Jet-Lagged, But Home . . .

Not even a week ago, last Wednesday, my train arrived in Rome from Turin where I’d spent two nights and a restful day just sitting with what I’d experienced in that Paris Sketchbook week. Coming back to Rome (via Geneva, Milan, and Turin!) gave me a couple more days with our ex-pats — including a particularly treasured moment with my granddaughter that I’ll tell you about later, another great dinner at a Korean restaurant my daughter discovered, and time to hear about a father/son-in-law adventure my husband was on while I was in Paris.

Windows, doorways, passages. . . I found this image so evocative I had to try capturing it.

Then Friday evening, Paul and I flew from Rome to Paris, as the first step of our journey home. Breaking the return up this way not only gave us a (very rainy) day together in Paris, but also meant our travel time on Sunday was a much more reasonable 15 hours, door to door (10 hours flight time, taxis to and from airports, luggage drop-off and collection, security, customs/border patrol, boarding, etc.), without the additional four or five hours of doing two flights and stopover time in one day. We’re finding these little concessions to our fatigue make such a difference, and we have the luxury of time, now, in retirement.

And this photo, I just loved the light, the reflections, the simplicity of a moment when I sat by myself at a table, being nurtured. . .

And now we’re home, settling in . . . and waking at 12:30 a.m. and then 3:00, and then up for the day at 5 a.m.. . . crashing by 2 in the afternoon. . . I’m making bread today, and a big pot of chicken soup, having got the travel laundry sorted yesterday. Also, yesterday, wrote a long list and crossed eleven items off (pick up shoes from cobbler; renew car insurance; do requested online reviews of workshop and walking tour; pick up library books; buy holiday concert tickets, et cetera). . . and thought about how best to tackle the remaining eight to-do’s. . .

Sometimes (as in photo above) water and clarity and light is enough; sometimes one needs a bit of chocolate, a bit of chantilly, and a saturated pastel . . .

One of those, of course, is to write a post here, and/but I’m feeling more than a bit overwhelmed at where and how to start. So much to tell . . . and SO many photos to share, or not. . .

A work in progress (at our daughter’s new place in Rome, ah, that marble floor!) . . . the first of a pair of Coraline gloves, as requested by a teen-aged g’daughter.

And here’s what I’ve arrived at, apparently. Just write. Just get started, as I did with these gloves, first pair I’ve ever knit with all the fingers and thumb. Complicated by the striping, as knitters will know. All the ends to weave in once I’m done. Plus trying to remember-guess how long her fingers are (longer than mine, I’m quite sure). . .

The knitting stayed in my case while we were hiking the Via Francigena, but I took it out in my Paris hotel room. Not much time for knitting during those days of sketching, but picking it up to add a row here, a row there, made that room feel even more like a little home. . .

Then on Saturday, when I was back in Paris, this time with my husband for company, it was (again, still) raining and windy. We got out and walked a bit, but we also took full advantage of our hotel’s capacious and comfortable lounge/breakfast room, and sat knitting, reading. . . .

Ah, okay, these fingers are finicky to knit, but not difficult. . .

And finally, flying home on Sunday, I knit to the end of the first glove (while watching Past Lives, which I’ve been wanting to see for months) and got started on the second. Lost one of my needles, but the sweet young woman in the window seat next to me found it on the floor.

Now I just need the intended wearer of the gloves to come try this on, so that I can lengthen or shorten fingers (the glove’s, not hers!) before I finish the right-hand glove.

Stitch by stitch, working my way steadily toward a finished pair of gloves.

Or, word by word, writing my way to a post that brings me back (home) to this blog. Where I will soon tell you more about Rome and walking in Tuscany and sketching in Paris.

For now, though, I have to shape a couple of boules and set them to rise in their bannetons. So I’ll press “Publish” on this post, and look forward to your comments (to which I will now I have time respond, finally).

xo,

f

26 Comments

  1. Beverly
    7 November 2023 / 5:03 pm

    Welcome home Frances! What a grand adventure you have had.

    • fsprout
      Author
      8 November 2023 / 8:11 am

      Thanks! And yes, I have! Lucky me!

  2. 7 November 2023 / 5:37 pm

    Welcome home! I’m so looking forward to hearing more about your adventures when you’ve recovered sufficiently from jet lag and caught up on that to do list.

    • fsprout
      Author
      8 November 2023 / 8:11 am

      Thanks, Elaine!

  3. Genevieve
    7 November 2023 / 7:32 pm

    I often remind myself to ‘just get started’ because it usually works out for the best that way! Welcome back!
    Really looking forward to hearing more about the walk and the sketching (when you’re ready!)
    What an adventure!

    • fsprout
      Author
      8 November 2023 / 8:12 am

      It’s true, right? Just moving out of inertia . . .

  4. Rose
    7 November 2023 / 8:07 pm

    You’re back. Surprise – that was you I did see on the street when I lookout the bus window.

    • fsprout
      Author
      8 November 2023 / 8:13 am

      Hmmm, could be, but I haven’t been out much. . .

      • Rose
        8 November 2023 / 5:29 pm

        Hi again
        It was your hair that caught my attention – that’s how I recognized you in the past.

