On The Road – Again

I think those words are in a song…Willie is a genius.

This week, instead of heading to sunny Florida, we’re going to cold, snowy, blowy Minnesota. The youngest grandson, 11, has a hockey tournament in Minneapolis this long weekend. The Florida teams always seem to have tourneys scheduled in far locales every time there’s an extra day off school. (It’s not just Florida, of course.) These tourneys require the kids missing school on both sides of the long weekend as they have to travel to and from said locales. This particular tourney has 10 teams competing just at his age and skill level. They’re coming from all over. And yet the kids (ours, at least) take it in stride and still manage to get good grades.

The middle grandson has a tournament scheduled near Nashville next month, to coincide with President’s Day weekend. He’s also competing this weekend in a tourney nearer home, in Orlando, Kissimmee, and Daytona. The oldest grandson (junior in college) is competing at Hofstra in New York this weekend as well. We’ll watch both of those older boys via LiveBarn as much as we can. Some of the games may be overlapping.

We aren’t escaping any wintry weather on this tip, unfortunately. However, it will keep me from gloating! It was misting, and freezing on contact, as we drove into Fargo last night (Jan. 10), at 20°. (We’d planned to stay the night here anyway.) Of course, as at home, there was a stiff breeze. Snow was blowing across the interstate, but no drifts had yet formed. We’ll go on to Minnesota today. Minneapolis (Hennepin County) is under a winter storm watch, starting this evening (Jan. 11) and through tomorrow. Our daughter and her son will fly in this evening, ahead of possible cancelled flights tomorrow. But getting to the first game at 9:10 a.m., could be interesting. Our girl is now a firmly entrenched Floridian and has forgotten all winter driving rules. She’s relying on her dad’s driving to get us safely to and from all the games.

I did soak all my houseplants as soon as we returned from Florida. I did mention last week that a few had died, and a few looked pretty rough. I soaked them again just before we left on this trip. Maybe the sickish ones will recover, maybe not. The few I really don’t want to lose (mom’s kaffir lily smuggled in from Germany, the pothos from my father-in-law’s funeral, my Hoyas, the big succulents) all seem to weather the intermittent waterings just fine.

I have a huge aloe, given to me by a friend, that keeps producing babies. I also have a huge agave cactus (the kind they make tequila from) given to me by my sister-in-law from when she lived in Arizona. Bev had also given me my mother jade tree, as well as a cutting from an orchid cactus. I love those plants; they have history. They all thrive on neglect, which works well for me.