The Case of the Missing Blogger

“Excuse me, Sherlock, but there’s this insistent fellow from a place called ‘WordPress’ who’s been hounding me about a missing ‘blogger’.  I don’t understand what he’s talking about, but could you see to him?”

“Certainly, Watson.  The neighbors have been complaining about my violin playing anyway.  Not that that ever stopped me before. Show the bloke in. Worst case, I’ll start playing the violin again and he’ll run off to the Baskervilles.”

Watson showed in a pasty looking fellow.  Sherlock said, “What can I do for you, sir? You better not be wasting my time!”

The pasty dude said, “How do you do, Mr. Holmes.  My name is A. Follower, and I have grown concerned over a missing blogger.  He had been posting regularly, but in recent weeks we’ve seen no sign of him.”

Holmes said, “By the ink stains on your fingers I gather this ‘blogging’ and ‘posting’ has something to do with writing.  By your ashen look and bloodstained eyes, I see you spend much of your time inside, if not writing, then reading the works of others.”

“By Jove, it’s true what they say about you, Mr. Holmes. Correct on all counts.”  A. Follower continued, “Will you take this case?”

“There is no need, Mr. Follower.  It’s all quite elementary.  Tell me sir, did we not just have a holiday season?”

“Yes, of course, Mr. Holmes.  It did seem busier than usual, what with family gatherings, shopping, extra events to attend, you know how it goes.”

“I know others take part in such trivia,” said Holmes, “I prefer to attend to my studies, and to solve real crimes – not the piffle you mention.”

Watson, seeing the interview turn sour, interjected, “As a writer myself, I sometimes like to take a break from the constant pressure of cranking out the work.  While Sherlock’s cases provide much grist for my mill, of late he’s done more studying and less case solving – so there’s been less to write about.  And, unlike Sherlock, I do have a social life and know firsthand of the family business you’ve mentioned. Is it possible that your missing blogger may have similar circumstances?”

“Yes, I suppose that could all be true,” said A. Follower.  “My friends and I were beginning to worry though, he’d never abandoned us for so long before.  Let us hope that it is simply the innocuous events the two of you have mentioned, and not something more dire. Thank you, gentlemen, for your time, and I will see to my patience.” With that, A. Follower turned and left, and attended to his usual mysteries.

And Watson turned to Holmes and said, “Well done once again, Sherlock.  Piffle or not, a mystery solved is a mystery solved.”

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So there you have it.  A semi-elaborate explanation of why I’ve been AWOL lately.

Like Watson, gatherings with friends and family have taken time.  Also, an urge to take a hiatus from the constant grind of blog reading and writing has set in.  While it’s enjoyable, it’s a major time suck and other things suffer.  I do apologize for not reacting to your efforts of late; I’ll be getting back into the swing of things, but I may still miss things from time to time.

Like Sherlock, I’ve been attending more to studies.  I have a ridiculous backlog of video training that became even more ridiculous last year when I subscribed to a couple of streaming services.  Both subscriptions were expiring at the end of the year so I spent extra time getting content from them.  I still have more educational content I own outright (photography and the sciences, mostly) that I’d like to spend more time with.

Also, like Sherlock and his studies vs his cases, I’ve been spending more time studying photography than practicing it.  So my backlog of pictures has dwindled.  Posting a dozen-plus pictures on a weekly basis isn’t sustainable unless you’re out there a lot.  I probably have enough for another half dozen posts, and that’ll need to suffice until spring unless I dig into the hard copy archives and the blurry memories associated with them.  So if I don’t post as often for the next few months, please bear with me.

In the meantime, an obligatory picture.  My current study is on creating artistic black and white composites. Overall the composite genre, especially the more fanciful stuff, is a bit weird for my tastes.  But you don’t grow if you don’t push your boundaries.

This picture started life as a group of kittens that were shipped to the local Humane Society (where I have a regular gig adopting out cats and kittens).  They were standing in the opening of a large cat carrier with the door just opened when I snapped off the shot.  I call it, “Hidy-Hole”.

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I hope you all had a good 2019, and look forward to sharing new adventures with you in 2020.