I follow the Cosmic Focus blog for excellent astrophotos. I’m amazed at the quality of photos that can be captured by backyard telescopes and cameras (albeit trending toward the high end of the consumer market).

Already having more interests than time — with more waiting in the wings (interests, not time… that’s running out way too fast) — I console myself by asking AI Art Generators such as Dream AI by WOMBO to give me images of distant nebulas, such as the image above and this next offering.

The small SmugMug Gallery (HERE — 15 images) contains the above images, the images below, and a few more. I’ll have a slideshow at the bottom for them not keen on clicking on the link.

Anyway, this is a status update, so here goes . . .

I’ll be posting the first of three short stories in the Science Fiction genre shortly after this post goes live. The second story will go live on Tuesday, and the third will follow at the end of next week. This staggered release is to not flood readers with content all at once.

Also, it gives me time to flesh out my story.

In other news, we’re done traveling for a while as these last few weeks took an unexpected toll. Mind you, we had a good time, relaxed, and entertained, but it also disrupted our routine. Plus, we’re out of practice regarding social interaction (by design and intent), which also contributed to finding ourselves tired and a little run down.

I’ll reiterate that we enjoyed both the travel, visiting family, and making new friends, but it was still taxing. It’s like when you go to the gym and exercise muscles you’ve not used in a while. It feels great at the time, but you gonna feel it a few days later.

I suppose it could also be due to the fact we’re older and that, in recent years, we’ve been mostly homebodies.

Anyway, back home now, focusing on finishing a few things around the house, gearing up for the warm weather and outside maintenance, and trying to focus on personal interests (writing, photography, and eating for me, quilting projects for Melisa, and getting back to our exercise routine for both of us).

Oh, I also asked Dream AI to imagine what alien lifeforms might be found in those distant galaxies.

. . . it looks friendly enough . . .

I occasionally as Dream AI to give me abstract renderings. As a reminder, I always give it a starting image, and that — along with the prompt and what style I choose — often returns interesting images.

As mentioned, there are a few more images in the gallery, and — for them who prefer a slideshow — here’s the link:

Slideshow of the Status Update May 13 2023 SmugMug Gallery — 15 images

That’s it. This post has ended . . . except for the stuff below.

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