Back in Winona

JET-LAG... I am surprised by just how long it took hold of me in both directions. Maybe it was so bad because of the emotions involved, the ambiguous feelings about both the coming and the going. In Australia I never really got over feeling tired at my Winona bedtime, which was around 3 in the afternoon Queensland time. Then back in Winona I was just feeling tired all the time, as though I needed to catch up on all the missed sleep and sort all my emotions back into perspective.

Mother Nature welcomed me with a fresh blanket of snow on my first night home.

I had been home for almost two weeks before I unpacked my bags, until then I wasn't ready emotionally to bring my out my memories, to make that final "commitment" to my new home. Finding a place here for my few treasured items that I brought back and the fear that some of my fragile items may have broken in my bags made this task seem almost impossible. When finally I unpacked it wasn't bad at all, in fact the girls thought that it was like Christmas. Right now some of my treasures are safely tucked away in a closet, so I need to find a special place where I can see them.

Now things seem to be almost "in order" in my life, though there will always be a void caused by the distance between my older children and us. This trip helped lessen the void and feeling of distance for it seems that while on a day to day level the distance is a huge issue when we meet up after the time apart so many things just fall back into place and you see that family love doesn't change as much as faces...

When I go out to the barn with my girls and watch the self made fun they have when they have finished their chores it makes me really appreciate our lives here. Below are pictures of them in our hoop building where the hay is stored and bottle reared baby animals started.

Madeleine, Kitty, Stephanie and Tessa playing on the hay. Rhianon feeding her 10 week old Jersey heifer calf Butterscotch.

Page 1.. My Trip to Australia Page 2.. There at last Page 3, The Wedding Day Page 4, Redcliffe
Page 5, The Gold Coast Page 6, Brisbane Page 7, My trip Home Page 8, Back in Winona