Some snippets from the last two weeks:

  • My access to the internets was iffy. I could get on from my phone but not my computer or vice versa but never for long. I had little access at all while on Long Island from either one.
  • Flights are beginning to make me ill again. Actually, any transportation where I’m not in control of the machine (i.e., my car) are making me ill. I had severe motion sickness as a kid and it seems to be returning. Planes, trains, and automobiles were bringing it up in spades and I was resorting to my old friend, Dramamine.
  • Boston is an amazing city. I loved all of the little neighborhoods. And the people…very friendly. Everywhere I turned, someone smiled or said hello. I loved that.
  • Wish I had my camera out for this: Men in Boston sit on stoops – talking, beer (or coffee) in hand. It was so cliche that it made me laugh. But even better: outside cafe tables with construction workers (with yellow construction hats on), laid back and sitting in a very macho pose (a line of maybe 10 of them). A woman in a short black skirt walks by. All ten heads turn. It was classic.
  • Troy, NY is a beautiful town. It feels miles away from anything but is so near to Albany, I could walk there. The revitalization of downtown is making this one of those towns that everyone would want to live in.
  • RPI is amazing. The people I met there are amazing. And they want me. They asked me to apply – for this fall. They have a position open. Ack!!!
  • While RPI is amazing, it is also 3000 miles from my family. Four years away. Willow would almost be a teenager. Kooper wouldn’t know me. Is four years too long to be away from the kids? Will they forget me?
  • NYC isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I’m not sure why people love it so much. It’s dirty. It smells. There are too many people. The subway system is confusing and not at all user-friendly like any of the other cities I’ve visited (D.C., London, Boston, S.F., etc.).
  • Concrete jungles are ok for a short period but I wanted to get back to nature. Paved hiking trails are not my idea of “getting back to nature” and when I can hear traffic from them, it’s really not.
  • Fog is beautiful and photographing in fog is amazing. Why people don’t like to go out in fog and rain, I’ll never know. Fewer people and more nature welcomed me when the fog and rain came out. I got to see Jones Beach without many people. Very nice.
  • Hanging out with family is awesome. I love my cousin and her husband is wonderful. I felt at home in their home.
  • Coming back home is even better. Dakota is glued to my side and I’m loving on him, right now, in bed. Does it get any better?