It has come to the attention of this publication that "World ReKnown Time Traveler", Claude W. Debunkem has gone missing. Mr. Debunkem reportedly returned from his last "time trip" in a depressed mood, and was last observed muttering - incomphrehensible sylables, while indulging himself of much brew at a local pub.

Upon receiving this "news," we, here at "The New Residencia," immediately dispatched our top investigative reporter, Mr. Hymus R. Peckersmith, the IV, to the pub in question.

As we await Peckers "report," we are asking anyone with any information concerning Mr. Debunks whereintheworldabouts to contact this newspaper at the e.c.t. (earliest - convenient - time).

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con'td on page 23C

Received a couple of comments (on Mind-Scape) both via personal email, and both "warnings", basically saying that I should abstain from my present course. "No", there was not an "or else" refrain in either comment, so, I filed them under my "to take in advisement file" and thought nothing more of them, although I was slightly perturbed at the one which suggested (mildly) that I should limit my intake of beer, along with the query "of whether or not I smoked funny cigarettes"?

Irregardless, I have to admit that I briefly thought of giving up my blog, but almost at the same time, decided that I would proceed. This decision took me immediately to another crossroads and that was (of course) the "direction of my blog". Never one to be influenced (much) by what others say (or don't say), it seemed logical to me to continue along the "Mind-Scape" path, at least for a little while. Plus, I must add, I really wanted to "experience" again, what I had experience the day before.

So, as I was "off from work" today, I decided to re-create, to the best of my ability - yesterday. Sending the wife off to work with a kiss, I retired to my recliner again.

This time, sans the beer, and only smoking "store bought" cigerettes I relaxed in my chair, sitting back to await "the experience." Closing my eyes, I willed myself to be still, hardly breathing, as I anticipated what was to come.

Then promptly fell asleep.

I was pissed as hell. Here I was driving my car along a familiar road, on one of my road trips, dreaming like a idiot, and missing my "experience." Trying to jerk myself awake proved fruitless, and irritated me even more. It was without doubt a frigging dream, for how else could I have been transformed from my recliner to my car, except by a dream?

Everything in my dream was normal, I was headed toward "Carpenter", a mid-size city of about 55,000, where several clients of mine resided. Driving along, I could feel the road, feel the power of the engine, and was absentmindedly adjusting the radio to my favorite "talk show."

Noticing that the familiar land-scape; "flat, barren fields, hemmed in by barbwire" was absent, I slowly focused on what wasn't (absent), but what was there.

"Trees", Trees everywhere; lining both sides of the road, making it appear that I was slicing through a dense forest. It was at this point where a line from yet another one of my poems came to mind; "you should notice six things everyday".

Could it be, I reasoned, that I'd never noticed the trees I was now noticing? Hardly before that thought had come and went, than the road I was on turned into a "Y." My usual "route" was to the left toward Carpenter. To the "right" a road sign proclaimed "Ester," which I'd noticed before. "Ester" no doubt, was some little nickel-dime town - down that road somewhere.

"Teetering" at the very bottom of the "V" - of the "Y", I tried to decide which way to go; left or right? Tradition and habit, "strong forces to overcome") dictated me to incline to the left as always, though I must confess I did look at the right route to see if it appeared "less traveled", which was difficult to ascertain, since the road was asphalt and not grass.

As I "teetered", (it seemed like minutes, but couldn't of been more than a second or two) "the neutrons, electrons, and plutrons" started to rapidly "fire" in my brain, and I'm sure that if it had been dark outside, an observer could of observed several flavors of colored light, i.e. red, blue, and perhaps a fiery orange, flashing from my scalp.

Be that as it may, the cause of this "Lightning Show" was the name "Ester", because now - I was seeing it differently. It was still proclaiming "Ester" to the right, but "Ester" was now spelled "Euster", and over the "u" were those two little German black dots!

I turned right.

....what had been before, was changed. the wide asphalt road became a much narrower one, and the dense trees had thinned. A bright, sunny day "flipped over" to a foggy one, with moisture heavy in the air. "Suddenly" as I topped a small rise, I was forced to grind to an immediate stop, in order to keep from hitting a lone man walking damn near in the middle of the road.

