and now comes the time...

You can tell when I am moving toward the end of a trip by the length of my posts: they suddenly grow shorter. It's not that the last day or two are less important -- quite the contrary. But I have less time. Suddenly, I am pressed to at least touch all that I wanted to touch in the course of my return to Poland.

And, toward the end of my trip, there is typically that gathering of friends that makes me believe that there is indeed great camaraderie and good will in this world, if only you persevere and give it time.

Time. Such a weird concept. Maybe two hundred years from now they'll laugh at our preoccupation with it. The way we rush through life, the way we don't just linger and let our worries roll off and fizzle...

My worries today were simple: that I should have one last meeting with Pani Karolina and not be late for it. That I, with the help of my sister, should manage to prepare a dinner party for twelve (without having to cook much at all!). That my American friends should have a good day, even though I could not spend much of it with them and finally, that we could all gather -- my American friends, my Polish friends, my sister -- and just exhale.

Breakfast first.






Then a run to a pastry store in the neighborhood. Just on the other side of the two bridges.






What to buy, oh what to buy??






Okay, I got it: sour cherry yogurt cakes, Polish cheesecakes, Polish apple cakes and one straddling plum cake.






Up my street again...






Down cobbled blocks...






And onto Nowy Swiat -- the artery that my friends are getting to know really well!






Here's where I have my meeting with my fantastic architect, Pani Karolina. And then she goes off and I go off, but not until after we drink our coffee and discuss future projects.


And after? Am I on schedule? Have the skies cleared?


It rains, but just briefly. And it doesn't matter. My sister and  I take the subway across the river, all the way to the big (and I mean big) supermarket. And yes, I'm on schedule!

(I know this spot well: we're right by the train station from which I have taken many a train to go to my grandparents' village.)






There's much running around of this kind for the rest of the afternoon. But that's okay, I'll finally be opening my Warsaw home to the world of my friends here.

Finally, by late afternoon, everything is ready.






And everyone is here at last...






And then I put away my camera and enjoy being in the thick of a group of warm-hearted and wonderful people.


And now it's after midnight and I am still tidying and reflecting and writing and of course, you could say - this is why you are tired! And yes, you'd be right. But I wouldn't have dropped one single bit of this day.  Not one bit.