anyresemblance

That was fast

Packed, a hundred farewell dinners (I was beginning to feel like an ageing rocker on my two year farewell tour), excess baggage packed and I am on my way home.

Home.  I can't wait to see the stars, the frosty clear mornings, the bright light and the the startling bright colours of the parrots.  I can't wait to hear the bird song, the meowing of the elderly lady cat.  I can't wait to eat an Australian breakfast - poached eggs, three seeds bread and drink a perfect flat white.  But mostly, I can't wait to hug my children and have them close to me.

Homecoming

I'll be back in Australia in two weeks and I am beyond excited.

I feel a bit like Elton John on a two year farewell tour though with a farewell dinner in Madrid with my boss, then she was in NYC and we went to Balthazar and now I am going to eat taco deli with her in Austin next week.

I am juggling so many things: packing, finding a house in Canberra (achievement unlocked), getting rid of stuff (how does a person accumulate so much extraneous stuff in a year?), selling electrical goods.

My friend, Jean, came to stay last weekend.  We did a lot of tourist stuff: going to Central Park, St John the Divine, Ellis Island and the Met.  The weather was perfect and she is a perfect house guest - we've travelled the world together for work and we get along well.

On Wednesday I took the bus to Westchester county and idly entered the Hamilton lottery as I have done sporadically for several months.  Around lunchtime I got an email that I had won the opportunity to buy a ticket for $10.  I was so excited as was everyone else in the office.  When I got there the next evening, the guy at the box office congratulated me.  I assumed this was a standard response to everyone not realising that row CC was actually the very front row.  It was phenomenal to be so close to the stage that you can see the tiny microphones on the forehead, or the expressions or the twist of the ankles.  Such a phenomenal New York experience.

 

Incongruence Part 2

I did not expect to see a red telephone box in rural Virginia but there it is.

Incongruence

When you're feeling a bit lonely and dislocated, maybe watching Certain Women is not the most cheering of choices.

What was cheering was a few days in DC.  I stayed in a great airbnb with a generous host who recommended I eat at Martins as even though it were a tourist destination had a storied history.  I was surprised when they asked me if I wanted to sit at a booth as I didn't think they would be wasting a booth on a single person but it was a little two person booth which was where Jack Kennedy would have his coffee after mass.  I kind of enjoyed the speech that the owner was delivering to various tables, honed over the years and not open for anyone interrupting his practised lines.  

Secret space

You know when you really luck out on accommodation? I found a well reviewed place in Georgetown but honestly it's twice as good as the pictures and description and the host is phenomenal. Plus bonus points is a very people friendly cat who has become my room mate.

Tiny gratitudes

The office was deserted and me and the 3 boys in the office watched the World Cup on a very slow fox sports connection.  So slow that the guardian live feed was going faster and they made me close my laptop as I was 45 seconds ahead on the penalties.  We made A leave early as we were all anxious she would not get to the airport on time for her flight to Rome.  She cleared her fridge and brought me a mango which I plan to eat tonight.  I left at 5 to get my roots attended to.  I dried my own hair but their brushes are great and I still managed to turn out well groomed.  The light was beautiful as I walked up 5th and I stood at that magic intersection where you can photograph both the Flatiron and the Empire State Building and the Clock tower at Madison Park.  There were lots of dogs in the dog run at Madison Square and a man walking a magnificent hound who I stopped to talk to. The dog looked like a big golden wolf but she really a chow mixed with an American bulldog.  The White House had a sale on and I bought a merino sweater reduced from $195 to $40 and felt very pleased with myself.  It is a soothing shop.  I am heading to DC in the morning and downloaded something from Netflix to watch while I am away.  I am not planning on taking my computer so stand by for phone blogging.  Even a speeding ticket which caught up with me from South Australia can't dampen my good mood.

A map of the heart

My sister, the walker, is suspicious of GPS.  Instead, she relies on ordnance survey and her bookcase in the spare room was stuffed with walking maps.

It was blistering again today.  No-one seemed to be much interested in working with a deserted office.  The muzak in the background was the Bee Gees and Joy Division - such a bizarre office mix.  I still didn't end up leaving until nearly 6.30 as I had a call with a foreign land and then the kid called me on her way to work.  She sounded upbeat again which makes me happier.  When I got off the subway I didn't feel like going home so I walked up to the park for a bit and sat on a bench.  Green thoughts in  a green shade.  

One more day until I have 5 days off.  Bliss.

 

Melting

It's blisteringly hot in the city at the moment but at least it's kind of empty as so many people have gone away for the whole of the 4 July week.  This car was outside one of the bars on 55th street as a promotion when I walked home from the subway the other night.  It was so joyfully full of lemons and yellow flowers and everyone was stopping to take photos of it.

Yesterday, I walked down to the river and sat on a bench.  The river was full of kayakers which is not my thing at all (ever since that terrible experience in Margaret River where the father of my children had a full on melt down and I swore I would never get in a kayak or canoe again). I read my book and drank my water and enjoyed the afternoon.

Sunday morning, I went to see Leave No Trace which was perfectly wonderful.  It's the same director as Winter's Bones and again has a break out young actor in Thomasina Harcourt Mackenzie.  I don't often recommend stuff as I know everyone's tastes are personal but I urge you to see this as it is so perfectly hopeful.

 

Waylaid

Many miles have been covered in the past couple of weeks.  Zurich was a pleasant surprise.  We were staying at a hotel in a new industrial district but the trams were super cheap and super efficient.  We ate dinner at the legendary Kronenhalle.  It was utterly charming (albeit pricey even by Swiss standards) and the wine pours were on the teensy side but the food was delicious and the art work was amazing.  We sat under a Chagall drawing.  I'd have taken a photo of the Miro on the way out but it seemed a bit rude with a family of 6 sitting there.

I headed to London on the Wednesday night and my saintly sister and her husband picked me up from Heathrow and drove me to their new home in Dorset.  My sisters excel at providing excellent guest facilities, comfy beds, good bedside books and generous pours.  My sister has had two knee reconstructions but is an avid walker and public transport user.  She weekly takes the bus to a nearby town and walks the eleven miles home and just walked across Scotland with her two friends she has known for 40 years.  I admire everything about her.  We walked to town and then later walked up where we could see a sweep of high end beach huts and the edge of the Isle of Wight.  After so many decades of looking at it across the Solent, it was a surprise to see its western end and chalk stack of the Needles.

The weather was surprisingly hot and I stupidly got a sun burnt nose and forehead.  We sat in the garden a lot and drank tea and ate lots of coffee and walnut cake.

I spent the weekend in London with ganching which also involved sitting in the garden and cake and dog shows and hot weather and a modicum of walking.

Madrid was even hotter but I spent a lot of it inside.  I didn't eat nearly enough jamon but I did meet some excellent people from Morocco, Turkey, Romania and Brazil.  I also sat through some sessions where I learned some really useful things on the science of happiness and negotiation.  All excellent.

Now I am back in NYC and it is baking.  Going for walks without Charlie is weird.  

 

 

 

Cuckoo

I'm heading to Zurich tonight, where I have never been.  It has taken ages to pack since I seem so out of practice but I am totally going with a blue/green palette.  I have to be in Madrid the week following so I am going to the UK for the in-between.  It seems like the weather is going to vary 10 degrees so I am totally going for the layered approach.

I have some people staying while I am away but I've still needed to clean the fridge and deal with the laundry and change my sheets but at least I know I've set a benchmark for how tidy the place should be.