Day 35 LA- Stevenson Ranch

Another good night’s sleep. Susan had left around 5 am for the airport. She had a meeting in San Francisco and Oscar left about 6. So I woke the kids up. After breakfasts they went to school. A bit of housework and then I walked Churro. It was a wonderful day. Warm and sunny.

After walking Churro, it was time to walk to the shops to get some items. However the queues would seem to indicate that everyone else was shopping early too.  Every shop had long queues waiting to be served. Some were really grumpy shoppers and there was one very abusive man who held up other shoppers while the manager tried to calm him down.  At the same shop two English women were deriding all Americans and their customs. Interesting situation. They were obviously living here. I did wonder why, when they obviously had very little love of the country.

I laughed when I passed the "dead" snowman

Eventually I had completed my jobs and walked up the hill to get a coffee (You can get a coffee with almond milk here) I sat in the sunshine and drank it before setting off for home. I had lunch outside then did some sewing out there too, before preparing dinner. Chicken, frittata followed by apple cake. The kids returned from school. I had dinner with them. Susan had sent a message to say that her plane was delayed in San Francisco. I cleaned up after dinner then tried to check in on the Qantas site, but they had a problem online. So I downloaded photos and typed up today’s news. I may need to return to the shops tomorrow for a Christmas jumper for Sarah. We have a parcel to send to them from here and there is enough space for a jumper.  

Day 34 LA

I woke at 6:30 and spent time on the computer, before getting up for breakfast. Everyone was on their computers. I took Churro for a walk. What a glorious day. The trees were just starting to turn lovely autumn colours. When I came home, I continued with my sewing outside. In the outside light I found a few clam shells that I must have done in poor light, so a little bit of unpicking was required.

Susan and I went down to the shops to try to get her tablets in preparation for her trip to England and a few other items including “ugly” Christmas sweaters.

We had fun searching through shops to find just the “right” ones for the family, at a realistic price.  It began as an idea to outdo each other in having the worst sweater you could find. One like your mum/ auntie would give you, which was so loud and so bright you might only wear when they were coming for celebrations. Now there is a huge range, from the very awful to the nice. Mine will be useful if we have a cold snap at Christmas.

We missed lunch, so upon our return we both had a late sandwich. Teagan was still at scouts, Troy was playing a computer game with a friend and Oscar on his computer.

We all put on our new jumpers and took photos under the Christmas tree, before going out to dinner.

The knife was big enough to cut down a tree

We were the best dressed! After a lovely family dinner Oscar drove us the long way home to look at some of the local Christmas decorations. Not as many as in previous years and more houses projecting light displays onto the house rather than putting up lights. Home to watch TV and bed. Susan has an early morning flight to San Francisco with an overseas one on Thursday.

Two more sleeps until the wretched plane home. While I am enjoying time with my family, my brain is starting to overload on everything that has to be done upon my return. The list at this time of the year is extensive. If I was at home I would be baking non stop in preparation, the decorations would be up, the cards done, the gifts wrapped and under the tree, the house would be ready. This year I will have to rely on jet lag to get a start in catching up and just enjoy a special time with family. 

Day 32 and 33 in LA

LA has been a "resting time"

Day 32 LA

AGGHHH. My sleep was broken by Churro barking at 4 am. So I took him outside, but he didn’t need to pee! Dragged him back in and went back to bed. He began barking soon after and this time Susan got up. Meanwhile I shoved my ear plugs in and went back to sleep.

Woke at 7 to find bright blue sky, but a very “cool” wind. Breakfast, then caught up with my diary and posting. Kids went off to school. Susan was on one side of the table working and I was on the other. Suddenly she remembered she had a hair appointment- in 10 minutes and still needed to get ready. Rush!

I eventually finished my posts, did the washing and walked the dog. Wow the wind was freezing cold and very blustery. (There was a fire on the nearby hills being blown by the strong wind.) Slight issue being that I had just washed my only thick jumper. Luckily it was dry by the early afternoon, because it just got cooler. Teagan had a half day at school. When she came home she wanted to make something in felt for Amelia, so I found a simple pattern online and created others. She began to stitch but we needed pins. Susan cleaned out her craft cupboard searching for the missing pins. Eventually we went down to the shops to get supplies for our craft and food for the empty pantry and fridge. (Two growing children take care of the emptying process)

When we returned I made pasta for dinner, after which we sat and watched TV. I pent some time snoozing with Churro. It was an early night for all. Both Susan and I getting over flights.

During the day I was colder than I had been at Quebec. Tricked by the blue sky I did not have enough warm clothes on.

Day 33 LA

Fabulous sleep. Woke at 5:15 LA am time. Spent time on my computer, until Susan woke up. Breakfast, then I walked Churro, before helping Teagan with her sewing. Another sunny day with a cold wind.

