Going home

I'm sitting on our deck in Mount Pleasant, Christchurch with the sun beaming down on me. It's so beautifully warm; I have to remind myself that it's winter. Jon tells me that it wasn't always this nice  the last few weeks. I wouldn't know since I was doing my whirlwind northern hemisphere tour of homes, visiting Thornbury/Meaford/Hamilton in Canada, Columbus and Rochester in the States, and Paris (the one with the amazing croissants).

It was great going home to the peacefulness of the cottage. Of course, it would have been even more relaxing had I not had a couple of "little" deadlines to meet (according to my brother, I always seem to have those...hmmmm...not good.) Nonetheless, I managed to temporarily tame the forest in the backyard, have quality time with the original Humes of Meaford, sister-in-law Karzi, cousin Kim, the aunts and uncles, and others. Having dinner with dad, just the two of us, and going out onto Georgian Bay in his friend's sailboat were special times.

I also went home to Hamilton, my stop between Paris and Rochester (naturally). Had a brief visit with Jen & Lou at their home away from home ... er, cottage. What a treasure to have friends who you may not see for long stretches of time (sometimes 25 years!) and just start where you left off. Next visit is in NZ, right?

Then it was back to my American home, Columbus, for work and for play. I arrived two days after a horrendous storm tore through the city. There were huge trees uprooted and many homes without power. This also meant many suffered with no air conditioning in the 100F plus temperatures. Fortunately, I was staying in a hotel that didn't lose power. It's hard to stay inside all the time though and so I got practice using sun & heat avoidance strategies, like walking behind Zachary to stay in the shade.

Speaking of which, I swear Zachary must have grown in the 4 1/2 months since I'd seen him last; when did he turn into a man?!?! Music producing seems to be on the verge of switching into high gear with one of the musicians he represents about to go big time. You go boy! (I could feel his eyes rolling as I typed that.) Besides hanging out with my "boy", other highlights included visiting with Kitty & Oliver, Deb, Julie, Claudia, Jen & family, Monica, Kathleen, Peter & Diane and, of course, Jeff, Robin & friends at their wedding.

Finally, it was back to my new home, sitting out on the deck enjoying sunny, warmish winter days. :)