Introduction

I'm writing from a small studio above the antique store I just bought in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Out my window I can see the coffee shop across the wet street. Inside a mother and her two children are sharing drinks and a large cookie. A man and his dog, a good looking boxer, just walked up to the corner. The traffic light turned and he crossed the street into the park.

All of this means that I owe some of you and explanation, and others a mere introduction.

To the latter, let me simply say that over two years ago now I walked away from something - something beautiful.

A place. A project. A way of life.

A set of friends.

And I walked away unannounced. I walked away and I didn't stop walking till about three months ago when I bought this place.

Let that serve as an introduction.

If you want to know a little more about that place, that project, that way of life, I've arranged my journals from my time in Ithilien. You can find them here.

As for the rest of you, any explanation, I understand, requires that I answer the question, "Why?"

Why did I walk away?

Why did I not return?

Why did I buy an antique store in St. Paul, Minnesota?

The answers to those questions (and others like "Where have you been, my blue-eyed son?") I leave for another day, when perhaps the sun will be shining and the park full of children in sweatshirts, running and laughing among the littering leaves, while I sit enjoying my late coffee and oranges.