It has been an exhausting couple of weeks. On October 13, I drove to Corvallis, OR (about an hour south of Portland) to stay with my friend and former tech editor JC Briar. We went out for Indian food, caught up on what's been happening in our lives, and basically had a nice—although too short—visit. The following morning I drove to Beaverton, on the west side of Portland, to teach at the Tigard Knitting Guild's fall retreat. It was at a Catholic retreat center and I had a wonderful time. Those women know how to retreat.

That Sunday morning I got up early and drove two hours north to see DD#1. We had breakfast and then headed to Seattle to meet one of my cousins who recently moved there. She works for Nordstrom. Her parents were in town visiting, so we all spent the day together. It was a lot of fun. DD#1 and I headed back to her dorm that evening and I took her and her significant other out for Indian food. I spent the night at a hotel and then drove back to Montana on Monday.

I spent Tuesday and Wednesday here at home, working. My mother called Wednesday morning to tell me that my 94-year-old grandmother had died (she had been ill and this was not unexpected). I made some quick plane reservations, and on Thursday afternoon I flew to Cleveland for the funeral. Friday and Saturday were a whirlwind of family gatherings and the funeral. I said to my husband I must have hugged about 300 people, some of them more than once. I haven't seen some of my relatives since our wedding 21 years ago (it's a very big family). Yesterday morning I hopped back on a plane, arriving here in Kalispell yesterday afternoon.

I am tired. It's not so much a physical tired as it is a mental and emotional tired. A teaching weekend like that takes a lot out of me, and it was hard for me to find time to recharge my batteries before I had another emotionally draining weekend. I am looking forward to a couple of days of working here at home by myself. I miss my transcription work when I am not doing it. And I really do need to get my batteries recharged because I'll be heading to the Yarn Barn in Lawrence, KS, in the not-too-distant future.

And here is my big gripe about traveling: people who think they are the only people at the airport (they are probably the same people who drive as though they are the only people at the road). I got off the plane in Denver yesterday at one end of the terminal, and I had 10 minutes to make it to a gate at the opposite end of the terminal approximately one-half mile away. I walk pretty quickly, and I found myself constantly having to say, "excuse me, pardon me" as I was racing through the airport, because people would get on those people movers and plant themselves firmly on the left-hand side so that no one could get around them. At one point, a swarm of people—about 8 family members clearly traveling together—got on the people mover in front of me and the children in the group sat down on the people mover and blocked it altogether!!!!!!!! And they weren't toddlers, either—they were in the 10-12 year-old range and should have known better. I hardly slowed down; I simply said, "excuse me, I have a plane to catch" and walked over them. I said to the husband, at least now they probably won't do that again. It's an airport, people, not Disney World.

The chick is getting big and mama hen now lets it out in the yard for short periods of time. We thought maybe another hen was setting, but after about a week she abandoned the eggs. That's okay; it's getting cold and now is not a good time to have chicks.

And now, I am off to work.