Like water off a duck's back

Today we are going to France.

We were advised yesterday that our original flight was cancelled - so we have been booked on later flights. I imagine these will also be cancelled – or at least delayed.

We are entirely accustomed to these events now and it is like water off a duck’s back. The only problem is that we are now going thru Chicago instead of Newark. Chicago is always a disaster – but does have a Starbucks and an Einstein’s Bagel shop every ten yards.

I never thought I would actually hang out for Starbucks but in this country it is often the only place where you can get espresso coffee. When we first arrived we went into ‘coffee’ shops – only to discover that what they used for coffee came in large tubs and was usually flavored.

On Saturday we are going to Brittany where Gaston’s parents have a house. I will brush up on the flight so that I can practice my French on the natives.

The snow has turned to ice so there is no chance of moving any of it. There is apparently lots more bad weather on the way – which we will either be hit with or miss altogether.

You cannot make this stuff up

It snowed a lot on the weekend and we are still buried under mountains of it. For a change today we are having freezing rain which turns the roads and everything else to ice.

Yesterday I went shopping and got the car bogged in snow in the back lane when I was coming home. I had to dig myself out – and use lots of kitty litter – to get myself into the garage.

It is so cold outside the cats are no longer interested in trying to escape.

We seem to specialize in this state in gigantic crashes on the Interstates. The biggest one I have seen involved 47 cars and trucks and took hours and hours to untangle. The speed at which people travel on the Interstates here is scary – and they do not seem to slow down in the snow and the sleet.

However – safely ensconced in  a warm house I am busy doing important things like painting shelves and watching golf.

I have also taking on the cleaning of Wishard Mansion. We used to have a bunch of people who came once a fortnight and cleaned the floors and the seven bathrooms. They did not do a very good job and charged a lot of money so I have dispensed with their services and taken on the task myself – with the help of Robbie the iRobot.

This gives me the opportunity to practice my Spanish grammar while I am mopping and dusting.

Cate has been looking at dogs and has ruled out small dogs.  For a brief period she had settled on a Beagle but these are apparently impossible to house train – and eat everything in sight including shoes, handbags and furniture.

I have stopped my fruitless protesting and am now planning how to cope with the coming Catastrophe.

It seems to me that  a Labrador is inevitable and a man is coming to day to quote for putting a fence around our back garden.

My idjit of the week was going to be Donald Trump who is still not sure that President Obama was born in the USA.

Then I had to switch to Rupert Murdoch who was flying over ice in the North Atlantic and tweeted ‘global warming’.

However he was blown out of the water by Senator Inhofe – Chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee – who brought a snowball into the Senate to demonstrate that global warming is not true.

You cannot make this stuff up.

Like worms on a fish hook

I haven’t had time to blog. I have been learning Spanish and have been transfixed by a number of things including the amazing politics in this country. The battle for the Republican nomination for President is in full swing here and is absolutely fascinating. 

They all have excellent lines of patter but those damn journalists keep messing with their heads by asking them really hard questions such as:

 ‘Do you believe in evolution?’ and ‘do you believe in climate change?’ and the hardest one ‘do you believe that President Obama is a Christian?’

These trick questions tend to flummox them completely. They call them ‘gotcha’ questions because they find them so hard to answer.

The next year or so is going to be fabulous entertainment as these people wriggle around like worms on a fish hook trying to appeal to their antediluvian voters while also trying to not look completely stupid.

I am also keeping a close eye on the Australian Prime Minister Mr. Rabbit as he bumbles and stumbles his way towards oblivion while the good ship Turnbull sails on serenely.

If Mr. Rabbit was a horse they would shoot him.  

So I bought a Spanish course from Costco. It is much the same as Rosetta Stone but costs about a quarter as much. At the moment I am learning words and will soon launch  into the grammar. I can see already that it will be much easier than German – which I tend to speak on the oddest occasions.

I can tell you that there is no point asking a waiter in Indianapolis for ‘mineral vasser mit gaz, bitte’.

It seems that here they do not plow most of the streets when it snows. I guess they are worried about the plows disappearing into the pot holes and never being seen again. So driving is a bit tricky when it snows all the time like it has recently. I am just about to go outside and start shoveling – again.

Sissi still escapes from time to time – but makes sure she can be caught very quickly.