Music floating across the lake at sunset dogged by faint echoes like phantoms of memories, pink ice cream at dusk, heat lightning on the horizon, and later a silver moon rolling like a pearl across the velvet luminescence of midnight – such were the summer nights of 2013!  Were yours that romantic?  Well, they were…if you let yourself be in attendance.

It’s a state of mind as much as anything else, isn’t it?  Surround yourself with the inspiration, find the generators – the person, the places – and you can summon it again at will.  My idea of a perfect sanctuary is where you can be just as honest as when you’re alone but you have the added benefit of not being alone.  What’s your idea of a perfect sanctuary?

A trip that ended up in Michigan capped last month for me.  Managed to catch friends in Lansing, Kalamazoo and Jackson plus an added attraction in Ann Arbor.  I really do know some fantastic people!  Not the least of which is my own daughter and little Seamus (pics below).  Add four horses by the names of China, Saber, Sienna and Powder, an electric fence, a tractor, and a bipolar kitten that can’t decide between being a panther or love incarnate, and you have the makings for a very spontaneous couple of days.  Also managed to get past the Death Zone, a.k.a. Chicago, without blowing through a toll booth.  Yah!

Glenn Frey & company are flying into St. Paul in three days to extend what in my estimation is the most encompassing rapport in the history of American – nay, global – music.  Now into their fifth decade of soaring above the Media jet streams, and sometimes into Force 5 hurricanes of controversy or resistance, the Eagles have kept faith with their core identities while growing and reconnecting with each generation.  It’s an exquisite odyssey, a true go-it-alone triumph that succeeds because it engages the hearts/minds of its fans with harmonies and descriptors that resonate across all moments and borders in the human experience.  Hope you’ve met the magic live.  It’s quite incredible to experience open-soul intimacy in a crowd.

And while I’m in the groove about individualism, here’s a quote: “…challenging the supposed status quo has become so trendy that it IS the status quo.  The REAL challenge is defending against that trend – against the bitching, the fear, the guilt, the indemnification cradle-to-grave of the completely socialized human being.  Where have all the individuals gone?”  That’s from my September column over on StorytellersUnplugged.  It’s called SAFE.  You can read the whole thing here: [ http://storytellersunplugged.com/thomassullivan/2013/09/15/thomas-sullivan-safe/#respond ]

What next?  Ah, yes, the photos so many of you write such nice things about – thank you very much.  Below are these latest:  #1 Elm Creek sunset; #2 I have two close buddies whose last name begins with NOR and whose first names are BRUCE.  This is Bruce of Norby Nation (my adoptive family) playing street hockey.  That’s Bruce hisself with a mop hockey stick, and I don’t know which of the twins – Julia or Emma – is whipping past him (snicker); #3 Sully & Katie the horse on Crow-Hassan Main’s trails (Katie is on the right); #4 Seamus & Colleen at Jackson CC; #5-11 Seamus & Sully on Michigan ranch; #12 sure, sure, you’ve heard of a stalking horse, but have you ever seen a dude in an outback hat stalking a horse?

Just gave the green light to an audition for my fourth audiobook.  BORN BURNING will soon join SECOND SOUL, DUST OF EDEN and THE MARTYRING for releases in that format.  Many of you will remember the video clip of Bob Walter reading from DUST OF EDEN in his West Coast studio Eartown.  His superb recordings of that novel and THE MARTYRING made a believer in audiobooks out of me.  Hope more fans try them (links on my website at the end of this Sullygram), as they are a great fit and a perfect companion for people on the go in this society of portable devices.

Soon the winter wind will toss its mane like a white stallion, and the earth will be breathlessly fresh with young snow.  Some of you will sit that out behind bay windows, others will see it only in a glass globe.  Me, I’ll take it on in the endless cycle of seasons with all my senses tingling as if I were a child running across a field with my arms outspread.  Sad that we forget how to embrace newness.  Come with me this winter and I’ll show you how to reacquire that fearless joy in the comfort of your own warm skin…

Thomas “Sully” Sullivan

You can see all my books in any format here on my webpage or follow me on Facebook:
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