i presented myself at the well-appointed house of the jensens on the day of their easter egg hunt, and was welcome into the midst of a hamburger dinner on the patio. the egg hunt at the jensens is an outdoor affair, one finds candy wedged under unlikely lawn ornaments, tucked into birdhouses and squeezed between gaps in the garden fence, scattered on the patio and winding trails in the tall grass, hidden on door and window ledges, and i even found one sitting on one of the wheels of the movable barbecue pit. it is very hard to be dignified about an outdoor egghunt however idly you stroll and swing your basket - i keep getting my skirt and hose caught on brambles and emerged at the end with quite a lot of scratches down my legs. i do this in order to be initiated into an american childhood i never had and in truth have very little desire for american candy, especially not those disgusting yellow chicks that von thinks so amusing, peeps they are called are they not? and chocolate bunnies are hollow in england and america, a fact that disappoints me very much, who by the way have heard of a 2kg solid bunny at choupinette on princess of wales road.

i came into d.c. too late for the cherry blossom parade and too early for the final fireworks, but in the evening we drive to the jefferson memorial and walk the cherry blossom trails around the tidal basin, and at the statue's feet i think of caesar astride the world and janice asks if i felt jeffersonian, and i said no, i only feel snubbed, which made them all laugh and start on harvard jokes again but in truth charlottesville had so lately been a joy, for obvious and private reasons, and i felt teary then, for that pyschological eden. i had stood again in charlottesville and thought in surprise, why, i have so many people here! that this is afterall my home, whether or not i return. and from being a place to which i long for return but feel i cannot i may one day come to see it as a place to which i can always return, but no longer need to.