Heading Home - Day 15

Tuesday, September 20th

          A brisk start for a very long day...up and in the taxi early to arrive at the airport in plenty of time for a 10:45 flight direct from Barcelona to Philadelphia.

          What can you say about a trans-Atlantic flight? 
     We sat. 
     It went. 
     We watched a movie. 
     We dozed. 
     We ate. 
     We watched another movie. 
          Craning my neck to look out the window at 40,000 feet I could see high overhead a lovely waning gibbous moon floating in the dark cobalt blue of the sky.

           Landing. Customs. Immigration. My passport gets stamped. A two hour layover in Philadelphia. The final leg from Philadelphia to Richmond.

          The angle of the six o'clock sun on the flight from Philadelphia to Richmond is such that it reflects back up to the aircraft from the surface of scattered waters, transforming rivers to silver ribbons, lakes to melted metal, and ponds and puddle to stars that flare and fade. The upper reaches of the Chesapeake Bay becomes and expanse of filigreed gold with traces of eddies, currents and the wakes of ships clearly visible, the marshes and wetlands appearing as glowing complexes of writhing roots and obscure Celtic etchings.

          Overhead the gathering clouds send beams down through gaps, a second layer of gray appears below as the plane begins its lurching dance toward a distant runway and home.