I'm back!

I think most of my blog readers knew that I wasn't in a big blog rut, but in fact, I was on a 10 day New England sojourn. I had very little computer access, so I saved up a fair amount of blog material. I had a great time seeing many dear friends & family and attending the Fairwood Family Convention. The first weekend I was there, my sister's family, my parents, and I went to Old Sturbridge Village in Mass. It was a really neat place full of American historical buildings and atmosphere.

I experienced the infamous extremes of New England weather. Of course I expected hot humidity (which we had the first half of the time), but then came the cold front with rain storms and wind. I was not excited about having Washington weather in NH! But then on the last day, the hot temperature came back like it had never left. Weird.

One kind of funny thing happened at Fairwood. I stayed in a room that was very hot and stuffy. Everybody assured me that's the way it always was due to location. I had a fan going full blast day and night and the windows wide open, but it was still an oven. I resigned myself to my fate and spent as little time as possible in there. Then on the third morning I was doing my hair and wishing for some little cool breeze. I opened the windows even wider. Suddenly I had a grave suspicion that something was rotten in Denmark (so to speak). I tapped on the screen, and sure enough, it was quite hard. Here in Washington we don't do storm windows, but I knew just enough to realize that was what it was. The windows were supposedly wide open, but no air was coming in because the storm windows were still on! Soon after remedying that situation there was a noticeable improvement in room temperature. Moral of the story: never trust an open window.

One thing I love about the Northwest is the extremely low mosquito population. They are basically unknown here. But not so in New Hampshire, where the little bloodsuckers hunt day and night by the hordes for human nourishment. Apparently, I was a particular tasty specimen, as I amassed 23 bites on my legs! Craig asked how I had time to count between scratching, but fortunately, I wasn't too miserable.

All my flights went well, meaning I didn't get sick and I had decent seat mates. A year or two ago I had a horrible situation that has made me nervous about flying ever since. I think I was returning from NH, though I don't remember which leg of the journey I was on. I was seated in the middle seat of a row of 3. On my left was a man of normal, manly proportions. The seat on my right was still free and I was eyeing passengers coming down the aisle, hoping for someone nice and unobtrusive. Then I saw him -- a 350 pound (my estimate) hulk of flesh huffing down the aisle toward me. "Please Lord, no!" But sure enough, he eased his oversized body into the undersized seat next to me. I think he put up the armrest to fit himself in, which meant that his whole left side was resting against my shrinking frame. Of course the plane was completely full, and who would want to switch places with me? I tried to scootch a little closer to the man on my left, but he didn't appear overly sympathetic. So for three or four hours I fought the desire to scream, cry, or jump out the window as this damp, warm hunk of flesh rested against me. I really think they should have width limits for people, and if you're too wide, either get first class or an extra seat. Even better, lose some weight! How embarassing for him! I obviously survived, but ever since when I've flown, I've prayed for a skinny seatmate, and so far it's been fine. I've also gotten seatmates who are as quiet and unsociable as I am. Yes, I'm one of those people who are happiest left to themselves and not subject to the small talk of inquisitive strangers. They take out their book, I take out mine. Perfect. Good movie comes on, even better. I saw Pacifier on the way out; it was quite entertaining. I saw some of Miss Congeniality 2 on the way home; it had its moments.

So back to "normal" life after a lovely time in my second homeland with some of the best people in the world! My kitty is extremely glad to have me home and has barely left my presence since I've been here.