People have said that I am mad so often and for so long that decades ago I prepared stock responses by quoting Aristotle: No excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of madness. And the Australian Nobel Prize winning novelist, Patrick White: “You are mad,” shouted Angus, who had learned to cherish his own limitations as a sure proof of sanity.” I am sure you all recognize those as quotes used in the front of some of my books.
Actually I am not called mad much anymore, at least not to my face, now that I am an established legend and have been married to the admirable and genuine American success story, Carol, for twenty-seven years.
However, I have written that no one ever lived in Chicago for the climate, or if they did they were deranged. Tomorrow I fly to Chicago for the climate, which is more pleasant than Hilton Head Island’s in the summer. I will not dispute whatever conclusion you reach.
A low drifting offshore just south of us was forecast to cause more rain than it did. I was able to bike down between thunderstorms and prepare GANNET to be left for six or seven weeks, though I did not do all I would have if I were here and knew definitely that a hurricane was coming. My biggest concern is the ferry boat on the other side of the dock. It is big, heavy and has a lot of flat vertical surface for wind to push against. The marina seems to me to be properly constructed, but the docks were never intended for that kind of vessel. I and others have told the dockmaster that we wish it were gone, but it has now been there two years. No point in worrying over what I can’t control.
I was also able yesterday to go for my third swim. It has come back quickly. What was awkward the first swim is again natural. It is good exercise that uses muscles my other workouts, walking and biking do not. If there is no lightning around this afternoon and no one else at the pool which prevents me from doing laps, I’ll go again this afternoon.
Also deranged, and far too rich, are all the people on the eight to ten week waiting list for a plate of $200 French fries at a New York City restaurant.
It is enough to turn one into a socialist.
While my name is known to a few, almost all are in The West. I did not believe that anyone of the billions in China and India had ever heard of Webb Chiles or read a word I have written. A link to the page below from Ralph came as an unexpected and pleasant surprise. I thank him. The quotes they chose are interesting. I don’t remember the first and last, but I’ll stand by them.
According to the first, I am not yet old. I am not remembering, I am planning.
I don’t know if you can see in the top photo a Great Blue Heron and a Great Egret. Rare for the two to be hunting so close together and it didn’t last. The Great Blue soon chased the egret away.
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