Just a thought… Living with fear stops us taking risks, and if you don’t go out on the branch you’re never going to get the best fruit. [Sarah Parish]

Well, another week, another pair of huge travel debacle stories. This one isn’t about an engine that wasn’t behaving; that was last week for our family trip down here to Palm Springs International in California. (Hear all about it here on last week’s Gracefully and Frankly podcast.) This time, it’s weather and WestJet and every foul-up you can possibly imagine.

Okay – so to put things in order. The great news is: Brooke, Phil, Jane, Colin and Rob got on their delayed flight out of here on Saturday and, since their connecting flight from Vancouver to Victoria was also delayed, they actually made it. That was a star on the day.

The good news is: my friend and pod-partner Lisa Brandt, after changing airlines entirely and biting a huge and wallet-whallopping bullet, arrived at PSP just before midnight last night.

The bad news is: after one cancellation following another, our friend and FB Live would-be producer Anita MacArthur did NOT make it. She was maybe going to arrive by noon today, three hours before our live event, and then WestJet cancelled her again. That’s after she booked a Vancouver hotel room to wait out the 12 hours between her first re-booked flight and the next. So we are down a woman and flying today, Lisa and I, by the seat of our big girl pants for the FB Live. On what cycle those undies will be washed after today’s event will depend entirely upon how it goes.

Details above and, no, you won’t be on camera; it’s come as you are, and it’s free! Watch us (hopefully) laugh our way through our first one. We’re all in this together and even if it fails – which Lisa assures me IT WILL NOT – nobody dies. Let’s have fun. Anita is going to join us via WhatsApp and send us your questions. Or send them to us early and we’ll get to them first: write them now to gracefullyfrankly@gmail.com.

So, on with today’s journal….

Part one of my winter trip has now ended. Meantime, Rob awoke yesterday in North Saanich (near Victoria, BC) to no running water in the house. Pipes had frozen, which has never happened.

Here in Palm Desert, it’s also been unseasonably cold, just as it has been through much of the mainland lower 48 states. It costs a ton to heat our rental house pool daily, but seeing pictures like this makes it all worthwhile.

As you can see, the kids had a great time on their trip and we made lots of memories. For Rob and me, the touristy highlight was the Universal Studios tour. Oh, and hamming it up at the entrance, of course.

Well, off to have adventures of a whole different kind today: trying something we’ve never done before. Last week, I recorded my side of the Gracefully & Frankly podcast in a minivan in the garage here. Today we’ll be doing a live show, from where, in or out of the house I don’t know. It won’t be the van! Be patient with us if you’re joining (or tuning in just for the fear factor LOL) and fingers crossed. I mean, what’s the point in never trying something that terrifies you, right? Like Sarah says above, that’s where the best fruit is.