Time for a (you should excuse the expression) CHANGE.

OK, I've soaked you long enough in the incredible drama of my busted big toe -- so long, in fact, that the toe has been good as new for weeks. It's time for some new material. What might that be, you ask? I'm workin' on it. Stay tuned.

New Tread on an Aging Jalopy

It started on the last day of 2009, when my foot doctor split open the big toe on my right foot like a sausage being readied for the grill. He pulled out enough surplus bone and other junk to fill a shot glass, as he put it. Then he sewed me up and I spent the next two weeks hobbling around on one of those big sandal things, which was a great excuse to park in handicapped spaces, avoid shoveling snow, and spend hours in the sun room with my foot on the table, reading, dozing off, and reading some more. I finished Edgar Sawtelle (David Wroblewski) and Kill the Devil (T.K. Marion), and I'm well into The Russian Concubine (Kate Furnivall) and started on Winter's Tale (Mark Helprin). It's been a while since I've felt relaxed enough for such a glut of reading, but now it may become a habit again. I might even resume work on my stalled second novel. The doctor removed the stitches from my foot this morning, and it's good to be wearing shoes on both feet again. But it will also be good to keep putting that foot on the table and plunging into that grand old-fashioned pastime of liberating the spirit by way of the well-written word.

The many uses of a surfboard

I'll bet you thought they were just for riding waves. Actually, a rented surfboard in the hands of three imaginative young lads is capable of so many other expressive possibilities...

...such as striking poses and eliciting comments...

... or simply striking poses -- and attracting large carnivorous hairs...

... or significantly enhancing one's stature in the world.

I took these pictures just about exactly 45 years ago, during a 1965 family Christmas vacation in Delray Beach, Florida. As you can see from the beach shots, the waves weren't very good for surfing that day, so it really was fortunate that we had such fertile imaginations

Anyway, happy new year, everyone!