Upon hearing my screeching tires he jumped away from my car and tumbled to his right, rolling head over heels out of sight. Knowing I'd not touched him, but still not sure, and worried about liability, I jumped out of the car and ran to the spot - I'd last seen him, and peered down the grassy slope, to no avail.

He was nowhere to be seen; but he was heard. "Close call Sir," he said, as he stood on my left brushing at his jacket and trousers. They were made of some kind of tweed, brownish in color, and the jacket had "orange leather patches" on the elbows.

"Orange leather patches!" "Christ", when was the last time I'd seen that? He wasn't a tall man, maybe a inch or two beneath my own 5'11", but he must of weighed at least 250 pounds, although he did not have a "fat" look about him, in fact, he appeared very muscular and fit.

He looked vaguely familiar, and for a second I thought I "had him" as the guy who played Santa Claus on that old Christmas movie, "Miracle on 39th Street", or was that 36th Street? No matter, cause obviously that wasn't who he was, for this guy couldn't of been over 55 or 60, and whoever it was in that old movie would - now be over a hundred if he was even alive. However, he did look like him; white, full beard with a touch of brown in it, mustache curling up a little on both ends, and a devilish smile coming from somewhere in that maze of a beard.

"Was it not sir"? "Yeah" I managed, as I forced myself to not stare at this strange man, who apparently was oblivious to "scaring the crap" out of me, and was even less concerned that he had almost been the cause of his own demise.

He acted as if he had - had only a small mishap while out for a jaunty walk. "What might be your name, sir"? I started to ask him about all the "sirs" but instead I told him my name. "Delbert McFannis" he repeated, rolling his eyes upward, appearing to of had an "original thought" or something. "So you are not English then, Sir"?

Ok, Ok, I was already thinking S.J. Hump, the cousin or whatever to C. Hump, certainly the diction and proper use of the language was a reminder of yesterday, but something was holding back the question, and instead I told him "no, American".

"Righto ol chap", (gee, straight out of a movie somewhere in my brain) and what is your business in our little village" (did even the English use that word these days?). And, where in hell was this "village;" I hadn't seen any vestige of a town anywhere.

All I could see was trees, trees everywhere; and to top it off, they looked like...... - "pines" was the word I was meaning to say, but nothing came from my mouth as I stared at several small houses not 50 yards from where we stood. I could see people milling about, and, then from literally nowhere - a humongus cow walked slowly by us; I could of reached out and touched it, if I hadn't of been so frigging scared.

I'd never been in close proximity to a cow before, and was unsure if it appeared so large (to me) because of that, or, if it was truly larger than normal. In any event it was a beautiful cow, almost solid black with two small white spots; one close to the head, the other in the middle of the back. It was at this juncture while I was wondering about the meaning of seeing a cow - in the flesh - for the first time, and describing that "cow" as beautiful, that I decided I wanted a beer.

"Anywhere a guy could get a beer around here"? After uttering the words, I wondered if it was proper to inquire about liquor to my English Gentleman"? I shouldn't of worried unnecessarily, cause I soon realized that I was standing by myself, unless you count the cow which was steadily munching on some straw-like stuff, her big eyes peering at me in kind of an abstract manner.

Ahead, maybe halfway to the houses - I saw him - saundering through the field, swinging what looked like a cane, and doffing his hat (neither of which I had noticed before) at a large, bulky woman, carrying a metal bucket. Even though the thought of the moment was to get in my car, I quite unpredictably started after him.

It was just a simple question. "What is mind-scape"?

I got my answer - but - "boy did it provoke more questions"?

Sitting in my recliner - with a cold glass of beer, a new book by a fantastic author, (Walter Mosley) and not a bothering anyone, least of all him/her, hell I didn't (still don't) know if it be a he or a she; making a mental note to find out though.

