We're Back!

Wow...we are back. Of course we aren't in our house as it is rented so we are in one
large room at a Residence Inn. Living in such close quarters is definitely an experience everyone should try. We own a home with 4,000 sq. ft. and we are and have been living in
about 400? sq. ft. (of course Telluride is only abouta 1,200 sq. ft.) There is nowhere to go to get away from each other which hasn't been a problem yet but we still have a month or so to go. Let's put it this way...4,000 sq. ft. it ain't!


I look like a bag (really box) lady. I had no summer clothes with me in Tell. or in Paris. They were all boxed up in our storage unit so we dragged a box to the motel. At least they fit, that's a blessing.

Now that we are home what am I grateful for -- ICE. Glorious ICE. No more tepid drinks. I could hop in a bathtub full of ice and just love it. An entire month of no ice and a not so cold refrigerator makes me appreciate all the terrible energy wasting equipment we have here. That is disgusting I know but let me enjoy my fridge and ice for a few more days. Sitting at Starbucks with a friend....(super duper grateful) yes, Abe is my friend but we've done a lot of sitting together. I haven't had anyone else to talk to really and so talking with Silvia and hearing her life tidbits was wonderful. Knowing you HAVE friends is such a wonderful feeling after a month friend deprived. Knowing my way around the area and NEVER having to consult a map, no twisty windy streets to figure out (so romantic when you arrive, such a damn pain in the ass after a month) .....ah, give me a grid any day. Heat....yes, grateful for heat in small doses. Shopping at the grocery store and recognising products and knowing which yogourt to buy, which cheese, which bread.....those are small blessings to be sure but appreciated at the moment. ICE TEA....black and or green...bring it on. I don't even like going to Canada in the summer when they foist sugared ice tea on you...ugh! Being back just means you get it, you know the rules, the social conventions and life is easier for this.



What won't I miss.....beggars on the street with their children knocked unconscious with some kind of drug. Those children don't move. It is broad day light and they are lieing on their mother's laps as if dead...maybe they are dead? ...but the little asthma inhaler next to the mother suggests otherwise. Abe has seen this in India and he was convinced the babies really were dead. I don't hold out a lot of hope that these children live long; I don't believe that their mothers take them home somewhere warm and cosy at night, wake them up and let them run around and shake their sillies out. No, I think these children live in some kind of druggged haze day and night, which probably helps them not be hungry. I also won't miss the dogs with the beggars. I read in one of Obama's books....Americans are more concerned about elephants dieing than the lives of millions of black Africans. That line really struck me because in Paris I did think about all the poor animals starving more than I was concerned with their owners. I'm missing a human sympathy gene perhaps and overdosed on the animal sympathy gene? The poor pups are flea infested, worm laden.....diarrheaing their way along city streets. Sometimes I saw the owners giving the dog some food but in general those beggars aren't looking for food, they are looking for drink. My thought was that a dog is necessary in the night to guard their posessions. By the way, where are OUR beggars? You can't walk down a major street in Vancouver without seeing a junkie dreaming away on a porch or beside a fire hydrant.
In Toronto we have rubbies or alkies begging on the corner for money to get their next drink. Why aren't they down in the theatre district in Houston panhandling. My friend is a psychiatric nurse to the poor and disenfranchised in Houston so I know they exist. Doesn't this seem strange to anyone that they are so invisible. Does it make us feel better?

Anyway, back to Paris. What will I miss....shoes, the glorious shoes at affordable prices. These women are stylin! The teensy tiny stores with the well dressed mannequins. The miles and miles and hours and hours of walking you can do every single day and never have to retrace your steps. I'll miss walking down a street and looking into the alleyway to see a cathedral peeking out. It took two weeks to notice that you've missed it every single time you walked down that road to get your falafel. Picking up a pastry that is so melt in your mouth as to be sinful. Mysore, Linda and Gerald will be missed....this trip gave me new found courage to go to a Mysore class and realise how truly liberating it is to be centred on your own yogic practice within the confines of a living breathing entity...the class. There is an energy that flows through the room that is so uplifting and inspiring; everyone is working and struggling to overcome their own personal obstacles and you get carried along with the current. I will miss walking to the gymn and seeing and hearing yet another protest going on in Place de la Republique. The Leonida chocolate shop will be missed even if I only went in twice and only indulged in four white chocolate cafe creme Manon's in an entire month when I could have gone every day! I'll miss seeing all the children playing in the well used parks, the hawkers selling their wares in the markets, the smell yes just the SMELL of delicious fresh fruit....glorious.

The French are very good at protesting. It seems to be a required skill to claim residency in the country. When Benj, Daniel, Kayla and Lauren came to town we took them out on May 1st, May Day....big socialist holiday. As we walked down the street towards La Bastille, Benj quietly took me aside to let me know that the programme they are all attending, CIE, had specifically told them to NEVER hang around if any political protesting was occurring. This makes sense as large groups of people can suddenly go berserk and things can quickly get out of hand. We were passing bus after bus after bus (say 20 or more) of cops called in to keep an eye on the May Day protests, "manifestation." These cops were carrying what appeared to be a very serious but lightweight gun...looked like a small machine gun to me. Since I felt vaguely responsible for these children and didn't want a conversation with a parent that could go something like this....."well, yes, we could see there were thousands of people gathered protesting various causes...well yes, we knew that it could become dangerous....well, yes, we saw that there were hundreds of police around with big weapons for crowd control and well, yes, we just marched your daughter right into the fray and well, sorry....things didn't turn out so well........because of this potential conversation I stopped to ask a policeman if he felt it was safe for us to go into the Traffic Circle where everything was taking place. Oh yeah, he said, no problem. Well every protest you can imagine was taking place....La Reve Commun (which means Common Dream...but I think was also a play on Greve Commun (United Strike)....by the workers, university students agitating about research being cut in medical fields, the Iranians taking to the street for their current plight, the Tamils loudly and vocifeously yelling out about their cause, environmentalists.....you name it, if you can protest about it they were there. It was a bit unnerving to have so many people in one place but nothing occurred. We saw even more police at the tail end of the thousands of people marching but they seemed calm. Everyone was screaming and yelling but jubilant at the same time; they were being heard. And then the street cleaners came to dust up, wash off, scrub down the streets and it was over.

It is always nice to come home. It was great to go to see Sam tonight and get a hug and a great class...although those sandbags Sam, yikes. Iwas wonderful to meet Rosena in a store today and have a chat. It is nice knowing I have friends out and about to be visited and not feel so socially isolated. Who are we without our social networks?

Anyway, we are home in the land of Texas for a few weeks. Israel looms, desert sands and warm water beckons. Camels wait impatiently for us to arrive and ride/walk to The Great Rift.
How many stars will we see as we camp out overnight in the desert? What will pita taste like cooked on hot rocks....pretty damn good I'm expecting. The Dead Sea is waiting to scoop us almost above the surface so we can float with the greatest of ease. Eilat...a coral reef adventure waiting to happen. It will be wonderful to see Ashleigh reach out and into a new culture in a place she never expected to see. May we create a memory for her that endures for all time.

Of course I have a lead on a Mysore class only two kilometres from our condo. How hard can it be?

In case you are wondering, Abe has a new little computer.