From his studio in Cornwall, Daniel presents some new work

Last year, Barbara made good on her dream to build a room of her own, atop her home in Saltash. It's a fantastic space, with views out to the Brunel Bridge and the River Tamar, with light that lasts the whole day.
There, Daniel set up a studio in which he painted and painted.
Here is a sample...

Cornwall

The first week of homelessness was spent at Barbara’s in Saltash, Cornwall. Not a bad place to be, especially at the start of springtime.
It was also a pretty good place for Lulu to be struck down with a weeklong bout of gastroenteritis, since we were able to go to Barbara’s doctor. Poor Lulu lost loads of weight – thankfully, she had plenty of meat on those bones to start with.
We were invited to lots of dinners, where we caught up with friends and family.
We even had an afternoon of croquet - my first ever – with what I think were Real Aristocracy as well as Actual Rabbit Holes, at Daniel’s sister Emma’s new place in the Devon countryside. It was just like ‘Alice in Wonderland’ in 3D, but without the Lord of the Rings-esque extended battle scene.

Here are some photos:

1. Lulu at motorway rest stop somewhere between Cornwall and London
2. Sophia with random kids at playground in Saltash
3. Daniel’s brother Tim with his lovely wife Fiona
4. Lulu, Rufus and Sophia at Tim and Fiona’s
5. Sophia and cousin Rufus at the beach in Cornwall
6. Daniel and his school friend Mark Rich
7. The Den, planned at night, built at dawn
8. Sophia (and) Spring
9. Barbara with Bundt cake (thanks, Julia!)
10. Sophia’s beehive

Homeless

Arriving in London on April 9, we were to spend the next fifteen days homeless. Cecile and David, our tenants had found another house in the neighborhood, but not until April 25.
Having originally planned to sleep at the workshop, we later found the prospect of setting up a home there too daunting. We didn’t even have a sofa-bed. Also, our friend Laura, who’s been renting it since we’ve been away, had all her installation art there, ready for exhibition.

So, we became vagrants, sleeping at EIGHT different places:
1. The Holiday Inn, Heathrow (pictured) – we got an amazing $36 deal on hotwire.com from the US

2. Emma & Beni’s – and what a warm welcome we had there. Sophia and Rocco didn’t fight at all!

3. Barbara’s in Cornwall – two rooms of our own, delicious food, perfect weather and amazing views of the Royal Albert and Tamar Bridges connecting Devon and Cornwall

4. Mark & Karen’s in Plymouth – Daniel’s school friend, his wife and their supersweet kids, who entertained Sophia all evening and then again all morning

5. Tim & Fiona’s at Lostwithiel – visits to the beach, a monkey sanctuary and, possibly most excitingly, the opportunity to sleep in a genuine Daniel Spring bed (yippee, once you try one, you’ll never go back)

6. Holiday Inn Express, Docklands – a stop-gap the night before school started

7. Liz & Marie’s – They got stuck in Canada due to the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland, so we got to borrow their house, right around the corner from ours. ALMOST HOME! Sophia could not for the life of her understand why we kept walking past our own house but not sleeping in it.

8. Gary & Carole’s in Stoke Newington – they took us in at the last minute, fed us and provided us with boutique hotel-y accommodations

THANK YOU to everyone for giving shelter to a weary family of four.

Touchdown

And there we were, back in London.

And we are off…

Suddenly it was time to go back to London.

Having sold our car, we were able to buy plane tickets for April 9, the last day before fares went up.

To get back in time for Sophia’s first day at her new nursery school, we ended up having to miss our last swimming, art and writing classes.

But it is hard to complain after a nine-month holiday.
So we had extra playtime with cousins and Pei, a farewell dinner with my parents and Annie’s family and a final piano-accompanied Forest Avenue performance (a hybrid of Hawaiian and hip-hop) by Sophia and Patrick.

Then, eleven items of luggage in hand (and many, many things left at my ever-patient parents’ for future pick-up – sorry), we headed before the crack of dawn to JFK for the flight back. We lucked out and got FOUR bulkhead seats, and some surprisingly un-disgusting food. Thank you, American Airlines.

Goodbye, America, we love you.

Stay tuned...

There are a few more posts coming this way, so please do stay tuned. We are not quite finished with this story!

Easter egg hunt!