Week 42 - A Busy Week

It was a busy week for a retiree. I was out of town 4 times this week for all kinds of reasons and other than getting bird feeders set for the cold weather and knitting, of course, I didn't get much else done.

I had an appointment with the oncologist on Monday so scheduled lunch with Darla. I discovered a gift card on my desk that had been a retirement gift so we used it to go to Cracker Barrel. Shrimp and grits was the daily special and it was delish. The appointment was just routine and other than getting gas at Sam's (I recently joined specifically for cheap gas), I didn't do any other errands so was home in time for tea. Nan brought cookies to knitting, which was a nice end to a good day.

Tuesday was a meeting of the Emeriti/Retiree Association, my second time going, about drones. Afterwards, I did some thrifting. When I had gone to one of the Goodwills recently, the shelves were loaded with many bags of overpriced yarn and I asked if they'd ever mark them down like the one on Vine Street did when they didn't sell. They said they'd probably just throw them out. Well, the shelves were bare so they must have just thrown them in the dumpter. One of the two bags that was there had a skein of Lazy Been yarn in it (a local dyer) so I was pleased with that but only when I was halfway home did I think that I should have checked the dumpster. Such a waste! I had a library board meeting that night but had a few hours at home before then so knitted while drinking tea. Lovely.

It was a rainy day on Wednesday so I enjoyed relaxing in comfort while it rained. The sun did come out late in the afternoon so I went outside to change the clothesline, which had broken, only to realize I'd mistakenly bought a 50 foot one so I had to tie in a piece of the old line. I also cleaned out all the birdfeeders and the buckets that store the seed on the deck and put them all in the sun on the driveway to dry. I packed up some more yarn for Becky and called it a day.

I had no plans on Thursday and was watching a YouTuber from Omaha. She showed a picture that she didn't buy and I loved it so I got in the car and made a beeline to the thrift where she'd seen it. Of course it was gone but I appreciated being able to go and check it out. Retirement life! I went to Bagel Bin and hit a couple of thrifts and was looking for a park to eat a bagel for lunch but both of the parks that Siri gave me directions to were soccer fields with no picnic tables. Lame! I ended up heading home and eating a late lunch there. I had enough time to change my sheets and hang laundry on the line so the day wasn't a complete bust.

Saturday was the annual retreat for my spinning group, which is always at a summer camp north of Fremont and I'd only paid for lunch and dinner because I had not intention of getting up early enough to be there for breakfast and had no interest in participating in the morning class. I was happy to see that there was a No Kings demonstration in Fremont that started at 11:00 and asked Nan if she wanted to go. That meant I had a sign to make so on Friday, I dug in my scrapbooking supplies and the garage for a stick and made a simple one. I also set up all the feeders, including the Bird Buddy that was a retirement gift from the office. It has a solar roof to power the camera on it and it sends pics to your phone of all the birds that eat there. My sparrows abandonned me last winter, probably because the word of Rosie the killer cat got out, so I hope I get some this year.

I had time to chat with Carolyn Saturday morning then loaded up my sign and some sock knitting and headed to Fremont. The demonstration was fun and there were a lot more people there than I thought there'd be. We got lots of people honking approval too so it was an inspiring morning. I got to the retreat just in time for lunch and spent the day knitting while everyone did the afternoon classes. This year they didn't serve us dinner in the lodge but rather sent us to the concession stand for their corn maze/harvest festival area to eat there. Because of that, we all just left from there instead of going back to the lodge. Worked for me.

Sunday was a nice day at home. I washed my quilt and hung it on the line and did a few chores, making pot roast for supper. I was slamming on a pair of socks for Anne to wear to the Husker football game the next weekend and got the first sock done and the second cast on before heading to bed.

So that's a busy week for a retiree but it's all good. As I'm know for saying, better busy than bored plus it was a nice mix of socializing and getting a few things done at home. Loving my retiree life!

Week 41 - Fence and Medicare

The week started with a lovely rainy day, which ushered in much cooler weather. Hopefully the 80s/90s are in the rear view for a LONG time. I made the most of the coolers temps and spent a bunch of time outside this week, got some good news on Medicare, and ended the week with my annual vaccinations. 

