Did you miss me?

I'm ba-ack!  Cleveland was hard.  And, easy.  And, that made for a very fulfilling week. 

My travel was uneventful except I had my biggest smile on and people really react to that and so I had a lot of short conversations about a lot of very fun and random things with a great variety of people.  And, because I was there on my own and didn't have a set agenda, I got to do things with friends and see friends and get hugs and be reminded of how many people I've worked with over the years that still like me enough to go a little out of their way to get to see me, so that was nice. 

Class was hard.  I don't still have the skill of learning in a classroom, not that I couldn't develop it, but it would take some practice.  The pace was very fast for me, tho the younger participants seemed to do better with that, so the first afternoon, I stayed after class and talked to the trainer about it and told him it was moving fast and I would do my best and ask questions.  And, I was one of the few people that would answer or ask questions in class.  It was a very good thing I had taken the old training manual with me and read it.  That really prepared me.  I didn't learn to write computer programs from reading it, but I did learn what words we were going to use and sort of what they meant and that gave me the advantage I needed.  And, I wrote.  Every night after class, I went back to the hotel and I wrote my understanding of what we had covered during the day.  That locked it in my mind and gave me a reference book where I knew right where to find things.  And, a couple of times I got up and gave up and walked out of the classroom and walked around the building's square hallway a couple times and went back in and sat down and proceeded to learn whatever it was I was having so much trouble with, which was usually a typo in my program that I couldn't find.  Computers aren't much on typos. 

Over the weekend, I needed to decompress, so I spent a lot of Saturday working in the garden.  I did a lot of detail work, trimming the dead twigs out of shrubs and trees.  And, re-hanging bird feeders.  And, I did some quilting.  I got the center of the leaf quilt quilted and have started on the borders.  In the borders, I'm doing a straight line all the way around at one inch intervals.  That's hard to describe, so you'll have to wait til I finish and I'll post a picture. 

That's what wind would look like if wind could look like anything it wanted to.  Just sayin'.

When I got home, before I even put everything down, I had to walk around the yard and take some pictures.  It was good to be home.  This is the front of the house.  It was 95* in the city that day...but not here.  The trees keep it so shaded and cool.  And, we take good care of our trees. 

And, some flowers. 

This next one is Jacobena.  I swear the tag at the nursery said it was a compact, part sun plant.  But, Rob read the tag that's stuck in the pot the other day and it's supposed to get huge and need full sun so it's in the process of finding a new place. 

 

And, the garden, growing and blooming.  Solace. 

Yesterday, we went to a party at the neighbors.  Our neighbor has a new partner and she's moved in.  There was a houseful.  But, we were the only ones that our friend had known more than a couple months.  We've got to have them down for dinner next.  I wonder what I can do that would be fun.   We don't entertain much, but it will be the perfect time to check a couple cookbooks for ideas. 

Noticing a trend?  Getting out.  Doing things.  Talking to people.  Smiling at people.  Feeling appreciated.  All themes from this post. 

That doesn't sound like me.

But, it is. 

Have a great Monday!  Today, I get to make up for being out for a week.  yippee...

Lane