Enough of this year

Our lives continue to be rich and full, here in Enough-ville.  

The pandemic deserves its own little paragraph of enough-ness, of course.  A-child tested positive about two weeks ago, and so Kinder-ling and her family went into quarantine, celebrating Xmas via texts and zoom instead of with in-person visits.  A-child recovered quickly and with considerable energy, and the family has just reemerged from their isolation.  About that same time, I made the tricky decision not to go to the big math meetings in January (cancelling my registration, plane tickets, hotel reservations, and all my talks), only to hear three days later that the Math Society came to the same decision, and cancelled/postponed the whole shebang anyway.   My city has a record number of hospitalizations, and my College just announced that our first two weeks of the spring semester will be held remotely -- this, despite our vaccine/booster mandate and mandatory masking policies, since it's clear even those can't quite ensure the safety of our students and staff.  Yeesh.

Having said that, the end of 2021 brought us lots of family time, and we have many updates from various Snoughlings.  In age order, Gos-ling, my oldest, came to visit me and my dog (leaving her dogs at home).  The paperwork on her divorce came through, and she's doing some rearranging of finances and of furniture, and being kind enough to ask me for tidbits of advice, thereby making me feel gratifyingly relevant and useful. 

Ink-ling, the next in line, has had a very merry, and not only because she has the outfits to go with the season.   She's gotten a couple of nifty knitting-themed shirts (work clothes!), and has had travels with me (to my dad's home) and with OfSnough (to NY).  Temptations!  Hadestown! Life is good.

Christmas Day

Walking across a bridge; guess where?

Sizz-ling is being a good big sister in a very, very cold place.   This image she texted makes me shiver, just to look at it.  

Kinder-ling and family, although stuck at home for the holidays, made quite a home of it.  I love how magical these pictures are.

Jason has been in minimal touch by text; he's moved to a new place and gave me his address, so I mailed him a few things.   

Nelson is braving the cold with his big Sizz, and he's gotten some warm-weather gear to help out. 

He tells me that Sizz took him to an endocrinologist, who got him on a new glucose monitor -- one that doesn't require that I hit him with a wooden spoon (too bad!).  He's also on a new med whose name sounds to me like the Wizard of Oz; he said it made him feel lazy the day after he took it, and so I'm guessing that must be what my dog takes all the time.  I love talking to Nelson on the phone; he's such a happy person. 

Cow cookies, instead of gingerbread cookies.

My guy, OfSnough, got to have some father/daughter bonding time with Gos when his knee swelled up, and she took him to the orthopedist to get fluid drained from the joint.  It was like Old Home Time there, with the receptionists, nurses, and docs all greeting him:  OfSnough!  We haven't seen you in forever!  Gos's new boyfriend asked her if it is a family tradition that someone needs to go to the hospital or urgent care for the holidays around here.  

As for me, I'm enjoying my time with family, and also enjoying the chance to catch up on memo-writing and other deanly things, but at a more leisurely pace.   I'm hecka good at revising memos these days.

And that's the news from our family this 2021 year.  Wishing you all the best in 2022!