I've just been tracking Monika's mom's flight to Johannesburg - she left Burlington early this morning for New York's JFK airport and her flight to Johannesburg left at 10:40 a.m.  I thought she would be going to Washington DC, but this was a different flight than she took last time she was here and it actually seems to be about 3 hours shorter in flight time.  The online tracker shows the plane is about half way across the ocean.  Monika called on their way home and said they were up at 3 a.m. in order to get her to the airport for her flight out of Burlington this morning; after she left, they all went back to the Holiday Inn and crashed for a few more hours.  They are already missing Floriana.

Bill called after they got home and said they spent some time at the mall shopping before they headed home today.  He and Tangeni were waiting for Jo-Ann and Monika to finish shopping when he bumped into Joe's Ponders, Fella and Nancy Buttura.  Bill got a kick out of seeing them, and said Tangeni has a play date set up for this summer when the Buttura's granddaughter visits.  I'm not certain, but I think that must be Emma May, who was born about three years ago. 

I checked the temperature again a few minutes ago and it's leveled off.  I think it's supposed to warm up a tad during the night.  Someone asked the other day how our cat, Woody, likes the snow and cold weather.  The short answer is, he doesn't.  He generally makes a short test run in the morning into the garage, but it only takes a couple of minutes before we hear him knock to come back in.  Sometimes he will follow one of us out, like if Fred goes for the mail, but he's back inside before Fred even gets back.  Once in a while he will try going out the front door onto the deck, like he hopes the weather is better at that door.  But as soon as the cold air hits his face, his ears fold back and he usually turns around without stepping outside at all.  On warmer days, he does like to go out and sit on the deck to watch the squirrels and birds, but he doesn't venture into the snow like he did when he was younger.  He used to go into the woods with Fred when he was cutting wood, and sometimes hitch a ride on the pile of wood on the sled when Fred brought it down.  This picture was taken in March of 2007, and it was probably a lot warmer than it's been the last few days.

If there's something you need to do that needs a date of 2012 on it, you've got one more day to do it.  Time goes by so quickly, it will be sugaring time before we know it and we'll be going to town meeting and waiting for the ice to go out.  In the meantime, make the most of 2012 while it's still here.