Like keeping a diary...

Am I lazy? No, I work hard and I play hard. But for me, writing a blog is like writing a diary: the best intentions are quickly usurped by the busyness of daily life. Entry 1: June 1; entry 2: June 2; entry 3: June 3; entry 4: November 12? Yep, the months disappear with a speed that can only be the result of a pair of kids and a thousand projects.

Here's a postcard from Uncle Travelling Matt, a summary of the missed months:

For the past year, I wrote a weekly column for the local newspaper, the Prince Rupert Daily News. Called "The Outsider" it featured weekly explorations into the outdoors landscape surrounding the town of Rupert. Well-received but underpaid, The Outsider ran until a few weeks ago, when the balance tipped and it was no longer feasible to continue. Grand plans? An adventure guidebook for the town at the end of the road.

Having completed a renovation on our living space, we ventured into the rental space and renovated it as well. Months of dusty, damaging work ensued. Recently finished, we're now in the process of trying to track down a tenant. We also took on a massive landscaping project in the backyard and have completed two-thirds of it, finally giving us an outdoor space we can use.

I crossed into a couple of new markets during these blog-silent months, writing a feature article for Today's Parent & Pregnancy and a feature for the snowboarding journal, Frequency.

We travelled some, including a winter trek down to Vancouver Island, a fateful journey that saw the death of our truck; a week-long 3,000 kilometre roundtrip to Kelowna for Jo's mum's 60th birthday, stormy sailings to Haida Gwaii, and many short (relatively-speaking) trips in the northwest.

The plan now? Writing-wise, I'm taking the job to its logical conclusion: book-length projects. The aforementioned guidebook is one, but as more a contribution to the community and a chance at making a few bucks than a career-builder, this is somewhat of a side project, albeit a large and time-consuming one. The other book in the works is a creative non-fiction piece that explores BC in terms of balance between conservation, development, resource industry, and culture. There is some publisher interest and to subsidize the travel associated with the book, I'm applying for both BC and Canada arts council grants this year. I've sold a feature article about one of the locations to be discussed in the book, Tatshenshini-Alsek Park, and I head up there at the beginning of August to start my explorations. I have high hopes for this book.

Meanwhile, back in the day-to-day, we're juggling jobs, kids, and hobbies as best we can. The adventures continue and we pack on the memories. The only normality we see is a the uncertainty of a semi-nomadic life ... it won't last forever, that's for sure, but hey, we're here, we're young, we're busy, and we love to live. As Jason Collett put it, "here's to being here."