resurfacing . . .

This is the first time in 64 years that I've experienced a long illness. I try to go with it, to cooperate as much as possible, in order to be able to swim back to the surface eventually. 
Since May I've been at work on the audio edition of Long Road from Red Cloud. Many told me how important it would be for the story to be told in my own voice, because of what it says about Willa Cather, Cather biography in general, and the life and work of my old friend Mildred Bennett in particular. 
Most of the month of June was lost in a miasma of pain, but July and August were productive, and the recording and editing is well in hand. Now for the mysterious process known as "re-mastering." Sounds wonderfully butch, doesn't it? Like Willa Cather when she heard her first book of short stories had  been sent to Henry James for his assessment, I worry about falling short. My voice has been awfully uneven in the process - sometimes strong, especially when reading Cather's own words, or Sarah Orne Jewett's, or say, H.L. Mencken's - but too often weak or hoarse or just awfully ill. I fear it will never pass Audible's strict standards. 
But onward we go - thanks to everyone who has lent a hand, a shoulder, a chuckle, a tasty treat. You know who you are.