Monday was a cozy inside day where I knitted, talked to Cindy about her trip, and when Monday Night Knitting was cancelled because everyone wanted to stay home, I just kept knitting. I had some plans for a new outside project that I was excited to get going on.

I ran errands in Wahoo on Tuesday with all the usual stops - bank, library, The Warehouse but ending at the hardware store for supplies. I had seen something called a permaculture fence online and thought it would be perfect for against my neighbor's chain link fence. They don't take care of their yard at all so it's a mess of tall weeds and weed trees so anything I can do to block that is good. The longest stakes they had were 2 feet but it was a start. I did a final run to the burn pile with my car loaded with sunflowers and then stopped at the carwash to vacuum out the back of the car and retire it (for this year anyway) as a pick up truck.

When I got home, I started putting the stakes about a foot out from the chain link and then started cutting brush and loading it up. I was in Lincoln on Wednesday for a goodbye lunch for Brook, the other data analyst who was leaving UNL, but was right back outside on Thursday after a talk at the lake. I was mostly cutting beside the garage and put the rest of the stakes in so the entire fence was lined except for a couple of feet where I planted a grapevine this spring. It was wonderful to be able to load the brush in my own yard rather than loading it in my car to take to the burn pile. The pic is just the first day but it's now 30+ feet long. This is supposed to create habitat for bugs and wildlife too so win win.

On Wednesday evening, I met with the local Medicare lady at the library. She has open sessions each month but I was the only one who showed, which was a good thing. The great news is that because my birthday is the first day of February, I can get Medicare on January 1st. That'll save me $700! But the rest was a chore. It wouldn't let me through the SSA.gov sign up because it wouldn't recognize my cell phone, which is the only phone I have these days. We went to id.me and it had the same issue so we had to do a video call for them to approve me. Only then could we do the sign up for parts A&B. I can't sign up for medigap and a drug plan until those go through but she recommended plans to me that will be a pittance compared to COBRA. I was there 1.5 hours and I'm not computer illiterate nor an idiot. Sheesh! I then went home for another 1.5 hours of computer frustration trying to login to the Husker Cats paypal account. I did manage to get in after a flurry of emails. I was over the computer drama and was happy to go to bed that night.

I went to Fremont on Friday because it was Estate Dispersal store weekend and I hadn't been there in several months. I only bought one thing (a skein of sock yarn - go figure) but found some stuff at thrifts, stopped at Nan's, and hit HyVee for their one day sale, which alone made it worth the drive. I had a lovely dinner of more zucchini butter pasta with a glass of wine and was ready for the weekend.

My only goal for the weekend was to get my covid and flu shots at the Wahoo pharmacy but I couldn't resist going outside to cut more brush for my fence. I went out first thing on Saturday and worked until it was time for a shower before heading to the pharmacy. They'd warned me that Saturdays could be busy so I might have to wait but when I drove up at noon, the street was empty - mostly likely because everyone was home watching Husker football. I was the only customer and was in and out in 10 mins. I got BK for lunch and headed home. I did dye a gorgeous skein of yarn in fall colors that afternoon but by evening, my left shoulder (covid side) was getting sore. I spent the rest of the weekend knitting and chatting with friends. By Sunday evening, my shoulder was back to normal.

That was a good week, right? I love my new fence project, got great Medicare news, and crossed vaccines off my list. I also talked to lots of friends and had dyeing fun in addition to my usual knitting fun. The best part was the cooler weather. I'm hoping I'm done sweating for months. : )

Week 40 - Crazy Hot Weather!

It was another week of ridiculous hot weather with three days of 91 degrees in October! The other days were all in the 80's. Despite vowing not to turn the AC on, I gave up and put it on. Nuts! Beyond that, I did get more things out the door, potentially because I was able to work in the house without sweating like a stuck pig.

