Matchlock is so silent !
 

Since the 20th of last month Michael (Matchlock) doesn't log in here.
I have sent him an email just to check how is doing and had no answer.
I hope nothing serious is occurring with him.
Fernando

I agree Nando! It is definitely unlike Michael to be away this much!!!
Michael, if you're reading please drop us a note OK!

All the best,
Jim

I hope that with him everything is all right. Michael if you will see the message, answer you are live or healthy :(

I had a PM from him also on the 20th of last month. I think he's just been busy.

Michael still silent :( Anybody know wahat happend with him?

Maybe he just wants to be silent ?
He has logged in again on the 27th February ... but not a word.
I would surely prefer that he is too busy or even upset with something in the forum, than being ill or going through some serious problem.
Fernando

Hi, I'm Back!
 

Thank you so much for caring, my friends! It made me blush to see that there is a real community - and real friendship.

I have indeed been having some hard times and just felt that I could not muster the strength and post. I missed you very much though!

Anyway, I have to make a big excuse and ask you all to be patient with me just in case that some preriod of silence might occur again some day.

It feels so good to have you out there, on various continents but all being one in our minds and hearts and souls.

Let's carry on.

Best wishes and my heartfelt thanks,
Michael

Welcome home Michael!!! Its really good to have you back!
I think most of us know what those hard times can be like, and how debilitating they can be, but remember we are kinda like family, at least thats how Ive always felt here, and we do understand.

In any case, as you say, lets carry on!!! :) Sure have missed your posts.

All the very best,
Jim

Fantastic to have someone as knowledgible as you back with us, Michael. Hope things continue to improve for you.

Oh my god -

Jim, my father figure,

You, as ever, have found the best possible words! And I sure do know what them damn hard times (please forgive me my slang, my educated friend - I just love pickin' them up from John's (Johnny Cash's) and Kris's (Kris Kristofferson's lyrics) have meant to you, my friend!

Hey my dear one, I'll be ringin' you up on Route 66!

Meet you on the phone,
Michael

Hi Mark,

Thank you so much for your wonderful words.

I'm 57 and although being a university gratuated anglist and theologian I've never been a saint (unfortunately this does not relate to many girls or a lot of sex though - I just tried to have my full of other feasts after my only beloved girl left me just to pursue her academic career at my age of 26 ...) I realize that by common standards I should be called a complete fool but I just feel that I always had to be true to myself. And God knows I have.
Now my spine is so bad that I can hardly walk. Nevertheless, I guess one of the most important truths I've learned in a hard life has been that in a way I provoked my present situation. In my experience, you're seldom as bad off as you personally feel. As soon as somebody offers a helping hand you're way better off.

So all I need is a little kick from my soul mates on the forum now and then and I'll be back as soon as possible for as long as I breathe.

Thanks again and all my best,
Michael

Hi Michael,

What can I say. You are an inspiration. Hope this time you will stay.

Regards.

Anan.

Definitely Michael is back with us.
Let's party, everybody

.


http://www.clicksmilies.com/s1106/pa...smiley-020.gif


.

We're all glad Mike is back.

BTW 'Nando, you are even worse than I am with the emoticons et al. And that means you walk the narrow fringe line between sanity and ...not-sanity.

De musico, poeta y loco
Todos tenemos un poco

y nosotros mas...

Michael, I am very glad that you have returned! I wish you the prompt recover.

I am glad to see Matchlock is back! I have been into old guns since I was big enough to hold one and shoot, but my clear knowledge of them only went back to about 1620. I found this site when I became interested in building a gun from the first decade of the 1500s. When I found it, I was amazed, especially by Matchlocks posts, showing everything a builder could possibly want. In three hours I learned more about the early stuff than I had in the past thirty years. Totally amazing. I am glad you're back, Matchlock - and you aren't the only one to have the love of his life leave him at age 26. Twenty two years later she's still good looking and a wealthy doctor, and I am a poor blacksmith - but I am pretty sure she doesn't own one old gun at all....

Ditto, I have been involved either as spectator or consultant with museums and collections for a long while. And still have found in Mike's postings stuff I had never seen before, nor even suspected existed. Thx M..! : )

On the subject at hand. Sad as it is, the soul needs to go through events that make it evolve, much like a sword's blade requires tempering. Which reminds me of Job and the Bible.

In fact, I often remark to The-One-Above: Lord don't test me, I give up!

: )

Certainly, sympathetic friends can provide protection for the animic impact of a traumatic event. That cushioning helps us to get back in the saddle.

That which doesn't break us, does makes us stronger.

Best wishes to all, specially Michael.


Manuel

http://i353.photobucket.com/albums/r...mokingbaby.gif

Good to hear from you Michael, as I was starting to worry that we may have lost one of the forum's greatest assets. Hope you feel better soon, both physically and spiritually.

Teodor

Hi michael,

it is much easier to find a beautiful woman then a beautiful early sword.

only to see things in perspective

take care.

best from Holland

Hi friends,

Thank you all a thousand times for your heartwarming words!

It sure is good to be back with you.

Best,
Michael

OTOH, it is _somewhat safer_, and definitely more pleasant, to romance a woman than a sword...

I'm just saying!

: )

M

Welcome back!

Right but even the most beautiful sword (or, in my case, gun) cannot hold you in lonesome moments ...

Michael

[QUOTE=celtan]OTOH, it is _somewhat safer_, and definitely more pleasant, to romance a woman than a sword...

I'm just saying!


Right as even the most beautiful sword (or, in my case, gun) cannot hold you in lonesome moments ...

Michael

Do you have pets at home, Michael?
Cats?

If you guys just want company, dogs are ideal. If you want other "people", around, unpredictable and self-centered, get cats.
:rolleyes:
Best
M

No way; cats are the best.
As you say, Manolete: unpredictable, self-centered ... just like women :eek:
In fact, dogs love to submit to you, while cats manage you to submit to them.
I once heard that they have introduced cats in the death corridor cells of a determined prison, to calm down those wild guys.
Nando

Oh, I like both, and agree with you.

Cats are very much like women, while dogs are more like us.

Best

M

No, Fernando,

My last cat got run over after I had had her for just one single week!
I just feel like I cannot bear it any longer.

Michael

Exactly, Manuel - apart from the fact that in us human dogs there must be a wole lot of a cat too because real dogs do not exactly like cats!

Michael

Well, it all depends. My remaining cat actually takes care of my two dogs, licks them clean etc...They get along real well.

I think its an overly simplistic generalization to say that dogs and cats don't like each other. I would probably qualify that assertion by using the word "strange". My dogs will actually try to attack an "strange" dog, while getting famously along with my Siamese-Persian kitty. They will also go after "strange" cats. So, I guess that my pets belong to different "religions", but share the same "nationality"...

Our pets help us understand many things, including that things change, and nothing is permanent. We need to live the day, yet also plan for _foreseable_ contingences. OTOH, no battle-plan survives meeting actual the foe.

Ces't la Vie!

Best

M

Mikey,

Life itself is not a certain affair. We live, we love, we suffer, we enjoy, we miss, we remember, we forget...it's all a tapestry. You need to go through certain experiences to fully enjoy the alternative. It's like a strawberry tartalette, with a unsweeetened-tartish chocolate lining, naturally sweet strawberries, and fresh cream...The mix of the antagonists yet complementary tastes is what brings out the strawberries flavour, eventually making the experience and aftertaste memorable.

And yet, when you initially bite into the sour chocolate, it doesn't begin well..!

Best

M