Boy, I’ve been in a time warp and totally forgot to blog on Sunday! I left Islamabad after midnight Tuesday/Wednesday and spent the next 30 hours traveling home for a home leave break (in between our two years in Pakistan). The trip was pretty easy – unbelievably, the Islamabad airport was almost a ghost town! Usually there are swarms of people, mostly men, traveling to Mecca, but for whatever reason, there was hardly anyone at the airport.
I transited through Abu Dhabi and pretty much slept most of the flight to Chicago. I got lucky there and made a connection to Little Rock (otherwise I would have had a six-hour layover). John picked me up and we headed to Hot Springs, stopping on the way to pick up BBQ from Smokin’ in Style.
We went to Little Rock Saturday night to have drinks and dinner with Nancy. It was so wonderful to see her, but so very sad not to have Dail there with us. We went to Caper’s, where we had often gone with Dail, and had a lovely meal and a good visit. We were happy and touched that she gave us the CD with him singing and a photo montage that they used at the funeral. He is certainly missed.
Before we went to Little Rock on Saturday, we went to see the new Sandra Bullock movie, “The Heat” – it’s pretty raunchy, but John and I laughed and laughed! I like her movies, especially the comedies.
Mom had cataract surgery this week, but seems to be recovering well. We’ve all been making the rounds to the doctors. The doctors and staff here are all so very nice. I had another alcohol injection in my foot for a neuroma, a mammogram, eye check-up, dermatologist check-up and will hit the dentist’s office before I leave.
Mom thinks her cataract sunglasses are hip!
We’re also doing some shopping to ship things back to Islamabad. And we’re hitting the gym every morning! It’s amazing how busy you can be on vacation!
Monday night I went to The Yoga Place for a nice yoga practice. I’ve been trying to do some yoga at home, but frankly, a class with other people is just a lot more fun! The space they are in is an old church cum art gallery – it is lovely! There are two huge stained glass windows in the shape of a rose, plus lots of other stained glass. I was there as the sun was going down and it was so beautiful. The wonderful Karen Reeves, a friend from Hendrix, runs the studio and was the instructor – such a nice experience!
Pam and Ann drove down last night to have dinner with me on the patio at Rolando’s – it was a great night to sit outside and yak – plus we saw a momma raccoon and her three babies playing in the woods next door, so cute! How wonderful to see old friends and just pick up the conversation like I had never been gone. They are both doing great.
Ann and Pam