On Monday, I pulled clothes to take to the consignment shop in Seward on Wednesday and zoomed with Darla to validate that I'd chosen well. I had to check tags for copyright dates because she wouldn't take old ones so quite a few didn't make it into the 2 bags I'd be taking there but plenty did. When I went to my appointment, the owner went through my bags and showed me what she liked and when she rejected something, why she did. That will help me when I fill another box, which she provided, to drop more off next month. Gone is good! I did go to the Etc. Shop on the same block, which is one of my favorite thrift shops ever. They had 50% off the entire store and I found lots of yarn for Dottie and a wonderful bag of vintage fabric for me. I can just see the knitting bags I'll make with all these lovelies. From there I went to the other thrift shop in town and donated most of the rejects from the consignment store, which felt right.

Starting Thursday, it was in the 90's during the day but it was cooling down at night so mornings were an option for working outside. I went outside for something or other and found myself cleaning up the crap pile that had gathered all summer at the top of the driveway. There were boxes of brush for burning, empty flower pots, tools and various other detritus. To add to it, weeds were growing through the mess so it was BAD. By the time I was done, the brush boxes were stacked, the weeds pulled and the driveway swept. I even laid the next fire in my firepit. You gotta go with these things when they hit and I was glad I did. After a shower (because you know I was sweating bullets), it was back into the basement for the afternoon.

I gave up on the basement and turned the AC on on Friday, which allowed me to do things upstairs. I packed up a big box of yarn for Dottie and another package of yarn I'd sold and headed to the library to print labels then dropped Dottie's box at the hardware store for UPS pick up. The post office was closed so I put that in my mailbox. More stuff out of the house - yay! I then did some cooking and started a new pair of socks.

I was on the fence about going to the start of the Omaha Knit Night picnic in Omaha due to the heat. It was originally scheduled for 11:00-3:00 but when I checked online, I found that they'd moved the time to earlier, most likely because of the 2:30 kickoff of the Husker game. Had I known I would have gone and been back before it got too hot but missed that so went downstairs and started sorting fabric in my craft room. Oh well.

Sunday was the annual roast beef dinner at the church in Colon (a small town 6 miles north of Wahoo) that I always look forward to so I went there as soon as they opened and got take out. I was enjoying the first of 3 meals from it when Lorri stopped by after church. Then I did some laundry and a few chores, ending the day with breakfast for supper and an evening of PBS.

The weather was supposed to break overnight on Sunday and I was really looking forward to cooler temps and turning off the AC. I'm glad I turned it on so I could actually get stuff done inside but I'm excited to wear long pants and wool socks with Birkenstocks. Hopefully this will be the last hot weather until next year. I live in hope.

Week 39 - Donations and Travel

It was another week of freaky hot weather that had me hanging in the basement because I was not going to turn on the AC at the end of September. It started out in the 90's, had a single day in the 70's and the rest were 80's. Ick! There was some productivity, a dyeing score in Omaha and some stuff was gone but the best thing was Anne and I booked our next trip.

I got a postcard from the company we did out last trip with announcing a big sale on their early spring cruises - $1000 off. Combined with the $888 credit from the cruise that became a bus trip, I checked out the options and called Anne. We chose a trip from Antwerp up to Amsterdam in late March/early April. We got on the phone and booked it, including airfare from Lincoln. It was a total score pricewise and it's early enough that I won't be sweating and it won't interfere with gardening season. I did say that if it's not going to be a cruise for some reason, I won't go. I doubt that'll be an issue so early in the year but just in case, I'm on the record.

On the gone is good front, I packed up a couple of piles of stuff for Becky when I was holed up in the basement staying cool to go with the stuff that I'd already collected upstairs. I also went through all the various shipping envelopes that I'd saved for shipping (way more than I would use) and recycled tons of those. I also got rid of many plastic bags while I was at it and I did a long overdue return/rebate on a steamer that had been recalled. I also called and made an appointment to set up an account and drop clothes at the consignment shop in Seward and emailed Changing Spaces SRS about consigning some Pyrex in one of their auctions. Hopefully these last 2 will lead to more things leaving my house.

