As if I’ve never been away

Well, it is not quite as bad as all that. I had a fantastic time, thanks very much for asking, and discovered a brand new country. I mean, I had been to Portugal before, but it was in 1992; either absolutely everything has changed; I only dreamt I had been to Portugal; or my memory is losing its plasticity. The jury is out – it could have been any of the above.
 
Had a disturbed night’s sleep – thanks to Charlie, one of our two cats, coming out from hiding and being determined to stake her complete dominance over us again. I’ve never had a reception from an animal like that before. Every five seconds, she was rubbing herself against me, purring, grooming me. Come to think of it, I’ve never had a reception like that from anyone before. The other cat, Tui, really couldn’t be bothered. I found out that that was because one of our neighbours had been in for an hour every day to play with her and brush her. She had more attention than when we are here. I should also point out that Mrs. Ottawacker lasted five minutes with Charlie before being deciding to up sticks and move to the basement.
 
For her, the day was busy: one meeting after another. For Ottawacker Jr., despite arriving home at around 11pm yesterday, he was out of bed and in school. For me, it was spent doing laundry, answering emails, dealing with the numerous messages we’d had while away.
 
I haven’t posted for the past 2.5 weeks because I forgot to take the cable that would have enabled me to download my photos to my laptop. I did, however, manage to write out various blips by hand, so am going to post them over the next two weeks, should I survive the excitement of being back in Ottawa that is. In the meantime, today’s blip is essentially an homage to the washing machine. For this is where I spent the vast majority of the morning: sorting, pre-washing, washing, and hanging out our laundry. I am going to need a couple of drinks this evening to recover.