Strange things have happened

We have settled back into Indianapolis – well I have anyway. Cate has gone to Brussels. Because of the weather on the east coast the flights were delayed and she has a really crappy hotel in Brussels - so is not happy.

I used my new snow shovel on the weekend and it works just fine. I have decided against buying a snow thrower just yet and will wait and see what happens.

I have however today ordered from Amazon a couple of battery powered lamps because I am sure at some stage this winter we will have power outages.

We do have a gas stove an gas fireplaces so should be able to survive most situations.

Gwenyth is arriving next week and is bringing all the ingredients to make Lamingtons and Pavlova. Essential things are Copha and tinned Passionfruit and I simply cannot find these here. I hope someone will tell me if they are available.

We are planning on having the neighbors over and will be able to a assail them with these gastronomic necessities.

Tonight I am making my first Quiche. This is a continuation of my plan to expand my culinary repertoire. I do not expect to encounter any problems – but am doing this while Cate is away just in case. Strange things have happened in my kitchen.

The cats were pleased to see us

We got as far as Gallipolis before the weather forced us off the road.

If you were wondering about Gallipolis as a holiday destination – do not give it any thought at all.

We sent most of our time being terrified by the reports on the weather channel of the next giant storm sweeping across America from Texas – and trying to work out with Google maps whether or not it was going to annihilate us the next day.

The snow was pelting down during the night but when we emerged the next morning the weather was good and the roads were clear.

After and hour or so on the road we got sunshine and had a very good trip home – apart from a few slow patches due to heavy traffic. I am guessing a lot of people holed up like we did.

We were glad we had not tried press on when we saw numerous cars that had skidded off the road and buried themselves in the snow.

The cats were very pleased to see us and I turned the kitchen gas fire on for them immediately. Our house and garden is covered with snow and we are sorry we were not here to see it.

I can suck it up

We went to the slave plantation but would have had to wait two hours for the house tour and the swamp tour and the boat tour was closed for winter so just wandered around the garden. There is lots of wildlife there but we saw only ducks. Excellent ducks - but ducks nevertheless.

I finally found out what the funny stuff hanging from trees in the South is called. It is Spanish moss. It looks lethal but does not in fact harm the trees at all - and does not favor any particular trees. I have forgotten already why it is called Spanish moss - but there is a good reason.

The plantation we visited was called Magnolia. It is where the British landed to force the surrender of Charleston in the revolutionary war - which I realized I know nothing about. More reading required.

In the evening we went to Poogan's Porch where I had - for the first time - fried green tomatoes. Delicious. I have decided that I like the South and it's food.

A surreal experience (for Australian readers only) was that we were in fact sitting on the porch next to the street and cycling along the road came Eddie McGuire. He stopped outside the restaurant because someone wanted to take a photo of him. Some Australians sitting next to us shouted greetings. He responded cheerfully and rode away.

Tonite we are in Asheville NC. We had planned tomorrow to do some exploring and then see the Biltmore estate - and leave Saturday morning. But - a gigantic storm is cutting across the Midwest from Texas to Ohio with snow and ice storms and all kinds of ugly shit.  Indianapolis  has apparently already been buried under a mountain of snow.

So we are going to check out a day early and get as far as we can towards Indianapolis before we have to stop. Then we will hole up until we can get home safely. All this is tricky because Cate leaves for Brussels on Monday so we have to be home on Sunday at the latest.

We are actually more worried about the cats than anything else. It is below freezing in Indianapolis and while we have set the heating to keep the house at a reasonable temperature if we get a power cut - which is apparently a regular occurrence - they will get bloody cold because we did not think to teach them how to turn the gas fires on.

We expect rain, snow and ice on the way home. It is likely to be - as was our trip to Virginia - a terrifying experience. I may have to play Bluegrass all the way home to calm Cate. She will not let me drive because she says I frighten her. Well she scares the bejesus our of me but I can suck it up.

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