Hello, everyone!

From 2015 until this moment, at the end of January 2023, I’ve struggled to stay connected here. I’ve persisted falteringly, refusing to surrender this magical spot to mundane life. Today, I can finally see a path ahead, bringing me peace of mind and focus.

Recent monumental changes in my life gifted me more time to return to the things I love most.

In the wake of personal tragedies – yeah, I’m gonna call ’em that – the water begins to grow calm, and I’m hoping a smooth, familiar and comforting current will pick up soon.

I’ve been posting inconsistently on my personal blog and Facebook and wriggling my way into Instagram, but there are things I want to share in the safety of this space.

To that end, I spent most of the day looking at this site. It began as a housekeeping venture when I learned that a former contributor, um… had lost the privilege to participate here. And I remembered that another of our key members had requested more anonymity, so I went through and updated some user names.

But the biggest decision I made was to tighten the circle, make it safer, and take measures that will “inspire” me to stay engaged (said with a smile).

During the past decade, many folks have boarded and disembarked our Train. I realized that we have a small core group who create posts and pages, but most people engage through comments.

We had over a dozen folks with authoring and editing privileges; I removed a lot of people from that list. A handful are still Contributors, which means they can create posts – but I will approve and publish them (that’s the “forcing me to stay engaged” part). That means I also must improve my email-reading habits!

That reduction allowed me to simplify the tabs at the website’s header. When you go to the site, if you used to have a tab there, please look under either “Athabanthian Crew” or “Contributors.” If you don’t see your page – or if you didn’t have one before but would like one now – please let me know by commenting on this post.

Troy, you special man, you still have full admin privileges. You’ve always been the backbone holding together our core activity – Dreamflights. For so many years, you have provided remarkable continuity, and to you, I bow and say, “thank you.” (And I hope you’ll continue!)

And frankly, if/when I die (not planning on it anytime soon), someone else needs access to the site, right?

I moved pages related to Dreams under the “Dreamflights” tab. I moved some people’s artwork from their personal tab to the “Artwork” tab.

The only content I removed was for legal reasons. ‘Nuff said.

Most posts, pages, and comments are still here.

Next, mea culpa, I deleted some pages/authorship of people I couldn’t recognize or remember. I apologize! As I skimmed today through posts from the last couple of years (from when I was absent), I realized I’d cut off some active folks. Please let me know who you are so I can reinstall you! (Confession: I’m too tired tonight to search for email addresses to send invites.)

The best part of a day like this is feeling refreshed and inspired. And reminded of what a fantastic community we’ve built.

And I’m almost ready to begin “connecting” with less obvious elements of our worlds. More about that soon.

Oh, and I feel urged to update our site’s look. I’m in love with AI-generated art.

With love and light, no matter how cliche that sounds,

Leslee