Presenting: Barry of An Explorers View of Life

Barry says about his blog: Welcome to this highly eclectic blog. It began its little life as an lighthearted look at the events of the world around me, especially the adventures of my dog Lindsay. However in March of this year I was diagnosed with Esophageal Cancer which, as you might suspect, changed the nature and tone of this blog considerably. It now, for the most part, chronicles my search for a healthy life both within and without conventional medicine. However, I continue to post about my dog Lindsay on Wednesdays, and participate in "Our Town Shootouts" on Fridays. And every now and then, I just post what I want.

Okay, I admit it: I am in love with Barry. I can just stand in line, because that line is as long as my mountain is high. Over the last few days, I have picked up rock after rock, putting it in my hand, seeing how it "felt" - so that I can send to Barry a special "healing" rock from my mountain cove. I'd like to send him two - - one that comes from the cold running creek, and one that comes from the mountain itself. Of course, who knows if my rocks really heal in a physical way, but, I do believe by holding them in his hand and feeling the ancient quality and mystery and wonder of them, he will feel better. For , as his profile reads, Barry has cancer and is going through some rough times right now. Oh, you wouldn't know how that suffering must weigh upon him, because his spirit of strength and his love of beauty and of family and of life, of his wife Linda, his energetic and full-of-personality-and-spunk(Like Barry!) dog Lindsay, his respect and love of nature and exploring--all of these things are Barry the Man. The cancer is not Barry. The cancer is an interloper, an alien that has attached itself to Barry's body. A parasitic bastard. It does not define him, but it is shaping him and his moments. It is calling attention to itself as it is its nature to do. Right now, I have a hate upon all hates of that cancer. But, I won't go on about that, because I'd rather write how much I love Barry.

I go by Barry's place and there is always much going on since I missed my daily "drive by Barry's Place;" so, I scroll down to catch up, gulping Barry's adventures in big hungry bites. I want to make sure he is okay, too. To make sure he's not hurting or feeling unwell. I want to see what Lindsay is up to, or his wife Linda (she has her own blog and I like going by there as well). I laugh at Lindsay's antics . . . I smile at Barry's way of seeing his world and the world of his Lindsay. I know this: The world is a much much better place with Barry in it.

Barry has 611 friends on his blog--think about that number: 611! Yet, when he comes by here and says hi, I feel as if I am special, as if I am thought of and thought about.

I could go on and on, but you should go read Barry, go meet him, go say hello. If you have not gone by Barry's place, go there...right now! Click HERE.

Barry said about Tender Graces: Tender Graces is a complex novel of powerful characters in exotic settings wrestling with life's relentless and all too puzzling demands. It is by turns horrifying and exhilarating, hilarious and all too real. It has one of the most unlikely heroes in modern fiction. I know you've heard that before, but this hero isn't a ghost or a man from Mars, it is a woman who emerged from her own troubled past and became through her own efforts a normal human being. Normal in a clinical, not a statistical sense. A woman whose very normalcy transforms, and challenges, all the other characters in the novel. And maybe the reader as well. [...] Despite its appearance, Tender Graces is not a woman's book, at least not exclusively. It is a very adult book in which very real characters wrestle with life's complexities and come to their own conclusions....for the rest go HERE