Trying to Get Home

The yards were done and I cut up all the left over branches from our big cleanup last weekend, which filled a recycle bin. After a bit of watering, I hit the showers then waited for the boys to come back over the pass.

There was a problem. The normal route was totally jammed. The route from the north was worse. The longer, lovely trip through the redwoods then down to the ocean was tourist-free. They decided to go that way. While waiting for them, I heard the fire engines go by. Checking a site, I found there was an accident exactly where they would be. Texting, they were stuck in the backup due to the accident and didn't move for over 30-minutes. Then, I began to worried about Michael's blood sugar and we were due to the party at Jill and Wayne's. Nothing to do but wait.

They finally arrived home over two hours late. After they had a quick bite to eat and a change of clothing, we joined the party to welcome Evan home from his adventures in Japan. The committee who selected him to visit our sister city was also present at the party. He had a ball, learned a lot more Japanese, stayed with a family with a younger daughter who fell in love with him and cried when he left after ten days. The next family was as equally kind to him. He had a taped interview with the mayor to present to the city, brought back lots of interesting things and a nice bottle of sake for his parents.

At one point, I glanced over to the kitchen area where William, Evan, his brother Ian and his girlfriend were all gathered together and having a ball. They have known William all their lives but as they are now adults, they are very close. Made my heart sing watching their interactions. William and Evan were telling stories about some of the unique food and stores in Japan, which made the others laugh.

We are currently watching the Formula 1 race from Spa this morning, my favorite track high in the mountains of Belgium. Michael and William will once again head over the pass to paint something, go to the butcher's to buy some meat and there will be grilling tonight!