April 27, 2021 – OK, get all your eye puns out in plain sight. Because seeing them clearly might be a chore for me right now.
With me in between cataract surgeries (right eye last Wednesday, left eye this Wednesday), seeing straight has been a major focus of mine, and will continue to be so in the near future.
Therefore, I hope you have been a good pupil and learned some high-brow vision puns from your teacher. I can’t think of any, but I ris you all the best in your endeavors in this area. Just remember to think before you speak as only hindsight is 20/20.
But at some point, you’ll need to put a lid on it, otherwise I might be blinded by your punning and I may indeed need to lash you about the person with rods and cones.
Now that we have that behind us … here’s a brief update on the progress of my eyeballs. The distance vision in my right eye isn’t too bad, except for a haze in the middle. Near vision hasn’t come along as well, which makes reading a bit of a challenge in certain circumstances.
Sometimes I put on my bifocal spectacles (with the right lens removed). Often I don’t use my glasses at all (when I drive or am looking at distance). When at the computer, I tend to have the glasses on. Sometimes. When reading a book, I have them off. Usually. Sometimes I close one eye (left or right depending on whether I have the glasses on). I’ve figured out what I need to get by in most situations. It will be interesting to see how far along the right eye has come by the time I have the left one done.
In the meantime, look to this website for updates. (Somebody work “cornea” into this, OK?)
Publishing
Really quick overview of some of the major happenings with PathBinder Publishing:
*My wife, Kimberly S. Hoffman, has been asked to do a few talks on her recently published book, Love, Hope: Children Express Their Emotions During the Coronavirus Pandemic. So that’s cool.
*We’ll be editing Colin G. Matthews’ manuscript for Soulman: A Young Woman’s Ascension into the Circle of Light soon. We just got it the other day. If all parties are in agreement, when the time is right, we may be publishing it, too. I met Colin when he played his violin in downtown Columbus a few years ago and have now seen him play a number of times. He’s quite a talented musician, and now I find out he’s a talented writer, too.
*We’re working on a history of Edinburgh, Indiana, for that town’s bicentennial celebration next year. Sarah Otto did a fantastic job with a history of the town that was published in 1986. PathBinder is working in conjunction with Edinburgh representatives to combine Sarah’s book with a whole slew of updated info and photos to present a new and improved history that will be available in hardback, paperback and e-book.
A fun fact: There is only one other Edinburgh (this spelling) in the world. I hear it’s in Scotland. Not that I’ve been there or anything.
Another fun fact: I was the editor of the Edinburgh (Indiana, not Scotland) newspaper for 19 years. My reign ended in 2019, when I retired from journalism to pursue other interests.
Writing
If you saw my most recent blog post on this website, then you saw my most recent writing effort, a short story centering on romance, time travel, the color green, and shenanigans set against the bombing of London during World War II. If you haven’t read it, you must.
Reading
This is one area of my life I have excelled at lately. Since last I newslettered, I have finished four books:
*Q.W.E.R.T.Y.: A Haunting, a paranormal romance novella by my friend from Canada, Barbara Avon.
*Fleshmarket Alley, one of the Inspector Rebus series crime books by Scottish author, Ian Rankin. Apparently this is also called Fleshmarket Close, but the one I got at my local library said “Alley.” Click on the links if you don’t believe me.
*After reading about murder, prostitution, buried skeletons and the like, I thought I’d lighten things up a little. So, I went with that dystopian classic, 1984, by George Orwell, which birth name was Eric Blair. Big Brother watched me read it. Probably.
*So Long and Thanks for all the Fish, the fourth book in Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy. Yes, fourth book of a trilogy. I didn’t make it up, Adams did. Blame him if it doesn’t make any sense.
Now I am reading Across the Irish Sea, which I picked up from fellow Indiana author, M. Katherine Clark, at a book sale we attended before the pandemic. It’s got a lot of Irish stuff in it because it’s set in Ireland.
And after that will be my uncle’s book that I just ordered from Viewpoint Books, my awesome, independent, local bookstore right here in Columbus, Indiana. Our Changing Menu: Climate Change and the Foods We Love and Needis by Michael P. Hoffmann and some other people who are listed after him. Yes, Uncle Mike has two N’s at the end of his name and I only have one. It’s a long story. But believe me, he’s really my uncle.
Ailment of the Month
The eyes have it.
Miscellaneous
*Despite this surgical annoyance, I continue to walk at least 8,000 steps per day. The coin finding is going well despite the eyeball affair. A minimum of $4 found each month of 2021, with February’s total of $8.19 being the high water mark thus far. See below for a slide show of spectacular photos from my walks the past month.
*I just finished another round of mock job interviews with Franklin College students. That’s always an interesting, rewarding experience for me; I hope it is for them, too.
*I’ll be seeing my parents at the end of May live for the first time since January 2020. Yay for the vaccinations.
That’s it for this month. Have a good one!
Paul
Helpful Links
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Paul J. Hoffman author page on Facebook
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Paul J. Hoffman - Author/Publisher/Actor 
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