A month is long enough. Heck, this hiatus was only supposed to be a couple of weeks, but Mother Human Nature had a trick up her proverbial sleeve. On the 24th of October, I journeyed to Yale-New Haven Hospital for what I thought would be pretty routine open heart surgery, only to learn that open-heart surgery is never routine. Oh, the operation to fix a faulty mitral valve and a mostly blocked left anterior descending artery went smoothly enough, but two days after the surgery, my heart did something entirely unexpected: it stopped beating. That required some deft and fast work by the assembled doctors with, first, a long needle, and then, when the stimulant drugs didn't work, a device akin to an electric cattle prod. I came around, only to discover that I was moving quickly towards another operating room where I was equipped with a pacemaker. Go figure. But I came through the Event in decent enough shape, and now, back home, I'm getting ready to start up the blog, even though, until my rehab is done, I can't promise that I'll be able to write and shoot every day. Much of my time now is spent increasing my stamina, and this means lots of walking without stopping to take pictures. But, I promise you, I'll be OK and the pictures and mini-essays will come—so help me God... Wait a minute, God already helped. Well, God and great doctors.