Lucy flew out to meet us in VT to spend some time with family and pick up Marigold. Those of you who know Lucy will know what fun she is to have around ... I have been amazed at her ideas for creative activities with Lars, Roxcy and Marigold. Every day she had a new idea for them ... making crowns for the girls, dressing up the letter 'L' and 'R' for Lars and Roxcy's bedroom doors, the best was the tinfoil hats for the 'eclipse', they reminded me of the movie 'Signs', remember that scene where Joaquin Phoenix comes out of the cupboard under the stairs wearing a tinfoil hat thinking it would protect him from the alien power. She gave so much of herself ... to everyone! When she was not spending creative time with the children she was rearranging Mike & Chris' fridge. I forgot to mention in my last post that Lucy found a solar eclipse identity chart on Tarot.com, linked to our birthdates ... Pete = Seeker of Divine Passion (makes sense), Liz = Angel of Profound Truth, I like it! Mike = the 'oracle of Cosmic Strength, he is the only oracle in our family, do you remember the woman oracle in The Matrix? Alice = Guardian of Cosmic Compassion (I think she will like that), Mack = the Guardian of Spiritual Wisdom. I remember being totally into Linda Goodman Sun Signs at one point in my life ... Lucy took me right back there.
Chris' brother and sister in law live in Windsor VT as well. After the Charlottesville protest march and killing these posters went up on their lawn, 'We the People'. I was shocked when I saw the photo of the car being driven into the crowd in Charlottesville and people being thrown in the air. I do not understand that level of hate against a person because of their race or culture. I have reflected a lot on my experience growing up in NZ ... for many years ChCh was a 'white' city ... but over the last 30+ years I have seen a real difference in the cultural diversity of our city and also in my Church community. I have thought about how this cultural diversity has influenced my perspective now. My exposure to Te Reo Maori and my own country and culture has had a huge influence throughout my life. Even within my own family the diversity of cultures has really opened me up to difference on many levels ... Maori, Fijian, American and Kiwi. I feel the richer for it.
Lars was baptised the last week we were in VT. That was a big event for our family. Lars was pretty excited about it, he wrote out his programme and Lucy did the art work. I felt so proud of our family ... Lucy working hard to help create something memorable for Lars. Every family has their 'thing' that brings them together, it can be many things, not just one. Our belief has been something that has brought our family together over the years, along with many others.
Marigold, the Ruler of Radiant Pleasure, spent an afternoon jumping of this diving board, ... she was so much fun to watch. There was the odd moment of anxiety when my heart was in my throat as she jumped a little too close to the end of the diving board, all I could see was blood in my mind. Thank goodness that did not happen. Occasionally she would preface her job with 'Mum, look at me.' There is no sense, in this 2 and half year old, of the incredible fearlessness, bravery and magnificence of what she was doing ... all she wanted to do was jump, and she did time and time again.
Roxcy, Seeker of Cosmic Peace ... I think these names are so cool, also joined in the jumping of the board activity ... after this jump she took of her life jacket and spent the rest of the afternoon flying of the diving board. Facing her fear and doing it anyway.
Our last stroll around the lake ... I think these colours are stunning. Mike and Chris live in paradise ... I do not think there could be a more perfect spot.
We drove Lucy down to Boston to catch her flight back to Utah, while there we spent a couple of hours trying on bridal gowns for her wedding party in January. She tried on some beautiful outfits and looked stunning in most of them! There are so many beautiful bridal outfit ideas now ... I found myself wishing I was getting married again so that I could wear one of these beautiful creations. In between fittings Marigold spent her time jumping off this box that Lucy would stand on. This little girl is definitely a keeper.
We had such a fun time walking around Boston after dropping Lucy and Marigold off at the airport. Boston is an amazing city ... beautiful! I googled hot chocolate cafes before we arrived and came up with one that looked worth a visit, so we did and had a really enjoyable hot chocolate each, I would come back here again. We walked around the shops and then went to see Dunkirk on an iMax screen. I loved Dunkirk ... Christopher Nolan is one of my favourite directors. The music score was beautiful ... if you go, listen for the ticking clock ... I found it stressful.
We stopped in at a cafe for a bite to eat before our movie. I love cheese toasties ... I remember reading what makes a good cheese toastie somewhere, The Zest in The Press in ChCh I think. The tips I remember are to use a combination of cheeses, the more cheese the better and do not put tomato in, they get too hot and make the cheese toastie hard to enjoy. I had a combination of cheeses and no tomato ... delicious!
We heard, then saw this Ferrari driving along the road ... it sounded divine ...
Back to school for another year ... Lars, Ruler of Magnificent Compassion ... and his Dad heading of to school. It seems like only yesterday when Pete and I were doing the same thing with Mike, walking him to school. Mike does not fully realise what this really means yet, but to us that know, it is the beginning of the end!!
Our goodbyes until December ... so hard to leave these two behind. We have had such an adventure with them. Every time I say goodbye to one of our family my heart physically hurts, leaving 11 of them behind is really painful ... not much I can do about it though.
We arrived safely at LAX ... the Tom Bradley terminal is quite nice once you get through security. The light and high studded ceiling is relaxing. There is plenty of shopping for those who can afford it at the end or beginning of their flight. Some good eating spots ... Sash and Jordan recommended a visit to Umami Burger, so we did, probably the most expensive burger I have had in a while but very nice. While standing inline at the check in counter for Air NZ we met up with Virginia Johnston ... such a small world. We spent a very pleasant few hours chatting, eating and relaxing with her before our flights, she was catching the 9.30pm and we were catching the 10.30.
We found the ambience of our terminal very relaxing ... there was great live music playing and changing screens with different images ... I was mesmerised by them ... they moved so gracefully. After we said our goodbyes to Virginia we hung out listening to the band and chilling some more ... little did we know what was ahead. Our 10.30 flight was cancelled, delayed by 12 hours ... I am fully aware that travel is a first world privilege so I was not about to complain, we just went with the flow. These moments are a real test of character and I find it really fascinating to watch how people respond ... but 5 hours later feeling really tired and Air NZ having stuffed up our accommodation I was no longer feeling chill about it all. I just wanted to go to sleep anywhere. We did meet some really interesting people and had some interesting chats that made our experience all the more bearable. At 1.30am we were in a very nice hotel room and sleeping for 4 hours ... up early the next morning to get down to the airport to go through the whole checkin procedure again!!! The plane boarded about 45 minutes late ... then sat on the runway for about an hour, waiting for the last passenger. This flight will go down in our minds as not to be forgotten ... for all the wrong reasons. The processes at the US end around the cancellation and taking care of passengers was a disaster ... I would like to think that the NZ end would be a little more organised and pro active. I am not sure ... We are back on NZ soil and heading back to ChCh ... feeling a little nervous about how life will be back at 29a and what pressures will creep in on us, distance is great for a different perspective on life. I am really looking forward to spending time in our new kitchen ... yoga, lots of yoga, seeing Alice and sleeping in my bed... for a long time.
