Returning To My Pretrip Routine

I am starting getting back into the normal routine here after my return from China. We are at the peak if our local strawberry growing season that is situated about an hour north of New Orleans. The berries are known for sweetness but only grow from February through part of May when the heat finishes them off.
When not too tired I will make a simple strawberry pie with those berries (I can easily get them here in Kenner at most groceries and roadside stands that are selling them. I like a fresh berry pie, uncooked. I use a cookie dough crust make a pastry cream to lightly spread on the bottom of the crust and place the fresh berries on top of the pastry cream in the pie pan. I make a strawberry glaze by cooking (mashing some of the berries and cooking them releases their h juices for the glaze) some of them with sugar, lemon juice and cornstarch. The glaze is thick and sweet enough to brush on top of the strawberries that have been placed in the pie crust. That's it for the pie, simple, fresh and delicious when the berries are good ones. My mom used to make that pie in springtime and it is a favorite here.
It's amazing how many obligations appear when on returns from vacation. I have some bills to write, financial matters to handle, must change my medical insurance before the end of the month by picking from among a number of companies listed as available, restock my refrigerator and pantry with perishable food items that I used or disposed of before leaving form China, tend to an overgrown back garden, attend to "Jane duties" (she missed me and wants me to do some things for she and her friends) and maybe find time to see that movie I appeared in as an extra last year. It is still playing at local theaters.
I also have a huge accumulation of reading matter, most from mail that arrived while away (magazine subscriptions) and several unfinished or unread books I have stacked on a table where I keep my unread material. I should have taken more casual reading material, magazines and newspapers, when on my trip for I like to read several hours a day. It doesn't matter what, just reading. Strange, I love the computer but I never miss it when traveling. I never even think about it while away. But not having light reading material when away does feel odd. I looked for such in China but it is hard to find there. Most of the magazines I took wee quickly read, and I do not like to read novels while on trips ( I want to focus on a book completely when I read it). English language magazines seem still hard to find in China. I did appreciate the "China Daily" newspaper that I was able to find in some of the hotels. The subject of such is mostly government propaganda about China, criticism about various subjects in China and (of course of the U.S.), information, funny articles etc. I like the China daily as a piece of entertainment, thought I think the news value is hardly objective and serious.
I like to see what the locals write in English papers when I travel. Surely, they are written mostly to entertain and impress the foreign visitors, and that is good. I should have brought one of those China daily papers back for Jane. Oh well, enough of my rambling today