Back to Ottawa

We arrived back home yesterday [Friday] shortly before 1 p.m. after a 9 a.m. departure and a fairly uneventful drive.  It rained off and on, the traffic really thinned out as we neared the border, and all real signs of Spring were just a memory.  Patches of snow appeared here and there but they should be disappearing soon since the temperature was in the high teens [centigrade].  I'm sure the trees will eventually leaf out as they did down South, but I digress.

By 2 o'clock we were completely un-packed, or should I say, un-stuffed...  with piles of books, puzzles, and other assorted 'stuff' duly stacked for delivery to their new owners in the next few days, and surprisingly small piles of clothing were set aside for the laundry machine.  [Actually, these really only need ironing due in large part to my aggressive stuffing of clothes into the car trunk, but that's another story].  

By 2:30 the computer was downloading all the emails we had accessed remotely during our three months away and the three orchids we brought back were potted up to join the condo-regulars [there are currently over 50 gorgeous orchid blooms to enjoy in the condo!].  

An invite for supper with Nancy, Christopher and the princesses solved the no-food-in-the-condo issue and delayed the inevitable grocery shopping task for the moment.  Now we have about a cubic foot [or slightly more] of mail, magazines and junk to go through and the proverbial nemesis: income tax to deal with.  Oh joy...

It was real fun to be recognized by the grandchildren, a little reluctantly by Caitlyn at first, but as supper progressed, fun was had by all and laughter prevailed.  After supper, the lets-jump-on-Grandpa ritual took place and all is well in our universe.

I guess that settles it, our snowbird escape is now officially over.  Joan is off to the bank machine and grocery store [for carrots] on her way to the barn.  There are over 700 duplicate emails on our 'main computer' to sort out, and it's raining outside.  

Thanks for reading these notes, we'll likely not add much to the blog until we go away again...  Please keep in touch when you can.