aloha

Dear friends, I'm home and my to-do list is long. The sky is grey but it's mild out there in Toronto; there are birds, not noisy bright tropical ones but noisy brown sparrows and the occasional cardinal. There is green, not lush thick overwhelming green but green nonetheless - no snow, no frost even, just a sharp wind - not like December at all, really. Fine by me. The house is in great shape thanks to Carol; the Xmas cards have started to come in.

The trip home was seamless - a great flight to Vancouver, where I stayed in the luxury of the airport hotel since we landed at nearly midnight - oh, king-sized bed and huge bathtub, I could get used to you. Chris came in the morning with my big suitcase and we walked around the terminal, where a group of adorable local children were singing and playing - yes! - ukeleles, just like the children at the concert in Honolulu:

We walked on a trail by the airport and though the roar of jet engines is never far away, still, my friend admired nature as if we were deep in the woods:

The airport itself, though it doesn't have an open central courtyard full of plants and trees, does have tons of gorgeous First Nations art, very impressive:

A perfect flight home - an empty seat between me and a lovely young woman from Brazil; I watched Bridge of Spies which is a very good film - notable, again, for the powerfully understated performance of Mark Rylance, who gives nothing away, working beside the solid openness of Tom Hanks - I wonder how they enjoyed working together. And I read "Ru" by Madeleine Thien, bought in the Vancouver airport - a beautiful, haunting book about being a refugee, very timely.

We landed right on time at 9 and I was home by 10.15, overjoyed to stand in my own living room and sleep in my own bed. I miss the soft air and water and birds, I miss my friends Penny and Chris and Bruce, am glad to have had a visit, am glad to be here. And now - laundry, groceries, a Christmas tree.

Onward.