Golden Week- What a difference a year makes

Golden Week is the first week in October, which is a national holiday marking the founding of the People's Republic of China.  What it really means is 1.3 billion people get eight days of vacation.  It means 86 MILLION cars are on the road, nearly 8 MILLION took to the skies, and 61 MILLION traveled on the trains.  In short, Golden Week is a mass of Chinese humanity on the move.  My beloved desire for exploring the great outdoors by hiking on the Great Wall is ruined for the gridlock on the highways to take me there, and the gridlock on the wall once I am there.  If you want to get a feel for what 1.3 billion vacationers can do to a country, Click Here.  It is just plain nuts, y'all.

Which is why I waited until the day after the holiday week started to fly myself far, far away from China.  I went back home- to Florida this time.  On my 18 hour sojourn in the skies, I had plenty of time to reflect...and what a difference a year makes.

Last year over Golden Week, I was a few months in to a new relationship, and my 'man' was flying to China to spend nearly two months with me.  We went to Thailand together last October, and then to the Philippines together last November.  I flew home to see him in February; he flew back to China for May and June.  I flew home again for the summer months, and in that time we bought a house together in south Florida and started renovations.  Seriously, what a difference a year makes.

Life is good :)

So once again, I was taking to the skies, albeit for a very brief stay (only five nights in the US). Quite literally, with only my backpack on my back- have backpack, will travel!

Though I would only be home for five nights, Len and I had big plans to continue with our home renovation projects.  My teacher friends thought I was nuts to fly 13,000 miles to go work on a house.  "Some vacation", they said to me.

Actually, I was looking forward to it :)

While laying in a beach hut in Thailand is quite the vacation, simply being with the ones you love, no matter what you are doing, can be a vacation in itself.  For me, vacation is about getting your batteries recharged.  The opportunity to be creative, to work with my hands, to spend time with the person I love, and to celebrate our accomplishments at the end of the day is more than good enough for me.  Boy, did we accomplish a lot in a few days' time, and we managed to squeeze in a vacation within a vacation.  Winning!

I love flying in and out of PEK- Beijing Int'l
Airport. Although it is HUGE, it is easy to navigate :)

It was a GORGEOUS day to be flying, as a beautiful blue
sky can sometimes be hard to come by in the 'jing.  

I did not land in Ft. Lauderdale until late Thursday night, on October 1st.  It was well after midnight before we got back to our house.  In spite of the long trip, I couldn't help but grin to pull in to the driveway and to walk in the front door.  *sigh*

It felt good to be home.

The next morning as I had coffee on the balcony looking out
over the canal, I was shocked to discover that one of our trees
is a star fruit tree...and it was LOADED!  I feasted on star
fruit the whole time I was home.  They were so sweet, and
juicy, and delicious- nothing like you get at the grocery store.
They taste like a cross between an orange and an apple- yummy!

The view in my 'backyard' was often of
an alligator cruising by...We feed him leftovers :)
Correction:  We throw food in the canal, and
assume that he comes to eat it.  He never lets us
get the least bit close to him, which is just as well.

Friday was a day of getting reacquainted, buying groceries, running errands to the post office and BMV (I got my Florida driver's license), seeing new neighbors at the weekly Friday evening happy hour (I love this neighborhood!), and developing a strategic plan of attack for our house projects. How much could we accomplish in about three days of work?

My first project on Saturday was to tile the kitchen back splash.
Since I left in August, Len had painted the kitchen cabinets,
put on the knobs and pulls, and the granite counters were installed.

I love it when a plan comes together!

There are just two projects remaining in the
kitchen; getting a stainless steel counter top
for our nearly seven foot island, and finishing the
plate rack to display my Grandma's Fiestaware.
I smuggled back 30 rods of stainless steel tubing
in my backpack that Len is going to use as
dividers for the plates. That was his idea; I can't
take credit. It's going to look awesome :) Truth
be told, I had some trouble getting through security
all the way home with all of that stainless steel
in my backpack. I had some 'splainin' to do, lol.
(Stainless steel is way cheaper in China)

While I laid up the tile back splash in the kitchen,
Len put down the cement board in the guest bathroom.
It took some figuring and measuring on both of our
parts, as we are creating a bathroom out of a former
office/dining area.  He'll be in charge of installing
all of the plumbing, drain pipes, sewer pipe and
electrical work.  When I got done in the kitchen,
he was ready for me in the bathroom!

This bathroom will have a dark brown vanity
and mirror set that we purchased, and granite
sink top that is white with flecks of beige and grey.
Where Len is, will stand a corner shower unit.
I continued with the blue paint from our accent
wall in the great room and kitchen, but below the
paint there will be tongue and groove boards painted
bright white with a chair rail.  I want this room to
have a beach-y cottage vibe. The grout lines in the
tile will be dove grey, and the window treatment is the
same dark bamboo blinds that are in the guest bedroom.
In fact, over the weekend, I bought the same blinds for
the windows in the kitchen and great room, too.
When I find something I like, I stick with it, they
are now on every window in the house!

