Bon voyage!

The days of Christmas last, as I am constantly reminded, until the twelfth day well into the new January. In Germany Heilige Abend is sacrosanct, although for me it remains even after all the years Christmas Eve. Ex and daughter and I agreed that non-traditional raclette would be a fitting reminder of all the wonderful Christmases we celebrated in the upper Engadin withJessi's grandparents. The gifts exchanged were more modest this year, with none of us in a position to be lavish. However this in no way mattered.

Christmas Day passed uneventfully. As always I had BBC Radio 4 running for a good part of the day and... also as always... I had either a Skype or Google Hangout chat window open to maintain the contact between father and daughter than we have both come to take for granted.

Boxing Day brought another slap up dinner cooked by my ladies. And something more... last minute packing of Jessi's suitcase for her trip to Washington DC: It is wonderful that she can now spend a fortnight with her boyfriend in the States. But our chat window will open only seldom until she returns after the twelfth day of Christmas.

Which is what inspired me to embed the image above... a window of a different kind... tracking the first leg of her journey which takes her to Paris before changing to the transatlantic flight. Takeoff was on time and as I post this 200 kilometres have already been covered.

I dare say that later in the day I'll be tracking once more as her flight approaches its destination!