(Above: My brother and I on the way back home. The seat between us was vacant for the entire flight’s duration.)
Preface: Due to unforeseen technical difficulties, I have combined yesterday’s and today’s entries into a 2-in-1. The first entry (yellow) was written entirely on the airplane. The second (orange) was written today.
2/8/2020
Active Summary: I woke up well rested this morning, performed the daily calisthenics, wrote for about 45 minutes, and then went to breakfast with my brother. There, I filled up on a variety of croissants, fruit, cured meat, cheese, and yogurt before returning to the room.
We soon departed for the airport, taking a train to our terminal before checking in our bags and having our passports/boarding passes inspected on no less than six occasions. Security followed soon after and then about a two hour’s wait before boarding the plane / take-off.
This flight is very lengthy. Thus far, I have watched two movies & a couple cooking shows, walked around the cabin, wrote on my phone, and wrote the majority of this log. There is still 3.5 hours left.
TIL: Today I learned we could have taken a train to within a 2 minute’s walk of our hotel rather than pay for a 9 Euro Uber ride. That is information that will be very useful when traveling through CDG airport in the future (e.g. back to Sicily… which is something I fully intend to do in the not-so-distant future.)
Commentary: I’m writing this in advance, but I believe it will accurately represent my viewpoint when I post this entry later tonight. The flight was long, and my buttocks still pain me, but now I am home and am about to engage in some late evening leisure time before falling asleep in my own glorious bed.
Continental breakfast at the Holiday Inn Express. Both my brother and I ate a hefty amount in preparation of the coming journey. 
Hot Chocolate I acquired to accompany breakfast. It was quite tasty and of a perfect non-scalding temperature. 
Waiting in line to get onto our flight. The red-and-white plane outside was the beast-of-a-machine that took us back home. 
The first and primary meal served on the Norwegian flight back home. Roasted beef, a grilled tomato, green beans, and mashed potatoes. Served with quinoa salad and a mini-chocolate filled cupcake. Pretty top-of-the-line for a complimentary airplane meal. (Oil-paint mode utilized because the picture was blurry). 
Second complimentary snack on the Norwegian Flight: a ham and cheese sandwich. Though small and somewhat dry, I was hungry enough that it tasted delicious. A cup of tea and a glass of water were served with it. 
First meal at home. A Master Blend burger-steak, a piece of Padre’s delectable arugula-bread, a salad comprised of much Jacob-garden vegetation, and a glass of Sicilian wine.
Final Note: Tomorrow
is my first day back. There shall be much clothes washing / putting away, some
cost calculations / divvying (should be easy), and the usual activities of
writing, farming, and enjoying home.
2/9/2020
Active Summary: Today I woke up without an alarm clock at 7AM, performed my calisthenic exercises and then ventured outside to meet Padre for the morningly ride-around. This was followed by a brief visit to the progressing studio (it seems very near to completion) and then to the garden where I observed how the plants had grown quite massive during my month’s absence.
After this, I spent much of the following morning contacting Centurylink to get my internet fixed (* and more in TIL). I also spent some time writing, helping Padre with a small amount of bovine work, washing clothes, extricating trip-goodies**, harvesting greens from the garden for lunch, and attending an appointment at the office near Oldhouse. A delicious lunch of burger-steaks, sirloin, and salad ensued.
(7:19 PM Update:) After my first afternoon at the farm was completed at about 6:15 PM, I made some bread dough, washed more clothes, took a pleasant shower, and now I’m attempting to write / post the day’s past two entries on a less-than-500 kbps internet connection.
TIL: Today I performed some research into the realm of ‘phone data versus computer data’. According to multiple sources, a 720p (pseudo-HD) video on Youtube will utilized no more data on a laptop than it would on a phone. It is the surrounding webpage and all its comments / thumbnails that usually makes the laptop consume more than the phone. However, if the computer is run in ‘metered-connection’ mode, that consumption can be greatly reduced. With this information, along with that which was collected by my brother’s data consumption on our entire trip ( only 1.4 gigabytes despite constant usage of maps for reviews/pictures of restaurants and frequent usage of music/video streaming while on planes and trains), I believe that I could very well operate on a 20 gigabyte monthly hotspot data limit.
Commentary: The first day back has been a tad busy, but that is to be expected. There were some Master Blend orders to tend to, plenty of cow work in the afternoon, and lots of unpacking (and still more). To add to this, I have a bare-minimum of internet at the moment that makes everything computer-related agonizingly sluggish. Fortunately, this will be rectified soon in one way or another.
As for highlights of the first day home? The people, the food, and having a place to live that is entirely my own!
Final Note: I will likely finishing unpacking tomorrow, and at some point I’ll be letting a technician into the Jacobhouse yard to work on my internet.
*Indeed, after returning from dinner last night, I was going to create a short entry about the return journey, but I was unable to do so because of a lack of internet. Now, I’m presently using my phone as hotspot.
*Wine, olive oil, and cookies from Aix-en-Provence.
Missed last night’s post, but not as much as I would have if I didn’t have it’s source and brother to visit with. Welcome home!