winter adventures, cont.

It started snowing Saturday morning and continued all day. We went out midmorning for a pokemon gym run (I suggested walking, but no one else was up for it) and the roads were a mess. Mom skidded gingerly around every corner. All the local drivers were zipping by like it was a clear summer day, and what’s the problem?

Just as well it was a family visit trip and not a sightseeing trip. We met them for lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant. Most of the lunchtime conversation revolved around the child and related household matters. They’re thinking of buying a house to get more space for the kid. Mom gave them advice about researching school districts and rezoning politics before picking a location.

I was thinking, didn’t they recently move into a big new condo? But after lunch we swung by the condo, and it was packed. The kitchen counter was plastered in gadgets (espresso machine, French vanilla press, electric kettle…) and practically every nearby surface was full of knickknacks and snacks and curios. It was all cool stuff. My brother always has cool stuff. Expensive Japanese whiskey, cute round avocado and burger plushies, carved wooden animal figurines, acai blueberry chocolate snacks, a dozen different varieties of tea. It wasn’t messy exactly; everything was nicely placed and well ordered. But there was a lot of it.

I got a cup of milk tea and ruminated on how roommate had literally no kitchen stuff and it made moving-in so much more convenient. Imagine if he’d brought his favorite pots and pans, his favorite mugs, his favorite cutting boards and kitchen gadgets. Okay, I can’t really imagine that. But in the abstract, it would have made things complicated.

Sal’s been having a rough time. Over the past three or so weeks, she’s developed a persistent cough that nobody can diagnose. Last night she was up until 4 am coughing. My brother suspects long covid (she had covid in July) but she doesn’t buy it based on the sudden emergence of symptoms. In any case, we left without further sightseeing because we figured she needed time to rest, and we wanted to get back to the hotel before we got snowed in.

Mom thought we could watch a movie in the evening (we did a brief excursion to Walmart to get an HDMI cable for her laptop, and nearly got stuck in the snow) but couldn’t get it working, so instead we watched Law and Order: SVU while munching on microwave pizza from Walmart and drinking the hotel's complimentary hot chocolate. Like I said, not a sightseeing trip. But it was a good chill family outing.