December 9 - 23

From December 9 to December 23, I returned to the States for a brief visit with my mother and brother in L.A., to check on our house in Connecticut, and to bring our daughter, Anna, back to Turkey for her winter intersession.

Some highlights of the visit include:

Los Angeles – My mother’s health is stable, although we are unable to get her out much these days. Although she still has difficulty talking, it is a real treat when she is able to communicate. Richard, my brother, is on the Screen Actors Guild Awards nominating committee, so during my visit his life was consumed with movies, many of which had not been released yet; e.g, Up in the Air, and Young Victoria (which are now in the theaters). His other projects include two one-woman plays which he saw through the writing process, and then directed. I was lucky to catch the last performance of one of the plays (the other had already closed), called Carnival Knowledge, a very funny series of vignettes about a woman’s roller coaster ride finding “Mr. Right.” Both plays were very successful and enjoyed an extended run in their respective small theaters. One surreal aspect of the trip to L.A. was purchasing and decorating a Christmas tree for the apartment, with temperatures in the mid 50s, an experience later echoed in Ankara on Christmas Eve day.

Hampton House – My goodness, am I glad I was home for a little while. Our monitoring system, which alerts someone by phone if our electricity goes off for more than five minutes, was programmed in September, before the phone company changed local calls to include the area code. So, since early November, when the change went into effect, our house has not had this protection. Luckily we didn’t need it. So, I reprogrammed it to include the 860 area code and took care of other unanticipated winter issues, such as shoveling out our backup generator after a 16 inch overnight snowfall. Our house guardian took care of most of the rest of the snow clearance, although Anna and I did a lot of supplemental shoveling. While in Connecticut, I also got my H1N1 flu shot, arranged for Anna’s tax appointment in February, visited with friends and family, and crashed the ECSU annual Christmas party. I loved people’s expressions at the party when they first saw me, assuming I was still in Turkey!

Anna – While home, Anna received notice that she has been awarded University Scholar status, the highest honor given to UConn undergraduates, and one awarded to only 30 students per year. Congratulations, Anna!

Flights – Before typing this onto my blog, I had hand-written the saga of our various flights—particularly the one back to Turkey, which took us through JFK airport three days before Christmas. I decided, after all, to spare you the details; writing down the various indignities offered me the catharthis I needed, but you don't. Suffice it to say that it was not an experience I would care to repeat.

Our return – Arriving at the Ankara airport, we took a bus to the main bus terminal, then a subway ride to our neighborhood, followed by the walk to our apartment. Arriving 26 hours after leaving our Hampton home, we were happy to see Larry’s welcoming face, and our comfortable home away from home.