Life and En Provence

Hello!  It has been several months since I last posted on this blog. You might say Life has kept me busy.

First, we moved from Pennsylvania to South Carolina. Holy cow! Talk about a culture change, plus with the hassle of finding a house, packing our belongings, moving in and unpacking, it's no wonder I can even remember my name let alone my new address. At least I can enjoy 70+ degrees while my former neighbors shiver in 30 degree weather. Check out the view from my back deck.

Eventually I will meet all my new neighbors. One sweet lady brought over a box of cookies to welcome us to the 'hood.  Last month I met a couple teenagers from around the corner who brought over a box UPS mistakenly delivered to their house. Yesterday I met another neighbor and his dog. My husband and I joined a local aviation group and I'm already volunteering to help with social media communications and chili cook-off. It's hard to make friends in a new place unless you get involved in stuff like that.

Second, I have been working long hours. Luckily I am able to keep my current job for a few months and telecommute most of the time. One week a month I travel back to the northeast to work onsite. That allows me the opportunity to visit my daughter who elected to stay and try to live in her own apartment while making minimum wage. Hah! Doesn't quite make it, so frequently requires support from Mom and Dad. I am hoping that will be incentive for her to go back to college soon.

Third, hey it's the holidays.  Visits to family, shopping for gifts, sending out holiday cards, digging out the Christmas bins to decorate.

It has taken quite a bit of time to try to fit all our stuff into a smaller house.  It simply doesn't fit. We have TWO storage units and have made multiple trips to the dump and donation sites. We still have too much stuff.  But this is a necessary transition as we begin thinking about retirement. Time to simplify.  Right now my sewing room doubles as the office. There are still boxes to unpack, but at least I was able to set up my desk, cutting table and sewing machine. And FINALLY begin working on Bonnie Hunter's new mystery, En Provence.  Luckily I had plenty of scraps to handle all but the magenta which was purchased on a quick visit to my parents.

Okay, I have quite a bit more sewing to do. It feels good to get these creative juices flowing again.

On a higher note, in November I flew my airplane from PA to SC. Sounds simple, but it wasn't. The flight itself was supposed to be about five hours of flying, plus a refueling stop midway. The weather was perfect, only about 5 knots and sunny the whole way.  Well, about an hour into the flight, my engine began faltering. My heart began racing and I made a Mayday call to Air Traffic Control (ATC). I quickly tried all my tricks to troubleshoot the problem while heading to the nearest airport. When I pulled back the throttle a bit, the engine ran smoothly. So I elected to continue on and baby the engine while ATC kept an eye on me. My landing was less than perfect but I was safely on the ground.  I refueled and checked the engine and fuel carefully. A couple other pilots gathered and we talked it over. Must have been fuel problem, we surmised. My fuel tester showed no water and nothing else looked odd, so I took off again. And about 45 minutes later the engine did it again!  So I pulled back on the throttle and continued on to my final destination, just a little slower than I would have normally flown. My landing was great and my husband was waiting to drive me home.  We will have to check some of the engine components before flying on another trip. My airplane may be capable of landing in a field, but I would rather do so by choice not by force. Someone was watching over me that day!