| A personal story of inexplicable unhappiness. | | | | the cheerless city; we set out, once more, for the |
| Several years ago my husband and I left New | | | | airport. |
| Zealand, to travel through several States of North | | | | But that sense of loss and discomfort had grown |
| America and Mexico. | | | | much stronger and I struggled to identify its cause. I |
| The flight left in the early evening, flying straight out | | | | was becoming seriously depressed, even though I was |
| from Auckland, leaving behind myriads of twinkling | | | | on a wonderful holiday. Whatever could be wrong? I'd |
| lights and dark blue velvet seas. Approximately twelve | | | | slept comfortably; so it couldn't be jetlag. I was |
| hours later, our aircraft descended at Los Angeles, | | | | luxuriously accommodated, so it wasn't discomfort |
| through a sickly soup of greyish-yellow fog. It bumped | | | | either. |
| down on the tarmac, to the kind of depressing pollution | | | | We moved on, flying from Cleveland to Chicago, Illinois, |
| for which Los Angeles is famous. | | | | where we stopped overnight, before travelling up next |
| Not wishing to venture outside, we collected our things | | | | afternoon, to Milwaukee by railroad. During the morning, |
| and scurried to transfer on to an earlier flight to | | | | we visited the Chicago Art Museum and I was |
| Atlanta, Georgia. Once clear of Los Angeles, it was a | | | | fascinated to spy a family of grey squirrels, frolicking |
| beautiful experience flying across the United States, | | | | among the frosty, bare-branched azalea bushes in the |
| viewing from the windows of our plane, the moving | | | | garden, fronting the Gallery, on Madison Avenue. |
| geography of a mighty country in all its beautiful colors. | | | | Next morning, as the train passed through the |
| We crossed the mountains, their tops gleaming with | | | | Wisconsin countryside, we marvelled at the |
| the last of the winter's snow and flew over the | | | | magnificent German-inspired architecture of farm |
| chequered plains beyond. Below us, we saw the | | | | homesteads. The spring thaw was just beginning and |
| mighty Mississippi River, with its many boats scurrying | | | | what grass we could see, still had that lifeless, |
| up and down that mighty waterway like ants carrying | | | | straw-colored look, we'd noticed at all our previous |
| cargoes and building their nest. After sitting for a while | | | | stopovers. Although a pale sun filtered across the |
| in a holding pattern, over Georgia, we eventually landed | | | | landscape, it was still far too cold for the bare trees to |
| in Atlanta, an airport about four times the size of | | | | sprout leaves. |
| Sydney airport. | | | | On arrival at Milwaukee, we were greeted by the |
| Apart from the shopping, our stay in Atlanta was | | | | same sepia tinted landscape, as we drove to the hotel, |
| relatively uneventful - I did the usual tours and shopped, | | | | and I felt again, the grip of unfamiliar unease and |
| while my husband attended a conference. Two days | | | | depression. Determined to get the most out of this trip, |
| later, with heavier bags, we headed north on a flight to | | | | I tried to ignore these unhappy feelings. To combat |
| Buffalo - en route to Niagara Falls, Canada. | | | | them, I set about being busy, in an unfamiliar city. |
| Circling Buffalo airport five times, (something that is | | | | The next day, on our return to the Phister hotel from a |
| considered exceptional over there), during which, there | | | | tour of Milwaukee, the doors of our hotel lift sprang |
| were several emergencies with defective landing gear, | | | | apart and a large group of women, carrying prized tiny |
| the crew eventually put the plane down on to the | | | | poinsettia plants, spilled out into the hotel foyer. |
| tarmac. As we slewed round to a halt on the | | | | Memories of my healthy ten-foot high poinsettia bush, |
| snow-covered runway, the relieved American | | | | growing at the front doorway of my home flooded |
| travellers, more aware of the emergency than we | | | | back and I felt homesick for the first time in my life. Try |
| were, showered the crew with tumultuous applause. | | | | as I might, I couldn't shake off the depression and |
| By this time, it was dark and we shivered, as we | | | | sense of loss, I felt. |
| emerged from the plane, to the wintry chill of minus | | | | Shopping till we dropped, after seeing the sights, we |
| fourteen degrees. Warmed by hot coffee from the | | | | finally pushed our trolleys through the airport, towards |
| airport café, we began the twenty-two mile drive | | | | our plane to Mexico City. Once in the air, we enjoyed |
| from Buffalo to Niagara Falls in a cab. It was the | | | | the flight down the path of the mighty Mississippi River, |
| beginning of March, just around the time of the spring | | | | which wound its way south, to the Gulf of Mexico. For |
| thaw, although to us it felt like being in the middle of a | | | | a while, the deep feelings of unease subsided, as our |
