Return Trip

Well, thank you. I missed you.

Actually, I missed my bed which happens to be in MA.

Maine can be fun in the winter?

Well, I said in my last post that I was looking for things to do, and was taking suggestions from anyone who wanted to offer one. I am still taking suggestions.

This past weekend I went to visit a friend of mine in Southern Maine. She lives a little more than a two hour drive away from me, so within the range I laid out for what I am currently comfortable doing, and had invited me to come up to visit. She also doesn't get many visitors, so it is usually just her and her two young {single digit ages} children.

It was fun. We hung out, talked, watched a movie, etc. Her son wanted to learn how to play chess so we did that as well. He did quite well for someone who had just learned how to play, and who was still figuring out how some of the pieces move. {Like how a pawn moves one space forward at a time but captures diagonally.}

On Sunday we went sledding, the first time I have gone sledding in a loooooong. I had forgotten just how much fun it can be. I had also forgotten how much you can get bounced around. The muscles in my neck are still a little sore but it was well worth it. {Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me, and my phone was charging, so there are no pictures. I'll be better prepared next time.}

This coming weekend I will be heading to a friend's house on Cape Cod for "Movie Night." It sounds like it will be a small one, only a half dozen or so people, but still looking forward to it.

February is still open...

Home In My Harbour

The Passport Office didn't go as well as I'd hoped, but it went OK. There were more rules changes than I knew about...

Apparently they can no longer mail your passport to you. And you have to pick it up at the same office where you submitted your application. That meant that I couldn't pick it up at the Canadian Consulate office in Boston either.

The good news... For an extra fee of $30 they can rush the process and have it ready for me Friday. {Today} However, since I had to pick up the passport this afternoon I couldn't leave this morning and will now be driving back down tomorrow.

Not too bad since it turned out there was a major wind and rain storm until the early afternoon.

So, I had to delay my heading back by a day. {Not the worst of fates.} But I have my passport in my hand for the trip back.

...

I've had a chance to catch up with several people, some of whom I hadn't seen in about 8 years.

I've been able to get out to see McGinty three nights, and I'll be going back tonight.

Got to have a big turkey dinner with a lot of family. My mother cooked, and my sisters, aunt, and some cousins came out for it.

I need to stop it Customs and Immigration on my way back into the States for a new visa due to a change in status. {I'll need to check and see if I've written about that yet, if not you can expect it soon-ish.}

...

Anyway, I'm paying by the minute for access right now, so I'm going to go check some email and sign off.

Peace.

Heading for Halifax

Well, I'm in Halifax. I got in late Sunday night, or was it really early Monday morning? And I have been enjoying my time here so far.

Except for the time spent dealing with the passport application paperwork. Tomorrow I go into the Passport Office to drop off the application and let them make copies of my birth certificate and any other paper work they need.

I originally wasn't sure if I was going to drive up on Saturday or Sunday, but Saturday morning took care of that decision for me. Having to make an emergency dental appointment, on a Saturday no less, will kind of eliminate any other plans you might have had. And there is not much you can do to avoid the dentist when one of your fillings has broken and half of it fell out.

But the drive up on Sunday went well. There was a long wait, about 90 minutes, at the border, and all but 2 minutes of that was in the line waiting to get up to one of the booths.

The rest of the trip went quite smooth and the entire trip took about 13 hours start to finish.

I've gotten to hang out with, and get caught up with a few of my friends. I've been to The Lower Deck. Turns out McGinty was playing and so I was very lucky to get to see and hear them.

Oh, and my friend who went to The Lower Deck with me tonight was recognized from his job working at the airport and so we ended up having a drink with a couple of Finnish flight attendants.

Well, I've got to get some sleep before dealing with the government tomorrow.


Walk in Beauty.

Time Keeps On Ticking, Ticking, Ticking

I don't know what to say, so let's just cover a few quick points before I go off to bed.

...

I was going through a period of "hermiting" and didn't really talk to anyone other than TWIL for quite a while. I'm pulling out of it and have talked to several {for me} people in the last two weeks.

...

I leave for Rites of Spring in less than a week and I have not really started my packing yet.

Packing for a week in a tent takes a while. Possibly longer than I have if you wanted to do it right and lighten the load. At this point I will probably end up packing some extra stuff just because I don't have enough time to properly go through and figure out what I really don't need.

And when you are talking a week in a tent ... in May ... in New England ... you can't count on the weather at all. Over the nine years I've been going {this will be number ten} I can remember days that got up to 30C, at least on that got to 34C, and nights that got down to 5C. There were years where we barely saw a single cloud, and other years where we barely saw the sun.

A rule of thumb seems to be "if you don't bring it you will definitely need it." This applies to sunscreen as much as thermal underwear.

...

I am tired from travelling. {Which is really not helping get my packing done.}

I was in Austin, TX for work all last week. I had a good time, but didn't get back to the hotel any night before 11:30. Factor in the hour time difference on top of the jet lag and it wasn't enough sleep. Especially since my sinuses went nuts as soon as I got there and haven't quite recovered yet.

I flew back Friday, getting back to the house a little after midnight.

Of course, I then got up Saturday morning and drove out to spend time with TWIL.

After being there for a little under 24 hours I drove back. And I was back in the office here Monday morning.

When do I get to stop moving?

...

I wanted to write but couldn't get anything to come from my fingers that I was comfortable willing to post here. So I started another journal.

Let me point you to it...

That's it on that shelf right over there.

I have renamed this as my Public Journal. The new one is paper, is for me only, and is my Private Journal.

This gives me a much needed outlet for the thoughts I need to get out, but am not ready to share. I'm hopeful that this will mean more posts here. After all, as the private thoughts are dealt with in the other journal, I shouldn't have as much blocking the other thoughts.

...

I'm not sure what the will leave to be posted here. It might be stories from my past. Maybe just what I did any given week. Maybe just random links that I want to share.

Feel free to leave any suggestions in the comments. I'll feel free to read and ignore them.

I guess that wasn't as quick as I thought it would be.

Walk in Beauty.
Namaje.