Arriba y adelante to San Miguel

The title means: Onward and upward.

Woke up this morning to this, on the deck - an army of little paw prints, the raccoons checking to be sure I haven't flung the contents of my fridge out for them. Good luck with that, banditos.

A busy weekend - Eli over Saturday to Sunday afternoon. At one point I laughed, thinking of the fond feminist time when we tried to insist the sexes are basically the same, just conditioned differently - ha! After a long busy day at several anti-pipeline protests with his mother, a very long walk, and a huge dinner, he wanted to go to his favourite playground. It felt like the coldest day of the year - minus 12 with wind - but off we went. He brought along his favourite stick, that he'd packed in his backpack with other necessities; he jumped on and into every snowbank we passed, kicked a ton of snow into the street, stopped to whack icicles wherever he could see them, and at one point, threw the stick ahead and ran to pounce on it, like a puppy. And then he wanted to play tag. Just about the last thing on earth this freezing Glamma wanted to do.

We did play Monopoly - I for the first time in decades - and he made a risky gamble involving houses on Boardwalk which allowed him, with one unlucky throw for me, to wipe me out with $1400 in rent. I wrote to his grandfather that happily there's at least one savvy money manager in the family. And then we read more Alice in Wonderland in bed. What joy to revisit these beloved books.

Anna had spent her free time cleaning and organizing, and the place was gleaming. Thomas has made her a new bookshelf and she's colour-coded all her books. Beautiful.

Then the streetcar up Roncesvalles to visit the other offspring at his workplace, hearing from the lovely young women sitting next to me how much they, and the whole neighbourhood, care for him. Such a nice guy, they said, gazing fondly, perhaps a bit too fondly, as he's a seriously single guy right now. We went nearby for a great talk and a delicious meal. At the end, he ordered a pizza for his colleagues at the bar and took it back to watch the Oscars with them. On his night off.

And so home, with the best feeling a mother can have - that despite some natural concerns, I could not be more proud of these human beings and the lives they have created. A blessing. A mitzvah.

Watched a bit of Oscar but flipped to Sanditon and Vienna Blood on PBS. Can't help, though, being drawn to the glitzy spectacle. Have been meaning to see Parasite for months, but I guess after yesterday it'll be around for some time.

And now I'm packing for Mexico before teaching tonight, leaving at dawn tomorrow for a long travel day - a six hour flight and a four hour bus ride to San Miguel de Allende, for a week at their annual writer's festival. Apparently it's hot there during the day and cold morning and night, but I can't comprehend what that actually means, except layers.

I'll let you know. Happy February to you all.