A year of poetry

I’m really enjoying A Year of Poetry at Waitrose!  What a great idea to put the little folders of poems there with the onions.

I’m surprised that so far, I’ve seen no-one else opening them up to read – perhaps everyone else is more focused on their shopping?

I especially liked “Party Food” as I picked up a bag of Basmati rice this morning.

 I am a quaking jellyfish,

Captured quite in error

And now I sit in a trifle dish

Gazing up in terror.

Please don’t eat me with your cake

Or swallow with a cuppa

It would be my sad mistake

To sting for your supper

Another nice idea, Waitrose!

Belt and braces

I finished my travel journal from our recent trip yesterday.  I’d worked on it throughout the journey, usually sitting at the table in the evening and cutting and sticking whilst we watched HGTV and whatever home renovation show was on that night.  I’d taken my usual bag of tricks with me – a basic kit supplemented by a couple of rolls of washi tape and a few stickers bought along the way.

The advantage of keeping it going whilst we are travelling is that I can record all those small details which prompt the conversations later – like the man in the McDonalds by the filling station in Mount Vernon, OH, who came in wearing a T shirt with no sides.

How could I have forgotten that?!  (However hard I tried)  It’s a bit too personal to write about on my blog though, even though it’s those small details which make for the fun and provide the trigger for other stories.

So why keep the blog and the journal then?

Well, I had two days left to record in the journal to finish it off.  Our last evening in Chicago was spent sorting and packing, so I didn’t write and draw about the Field Museum.  Then of course, when we travelled home, all the journalling stuff was packed away, so plenty of time but no materials to record that.   Yesterday, I wanted to tie up all the loose ends so gathered the bits and pieces and wrote the last few pages.  Just as I was about to put it all together, I thought I’d check to see if I’d missed anything and opened up my blog of those two days.

I’d forgotten those awful five or ten minutes when I panicked, but thankfully, I’d told the story here.

I quickly added an extra page and the journal was complete.

See, I need both belt and braces!

Feet haven’t touched…

Busy days here.   Since last Thursday, when I gathered up a few of my journals and mini books to take for a couple of demonstrations, there’s been rather more fun than work, I’m glad to say.

Where there was work to be done, there were rather more hands than usual to share it.  Quite often, it was accompanied by a chorus from South Pacific or similar.  With all the doors and windows open, we probably entertained the whole village!

My Hero’s birthday last weekend meant a houseful,  but these were happy days spent around the kitchen table doing crosswords with a glass of something interesting on hand.

Occasionally we left the house for a breath of fresh air.

Enjoying the beautiful scent of sweet peas on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

Of course, there was also birthday “cake”, built in a tower so high it toppled over and needed constant attention and “tidying up”.  Thankfully, there was plenty of help with that task, too!

Having said our goodbyes on Wednesday afternoon, normal routine began again yesterday, with a work meeting in another interesting place.

And WI last night was fun with a fascinating talk by the ladies from the Canal Trust who told us about the lives of the women who lived on the narrowboats.

They brought a marvellous collection of traditional craftwork with them too.  That got a few fingers itching, I can tell you

Today, we are home alone and the house is quiet.  Our family and friends are at home too: John in Melbourne, Sandy in Hobart, Edward in London and Amy in Devon.  Only Sam and Elise are still travelling, somewhere in Norway, by now, perhaps.

I think I really have lost all my excuses for not putting all my journals back where they belong.

Or?

The times, they are a-changin’

Not that anyone would have noticed.  But yesterday was the start of a new era at work.  For me, it was my first day as a permanent employee, after thirteen (or more?) years of annual contracts. 

Not that you’d have noticed.  Things were pretty much the same although we were pleased to welcome a new member of our team with a similar penchant for chocolate as the rest of us.  It was technology to the fore at our meeting yesterday though, with tablets, phones, laptops all humming away nicely as we worked out way through a bit of new paperwork and the resultant acronyms.

