back in Ecuador

Wow! Doesn't time move along when you're visiting home?! Those 3 weeks went awful fast, and now here I am back in Guayaquil, with a blur of memories of the time I spent in Canada (good thing I took lots of pictures!). It was a time of not much spare time, there was a lot of catching up to do with a lot of people. Of course, the first trip I made on my very first morning back, was to Dundas, to meet, at long last....Elizabeth Heather, my little grandaughter. And was she worth the trip from South America - you better believe it!! It was a good time to get to know her, she is at such a rewarding stage right now, 4 months old, smiling and "chatting" and responding, a little person with personality. And of course, the cutest baby there ever was!! I was able to spend lots of time with her in the 3 weeks I was home, and now finally I DO know how it feels to be a grandma.

We had an early birthday celebration for my mother, who will turn 80 in December. That was a good family time, had a riotous game of "jeopardy" where us 4 siblings were the contestants who had to answer questions about sometimes obscure facts from our family past. And the best part for Mum was that she isn't even 80!! (yet!)

I did lots of visiting with people, family and friends, LOTS of eating, was able to get in on the last of wonderful local produce - peaches, pears, raspberries, real tomatoes, corn....oh boy! I seem to have come back with a few extra pounds on me, although I'm blaming the lack of exercise more than the food. Here I walk everywhere I go, while I was in Canada I had the use of Mum's car, and so drove everywhere. Nice but bad for me! I did get in a couple of walks by the lakeshore, so clean and beautiful.

They tell me that I had the best 3 weeks of weather of the entire summer. Oh, the beautiful September days that I was treated to - sunshine, clear blue skies, some warm days, some lovely crisp cool ones. And the wonderful clean fresh air. And the quiet! Oh the quiet of Canada, I could lie in bed at night and hear......nothing, just the crickets. That probably tops the list of things I most miss, after family.

And now I'm back. It has taken me a few days of adjustment, I'm here but my head hasn't quite caught up with the rest of me. But it's coming. It's an altogether strange life that I'm now in, a life where when you go home, you're not sure that really is home, because there's a part of you that is somewhere else, and that's where the only space you can call your own is. It was definitely an odd feeling to be there just visiting, wonderful, but odd. But then when you leave, it's hard to say goodbye, and although it's good to be back here, and there were things I was missing, now I'm back to missing people and things in Canada! Oh dear, it's the "torn" life, having large parts of me in 2 completely different parts of the world. How to reconcile the two?

But now that I'm back, it's on with life here. There are all kinds of things to keep me occupied, the past couple of days I've been busy with delivering letters from Canada to people in Bastion, that's a fun task, everyone is so happy to get a letter. I'm visiting folks and catching up, and showing off photos of Elizabeth. And Narcisa's surgery is looming, she is to be admitted next week in preparation for the heart surgery. There are still details to be worked out before she goes in, and I quake in my boots to think about the running around that's ahead of us to get this surgery done. I'm praying hard for wisdom and strength in this one. And for good care for Narcisa.

The sick calls are coming in - bad cold, bad headache, blood pressure check, somebody stepped on a nail...oh yes, plenty to think about!