Lynn writes a weekly letter every Sunday for relatives and friends. Here is this week's:
Hi, Everyone
I say a week back to normal. At least it was a week of normal for us--maybe you would disagree. :)
The first part of the week was spent getting settled in again--laundry (of which there was a LOT), going through all the mail that came in our absence (a lot of that too), and working on the 373 pictures we took during the trip. We actually took more--I deleted the ones that didn't work at all. For instance, both pictures I took of the rape of an elephant seal were totally out of focus. There were a few other shots that also were too out of focus, that didn't begin to show what we were hoping for, were hopelessly insipid, or accidentally taken of feet as one was walking, that I deleted. I also deleted about 1/2 of the pictures we took with our iPads, since we seem to manage to get multiples of most of those shots. The shutter seems to be faster than our fingers.
We took more pictures with our iPads on this trip than we have before, for a reason. When we travel lately I only take my iPad, and not my computer, and so when I write, I write from my iPad. (I have an external keyboard for it.) I cannot get pictures directly from my camera to my iPad; I have to use my computer in between, and I like to be able to send at least one picture with my daily travel notes. The camera gives a lot more control in the type of pictures it takes, and I can carry it around my neck, while the iPad requires a hand to hold it all the time. But on this trip, Bill carried the iPad and I carried the camera. That worked well. But I can see a very fuzzy picture of an iPhone in our future trips.
The weather on the trip was far warmer than here at home, and that was a real pleasure. The first morning we were there, it was 31 degrees when we awoke, but the off shore wind later in the week got the temperatures up into the upper 60s and lower 70s. All the people who lived there kept saying how unseasonably warm it was. We were missing temperatures here at home that were well below zero, and with even colder wind chills, and so even 31 degrees seemed rather pleasant to us. The day we visited the butterflies was warm enough that I zipped off my pants legs. It went up 75 that day, the day the schools were closed in most of Wisconsin because of the cold. Since we've been home, it has still been cold, but there have been no days where it has remained below zero all day, and at least one day when it went up above freezing for a few hours.
I recently learned that our bird feeder is in the wrong spot, and I will have to move it in the spring. Birds like it to be near trees, so if hawks come around they can easily hide. I put our feeder out in the open to keep it out of the reach of squirrels and also to be close enough to the house so we can bird watch as we eat our meals in the dining room. It's also close enough to the house that I don't have to shovel snow too far out into the yard to refill the feeders. (I should get snowshoes.) The birds still visit it pretty much, but I guess they'd visit it a lot more if it were somewhere else. This time of year, most of the birds we see at it are downy woodpeckers, chickadees, various sparrows, and goldfinches. A few ground feeding birds come around too: juncos and doves, and occasionally squirrels and rabbits check out the ground for scraps. Bill suspects deer too--we've seen many footprints in our yard. But right before we went on our trip we saw a pileated woodpecker out there, a beautiful bird, but so much bigger than the feeders he couldn't get any food. He didn't stay long. And yesterday a flicker was eating from the suet feeder. He was large enough that he had to do some acrobatics to get the food, but he stayed a good while.
The rest of this week has been, as I said, pretty normal. We had Noah here on Monday, Bill ate lunch with the guys on Tuesday, Wednesday night we had some friends over for dinner (that is not usual, but we wanted company), Tuesday and Thursday I went to my exercise class for the first time in 3-4 months (my Achilles tendon is not quite fully healed, but I can move more normally again), Friday Bill met with his philosophy bunch, Friday night we attended the opening of an art show, and last night dinner out with friends. We both had dentist appointments and attended one LIFE class this week. I spent enough time working on ceramics since we've been home that Bill begins to wonder if I have moved to the basement.
While we were away, Dave came over and installed another shop light in my studio area and added wall switches to turn them on and off individually. That is part of the reason I spent so much time down there--it is well lit enough now that I can actually see what I'm doing (not that it gives me more talent, however.) I learned about a new technique or two, and I want to try them. But in addition to making several bowls, I made an elephant. I am anxious to see if it turns out at all, or if it will explode when i try to fire it. If it does work, I will be happy that nobody can see its insides, because they are not exactly artistic. I had to do a lot of patching.
It's good to be home. I don't know if we will still be saying that in a month or two. But we currently have no trips firmly planned until the end of October--New York city for a few days. My mind is working on other strong possibilities, but we don't necessarily agree on destinations. I still want to go to Cuba, and I'm interested in touring Ireland and Scotland. Bill is not interested in either of those trips. We might go to FGC again this summer (it's in North Carolina), I'd love to go to ceramics camp again, if there is a class that sounds of interest, and maybe a yoga retreat at some point. Bill bought tickets for a play in Pepin Wisconsin, and that would be an overnight trip. Bill would like to spend time in the major Canadian cities--Toronto, Montreal, Quebec, and Vancouver--on separate trips. And someday I would like to go to Finland. But a lot of these trips may not work out, since we are getting older and less able to do some of the things. And we find flying more and more of a pain in the neck, especially from this tiny airport, which requires too many connections.
That's it for this week.
Love, Lynn
