Glad to Be Back + Camilla Wells Paynter on Writing, Dreams, and Owls

Hi there! Sorry I’ve been away for so long. My honey and I visited Norway for 3 glorious weeks. Then there was one heck of a hangover to recover from, in terms of having experienced first-hand a safe, clean, g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s land where taxes and laws actually allow all of its citizens to prosper. I’m still reeling over seeing a cradle-to-grave free health care system that includes the right to choose, free prenatal care, not to mention a year off for new mothers and 3 months leave for new fathers. Anyone who is disabled, including oldsters, has secure housing. Education is paid for. Mass transit works. Pollution is so low that one is encouraged over and over to drink tap water. Crime rates are low. Political divisions, bigotry, and our mounting number of people without homes are nothing compared to what we’re undergoing in the U.S. My mind continues to explode over all the ways that being relieved of our myriad stressors could improve our lives and relationships. It’s no wonder that Norway ranks far higher than us for happiness and infant mortality!

Next time, I’ll post more about my amazing vacation.

In the meantime, I’ve been hard at work on my site. Whereas I’m on WordPress’s “Personal Plan,” their tutorials are either to too basic or only address more expensive plans that allow for plugins, as opposed to just widgets. Surely I’m not the only WordPress blogger who finds selecting a theme to be an utter time suck of a nightmare. In a perfect world, one could search…