Less than 2 hours and I leave for the airport. These 10 days have gone by fast, especially since I didn't get to the beach or to any of my favorite waterfront haunts. But, I am not complaining too loudly as I had Shipwreck burgers twice and Steve made his yummy stuffed baked potatoes for me. And, I got to have mommy/kitty time in the mornings with Sophie. She is staying down here due to her weight problem! Steve suggests we call her hippo-let after I suggested piglet, since she weighs too much to take her as carry on and US Air does not ship pets in cargo. Max is 15 lbs. and she weighs that without the carrier. So I will have to fly American in December as they don't have the restrictions. We brought her down on American. Not looking forward to her crying in the car from the airport in Raleigh to Greenville.

This apartment looks a lot less like a bachelor pad than it did when I arrived. Spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen and bathroom and picking up "stuff" all over the place. Whatever open space there is Steve fills up with change, crumpled receipts, smashed mail, and anything else that happened to end up in his pockets that day. I used to think we were bad with our purses, but women are nothing compared to guys and their pockets. I am amazed what can come out of his pockets at the end of a day. At least most of ours goes back into our purse when we look for something. Steve empties his pockets each night and only the keys and his wallet go back in the next morning. The rest of the "stuff" piles up in little heaps around the apartment. I found the kitchen counters and the coffee table but didn't even attempt his latest "deposits" on my desk and the dining room table. They can wait until December because I am sure they will be right there when I get back.

Finished Mary E Lyons' Letters from a Slave Boy: The Story of Joseph Jacobs, a companion novel to Letters from a Slave Girl, which Lyons wrote 15 years ago and is about Harriet Jacobs, one of the early female Abolitionists. Both of these books are fictional accounts based on Lyons' research. Very little is to be found about Joseph so she used historical information from the time period to create a credible young man. Joseph is taught to read and write by the young white boy he teaches to fish. They are friends until the other boy's father tells him that is not possible. Joseph discovers that his father is a white man who has purchased their papers, but has not set them free. The previous owner insists it was an illegal transaction and that he still owns them. Joseph writes letters to his mother, sister, uncle and others he meets during the 20 year period of mid 1800s this book covers. The letters are mostly written in a ledger and not sent. This format does not allow for the depth that a narrative style novel would have, but I do think it will appeal to MS age boys as Joseph joins a whaling crew, ends up in California during the Gold Rush, and "disappears" in Australia. I have not read the first book so I cannot compare the details from the time periods that overlap, but it is a credible addition to an upper elementary or MS library.

Should get some grading done before I haul the last of the two duffel bags out to the car. They are both under the max of 50 lbs. but still not easy for me to deal with. At the airport on St. Thomas you have to check in and after they weigh your luggage, you have to go through customs with luggage in tow. The last two times Steve and I flew together we used a porter. Not sure what I will do today - will probably have to do the same as Steve can't come into the customs area with me. Been up since before 6 a.m. so I hope I can at least doze part of the way to Charlotte. That is, unless they have a really good movie showing. :-)

Next entry will be from Greenville, or perhaps Chicago if I don't get to it before Friday a.m. Headed to the SLJ Summit.