All of you know the day before Thanksgiving is the busiest travel day of the entire year and so given I was flying out-of-state, there was little hope in this heart. I was thinking cancellations, nightmare security lines, delays, maybe even a pilot strike. A miracle, both coming and going: fast, easy, smooth, on-time flights. What happened? What universe did I step into? Even airport Starbucks coffee was excellent, the only thing what wasn’t perfect was the not-warm croissants. And that always makes me wonder: how do they get the croissants to look so perfect?

Every three years I have a photo shoot in Los Angeles with the incomparable photographer Charles Bush. Everything went too well – like when is the other shoe going to drop? Like on-time airplanes (gasp with surprise), hotel beautiful even though the rooms were spooky dark, staff friendly, good Mexican food down Wilshire Blvd across from SAKS, everyone at the studio in top form, and ready for fun, and finally, amazingly, the L.A. traffic wasn’t any worse than usual.

Guess what? It’s the Fall equinox on Saturday the 22nd. My understanding is that everyone is required to line-dance into the woods, find a clearing, build a small, safe bonfire, strip off all clothes, and do-si-do around said small, safe fire and chant full-bodied to the heavens to celebrate the changing of the seasons. This will include pleas for no more hurricanes, fires, floods and any other assorted nasty events. Everyone on board? I heard you – what sort of music? Well, line-dancing and a good romping do-si-do makes me think of Willie Nelson. That good with you?

It’s still summer, right? But it’s already happening – no more waking up with the alarm to see lovely sunshine pouring through your window. Nope, already it’s dark, dark, dark, folks, and when the alarm goes off, you think for a millisecond it must might be three a.m. I have an idea: let’s form a Morning Sunlight Savings Time (MSST), submit to Congress. Would that possibly stand for anything hinky? Maybe a new government agency? Okay, no more whining, I’ll just imagine what it would be like living in Lapland (without drugs), nearly nose-to-nose with the North Pole.

Let me say this about New York City – you either go with the flow and get into it or you go to a psych ward at Bellevue. Wall-to-wall people, lots and lots of tourists (I guess that would include me), so much noise -- in restaurants, on the streets, in the women’s rooms, SAKS shoe department (area code 10022 – shoes). Talk about something your brain will remember forever: leaving the Broadway show FROZEN and walking into Times Square at nearly midnight and it’s bright as day and cheek to jowl with folk, every single one talking and taking photos with their cell phones. (Yes, me too. I hope to post a short video of Times Square soon.)