“What’s going on with the Tamale?”

Thus inquired my friend Patricia, just last night. As a subscriber to this blog, she no doubt was puzzled at not having gotten any updates for the past four-and-and-half months. Okay, fasten your seat belts:

It was May 8-9 when Zabine Van Ness and I returned to Seattle from Hanoi, via Seoul, Korea. (See the previous article, Seoul Pancake.) I spent most of the next two weeks in Seattle as a guest of Zabine and her husband, Peter Van Ness, pictured at left.

A highlight of this visit was Seattle’s celebration of the 100th anniversary of the visit to America by ‘Abdu’l-Baha, son of the Baha’i Faith’s founder, Baha’u’llah. And for me, the chief highlight of that celebration was being its keynote speaker — one of the highest honors of my life.

Finally — finally! — got back to Knoxville May 22 (having left April 24). Got back to Cheri. My dear, sweet, beloved Cheri. In our 26 years of marriage, we’d never been apart for a whole month. As great an adventure as this Vietnam/Seattle  trip was, the physical distance from her made it one of the toughest months of my life. Maybe hers too.

From that moment this till, I’ve been immersed in book-publishing stuff, web-publishing stuff, writing, trying to mow faster than our lawn can grow. And yes, there’s a lot more to log here by way of specifics. Please stay tuned.

To all the wonderful folks I met, and the many new friends I made, on this trip-of-a-lifetime — thank you for being there. Can’t wait to see you all again. Hopefully, next time, accompanied by Cheri, so the trip-duration won’t matter.