I'm home again after more than three weeks.  It's always good to get to see family who live far away.  But it's good to be home again.

Our plane was late leaving San Antonio yesterday; isn't that often the case when you get to the airport early?  <g> It didn't even arrive at the gate and start disgorging passengers until 15 minutes before our scheduled departure, and then there was an additional delay because some issue with a tire needed to be addressed before they would board us. 

I was able to score my preferred seat (the aisle in the next-to-last row).  The mom across the aisle from me was traveling with a pre-schooler (who traveled like a trouper) and an 8-month-old on her lap, who was NOT a happy flier.  My luggage made the same trip I did, Tom was at the airport to pick me up, and the weather here in Phoenix was incredibly mild. (It's been that way these past 3 weeks, but now that I'm home I'm sure it'll heat up fast.)

ALERT:  COMING SOON!

Marilyn had asked what was the first thing I was going to do when I got home, and I said pee.  And then look at the mail.  First thing I opened was the box with my new shoes, which my be a tad big, but the next size smaller would no doubt be too small. 

Then I gave Tom his gift.  I'd gotten it at the Farmer's Market in Ocean Pines 3 weeks ago, and because it was fragile (but way too bulky to pack easily) I worried about it making the trip home in one piece ever since.  The good news is that it came through unscathed, and he seemed to like it; he even used it last night.  Should have taken a picture.... but I was just too tired.  

Still haven't even glanced at my mail (that could happen today?), but two of the envelopes waiting for Alex were checks: one from the Tortuga Music Festival in Florida, the other for the first half of of the All Time Low tour.  I'd actually forgotten that my iPad had stopped connecting to the internet a week before we left since it connected just fine everywhere these past three weeks (The Institute, Mink Hollow, Mom's apartment WiFi, every motel on the road, at the ranch, and at the airport.)  The mystery is why all of a sudden the router refuses to communicate with my iPad, since it is still on speaking terms with Tom's laptop. 

In any event I was rudely reminded of the snafu 

when I tried to access my bank app and deposit the checks electronically.  

With the holiday weekend coming (and Alex needing money) I pulled myself together (sort of!) and drove to the bank.  But at the drive-through there was no option to deposit his checks into our joint account that we'd set up before he left, so I ended up having to park and schlep inside.  (Of course the first thing I'd done when I got home was take off my bra, and since I hadn't planned on getting out of the car I didn't think that would be an issue....)  

There was NO line inside the bank (late Friday afternoon before a holiday weekend?  Nice surprise!) but my next 'crisis' was when I went to use my card at the window and my wallet wasn't in my purse.  After a brief moment of panic (was I going to have to drive home and search for it?) I realized I'd just had it at the drive-through, so it should be in the car,which it was.  (It'd fallen between the seat and the door, so I'm lucky it hadn't fallen out when I got out!)  

Back inside, the teller discovered that my card isn't linked to that account.  He was, however, able to deposit the checks.  When he noticed the checks were from Rockstar he asked if it was the energy drink (yes) and commented that there must be a mis-print on the one that said All Time Low (because it was quite a hefty amount.)  So I told him it was a band from Baltimore.  Although he hadn't heard of them, he had heard of Mayhem (the band on Alex's next tour) and was more than impressed with Alex's latest gig - and jealous!  

After the deposit was made I still needed to speak to one of the desk people to 'fix' my card. One of the supervisors standing behind the tellers had witnessed all this, and when he saw me sitting in the waiting area (both of the desk people had customers) he took me over to another desk and got me squared away.  He suggested I go out to the machine and try it out, but frankly I just wanted to go home.

While Tom made dinner (steaks and corn-on-the-cob) I checked the peach tree.  Many of them were pinking up nicely - which meant that the birds had taken single test bites out of many of them.  So before they ruined the rest of the crop I harvested the ones I could reach.  It would be ideal if we could leave the peaches on the tree to fully ripen (even the ones showing lovely color are still hard) but if the orchards can pick them early to ship to the stores I guess we'll be okay, too.  Tom suggested I take a picture for my blog, so here it is.

  

  I watched Jeopardy last night, and then read one of the Newsweek magazines that came while I away, and managed to stay awake until after 9:00 (which is 11:00 in Texas.)  So I think I did okay.

Today is Carol's 88th birthday.  I thought it was tomorrow, which would give me a little time to bake a cake and try to arrange for Betty to come with me.  Best laid plans....  

Although I downloaded my trip pix (heavy on puppies Pippa and Frannie, and the Texas wildflowers) last night before dinner, and skimmed through them afterward (looks like I got a lot of good ones!), I may not actually get to resize and crop them today.  But nothing on for tomorrow (guess I could think about unpacking?) so my vacation pix could start creeping into my posts soon.