In case you’re one of those people who hasn’t been staring at the sun, here’s a brief update before I tell you about an interesting tidbit in my life: Finding myself a character in a ‘memoir’ [actually a novel] written by my step-brother published as non-fiction. But important things first:
Here he is November 28:
As you can see, the south pole stuff’s maintaining itself, still doing what it was doing when I last mentioned it.
Here’s today.
Still something going on down there, but the grandstanding is still north of the equator.
Strangeness
SINUOUS SUNSPOTS: A line of sunspots stretching across the sun’s northern hemisphere appears to be an independent sequence of dark cores. A telescope tuned to the red glow of solar hydrogen, however, reveals something different. The sunspots are connected by sinuous filaments of magnetism:
“These sunspots writhe and squirm energetically as they rotate away from us!” says John Nassr, who took the picture on Nov. 28th from his backyard observatory in Baguio, the Philippines.
The connections suggest an interesting possibility. While each sunspot individually poses little threat for strong solar flares, an instability in one could start a chain reaction involving all, leading to a widespread eruption. Readers with solar telescopes are encouraged to monitor developments.
I could write a lot about this but none of it would necessarily be true, so I’m doing my best not to have an opinion while keeping my foot in the door for afterward saying “I told you so,” if I can get by with it.
Okay. Now for the main thrust of this post. Before beginning the post I visited the Bobby Jack Nelson Forum on Amazon to see what was being said about him: http://tinyurl.com/7zj2la3
A while back I got an email on an old email address I rarely check anymore from a lady who wanted to discuss my step-brother, Bobby Jack Nelson. She explained he’d offed himself in a nursing home in San Saba, Texas, and that she’d had a long-term relationship with him.
But Bob had told her a lot of things she’d begun to think were lies. She just wanted to bounce some of them off me because she knew he and I had associated considerably during the 1980s and early 1990s when he was writing Keepers – A Memoir. http://tinyurl.com/d82tcsk.
To be honest the whole thing qualified as strange enough to keep life worth living. Bob and I saw quite a bit of one another during those years, and I knew he was writing a novel about, among other things, his childhood in Portales, New Mexico. I considered him a friend.
But one day in the late-1990s [as soon as the novel had been accepted by a publishing house, I later discovered] while I was living in Socorro, New Mexico, I got a call from Bob. He didn’t mention the novel, but he said he was going off to South America and wouldn’t be returning to the US, so I wouldn’t be hearing any more from him.
I got reports from various mutual acquaintances they’d seen him in Texas here and there, so I figured he just wanted to break off our association, which was puzzling, but okay by me. Then I got a call from a Dallas reporter asking what I thought of the book, which I hadn’t been aware was published.
Naturally, I bought and read a copy. Suddenly it was clear to me why the reporter had called me, but also why Bob had suddenly taken a powder. My first reaction to reading it would have been to trip up to that mountain town he was staying in while writing it and beat hell out of him.
I was honestly dumbfounded the man could bring himself to publish such a pack of lies as non-fiction. But a person would have had to have been there, or remembered what he’d said back earlier had happened, to recognize there was barely a grain of truth in any of it.
Gradually I cooled down and just forgot about Bob until the lady contacted me to tell me he was dead, and how he’d died.
We exchanged a lot of emails over several months, and it was a journey of mutual discovery. But the discoveries came in the form of Bob being an even worse liar than I’d have thought possible knowing already he was an accomplished liar. And for her, not knowing he was a liar at all, I suppose it provided her some closure to find the man she loved, somewhat idolized, was in awe of, was not the person she’d believed him to be.
Oddly enough, I think Bob tried to warn me a number of times about himself. Several times he told me over the years that he was a liar, but I didn’t grasp the extent of what he was saying. Other times he told me he wasn’t what I thought he was, and I shrugged that off, too.
But what came as a shock to me, first with the book, and later with what the lady told me, was that Bob absolutely despised me. That, I’d have never guessed during the years I wasted pieces of my life associating with him in what seemed a mutually warm, friendly relationship.
Live and learn.
Old Jules
So Far From Heaven 
I like reading your blog, Jules. There’s a lot of good stuff here. Keep writing! 🙂
Kenneth Mark Hoover
http://kennethmarkhoover.me/
Kenneth Mark Hoover. Thanks. I will. Gracias, Jules
Ah, yes, taking people at face value is the best we can do. Those so adept at hiding their truth bring horrible surprises upon the truth finding the light. Sorry for your discovery, but remember the source, the liar.
Lahgitana: I’ll strive to keep that in mind. Gracias, Jules
I like to think I give folks plenty of room to safely hate me without having to hide it. I even admit liking me may not be safe. Then you run across stuff like this and you really wonder what makes some people tick.
Ed: Good having you for a visit. Bob and his older brother, Bill, had it pretty tough during the WWII years. While my step-dad was off in North Africa she left the boys with their aging grandparents, running around loose all over town, a couple of pre-schoolers, then grammar schoolers. I think Bob just never got it behind him. Thanks for coming by. Jules
Interesting!
I just added a link from my blog to yours.
danita: Thank you. Jules
I’ve heard it said, that in the first ten minutes with a new person, you can hear all that you need to know about them. Problem is, we’ve usually got too much going on in our heads to hear it.
Thanks for reminding me to listen better 🙂
eremophila: Might be so. Gracias, J
As we say in the UK, “There’s now’t so strange as folk!” I guess that there are a lot of people who, because they think something about someone, then it must be true. People seem to be shrouded in some kind of shadow that blocks out reality. It must be a comfy place ‘cos most of ’em like it there.
Great pics of the sun- am also a lover of astronomy.
apocalypseicons: I’m obliged you came by for a read. Strange place for a human being to have to spend a lifetime, this on. Jules
I am sorry you had this happen Jules. It was truly horrible, wasting pieces of your life on that liar. The longer I am on this earth, the more I hear of these things happening. Which is really quite sad, isn’t it? Take care, I enjoy your writing so much!
Gabby Angel: By hindsight Bob was just one more bug on the windshield of my life. Thanks for coming by. Jules
I think often people despise those who they envy………..interesting that you were noted in a memoir very cool! I don’t know a thing about this solar stuff but I will check in on your blog and try to pay attention. I think my husband might really enjoy your articles too so I am going to have him check it out!
Morning Lil’: Thanks for stopping in for a read and visit. I don’t know much about solar stuff, either. You and I share that with almost all other humans, including astrophysicists, I reckons. I’m obliged you came by. Jules
Hi, Old Jules. The Mayans decided they’d have to wait till the Sun changed its spots before they went on with their calendar. 2013 was the year the new energy was to turn up. Getting close.
If it interests you, please check out my other blog tetralogia.wordpress.com
that’s where I get serious about the future. Reboot and all that. Kristin
Kristin: Makes perfect sense to me. Gracias, Jules
Perhaps there is no such thing as friendship?
Lindy Lee: I don’t think that’s the problem, though we all take a lot of forgiving at both ends of one, mostly. Gracias, Jules
Bob was unusual. You can still take most people at face value. Sucks!
Anonymous: Most is a big word. I’d be more inclined to just accept you pays your money and takes your chanced. Gracias, Jules
Why would a person waste his precious time (the only priceless commodity) on someone he hated? Maybe he wished he could be you. You seem like a decent person and you’re a gifted writer.
elroyjones: I don’t know the answer. Whatever his problem was I hope he had it fixed by the time he kicked. I’d hate to meet him again next lifetime. Gracias, Jules