Greetings from North America

We arrived home wthout any problems. The plane was on time and we moved quickly throught Customs and Immigration. Our friend, Charlie, was waiting for us outside the international terminal to drive us home the 50 miles from Dulles International Airport to our home in Maryland. It is almost summer here. It was over 90 degrees today. Our house, yes, there is a house there in all those trees, was in good shape, but there was a lot of late-spring cleaning to do.Yesderday, I stopped by work and checked in on my office. It was pretty clean, just like I left it. Everyone at work was happy to see me. The neighbor were happy to have us back too. That's kind of nice: the people in Argentina were sorry to see us go ( and we were sorry to say goodbye) and the people in the USA are happy to have us home (and we are happy to be here). It all worked out.
Our 13-year-old dog, Jack, looks pretty good. He has been staying with our younger daughter, Katherine. He's kind of slow though. He barked at us when we got here, then he went away for a few minutes. He then came back waggin his tail and licking our hands. It seemed to take the old guy a minute to remember who we were.
We got busy right away cleaning up the house and the yard. Helen put quite some time into gettin teh back porch cleaned up--lots of pollen and spider webs. Our Granddaughter, Leah, was at our house when we arrived home. She slept there the previous night so she could be there when we got home. She left notes all over the house telling us that she loves us and welcoming us home. She spent the day helping me cleanup the yard and start the fire for the Memorial Day cookout.My fish seem to have survived the winter pretty well. It was nice to come home to see them swimming around rather than floating.
I prepared the Memorial Day cookout in a quasi-Argentine-asado style. By the end of the summer, I'll have a proper parrilla constructed. I'll keep you all apprised of the progress.

My girls and Charlie came over Monday night and we sat around the fire until well after dark. But it was work and school for everyone the next day. Helen went to Leah's school and had lunch with her today. I continued working around the house. The suitcases are all unpacked and everything put away. the house is slowly coming into order.

It was good to sleep in our own bed and wake up in our own house. It is so quiet here. I sat and listened to the birds our first morning home. I think my neighbors were a bit surprised when I reflexively kissed them on the cheek to say hello. I wonder who long I'll keep doing that.It is a bit surreal--Argentina and all my friends there seem so far away. We miss you and think and speak of you constantly.

I won't be posting daily anymore, but I'll let you all know how we are doing settling back into life in the USA.