Home Again Home Again Rig-a-jig-jig

We are home in Florida after a long trip and happy to be back. We left on Tuesday morning at 4:30 AM! It was a miracle that we actually got started when we did. We've often had similar plans, but usually 6:00 rolls around before we get going, so we were quite proud of ourselves.

We had plans to make 4 stops to see people along the way. The first stop was Gettysburg, a good stopping place for day one.

Gettysburg battlefield

Our friends from Florida are on an extended road trip up along the east coast to Bar Harbor. Our trips intersected in Gettysburg as they headed north and we headed south.

Karen and Dave Foltz and Ed and I in Gettysburg.

Karen's going to be in Bar Harbor and see puffins before I do! Whaaaaaa!

We had a nice dinner with them in an old tavern, near the National Cemetery, not far from where Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address.

Dinner at the Dobbin House Tavern. Very nice.

Then we went on a ghost walk and a tour of a haunted orphanage.

Photo of the orphanage from the 1800s

We didn't see any ghosts but captured some orbs with the camera. 

On our ghost tour, our guide, (standing) while this fellow (seated)  spoke to the ghosts, inviting them to join us.

Seconds later, see the orbs on the guide's shirt, near her right arm? Some say orbs in photos are spirits. Whooooooo.

The next morning we joined Karen and Dave for breakfast at the hotel we all stayed in and said our goodbyes, heading off to Wilmington, NC.

Our son Joey lives in Wilmington and we usually stop on our way home. He invited us to join him and his teammates for their weekly trivia night at the Beach House Bar where a local radio station holds a trivia night every Wednesday. I asked him if he was sure he wanted us old fogies at his local watering hole with him, but he assure us we would be welcome.  Joey's friends were very accepting of us.  We ordered some food and drinks and got ready for the first round.

We did miserably. I think we got 4 out of 10 answers correct. But we started to improve on the second round and came in a close second to the team who won. I mean, didn't you think the animal on the Yellow-Tail wine bottles was a kangaroo? No. It's a Wallaby. I knooooow! Who would have thouth that? But we kicked you-know-what on the third round and swept those other chumps away! We won the whole night's event!

Joe's team. Anger Management, hadn't ever won before. We did help them a little. There were a few Boston questions and some presidential trivia. Ed's a presidential trivia expert. The other teams didn't have a chance!

The team got a $50 gift certificate for the Beach House and a free beer. They then held a raffle and two of our teammates won t-shirts. So it was really fun and they want us to come back next Wednesday. If it wasn't an 11 hour drive, we would have taken them up on their invitation.

We spent two nights at Joey's and then headed to Florida. We stopped in Jacksonville along the way to see Ed's nephew Danny and his wife Lisa, expecting their 2nd child any day. We enjoyed a nice early dinner with them and their 2 year old Zane before heading to our next destination, The Villages.

Lisa, Zane and Danny. (I got this from Dan's FB page. I forgot to take a photo while we were there.)

Ed's brother Bob and his wife Susan live in the Villages and they are always accommodating when we come through. It's only about 3  hours from Naples, but by 8:00 that night we were ready to stop and kick back for a while. It was a very relaxing evening and we always enjoy their company. Maggie gets reacquainted with their cat Corky, although it usually takes more than a day for that to happen. She kisses him and then hisses in his face. He just stands there and takes it. He's very patient with her. But before you knew it, we had had our breakfast and Maggie was back in her crate.

By day 5the crate was getting old for poor Maggie.

The last leg was uneventful, but we were energized and eager to get home. The landscape all started looking familiar as we commented on how beautiful things were. I texted our friend Sandy who told us to eat a light lunch because we were going out to supper that night with them. She didn't really give us a choice. She was so excited that we were coming home! So, we met Sandy, her husband Ron and our other friend Sue from upstairs who ran out to greet us as soon as we drove in the driveway. We spent a couple of hours unpacking and off we went to the 1/2 off early bird special at the Stonewood with some of our gang. It was such a great homecoming.

Sue, Susan, Suzanne and Sandy-Florida friends back together again. Waiting for Karen to get back from seeing those puffins!

Ron, Ed and Harry

My mother always said, as we pulled into our drive way, Home Again, Home Again, Rig-a-jig-jig. It's 60+ year old habit that is deeply imbedded in my brain. Although I don't say it aloud, it's hard not to think it when I pull into my drive way. It's from an old nursery rhyme. Although most people use Jiggity Jig, I have to think it is the New England version that Mom taught us that her mother probably taught her.

My Grandmother, me and my mom c. 1962

I have found both versions on the Internet. This is the most common of them it seems:

To market to market, to buy a fat pig,
Home again Home again, Jiggity Jig.
To market to market to buy a fat hog.
Home again Home again, Jiggity Jog.

Well, jiggity jig, or rig-a-jig-jig, I am home again. It has taken two years, but this year instead of going home for the summer, I have come home after spending the summer away. It is a gradual transition, but I really feel like we are home when we are here. As we were preparing to leave here last June, somebody asked me if I was going home or if I was leaving home. I was surprised that I had to think about it, but when I did I said, "Well, when I am here, up there is home. And when I am up there, I feel like Florda is home." And then I started to think that I didn't know where my home was and it was rather disconcerting.

We had one of the best summers ever, seeing my kids and grandbabies as much as we did. And it was a summer I will never forget. And, I sure do miss my kids and my family and friends up there in Massachusetts whenever I am here. There are times my heart aches for them.

But, now this is home and it's so nice to be here.

Have a great day!
Love,
Suz