So where did January go? Well it started by catching our breath from the Christmas trip. Work was a little busy but nothing major for the first week. The most important appointment was for Cagney and Lacey with the groomer. They spend most of the day there and come back looking like new. That's not quite how the old boy describes it - but I'm sure the girls like it.
Rob's sister Ruth and husband Charlie became our first visitors of the new year. At least she managed to get in at a reasonable hour this time even if it was just as cold. Still, the 
weather did stay clear and dry so we were able to show them a bit of the area. Mountain house is always a good place to see, although the path up to the skytop lookout was closed
because of snow and ice. We were able to get a different view of the house beside the frozen lake. There was even somebody fishing through an ice hole. This was also the first time that we had been able to see the skating rink in action. It's in a big open sided barn like structure with a giant fire at one end. It made a 
pleasant trip along with a lunch in our favorite bar in New Paltz.We only had a short weekend as I had to Travel up to NYC for a conference on the Sunday. We did get to see the big HQ show room of Orange County Choppers. I think Charlie was impressed. My trip to the city did come in handy though. It meant that R&C could take a day in the city and stop over at my hotel for the night before continuing their trip to Jamaica. They both snore!! So while they were sunning themselves, I was flying around trying to sort a few things out. ten days later Rob picked them up from JFK, to stay a few more days with us before returning to the UK.
This year had already got off to a very interesting start and while R&C went east, I flew west to Oregon and California and then back home. Busy, busy, busy. All work and no fun.
To make up for it, I decided that we should take a trip back down to Atlanta to see our friends Robyn & Paul & the family. This time we left the girls with their friend Elizabeth so we knew they would be in good hands. We caught the same flight down as Paul (he'd been in Connecticut visiting family) so it was a straight forward trip at the Atlanta end. It's always a warm and culinary welcome at the Pinto household. I swear it has the biggest and best stock fridge in the whole of America.
There's no chance of starving there! This was the first time we had visited outside a holiday time so it was interesting to see how the school routine affects the day. Basically its a very early start and a not very late bed time. The girls took us to see a great acrobatic basketball demonstration. Young men running around, bouncing in trampolines, shooting hoops, all athletic. Meanwhile the girls did their cheer leading stuff. Very cute.P&R kindly loaned us a car for our visit and we got to travel out and see a little more of Georgia. We travelled north for a couple of hours, up to an area called Lookout Mountain. There had been freezing wet conditions the night before which left the trees all covered in ice. It looked spectacular against the bright blue sky of a new day. Not so much fun for some trees though as they collapsed under the weight.
It's always lovely to see the Pinto family and we hope to go down again in the summer. Meanwhile it's back to the frozen north and wait for the next big snow.
