May 1, 2008

It's finally May! Years of living in Michigan taught me to look forward to May as the real start of the warmer season, and the excitement of baby leaves, flowers, and sunshine. Although it's been warmer here in Cambridge and the flowers started blooming months ago, I still think of May 1st as the harbinger of exciting summers. :)

We made it back to Cambridge yesterday, and believe it or not I slept 14 hours last night! I usually sleep well on the plane, but this time I got put next to a foreign gentleman who kept encroaching onto my seat space. He consistently stuck out his elbows so that I had to push him back over onto his own side. That was a bit annoying, but I did at least sleep some. Alas for British Airways ending their Detroit flights- Northwest doesn't have very good service both on plane and off. It took them ages to serve food, and ages more to clear off the trays, all of which disrupts the sleeping process. But praise Gd we made it safely, and the direct flight makes all the difference.

The line getting through the passport control at Gatwick was very long. But amazingly, when we got nearer the front of the line a man was going through and sending some people off to the shorter line. I couldn't figure out why, until he came close and I heard him asking which passports we had. He was looking at the outside of passports, and when he saw that we had US passports he said "American passports, go to Line 2." Which was the shorter line, and was moving very quickly. I was surprised to be sent to the faster line simply because I was American, but it was very nice to get through so fast. :)

The weather here is chillier than it had been in Michigan- it's sunny now, but an hour ago we had hail. Weird. :) We enjoyed our time in Michigan- yesterday afternoon we went out to Nan Weston Nature Preserve to walk in the quiet forest and take photos of wildflowers- it seems strange to be in Cambridge now, such a short time later. I recommend Nan Weston- right now there are almot 15 varieties of native Michigan wildflowers blooming, in addition to the various trees that have little tree flowers, and the baby leaves poking their heads out of teeny buds. It's a great time for photography.

We have a few days to get adjusted before things start back up for us- Monday is the first CE course, so pr that things would go well and that the ladies would be open to hearing. The term lasts until the first week of July, and it'll be difficult to keep focused on things here when we have FOCUS coming up in 3 weeks, which we're flying back for, and then returning from that another month of our routine here until the summer holidays begin. Most events basically end at the end of June, and people start to leave for 2 months of holiday here there and everywhere. Our various responsibilities will start back up in mid September.

We enjoyed seeing people, and hope to catch more people over Memorial Day weekend.