Vacationing pals Allen Baum and Donya White made a run to Hakuhinken Toy Park in the Ginza at my fervent request and brought back the moias plus an extremely cute plush Mooch and Earl (the lead characters in Mutts, my favorite comic strip). I am tremendously happy about this. I deeply regretted not buying them when I was there last May, but I was sure I could get the Mutts toys at home and this turned out to be impossible. They're not for sale in the U.S., something I really don't understand. The strip is very popular here as far as I can tell...but we don't have a "Mutts lifestyle" magazine the way the Japanese do, so perhaps I just don't understand the market. At any rate, my year-long desire for multiple tiki heads and cuddly Mutts characters is sated.

This last week went quickly, as is usual before a vacation. To complicate things, I developed a genuine cold on Monday and have spent the last few days making the Kleenex corporation very happy. It's starting to clear up now, though the buzzing in my ears has not stopped, so I don't expect to be bothered by flying when I take off Monday night for the Bahamas. If anything, the noise of the plane ought to drown out the noise in my ear. I can only hope.

I had dinner with Michael and Trish on Friday. They alternated between making rude comments to one another and talking about Apple where they both work. I smiled benignly and ate my prawns, having no conversation about computers and not quite up to badinage after combining a Mai Tai with the general state of my health. Afterwards, we walked to Kepler's Bookstore where I was delighted to discover a new Mutts collection had just been published and there were signed copies of the English edition of Terry Pratchett's new novel on the shelf. John turned up from his own dinner party and gave me a ride home.

I've got the New York end of my trip planned pretty tightly. I was going to go see a Broadway play but that's not going to happen. Instead, I'm going to a museum, some gardens, brunch at the Plaza, dinner and drinks with some journalers in Manhattan, dinner and drinks on a different night with friends in Park Slope, and a visit to Leigh Keno's antiques store on Madison Avenue. My question to you is, do I have enough chutzpah to walk into a Madison Avenue shop knowing there are no prices on anything because every damn piece in there is at least four figures? I'm only going because I've been wanting to go to a high end antiques store ever since I started reading Architectural Digest, and I think Leigh's one of the nicest appraisers on Antiques Roadshow. Well, we'll see. I'm setting aside some time for shopping, at any rate.

Going on vacation always stimulates me to buy clothes, so I bought myself a pair of preposterous Steve Madden shoes which are amazingly comfortable and cater to my fashion fetish. They're flexible soles so I don't feel unbalanced atop my extra inches. I don't care if I look absurd, I love them. They remind me of the Famolares I wore devotedly in junior high and high school.

Because I am about to see people I haven't seen in two years I went to Masako and got my hair colored. You know how I said I was sick of coloring it? Man. Forget that. I am sick of looking washed out and old. Grey hair doesn't suit me. I'm back to a warm light brown, and I had my hair cut short again, too. It was a long process. To make the time go faster I read a copy of W and pondered why some models become supermodels and others don't. I did not reach a conclusion, possibly because I find it hard to think while an old-fashioned hair dryer roars in my ears. Masako, never demure in the two years I've been going to her, was wearing bright orange leggings and a fiendishly pleated, transparent orange top. I was so amazed I forgot to look at her shoes. Orange was undoubtedly involved.

And now I'm ready for my holiday from top to toe. I'll be out of town until the 7th and as always I won't be updating or checking my email. John is staying home and enjoying some bachelor squalor, I mean freedom, while minding the pets. See you next month!

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