Week 34 - Miserable Heat Sucks

When I cancelled my trip to Vienna with Connie, I immediately extended my RI trip so wasn't flying home until Tuesday. Of course the weather was finally wonderful but I was going back to blazing heat in Nebraska so would be enjoying my last days in RI.

Deanne had an appointment Monday morning so I happily knitted away before she came back and we went to Whole Foods for lunch. We we going to visit our old girl scout leader, Mrs. Bassett, that afternoon, which has become our summer tradition. After a nice catch up, we went to Dee's mom's house to visit her. It was nearly supper time by the time we left so we went directly to Federal Hill for a yummy dinner at Massimo. It was a fixed price menu so we had salad, an entree and dessert with wine for $35. Such a deal and the gnocchi was wonderful and I took some home, which I froze so I could take it home on the plane. Perfect. I packed and we watched the final episodes of Lioness. I was definitely ready to go home.

Another tradition is that Cornelia drives me to the airport and we have a lovely breakfast on the way. She picked me up before 8:00 and we ate at our favorite breakfast place then went to Pawtuxet to chat on a bench by the water until it was time to head to the airport. It's always a nice send off and I love time with Cornelia. Despite having a C boarding pass (I'd missed the check in reminder when we were eating lunch the day before), I managed to snag a window seat and the flights were fine. 

When I got off the plane in Omaha, the heat smacked me upside the head. It had been in the low 70's in RI but it was over 100 and humid in Nebraska. It was so hot that the cats, who had been inside for 12 days, only stayed out for a few minutes before coming back inside. I had stopped at Aldi on the way from the airport and after unpacking my groceries, I nuked the now thawed leftover gnocchi for my last taste of RI.

Despite being on vacation for 2 days, which I count as campus days, I went to campus on Wednesday. Again, the cats chose to stay inside. It was that hot. The main reason to go to Lincoln was to pick up my 2 foster fail kittens - Hazel and Goodie. I ordered pizza, which Rene picked up, and we ate an Anne's. They both came with me to see the kittens. The house they were in was full of cats - 2 litters of kittens and another ten or so cats. You had step carefully between all the cats and their various toys and towers. I happily took my 2 and left. They were right back at home within 5 minutes. Pixel and Tot were not happy to see them again and went out for the night.

It was such a relief to work from home for the rest of the week. I was still catching up at work and had a Ripples zoom at 2:00 on Thursday. I made polenta with sausage & peppers (from my garden) for supper, watched Backyard Farmer and went to bed early. Such a lovely day at home. Friday was another nice day. I took a short lunch so I could get a haircut that afternoon then Jeanie came at 5:00 to drop off a sock knitting machine that she'd found at an antique store years ago and no longer wanted. How fun it will be to crank out socks but there will be a learning curve. To top off a nice couple of days, storms came through Friday night and broke the heat wave. Yay!

I had the whole weekend ahead of me with no obligations and the weather was gorgeous. I opened the windows and got busy. I flipped my mattress and cleaned underneath the bed (HUGE dust bunnies) then did 5 loads of laundry, which I hung on my newly strung clothesline. I kept it up on Sunday. After a yummy breakfast of pancakes and bacon, I organized the linen closet, ironed and put my bedroom curtains back up then vacuumed. With the house was looking better, I went to Lorri's that afternoon to drop off some thank you gifts for taking care of my plants and cats while I was gone. While I was there, Connie called from Vienna on a video chat so we both talked to her. Lorri shared some produce from her garden so I went home and made leek carbonara for supper and enjoyed it with a glass of wine. Nice.

What a nice week. One last day in RI, an easy trip home, getting my kittens back and then the heat breaking so I could have a productive weekend at home. I don't have any trips until the end of November so hope for more productivity at home until then. Wish me luck.