When I look back on my life there, there are a few regrets that consume me. The greatest burden from my past is the lack of reading during my youth. When I was a young fool, instead of grabbing a book to entertain my mind, I chose the lazy approach and hopped in front of the television. While I loved the shows from my youth (especially the Saturday morning cartoons), at this point in my life, I wish books held more sway over me in my youth. Unfortunately, that desire for quick and easy entertainment also curtailed my mind from finding beauty looming over me. Despite my ever dwindling availability, sometimes I’m capable of carving out some time to find beauty in the same neighborhood that I grew up in...

With the completion of Disturbances, Criminal Search and the mountain of paperwork, I turned my attention to the last story of the month, a Sci-Fi tale. Despite not having an original idea for this story, I eventually planted a withered seed in my mental landscape. Overnight, the wizened husk of an unknown story that I buried transformed into a vague concept. After penning the rough draft, I set it aside as the other tasks for the month stole my focus...

With the stack of forms before me dwindling and the Disturbances finished, I turned my attention to the second story for my patrons, a mystery. These are always fun puzzles to both craft and work out. While I strive to create better quandaries, I’ve developed a stable of investigators. However, after just crafting a tale featuring my master thief, I was eager to tie my mystery to Jessica’s work. Fortunately, with some previous work, I’ve placed Kyle in the same universe as Jessica. So, it didn’t take long for me to choose my detective for this narrative...

There are a handful of universal constants in this world. Chief among them are the tax man, death, and paperwork. While we constantly strive to limit our problems with that trio, ultimately, you cannot escape their grasp. After having my mind blown with some recent training, the stack of paperwork that I’ve had to focus on has skyrocketed. Ultimately, it will be worth the hassle, but at the moment it’s been a time sink that’s captured the vast majority of my free time...

Last week brought the last photograph from my trip to Niagara and Gettysburg. It’s my fervent hope that I brought you a step closer to the beauty of both locations. Fortunately, life is full of amazing experiences. Not that long ago, I took a stroll around Kingstowne Lake. Despite taking a lot of pictures, when I sat down to go through them, there were just a handful that I felt were worthy of sharing with the world...

In between jaunts throughout Gettysburg, we either explored the campground or simply huddled around our campsite’s blazing firepit. Aside from discovering some fascinating sights, this was the first time I personally ever added something to a fire to artificially alter its hues. Though the moment I finally build a permanent firepit on my property, I’m going to stock up on those additives and enjoy the shifting colors...

While there is plenty of history suffusing the hills of Gettysburg, there’s plenty of beauty emerging from the battleground. Of course, that’s something we can appreciate today as we study the fields stretching out from the hilltops. During the battle, the soldiers were far too concerned with survival to appreciate nature’s majesty...

Last week I introduced the initial shots from my last romp through Gettysburg, in my DeviantArt galleries. While I’ve been there before when I was a Boy Scout, it had been a long time since my feet tread upon that battleground. Unlike those previous expeditions, this time we explored the site using the auto tour. As we rolled throughout the grounds, many natural sights leapt to the forefront, begging to be captured...

As I round out posting images from my trip to Niagara, there are a handful of sights from the observation deck. The sounds coming from the cascading water tipped me right into a perfect moment of relaxation. After exploring the sights of the falls, we made our way back to the resort and a select few of us got to ride the resort’s zip line. In between the rider’s trips over the lake, I turned around to study the buildings on the far shore...

With Neglected Skills and Stalked Prey firmly in my rear-view mirror, my attention whipped to the last exclusive for my patrons this month, a thriller. While both of my previous entries focused on two sides of the same coin, I wanted to jump to a familiar character, Darren Gilbert. Unfortunately, when I sat down to flesh out this installment, I kept slamming into the brick wall within my mind. Despite the growing headache, I kept churning through potential ideas. However, it wasn’t until I tugged at the thread surrounding Darren’s life after securing Tiatha’s home that the story slowly unfolded upon my mental theater...

When the dice finished scattering across my desk, I poked through them, looking for a trio that sparked an idea. As I pushed the cubes around, three of them continued to find the same neighbors. After some debate, I pulled the footprints, compass, and scales from the rest. While this was the most memorable collection from that role, initially, the story stubbornly refused to germinate. So I pushed the prompt out of the way as I continued working on the other rest of the month’s narratives...

The moment I finished publishing Neglected Skills, my focus shifted to detailing the next story for my patrons, a horror. Fortunately, as Ramas’ world expands, I’m able to leverage my scattered notes to bring further depth to the budding world. With those notes firmly entrenched in my mind, I leaned into the latest installment of Ramas’ life. While this tale doesn’t feature the wanderer explicitly, I jumped to Emilie’s side of the world as her soldiers seek potential allies for the inevitable conflict between those cursed with sight...

As the Maid of the mist neared the falling curtain of water, I crept to the boat’s side and captured a couple of photos of the cascading waters. While the bulk of the resulting mist was blocked by the provided poncho, some of it leaked through the openings. Fortunately, we didn’t go through the falling droplets. Once the small craft pulled into its dock, we emerged and headed to the observation deck on the American side of the falls. Standing there, I took in the majestic sight of the falls and basked in its natural beauty...

Despite a minor hiccup, I’m pleased to bring you the first piece of micro-fiction featuring Marcus and his ethereal Partner, Benjamin. Instead of trying to tie this into the larger story, I leaned into a small, friendly poker game. While I’ve seen scenes peppered throughout television and movies, I ignored them for this take. Instead, as the story flowed through me, I walked through my memories until I settled back in my college days sitting in the dorm’s common room with a bunch of guys playing with the other broke individuals. However, since this fictitious tale features a shade, I got to explore some fun hijinks...

When you go up to Niagara Falls, there are a couple of things that you have to do. The first is Cave of the Winds and the second is Made of the mist. Both excursions focus on the end of the water’s journey. One feature’s the portion of the falls flowing over Goat Island, while the other highlights the more iconic section of the massive waterfall. Last week, I posted the final two snapshots I collected from the wooden catwalk and the first two images from the deck of the boat exploring the magical curtain of cascading water...