New York, November 2009

Of course all good things have a down side and we found it this trip in the form of nits. We may have imported nits into the US. Or maybe not...we will never know for sure. Aside from the endless combing in front of the TV, my favourite part was getting to say a very Croc Dundee 'You call that nit? No mate, in Australia nits are this big.' See Sona Wink playing with Trinity.

The girls have continued to find ways to play , from painting with water colours to yoga, as well as making their own laptops and cell phones. They have also been lucky with adventures, getting to walk the high line, and go to a farm to pick a halloween pumpkin amongst other things.

New york mostly feels incredibly safe, certainly a lot safer then then when I first lived there in the early 90's as a model. This time we had the pleasure of a brush with the efficiency of the polisce which was both exciting and a reminder of the necessity of paying attention.

We met some friends on the streets in Soho, with many distractions, including types like a man with a cat on his head. We started chatting and Trinity laid her scooter to the side to pat a dog close by. A moment later a taxi pulled up and the driver asked if we were missing a scooter. And of course we were. The (plain clothes) police had picked up a young lad with a newly acquired scooter down the block. We hardly knew what was going on before it was all handled by the police. We got to face the young boy, and the police asked Trinity if she had anything she wanted to say to the boy. She declined to comment, and the police promised to scare him a way form a life of crime. Good luck with that.

This is the latest in the fall that we have been in New York, So we have gotten to enjoy wrapping up to go out and watching the turning of the leaves. After some prompting from Trinity we went ice skating in Central Park. My friend and fellow Australian, Marni, came too. A long time New Yorker, who I first met while living in Osaka, Japan, and had the fortune to hang out with a lot in Hong Kong.

Trump ice rink is at the south end of central park, with the beautiful city scape behind. The rink had rental boots small enough for India, so we all got to go on the ice together. There was lots of slipping and sliding, and a slow acceptance from Trinity that falling was the only way to learn. Marni was patient teaching her how to be okay, while I carried India gliding just above the ice.

The next week was Veterans day. I happened upon the parade by accident. Watching all those men and women makes me incredibly sad, so I couldn't stay too long. The thought of youth going to war, dying, being maimed, or mentally scarred for life is an appalling thought and yet an army is entirely necessary.

I was served the next day at the post office by a Vietnam veteran. He said that before 9/11 nobody came to watch the parade each year. After that people had a sense of what it might be like to be in harms way, to be in constant jeopardy. He said that what was funny was that 9/11 was 20 mins of uncertainty and fear. War is 24/7, for months at a time. I have no wish to imagine that experience.

My final Saturday night was spent fare welling good friend Ara Koopelian from New York. Ara is an Australian photographer, who has lived in New York for a long time. Ara introduced David and I, so we have a lot to thank him for (as well as being one of the family photographers). At Ara's farewell was another face from long ago. Eric Bertuccio, advertising writer, now New Yorker, worked at the boutique ad agency VCD, my first real job after returning from modeling in Paris.

And then it was time to go home. No upgrades this time, and the girls traveled beautifully, with not a single cry through the 24 hours of travel. They are champions, as several people on the plane noted. Home to the strawberry patch and a Sydney Summer. Heading for 35 degrees celsius on Saturday, so the weather man says.