Another catchup!

Thursday, January 10th, 2014: Christmas was nice this year - Julia suggested Google Hangout for our Christmas Day chat, and that's what we did. It was awesome to see and hear all of my family at once and have a real family get-together.  There's always a depressing side to Christmas: since my kids all left home and embarked on their own lives, this is definitely a time of year when I do feel lonely. Christmas was always an important family time for me, and I guess I thought that at some stage, my kids would take over organizing Christmas get-togethers. That hasn't happened, though, and any effort to visit or celebrate Christmas with my kids comes from me.  I guess I raised them to be independent, and excluding their mother from their lives is just part of the natural growing up process.
I flew to Niagara Falls last week to restart the 63 days of my extended health insurance, and have been caught in the storm that has been sweeping through this whole area. On my way here, I flew from Houston to Chicago, then got stuck in Chicago overnight because of a canceled flight.Stayed in a hotel, as well as paying the hotel in Niagara Falls (non-refundable).

The rather bleak  view from the Chicago hotel

Another view - same window - note the snowplows . . . 

 I was re-routed through Detroit - just a walk from one gate to another, though.

Cool Christmas tree in the Detroit airport

Yep - that's me - I was really there.

In Niagara Falls, I got some shots of the falls, walked uptown and had dinner at Kelsey's, taking some pictures of the incredibly commercialized downtown core. The next day (Saturday), I met my friend Sue-Jane and her sister Judy for coffee at Tim Hortons.  This was great - I've been looking forward to seeing Sue-Jane!

Part of the falls

Lots of ice

Crazy commercialism!

More of the same.

Sue-Jane and I at Timmies.

Final looks a the falls from the cab drive to Buffalo

On the way back, I took a cab to Buffalo ($100) only to find that my flight was canceled. That was last Saturday. I was booked for a flight Monday afternoon and stayed at a Best Western at a reduced rate ($65 per night).

This is a zoom shot of the Denny's right in front of the hotel, and the Olympic Restaurant across the road - the two food sources near the hotel.

Tracking the snow storm from my hotel window.

Worse

Worse still

And whiteout!

From my booth in Denny's

From the front door of Denny's

Nighttime - yep - still  snowing

Morning of Jan. 9th - finally letting up

The ceiling of my 4th (top) floor sprung a leak, so they moved me to a room directly under it, on the third floor.  They then put up a scaffolding, in order to work on the roof (rhymes with "woof") and I opened the curtains one morning to see this guy on the scaffolding outside my window. Just a little creepy . . .

 Monday my flight was canceled and I was rebooked for Thursday. That's today, January 9th. That flight was canceled and I'm now rebooked for Saturday afternoon. Living from day to day in a hotel in Buffalo has got to be one of the more depressing things I have done in my life! No laundry, so I'm washing my clothes out in the bathroom sink with hand soap. The nearest mall is a $20 cab ride away and the severe weather has prevented any long walks. Because I'm close to the airport, with free shuttle service to it, I'm really in the middle of nowhere with absolutely nothing to do but watch TV and surf the net and read. Thank God for wifi and ereaders! My solace lies in the number of friends and acquaintances who have commented on my facebook posts - that's really my communication link with the outside world. It really hurts that not one of my children has expressed the slightest bit of concern for me, though.