On my recent posting vacation

My seven loyal readers (one recently excused himself from regular readership as he felt I put altogether too much emphasis on civil rights in Lincolndemocrat) no doubt recall my plan to run a non campaign for the Eighth District Congressional seat this summer and fall online.

I have not changed my mind but over the past week I’ve come to realize how much more committed I am to learning French and studying France’s history than to annoying my political betters. I am also spending three and four hours daily reading the New York Times and listening to National Public Radio (among other sources) to keep abreast with the closest thing to a national emergency since 1968 or 1860.

Superfluous posts are a drain on my time. I really expected Hillary Clinton to win thereby giving me some rest from a preoccupation with current events that goes back to my Weekly Reader in grade school. That has not happened. But I do not consider my limited forays into the diary portion of my blog to be a waste. They serve as a good reference for me when I want to know what was happening in my life vis-a-vis the larger world.

I have tomorrow to write my next post for the Duluth Reader and I’ve not started it yet. I have another post in mind for today on my approach to “vacations.” I’ve had four in recent years in which I intensively studied the lands I was heading to. France has become the most intense of these and, Mon dieu!, far I have a much greater appreciation of its importance to American History than I previously had.

I have been so preoccupied that I can’t be fully trusted to get my normal allotment of duties done. I have yet to paint the bellfry in our church and on Friday I forgot to go to the Damiano Center to help serve lunch. That’s the second time that has happened since I stepped off the school Board. At church my confederates let me know I’ll be getting a good roasting the next time I show up. I deserve it. C’est la vie!

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