I especially like the “plan for learning”, aka PFL…or “the piffle” amongst friends.

It does mean that soon, my team will no longer count the rather lovely warehouse as our base and we will have to return to the old days of negotiating the city centre streets and the 1960s loveliness that is Shire Hall.

Gloucester is quite a fine city, really.  But sadly, since I had reason to be here in the city centre regularly, things have changed a little and many of the old, familiar businesses have gone.

Yesterday afternoon, whilst some corners were pretty busy, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a Sunday afternoon in other parts.

I’ll miss my meanderings around the docks, which are a great deal smarter now than when the office was first relocated, thank goodness.

Above all, I’ll miss coming across things like this – a crane – with a great deal of character, don’t you think?  Of course, nothing’s to stop me taking a walk down there from time to time, but you know how things go…

Lucky me, too, that I still get to work in an altogether different environment from time to time as well, as I did on Monday.

I’m working tomorrow, actually.  In a different place altogether.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Home again

“It’s a fine night for flying”, said the Captain as we taxied out to the runway at O’Hare last night.  We’d been looking at the weather maps and watching as another storm was coming in over the plains and we hoped that we’d get away before it arrived.  Mary, flying in the opposite direction was setting off a little earlier, so we kept everything crossed that she’d be flying above it all.

We started the day in our usual “Tempo” fashion, with waffles for the waffle eaters and corned beef hash and sunny side eggs for you-know-who.  Though it was misty again, it was also rather warm and so strolling down to the North Bridge seemed a good way to spend our last morning here. 

Before long, we came upon Eataly, a familiar haunt from NYC.  We’d seen an ad for it the other evening and had been so close and yet so far – we couldn’t find the way in!  Needless to say, had we walked just another ten or fifteen yards up the street, we’d have seen the door.  Oh well, we made up for it this morning.

Mind you, it was a good job we weren’t shopping, perhaps?

So much choice…a little of everything to try, do you think?

We made it to the bridge without a purchase, however, and stood for a while watching the people and simply taking it all in.  I decided to cross the road, which turned out to be a little trickier than I’d thought due to various roadside barriers and stuff.

I took my photograph of the river, looking towards the lake and looked around for Mark and Mary.  But they weren’t where I’d left them.

Perhaps they were coming over to this side of the bridge as well?  But I couldn’t see them anywhere.

I stood and waited a while – an age, it seemed – and they were still nowhere to be found.  I took my phone from my bag and went to send Mark a text, only to find my battery at 15%.  “Where are you?” I asked.

No reply.  I was getting a bit panicky now.  Surely, they were wondering where I was?

I decided to use the last bit of power to ring him instead.  “Where are you?”  “Outside the Tribune Building", he said…  Somewhere in the shadows of the tall building on the right, they were waiting for me.  Crossed wires and mis communication all round, but thankfully, all’s well that ends well.  But that’ll teach me to keep my phone charged, won’t it?

We made our way back to our hotel – the slim glassy building on the left side of the street; our room being up there in the skinniest bit near the top, which made for wonderful views.  We couldn’t resist another bag of Garretts Popcorn on the way back however – Of course I’d find somewhere to squeeze it into my bag!

And that was that.  Off we went on our way to the airport, though heavy traffic.

Thankfully, we had plenty of time – Mary’s flight was leaving an hour or so before ours, so we’d be saying our fond farewells somewhere soon.

Actually, it was in the shuttle bus, after we’d left the red Grand Caravan (not as exciting as it sounds, believe me!) in the rental car lot.

Missing her already, we scanned the airport for a Virgin America plane from the comfort of the lounge, but sadly, we didn’t spot her.

Our flight was on time and we were lucky to be flying in the tucked-in-with-hot-chocolate-and-warm-cookies class, so we snuggled down under our duvets for the super-smooth journey to London.

Back to our own car, with the steering wheel on the right side

Back to normal? 

It’s been a stupendous trip but oh yes, it’s good to be home.