Writing a letter to the world each month seemed very impersonal to me when the first Sullygram went out, but your responses have made it feel like one-on-one ever since.  I get the same feeling I get speaking from a stage into a darkened audience.  You hear your voice filling the room and you sense the hush, and it seems like a single listener.  And then the lights come up at the end, and holy moly, it WAS one listener.  "Hi, mom!"  Kidding, kidding.

You are the dearest friends and fans, and the things you share touch and inform me deeply.  Which is why I get dismayed if I hear that e-mails didn't get through.  This usually happens when someone locally tells me they sent something I didn't see, and it leaves me wondering if there were others.  Well over 1000 people subscribe globally, and many more read archived Sullygrams on mirror sites, but please know that I read and respond to all e-mail.  If you suspect I didn't receive something, try sending it from a "New" blank e-mail as opposed to using "Reply."  Using a "Reply" that includes the original Sullygram w/photo links can cause glitches in some mail programs owing to their settings.

Water is deep in hibernation here in Minnesota and savannahs of snow spangle the four horizons.  I find myself seeking evermore remote trails on snowshoes/skis in order to reach pristine vistas, serene silences, and undisturbed wildlife.  Snowmobiles make that problematic.  Lots of my friends are avid "snowtoileters," as I call them (What makes gaseous noises, spreads noxious fumes, and all you do is sit on it?  Um…a toilet.  No—wait…a snowmobile!), so I have to lighten up here or they will gun me down on the trails.  Trust me, I've had some close calls.  And admittedly, for me, riding v-room v-room toys to get exercise is like going before Judge Judy to raise your self-esteem.  But then, if everyone did what I do, the magic would lose some of its specialness.  I've tried to capture some of that magic, and how it dovetails with everyday routines and relationships, in my column this month over on StorytellersUnplugged.  Here's the link:  http://storytellersunplugged.com/thomassullivan/2011/02/16/thomas-sullivan-writing-with-coyote-pee-the-walter-mitty-shuffle-metaphor-multi-tasking-2/         

For the past several years Norway has beckoned me, first as the ancestral home of someone close to me, then simply because I've always been attracted to things Norwegian.  So when the invitation came from publisher Jan Fredrik-Lockert, it seemed like a very strong cue indeed.  I'll be in Oslo to speak at the House of Literature in a handful of days.  Then I'll return home to a visit from Australian friends for whom I am incubating boa constrictor eggs – private joke – and at least three more trips after that in short order.  

And for those of you who would like to hear/see what Doc Foto can do with one of his original songs, check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqNvd6J-nLw&feature=email   Okay, he’s also taken another swipe at me with this new hysterical Jib-Jab: http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/SNXnQ08vaT6ZZ4xwtPnj  

From stormskiing to snowoasis, this month’s photos below are a gallery of the kind of thing I get to enjoy every day on skis or snowshoes.  Those stolen hours fill my head with fantasies and analysis.  They are the taproot of my spiritualism, Romanticism, idealism and they help me sort through life and relationships the way dreams do.  It's what I tried to write about in my column on SU this month, so the photos kinda go with that.  Writing with white light and coyote pee may be my metaphors, but if you spend a lot of time thinking about your life, you might enjoy this column.  Here's the link again: http://storytellersunplugged.com/thomassullivan/2011/02/16/thomas-sullivan-writing-with-coyote-pee-the-walter-mitty-shuffle-metaphor-multi-tasking-2/

Sorry I STILL didn't get to a new sax video for YouTube, but here's what's up now [ http://www.youtube.com/user/Sullysax1#p/a/u/1/d49rY3FQ5ic  ].  Hit “subscribe” on the site if you want to be notified when a new video goes up.  Meanwhile, know that I look forward to and greatly appreciate all your posts and responses to both this newsletter and my columns on StorytellersUnplugged.  They truly make my day/week/month.  Cheers and excelsior!

Thomas “Sully” Sullivan
http://www.thomassullivanauthor.com
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If u hang around me, u get physically healthy, spiritually inspired, intellectually stoked, emotionally refreshed, & mentally ill.

The high points of our lives die twice...once when they end and again when we forget them.

Alas, all my Valentine cookies in the shape of hearts are broken, and you are what you eat. Think I'll skip breakfast.