Sojourn

sojourn (n.) a brief period of residence; (v.) to live somewhere temporarily

I spent November outside of Hawaii. I meant to blog about it as soon as I got back, but life can be a whirlwind (plus I’m still enjoying as much of my on-vacation-laid-back attitude as much as possible) and I haven’t gotten to it yet. Today I find myself with some unexpected time, though, so I’m going to take a little time to tell you about it.

Mostly you can see what all I did (which consisted of getting good nights’ sleep, not stressing about my house being dusty, and visiting some old haunts) at my photo blog. I still haven’t gotten to captions, but will manage it eventually I’m sure. In the meantime, I’m going to show you some things I did using nothing but the photos I snapped with the camera on my phone.

These are mostly the things I sent to J so he could “participate” in what I was doing and are in no way comprehensive. Mostly they’re just funny. Hope you enjoy! (Warning: LOTS of photos, though I did make them smallish, at least…)

We begin the trip with my first layover– in Atlanta. I was too wound up to sleep on the flight at ALL so I missed the entirety of a night and then landed around sunrise.

It was a pretty sunrise, though different than any I’ve seen in Hawaii. This is to be expected when flying into actual autumn on the east coast.

See? Actual autumn. The leaves were all just turning the week I arrived and I got to see the whole cycle. A bunch of my photos are leaf photos.

First Friday night in town– theme party. Can you guess the theme from the photo?

It was fun to walk around my old college campus after dark, though.

My sister and I played Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit (with help from Cosmo…) because we are the only people each of us knows willing to play it with us. We did find one other person to play, once. I’m not sure if she had fun or was humoring us…

This is the back sidewalk at my parents’ house. It reminds me of the Weasleys’ garden. I mean this in every way as a compliment.

These little stone owls are adorable! They were at a garden shop that doubles as a cafe that my dad and I went to a few times.

These huge mums were also at the garden shop. Mums are a very autumny flower.

I documented the Krispy Kreme shop because the only one we have in Hawaii is on Maui…

Brightly colored trees! This is at the state park where I used to work in the summers during college.

One of my parents’ cats, Skipper.

The other of my parents’ cats, Cosmo. They both liked my bed, you see.

Halloween cookies. This was also the night my sister yelled at some kids on the front porch: “Hey! Do you want some CANDY?” (They were tentative trick-or-treaters..)

“Don’t blink. Don’t even blink. Blink and you’re dead.” Needless to say, I kept it in view as often as possible…

Kitty has the sonic screwdriver… What’s he up to?

At Fearrington Village– beltie cows!

Leafy leaves!

Hmm….

My mom and I got stuck in the Memphis airport while on the way to visit my grandmother. We made the best of it by hanging out in the Elvis store…

And that was just weird.

Birthday dinner w/ my grandma at the Crescent City Grill.

This bread pudding was so good, I bought the cookbook!

So, now we’ve skipped about a week and a half where I got back from visiting my grandmother and went to the renaissance festival (no real photos worth posting) and then I went to visit friends where I used to live. This is my old pet hermit crab, Geoffry Clawser, who is still alive and well!

This was the first froyo place I’d ever been. Now these type of places are everywhere.

We lived on the top floor of this building. I had to drive here to reorient myself so I could find my way around the town again.

Keep in mind these photos were all sent to J, so they’re a little silly sometimes. Here I am at one of my former jobs…

And here I am at the other of my former jobs.

This used to happen to me ALL the time…. waiting for a train.

Lovely cocoa.

Back to my parents’ house… My sister and I got our photo with Santa!

Turkey leg…

Setting the table for Thanksgiving.

Making biscuits with my great-grandmother’s biscuit baking things.

The final product.

With apple butter, of course.

Out with my sister and some of her friends. This place is called “Flying Saucer” because, well… you get the idea.

They’re everywhere…

We went to the art museum to see the touring Rembrandt exhibit.

This is around sunset in the sculpture garden.

You know it’s the holidays when Starbucks gets its red cups….

My sister and I made a gingerbread house!

Unfortunately, neither of us has an architectural or engineering degree…

I got some help wrapping presents before I left– saved a ton on shipping!

Back in the airport… the bear goes everywhere!

At J’s parents’ house– they painted the walls blue since we last visited, and the Christmas village was already out.

One of their cats, Toby.

I met my sister-in-law’s boyfriend.

We went to the arboretum and there were lots of decorated trees, including this one with nothing but leaf ornaments.

Baking apple cinnamon muffins.

Finished product.

SNOW! Snowsnowsnowsnow…

Okay, so it was just a dusting, but it was still exciting!

Finally heading back to Hawaii.

There was internet on the plane! This is my photo of internet on the plane. I’m serious. J got this one with “INTERNET ON THE PLANE!” as the entire caption.