, ultimately, harder to explain. Writers are like lone wolves most of the time, and when a hundred of them come together to bay at the moon anything can happen. For now I will just call it a profound and magical week, and leave it at that.
After Squaw, I spent a week in the Bay Area, ricocheting from one restaurant to another. Along the way I was taken in and sheltered by Suzanne, Roger, Larry, Drury, and even Paul (on my way back). I was moving at such a high velocity that I barely got to say hello and goodbye. Thank you all! If any of you make it out here to Canyon Creek, I will return the favor. I'll even cook you dinner (or not, whichever you judge to be the greater favor).
My mother's house is all but done now, and what a house it is! It is centered around a huge fireplace with a cathedral ceiling and features a book-lined loft, a computer room, and even a sauna! It remains to be seen how well I will tolerate my new neighbors, but so far so good.
My work with Bill and Jerry has been sidetracked by Archipelago for the time being, but I am still working on the Billing Package in Idaho Falls once a month. I finally managed to sell my old car, The Yellow Peril; I will never see its like again. And - Oh Yes! - I had another adventure in California as well: I went through a giant maze in Vacaville. I am a rabid mazeophile and when Stuart visited me a few years ago I dragged him through a similar maze just outside of Glacier National Park. What fun!
And other than that, I've been programming programming programming. Let me apologize once again for the delay. This stuff always takes longer than I think it should. But when the packets return this Halloween we will be over the proverbial hump, and once we get used to the changes, our sessions will take less time to complete. See you in November!
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