| hard winter in Queenstown, New Zealand. | | | | minds concentrated on the view below us. |
| The cab driver, a New York State man - born in the | | | | Five hours later, we landed at Mexico's airport, soaring |
| Bronx - and his non-stop humorous patter, kept us | | | | down through a blanket of thick smog that enshrouded |
| entertained on the long, cold drive to the Falls. | | | | that mighty city, home at that time, to eighteen million |
| Fortunately, my husband had the presence of mind, to | | | | people. |
| tape the conversation, so we have since enjoyed | | | | Finally emerging through the gates, we were swept |
| reliving that ride, many times over. | | | | into a Combi Van, in the guise of a taxi, to begin the |
| On entering Niagara Falls and before being dropped to | | | | ride of our lives. In and out of an unending flood of |
| our hotel, on the Canadian side, we called to see the | | | | traffic, our driver wove his van, hooting and screaming |
| tail end of the Niagara Falls evening illuminations. | | | | indecipherable oaths at other drivers, as he went. |
| Although slabs of ice, crashing onto the river below, | | | | Memories of the song `Tijuana Taxi' were vividly |
| seemed enchanting, the colors playing on the | | | | recalled, as we hurtled forward - accelerator - brake, |
| cascading water and illuminating the fine misty spray, | | | | swerve, accelerator - brake, swerve, towards our |
| which rose several hundred feet into the air above the | | | | hotel, a former Mexican palace. |
| river, left us breathless. We were entranced to see | | | | As our tortured vehicle squealed round a corner on |
| frozen spray dropping down on to the trees below, to | | | | the Zocalo; the largest - and busiest - highway in the |
| form perfect icicles. At that moment, were in | | | | world; I saw a sight that brought tears to my eyes. |
| wonderland. But, oh it was so cold! | | | | On a traffic island, in the middle of this amazingly busy |
| Next morning, we awoke to temperatures of minus | | | | highway, stood a tree. A tree, so green, it brought a |
| eight degrees, which quickly plummeted to minus | | | | lump to my throat. At that sight, I cried like a baby. That |
| twelve. Weak rays of pale sunshine, valiantly tried to | | | | tree revealed the answer to my distress. |
| warm the frozen landscape, through which we toured | | | | Green! An absence of green from my life had deeply |
| the famous sights around the falls. | | | | disturbed my happy disposition. |
| Looking out at the frozen spectacle was like stepping | | | | I'd travelled this huge distance, to find out how |
| back in time. I was reminded of my mother's battered | | | | important is one of the most basic influences on my |
| photo album with its many sepia-toned photographs. | | | | life. Green! It is a color deeply embedded in my psyche. |
| The trees in North America are deciduous, losing their | | | | The surroundings of my lifetime were peppered with |
| leaves in autumn, before the bitter winter's chill attacks | | | | green, as the dominant flora of New Zealand is made |
| them. The sepia colors I was encountering in that | | | | up of evergreen trees. |
| wintry panorama seemed the same as in the album. | | | | During my childhood, many of my spare hours were |
| Two days later, we left again for Buffalo, to fly on to | | | | spent happily climbing the trees surrounding my home, |
| Cleveland in Ohio. A sharp frost had left an icy terrain | | | | a place of exquisitely green lawns and clipped hedges. |
| in its wake and, as we drove to Buffalo, through miles | | | | In flashbacks, I remembered my adolescence, when I'd |
| of snow-covered landscape, I began to feel a decided | | | | tramped through miles of mountain beech forests, |
| unease that I blamed on jetlag. I was depressed; | | | | without ever realising, what a vital part they played. |
| although depression is not something I have previously | | | | And now, an adult, I'd created luxuriant gardens, |
| suffered. | | | | featuring lush green ferns and evergreen trees. |
| Our stay in Cleveland was unusual; we arrived for St | | | | Yet, for more than forty years, I'd taken those |
| Patrick's Day and witnessed a huge St Patrick's | | | | important and fertile surroundings for granted - until that |
| parade, where thousands of genuine (and would-be), | | | | moment. |
| Irishmen, turned out for the celebration. It was | | | | In that instant, when I saw that tree, I knew my life |
| interesting to see dyed green hair and to drink green | | | | could never be complete without the healing and |
| beer. Everything that day was Irish! | | | | relaxing shades of green; the color of Mother Nature |
| A day later, after exploring the tourist haunts and Art | | | | herself. I'll never forget how important a part the color |
| Galleries of Cleveland, tempered overnight, by a | | | | green plays in my life. It is the source of my happiness |
| whiteout blizzard, which dumped deep snowdrifts on | | | | and inspiration. |