LOOKING AHEAD

Home. Four letters packed with comfort, love, and sustainability--my center; my peace.

Been here four days now and finally getting a tiny bit of my mo-jo back. I was on such a creative whirl in the weeks prior to our trip. I want it back! I have flowers to transplant and peony bushes to prop (before the next rain storm), a husband longing for some homemade gourmet food, stacks of magazines and papers to sort, and a house in dire need of some TLC. I left with some projects undone--I had to prioritize that last week because my mo-jo had me seriously over-committed.

The good news is that CA cleaned and set-up the screened porch and as soon as the weather cooperates (tomorrow!) I can slide into a semblance of the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer.

I want to finish sewing LE's pretty pink curtains, and finish arranging all of my lovely pictures on the large empty wall in the loft. My cookie business has been in planning stage limbo for over three weeks, and the website is less than half developed. And, according to CA, I need to work! Yep! Can't retire this summer. I contacted my agency today and am hoping for one more week off and then a full summer of assignments. Summers are slower for CA's work commitments and he digs in and excels at house husbandry.

Friends are moving away and friends are moving closer. Friends are grieving and friends are searching. This seems to be the time of life when friendships again deepen and thrive--contrasted with all the family-raising and work-harried years.

We have one weekend trip planned for June to Omaha and know that a Michigan trip will soon follow as the wing-back chair and ottoman will be ready at the upholstery shop in Battle Creek. There may also be a weekend trip to Colorado for a wedding and then to visit our delightful niece Jessi. In October we will go back to Kaua'i and we are in the very early stages of planning a return trip to Europe in December and January--beginning with Christmas and the new baby's birth and ending in the south of France for three or four weeks. (This is why CA says I have to work!)

Whew! I am not recovered from this past trip and thinking about the above makes my head spin... I will be ready when the time comes. We decided last December that we would revisit Mougins, Nice, and Cannes as many times as we can; and after my visit to the Austrian Alps I know we will want to return there over and over again, too--but always in May after the skiing and before the summer tourists.

This Midwestern city girl and small town boy never dreamed that our adult lives would contain all of this sophisticated travel! But, when your child moves to Europe you are drawn there, too. Especially when there are grandchildren...