Conglomeration.

Hi friends!

Do you ever have the feeling when you haven't done something for a really long time, it's really hard to start it up again? Like if I haven't called a friend forever, to call her seems really difficult, like there's so much to say I don't even know where to start.  Or the mess on my desk reaches epic proportions and it's been so long since I saw the surface of it, I can't seem to find the impetus to start to clear away the clutter.  Am I alone in this?

Anyway, this blog post is sort of like that... I'm not even really sure where to begin, so I'll just jump write (right) in (ha) with a conglomeration of words and photos and thoughts that may or may not make sense to you but hopefully you find them worthy of your time.

I spent an extremely wonderful day in Johannesburg/Pretoria with a dear friend from the ship on my way back to the states, that deserves it's own post so will write and post pictures of that later.  Just in case you were wondering :) it will come. 

Now on to other randomness.... And seriously, Blogger will NOT let me put these photos in order! so they're totally mishmashed together.  Oh well, you get the drift, I hope. :)

JFK customs and immigration hall is the largest I've ever seen.  I've been across the pond many times but can't recall if I've ever done it at JFK before... but anyway, it was very quick and orderly. I expected issues as my bag was completely full with mail and packages from other people on the ship to be sent to family and friends in the states - but I wasn't even given a second glance. . The flight from Johannesburg to JFK was really really long and I was so very happy to be able to move again...

As I was waiting in the arrivals hall at JFK to check in for my flight to MSP, I drank coffee and watched the birds flying around... inside.

This happened multiple times.

Bridget got much more excited about the wrapping paper than anything else.

It was extremely cold most of the time I was back in Minnesota.  I spent a whole lot of time reading, sleeping, watching TV, catching up with old friends, and just relaxing in general. It was beautiful and I'm super thankful for the opportunity to rest!

 

This handsome fella came for several visits. Taken from through the patio glass on my mom's deck.

Sunset from the plane.

 

My sister, niece, and I (among others) all bundled up to face the cold to see Bentleyville, a huge Christmas lights show.

Bentleyville has the largest metal tree in America, or something like that. And the lights are set to music.

 

Duluth's most famous landmark, the aerial lift bridge, lit up at night.

The tropics... in the winter.

Sunrise at my mom's house one day. Beautiful... very, very cold.

 

On my way back through JFK I spent the night at the holiday inn express - and was randomly chosen as the guest of the day! So random. So I got a few chocolate bars and some chips and such.  And a sign. And a bell that went off when they greeted me.  Weird. But a really nice place and I would totally stay there again.



When I was in New York, I decided I needed to catch up on America after having been gone for a long time - so, I got the news, the gossip, and the gadgets. Pretty well rounded, don't you agree?  

Well, I guess that's enough for now. I'm strangely wierded out by some of the photos I am sure I took of Christmas and family aren't showing up on my camera card. I will have to look for those again, methinks.  In the meantime, it's absolutely delightful to be back on the Africa Mercy, my ship home... I really love this place. And will write more about that later, too. :)

--K