  5. Rosie
    7 November 2023 / 11:53 pm

    Welcome home Frances 😊 Your transition is sounding ideal … I hope it feels that way. The gloves are beautiful as is your “Italian” family’s marble floor!
    I totally agree with choosing the most relaxed plan for travel, enabling you to enjoy extra places along the way and allowing for knitting and reading and an overall shorter last journey. All those moments make for a more enjoyable trip ( imo)
    I hope your “to do” list is getting shorter!
    Waving and sending hugs across the miles!
    Rosie

    • fsprout
      Author
      8 November 2023 / 8:15 am

      Thanks, Rosie! This trip was busier than I usually like, and I’m so glad I booked some time to slow down. And now back home, we’re needing to rest up from our so-called holiday! 😉

  6. 8 November 2023 / 12:44 am

    Welcome home! That is an impressive number of items crossed off the to-do list for a jet-lagged state! Your gadding about by train has certainly given you a Grand Tour of European railway stations. Were they all cathedrals of train travel in the grand style? I’ve been watching the rather “débile” but also compulsive latest series of “Race Across the World” on the BBC, about a race by surface transport from Morocco to the north of Norway on a fixed budget and with no mobile phones. Worth searching out if only for the scenery, and also for the pairing of Harry ( a famous pop band drummer, apparently) and his Mum. All the rail journeys were making me nostalgic for train travel in Europe, although there was also a fair amount of Flix-bussing. We go to Europe by car these days in order to maximise what we can bring back.
    I love the leitmotif of the glove throughout your travels.
    Looking forward to reading more!

    • fsprout
      Author
      8 November 2023 / 8:18 am

      I can’t say that I passed through too many train “cathedrals” — Milan and Paris’ Gare de Lyon would come closest. . . (and the FlixBus “station” was a pole with a sign, outside the Siena train station!

  7. Linda B
    8 November 2023 / 6:20 am

    I love hearing about all this, and relate so much to the joys and (hopefully infrequent) annoyances of travel, especially the joy of seeing family far away, and then resettling into home. Your regular travel to be with your family in Italy makes my regular travel from Arizona to be with my family in Oregon and Washington look pretty easy, although when we do it as a drive (when we are going to be up there for three months in the summer) it takes 2-5 days, depending on how we go.

    I love travel knitting like this, though it is way too easy to lose needles, especially the littler double points. (Been there, done that!) So lovely to knit for granddaughters. . .That is most of what I do these days.

    I am really looking forward to hearing more about your workshop!

    • fsprout
      Author
      8 November 2023 / 8:22 am

      It’s a lot of travel we do, isn’t it, to stay connected with our granddaughters. But the time when they’re still delighted with our company and happy to share their time is so limited, and I want to take advantage of as much of it as I can. I know you do as well.
      It is fun to knit for granddaughters — I’d thought this one might have come to the end of my knitting for her, but the Coraline gloves (after the ones coveted by the eponymous protagonist of that movie) were her request. Of course I oblige! 😉

  8. Anne
    8 November 2023 / 6:45 am

    This is my first time commenting on your blog. I just wanted you to know how much I enjoy your posts. The clarity of your writing, the honesty with which you share your life, and above all content that I connect with. Thanks so much for sharing.

    Love the gloves!

    • fsprout
      Author
      8 November 2023 / 8:24 am

      Thanks so much for taking the time to comment, Anne. I really appreciate the encouragement of knowing that you enjoy the posts.

  9. Wendy in York
    8 November 2023 / 7:13 am

    Glad you got home safely & hope the to do list is diminishing . That photo of your glove , all little needles & loose ends makes me feel quite panicky but I’m not a knitter .

    • fsprout
      Author
      8 November 2023 / 8:25 am

      Ha! It’s all under control– I’ve left those ends loose in case I need to open and rip back any of those fingers, depending on the length of hers. The little needles are pretty scary, though — surprising that I can get them through security!

  10. Dottoressa
    8 November 2023 / 8:06 am

    The joy of coming home after such wonderful travel days….and smell of freshly baked bread…
    “…so I can lenghten or shorten fingers(the glove’s,not hers)…”-so very Henry VIII/Procrustes/ Hansel and Gretchen 🙂
    I’m glad that you seem so happy!
    Dottoressa

    • fsprout
      Author
      8 November 2023 / 8:27 am

      You caught that little joke of mine, thank you! 😉 (and I had to look up Procrustes, and am delighted to add this bit of knowledge to my databank. Got to through the adjective “Procrustean” around as soon as I find the occasion!

  11. Denise L.
    8 November 2023 / 11:56 am

    Welcome home! I have enjoyed reading about your travels and your glove-knitting! (I’ve never tackled gloves … I have had many a pair of mittens languish for an inordinate length of time because I procrastinate knitting the thumbs, so who knows how long it would take me to produce a finished pair of gloves!)

    I hope you are soon acclimated to your current time zone and that you enjoy getting back into all your regular routines.

  12. 9 November 2023 / 7:01 am

    Welcome home!
    Your trip sounds like fun…good that the walking went well and you got to spend that precious time with your family.
    Look forward to hearing more…

    Leslie
    Hostess of the Humble Bungalow

  13. SLF
    9 November 2023 / 12:36 pm

    Feels good to be home! And after all your adventures and seeing your Rome family it must feel satisfying. Rest up for the next trip!

  14. Lisa
    11 November 2023 / 10:49 am

    Welcome home! And what a great odyssey!

    • fsprout
      Author
      12 November 2023 / 7:28 am

      Thanks! It was all that!

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