Finally Blogging

I have been back more than two weeks now, so I guess I should be feeling settled. I guess I am. I have acclimated myself to winter to the best of my ability. It is very odd to leave for work in the morning and have it be 30 degrees outside – in August! It doesn't feel like any August I remember. I keep thinking that this weekend is the village festival, Harbor Days, in my hometown of Elk Rapids (where we spent our R&R). It makes my head hurt to try to put it together with where I am now.

I am already missing Elk Rapids, as well as all the people in it. I find I am terribly frustrated with not having made enough time to connect enough with all my important people there. That isn't to say that I had a bad time! I had an incredible visit. I just have several things to learn about managing my time while stateside. As with everything in life: live and learn.

One of the things I am missing most about ER is walking around. I don't think there is a more beautiful and walkable place to live. It is so incredible to walk from main street to my parents' home – gorgeous sights and sounds in all directions – river, lake, harbor, flower gardens, breeze. Here, I have to drive half an hour for a pretty walk and I can't incorporate it into doing my daily errands (dentist visit, post office, eye doctor).

The kidlets seem to be settling into school pretty well. They both like their teachers so far (and, as far as we can tell, they are very good and warm teachers). Maggie was sick three days this week, so she hasn't has as much exposure to her teacher. (She is all better now.) Aidan has already presented a Power Point on himself to his class! Both kids have had the great good luck of being placed with their best friends – hooray!

I went back to work last week and managed to work two days this week too. I still haven't started my new job. I have a lot of loose ends to tie up at my current job while I await my security clearance for the new job. In the meantime, I have announced the start of a book club and will soon kick-off a knitting group, even though I haven't started my job yet!

With regard to knitting: I have continued to work on sweater projects with a brief foray into baby hats. My beloved niece is expecting a baby and wanted me to teach her how to knit a baby hat. I had to knit one in order to remember how! It turns out to be such a quick and easy (2-3 hours) project that makes an incredibly adorable item. My friend and I are hoping that the knitting group, when it starts, will want to make items for donation – maybe picking an organization (like an orphanage) that we can donate to regularly. That way, I can make as many baby hats as I like!