The best laid plans...

So, the rather complicated weekend is upon us.

The children are ensconced (I hope) at their friends' houses (though one of them may be at a comic convention in Troy).  I am in Teaneck, New Jersey until Sunday, attending a Fair Trade organizers' meeting.

The Man is in transit from California, and text messages suggest that the trip is not going entirely smoothly (hm, that's unusual... Oh, no it isn't), but I daresay he'll get back to Albany eventually - poor fellow.

The Man adds...yes I am stuck in Washington after some adventures in Texas. I think thiswww.myfoxdfw.com/story/24856831/bird-strike-prompts-flight-from-dfw-airport-to-make-emergency-landing explains it all.

Back to busy

We have a somewhat complicated weekend coming up, with various of us wanting/needing to be in different places from others of us, so I've been working out the logistics for who is going where, and how and with whom.  I hope everything, and everyone, will slide easily into place when the time comes.

For tonight we were back to our regular Thursday evening mini-whirl of Girl skating, Boy drumming, me driving to and fro...in snow and gusting winds, to boot.  I'd like it to be a little warmer now, I really would.  That sunny cycle ride through San Francisco seems a very long time ago already.

Topical cocktail

I called in at school today to admire the 8th Graders' history projects, on display in the library.  The students had picked their own subjects to study within the broad theme of "rights and responsibilities".  The Girl chose the causes of World War I.  Other topics ranged from the Salem witch trials to the Seneca Falls Convention (the first convention for women's rights, held in 1848), to the Holocaust to Stonewall to the Free Tibet movement to food stamps.  I was impressed by the wide variety of subjects and in many cases the imaginative presentations, in the form of posters, PowerPoints and ambitious models.  And cakes - for some reason there were quite a few cakes.

Otherwise, it has been another cold day here - our old friend the Polar Vortex is back in town.  It'd be a good name for a cocktail, wouldn't it.  What would you expect to find in one?

Tales of the sleepy

Well, I was all set with something to write about this evening - based on the fact that, to mark our trip to San Francisco, I've been re-reading the Tales of the City series by Armistead Maupin, not realising that Maupin has just brought out the ninth and final volume.  To my surprise he was on the radio today being interviewed.  If you haven't read the series, it's very funny and also touching, with important things to say about gay/human rights and accepting each other's differences.

However I got all tangled up in a project with the Girl and time has galloped along, so I am just going to leave it there and go to bed.  I'm really hoping to wake up not feeling like I'm still on California time (three hours behind).

SWF

Our return trip to California last week took us via Detroit (where we found that colourful tunnel), but our start-and-end point was Stewart International Airport (IATA code: SWF) in the Hudson Valley.

I hadn't realised Stewart was a commercial airport, as I'd only heard of it in relation to military flights (it used to be an air force base - it's where the Iran hostages were flown back to when they were released in 1981).  It's tiny, even smaller than Albany Airport.  Security was very thorough -well, there were more staff than passengers, and what else did they all have to do?  But the service was friendly and courteous, too. It's about an hour and half from home, so closer and more convenient for us than Newark or JFK.  Parking was easy and relatively inexpensive, and we got a good price on our flights - much cheaper than any other routes we'd looked into. We'll certainly consider it for future trips, if the need arises.

As we came into land on Saturday, I could just see Manhattan glimmering in the distance.  It really felt like we had flown "from sea to shining sea".

Down the mountain, through the woods

Although we all felt tired after a long day of travel yesterday, we still went skiing this afternoon.

It's relatively warm here (40sF), so there was no danger of frozen fingers.  The snow was on the slushy side, making for rather heavy skiing, but we had a good time and made many runs.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, the Man was wandering through a redwood forest...

We left our Man in San Francisco...

Today the children and I travelled back to New York state.  Sad to say, we left the Man behind - he's attending a conference in San Jose next week. 

The journey was long but went smoothly.  The only minor hiccup was going through security, when my carry-on bag was pulled out for inspection after it had sat for a long time in the x-ray scanner.  They didn't tell me what caused their suspicions.  It could have been my hair-straightening tongs - I've had those queried before.  Or maybe they detected a strange substance at the bottom of the bag and wondered what I was trying to smuggle across the country.  That was in fact half a box-worth's of the Boy's cocoa-krispies which had exploded in the bag the day before.  Anyway, after they'd had a good (and ever so slightly sticky) rummage, they let me pass.

So, we are home again, and though it is not as cold as I'd feared, there's still a mountain of snow in the yard.  Ah, I could have got used to California.  I hope the Man is able to make the most of an extra week of balmy weather.