Well, I told you I wasn't going to post while I was away and I've just about met that promise. I arrived at point of entry a day early as BFLB had to go to her health care professionals to start a new drug trial today. So I get a day to unwind, get the vision of miles of interstate out of my head, and prepare for the flight home. I got to see just about every one I wanted to to see, but I have been sick with a chest cold for a fortnight and, as predicted, it is lifting just as I am about to step on a plane and be exposed to a new group pf germs. So I coughed my way through several states and reluctantly left the reception after my sister's memorial early. The service was moving and funny and sad, although I could have contributed a few things about being the "little sister" of the person the friends remembered. Instead my brother and I got weepy in one of the back pews in her Lutheran church. She was the dynamo that kept a lot of relationships going, including our dysfunctional one, or rather created a family out of people only half related.

There have been few days while I've been here when the temperatures were below 90F and the humidity is like a wet blanket. This is why I don't travel to the States in summer. I did have one lovely midwestern day in Ohio and got to see an enormous golden moon lift above the corn. I finished one sock and started its mate, but the humidity really makes my hands hurt.

Of course, every one here including my two brothers wants me to come back here, just as every one in Oz wants me to stay there. I am still torn on the issue but for now (until the health care situation here shakes itself out) I still call Australia home. I especially miss the Imp. It will be lovely to lose the grip of humidity and see how far the wattle is blooming.