Congratulations on your new … appliance, Stilly. I have yet to persuade a contractor to renovate the shabby original bathroom in this house, and I shudder to think what conniptions would be required to achieve installation of a bidet here.

I awoke this morning to the growl of a municipal snowplow in the street, suggesting that the end of the great Christmas blizzard of ‘22 might be in sight. Nephew No 1 and family are in a motel somewhere east of Toronto and expected to arrive in Windsor this afternoon, so I guess I must brace myself to make the trip tomorrow. If the Chatham-based branch of the family doesn’t join the crowd, I will also stop there to check in with the niblings. Great-niece No 1 and Great-nephew No 3 report successful completion of their first term of study, and it behooves me to listen attentively while they tell me all about it.