Been a while I hear you say! 

Yep! I know! Where did I leave off! 

Okay! Not even left England! 

So! Had my breakfast and chatted again to to another passenger who was on my flight, we discussed how our new flight was already 1 hour behind schedule, she asked me when I was leaving the hotel and I said I was on the 8:30 happy Hopper bus. 

We met up outside as we boarded the bus and she didn't feel very well so we sat down together and we checked in together we both had issues that needed to be sorted out at check-in because I could not check in now as I was flying Virgin Atlantic and not Delta. 

We went through security together and I found a pair of seats we could sit down together, she really was not feeling well, and worried about not being able to fly.. anyway you don't want to know all the ins and outs but thankfully L. felt better and it wasn't long before our gate number came up, I say laughing not long was about 3 hours in the departures hall.

It wasn't just us two, we were also joined by another girl and the three of us talked and kept each other company until our gate numbers came up, L. and I seem to have so much in common it was spooky, even a family name joins us somewhere in the past I am sure from Naples, and that can't happen every day.

I really only was just being me helping and being there and supporting someone who really did not feel very well at all, I worry about people, I care about people and I really was just being me. And when she felt better she said I had been her guardian angel at the airport which was so lovely of her but as I say I was just being me and happy to help somebody, I guess also we always hope that there would be someone there for us too, I have been lucky to have Angels supporting me also...

L. was wearing a beautiful Crystal necklace around her neck that she had made for her trip to England, to Glastonbury! And suddenly she took it off and gave it to me as a thank you... I will treasure it always, it is filled with positive energy and I will re-energize it every opportunity I can. 

Talking about coincidences and strange things that happen quite often to me, I still have not told you the strange thing that happened to me the other weekend I promise I will in my next Blog, because since then there have been so many strange coincidences the girls at the airport strange links, family names, even where L. lived when she grew up, where she lives now we have traveled in the same circles.

And at the last minute as we three stood, two of us in one direction and S. in another..

S. and I found out that we both live in Nottingham! She had asked me about helping her with a book she wants to publish, I gave her my number as she asked and she hasn't messaged yet so I'm hoping that we got the number right when I told her.

Our flight was good I didn't see L. again on the journey though.

I did see all of the south shore of Long Island as we came in, low and slow ... Was wonderful, Fire Island, my cousin's, where we stay at weekends.. beautiful view beneath... So often it's the city which is also amazing to view on approach, especially at night, or winter months and it's dark already. 

So the flight itself was really good the food was wonderful, I watched two movies and I slept in between. I was sat next to two girls, a mom and her daughter who live in North Carolina, only a small hold up when we pulled up to disembark, but then we were all off straight through to security, and maybe 10 minutes insecurity through the passport control all you had to do was stand look at the camera no passport and gate opened! 

The very fastest I have ever been through JFK in my life I have spent up to 2 hours getting through security previously so this was fantastic. 

I went straight through and out to the taxi rank where I did have to wait at least 20 minutes jumped in a cab and straight here to my aunts.

So much writing I am speaking into my phone so apologies for anything that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, although that could be said of most of my Blogs anyways!

So I arrived here a whole day late, at the weekend we went out to cousins in Long Island that was really nice, days spent surrounded by cousins four generations! 

I heard from the pre-surgery team and I have to have a echocardiogram before my surgery now, as it appears I can add bradycardia to my list of heart issues, no one seems to have noticed the sellotape and staples that hold my heart together. Maybe some super glue too! 

My first echocardiogram appointment had been made for the day after I return, and it was at 8:00 a.m. everything about it was impossible especially as I checked with Dr Google who says an echocardiogram after a long haul flight can be misleading, so it has been rescheduled now for the following Thursday. 

We have had mostly sunny weather a couple of days where it has begun cloudy or foggy but the sun has cleared that away and two nights ago we had a small and I mean small compared to last week, a flash flood we had 4 inches in an hour, it rained for a few hours with a lot of thunder but by the morning only a few puddles remained and yesterday was a clear day. 

My aunt and I went out for a walk at the weekend near my cousins and it was way too long of a walk I was not happy I was panicking, it is strange how I have walked and supported so many clients over the years, but walking with my aunt was a whole different ball game! 

I felt like I needed more support than she did! 

I did vow to never walk with her again, but somehow she persuaded me and we went out for a short walk yesterday afternoon, literally to the end of our block, and we turned around came straight back, we sat on her steps for a while but it was so hot and humid.

The photograph above, the (unwanted) Spotted Lanternfly.  It destroys where it stops .. and travels like an unwanted hitchhiker!

My list of things I should not eat seems to grow daily, but while I have been here I have very happily been eating every single thing I shouldn't, and I just don't give a damn!

I'm going to make a cup of tea and I'll be back! 

Just adding the photograph and link to the Spotted Lanternfly..  before me telling you about eating foods I shouldn't!! Let me make it clear! The Lanternfly is not on the menu!! 

I went off on a tangent then, checking out part the Latin name for the above invasive species, 'delicatula,' is a fungi!

Not edible maybe! And as I say! Not on my menu!

Okay, posting now .. 

M.

In shared laughter, stories told,

Family time, a treasure, bold.

Hands held tight, in love's embrace,

Precious moments, time and spaqce.