The Best Laid Plans

When Anne and Harold left last week, we didn't expect to see them again until spring but they called from their daughters' house in Southern California to say that the Bay Area friends they planned to spend tonight with on their way home again had called to say they all had Covid and could they stay here for just one more night, insisting that we should order take-out which they would pay for. 

Matt and the girls were planning to fly up tomorrow for a quick trip , flying back on Friday. We turned on the news last night to be greeted by pictures of utter chaos at Oakland airport....people sitting and sleeping on the floor, queues snaking through the terminal, out the door and almost as far as the eye could see, one of the major airlines having cancelled the majority of their flights for the next few days. We had heavy rain last night, but it wasn't that. There is really bad weather all over the midwest, but these were flights up and down the West coast.
An airport spokesperson said the cancellations were not weather related, but a total breakdown in the airline scheduling affecting passengers, deployment of planes and crews, and even baggage delivery. There was a two and a half hour wait just to reclaim bags that had been checked onto flights which were then cancelled.

Matt called this morning to confirm that they were indeed booked on the airline, that their flight had been cancelled and any attempt to change it was met with more chaos.The only alternative he could see was to drive. It was already a quick trip due to the girls' schedules, and we both told him that we didn't think making that drive twice in three days was worth it. He's talking to the girls about it....

In the course of clearing the decks for them, I ran across a knitting project i bought months ago, put away and promptly forgot about. This seemed like as good a day as any to start on it since it was raining outside and I don't have to cook dinner....The little box of place colored markers caught my eye...I like the design of the little box they come in, so I included the lid. 

I have always said that the week between between Christmas and New Year was a lost week when nobody seemed to be in charge of the world, but I really didn't mean it quite as literally as it is turning out this year.