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And so we return home, after being away for a while.

It was nice to be away. We hadn’t really thought we’d do that after being away quite a bit over the last few years, basically since the pandemic lifted enough to let people do that again. If you’d asked us a couple of months ago we’d have said we were pretty sure that this summer we’d stay home, work on some projects, let people visit us, and rest up a bit. That was the rhetoric. But the reality turned out to be that too many lovely people made too many lovely overtures to join them in too many lovely places, and so we off we went. It worked out pretty well. There will be at least one more such venture – a shorter one that ironically enough we’d planned before we planned this recently completed one – and we’re looking forward to that as well.

Don’t threaten us with a good time.

It was also nice not to be immersed in the ongoing self-destruction of a once-proud republic while we were away. I don’t remember how many random strangers in far off places picked me out as an American (not that hard) and immediately began worried conversations regarding the current regime, its catastrophic and senseless failures and short-sighted lunacy, and their sorrow and fears over where it would all end up, but there were several and it was something I just came to expect. I can’t say they were wrong, and every time I’d see the news their concerns became more justified. It made it tougher to come home than it should have been.

I’m working on a whole pile of blog posts that I hope to get up in the next few weeks. Stories of our trip. Thoughts on the current crisis, some of which I will likely have to tone down if I don’t want a visit from masked thugs claiming to represent my own government here in the Land of the Formerly Free. Random bits and bobs. A historical essay that I promised I’d post back in April or May but haven’t quite because it was overtaken by events. Stories of things that haven’t happened yet but likely will before I finish the previous list of posts. I’m not short of material. It’s going to be heavy on the recent trip for a while, though, so if you’re the sort who doesn’t like reading about other people’s travels you may want to go lightly on this site for a bit. I have things I want to remember, and this is my forum for that.

It's good to be home. The cat is pleased about it as well, and that has to count for something.