I left on January 26th for a two week plus business trip to the US. During my first week away, Tess' parents - Blake and Maureen, the latter referred to as "Mo" by the kids and others as MoZiLLa - arrived for a visit. Once again, here is our guest blogger, MoZiLLa!
We were so impressed by Oasis Airlines and recommend it highly. So pristine - even the bathrooms were sparkling. Not like Air Canada where both of us at times have used bathrooms that had a good inch of ..... er… urine on the floor in the corner? Quite gross.
We took the airport express into town and there was Tess with Gary and the van. We were not expecting her/them so this was a lovely surprise. Gary and Marianne are delightful and already we are very fond of them. The children are so beautiful and we see maturing differences since the summer. Conversations are 'deeper' and fuller; their speaking is progressing per expectations; their energy is amazing! They are very loving towards us. I had a grandmother's dream yesterday when JJ, who had coughed a lot in the early morning hours, was sagging after lunch. He and I cuddled on Blake's and my bed - now a sofa - and I watched him succumb to the arms of Morpheus, all in my arms. Sigh. Sigh.
The weather was nasty today (Saturday) and we had a slow and lovely morning - Charles is in the States. Tess gave Gary and Marianne the day off, bless her, as there really was no reason not to. We all eventually got dressed, took a cab and headed to Cyberport - a state-of-the-art mall, where the kids could run and run. It was so empty. Then we had a bit of lunch..... the state of the floor under the table and chairs by the time we were finished was amazing!! On our way home we stopped at a really nice children's toy store and each child was allowed to purchase a small item which they then played with upon returning home. JJ is now resting again as he really isn't feeling great.
Blake and I have been in bed by 8 p.m. each night since we arrived! Not only in bed but asleep! Seb seems to be up at 6 a.m. these days so am trying to keep things quiet in the early morning so that Tess can rest up.
It is a joy to be here, needless to say. Haven't got one thing planned for the Philippines, where B;ake & I hope to escape for a few days, so that should be interesting!
First day here we were in The Lanes! (A very popular shopping area in between buildings in Central/downtown that has been there for decades and the HK government is trying to close.) Such a fun place. In this city of 8 million we walked straight into Sandi while in the Lanes. Can you believe it? As we walked in the 1p.m. crush (lunch is at 1p.m. in the professional world in HK) on a major thoroughfare downtown Blake and I looked at each other, shook our heads and tried to assimilate the differences in our world in the last 24 hours. Yesterday we wandered up to Chi Foo where there is a shopping mall - more of an old world look and feel to it. They even have a Wet Market there and of course we wandered through. The smells at times are really pungent and more than I care to sniff! And when we came across loads and loads of live chickens in cages and saw 'the chopping block' I told Blake I wouldn't be lingering there and moved on smartly. Yug. The other thing that caused my stomach to quiver was seeing eels in buckets - they look too much like snakes and the combination of that along with their impending death.... well, you get it.
Tra la, that is it to date. Much love to you and keep well.
M xox
Imagine running into Sandi! But somehow it doesn't really surprise me… She has such huge spirit and touches so many of us – even, for me, mostly through stories – that of course she would be there. Were you thinking about her at the time?
Posted by: Penny | February 14, 2008 at 02:57 AM
p.s. I’m curious, did you happen to see anything like this? http://pennysblog.cottagelife.com/?p=115
Posted by: Penny | February 14, 2008 at 03:00 AM