mothers on the verge

I took The Rabbit and headed out to California for some fresh air this summer. Just a couple of weeks in Los Angeles (and yes, I can hear your all snickering that Los Angeles is hardly the bastion for fresh air. Save it.) For a Californian trapped in New York, anything on the West screams fresh to me. And after nearly a year sitting in my particular concrete jungle, I am often ready willing and gnaw at something to get off the island. That's one reason I think the Fresh Air Fund is pretty cool. Yes, I'm about to hawk about the group. But I think it's a worthwhile organization -- and I love that they basically get kids out of the city and give them that space and time to sit under a tree and stare off at clouds, without a police copter hanging over their building until 3 am. (That's another post for another day..) Even though it's August, the Fresh Air Fund is STILL looking for some host families to offer more children a summer break. And parents can still sign up ...

Dear Kate, Dubai. Still wrapping my head around your living there. Such another world, and yet I imagine the constants are true — children go to school (!), families try to meet for dinner, light switches turn on and off, people Google. I'm imagining the mood there has to be better than in London. Certainly better than in New York. It's as if the layer of cushion that everyone had wrapped themselves in after the election, following Obama's inauguration, has finally worn. New York has never been known as the city of warmth and joy — but it feels even darker still. The economic reality has finally kicked in, and as stores shutter, as the neighbor loses her job, people are biting at each other. I'm just waiting for the 'better you than me' attitude to appear. I'm afraid it actually will. I see it so keenly in the moms — it's quiet, but there. Ice-skating outings with young girls and their mothers, now means a brown-bag lunch instead of a bistro after for ho...

Just returned from a three week vacation from New York, my regular life, and still feel like hibernating...will give the highlights soon....