This blog, these vignettes, (Dictionary.Com says vignettes means: A short, usually descriptive literary sketch. That’s what I was going for) began as letters to my brother when he went overseas with the Army in August 203. Many of the early ones end, “Be Safe.” Those words were directed to him.

I think regular informational sorts of letters aren’t very interesting to read, or to write.

So that, It has been raining here since last Tuesday might convey information but it isn’t very interesting and doesn’t lend itself to moving off into different directions.

On the other hand, Get out your tools, we are going to build us an Ark. The flood began on Tuesday and hasn’t let up yet! while exaggerated, could take me in all kinds of directions. It conveyed the same information but then I could write about all the rain, the challenges of getting a toddler into the car and off to school without getting both of us soaking wet, how all this rain and damp is making me depressed and moldy and all the sorts of weird things that happen to a person when you are having days and days of relentless rain. A story. Or my vignettes.

Once my brother came home, and I quit writing to have things to send to him, I kept writing. I found I liked it. In the early years (I’ve been doing this off and on for more than thirteen years now) I didn’t have much, if any, sort of readership.

I used moniker’s for everyone because I thought it was more story like than using real names. I tried to make my monikers descriptive. I am, of course, M&Co.  When I started, that is how I signed my letters to my brother.  It has subsequently come to mean me, alone, or me and my family. I write about my husband and kids alot; David is my Husband, the GirlChild is my daughter, the BoyChild is my son. From time to time I also write about others and I try to think of appropriate monikers for them as well. This protects the innocent as well as the guilty.

I get a lot of google search hits from people looking for information about the “circle of confusion.” I didn’t  know such a thing existed when I named my blog. To those of you technical types who stumble here looking for information about the “circle of confusion” I’m sorry I can’t be more help about that.  For what good it does you, Wikipedia says,

In optics, a circle of confusion, (also known as disk of confusion, circle of indistinctness, blur circle, etc.), is an optical spot caused by a cone of light rays from a lens not coming to a perfect focus when imaging a point source.

I heard the term “The Circle of Confusion” in one of the Rug Rats movies.  I thought it descriptive of the chaos in our lives with a toddler, a pre-teen and two working parents.  Plus, I liked it.  On the Edge of Reason seems to be where we are in our Circle of Confusion.

I hope you enjoy your time here.