Hugs, Smiles, and Cold Noses

There is nothing like coming home to a warm huge, big smiles, and a nudge from a cold canine nose. Getting home took a while this time but I managed with a little help from my friends. Dublin to Atlanta and a drive to Greenville was not a straightforward as one might think. When leaving Dublin you clear immigration but not customs. Customs is in Atlanta. That makes things faster but not easier. The thing is that when you leave Ireland if you get a bottle of something (Ireland is known for it's whiskey) you don't get to put it in your bags so it gets carried on the plane. In Atlanta once you've cleared customs with all your bags you need to go through the airport to arrive at the main terminal. That means going through security but now you have a bottle and you're not allowed liquids in the airport! So if you forget to put the bottle in your checked bag, which gets checked after clearing customs, you are stuck with it and can't get it home. Luckily I didn't have that problem but some of the people I was travelling with did. They ended up pulling their computers out of their computer bags and checking the bags with the bottles in it. Now that would be fine except that at the other end things go missing. One fellow I was travelling with had to wait (along with the rest of us) until his bag showed up. About forty minutes later we are on our way and singing up for our rental car. Unfortunately the rental cars get picked-up after a shuttle ride to another part of the airport and more delays. In the end I got home about 8:00 to the welcome above (hugs, smiles, and cold noses). I'm glad jane let Isabelle wait up for me. I did get a few pictures of Atlanta as we drove through. I've never been a passenger through this part of I-85 so it was neat to look around. Unfortunately I didn't get a good shot of the flame used in the Olympics, but the skyline was very impressive. The sun was setting behind us so the colours were neat.

Today felt like I hadn't left Ireland. It rained and was relatively cold by South Carolina standards. I still can't complain. It gets below freezing at night but doesn't add up to anything. We haven't seen snow and may not. On the other hand, we just might, you never know.

Here is a little more of Isabelle's artwork. These first two she brought home today. One is a footpath and pond and the other is a tree. They both have brilliant colours and show how Isabelle's imagination has improved. She also does portraits. This is one of her friend from school. I was really impressed when I went to her friend's house to collect her one day and she came out with this.

Now that I'm home for a while I can't wait until all our company arrives. My sister will be here for Thanksgiving weekend with Sammy and Jon. A few days later some friends from Nova Scotia come for a week. After that it's back to work for a few days and then we're quickly into Christmas. Hopefully our trip to Connecticut and Washington will work out and I get to see my parents at my sister's house. Then shortly after that in January Jane's parents will be around for while. All in all it should be a good couple of months. This is part of why we got the big place down here. So if anyone else wants to come...