I woke in alarm the first night with the crying of a baby. Struggling to surface from deep sleep, I realized I was in Tennessee and that was Alaina crying. She sleeps in her own room but somewhere in the middle of the night she wants to get into her parents bed. In minutes I heard her patter past my door and everyone settled back into sleep.

The kids being Docs have to leave early and so the house is abuzz with 'tiffins' being made and breakfast being had, before Alaina is awakened and dressed for school. Most days she is cranky but she was happy to have me – a new distraction I suppose and so sang Happy, happy as she got ready for school.

It’s October and should be cold here in Tennessee, but it’s balmy and I am enjoying cooking out in the back yard with the birds chirping in the trees. There are still heaps of lady finger or Okra as they call them here, growing on the plants and the tomato plants have become a jungle. The brinjal or the eggplant has one last fruit on it and I notice the Curry leaf plant seems to be happy and growing well in its pot. Annika has brought it in for the winter.

I wandered around the garden checking on the plants we had put down in April, in the front yard once I was done cooking. The roses were blooming, with several delicate scented mauve blooms and the Sugar Maple out in front looked stunning, with its leaves turning a bright red. Well I had come especially to see the Fall colours and to have the trees in the garden itself, looking so different from spring, was my first experience of the season.

The first evening I was collected to go and see Alaina at her first ballet class. Ballet, ballet, she sang happily as we looked for the address on the GPS. She says ballet quite differently from us. The stress is in the eh sound – the e. Sounded really nice. There are lots of little words which she says differently from us. And I enjoy listening to her chatter on.

The ballet class was wonderful to watch with 10 'lil ballerinas being taught their first ballet steps. Plie’ and Fondu and the prettiest was Pirouette where they spun around on their little baby toes. I mean at age three I thought what she taught them in an hour was pretty darn good. Annika has been a great dancer through school and college so she is putting the lil one through as many classes as possible to check out her skills & interests.
We go off to the Mexican restaurant for dinner and I order Enchiladas Verdes – Shredded Chicken, Green Salsa, and Crema Wrapped in Corn Tortillas.

Ofcourse the portions are impossible for me to even get through, so I am glad Andrew does not mind finishing off my order. The rice we doggy bag as Alaina who is a finicky eater does like to eat with a big dollop of yogurt.
During the day when the kids go to work, I can write, garden, go for my run, cook and generally just be. The quiet of Knoxville is wonderful for me. We have lost it in India and this is what I need to enjoy to distress & detox.