Well, this is a first for me. I’ve frequently thought that if I didn’t get something finished before leaving on a trip I could do it in the airport or on the plane, but I’ve never actually done it. Until today.  As we were leaving for the airport I turned to Bill and said, “You know, it takes us longer to get on the plane than we’ll be on the plane.” It’s 2 hours and 15 minutes from Orlando to Louisville. Our plane is scheduled to leave at 2:25 p.m. We left the house at a bit after 11:00. I think it took about 20 minutes to get to the car park and check in. We waited for the shuttle about 10 minutes and the ride to the airport was another 10 minutes. Check in at the curb took about 10 more minutes and security took about 20 minutes.  That’s an hour all by itself. We’ve had lunch and are now waiting at the gate. It’s about 1:00.  So, there you have it. By the way, Orlando International Airport has free wifi. Cool, eh?

Ah, technology!
Back when Bill and I were square dancing we were getting ready to go to Indianapolis for the national convention. We made arrangements for our daughter to stay with a friend and we boarded the animals. In the hubbub of packing and getting ready, I turned to Bill and said, “You know this would be a lot easier if we could just throw the phone in our suitcase and take it along with us.” Now, I’m not saying that I invented cell phones, but I definitely had the idea years and years before cell phones became part of our lives. During the years that we were motor-homing our way across the country it was such a hassle to keep in contact with the kids. Every evening I had to call our home phone from a public phone to check for messages. That was the only way we could be reached in an emergency. Now with computers and the Internet and cell phones motor-homing would be a snap. I even have a miniature Brother sewing and embroidery machine I could take along. Alas, we sold the motor home when the grandchildren began coming along.

The best of times
I get up to Louisville a few times a year for a grandchildren fix. The airport is a pretty small one and every time I walk from the plane past the security check-in I (or we) eventually run into our son-in-law who has been waiting for me. He helps me with my luggage and Jen brings the car around with whatever children she has with her. Hugs and kisses all around and then we’re off. But every time I take that long walk I have a faint flicker of hope that some, or even one, of the children will be waiting for me and will fly into my arms as soon as we spy each other. Today that happened! I could see Steve as we got closer and I thought I saw a thatch of blond hair beside him. As we got closer I saw Reed. I put out my arms and he came laughing, flying into them. It was the best and oh, my word, he’s already grown out of the goody two shoes I got him in July!

The worst of times
Well, nothing ever goes off without a hitch. I put the pictures for this blog on a thumb drive so that I could upload them away from home. Well, I switched out laptop bags and somehow managed to leave my gaggle of thumb drives and software security devices behind. So, the picture of Bill and me in full square dance regalia will have to wait until another time. Instead I will offer for your consideration, completely off topic, a picture of what it looks like when a bag of popcorn explodes in the microwave and a picture of me, my brother and two cousins on a horse at an aunt and uncle’s farm in Virginia. I look to be about 4 or five and, well, to get a bit back on topic, my overalls were made from left over fabric in my dad’s blouse factory. Here’s my scrapbook page commemorating that visit.

Well shut my mouth!
We have Pat and Judy to fill you up with their wonderful blogs full of sewing and embroidery tips, techniques and projects. And we have LaRue telling us everything we could ever possibly want to know about quilting and fabrics. Now we have June waxing poetic about Brother’s wonderful new Quattro, Leora dazzling us with tales of Africa and Susan filling us full of projects using her remarkable blanks. What more is there for me to say. Every time I sit down to blog I have to rack my brain to come up with something and usually can’t think of anything that someone else isn’t already talking about in their blogs. I hope you’ve enjoyed my ramblings this week because I’m afraid that it’s all that I’ve got.

Until next time, take care of yourselves and each other and don’t forget to turn your computer off once in a while and sew something.