re-entry

There was quite a lot of knitting time on that train, and very little time spent doing the normal things like dishes, laundry, vacuuming, cooking.... We did maintain some semblance of our usual school life, with daily sessions in the cafe car for math time, checking out the maps and how they squared with the view out the window. We told stories and read books. We visited the library in downtown LA (astonishing) and spent a few joyful hours as tourists in Chinatown.
This was blooming in a courtyard at Union Station, which was where we got back on the train. We grabbed tamales for dinner at Olvera Street, an open-air Mexican market very nearby.

Real life is different. For one thing, we can go to a grocery store right down the street and cook our own damn dinner, so things have gotten a lot cheaper very quickly. We were staying in an area of downtown LA particularly challenging for conducting any kind of practical life. Among the highlights: it took trips on two subway lines to get groceries, and I had to pay a service $2 a pound to do a load of laundry. (Trivia question: how much do you think an average load of laundry weighs? This was not a big one, just a few days' worth of relatively lightweight clothing for three people, two of them on the short side. Go ahead, guess. I was surprised.)

The other crushing reality I've had to deal with today is the return to my editing work, which is going slowly. What was supposed to be a ten-hour project, or a week's worth of work for me, is taking a lot more of my time. Fortunately this coincides with the return of spring-like weather, so the kids have been running around in the watery sunlight all day, in and out, around the house, jumping off the porch, digging in the old leaves. We did take a walk together, and read some books together.

I'm sure I'll get better at this work, and that the next project will go more smoothly. I'm sure I'll learn how to do it better. I am determined to keep at it.