Happy, Happy!

I'm so happy- Ralph got home today. He was on a 10 day expedition, by bus and train, to visit Heather and Ed and the kids in NC, and Manda and Ben in Houston. He took the train from Phila to Charlotte, NC, visited Heather and Ed for 3 days, then rode a bus for 20 hours to Houston, visited Manda and Ben, then reversed the trip.

Ten days is the longest we've been apart since we were married, almost 37 years ago. I didn't anticipate how lonely I'd be, since I'm at work most of the day, and Steph was here for the weekend. (Or Toast was here, and Steph was in and out!) The house was so quiet at night! Except for the cats, of course. It took me about 4 nights before I slept well.

I spent a considerable amount of time in the sewing room, and made a string quilt top, which I have to take a picture of. And I read a couple of books, but nothing scary or violent.

The other important thing that's happened this week is that my friend Sam is in the hospital with a chest tube, because of a pleural effusion (fluid in the chest cavity). She's hoping to come home Friday or Saturday, and is semi-comfortable, but I've been worried about her all week.

I'm looking forward to Friday evening, when my Cookie Swap group will be coming to visit. I'm planning a simple, make ahead menu of salad, meatball sandwiches, and cake. It's always fun to get together with them and catch up.

And that's the week so far!

Holly