The rest of the day was very quiet. Basically me sewing on the couch and the others relaxing, except when Oscar took Churro to get washed. A bonus was being able to use the quilting mat of Susan’s, which made keeping all the clams in rows MUCH easier. While I was sewing, the kids were playing internet games. We “watched” several programmes. The TV was on, but everyone was doing something on their computer /phone/ sewing. We began to watch the series “How to make a murderer”. But it was incredibly long and drawn out. After three hours, I just asked for the ending (another five to go!) and we moved onto another series about Robert Durst, which was much more interesting, despite being six episodes long. 

We had a break after four series, so that I could prepare dinner, do the dishes, they could find all the Christmas decorations and then we continued. During the last two episodes, the tree was set up and the kids decorated it. Troy spent ages on the tree but in his pj's so missed his photo opportunity. Lucky me to have been at both house during “tree time”. 

Day 31 Leaving Quebec > Montreal > Los Angeles.

Thankfully a great night’s sleep and Lachie woke at 6:30. But today we woke to heavy snow falling and more snow on the ground and in the trees than I had seen previously. The snow ploughs were going up and down at a great pace. Even the footpaths got scraped.

Sarah drove Lachie to Day Care and Tim to work. It was a sad time to say goodbye to Tim and especially Lachie. The heavy snow made the roads very slow. I stayed at home, while Amelia slept. I washed clothes and the linen, finished packing and then when Sarah was still coming home Amelia woke up, not too impressed that her milk supply was not available. Sarah came home 20 minutes later and fed Amelia. I made my dinner- Fairly sure there will be no GF on the flight. Then I checked the airline. No trouble accessing my check-in process today, so I checked in and paid for my checked in bag. First issue of the day was that the flight times had been changed, so it was really lucky that I checked. Both flights were earlier than ticketed. However instead of the original two hour connection, it was going to be VERY tight.

I went for a very fast walk across to the Plains. Nearly didn’t get there. I wore Sarah’s boots, because I didn’t want to get mine out of my bag and get them wet. The only way they would fit was by leaving my slippers on.  (Sarah has much bigger feet) Once outside I walked to the corner and had a “surprise” when a huge lump of snow fell off one off the nearby trees and landed on me. The next “experience” was the cars splashing the dirty water, as they passed, while I was waiting for the lights to change. The plains were covered completely in snow. It was very pretty.

Back home to have lunch, then we drove to the airport, passing so many snow ploughs in all different sizes. On the highway they had a series of four across all the lanes, all ploughing at the same time to ensure the road was clear and there were no banks of snow. The airport was completely covered, but their big snow ploughs were keeping the runways clear.

I was able to change my seat of the second flight to an aisle, checked in my bag and said a very sad goodbye to Sarah and Amelia. I was crying through the entire security check. Once through I got a cup of tea, changed my last Canadian dollars into US dollars and sat for a short time watching the snow ploughs. I was sure we were going to be delayed because the plane came in late. However they cleared it quickly and we sat down on time and waited while they de-iced the plane. Some sort of green spray over the top. We took off after sitting on the tarmac for 25 minutes for the short flight to Montreal. The delay was going to make the connecting time even tighter. From the air you could see snow everywhere in Quebec, but once we came down through the clouds it was only wet in Montreal.

HUGE problem for me at Montreal. We landed on the tarmac and I walked quickly across into the domestic building at 3:45. My plane was due to board at 4: 05! I literally ran non- stop, through to the international section, through to US customs and security, thinking the whole time “it will have left”. But God was on my side and as I ran out of customs I heard my name being paged and the gate was thankfully very close! Ran to the desk, showed my pass, ran down the gangplank onto the plane – nearly knocking over some guy finishing his phone conversation on the corner. Thankfully I didn’t have to do the walk of shame. There were still people putting up bags and coats. I was sweating profusely as I found my seat and sat down at 4:25. Got to be a record. After my marathon, we then sat on the tarmac for another 25 minutes before taking off!

Now all the signs are DONE and you can find it.

Watched Florence Foster Jenkins, then listened to the original version of the Producers, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes while I was organising my photos and typing up my diary. Only got two cups of tea on the flight, but at least they started bring around water after they had done the meals. Of course there was no GF. So I ate my sandwiches and all my snacks. Then they turned off all the lights. 8:00 Quebec time. Once I had finished writing my diary I took off my boots, stretched out across the seats and had a snooze. Still thinking of those I had left behind, especially Lachie- wondering if it was sausages again tonight? I miss them all, but know how lucky I am to have had the opportunity to stay with them and share this special time.

The plane landed in LA at 7:35 pm new time (10:30 pm Q time) straight off and down the stairs to collect bag and guess what it was there in less than 5 mins! Went down to Starbucks, juggling two bags but desperate for a cuppa for the long wait. I hate that LAX has no secure Wifi and my blasted phone has not yet connected to America, so I can’t even contact Susan or send a message. She was flying in from Washington on AA. As I sat I read my book. Just as Susan arrived at 10:30 LA time, I had reached the last five pages. So she arrived as tears were streaming down my face. Good welcome! I was able to go to the toilet while she waited with the bags (tricky when you are by yourself). We caught the bus to pick up her car and then drove home arriving here about midnight. Bed at 12:30 am = 3:30 Q time!