DNA's Summer Circus!: Landing on American soil

Phew! The flight was more than OK (good food, good service and at least one of us managed to sleep a few hours) but the queue at immigrations is another story. Dave and I waited for over 2 hours to show our passports and give our story on what the heck we would do in the States for as long as 2,5 months on a Tourist Visa... When we finally came up to the tired lady behind the counter, she just gave a tired half-smile and didn't ask any questions at all. I was a bit dissappointed actually after having worked at my story for a good while on the plane.

Mary - the happy human labrador - met us at JFK and we jumped in (and up into) her all American Lincoln Escalade SUV. We crossed over Long Island Sound and saw the N.Y skyscrapers in the afternoon sunshine. It was about 28 degrees the day we arrived (Thursday May 31st). Oh, to get Fahrenheit you should apparently multiply the Celsius degrees by 2, then subtract 10% and finally add 32. So, 28 degrees Celsius would be about 82 degrees Fahrenheit.

The house where Mary and Mike (and the "kids") live is a typical American home with wood shingles ( short, square panels), white windows and doors, an open plan kitchen/diner and a large decking at the back with swimming pool, a pond with a waterfall and of course an enormous Weber barbecue. In this house there are also not 1 or maybe 2, but 4 dogs... And they all live indoors, mostly in Mike and Mary's bed and they pretty much have control over the whole household. Huck (Huckleberry Finn) and Boone are two Irish Soft Coated Weaten Terriers, Mr Beats is a "Cotón-something" (he looks like a Bichon à poil frisé). And then there's Mimi. Mimi is a chihuahua, weighs about 5 lbs and is 11 years old. She's my (Alex') favourite. I never thought I'd like such a small dog but she's is just like a little baby. So innocent, almost naked, vulnerable and doll-like that you just can't not like her. (Although Dave tries very hard not to like her.) But she does look like an alien though. And she has that stare... Sometimes she creeps under her blanket and just pops her little face out and stares at you. It's more than a little scary.

This week end we've been out with Mike and Mary's power boat and we went as far as the New York state line where you can see Manhattan from the sea. The weather has been really good so far and we're hoping it will be a hot, nice summer. Alex' friends Linda & Tobbe were also here on Saturday and joined us at Mianus River Boat Club where we were at a party. All boat and yacht clubs have official openings for the summer season. It was a grand thing, the Star-spangled Banner was raised and the national anthem with the same name was sung by an acapella group... That bit was actually cool, however the dudes and dudesses in navy suits and white ice cream-salesman-pants were not. Talk about taking yourself way too seriously!