So much for proving my existence

We're off to New Zealand now. You can join us over here.

Still here

I wanted to write a quick post to prove that I still exist. The last several weeks have been a blur with traveling, family visits and work. Hopefully things will slow down soon and I'll get a chance to write a decent post.

Alaska was amazing, although we didn't get the sunny weather I had hoped for. We did have a bear visit the bed and breakfast we were staying at, so of course we took lots of pictures. Sadly, no moose sightings, though.

I hope everyone is out enjoying the last bit of summer –– I wish I was!

Photo(s) Friday

After many, many months I've finally gotten the Northern half of our trip to India uploaded. Check them out here.

Jam and Terror

It's been a busy week of working and getting ready for our trip to Alaska next week. Any time we go on vacation I feel like I should clean the house from top to bottom before we leave. I don't know if it's misguided attempt to prevent anyone from finding out how messy we truly are in case we don't make it back, but it's pretty ridiculous.

I spent all day Tuesday dusting and sweeping, pulling out and shaking the rugs and ruthlessly organizing the family room. When I went in Wednesday morning and discovered that Jake had pulled all the Kleenex and paper products out of the garbage can and spread them around the room, I wondered why I had bothered. That damn dog.

Berries are ripening here and I've spent the last two evenings making jam – raspberry in the bigger jar and blackberry/raspberry in the smaller jars. We now have a total of 12 jars of jam, with plans for several more jars of blackberry, which should see us well into our 40s.

In other news, we're trying to decide just how many hours we should plan to stand in line to get through security at Seatac. The newscaster this morning reported that this latest ban on liquids is far more confusing to passengers than the previous ban on knives, box cutters and nail clippers. Lady, I've got news for you. Banning nail clippers still makes less sense. I don't care if they're the gigantic kind meant for cutting the thickest toenails, and have that swing-out thingy for scraping out dirt and whatnot. As Tom said, "I'd like to see someone try to take over a plane with nail clippers."

British airports have basically reduced passengers to getting on the plane naked, clutching a few select items in a clear plastic bag. I'm waiting to see if we'll need to Saran Wrap ourselves to qualify for some kind of express security lane.

Photo Friday

The Last Daylily

In our garden, anyway.

Friends

An old friend called the other day. The last time we spoke was during an exchange of letters not long before I left Arizona, more than five years ago. She also moved at about the same time and in the process we lost touch with each other. The occasional internet search turned up nothing on her, but as it turned out, she's also been looking for me and finally found my number.

We met through a mutual friend our senior year of high school and became inseparable immediately. Before high school ended her family moved away, reinforcing my long-held belief that to make a friend was to lose them sooner rather than later. Sounds depressing, but I seem to have a knack for making friends with people who soon move to the opposite side of the earth. When it happens often enough, you develop a real complex about it.

We managed to keep in touch through sporadic letters (these were the pre-internet days) and she was one of two bridesmaids in my wedding. My best friend since the age of eight couldn't be there because she was pregnant and on bed rest with her second child and another bridesmaid decided a trip to Brazil was a better option than a wedding. She was always unreliable, but still: not helping the complex.

Anyway, it was really great catching up with my old high school friend again. Other than the fact that she has a four-year-old son, it was like no time had passed at all. It was good to know that some people will still be your friend, no matter how much time you've lost.

Internet, I'm miserable

Last week, Tom thought he was having a particularly bad allergy attack. Well, turns out it was a cold. Now he's passed the disease torch to me and I am suffering.

It seems to be some kind of hybrid monster of all the colds I've ever suffered: swollen throat, coughing, aches, lethargy, alternating runny and congested nose. My eyes feel so swollen and itchy that I'm ready to claw them out of my head. Most attractive is the panting; I can't breathe through my nose, so my mouth is always hanging open while I desperately gulp in air.

Sadly, I don't even have the comfort of staying home from work and sleeping the day away because I have a deadline in five hours. Guess I better stop hanging around here. Bye, Internet.