There’s nothing like going out there and coming back home! Alaska was fabulous. Some of my expectations were met head on. Lumberjacks are awesome! Very Awesome.  It was a cruise, so I only saw a little part of Alaska, just a teaser really. Cruise boats= cruise ports, well everyone needs to bring back a tee-shirt, right? The lumberjacks just wouldn’t fit into my suitcase!

Alaskan Lumberjacks

Coming home often drops you into realisations. I like my house, I like where I live except for the constant smoke, from either the beach fires, ( aka someone is burning a mattress again) or the fires from the two old men on our block. Both of whom believe that a really odd foul-smelling blue smoke from their chimneys is okay. It stinks up the whole area. I think toxic cloud and make Teddy stay inside, but it means, windows and fresh air just don’t happen in this little part of the world.

I did find out something incredibly special. I have some amazing friends.

It’s always the way it goes. You double check everything before you set off on a trip! Packed and ready to go,  I check the temperature for the garden and want to cry. It’s going to be 90 degrees in Seattle, whilst I was gone. 90!! Too hot for porch plants and window baskets to survive a week without water! So last minute texts, pleas, and major panic, and I have the garden sorted for the week.

I can relax.

My garden will live!

My garden will live!

My friends will water for me! No problems.

Sitting on a deck chair with the fresh air blowing in my face. I hear the words— but I turned the water off, how can they water?

Stunned silence.  Then major panic.

Of course we turn the water off when we leave. Nothing worse than coming home to a flood. It is the thing to do. Windows, closed, gas off, water off, Taxi here…off we go.

Now on the boat, they charge for internet. They really charge. I am leaning out a window trying to get a signal. I don’t want my friends driving over to the house to find air coming out of the hose pipe! I am gutted.

My plants will die. I might as well get used to the idea.

Wiki says this…but more likely…my unwatered garden! Unundentified desert bush (to be identified soon…) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What to do. Just get on with it I suppose and replant. It’s the end of the season, I remind myself. Still….I fuss.

I manage to find a hero, who goes into the house and turns on the water. I get signal, and text my friends, who all say the same thing.

Relax, Calm down. It’s sorted.

Was it ever sorted! Every plant looked full and lush when I returned. Miss me? I don’t think so.

And of course it rained, and rained, and rained the minute I go back.

As they say with every cloud comes a silver lining, even if I had lost all my plants, I discovered that I had a super support team…some very good friends! To you, a thank you!

So it’s back in the saddle again. I plan to post photos of the trip and my thoughts on Alaska, get back into writing, and my beloved London.

If there is a topic I haven’t covered that you would like me to write about, just post a comment and we will see what it stirs up!