On Holidays!

It was a long flight, well two long flights really, separated with a sleepover in Narita. When we arrived  at JFK , a burst of madness driven by frugality, made us catch the Sky Train, then the subway, into Penn station. Not an unpleasant journey in itself, but hard work with all the luggage!  And got our tickets to Albany on the Empire line ( Amtrak) with only a few spare minutes to get a soft drink before boarding the train. So JFK to Schuylerville took another six and a half hours, including Immigration and Customs .

The train journey along the Hudson is always fascinating to me, this time, all  the boats in the little harbours & boat clubs along the way are wrapped tight in plastic;  gigantic boat shaped wraps, protecting the contents from the advancing winter . Patches of snow from last weeks fall, still settled in shady spots, grubby now with the mud along the way.

View from my bedroom , first morning. Hudson Valley

Yearlings 

Our hosts home, just below our cottage

Susie was there to meet us with a big smile  and a new green car .

After dinner she delivered us to  the horse property on which we are agisted  until the English visitors have been and gone. We have a warm & cosy cottage with wonderful views of heaven and earth

Two days have followed with frantic shopping for snow boots , purple fleece gloves, car hire  and a cheap mobile phone service. Now we can begin to feel settled and ready for the round of parties, gallery openings and who knows what that form the life here for Susie and John  .

The weather has been cool, occasionally wet, sunny , and promises to get cold by the weekend. But Wednesday, our first day here, we were in short sleeved t-shirts! Better weather than the day we left Sydney!

We have joined the YMCA for swimming and the first morning there I met a friend I made 3 or 4 visits ago. SHe was a victim of polio as a child, and introduced me to two fellow travellers. I guess Australia did not experience the intensity of that dreadful disease , I know of only one or two  I have met over the forty or more years I have lived in Australia. An illness that leaves a complex legacy for its sufferers.