Eileen and I are safely back in Holland. The trip yesterday was long. The person driving us from the airport to our car parked in a motel parking lot guessed correctly that we had been going for 24 hours. Even though both of our flights to China to and fro were the same airline, the experience was very different returning. The seats were less comfortable and there was less space. The food was lousy.

That’s not unusual. Airline food can be lousy. But on the trip over it was okay. Or maybe I was less critical. I have had some tasty airline meals and they are definitely unusual ones.

I was very glad to spend time with my family members who live in Beijing. I am surprised that being with them and my family in the UK was so viscerally important to me this time.  The wonderful ability to connect with people around the world online does not include touching them and being with them in the same room. I especially appreciated the opportunity to do that this year.

I enjoyed reading long passages of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass to Alex. For a five year old she seemed to follow the  wonderful stories closely and like them.

She also likes to make pictures, of course. The picture above is a portrait of herself, her mom, and her dad that she made specifically for us to take home with us.

I do love the way kids make pictures.

These are all pictures by Alex that I took photos of.

So we’re back. Life is good if a little jet lagged.