January 28
I am in preparation mode for leaving and putting off the most difficult preparation for the last. Of course, family is arriving today tomorrow and Saturday to compress my time even more before I set out on Feb 6 for Germany. I will go to Frankfurt first and from there to Vallauris. I have had the strange panicky paranoid feeling every time I try to log on to the Vallauis site that it is all a mirage or some cruel art hoax. I keep forgetting the website's name and get other websites about Vallauris. I google earthed the address and the street view was of an abandoned ruin next to a shabby casino. When I finally entered the correct address I was relieved to see the charming Lispinard Place. Family converging here to meet with my sister from Turkey, who will be in the States for a week with her children. I have no time to think and so I am checking off my list all I have to do before leaving. A list made over the last few weeks and doodled over with sketches. I am excited and scared and anticipating and dreading all at once. The dread is the time away and worry that New York will just not be able to function without me.