Fantastic Beasts in the snow

Why oh why does anyone come to this godforsaken town? Why?! I checked the weather before I left, but all looked okay and it was so mild in Toronto, so very mild. I wore my leather boots, not my snow boots. As I was walking out of the house, a tiny voice said, Maybe you should change boots, and I said to myself, Oh for God's sake it's not going to snow.

Last night, continuing most of today - at least six inches.

So much for today's walk in the woods. My leather boots were soaked and freezing in no time just getting around, because I had jobs to do, including my usual trip to Ikea. I never get there in Toronto because it's miles and I have no car. Here I have a car and it's five minutes away, so I always go and drool over the gorgeous file boxes and everything else that won't fit in my carry-on suitcase. I bought the usual - candles,  napkins, stuff for the kids, a fake poinsettia for my aunt, and gazed in wonder at everything else, like the perfect stand-up desk I'd like for Christmas. Ate an incredibly cheap breakfast and went back out into the frozen wilderness. Brought lunch to Do and then persuaded her, the two of us prisoners in her apartment, that we should see a film. So I chose what I thought was the most suitable that was showing earliest - Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the J. K. Rowling film.

Oh my. Poor Auntie Do had absolutely no idea what was going on in this tale of magic and mayhem and menace. As she said afterwards, "I am the least magical person possible. Reality is my forte." So trying to explain to her about muggles or no-maj's, as they're called in America, and why that guy turned into a black hurricane of vicious destruction and why the rain made them all forget, and so much more, was not easy. But still, even understanding nothing, she was glad to get out, glad she'd seen it. What a good sport she is.

I am so happy to spend time with her, and I also can't wait to get out of here, especially now there's snow everywhere. But Do saved the day. She had actually bought a new pair of snow boots, and though her feet are smaller than mine, still, miraculously, they fitted. She wore her old ones and I wore the new ones for the rest of the day, so grateful for warm, dry feet. New rule: never come to this preposterous town, even in July, without snow boots.

We called my cousin, Do's niece, Barbara in Washington D.C., who is of course in shock about Trump. Here's a final word for today, sent by my friend Patsy, which I've just forwarded to Barbara too:

When I despair, I remember that all through history, the way of truth and love has always won. There have been murderers and tyrants, and for a time they can seem invincible. But in the end they always fall. Think of it, always. 

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948)