Preview

Rumors of our demise are somewhat overstated.

But the next piece here has some learning and some more research to be done, so it’s taking longer than I thought. Learning comes slower these days; I think my brain’s getting full. Or stuck. Or something.

Anyway, here’s a sneak preview.

And a hint: I’m told that this is one of four sets like it in existence, and it’s not too far from Houston. If you know what AND where it is, that’ll tell you what I’m working on, mostly.

If you don’t, you get to wait. I will try not to make you wait too long, however.

November Update: That’ll teach me to promise not to make people wait, won’t it? The last four months have carried more than their share of general chaos, including (but certainly not limited to) the unexpected demise of my primary source on the story, the not-quite-unexpected demise of my primary income source, the near-demise of my truck (though she has recovered neither my wallet nor my schedule can say the same), a fairly severe recurrence bout of “heck with it, I’m gonna stay home and stare at the wall because nobody else cares what I do” (a psychological or maybe psychiatric condition to which I’ve been subject off and on for over fifty years now, which seems impossible as I refuse to be that old…) and, recently, the not-really-unexpected-but-still-a-solid-smack-between-the-eyes death of my long-time travel partner, mentor, and over-thirty-year close friend, Blair Pittman. I wrote a bit about that over on the WanderBlog, but there’s so very much more to it that I’m still trying to get my brain wrapped around…

What I will do here is put something of a period where there was a question mark, though.

The picture here is a collection of Christmas commemorative plates from the Danish firm of Bing & Grøndahl. This is a complete set, one of every issue from 1895 to present. It’s on display at the Danish Heritage Museum in Danevang, Texas, which is a small historical hamlet (No real pun intended, but Hamlet WAS a Dane, you will recall!) about 75 miles southwest of Houston. The docents there tell me there are only 4 such complete sets in existence, and they’re rather proud to have one.

When I shot this I was in Danevang to cover the 15th anniversary of the opening of the museum, which I had intended when I left Houston to be just a very simple little piece because I had no clue how interesting the history of the place would be… but within a few minutes there it was blowing up bigger and bigger and was at one point wanting to become a six or ten story series. I’m still wrestling with this in and around all the other insanity in my life just now… how much SHOULD I do, how big should I let it get, how much is anyone else going to care, and all that writerly confusion. No worries, I’ll figure it out and try not to drive you nuts. Me, well… I make no promises.