Friends...

Poor Thomas!  With my trip to California for the conference, we said goodbye Wednesday, March 21st and didn't get to embrace again until Tuesday, March 27th in the evening.  I teased that Thomas was all sulky that I get to go away for work and see friends and family, and on Easter he leaves for a week of work training in Phoenix with no friends or family....always getting the raw end of the deal!

I did get to see friends and family, and for whatever reasons I really was ready to see them and was renewed by it.  On my way to the airport, I stopped in for lunch at SAME Cafe and saw Brad Birky before popping in for a visit with Betty.  Always fun...

My momma and our friends who hosted us and Kim Zea-

Bob & Joyce are friends from my parents early days together in Portland.  Bob was especially punchy Saturday evening, when he took us for a "tour" of his old 'hood, the plaza in Orange.  We ate Cuban food for dinner - not something I get at home!

After the conference ended on Sunday, we went out for Thai with more family - Aunt Janelle, Joyce's son Mark, me, Momma, Joyce, cousin Peter, and Uncle Bob.  Uncle Bob brought me passion fruit from his trees - delicious!  He also brought some of his hens' eggs, but I begged off that I didn't think they would all fit in a quart size ziploc bag in my carry-on luggage the next morning!

Landing in Denver on Monday, Mary, Heather, Sarah, Deb, and I went for a hike at Mt. Falcon.  So nice to stretch my legs between travel to and from Denver.

The icing on the cake was family dinner!  Jennifer hosted a mighty gaggle of us in her new home: Ahna, Oren, and Ezra - just packed and ready to leave the next day for Spring Break; Andrea, Shawn, and Mackenzie; Charlotte; and the gang of hikers.  What fun, except that the allergies plaguing me took a turn for the worse with the smoke from the North Fork fire.  And Tuesday morning, before officially hitting the road, I got to see Cathy at Golden Touch for a little rolfing and AnnaBelle for lunch.

Yes, Tom had reason to be jealous!  I sure was lucky to see so many family and friends.  Always more that I wish I could see when I pass through Denver, but maybe someday we'll be there for Jazz in the Park or something else like it where we can all congregate and just catch up~