Oh So Pretty...

...and such a Big Fat hassle! Okay, so we left the in-laws house last night at 6:30 for our 9:10 flight home. It's about a 45 minute drive, a two hour flight at the most (1 hour 40 with a tail wind), and 20 minutes from the airport here to our front door. The taxi dropped us home at a couple of minutes before 3 a.m. this morning! It took us FOUR HOURS to travel the 34 miles from the in-laws to the airport. Makes one feel not-so-affectionate about snow. It also makes one feel oh-so-thankful to wake up to bright sunshine outside my window this morning...so good to be home!

But back to last night, cuz I'm not quite done bitchin' about it yet....So those four hours?--3+ of them were spent crawling or at a standstill on the freeway, because you see Seattle does not know how to do snow. It doesn't happen often enough to necessitate a fleet of snow removal equipment, nor for people to learn how to operate a moving vehicle under such conditions--Buffalo it ain't (and thankgawd, or I would NEVER go there). We passed many cars abandoned at the side of the road, and one, come to think of it, abandoned right in the middle of the interstate, plus an articulated bus jackknifed and another off in the ditch. We listened to the traffic reporting on the radio as we crept along, and they were saying things like "the worst traffic situation in a decade." Sweet.

Ready for the wacky end of the story? We still made our flight! It was like angels delayed it just for us (or maybe it was the snow). We checked in past 10:30 for a 9:10 flight, and still made it...as we were approaching the gate they were announcing the "final call" for flight such and so. On we went and squeezed ourselves into two of the only-remaining middle seats. They de-iced the plane, and off we went.

Home is a good thing. And this would NOT be the time to ask if we are traveling again at Christmas. If you insist on asking such a thing I will run screaming from the room with my hands clamped firmly over my ears--think "The Scream" in motion.

My New Passion: painting!

Guest Room

Here are some shots of our current guest room occupants, Scott and Hilary. They are family who are also friends.

More Shanghai scenes.

HOLY COW
street scene from India

"There's nothing clever about dying young."


I don't know who said that, but it is certainly true. It is fresh on my mind because a week and a half ago a friend of mine took her own life at 30-something. Some think it was accidental, but either way, she swallowed some stuff and never woke up. No note. Very un-clever. Devastating. Incomprehensible. I want to believe it was accidental. That would be much easier on everyone, especially her parents. Your child taking their own life must be the worst thing ever. Ever. EVER.

So today was the viewing. I went, partly in order to believe she's actually gone. Almost immediatley upon entering the funeral home, tears sprang up, taking me by surprize in their early arrival and abundance. It's not like we were best friends; we had only known one another for a year or so...we bonded over shared battles with depression. I guess I cry easy, especially around something so frickin' SAD. She tried so hard.

One of her sweet aunties was there, greeted me almost as soon as I entered, and was so kind. She took my arm and steered me to the Dad, who gave me a big bear hug though we'd never met, then auntie said "Amy's back here" and led me down the hall to the chapel room where she lay. There she was, looking like herself. Except she wasn't there. I kept expecting to see her move her hand, or see her chest rise and fall with breath. But the breath is all gone. We don't notice the movement of life until it isn't there. She was still. Completely still. There, but gone.

Look closely in the mirror of this auto-rickshaw we hired in India.

Another scene in India.

More images from Bangalore, India.

The Great Wall of China, Badaling section.

Houhai lake in Beijing

Our guide Jackie said this is a "typical" home for Beijing.

The rules of this bar are clearly posted outside...and it was full of westerners.

America exports only the best to Beijing.

It seemed to always be this crowded in Shanghai. Perhaps it is because there are 17 million people who live there?...and then people like us who are visiting. Yikes.

Knock offs in Shanghai are not limited to watches and purses. Craig thinks "The Colonel" looks like The Chairman (Mao).

Culture Shock
...and yet, after the initial "discomfort" it actually isn't so bad...it eliminates that desire for seat covers anyway.

Oops, double posted the same photo...here's one you haven't seen yet (hopefully). Night shots of Shanghai from our hotel window.

Craig and me sweating in Shanghai

HOME AT LAST

Yesterday morning (local time) we arrived safely back at SFO. Oh, home sweet home. I have only so much travel equity in me, and mine was spent, and then some. On our bodies, it was the wee hours, so I climbed in my bed at 11:00 am, and mostly stayed there, save a few wanderings out for peanut butter on bread, until 8am this morning--Saturday.

I wanted to post much more frequently during the trip, but in India and China I was not allowed much access to blogspot...oh well. I'll be posting more in the next days, showing pix from our adventures. Thankful to have gone, thankful to be home safe.

True street art.

Partial view from our hotel room.

He granted permission...for a small donation.