HOMEWARD BOUND.....

Well, maybe New York with five kids wasn't the best laid plan and now I am obsessing over the flight home. It's like going to be two days or something of commuting! Is that child abuse? Anyway, I'm in New York, I love love love New York. I even love the grimy basement of our apartment block where I've just been doing the laundry, little bit crime scene potential (Mum insisted on coming down there with me), it just so New York! But I do admit the last three days have had their ups and downs. It was a pretty busy and emotional week of goodbyes in Santa Barbara. I was dreading those last few days of school and was avoiding eye contact with everyone but still managed to weep all over the place. That school is so wonderful, I can't imagine I have done my last drop off there. Maybe not. 

So we arrive in New York, fairly late, bit hungry and tired, only to discover that the apartment is booked for six not eight (Beryl is with us), and so Daryl, Lucinda and Phemie have to stay somewhere else because it is illegal to have so many people in an apartment this teeny. Anyway, blah blah, all got sorted and somehow we are all back here together and it's legal (weird), and we have gotten used to the faint smell of gas and I would actually go as far as to say that is a cosy and I love the noise (really), and lying in bed looking out at all the other thousands of apartments around us. I really really love New York. Then of course there is the ice skating at Bryant Park. When I glide onto that ice my tired whining children are a distant sound, drowned out by the whoosh of blade on ice. And after a few hours they too managed to stand and then to skate so we went back again today because we all agree (finally), that it is the best thing to do here. 

But I'm starting to feel homeward bound and yes I'm quoting Simon and Garfunkel  but then I am in New York! There really is someone playing the sax under a stone bridge in Central Park so the music drifts up and through the trees that are those absolutely perfect autumn shades. It really is just like in the movies. But home is just a week a week away and I can feel the shift and I think the girls need to be there. But in the meantime, Mum and I look forward to our glass of red around the little kitchen table at the end of the day and tomorrow we will meet Greg and Sam up and FAO Swartz (toy store), and then we head off to Boston to visit our dear friends and I can't wait to see them. So there is still adventure and travel but soon there will be our home and familiarity. 

Photos to come....