I’m having a really hard time coming to grips with the time of year this year. I am entirely unused to this climate and may go crazy when my winter never comes. With highs in the 50’s and lows in the 30’s this is nothing like my past five winters in Fargo, the 2 winters before that in Northern Maine and the 16 before that in coastal Maine. The grass is still green, the bamboo and holly are still green (the leaves have finally fallen off the deciduous trees though) and the roses here at my apartment complex are still in bloom. It feel like late September, and yet I’ve already finished a term at school and I leave on Tuesday evening to begin my trek homeward for the holiday. (My flight leaves from Portland at 8.30 in the morning Wednesday, which would necessitate no sleeping Tuesday night and leaving here at 4-4.30am to ensure that I could catch my plane. It would also have left the boy with another 2.5-3 hour drive back from there on no sleep.) Instead of that scenario we have decided to take our time, leaving here around 4 on Tuesday afternoon to arrive at TheBoy’s childhood home, where we will have dinner with his fabulous mother, who has taken me in and treats me just like I am her own daughter. Then, because we will only be 45 minutes from the airport, we won’t have to leave until a little before 6 meaning that we’ll both get to sleep! Hooray!!