I was up and showered before 5:15 this morning. My body doesn’t know what time it is. I went to the grocery store before 8:00 this morning and was home and everything put away by 9:30. Ready to start cooking tomorrow.
I took a nap around noon time. Decided to allow myself to sleep whenever sleep can find me. Thinking it may take me a week or so to adjust back to regular sleeping patterns. I wasn’t hungry at noon so waited to have lunch until 3:00. Not sure when or if I will eat dinner. Time is an artificial thing anyways. Most of the clocks got reset for going off of Daylight Savings Time but found one or two that hadn’t been changed yet. I am confused anyways as to what time it is and it doesn’t help to have clocks be off to add to my confusion. I have to turn my iPad off to get its clock to reset. I was gone when the time changed and haven’t gotten used to the new sunrise and sunset times yet.
The best part of getting up early was watching the sunrise this morning. Nothing says welcome home to the prairie like watching the sunrise. It was spectacular this morning. Looking forward to watching the sunset this evening.
Still processing in my head the adventure I took. I had so many wonderful moments during this trip. Not sure I did a good job blogging about all of them. I didn’t have a lot of learnings about myself this time like I normally do when I travel internationally. Part of it was due to being part of a group and part of it was English was the primary language so it didn’t feel so foreign.
It was interesting watching myself interact (or not) with the other members of the group. There were eight couples and one mother/son couple plus Nicole and I. I didn’t have a lot in common with most of the other women on the tour. Four or five of them have done lots of international travel. Some liked to shop most of the time. Some came home with expensive opal necklaces or rings or both. I don’t think they knew what to do with me as I don’t wear make-up, I don’t drink, I don’t like to shop, and I didn’t change clothes two or three times a day. That’s OK as I didn’t know what to do with them!
We must have been asked 10 times where the rest of our luggage was. Nicole and I each only took one carry on sized bag with us. Most had two huge suitcases and two carry on bags.
My favorite days were the days spent away from the cities and I was out in nature. The cities were beautiful in their own ways but didn’t hold my interest for long. Too busy. Too many people. Too loud. I preferred the small diners rather than the fancy, pricey restaurants.
There was one couple that Nicole nicknamed “The Littles”. They were both very short. They were usually late coming back from our potty stops and were rather pushy about getting on and off the bus. Every group seems to have a couple like that. After a while it got annoying to be around them. Did our best to not them push our buttons.
I had a few good conversations with a few of the people in the group. Most didn’t want to go very deep and I don’t do small talk very well. They passed a sheet around at the end where you could exchange email and phone numbers with each other. I choose not to sign up. I don’t think any of the group will be exchanging Christmas cards with me nor I with them. Most were nice people but I really didn’t click with any of them. Thankful Nicole was with me.
I didn’t bring many souvenirs home with me. I did buy a book to put with my other travel books. This one has pictures of the Maori people in it with an inspiration quote or piece of wisdom. It will help take me back to New Zealand and the memories I made there.
Physically this was the easiest trip yet for me. I was able to walk miles each day and didn’t have to stop and rest or even get winded. I was able to eat foods that mostly didn’t contain flour or sugar. Not sure I was 100% as when you eat out you never know for sure if flour or sugar was added. I didn’t eat enough vegetables most days but ate what I could find. Ate too many white potatoes but sometimes that was the only choice. My ankles were still swollen a bit this morning when I weighed – I gained three pounds on the trip but thinking in a day or two when I release all the fluid I will be back to what I was before I left. I will consider that a success! I have been drinking lots of fluids today to help flush out my system. I felt a bit dehydrated this morning. It is hard to drink enough when you are on an airplane and there are bathroom lines most of the time.
Need to go do some housecleaning. I took the trash down to the curb and gave the chickens some fresh linens today. Did four loads of laundry today. Feeling a bit sluggish this afternoon even with taking a nap. Trusting I can pull off making a dinner on Thursday.
I am extending an open invitation to anyone that wants to join me for dinner Thursday. We are eating at 1:00. The more that come the happier I will be. If you don’t have a dinner to go to that day please come to my house. I always have lots of extra food and have plenty of room for more at my table. Holler if you need my address and directions. I would love to see you – and anyone you want to bring with you.
Grateful for this beautiful welcome home day, grateful all my critters look well taken care of, and grateful to be home on my little, quiet, peaceful corner of the prairie.