Hi Honeys, I’m HOME!

Yesterday morning's prettier, preflight view.

The uninspiring daytime view from my room

I just woke up to read that Doug Jones won in Alabama!!! To all you sane Alabamians,  

Mega Molto Grazie!

Gotta say, coming home to one less moronic, bullying, American Talibanist in government feels awesome. Maybe we really will beat Trump and his Republican Party-before-country, treasonously greedheaded, inhumane fucking asswipes yet!

A friend on Facebook wrote:

I'm happy tonight because a bigot who got banned from a shopping mall for harassing young girls didn't get elected to congress.

If we have to lower the bar any more we're gonna need a shovel.

Yeah brother, tell it.

Back at my vaca though – I have questions for meself. On the flight back yesterday, I was in search of a realistic, balanced attitude about this odd trip. Had I known the vaca would turn out as it did, would I still have come?

Probably not. I DID make the best of the stunning and wholly unexpected, unfortunate situation. I saw some great art, had a few fabola walks around a town I very much like and people watched in a few cool joints. I proved to myself that YES, I can travel on my own again despite wobbliness and that no-hearing dealio. Being away from home, out of the 24/7 horror show news cycle here in the U.S., having a low key getaway was what I was into and up for. That’s precisely what I got so good/good, right?

the comfy bar at Madigan's near my hotel

Why the frownies? I could’ve had all that without spending the big, BIG buckos or being away from my cozy nest and kitten for a full week.

Had I known I’d be on my own for most of the week, I could’ve, instead, motored down to P-town, (which often feels like another wonderful country) for a long, long weekend  – walked the beach, checked out galleries that haven't shut yet for the season and just generally chilled.

I could’ve gone back to Iceland for a few days to float. NOT cheap but SO ideal.

Prince Edwards Island is close-ish AND I've wanted to visit there since I was an Anne of Green Gables loving kiddle.

Still the U.S. but...NYC, fer fuck's sake! I could’ve taken the train (or the radically cheap bus!), bunked at the West Side Y, hit the Whitney, MoMA and Met, shopped, lunched with chums and wandered SoHo galleries.

The week in Dublin was (along with that absolutely incredible B&B in Slane) really lovely. Honest. I’m just upset about all the money I had to very unexpectedly shell out. Now that I’m home, I’ll tighten my belt, do without extras, be careful for a while. Things’ll be OK.

Some holidays are more about learning, growth, evolution and that’s what this one, mostly, was.

What have I learned? I’m shockingly resilient, able to simultaneously see multiple sides to every sitch. I can shift gears on the fly and I know my limits. I didn’t try to pack the max into each and every day – it's OK not to be on the go constantly. And I now know that YES, I can do solo holidays again. I’m deaf and wobbly  but not without resources. In fact, now I’ve a zillion grand ideas for future vaca-on-my-own getaways. Yes, this’ll involve planning and research – forethought. I can so do that.

I also learned that I’m wild about my family – Jen, Oni and Coco. I missed them terribly. A few days away is one thing, a full week is something else entirely. Thank Bast for WiFi and the Internet. I was able to text with Jen daily and she sent me lovely pics of my little princess (who isn't keen on texting. not yet anyway).