As my small but fiesty usurper said on her own blog a little while back, "When you fly in to [JFK], and it almost seems like the pilot is doing a sight tour of the East River just for you, or you coast through the airspace above Manhattan at night and the city lights look like gold filligree laid on black velvet and the bridges look like diamond tennis bracelets and you just want to cry because no matter how perfect Bra[z]il or the Caribbean or Paris or even Cinncinati may have been to you, you realize it's nothing, nothing's ever, quite like home."
It really is remarkable. No matter where I go, and no matter how happy I am to be there, there's something truly special about my first breath of New York air, my first look at the New York skyline. And yes, I still mean it even when the air is sticky and humid and full of taxi exhaust, and the skyline is limited to a handful of smokers silhouetted against the sun setting behind the AirTrain.
Still and all, none of this is to say that this vacation wasn't the most supremely relaxing week of my life. Now, none of these have been fixed up or cropped or de-red-eyed yet, but I offer up the fruits of my photographic efforts here. When I've had time to sort them all out, I'll do a little slideshow. And you'll sit through it, and you'll like it. But for now, go ahead and rummage around.
I did absolutely nothing except read lots of books, swim, and eat. And once I went horseback riding, on my valiant steed, Silver. (I didn't make that up, he came with the name! Honest!) Apparently my skin was much busier than my brain -- it worked quite hard to darken up for summer, and I appreciate the diligence. So much so, that I offer you a before and after! I look all, like, healthy or something, my sickly winter pallor in full retreat. And that, the Leo in me assures you, is a very very good thing indeed.
Part of me is still very much in Jamaica, thanking Lawrence for bringing me a mid-morning piña colada as I work my way through another book and listen to the sea. The rest of me -- most of me, even! -- is glad to be home again, among my friends who are totally awesome and totally rock my face off, even more than sunshine, salt spray and sand between my toes.