Reporting back from three weeks stateside

This is most easily done in the form of lists I think. Lets start with what seemed most important: food. The number of meals I declined to count, as they were more than three a day if you include snacks (of which there were many), but, in addition to eating chez les in-laws, we ate at:

• the brother in-law's (Christmas Day = 27 people, Boxing Day)

• the aunt's (New Year's Day = 13 people); and, in order,


• Culver's (on the drive to Wisconsin), where I was culverized


• MacDonald's (on the drive back from Wisconsin)


• Perkins (which was a little less than mediocre)


• Dynasty Buffet (Chinese all you can eat, which I don't particularly care for)


• Ruby Tuesdays (my choice, it has a good salad bar)


• International House of Pancakes (a breakfast meal following a mass on New Year's Eve)


• Lone Star Steak House (to get the boy a steak)

Whilst we mostly stayed at my parents-in-law's condominium, we also visited:

their house in Wisconsin

the brother-in-law's house (or mansion, since, as the boy likes to point out, it has pillars)

the Grandma's house several times

an Aunt's house once

and the duplex of the Grandpa's girlfriend several times

Further we went to a number of church services, and took in three churches, viz:

• the first Sunday (although on TV from a chapel in La Crosse, as the roads were too bad to drive in Wisconsin)


• Christmas Eve (at St. Vincent's, the usual church for this trip)


• the second Sunday


• New Year's Eve twice (once a mass said for the repose of the soul of the deceased Grandpa, once for the vigil of the Solemnity of Mary, both at St. Philomena's)


• the third Sunday

I learnt two ditties, both the eldest and youngest female members of the clan; respectively:

• I'm old and grey and have lost my way, and all my tomorrows are yestersdays (a repeated refrain), and


• a, b, c, d, e, 1, 2, 3, Thank you Lord for feeding me (the timing of which should require little explanation)

I also witnessed plenty of weather (as well as plenty of worrying over said weather), including:

• an ice storm (which put the kaibosh on a intended jaunt out to eat at Hometown Buffet for the father-in-law's birthday)




plenty of snow (leading to plenty of sledging until I finally impaled myself too painfully on a tree to continue)and cold temperatures (down to -25 C)




and a tornado warning (not that I knew it was a tornado warning at the time, being out by myself and hearing what sounded like air-raid sirens).

And finally, in a list of one, I went to a New Year's Eve dance with the aforesaid Grandpa and girlfriend (aged 88 and 91 respectively) at a Senior Citizens' Centre somewhere in central IL. Undoubtedly the highlight of the trip.