Lunch with Miriam at a delightful diner near Lincoln Center
Research at the library and finding treasure in an unassuming box
An unexpected dinner with Megan and Lauren
A beautiful sunset on my way home
Streaming a gorgeous one woman musical
Feeling full in my heart
And uplifted in my spirit

What would Abuela and Abuelo think of their nieta
Watching a musical about Imelda Marcos
In New York
Not history for them, but lived events
Turned into a dance party
With flashing lights and a disco ball
And sparkling costumes
And a DJ narrating events
What was it like to watch the paradise they had grown up in
Fall to pieces
(Part of why they left)
What would they think of me leaving Sydney
What would they think of New York?
I wish I could ask them.

​The rain held off and
The smoke stayed away just enough
For us to to take a tiny boat
Cheering and laughing across the waves 
To Governor’s Island
Where a feast was waiting
Overseen by chef Missy Robbins
And Lady Liberty herself, showing off in the setting sun

Cocktails to start, decorated with orange peel rinds
We lounge on deck chairs facing the water
Admiring all the boats passing by and
Talk about life and death and all that is between
We realize it has been twenty whole years since we first met
Tell 18-year-old us
In 20 years you will still be friends
And you both live in New York
And one of you is getting married next week
And one of you just separated from your love
And here you both are

The meal starts with caciocavallo cheese melted over the grill
And smeared onto toasted garlicky sourdough bread
Wine from the islands of Italy is poured like water
And plates adorned food are delivered to the table with breathtaking speed
Charred pickled scallions with calbrian chili and oregano
Artichokes and smashed english peas
Toasted sesame bread - cloud-like in their pillowy softness
Fava beans with grispy garlic and grilled snap peas dressed with salsa verde and capers
Asparagus melting in senape, hazelnuts and brown butter
Spring onions basking in pesto trapanese
Littleneck clams dancing in charred lemon butter
(literal heaven in a clamshell)
Salmon and fennel and branzino and potatoes swimming in lemon garlic butter
Topped off lemon gelato and crunchy but astonishingly soft biscotti
The mmm’s and aaah’s and a little more of that one
And can you pass the other plate please
And the laughter of fourteen strangers
Bonding over food and wine and the fabulous view

How lucky we are to be here
How extraordinary
How fortunate
How delicious
How thankful
We are.

​It was hard to find respite
In the noisy busy city
But I encountered a flock of flamingos
And a leaping cow
And their out-of-place-ness
Made made me smile

I spent nearly two deliriously happy hours
Perusing the exhibit
At the New York Public Library
I didn’t quite see all of it
All the carefully crafted footage
From thousands of performances
Steve Martin and Robin Williams in Waiting for Godot!
Donna Murphy in The King and I!
Audra McDonald in 110 in the Shade!
A Chorus Line!
Sondheim!
What a visionary Betty Corwin was,
What a legacy she left behind and
How lucky we are to have this record.

tonight I met people
who have traveled from cities and towns
across the united states
and from across united kingdom
and beyond
to make a home (even if temporarily)
in new york city
to make art
on page, on stage, on hair
this is a place that thrives on diversity
a place that literally sings and dances
a place that embraces the different
​the weird
the exciting
a place that pulsates with creativity
(and giant rats)
this vibrant difficult wonderful city
and as I went from place to place
with my friend from another world
another lifetime
and navigated the subways
downtown, uptown, across town
I thought about the me from that other world
that other lifetime
that other place
look at us
look at what we’re doing
isn’t it extraordinary?!

happiness is singing in the choir
and sharing food
and sharing stories
and honoring one another’s contributions

Getting to traipse around the city
With my young cousin
Who is now a grown up
And doing astonishing things
The High Line and Chinatown
And the library and Rockefeller
And ice cream in Central Park.

Watching the parade
Wend its way
Through Jackson Heights
All these people
From every walk of life
From every corner of the globe
From young to old and in between
From bankers to students to dancers to drummers
Librarians and social workers and lawyers
And every other profession in between
All the colors of the rainbow
Proudly walking and singing and dancing
Down the street
Love is love is love is love! 

medieval art in manhattan
how strange that I’ve now been to the monasteries
where the art is from
or at least walked past them

the beautiful gardens
the cool stone
the quince tree sprouting fruit
the heavenly scented roses and the bell shaped floxgloves
evidence of fairy revels