I got out of Wahoo twice - once to Omaha and once to Lincoln. The Omaha run was to pick up a score Andrea found for me on Facebook Marketplace. A woman was selling all her dyeing supplies, including bunches of natural yarn, for $75. Since I was in Omaha, I hit some thrifts, of course, and the Rotella bread factory store. I found a cat cave at Goodwill and found a fun 3 tier plant stand at a little antique store while I was killing time before picking up the dye stuff. I went to Lincoln on Saturday to drop the donations for Becky at the garage sale that was in progress (the pic is just some of what I donated). I then met Anne at the Stuff Creative Reuse store (bought a couple of balls of yarn) and then we got ice cream at Zesto, which would probably be out last for the year since they'd be closing for winter soon. I got some groceries and headed home.

I ended the week out in the yard Sunday morning cutting sunflowers, starting by the sidewalk then did the bed under my bedroom window and around to the east side, which is the messiest in my yard. I took a huge load to the burn pile then showered and did 3 loads of laundry and hung most of it outside. At least that made use of the still ridiculously hot weather.

So it was a good week. I did some cooking and a few chores, got rid of some stuff and booked my next trip. Knitting was cancelled due to weather but I had a Ripples zoom on Tuesday and book club on Thursday plus got out of town twice - all this while the weather was too hot for my liking. I even got some gift socks finished and cast on another gift pair. Other than the weather, I'll take more weeks like this.

Week 38 - Satisfied with Progress

It was another blissfully nice week at home. I made some progress on projects and got out of town twice.

On the getting rid of stuff front, I cleared the heap of crap from my desk then went through the pile on the spare room bed and came up with 4 bags of yarn to donate to Becky for her Stuff for Strays sale. I also took the old grill (the one that had hornets nests that the Windstream guy nuked) to the metal recycling bin at the hardware store. I also took another load of sunflowers and weeds to the burn pile. Gone is good.

I went to my first ERA - Emeriti and Retirees Association - meeting on Tuesday. I had been providing them with data for years and the membership chair, who has zero tech skills, had asked me to help out with data but I'd put him off in the spring because.... cancer. Well, this was the first time I'd showed my face at a meeting and as a new member, I was introduced and given a welcome gift of chocolate. The program was an interesting presentation by the head of the emerging media arts school at UNL and I sat with Anne and a few of her workout friends, who I know a bit. As soon as the meeting was over, the membership chair made a beeline to me and I agreed to help. I'll chalk it up to giving back after working at UNL for almost 27 years.

The other out of town trip was on Saturday, which was my monthly spinning meeting. But before that, I went to Valley to check out the Quasar Bazaar, which is a flea market at the drive-in theatre. I grilled the person at the entrance booth and she said it was not super busy. I was there right around noon and with a 2:30 kick off for Huskers football, some of the few vendors who were there were already packing up. I did talk to a woman who vends at sales all the time and she gave me some tips. So it wasn't a total waste but it wasn't as inspiring as I'd hoped. From there I went to the Restore in Fremont before heading to spinning. I got the missing piece for my wheel from Helga and enjoyed the knitting machine demo and chatting with friends.

I had picked plenty of produce in my garden and made squash casserole and pork chops with one lot. After getting zero green beans this summer, my vines have all of a sudden started producing so I got my first green beans of the season. Then my friend Lorri stopped by on Sunday with a big bag of chard (I'd lamented my poor chard germination so she came to my rescue), a small butternut squash and some delicious cobbler.

Another good week in the books. A bit of this. A bit of that. There was plenty of knitting, of course. I finished 2 pairs of socks and redid the toe on another to make them longer so I could gift them to Janice. I found a few fun things while thrifting and otherwise had a nice mix of productivity and socializing. Works for me.

Week 37 - Downton and Wheel

The week started out with beautiful weather but was in the 90's by the end of the week. This ridiculous heat impacted my to do list big time. But I had lots on my calendar - knitting on Monday night, to which I took a pineapple upside down cake I'd made, a library board meeting Tuesday night, went to Omaha Knit Night on Thursday night and was in Lincoln on Friday.

I didn't have much motivation to start the week but did a few things inside like gave my African violets some love and potted up a begonia I'd had rooting, did some dishes, made tortilla casserole - that kind of thing. But with the heat looming, I went outside on Wednesday and weeded a huge amount, starting at the alley and working along the fence by my veg beds. It was the biggest load yet and I thought I'd have to make two trips to the burn pile but I loaded to the roof and made it in one. By then the heat had arrived so it was a good thing I had more inside stuff to do.

