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The "South of the Mason-Dixon Line Tour '09" has officially come to an end. Ticket sales were good, and while it was an absolute and positive success in terms of helping rid me of the neuropathies (I can type!  I can open jars!  I can eat with my right hand! I can get my wedding ring on! But, most importantly, THE PAIN IS GONE!), I am hoping I don't have to go back on the road anytime soon.  Keep your fingers crossed that nothing untoward happens between now and when spring actually hits because this business of flying all over hell and gone is a heck of a lot more expensive as a form of pain relief than is an insurance co-pay.  I am currently back in Cake Eater Land, and happy to finally be reunited with the husband, who, rather inconveniently for the romance situation, has a head cold.  No mind.   I am happy to be here. 

The weather here in Cake Eater Land is suprisingly nice.  It's warm, almost fifty degrees as I write this, and just about all of the snow has melted over the past four days or so says the husband.  He said there was eight inches of snow on our lawn last week, and now it's pretty much all gone.  I like that kind of development, but I suspect we'll get nailed again at least once before all is said and done. We always do. Personally, I think we deserve a nice long spring, after the appalling winter we've  they've gone through. (Although, I was here for the first three months of it, so I should have some say.)  Question is, though, will we get it?  Only time will tell. 

It was kind of crappy leaving Austin yesterday.  Full-on spring finally arrived just as I had to leave.  They're in a very bad drought in the Hill Country.  Just about everywhere in the region has a burn ban going on, and not too long ago there were some significant fires east of Austin, in Bastrop, where something like 15,000 acres burned---along with homes and businesses.  It was noticeable how dry everything was, and even if I hadn't been particularly observant, my sister and brother-in-law's running commentary about the lack of rain would have driven the point home.  Lakeway, where they live and work, northwest of Austin and situated on Lake Travis, is, partially, a vacation community, and they manage vacation properties.  When Lake Travis is down twenty feet, cancellations aplenty occur.  They want the lake level back up, and they want it back in a bad way.  So, last Wednesday, when it started raining, they were practically jumping up and down for joy.  And when it kept on raining, through Sunday morning, they were positively ecstatic.  Overall, there hadn't been enough rain to raise the level of the lake significantly, but it's a good start, and if nothing else, it allowed spring to really get going. 

Everything bloomed when the sun came out on Sunday.  The grass, the trees, bushes, you name it, greened up, and spring was in full swing. It was gorgeous, and that glorious cedar smell that pervades the area finally came out to play; all it needed to be coaxed out of hiding was some rain.  It finally hit me, about a week after I'd arrived, that something was missing in the dryness.  It was something important, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it---until it rained for about a half an hour one day and the smell I'd been missing wafted through the air.   It's a fragrant mixture comprised mostly of cedar, but there's also pine, watery, lake fragrances that waft in from the lake, blooming flowers, etc.  It's different depending upon what season it is, but the cedar is predominant, particularly in summer.  I love it.  The entire place smells like a cedar closet, but lighter and more natural---you know, except in the burning heat and humidity of summer, when it smells like the humidity has doused itself in a bottle of perfume.  

So, after all that, it was something of a shock to come back here.  Now, the weather is nice, particularly for mid-March, don't get me wrong, but after watching everything get a good wash over the past week in Austin, and to be rewarded with the glories of spring, it was kind of a bummer to have to leave it so soon, and to come face-to-face with large puddles, still-frozen lakes, and brown everything.

As far as the timing of my return is concerned, I had to get back for a check-up at Dr. Academic's place.  When I told them of my impending departure back in January, I had already scheduled my three-month-checkup.  I asked how long I could put it off, and they said, in a rather firm tone, that two weeks was fine, but a month would be bad.  Hence, I am back.  I go in for a CA-125 blood draw later today, and then because it takes three days to get the results back, I have my actual check-up on Friday.

Despite the inevitable doctor's office crap, it's good to be back.  And if this weather keeps on keeping on, it'll be even better.