… after a long summer… On Tuesday afternoon, on September 23rd around 1:30 pm, much to our cat’s joy, we returned home at last: from Spain, the Honeymoon, from Burning Man, from everything. At this point it is not so much a blur as a whirlwind: In a nutshell about the size of a large coconut we left for Burning Man on the 22nd of August to set up McLightenment, our funded art project. That went like a non-stop drive/sleep/drive/sleep rotation til Reno where we all melted into a good nights sleep. The next day we are finally getting out of Reno at sunset and getting camp set up in the dark. The next day is camp and the next day is set up of project/kiosk/spiritual take-out drive-thru restaurant. And then Burning Man and dust storms and people and parties and walking and riding and playing and sleeping and, well, everything. And then we take it down. And then we skee-daddle on home, dust covered and worn, throw everything into garage, get rental vehicles detailed and returned, do some laundry, get a tad bit of sleep and get up and out and on a plane two days after returning. The plane lands at JFK in NYC and we visit a friend in Brooklyn, spend the night and, the next day, go to MOMA and view Dali and Film exhibit, including his film made with Walt Disney in the 50’s. Eat some food, grab our things and out the door on a train to Grand Central station, pause a moment to appreciate the architecture, this most hallowed of all of America’s train stations and buy a ticket for Milford to visit my family including those who couldn’t make it to our wedding and more specifically my sister and grandmother, and we show up late but that is to be expected. Visit with my parents in evening and next day they have planned a post-wedding reception for Violet and I for all the family who couldn’t make it to our wedding in Malibu a couple months before. Lots of people! I do not freak out which is good. Nor does Violet. Kudos to her! If  I’d been her, I might’ve been freaking out. Her family’s nuts! The next day we chill then go visit my sister and her family (newborn baby and another little one) at the house they’ve been pouring all their energy into. The next day, Monday, we are on a train to a bus to a plane that whisks us to Amsterdam where we catch another plane to Barcelona. Royal Dutch Airline reminds us what planes in the states used to be like: meals and movies, warm napkins to wash your hands, free wine and the steward seems genuinely sorry that he has no ginger ale for my bourbon… Ah the good ol’ days…