Colleen Arrives, and Pietà Survives

Colleen arrived safe and sound yesterday evening. We'd agreed to meet at the Notting Hill Gate tube stop, which has four exits, so I was a bit concerned about where we would connect -- not to mention whether we'd recognize each other. Then I saw a woman leaning on the railing, reading a book and standing next to a suitcase. I thought, "Well, that might be her..." When she looked up I knew for sure, and she recognized me right away. Her first words to me were, "Steve, do you know how long it's been?!" Like she can't believe it either. I brought her back to the apartment to get settled and meet Dave and Olga, and then the three of us (sans poor Olga, obviously) went across the street for a pub dinner. It's been great to trade Peace Corps stories and catch up on our lives.

I'd asked Dave to tidy up the bathroom and vacuum before Colleen and I got home, and last night as I was going to bed I realized he took the opportunity to hide the plaster Pietà in the cabinet under the bathroom sink. I put it back on the windowsill. It's art, dammit!

(On a tangent: We have lived in this apartment for almost three years, and we found this cabinet under the sink just a few weeks ago! From the outside it doesn't quite look like a cabinet -- the doors are tiny and have no handles, and I thought they were just panels concealing plumbing. Then Dave opened them and voila! A basket of cleaning supplies and more storage space! It's like one of those crazy dreams where you suddenly discover a whole new room in your house...)

On the agenda for today: Walk in the park with the dog and check out the Portobello Road market. I also intend to repot our poor root-bound avocado tree -- I finally stopped at the ridiculously overpriced housewares store at Notting Hill Gate and bought a big new pot for it.

Our amaryllis are greeting spring on slightly different schedules -- two of them have sent up buds on long shoots, and a third seems to be launching a tiny bud at the base. The fourth hasn't done a thing yet. Considering how little we do for those amaryllis I'm impressed that they survive at all.

(Photo: King's Road, near Parson's Green, last Saturday.)