Island Time

We're back! Actually, we've been back for 10 days now, but the weather has been perfect, so I've been extending my vacation. Found a perfectly gorgeous beach a little north of town. Have gotten almost halfway through Gravity's Rainbow to the point where I'm hooked enough I'll finally read it all the way through. Explored a chunk of the walking trail that, at low tide, you can take from Judge's Bay (near our house), all the way to Mission Bay (more than 5 miles east of the city). Drove by myself (after all the driving I did on holiday, I'm pretty comfortable with the left-side thing now) to the wonderful Takapuna market. Got oodles of farm fresh peaches, plums, nectarines, cucumbers, beans, etc. Spent an afternoon cooking fresh tomato sauce and making a Persian eggplant stew with some of the market produce.

Haven't been returning e-mails.

Haven't been researching topics for my master's program.

Haven't even been posting to the blog.

I have been reading about all the winter storms that hit the Midwest, the Northeast, even Europe. I truly do not miss the chance to drive for an hour to get less than 2 miles from home. However, there was a lovely picture in the NYT of a Boston neighborhood, covered in snow and looking quietly crystalline, which gave me a whisper of nostalgia for the sheer beauty of a big snow. And I always liked the way, when there's a blizzard raging, life slows down. Takes a pause. Even comes to a halt. Everyone stays inside, stranded in their homes, their islands of warmth. Things that were supposed to get done just have to wait. It's the midwesterner's version of island time.

So maybe that's my excuse. I'm in solidarity with the poor, snow-stranded souls of the North.

Cheers,
Sandie