This Dusty Old House

A funny black and white comic strip showing Bryan growing some funky herbs in the dust that has piled up on his window sill. Drawn by artist Bryan Skinnell.

Today I want to talk about dust. Just where does it come from? And how does it keep winding up inside my home instead of staying outside where it would be so much happier? Scientists would love to know and frankly I would too. Surely it can’t be my fault for tracking it all in right?! These are the kinds of questions that come to mind because right now I’m being forced to clean and tidy the house against my will. So, instead of cleaning as I’m supposed to be doing, I’m writing this blog post on the sly instead. It’s working too as I haven’t cleaned the first item yet so please don’t rat me out! Fat lot of good it does me to clean anyway because I’m no good at it. I must be the only bloke on Earth who can possibly clean something and still have it wind up even dirtier than when I started. And wiping dust makes me sneeze something awful too. Which unnecessarily complicates things because you just have to clean all over again after you’ve sneezed all over everything. So what’s the use? And sneezing makes people suspicious that you’re coming down with something. And then nobody wants to be around you. Which, if you’re already stuck in the house and trying to get out of the drudgery of cleaning house, that’s probably not a half-bad position to be in.

For all I know, dust is God’s way of getting us to clean house on occassion. And that’s fine and dandy so long as someone else does it instead of me. We’re in the final two days before Christmas and it’s absolutely critical that I remain merry and filled with good cheer so I’m foregoing all house cleaning until after New Years. And probably even Labor Day too. So let me wish you and yours a Merry Merry Christmas! Why it’s almost here! And watch out for those dust bunnies too. I declare those darn things keep getting bigger every year and I ain’t even been feeding them either.

Why hello there! My name is Bryan Skinnell and I am a middle-aged (50-ish) artist and neighborhood kook who is living the artistic and creative life out in the boonies of Bedford, Virginia. Bedford is one of the largest counties in the commonwealth of Virginia and, for the most part, it’s still a mostly rural one that bridges the gap between Roanoke and Lynchburg. You could say, in more ways than one, that Bedford is the heart of Virginia. I can’t argue with that although I usually think of Bedford more as Virginia’s belly button myself.

I grew up right here in Bedford and have lived and toiled most of my life on our infamous red clay. The sort of clay that makes the stickiest mud known to man after a rain and which clings like super glue from God to anything and everything it touches. If you are so foolish as to get it on yourself you’ll wind up tracking and leaving a trail of red goop everywhere you go for days afterwards to the delight of your family and friends. But I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else and Lord knows I tried as I’ve wandered from one end of the country to the other. But Bedford has my heart and that’s where I’ve chosen to live my life today. In my free time when I’m not stuck in my studio making art I do love being outside gardening or hiking or just pestering the neighbors.

Every day I try to write something that’s original, entertaining, and half-way thoughtful here on my blog while sharing my happy-go-lucky attitude and zest for life. Quite often I don’t have the foggiest notion of what I’ll end up saying in a post. But, whatever I end up writing about, I do hope you enjoy it!

I do keep a mailing list for interested readers and fans. If you would like to get in on the action and follow my musings and rabble-babble, that can be easily arranged. Just give me an email address that you would like for me to send my blog posts to and I’ll see that you get it.

Thanks for stopping by!
Bryan Skinnell

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