White Greenwich

Six inches of snow here. We have spent all yesterday and most of today doing as little as possible, though yesterday afternoon I very narrowly escaped being beaten at chess by Declan and was then killed off in less than 2o moves by Aidan. (Lori and Jonathan have a beautiful chess table and a reproduction of the Isle of Lewis chess set. Every piece has a different expression.) Aidan, Declan and I are supposed to be doing a French lesson "every day" too, and finally got around to our first one.

This afternoon, unsure that our bodies were still working after so much torpor, we went ice skating for an hour, which was a blast. The third time in my life, I think - and I proudly advanced from slug speed to fast-snail speed, only falling into an ignominious heap once.