Volume 5: Front Matter

February 1, 2025

This is Volume 5, a future yet to be written.

The first four volumes are written in various notebooks and journals, each an experiment. After my travels and time in Texas, I learned I preferred this type of notebook: medium-sized, smooth, stiff spine that opens flat. Hopefully, the rest of these will be in this type of notebook. As always, I've labeled them on the inside front cover of each and with a label on the outside with the dates and a rough summary of the contents.

Rowan and I have lived in Blue Elk, Oregon, since the late spring of 2023. We bought this cabin from the Forest Service Department at a discount. After the caretaker couple who lived here mysteriously died in the house, ticket sales for events died off, too. The town council voted to stop using it as an event location. The Forest Service Department no longer wanted to maintain it with its shrinking budget. We were able to buy it.

We still got the better end of the deal: a house we could afford, more space than we bargained for because of the situation, and unmatched views. The circumstances did not put us off. We both love interesting and intriguing stories. It was one of the common things that we shared after we met.

Rowan still lectures part-time at Blue Elk University as a creative writing and memoir adjunct professor, and I work part-time in the university's library. The town is still small enough, at least for me. It's grown considerably over the last 20 years, but I'm comfortable with the current population.

Neither of our kids has returned home and live with us. We miss them, but we love our life here.

The rest of the history and the stories between then and now are found in Volumes 1-4.

Let's begin Volume 5.