Bitten

Our tails are dragging—singularly and collectively—in the morning. It’s the least I’ve slept since we arrived, which says more about how much I’ve been sleeping than how little. But it is an effort to get out and get the kids to their classrooms. “Going to school when you are tired is just unpleasant,” C.C. tells us as she makes a plea to stay home.

Milo refuses to go into his classroom but eventually gets through the door. Etienne and Hal come to our apartment for coffee and to catch up some more—they are to leave for Paris in the afternoon if their flight isn’t canceled. Apparently Sarkozy has asked for a 20% reduction in flights because there are protests against his proposal to raise the retirement age.

Finally, around 1 in the afternoon, I make it into my office for the first time. It’s a bright, clean, large space. The only problem? Alec’s office is right next door to mine—a little too close for both of us. When he sneezes, I say “Salud” without raising my voice and he hears me. Given all of the chaos of the move-in, neither of us feels comfortable asking for a change.

One of my boxes has arrived, and it feels good to unpack my books and contemplate reading something longer than a 5 page memo that’s not crime fiction. The building is brand new, and silent, with people quietly scurrying around connecting computers and phones. The neighborhood buzzes with new construction, although it’s not so interesting for lunchtime wanderings.

Alec picks up the kids so that I can have a bit more time to settle in to my new digs. Milo falls apart when he sees Alec at the door—another kid bit him today and, together with his lingering ear infection and general state of fatigue—it seems to have put him over the edge. He refuses to show us the evidence and won’t tell the name of the kid who chomped him. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he says.

When I arrive home, the three of them are nesting on the couch watching Ben 10. I’ve brought home Cabrales (a Spanish blue cheese) and make a salad of lettuce, toasted pine nuts, roasted figs and the cheese with a honey lemon vinaigrette to go with the steak Alec grills. I substitute sherry vinegar for the red wine vinegar called for, and I don’t have the pomegranate that’s part of the recipe, but it’s still top notch.

Let me know if you want the recipe…