A
polar vortex sweeps down from Canada and across the US. The weather
gets a lot of TV coverage, but snow in Texas and Florida does seem
extreme. Everyone here is used to these cold snaps and big snowfalls.
The schools have an early-warning system and will close if there's
severe ice on the road. Olivia is thrilled by these opportunities to
lie-in. Hannah is already considering her college choices and needs to
keep on top of her school work. We feel like the indolent sloths we are.
We return to DC for another visit and feel the windchill factor on our faces. The Library of Congress is a grand architectural highlight and the collection of museums is so large at the Smithsonian that we are forced to pick and choose. We go for art over history. We are not disappointed. Another day, sunny and dry, Kamran takes us out into the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, stopping in a couple of the pretty towns and we get that incredible winter light.
Gayle's mum is ill and admitted to hospital. Kamran and Emma immediately offer to put Gayle on a flight back home to the UK, if she wants to go. After chatting with her sister Gayle decides she will accept their generous offer. Kamran travels so much with his work that he has accrued a large number of airmiles, which enables him to get Gayle onto a flight the next day. In the twenty years they have lived here they have experienced the anxiety and dread when someone is seriously ill at home and understand the need to get back home. Gayle's mum is released from hospital and Gayle returns a week later. It's been a shock. We know nothing can be taken for granted. We are more grateful to Emma and Kamran for their generosity than our words can convey.
Having decided we will go to Cuba, and investigated flying there from the US we decide to travel via Cancun in Mexico. It seems this is the easiest and cheapest way to get there with our bikes. And so it is with some excitement and a little regret that we say goodbye to our new family in West Virginia. We will be back one day, we feels ure.
We return to DC for another visit and feel the windchill factor on our faces. The Library of Congress is a grand architectural highlight and the collection of museums is so large at the Smithsonian that we are forced to pick and choose. We go for art over history. We are not disappointed. Another day, sunny and dry, Kamran takes us out into the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, stopping in a couple of the pretty towns and we get that incredible winter light.
Gayle's mum is ill and admitted to hospital. Kamran and Emma immediately offer to put Gayle on a flight back home to the UK, if she wants to go. After chatting with her sister Gayle decides she will accept their generous offer. Kamran travels so much with his work that he has accrued a large number of airmiles, which enables him to get Gayle onto a flight the next day. In the twenty years they have lived here they have experienced the anxiety and dread when someone is seriously ill at home and understand the need to get back home. Gayle's mum is released from hospital and Gayle returns a week later. It's been a shock. We know nothing can be taken for granted. We are more grateful to Emma and Kamran for their generosity than our words can convey.
Having decided we will go to Cuba, and investigated flying there from the US we decide to travel via Cancun in Mexico. It seems this is the easiest and cheapest way to get there with our bikes. And so it is with some excitement and a little regret that we say goodbye to our new family in West Virginia. We will be back one day, we feels ure.
