Two Weeks Home - back to "Normal"?

We arrived home exactly two weeks ago from our trip Around the World. 

    Going around the world in one continuous non-stop journey was extraordinary, resulting in many adventures and stories to tell.     
    Upon our return, one thing that was somewhat of a surprise was how many people were following the trip on ... this blog. 

    Frankly, I miss writing updates and sharing all the wondertul events that took place every day.  It was fun to relay the description of so many places and people.  We were pretty busy every day and there was a lot to talk about.  
    So, we've been home for a couple weeks, and we've really enjoyed catching up with everyone.. People are curious (as I would be) with questions like: "how does it feel to be home?"  or  "what are you going to do next?"

    It's been an adjustment after being on the go for three months. 
At times, we've been a little stir crazy.  Fiona and I were used to going somewhere and doing something new every day, and now, well, we aren't doing that anymore.
    One major adjustment is not getting the exercise that we became accustomed to while traveling.  We regularly walked miles every day, and that's been a challenge since coming home.
    You really have to work at it here.  It takes a serious commitment to walk up to eight miles a day here in Oregon.  Most people drive.  
    Special note:  Today, between jogging and walking, I managed to cover more than nine miles of distance.  For you statistical freaks out there, that's more than 15,500 steps.  

Back to the routine, back to the grind

    Actually, that's not a fair statement.  We love seeing everyone again, our kids and grand kids and friends and colleagues.  It's not a "grind", but it is different.  
    For example, last year after I semi-retired, I went to work at a local nearby winery.  Sass Vineyards is close to our house in the South Salem hills, and I can literally walk to work there. 
So once I got caught up with sleep and laundry, and the mail and all the other stuff that piled up - I went back to work. 
    Calling it work is a slight misnomer.  My kids describe my position there as an "intern".  I am learning everthing there is to know about the wine industry.  It's been interesting. 

    This time of year, we are trimming the vines.  It's springtime and the work consists of grooming the vines to produce fruit during the upcoming season.  
    Much to our delight, it's been unseasonably warm too.  There is no finer place to be than Oregon when the weather is this sunny and warm in the bright green spring sunshine.  
    And this sunshine makes the grape vines spring into action, pardon the pun.  

It was a blessing to be out of touch with the news

    Most of the time while we were gone we were out of touch with the news.  
    For most Americans, most of the time, we are bombarded with news, much of it bad, unpleasant, and often disturbing.  It's not a bad thing to be unaware of all the trouble in the world.  
    We weren't trying to hide our head in the sand.  In fact, we often encountered first hand some of the bad things going on in the world.  Travel can bring you front-and-center to things that seem like distant issues from here at home 
    It is easy to become consumed by the news events around you.  We generally didn't have that problem.  But every where we went, the locals were consumed by the events that related to them. 

    
    I already miss the times we were "off the grid" and we didn't know about the crummy stuff going on.
     And it helps to keep things in perspective - what seems like a really big deal here can be trivial to others far away.