a couple of stars who fell from the sky live up on the hill

After my first experience driving on the left side of the road, from Wellington to Auckland, I am safely in Mt. Eden with Gwill. He lives in a great, open house with about eleven other painters, musicians, and just lovely people.

Today we took a stunning drive north to Piha beach. The winding roads were covered with ferns and trees and bromiliads and was reminiscent of a back country Floridian road. Having just finished The Orchid Thief, I was filled with a sense of romance about the whole scene.

We hiked halfway up the Lion rock (which looks like a lion, hence the name) and sat looking over the black sand beaches and rolling hills, hiding tiny hillside homes. Upon descent, we walked along the beach peeking under rocks for starfish and crabs and other aquatic plants and animals.

Following the same roads home, but with heavy heads and brown faces I was reminded of my many trips up Mullholland Drive with Dorothy. I have such a heartache to be away from her. I glanced up the tree-canopied driveways and remembered craning my neck to search the Hollywood Hills for a house to envy.

While we were cruising along the twisted asphalt I thought how special it was to be with Gwill again, having not seen him for two years. I was trying to work out what I could say about how glad I was to be spending some of my trip with him. As if reading my mind, at that very instant, he reached over to gently touch my head. With us it is always as if no time has past. I am more assured with this visit that our lives will continue to intertwine, no matter how much time or space has drifted between.