My "mind-scape" was completely into the book; "no elephants, monkeys, or human cannonballs", everything was peace and quite, till I heard something. A noise, not loud but very distinct; and that's when everything changed, like going from a bright yellow sunrise to a dark, orange sun - slowly going flat on the horizon.

The sound I'd heard came from within; like a screen door slamming, and followed by footsteps - rapid and hard - headed my way. I closed the book and sat quietly waiting...

"Now listen carefully, I'm going to explain mind-scape to you".

The voice if you choose to call it that, was - to quote one of my poems, like a "soft laugh in an empty room", and I marveled at it's velvet cadence, each word pronounced so perfectly that I wondered if it belonged to some English Gentleman from across the sea. But I had no way of knowing, and it didn't matter much either, because of the weirdness of it all.

Now... I've been around, seen a lot of things, some pretty strange too, but till now - I'd never "heard voices". For some crazy reason I looked at my glass, the thought whisking by - that maybe I'd been drugged. "Nothing in your beer, my man", the proper English now absent, and sounding more like some plain ol ordinary American guy. It was right about here that I started seeing elephants, lots of elephants, some of them "pink", really, for sure, man.

I know what you're thinking - "man hearing voices and seeing pink elephants", why am I reading this crap for? Probably lost a few of you by now, eh?

Anyhow... by this time, and really guys, I just threw in the part about pink elephants - for the fun of it - cause actually I wasn't really thinking about much of anything. What I was doing - was trying to accept what was going on. It reminded me of that comment that Vince Scully made when he was describing the home run that Kirk Gibson hit, in that World Series game against the A's; "I don't believe what my eyes just saw".

"Who was the English guy", I thought, and it wasn't an "unthought-out thought", it was a purposeful one, one made to get a response, which it did, again via the thought process, which I'd quickly accepted for whatever it was; "that was S. J. Cump, a distant cousin of C. Hump, the very same C. Hump you've talked to on the blog".

"And you must be lalepop", I responded, actually saying it out loud, which caused me to jump at my own voice. You know, like when you suddenly have that "something is crawling on your neck feeling".

Waiting... after a minute, maybe two, I realized that the voice was gone, but where it had gone was just as mysterious, as where it had come from. I got up from the recliner and walked around the house, opening some blinds, letting in the brightness of the sun. Thought briefly about logging on the blog, but upon seeing my truck keys on the kitchen counter - I decided to go to town; needed to pick up some things at Wal-Mart, go by the library, and mess around a little.

Later, I started this blog and - so - here I am.

p.s. I got my explanation of "mind-scape", it was waiting for me when I logged on.

There was a "cut" of a song "The Sound of Silence," by Simon & Garfunkel that really packed a punch, (excuse the clique) but it really did. It really did. Anyway... the song was recorded, and in the background you could hear t.v. newsmen (of the day) ..talking. Giving all the bad news of the day.. I can't remember exactly what they were talking about but I think they were giving "the number of Americans who died that day in Vietnam", along with the running tally, which is something they used to do, back in the day.

I've tried to find that particular cut, but have never been able to locate it. If by chance anyone might know how I could get it, I would appreciate it.

I've always been hung up with music; the last song I heard in the states before going to Vietnam was "Hey Jude", and the first song I heard when arriving there (Vietnam) was "Get Back", which is exactly what I promised myself to do.

Been on this blog for only a short time, but I am amazed at the variety of comment and the huge amount (of comment). And the different viewpoints, shit, they are all over the board. I wonder sometimes if this country has always been divided as it is today, and we just never knew it. Point being..... the computer age is roaring into our lives, and changing everything, with blogs just beginning to take off; one can only wonder what the future holds...

I am finding that it is hard to keep up, and this from a guy who can type 75 wpm, but evidently not think that fast. haha

But I do work fulltime, and my job requires a lot of travel
Anyhow.... just some thoughts for the moment.

Blue sky, been over me so long
one of the bluest today
white clouds shielding an absent sun
but not its brightness

cows in the fields
real people about
life abounds
no matter the shields

never seen a nicer day
must of missed many
by not seeing
since I'm always so busy

wiser men than me
say to stop and see
at least six things
everyday