I can hardly believe that it’s been 2 years since I started writing this blog.  That was 6 months before I was going to retire and I was filled with excitement and anxiety.  Among the things I was worrying about were these:

• would I be bored when I retired?
• would my life become boring when I retired?
• what was I going to do?
• would anybody ever think I had anything to say worth listening to again?

Well, I’ve been a lot of things since leaving work, but boredom hasn’t been one of them … at least other than in moments when I just revelled in being able to be bored, which kind of makes it not so boring anyhow.

Let me bring you up to date on things.

I had a lot to take care of the 2 weeks before leaving for the cottage.  Of course that’s mostly because I seem to procrastinate a lot more these days than I used to and since I don’t have to “calendarize” everything – if you’ll excuse the expression – any more it always seems like there will be plenty of time to get everything done.   A week before C-day (cottage day … hooray!!) we drove up to the cottage, David and I, with a van full to the brim.  In fact it was so full we had to leave the dog at home because there was no room for her to sit.  For two days before that journey I was running around like the proverbial chicken with her head cut off doing a million chores I’d been meaning to get done well before the summer.  Many of those involved cottage prep.  I had to pack my own clothes but also some staples to last us for a few days, kosher meat/fish for the entire 2 weeks, first aid things we might need, cleaning things we might need, the books and other resources I want at the cottage so I can spend a few hours every morning preparing workshops or working on the book.  We picked up suitcases from my mother and Ellen because when the three of us are driving up to the cottage it will be in my car which can only hold 4 people and doesn’t have such a huge trunk (in fact it’s just the right size for Mom’s walker and not too much more).   We’d planned to be heading out at about 10 in the morning but ended up leaving closer to 12:30 which meant it was 3 o’clock by the time we arrived; we had made a stop at a supermarket in Peterborough to buy milk, juice etc.  After unpacking everything and putting it all away we had a couple of hours to relax and enjoy being there.  David relaxed on the deck, enjoying the sunshine and reading a magazine.  I took the kayak out for a spin on Crowe Lake; I think it will likely take me the better part of an hour to paddle all around it.  Can’t wait to find out.

I also had to pack for my week in Iqaluit with Nili, Noam and Freida; that will be my brief back-to-winter experience of the summer.

Another thing I was kept busy with was trying to finalize plans for my trip to Africa in October.  If you’ve ever done anything in Africa you’ll understand why so much of this has been frustrating; the one thing I learned on my first visit to Africa was that “Africa wins again!” is a comforting slogan.  I’m returning to Africa because I’m going to be speaking at the Association of International Schools in Africa (AISA) 2010 conference in Nairobi, Kenya.  I’ve been thinking about and working on the institutes/workshops I’ll be leading, but I’ve also been a little lax on getting travel arrangements organized.  You see, 11 years ago – when I turned 50 – I made a journey to Africa.  With a large backpack and a suitcase I arrived in Nairobi early in the morning and a friend of a friend met me, took me out for breakfast, and then drove me to the bus to Arusha – about 5 hours away – where I began a 3 week safari followed by a climb up Mt. Kilimanjaro.  So what would I do for extra adventure this time?  Seems like a waste to be flown all the wayover to Nairobi and not use that as a jump-off point to see something spectacular.  You see, when I was in this part of the world celebrating my 50th birthday, most of the safari group – other than one young, male student from China (who didn’t quite make it to the top of Kili) and me – went on to Zanzibar for R & R while I climbed uphill 8 hours or so a day to reach nearly 20,000 ft at the summit.  I often thought as I climbed and climbed and climbed that I wasn’t sure who had been the smarter – them or me.  After some searching I decided that this would be my time to visit and relax in Zanzibar.  Of course on the four days I’m going to be there I’m going to do a trip to the Chumbe Island Coral Park, Zanzibar’s first and most renowned marine sanctuary with a shallow-water coral reel that runs nearly a kilometre in length, and hosts 200 species of coral and 370 species of fish.  I’ll also visit the Jozani Forest Reserve which is the last sanctuary in the world for the rare red colobus monkey.  I’ve also booked a tour of spice plantations, an evening walk through Stone Town.  The rest of the time I’ll just stay on the beach soaking up the rays of the equatorial sunshine.

Then another thing occurred to me.  I’ve been wanting to see my “family” in Kosovo for a long time and maybe there would be a way to combine Kenya and Kosovo.  Believe it or not, there was.  By flying British Airways through London I could fly back from Kenya to London (with a 4 day lay-over) and for about $300 I could get a return flight from London to Prishtina.  With the help of a very kind travel agent who works with AISA and another at an agency in Nairobi I was able to finally put it all together.  I’m going to spend 4 days in Zanzibar before the conference and then visit Kosovo for 4 days on my way home.  This photo was taken on my last trip to Kosovo I think, a little over 10 years ago.  That’s Rahime (the Mom) at the top, me in sunglasses, and the three kids – Arsenal, Liridona, and Granit.  I think that Nazife (the Dad) must be taking the picture.  Liridona just went and booked a hotel room for me after going on the internet and figuring out which hotel would be the best.   Last year my friends contributed to a fund to honour me on my birthday and we were able to send enough money to Kosovo to pay university tuition for Arsenal and Granit.  I think Liridona might be joining them next year;  I’d best find out and if so find a way to try to raise tuition money for her for a year as well.  All good ideas (and contributions) are welcome of course.