old sayings is that they are often right. Here lately the old saying "nothing worth doing is ever easy" has been really dead on the money lately. I am sorry I havent been able to look into journals and deviations, but thats life sometimes. I hope all is well with everyone.

It came to me today that I had been working myself to peices here lately and I havent seen a bit out of all that work. But I am reminded of the words of a friend, "this is only a season". Well ya'll if this is a season then I am ready for fall to be over. Rent is eating me up and school took a nose dive, if I thought I could get away with it I would take a semester off and find me a river to live on, but I know I wouldnt likely come back.

We work so hard to live and play, but by the time you're done theres no time to play and youre not living anymore. The thing is that you simply have to pay your dues. I suppose I am paying mine and weathering a season. A couple of months from now life ought to be looking a good bit better, God willing.

Luckily I have a close friend that keeps me moving and reminds me that you dont need much to be happy. I remember telling them so many times that the trick to life is to find happiness in life in the little things. Find happiness in your walk to class, or the drive to work, its there in a call to an old friend or a beer from a friend. I know that soon enough I will be running a river and watching the birds fly and the deer run, but those days seem so far away. They'll get there soon enough and these somber days will be forgotten.

Oh by the way I looked up and saw that I had over 4000 views, thanks. Be easy.

Oliver

for most of us an aquired taste. I suppose its like when you first try either you need to have stuff added to it to make it enjoyable, until finally you enjoy it as it is. Enjoying the simplicity and appreciating the subtleties of each.

Before you know it you have gone from creamer and sugar with country music to black coffee and blue grass! Ok so maybe it doesnt work that way for everyone. Either way life is like that, the more you peel away from the things in life that have it cluttered the closer you come to the heart of the matter. In getting in touch with the essentials in life you manage to find joy in simply the act of doing, you find joy in being. In this little world we live in we measure everything by the outcome of a deed, the end result. If it turns out well you accomplished your goal. Or did ya?

It doesnt seem to matter to me if I won, if first off I did it dishonestly, secondly I did it at the expense of another, and finally if I did not find joy in the action. I often ask myself if what I have done that day has made the world a better place, the answer isnt always yes. But if I do one thing that has helped one person then in just the smallest way I changed the world. So forget about John Mayer, and dont wait for the world to change, just take it one day at a time, and remember she's a fixer upper. But She's worth every bit.

Much Love,
Oliver

of those small joys in life that really cant be taken away from. I will say that the type of beer gives alot to the experience. I am going to enjoy a Sol over a Bud Lime (big time) and a Pilsner Urquell over a Sam Adams. Now I'm no trying to take anything away from American brewers, I love Yuengling.

The point is that beer is really a small thing, it is a sort of thing that has to be taken in the manner that is like a treat at the end of a day.

I think that we should all take the time to enjoy the little things in life as much as possible, but in moderation. The thing is that whenever you over indulge you lose all the joy of that moment.

In each moment of every day there is something to take a hold of and celebrate, and with this is and endless variety of experiences. There is never reason to say that there is nothing left, you simply turn left where you always turned right on your walk to class, or your drive to work. Talk to someone else that you have never said hi to. In taking time for little things like this you not only bring something into your life but the life of another.

Be easy, live life, and enjoy every minute.

Much Love,
Oliver

By the way i dont feel alienated, I just like watching smiley, be strong brother!

is to short to rush the river. I unders tand that life goes by and I think this is why I love the river I paddle on. The water is constanly moving on, and with each drop that passes the banks and bed of the river change, if only a little. Life is a river.

I love to find myself on my beloved Cahaba, and if given a touch of time next week I'll be there with a quickness. I was asked this weekend to narate a documentary for the public school system in the area back home. It will be on the Cahaba River and I am looking forward to working on it. I would rather do it in the spring but it may have to be done in the summer. I'm going to shoot for spring.

I finally had cards and such made for my reel mechanic business, I will have to post it soon to let ya'll look at it and tell me what you think.

I am writing now a paper on human nature, specifically why we enter, maintain, end relationships. It will be a long dull read so I will chop it up and post tid bits twice a week so that it can be digested and hopefully enjoyed. I am looking forward to the fall, I am even more looking forward to paddleing the Escatava, or Styx soon. But I would trade both to paddle the Cahaba.

I think that I feel a home sickness that is caused by a lack of enviroment more than a lack of people. People will come and go in life but the place where a man lays down his roots will be a part of his very soul for so long as he lives. Give me a cabin on my river, my dog, a boat, and occasional good company, and you may call me a very happy man.

So all of you stop in to ol' Oliver's river cabin from time to time and say hello.

Much Love,
Oliver

take it to the house. Two more days then I will set myself to the road. Sunday I'll be home and I'll walk through my oaks and see where the deer lie and Monday I'll paddle the river to see where the fish rise. All in all I so releived to be headed home.

I found a couple of creeks in Mississippi that I am looking forward to paddling. I just wish that there were some folks down here that I could paddle it with. Unfortunately there is only one to share it with down here and I have one kayak. Bummer there. I will say that in this little part of the world it almost reminds me of home. There is a young lady in that small town that finds me to be hot to trot. But I doubt that anything happens there. Skwerl could tell you that I am in one of my alone moods.

There is alot in my life here lately that I have done that has given me Joy and i thank God for his place for me in providence. But even though there are things in life that give sorrow to the heart, with each page we turn in life we have to remember that all things good and bad, will pass by. The thing we have to remember is that with each change in life God removes that wich would hold us back, even when we want more than anything else to hold on to it. If you ask your dad for a loaf of bread when your hungry he won't give you a rock to eat. So how much better will your heavenly father do for you? Keeping this in mind gives me contentment and peace of mind.

Of the ladies I have loved and that have loved me I think back on them today. I have learned alot from each of them, I regret none of them. I only hope that they may one day look back on me with the same feelings. I realize that with each new person that we allow into our life with any degree of intamacy, we will be changed as will they. It is like a part of each of us is exchanged with each relationship. We change to a degree with each one. I think God's hand is in that.

But enough of my long winded recollections, they go unread by all but a few anyway. But perhaps some bit of what I say will echo in the heart of another.

Much Love,
Oliver