Hard times

The past week was especially hard.

One of my mom's friends passed away on Saturday after being ill for a few weeks. She used to be the church wedding organizer, and also was well known in the community as a crossing guard... 

Another thing that made my week miserable were new confrontations with an old familiar friend, a transient woman, so I am afraid to walk to the office anymore. 

I haven't fixed the Red Car brakes, because I don't feel like it yet, but it's not as noisy as I thought...

Also I have been following the weather in Texas. Most of my relatives live throughout the state.

At first, I was excited to see that they would be getting more than the usual inch of snow.

Some years, they don't get any snow at all.

It was very beautiful.

But it turned out they have been suffering from several days of below freezing temperatures.

Monday, they began having blackouts.

My brother near Dallas tried very hard to keep the water flowing in the pipes.

However, the constant on/off blackouts in his area caused his home heating system to malfunction, and he lost the battle...

My cousin in San Antonio had no power at all. She took her family to a hotel to stay warm, after the bananas on her kitchen table froze solid, but the hotel also has no water.

Luckily my relatives are young and healthy, and it will warm up in a day or two, but it's all very concerning!