A few more notes from the Florida trip

1. You never really get to appreciate the energies and atmosphere of you own home, until you try to work magic and ritual somewhere else. The air in my MIL's house felt dead and unmoving-like the air inside the parabolic telescope at Arecibo (yes, I was in there, once). After 4 days, the room I was in felt a little bit better, a little bit alive. But what a relief to be home and to not feel that the room itself is trying to suck life out of me. (and yes, when we went visiting, the feel of THAT house was entirely different from the MIL's)

2. There are some people in Florida, who are very glad that I have left. The wonderful homecare aide, that helped to take care of DH's grandmother, for example. After spending several days with her, on the very last day, as we were saying farewell, after the repast, after the funeral, after the viewing, she noticed my pendant. She picked it up (and mind you, I was wearing it at the time) and stared at it, intently. She said "that's very interesting." (and in a very disapproving tone). I said "DH made it for me." She said "lucky." dropped the necklace, turned and walked away, with not even a goodbye. I wonder if she figured I was worth praying for, or whether she felt that she needed praying over, considering that she had spend several days in my presence.

And then, there was the airport. For the first time ever, I had my bag searched. (these middle aged women with the greying hair are huge threats!). The first thing that security pulled out was a bag full of tampons. Those were very quickly shoved back in the bag, with the comment "we are certainly not looking for those" (well now there is a relief), but the next thing pulled out was my tarot deck. The woman looked at the box and dropped it back in my bag, as if it burned her hands. I don't think I have ever seen any zipper closed up as fast as she closed that bag. It was practically shoved into my hands with a "have a nice flight."

Yes, I was definitely a threat to certain segments of Florida.