The Barn Hunter Returns...

Well, it's been a few months.

Thesis status: still in progress. After all my lofty ambitions and well-laid plans, guess what? Summer happened. I got a really good job in a museum in Ogema, a lovely town about thirty miles from home. Though not a huge distance, it was far enough that I spent a lot of time simply going back and forth to work. Then there was work itself. And my giant garden. And the all-too-brief Saskatchewan summer. And so, the thesis got relegated to a back burner on very, very low heat.

I readjusted my goal and went on with my life. I completely neglected this blog, partly out of a deep sense of shame that I wasn't living up to my self-imposed standards, and partly because, frankly, I just wasn't thinking about barns all that much. Other things grabbed my attention. But they were important things, and I don't regret it. For instance, I began a new blog, from the gap, which explores my love for my home region and delves into some prairie folklore and history.

But now summer has ended. Autumn approaches quickly, and it's already been a full year since I began my barn hunting adventures. I have returned to my thesis and I'm slowly but surely getting back into a barny state of mind. My new goal is to finish the thesis by December, and I'm quite confident I can do that.

I'm not going to track my progress on here, though, like I had so foolishly thought would be successful back in May. I'm learning to let myself just work the way I do best: sort of haphazardly by-the-skin-of-my-teethly. Disorganised and jumbly and fumbly and yet somehow, I manage to get things done, and usually on time, too. So, we're going to go with that. And, instead of imposing a strict blogging schedule on myself, like I did last year, I'm going to write new posts when I feel the inclination to do so. I started this blog because it was fun for me to share all the wonderful experiences I was having. It didn't feel fun anymore when I turned it into a weekly obligation. So, there will be new posts. Who knows when, and who knows what about. I'll surprise you, and myself.

A barn I drive by every day. East of Ceylon. November 1, 2013.