POST-TRAVEL

Last week it was faraway places . . . this week it's back home again in Indiana.

My trip to Arizona was, overall, a good experience. What's not to like? Warm days, cool nights, sun-sun-sun. As I said last time, it's the getting there that's the bug in the oatmeal.

This time, it was the getting home. Less said, the better. I have no desire to relive the experience of hours upon hours in the airport, gate changes that required 1.5-mile walks (I managed to snag one of the carts that transport the old, the frail, and the frustrated--I was rapidly becoming all three), and  . . . . You get the idea.

But the time there! Wow--the things I learned. I now know how to download music to be put on my phone so I can listen to what I want to hear through headphones or ear buds. I learned about streaming movies and TV shows on my computer.

We went to a play and laughed for a long time afterward. Shopped at Bookman's (when I truly retire, I'm going to live at Bookman's), earth's best store for used books/CDs/DVDs/tapes/magazines and more.

Had a ball at a pizza joint, family owned, where my daughter and I could get a gluten-free pizza! I can make them at home, but this was special because (1) I was with my daughter, whom I hadn't seen for over a year, and (2) I didn't have to make it.

We were invited to a birthday party for the one-year-old daughter of my daughter's classmate. I met people who previously were only names and now have faces and personalities. One of them is going to have a baby soon--once we got home from the party, we started going through boxes and found a completed quilt top that needed only borders, backing, batting, and binding. We worked together and before I left we had the top finished, the layers sandwiched and spray-basted; it's now ready for quilting, trimming, and binding.

I got re-acquainted with Abby, the 13-year-old cat who lived with me for a while, and met Shu Shu, probably 2-3 years old. Sadly, I took Shu Shu's favorite room and kept the door closed so she couldn't get to a window she prefers. But I believe she's now forgiven me.

Southwestern weather being what it is, I got thoroughly warm and toasty before I flew back to the frozen, snowy Midwest. The memory of warmth and lightweight clothes is dear to me.

Hope you had a wonderful week also.