travelling and PMc.

Okay, now it really gets crazy. Tomorrow morning, my 3 Belgian tenants, plus 4 of their friends, arrive to take possession of my house. The 4 are just here for the weekend, the others will remain until May 16. They wanted the house for 3 months, I wanted to rent it for 6 weeks, they won.

So tomorrow, after showing them around and introducing them to the poor crabby cat, who will not be happy, I dash to the airport and land in Florida, to stay for a week in my mother's little condo. Just me, many "New Yorkers" and other books and papers, and a bathing suit. Next week I return to move directly into my basement suite, which I'm subletting from my tenant who leaves for Cuba that day. I remain down there, surfacing periodically to wander like a ghost through my kitchen - joke, melodrama, I'm leaving almost everything up here and will surface constantly - until I go to visit my mother in mid-March and then leave for Europe. One night in Paris to recouperate, then the TGV to Lynn and Denis in Montpellier, then nearly a week's writing retreat with Isabel Huggan in her farmhouse north of Montpellier, then Lyon for 2 days, then England, then Paris.

And then April 25 I return to move back into the basement until my tenants vacate and my daughter gives birth. Could this be a more tumultuous end of winter and beginning of spring? Yes, because my mother is also making several serious decisions about a possible heart operation, and I'm also planning my paperback book launch in New York. And I have a cold.

Otherwise, all is calm, all is bright. It's good to get out of your comfort zone. Even if it's only as far as the basement.

Great sadness - I did not know my Paul was going to be on the Grammys, so I didn't watch, and now can't find it on-line. And then a friend wrote to tell me about her McCartney experience, copied below. I could have been consumed with mad jealousy, but I am mature and was not.

That's a lie. I am consumed with jealousy. She sent the program, also below. It's so delicious, it defies belief.

A friend and client called us about 6 weeks ago to ask if we would like to attend the 'Musicares' benefit concert honouring Paul McCartney in LA. This concert takes places every year, 2 nights before the Grammys. They choose to honour an icon from the music world, and then a bunch of other music icons get up to sing the songs of that person. Then the honouree typically joins the concert as well.

Our friend not only had tickets, he had VIP tickets. So of course we said yes. As it turns out, our seats were at the very front of the house with nothing but air between us and the stage. Many celebrities were in attendance, in addition to those who were performing.

There was a very small reception for the "VIP" group of about 150 people. And guess who came to our reception? Paul!! He was very nice, not in a rush, and moved through our group with ease. My experience of meeting him was comprised of a handshake and the exchange of a few words…. and it was a real pleasure and a thrill! He was fully engaged and seemed to be enjoying the process. In 'real life,' he is fairly slight in stature (max 5'9" and slim), and looks great.

We proceeded to the dining room, where Paul and his group were seated at a table just a few over from ours… Paul, his wife Nancy, Yoko Ono, James McCartney, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Neil Young, James Taylor, Steve VanZandt, Smokey Robinson…

Paul McCartney Musicares Show

Los Angeles - February 10, 2012

Host: Eddie Izzard

Performers

Paul McCartney - Magical Mystery Tour; Junior's Farm

Foo Fighters - Jet

Alicia Keyes - Blackbird

Alison Krauss and Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas - No More Lonely Nights

Tony Bennett - Here, There and Everywhere

Duane Eddy - And I Love Her

Norah Jones - Oh Darling

Katy Perry - Hey Jude

Neil Young and Crazy Horse - I Saw Her Standing There

Sergio Mendes - Fool on the Hill

Coldplay - We Can Work It Out

James Taylor - Yesterday (with Diana Krall on piano)

Diana Krall - For No One (with James Taylor and Joe Walsh on guitar)

Paul McCartney - My Valentine; I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter (aka Kisses on the Bottom); 1985 (with Joe Walsh and Dave Grohl on guitar); Golden Slumbers; Carry That Weight; The End

Would I have liked to be there? Is the pope - wait, what is he again, German? Anyway, the answer is a heart-stopping yes. Ah well, a girl can dream. And a Happy Valentine's Day to you too.