RAIN

Sitting down for “yum-cha,” the Chinese woman pushing her cart of steamed entrees looked at me...and laughed.

Richard and I had eschewed umbrellas on the wettest day in recent memory. Both of us were soaked to the socks. So was Steph, though she gloated about the fact she’d taken her Winnie the Pooh umbrella that could collapse into a mitten.

Bus and train transfers...the market where I told the vendor I was Obama’s envoy as I tried to talk him off his price...those French chocolatiers who looked like fairies...Max Brenner’s choctail...riding in a Woolworth’s shopping cart...driving through the suburbs in Phil’s car (left-handed!)...grilling steaks on a backyard barbie...screening BRICK USA for whip-smart critics...the sound of steady raindrops and zoo-birds swooping, fluttering, and calling me to sleep.

Dear Blog: Every American in Australia should have friends like these.