Home and home

I am home again from my trip home. Strange, isn't it, how we can have more than one home? I love NW Oregon; I have never lived anywhere as long as I have lived here and I can't see myself living anywhere else. But some of my earliest memories are of Kansas and my family there, and that is where I am deeply rooted on my father's side. Someday, I will inherit some of my family's land there, as my dad has, and his father before him. And I can see my ashes buried there, in the little country cemetary near my grandparents, great-grandparents, and other distant relatives.

It was good to be with family to celebrate my grandma's life and mourn her passing. It is heart-wrenching to wonder when I will see my cousins again, now that we don't have grandparents to bring us together. Yes, we will have to make intentional efforts, but it won't be easy or often, given how far-flung we are and how busy everyone is.

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I have kept my place in the Tour de Fleece while traveling; in fact, yesterday on the final leg of my flight home, I finished all of the fiber I took with me!
I wouldn't have made such progress if I had been able to knit more. But I was not a model air traveler yesterday. First of all, starting out in Wichita, KS, I had my hairspray can confiscated and tossed. I knew it was oversized but took a chance on taking it, since I didn't have a travel size option. No biggy; TSA ignored it in Portland, so I got it to Kansas where I needed it. Since only one small personal carry-on (like a purse) was allowed on the small regional jet out of Wichita, my big carry-on was gate-checked to Chicago. But when leaving Chicago (to fly to Dallas/Ft. Worth before the final leg to Portland - I kid you not), for the first time in my flying experience there was a gate agent asking everyone to use the metal rack to prove that their carry-ons would fit in the overhead compartment. Mine, stuffed with added items that had been my grandmother's, was too fat to fit. I didn't grab my knitting pattern out of the front pocket before it was carried off to be checked, forgetting that I was ready to start the lace section in the middle of my shawl. I didn't grab my reading materials, either; at least I had my spindle!

Today I will resume spinning my fiber from Corgi Hill Farm on the miniSpinner, and continue with Inky's roving - in between setting the house to rights, doing multiple loads of laundry, watering garden and flowers, and working with my animals. Russell and I need to resume his daily walks, and I plan to halter Sarai and Marta and let them eat some green grass to improve their leading skills. I've caught up on email; I may never catch up on all the blogs I follow!

That's it for today from . . .