Back [Shannon]

I'm writing this at work, which tells you something right there. We got back to the states on September 24th and spent some time in Miami with Jonathan's mom and my friend Monica. There we learned what we've missed in the US during the long, hot summer: a horrible hurricane, an Aniston/Angelina feud and the Peanutbutter Diet. Anyway, Miami is a good place to be if you want to slow down the culture shock of returning from South America. It's more Latin than Manhattan at this point.

So autumn in New York means shoehorning Jon's stuff into my apartment, getting used to fast-moving people and high prices, and helping the dog deal with her sliding feet. She had a great retreat up in Ithaca for 6 months, but age means loose joints and trouble on the marble stairs. We cut 2 small-size dog toy soccer balls into shoes that seem to work fine, even though they look funny. Sila is a good sport. We'll have to post a photo of her in her new footwear.

The news of the Bali bombings hit hard. Kuta is far removed from rice-paddy Bali, where most people live and make beautiful art that no one is buying because they're scared to go to Indonesia. Kuta is not Bali. Go there anyway and say hello from me.