9/10/11 departure

And so my adventure starts… after days of lists, and more lists, and endless minutes working my way through computer-‘assisted’ call networks to cancel subscriptions, convert to on-line subscriptions, explanations, discussions… [an example – I thought I would try to save some trees by simple cancelling my hard copy of the New Yorker while converting to the iPad version. But no. Either I get both or I cancel my subscription and resubscribe, for a lot more money, to the iPad version. So my housesitter Natalia will be introduced to the New Yorker. I tried to explain to the young woman on the phone that it reminded me of the diner scene in Five Easy Pieces – which I just found on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wtfNE4z6a8 - where Jack Nicholson wants toast with his omelette tries to order toast… when told that he’s not allowed any substitutions, he orders a chicken salad sandwich on toasted bread, hold the mayo, hold the lettuce… and hold the chicken salad]. 

But all the petty details aside, during the past few weeks I’ve been savoring Eugene, in all its heat, feasting on fresh veggies, acquainting myself with my beautifully renovated bathroom (thanks, in particular, to Ken and Sabina – see photos), and mostly just enjoying all my wonderful friends and family. And so I keep reminding myself that in this electronic age, adventures are easily shared, friends are a Skype or email connection away, and hopefully I can bridge my Eugene and Bristol worlds in positive ways. Hence this blog, which I have decided to try as an alternative to my traditional letter writing mode – something started when I moved to New Zealand in 1977, when letters were the only option, and that my Mom encouraged by offering to be the portal to the rest of the family. And so letters evolved from tiny writing to fill the constrained space of an aerogram to email letters illustrated with photos, which seem to flow naturally into a blog format.