As we worked our way out of the bathroom,
it was up to me to fold myself up and lay
the last two rows of tiles.  The other half
of me is in what will become our laundry
room.  Over the weekend, we purchased the
tile for it, now Len has everything he needs
to finish that room, too.  He's going to be
a busy guy this coming winter :)

By Saturday evening, we also had put another coat of joint compound on the great room ceiling, so that it would be ready for sanding and painting the next day...which is what we did.  We got off to a very late start on Sunday, as we nearly pulled an all nighter Saturday night.  I'm not sure we fell asleep before 5am.  I was clearly still on China time; and had a rough time trying to force my body into a twelve hour time difference.  Less than a week's stay is too short of time to even begin to get over jet lag, so I just rolled with it as best as I could. By Sunday afternoon, we had finished sanding and had one coat of paint on the great room ceiling when our neighbors came over to invite us out for a boat ride.  We decided that a sunset cruise on the Caloosahatchee was just what we needed.  We dropped our paint brushes and decided to take a break!

This is Steve and Karen, who I am sure we will become fast friends.
Not only are they one of but a few couples our age, (we live in a
community of retired boaters!) they are our kind of people :)

The have a 44' Morgan motor-sailor.  I look forward
to some boating adventures with these two!

Len provided entertainment on board with
his story telling and guitar playing :)

This is my new friend Wan, from Taiwan-
small world :)  She and her husband, John, are also
boaters. They own a 48' Grand Banks trawler- nice!

And this is John and Ed.  Ed and his wife, Deb,
were among the first to welcome us to the neighborhood.
They are also our kind of people.  In fact, Len and I
think we hit the jackpot for a community of cool
people who happen to love boating as much as we do :)

Sunday, Day two, the great room ceiling was sanded and got two coats of paint, Len finished installing the can lights, and we got a sunset cruise.  Not a bad day's work!

On Monday, we had planned to spend the day at Ft. Myers beach for a 'vacation', and he had made reservations for a motel that evening.  However, it was cloudy and rainy off and on all day, so we decided to stay and work, with the intention that we would finish by 5pm, and be on the road by 6pm. We decided to go out for seafood, and still stay at the motel, as Tuesday was looking like much better weather.  The house project on Monday was some general clean up, I sanded and stained the window casings in the kitchen and great room, and we laid 4' x 27' of bamboo flooring in the great room.  It is now about half way complete, and Len can finish that off too, sometime later this winter ;) 

Do you see his 'honey do list' growing?!  

We had a most delicious dinner Monday night at
Ft. Myers Beach. I feasted on coconut shrimp,
and Len had calimari- soooooo good! We had
a leisurely morning on Tuesday, then we walked
to the pier with our morning coffee. We were on
a much needed vacation, lol.

I never take the view of the Gulf, or the ocean, or the sunshine,
or the beautiful blue sky for granted. We simply savored the moment.

Then we walked along the beach, I picked up seashells (of
course), we played frisbee, and frolicked in the surf...until
I saw a shark's dorsal fin surface right near us!  It sent me
screeching and heading for shore.  Len stayed for a closer
look, and said it was only a nurse shark.  If I had been on
scuba and could look him in the eye, it would have been
no problem, but I don't like sharks sneaking up on me!

No day on the beach is complete without jumping for JOY!

We left by about noon, as our vacation was already over. We had two big shopping lists for Lowe's and Home Depot.  We bought tile for the laundry room, a bathroom faucet, blinds for the kitchen, bathroom, and great room, grout for the kitchen and bath, more paint, a light for the laundry room, new door locks, and I can't even remember what all else.  All I know is our wallets were empty and the truck was full by the time we got done- whew! Shopping wears us both out.

The biggest purchase was the three french doors which will go
across the great room, facing out on to the balcony and canal.
It is going to be beautiful once they are installed- so much
light and brighter. It will change the whole appearance of the house!
Add door installation to the honey do list, too :)

We also shopped at Kohl's and Dollar Tree (I
don't have either of these guilty pleasures in China),
and we stopped in at Hobby Lobby as I wanted
some crafting stuff to keep myself occupied for
this winter, too.  As we headed toward the check
out, we stumbled upon this oil canvas that was
50% off.  It was made for our new home; the
colors match beautifully, and it reminded Len
of living on Conch Key. It is a perfect fit :)

Wednesday was my last day there, and we only
had until 1pm before I had to head back to the
airport.  I did laundry, grouted the kitchen back
splash, and worked on straightening up the
inside of the house. Len worked on putting the
workshop back together and he mowed the yard.
My time went all too quickly; but we shared a lot
of laughs, worked well together, made some
more memories and accomplished quite a lot.
Outside of never getting a decent night's sleep-
(soooo jet lagged), it was still a 'golden' week :)

Needless to say, though, I was exhausted.  Besides, saying goodbye and having to 'change gears' in my mind to return to China is exhausting in itself. So, upgrading to business class was money well spent for the long flight back to my other home.  After a four hour layover in Houston, I didn't board the plane for PEK until nearly midnight.  The good news was being in business class allowed me to hang out in the Executive Club, where I got to eat delicious food, charge all my electronics, AND watch the Cubs win!!!!  I was the first one on the plane, got served a glass of champagne, took two melatonin, and slept for the next 10 HOURS!  I tell you what, business class is the only way to fly- I was able to lay down, with a real feather pillow, a down comforter, and Bose headphones to silence all the noise.  I was shocked when I woke up and only had five hours left to go.  Another glass of wine, a snack, and another three hour nap, and I woke up just as we were beginning the descent. We landed at 4:00am, and because Golden Week was over, and I was ahead of morning rush hour, I got through customs, caught a cab, and was home taking a shower in record time. After another hour's nap, I made it work by 7:30am- Whew!  What a Golden Week!

Sadly, I have spent the last six days equally jet lagged, fitfully sleeping, waking between 3-4am, and I have since gotten sick with a head cold.  I knew it was bound to happen.

Dang it.

G'nite, y'all!