Belmont to Big Apple update; Happy Birthday Carl and Erica!

Hello, dear readers, from the lands to the West of the sacred isle, the good ol' US of A.

Being back in the town where I've spent the last twenty years is pretty surreal. It feels familiar, yet I know it's no longer my "home".
There are other people living in our house, albeit with our permission.
The tenants welcomed me, but the cats shunned me when I visited 78 Oliver. Sunny, the eleven year old feline, was napping on the sofa. She heard our voices but didn't wake. I went over to talk to her and pet her, and she woke, bolted upright, and ran right to the front door. She didn't even let me touch her. I guess that's what I deserve after abandoning her. Mystery, whom we'd had for a little over a year before moving, took her sweet time arriving downstairs from her nap in the girl's bedroom. She allowed herself to sniff my fingers, but wouldn't let me touch her, either. Heartbreaking.

Yesterday's to-do list was: walk Erica's dog, go to the chiropractor, visit Leslie for coffee, visit the house, pick up forgotten items (such as my walking shoes--now I'll really be able to walk!) help the tenants get the steam radiators all balanced and delivering heat equally, pick up crafty items for sale at the St. John's Wood Women's Club Holiday Fair on 11/11, go to the bank, drop off my absentee ballot, (another vote for Obama/Biden in Massachusetts which, due to the electoral college, will have no impact on the outcome as Mass. is already heavily democratic) take Carl out for his birthday lunch at the Indian place we used to frequent on our bi-weekly lunches, shop in Macy's (nothing I liked fit or looked good on me), walk the dog again, and take my hostess Erica out to dinner to celebrate her birthday (actually today). I then collapsed into bed at 8:10 pm.

Now it's time to walk the dog again, before I head out to the Knittin' Kitten to press my nose against the glass and wait for it to open. Then it's off to The Big Apple via the Lucky Star Chinatown-to-Chinatown bus, for my rendezvous in Brooklyn with the Fingerprint People on Wednesday. NYSis has graciously invited me to stay with her while I wait for my visa to be processed by the British Embassy in New York.

Wish me luck!!