My namesake was right – there really is no place like home. I just wish I had some ruby slippers to click together rather than traveling the traditional way. Maybe I’m just getting older, but this trip home really wore me out! It was fairly uneventful – except for horrible traffic in London that turned an hour and half trip into almost double that. Fortunately we had left ourselves plenty of time and got there with just the right amount of time. The flight was long and boring and by the time we collected our baggage and got across the Canadian border to home, we had been up almost 24 hours. Neither one of us can sleep on planes. Kirby was ecstatic to see us – if you can imagine a dog crying with joy, I could swear that was what he was doing.

And now comes the job of easing (or jumping) back into the fray. We were both up at 4:00 a.m. this morning, but that’s an improvement over 3:00 a.m. yesterday. At this rate it will only be a couple more days before we are back on track. Today Bill finds our whether his application for early retirement has been accepted. Scuttlebutt around the fire station is that all applications have been approved. Financially it’s a good decision for us because it comes with a huge bonus and no reduction in retirement benefits. But it is a huge change and I think we’re both a little nervous about it. Even good change can be stressful!

On the knitting front I haven’t touched a thing since I got home. Probably a good thing because with the jet lag fog I’m in, I’d probably end up frogging anyway. However, here is a progress photo of my Making Waves socks.

I like them well enough, but would probably not make them again. A little too slow going for me with all the cables. I like my socks to be quick, whip ‘em out projects. I’ll save the cables for Aran sweaters and the like.

By the way, it probably was just as well that I didn’t finish the Mediterranean Shawl for the wedding. It was so hot and muggy in London that day that I wouldn’t have been able to wear it. Now that I have some distance I’m really considering ripping out the border and just starting over with new yarn, providing I can find a close match. It’s pretty generic off-white so that shouldn’t be a problem. But it will have to wait a few months. School starts next week and then I’m really off and running!