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There’s no place like home!
And mother nature has a wicked sense of humor….more on that in a minute…
Keeping Watch Over Carlson Ranch by David Taylor of Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Yes, this photo is a tease of more to come, and I'm posting it especially for my friend Jacquie (the quiltmuse whose poem on thread graces the Dedication page of my book) who loves owls.
Yes, I am home from Houston, happy, content, hugged, doggie-slurped-and-wiggled, kitty-go-bumped, tired, and did I say happy? The trip to Quilt Market and Festival went wonderfully well. As expected it was both exhilarating and exhausting, but of course re-entry requires you to unpack, do laundry, pay bills, walk the dog, feed the kids, crash on the sofa with hubby and all those good things.
The Forest of Trees (from quilters in Germany) was one of the coolest exhibits I've seen at Festival. It made people smile... more on this in another blogpost.
To GET to those good things, I had to get home. Remember Mother Nature? She didn’t just rain on my parade, she SNOWED on it. On October 18th for heaven’s sake!
My suitcase weighed 66 pounds (16 over the limit) when I got to the airport in Houston, so I moved stuff to my carry on bags (thereby making them stuffed to beyond bearing). That meant my two carry-ons were 33 and 34 pounds each. The top bag was the heavier, with laptop, video cam and projector and a thousand cables for classes… I have the new bag that zips open so you don’t have to take out the laptop, but with all the cables etc. the TSA that did secondary review on the way down told me it would be faster if I unpacked the projector and cables ahead of time…they were right but what a fuss.
SO…. I had three flights: Houston to LaGuardia in New York City, NYC to Boston, then the final hop on the 8-seater plane from Boston to Rockland, Maine, a one-hour flight. Thanks to being in old airports in NYC and Boston, I had to go through security THREE TIMES because of airline/terminal changes. UGH. And in NYC the guy said the carry-on was too big, wouldn’t let me through. I zipped the overstuffed daypack off the suitcase and strapped it to the computer bag, and he let me through. I thanked him for being flexible and told him good karma would come to him.
When I got to Boston, weather was bad and had been all day. Cape Air is a wonderful little regional airline (very nice, helpful, generous compared to the big airlines), but the planes are small. And there were high winds. Winds too high for the little planes. All flights to Nantucket and Martha’s Vinyard had been stalled all day. I waited 3 hours for my flight time to arrive. As the time approached my flight went from on time, to delayed, to (an hour after scheduled lift-off) cancelled. Fortunately, I was already setting up alternatives, and had called the Knox County (local to home) airport to get the name of the car rental company there so I could rent a car and drive home, then drop it off near where MY car was parked—Knox County Airport told me 15 minutes before Boston did that the flight was cancelled.
So after getting up at 3:45 a.m. (I woke early….usually sleep fitfully before a travel day), to the airport in Houston by 5:15 a.m., at 7:15 p.m. I was at the Budget rental counter getting a car to drive home 190 miles (4 1/2 to 5 hours due to the second half not being the interstate) in snow, sleet, rain, dark, cold and tired. BLEAH. But as I moved north the nastiest of the weather abated and turned to rain, and at 10 pm NPR had on a Canadian Broadcasting concert the first hour of which was Arlo Guthrie! LOVED it…was singing away in the dark in my tinny little compact! Got home at 12:15. Paul had stayed up waiting (and worrying I think, the weather really was nasty) and the dog almost wiggled off his hind-quarters! Kissed the boys (who were asleep), and we dropped into near instant sleep.
In a few days I’ll start sharing all the good stuff from Houston, with LOTS of pictures!
October 20th, 2009 at 9:35 am
Oh goodness! I’m sorry to hear of your travel woes but happy that you’re home safely! I am sad to say that I was not able to make it to quilt fest. Missing your postcard class was disappointing but perhaps I can take it in the future. Have you ever thought about doing an online class? Hopefully, I’ll get to meet you in person at the Fest next year or somewhere else!
Have a blessed and wonderful day!
D~~~~
October 21st, 2009 at 12:33 am
Sarah — You are a tease — but the owl is lovely! Your trip home sounds horrendous. Glad you made it through with the remnants of your sanity intact!
October 21st, 2009 at 7:19 am
So glad that you made it home safe and sound! I love David Taylor’s work!
October 21st, 2009 at 8:48 pm
Way to go Sarah! Thankful you had such a wonderful time that it helped make your awful journey home worth it.