My first post! I'm afraid nothing profound. I took the metro today to find a place that would change the screen on my new IPhone that cracked mysteriously. It's Friday and the metro was crowded and hot. At my stop, those waiting to get in lunged forward, squeezing and pushing. I finally yelled: "Dejen salir primero! Let us out first!" It's those incidents that make me feel like a country mouse trapped in the city. Throngs of people filled the sidewalks, more, I swear, than in downtown Manhattan, where we were two weeks ago to watch our son run the marathon. You'd think I'd be used to city living after 40+ years. It's the rush and frenzy of the pre-Christmas, end-of-the-school-year, vacation planning season and the sight of aisles of plastic Christmas paraphernalia at the supermarket that plunge me into a Scrooge-like mood.

But just look at the purple explosion of jacaranda trees on our street, blanketing the ground with velvetypetals. We should all give each other a jacaranda tree for Christmas.