A Glimpse into My Garden

I have been home for 3 weeks now and the time is going so fast! Cait and I spent a few days in Oklahoma when I first came back to North America and had a wonderful road trip home. I only drove about 3 or 4 hours in total ... perhaps Cait was a bit apprehensive about my driving her new car after my not driving for 10 months, but if she was she hid it well. So diplomatic, my girl!
While visiting Errol’s mom and brother, I paid special attention to the gardens of Oklahoma, as they are usually a couple of weeks ahead of Ontario. I was hoping I would still see a few tulips and perhaps even a daffodil or two. The peonies, roses and iris were almost finished while we were in Big Cabin, so I wasn’t really hopeful. But it all worked out! When we arrived home in London, there were plenty of late tulips still blooming ... purple and deep pink ones and there were some late narcissus as well. And lots and lots of forget-me-nots and lily of the valley. So nice! It was really cool and rainy for a week or so, and so things are a bit delayed. The peonies, iris, clematis, delphiniums, and wild geraniums are just in full bloom now and poppies and early lilies are starting. Oh, my goodness, what a lot of work the garden has been, As I mentioned, the early part of my time home was very cold and so it was almost impossible to work outdoors and now the pendulum has swung so far in the other direction that from 7-10:30 is when it is possible to work as it is soooo hot. Oy. That is Canada for you. We went from using the furnace to air conditioning in about 3 days. So typical.
And having had all that rain, followed by heat, the garden is popping! The weeds ... all I can say is creeping Charlie is at least easy to pull out .... binderweed is the bane of my existence. I have to accept that I will not get it all gone over once before I go back to Vietnam. There is just not enough time. So sad. But I love every minute ... even if my back, legs, and feet all hurt and my arms are all scratched up.
It seems hard to believe that I will be back in Ho Chi Minh City in 2 weeks and getting ready to start a new job at RMIT. I saw a job ad at the university that seemed written for me ... lecturer, professional skills. The focus is on career development and workplace readiness. All I could think of was all the courses over the years in which I have taught those skills. We were given a chance to do some mock interviews with graduating students just before I left to come back to Canada and it was so much fun! I loved doing it. It was nice to see students at the end of their time at RMIT, instead of at the beginning. I hope to get a better sense of Vietnam as a part of the team in the Career Centre.
It was strange applying for the new position from afar and the phone interview was a bit ridiculous as I got the timing mixed up and was sound asleep when the committee called. I felt I had totally blown it, but perhaps my qualifications compensated for my dead-headedness during the interview. Not my finest 45 minutes .^_^. And some dear friends and colleagues gave me some very kind letters of reference. So, I will miss teaching ESL, but I am hoping I will bring some of my ESL background to benefit the courses I will be teaching. I will miss my ESL colleagues as well, but I am sure I will be trekking up to the 5th floor to Bobby Brewer’s at least once a day. It will be VERY hard to leave home this year; it was a great time of year to come home and it has been wonderful being with family and friends. Errol and Cait seem fine but it does seem like such a short time somehow. We haven’t had the chance to do half the things I had thought we might. But I am hoping the new job will present some new and fresh opportunities and that is always something to get me interested. And I am hoping for a couple of great trips and so that can keep me occupied, right??? I will keep you posted.