Here is The Blissful Adventurer 2012 Year in Review Haiku. Haiku was one of my most successful creative expressions here in the blog world in 2012 I want to share some of the best of the best with you all today for my final blog of 2012; easily the most successful year I have a had as a storyteller.

The cheese had no origin

but its Cheesy-ness

was undeniable

He saw his way out

of the cold and he knew the

evidence would melt

Joy is frequently

defined by images of life

although they can lie

The lazy girls talked
at length while stirring the cups
of their past short joy

just when he thought he

can't go any further she poured

herself into him

cutting corners was

not the way he liked to live

his life under the bridge

The source of our pain

is often the thing that makes

us the most happy

the only truth was

he had been wronged and someone was

going to pay for it

An ever swirling

breeze brushed the open window

while animals stared

So much madness

in the streets of life and only

so little solace

(Photo by Juliet Housewright from her upcoming blog SCHMEE JOURNEYS)

her final hope clung

to her clutching hands as the

tornado touched down

eyes have a way of

telling stories that perhaps

even the mind does not

She smiles on the walk
to deliver a simple
message of sure pain

Spaghetti with Clams - Le Marche

filled with old workers

this fluorescent spot of life

cooks food as god wants

Photo by Schmee

Feet seem happiest

when dappled lights and warmth find

a place to alight

here he comes riding

lands that were once his now not

because he is now dead

goaty goaty goaty
standing on the rocky slope
needing sunglasses

For final thoughts on 2012 I want to share a Facebook chat I had with George Weaver Yesterday. George is the author of the beautiful "She Kept a Parrot" and the photography blog "The Fuzzy Foto" This chat is why I am here and why I love this work.

George L Weaver Michael, it is people like you who unite us all in a world community. I never dreamed that neurosurgeons, artists, photographers, world travelers, and professional writers like you would visit an old woman from a provincial little town in Texas. People from India, Turkey, Japan, Germany, South Africa, Ghana, Colombia, Israel, Canada, Australia, and many other countries. And, they sound just like neighbors and friends from down the street! Some of my best blogging friends are down-the-street Americans too.

You folks are sophisticated world travelers and all are phenomenally talented and informed ... but all of you talk to ME. Can you imagine? Through your continual encouragement, I have come to know these people who have taught me about the world, and in the process, they've taught me something more important ... that we all belong to one human family. We are all the same. 

My life as a hermit has been limitless this year. The world is literally at my fingertips as trite as that may sound. I was always shameless, but you made me fearless, Michael. And I thank you. 

I am "blissfully" looking forward to 2013 and all of the discoveries the new year brings! 

Happy New Year to you and Schmee!

Michael Housewright Travel in all forms has been since the beginning of man the way in which we know what makes us so alike even though at middle distances we seem so far apart. In 2012 I learned for the first time in my life how small the differences are and how vain it has been of me to consider that some place where I was born makes me deserving of such privilege.

Your travel in this blog-world is the most enlightened way in which to experience the internet as it allows the distances to be shrunk and people to be reduced to their common archetypes.

Connecting: that is what I do and try as I may at times to hide in a closet, or on an island, or simply to exist selfishly, I simply cannot. I said to myself some 20 years ago in college that my life's work would not limit me in my constant pursuit of experience, adventure, and human connection. I have at times failed to remain on this path and the pursuits of other things seemingly more comfortable, attractive, or exciting have hindered my course.

I want more than anything for 2013 to be a time of greater embrace and attention to these parts of me that I know only increase my scope and especially my reach. I without thinking of it always want the best for my connections. I love stories of friends successes and of introductions that lead to lifelong friendships. This kind of thing happens with some pretty amazing frequency and I hope that never changes. So long as I can travel, I will. So long as I can write, I will do my best. So long as there is breath in my body I will love my connections and tell their stories.

Here is the annual report on The Blissful Adventurer WordPress blog - I am reluctant to share this as I do not think blogs are the place for perceptions of competition. At the same time I want to share with those who are new at this how much success one can have in only 1 full year of serious blogging. January 1 of 2012 I had less than 50 followers.