sometimes you just have to jump on a plane

And then head to a hotel where your brother is staying where he will speak at a conference later in the week.  And catch him on his day off so you can walk to a mall to go to the Apple store to get a cable for his computer, and then to a seafood restaurant found via Yelp, where you will sit and drink pina coladas, because you are adults and adults do these things when they are without their kids.  And they have the time to catch up and visit with one another.

And you will eat a leisurely lunch and chat for over two hours and then walk back to the hotel and see exotic penguins and flowers on the grounds that you have never seen.  And then you and your brother will sit by the pool and relax some more and have some laughs.

And on the plane home you will marvel at how life happens and one day the boy who hit you with a snowball from the neighbor's yard and teased you sometimes but also helped you get through high school math and stood up for you when you needed a big brother is now a married father of three, and a respected physician published in the New England Journal of Medicine, presenting his research and slowly changing the face of medicine in ICUs all over the world, a great doctor who saves lives every day.

And when you look back you will be glad that for one day the two of you were able to relax together, because you both deserved it and you haven't done this since college.

corner view~exotic

Some shots of our of our local flora and fauna, each one a sculpture in its own right. 

And a quote I liked.  

I did not want to be a tree, a flower or a wave. In a dancer's body, we as audience must see ourselves, not the imitated behavior of everyday actions, not the phenomenon of nature, not exotic creatures from another planet, but something of the miracle that is a human being. - Martha Graham


Have a great week my friends!

cinqueterre, day three

This day involved breakfast in the hotel.  In fact every day in Monterosso involved this and every breakfast involved some form of chocolate, either in liquid form or in pastries.  Then we walked around our town, Monterosso.  In fact we never left our town this day.  We explored little shops, a street market, an old church, a flower shop, the beach, and saw the most incredible massive sculpture of a man carved from natural rock.  (can you see in in the first photo?)

Later in the day after lunch (and gelato) we went for a swim, and then rested til we ate a wonderful dinner out.  I can't remember the meal now, it has been too long.  But I know it was incredible!

corner view~whatever tickles your fancy

These are chetti flowers, or jungle geraniums.  They grow in our back yard, they were here when we bought the house.  It tickles me that they are sacred in India and used in special prayer ceremonies.  And that years ago when someone was visiting our house that she pointed this out to me, because I had no idea.  And that occasionally I get an email asking me to send some for a prayer ceremony somewhere in the U.S.  It just happened this week.  (People are always so appreciative that I can send these hard to find flowers that I have an abundance of).

I was tickled to I talk an an older Indian lady in Washington, DC.  I loved how polite and formal she was.  And she told me all about growing up in India, and how her grandmother and mother would conduct these certain ceremonies with the flowers for up to three days, and how auspiciousness things were in her family after the ceremonies.  Especially since for years the family had had a stream of bad luck, and it wasn't until the ladies began doing the special prayers that things changed.    

So that tickled me.

And it makes me feel like I am living on blessed land.

quiet creative sunday

In which Shawn and Annabel began writing their "novels" and Sky spent all day editing videos and recording music.  I got to poke around with my writing.

cinque terre, day two

On day two we awoke to the sound of the ocean below.  We realized that internet access cost money per half hour, so we spent very little time online.  This was the beginning of the gift of a true vacation for us.  By this day we were making friends with the hotel owner and staff, they helped us plan our day.

We had a wonderful breakfast in the hotel of croissants, pastries, nutella toast, fruit, and juice.  We walked five minutes to the train station and took a train to a neighboring town.  Then we hiked one town over, and then on to another town.  It was hot, and we were so happy to support the sweet local boys in their lemonade sale at the top of this first tiny town.  We then hiked for an hour, gazing at the picturesque ocean below, and were again very happy to stop off and get cold water and stand in the stone doorway of a tiny cafe, resting in the shade for probably too long, but no one seemed to mind.  We found an amazing place, with homemade organic gelato and fresh juices.  Turned out the owner knew our Italian friend who is a famous painter, but who lives near us now, since he left Rome many years ago.

We took the train home and went swimming across the street from our hotel, in the Ligurian Sea.  The kids had fun playing on the large rocks, and jumping into the cool, salt water.  I swam with them, and it was then that I began to really relax, and feel like I was on vacation.  We discovered the seas' treasures, pebbles of all colors, including pink, green, terra cotta, white, black.  Annabel liked the shiny pieces of shell best.  We collected these gems, getting lost in the looking, the water gently lapping at our ankles.  I made the kids pick small ones because I knew they would add a lot of weight to our suitcases.  But that was fine with them.  It was a magical afternoon.

We ate dinner out, in a restaurant where the service was fast and the food was delicious but overpriced.  Our only flop in terms of restaurant choice the entire trip.

And then we had gelato for desert, because you can't have too much while in Italy, according to my husband.

corner view~october

I think a hike in the woods is the perfect thing to do to celebrate October, don't you?

We did just that, with our kids, this past weekend.  Years ago Gary and I spent hours in the forests of northern California, first hiking as a young couple, then when our first baby came, as young parents, hiking with baby in the backpack, and eventually hiking with one toddler, and a baby.

When we moved to the tropics over ten years ago we had to give up the easy access to forests for the beaches.

Both are so beautiful, but I have to admit, being part elf, I am most at home in a forest.  It must be in my blood.  My mother was raised in the countryside of Pennsylvania, and I spent many days there as a child in the woods that bordered her house.  And my childhood home had a small forest on our property!

But that's another story for another day...I will someday tell you about the balance beam my grandfather made for me that we kept outside, in the woods in our backyard.

Meanwhile, happy October to everyone!

cinque terre

I know.  It's like a postcard.  Exquisite blues.  And the colors of the seaside towns!  Like a well designed work of art.  The only uniformity are the green shutters, and that ties everything together.  I wonder if the people in these towns are as connected as their huddled homes appear to be.  Based on the vibes there, I think so.