Four teenagers and a condiment.

Still snow on the ground this morning, but on the roads it has mostly turned to slush. I am like a child who has been personally blessed by their god, Kevin is more pragmatic, snow causes accidents and disrupts travel, he may not have much company at work today, not really a problem unless the person who collects the Friday doughnuts from Tim Horton's can't get in.

I'm honestly not receiving sponsorship from either Timmie's or Ikea, though it might be worth looking into.

So, in spite of enjoying my snow in a Zen way, I am looking forward to the summer. Two of my children do public exams this year and so finish school early. But football is paying me back for some of the evil things I have said about it and the World Cup will keep Ben in England long after his exams have finished. He is also not only Holly's uncle, but her Godfather and he has insisted on not coming out until after her birthday.

Alex will be here earlier than Ben. She will have finished with school. I will have one glorious week alone with her. But Alex is gregarious, she is very like my mother with her networks of friends. So the second week of her stay, we have two friends arriving. There will only be a four day overlap when we have four teenagers in the house and at that point, they'll have to use the bus when they go out they won't all fit in the car. And the three girls will have to manage to not fall out, all rooming together in the basement.

This is an odd time for Kevin, step-parenting is a difficult task in the first place, but for him it is very stop-start.
He likes to have guests, he is a good host, unlike myself who has a somewhat lackadaisical approach to hospitality. I think he likes the liveliness of having young people in the house, and Alex's friends are always congenial. He has already negotiated ground rules with her. But it's hard to build and maintain relationships in these short bursts. Alex is a good communicator though, she has her times, like everyone, when she doesn't want to talk, but in general she keeps the dialogue open and flowing.

Then Ben. He can be hot-headed, he will say outrageous things just to see where they will go. But he has a lot of interests in common with Kevin. Music - both playing the guitar and listening to a wide range of bands - and the tech stuff. And this summer Ben's kick is he wants to learn to cook, couldn't come to a better place, Kevin is a fantastic cook and with the kids, a patient teacher.

So where does the condiment come in? No connection, just using it for seasoning. I remembered in that luggage carousel way that my memory works, a piece of trivia.
In Europe, the salt shaker has one hole and the pepper many. This is because salt has a big crystal and pepper small flakes.
In Canada, the pepper shaker has one hole and the salt, many. This is because people tend to use more salt than pepper, I believe.
I'm being lazy, I'm sure there's a moral hiding in there somewhere, but for now, just be careful how you spice.