No time, no time

Not that anybody is hanging on my every word, and not that I receive concerned emails when I haven't posted for 10 days, but I have been absent for a bit. Sorry about that.

I feel the weather window closing (quickly), and I'm working like a one-winged goose. Predictably, the porch is not moving as fast as I'd like and predictably the weather doesn't help. We're already getting frosts at night. My nicely applied finish went all crappy when the dew condensed on it before it had dried, so I was reduced to staying up until all hours heating the underside of the porch with a propane heater just to get it to dry. Thankfully, I did not set the house on fire (very embarassing) and the finish did dry.

In other, much more important, news - my parents are here from England ! Mum and Dad haven't been over in almost 18 months, so it's very good to see them. Our kids have grown so much since their last visit (number one son wasn't even walking when they left and now he's talking in sentences). Lovely to have them here, and be surrounded by English voices, foibles and endless cups of tea.

Today I went to have my fingerprints taken for my citizenship application. The FBI already has a set on file, so I'm not sure why they need more. I obliged anyway. Contrast today's visit with my original immigration process 12+ years ago in New York City. Back then, I was one of at least 500 people queueing by 6:30am. Today I was the ONLY person at the INS (now DHS) facility in St. Albans, Vermont - a mere stone's throw from the Canadian border. A much more pleasant experience.

I pity the poor security guard, though. He must get a rush of people from time to time, since the waiting room has a couple of dozen chairs. At this time on a rainy Monday, I was the only Alien in residence. You'd think, though, that this small corner of Vermont must be at great risk. After being requested to remove my keychain penknife from the building, presenting photo ID and an appointment letter and going through a metal detector I was able to take a seat. The guard continued to watch me warily, just in case I was planning some kind of high-jinks with my belt buckle.

After a lengthy 30 second wait, I was fingerprinted (digitally now - none of that messy ink) by a very cheery young lady, asked to fill out a 'customer satisfaction survey' and was on my way in a jiffy. Amazing.