Hello from under more snow......

Step away from the computer for a few days and the Pope resigns, it snows again, daughters fly home, and looking after the dogs means a 24 hour battle with mud, glorious mud.

600+ years since a Pope resigned. I am sure he has good reason, but it makes the whole thing even more intriguing. I am not Catholic, so it doesn't affect me personally, but I have watched the last few Popes and the conclaves which elected them with great interest. I also saw one Pope in real life. A few many years ago.

We have had snow here since 5 yesterday afternoon, and it is just stopping now. It is, however, the wet variety of snow which turns to slush and watery stuff. This is great until it freezes. So it was not a problem pushing the snow off the car this morning. It just needed a nudge and the whole lot fell off. And it is half term around here, so the kids will have had a ball this morning.

Diana is on her way home from a holiday in the Alps and she arrives tonight. It will be great to have her home again, although I gather she nearly opted to extend her stay in the snow. I will only believe she actually caught the plane when she sends me a message to tell me what train she will be on. She may have changed her mind.

And then there are the dogs. If dogs go into the garden and do their business and then the snow covers the droppings, how is one meant to know where it is safe to walk? I had birdseed to pour onto tables on the other side of the grass. Grass? Mud. Thick gloopy mud. Which has been trodden all over the kitchen floor at least 5 times today so far and it is only 2 pm as I speak. So I resist the overwhelming urge, which is totally foreign to me, let me add, to clean 20 times a day and reserve my efforts for the moment when I simply can't stand it any longer. Today's cleaning moment is yet to occur.

And now I am going to go and watch the news and see what is going on in the Vatican. I gather there are many people there who had no idea at all that this was about to happen. I will be back.