The coastline of Jeddah, abutting the Red Sea, could be seen below. The Lufthansa jet was lowering its altitude on its approch to the airport located on the inland part of the city. It had been a long flight from Toronto via Frankfurt after my first trip home. Hard to believe that more than six months had elapsed since arriving, feeling like only weeks since our last journey via this same route. The Customs & Immigration agent asked one question "where are you coming from?" "Canada via Frankfurt" being the answer. With that he stamped my exit re-entry visa and said "welcome". No fuss, my "bread yeast" being safe. The hospital driver was waiting to pick me up to take me "home" again. Joy had taken a separate trip on this occasion visiting her family in the Philadelphia area.
It had been a hectic but worthwhile trip. There was a trip to the Boston area for an intensive conference lasting a week. There were the visits to London and Toronto to visit my son Mike, good friends and colleagues.I thank those many people for their hospitality, kindness and good will. That sense of community is very gratifying despite the recent geographic distances and the passage of time. Yes there was a sense of "home sickness" but also the realization of being fortunate to have been given this opportunity this late in my career with the recent "tour of duty".
As the Blog is entitled "Where's Walden" here is Walden, surrounded by other vessels this spring at Ed's. Walden is the dark green vessel to the left centre of the picture. She seems to have endured the first winter "on the hard" under the careful eye of Ed. Hard to believe this is located in farm country just north of London. But as noted earlier, at this part of the life journey, the Blog is about the travels of Walden's crew.
There was the kindness of Richie & Joan hosting a "boat dinner" at their home in downtown London.
A collection of Lake Huron pirates. Looking forward to future voyages in their company.
Are these my "Charlies Angels" at the LRCP? Great to see you all over a bite to eat and a beverage.
My apologies to Michael for not getting a photo op as he kindly hosted a dinner at his home. But glad to see my wine is still intact! Also great to chat with Diane, Scott, Ted and many other colleagues from the LRCP.
Also great to see you Ed, Alan & Barb and others on this brief hurried trip. Not enough time for all these kind people.
Yes posed photos can be a problem! Sorry Mike but great to see you again on my trip to Toronto.
Unfortunately as already noted not enough time on this trip home to see everyone in an optimized manner.
Joy visited the Washington, DC and Philadelphia region to see her family. Spring was in the air. Unfortunately photo ops were limited on her trip, although she had a great time seeing everyone. Again time seemed short, but plans to visit again in September.
Finally we are "home" again. The concept of "home" can be an issue for a nomad or expat in our case. I have lived in seven countries, Joy in five. We have found that "home" can be any number of places, a place where you "settle" even for a relatively brief period of time. You develop a new comfort zone, a new community, despite initial difficulties with the new and unfamiliar. Yes there are the initial hassles to overcome, the unfamiliar to become familiar, but one adapts. We are fortunately an adaptable species. Where our hearts lie are a different matter. At some point we will return to Canada which will eventually be our "home", likely the final one. Our friends, family and community back in Canada are important to us. But for now we have adapted to a certain degree, as our apartment is comfortable, our work is familiar, we have our local community of friends and activities, we have our opportunities to travel and explore the world some more (before retirement when those opportunities to see the world become more limited in this increasingly more dangerous and expensive world)..For now my friends we have gone home and come home all in one trip. Stay tuned for future adventures.
