Closer to you!

The up side of going to bed at 8:30 on two consecutive nights, coupled with sleeping six hours during the day, is being awake! And feeling good! At 4 a.m. this morning, I was ready to get up in house where “not a creature was stirring,” except the mouse in the kitchen. So I did At 8, I had my coffee and fresh-out-of-the-oven baguette from Mama Mia, the restaurant down the street. I felt fantastic!

By 9 a.m., we were on our way to the new house, ready for an adventure in unpacking. When we left at 7 pm, all was as done as it could be for now: The clothes were hung in their closets. The showers and toilets are clean. Every single thing is in its appropriate place in the appropriate room of the appropriate owner. The garbage is bagged. The turtles are content (or so it seems to me. How do you know with a turtle?). The rabbits are en route right now…and I’m sure by morning they will be acquainted with the chickens and sheep next door. The chickens and sheep live on the side opposite the Italian ambassador, who does not have any kind of livestock.)

It’s a good house: light with at least two big windows in every room, terraces for each room, lots of cross ventilation with the ocean breeze refreshing and cooling the inside temperatures, even when it’s hot outside. There’s space to spread out. It’s good. It’s conducive to work and play. Especially good is having an office where Nathalie and I can work and a studio where Paul can write and record music. The yard has grass, which is great for Seal. With a wall surrounding the property, he will have lots of freedom. Nice to be able to use that line from my childhood, which I never hear in New York: “I think it’s time for you go outside and play?”

The new house is a five-minute walk from the nicest beach in Dakar. It’s also about a kilometer from The Point, which is the western-most point in Africa. When I stand on that little bit of land that juts out into the Atlantic, I’ll be as close to home as I’m going to get for 10 more weeks.

And I’ll be thinking of all of you!