My internet was down on Tuesday morning so I called Windstream and they scheduled an appointment for Thursday. It came back later Tuesday and was still up on Wednesday morning so I cancelled the appointment in the app. Well, something didn't work because I got a text that the tech was on his way. I tried to cancel again to no avail and he was at my door. He said it happens all the time and when I asked about when I could get fiber, he went into my backyard to look at the wires. I told him to be careful near the old grill because there was a hornets nest in it. He then offered to kill them, explaining that they find hornet nests all the time in the boxes on poles. So he got out his spray and killed them then opened the grill and pulled out the nests (there were 2) and threw them in the trash. Now to get rid of the grill, which I only kept because the cats sleep on it in the winter when the metal is warm.

I have followed Omaha Knit Night on Facebook and have been to one event they held - a potluck picnic at Elmwood Park in Omaha for World Wide Knit in Public Day last spring. I enjoyed the group and said I'd make an effort to go to more, which are usually evenings or weekends in a coffee shop somewhere in Omaha, so went to their meet up at the Omaha Conservatory of Music, which has a coffee shop in the lobby, on Thursday night. It was fun and I need to keep making the effort to go more often.

The last Downton Abbey movie premiered on Friday and since Dodie and I have gone to all the Downton movies together, I bought tickets on Monday for the first showing on Friday at the theatre near Dodie's house. If you want good seats, you have to pay an extra $3 to get them online before the day of the show. Rip off but oh well. I drove down Friday morning and we were front and center (actually halfway up and center) for the first show and it was wonderful. They wrapped things up nicely. I will miss Downton Abbey for sure.

After dropping Dodie, I hit a few thrifts, of course, and found the score of the century at St. Louise's. It was a Ashford spinning wheel, which retails for ~$900, for $32. The clerk said that it had been in the basement for a long time and they were going to throw it out but she convinced them to price it and see if anyone would buy it, which I happily did. It was missing its flyer but Helga from my spinning group sells Ashford so I could order it from her. I have always said that I'd spin after I retired so now I'm all set to give it a go. Yay! Here's a pic of it in the grungy back of my car, which I won't clean until I'm done with burn pile runs. Sorry.

I had finished a pair of navy blue socks that Helen had requested so I stopped at her house just to drop them off. Yeah, right. I sat down just for a minute and two hours later, Charlie walked in from work. I still had to hit a grocery store but was tired and hungry so had to force myself to stop, which I did. Adulting! I drove right by St. Theresa's when I left HyVee so popped in there (they're only open on Friday evenings and Saturdays and I'm rarely in town then) and scored 2 vintage Pyrex lids. I have many casseroles without lids in my garage and getting back on ebay to sell vintage linens, Corelle and Pyrex is on my short list. 

With all my trips here and there done, it was time for another hanging at home retirement weekend and catching up with friends. Andrea stopped by the check out my new wheel (she's the one who found the Ashford name on it) and I caught up with Carolyn and Dee. Otherwise it was streaming, knitting and chores.

Week 36 - Burn Pile Loads

It was my first full week home and I hope it was the first of many. I had plenty to get done and was still enjoying just being home.

First thing on Monday, which was Labor Day, I made a call I'd been dreading. I called Connie to tell her that I was not going with her on a road trip to Toronto. I had told her it sounded fun but that was mostly because I thought it wouldn't actual happen. As you know, I have no interest in going anywhere anytime soon. She took it well.

With that out of the way (huge relief!), it was time to get busy. The weather was perfect so I spent 3 mornings outside pulling beggar's tick and cutting sunflowers. I made 3 trips to the city's burn pile - gone is good! When I get that done first thing, I come back and shower then can do non-sweaty things in the afternoon. It works great. I did make a nice sunflower bouquet from the ones I cut down. So pretty.

I have been enjoying cooking and have been using produce from my garden, the peaches I bought from the Lions Club (most went into the freezer for future pies) and my friend Lorri stopped after church and shared produce from her garden. I've been trying to use what I have so cobbled together a pasta bake one night (all from the freezer and cupboards), have enjoyed BLT's with my tomatoes and made banana bread because I also have dead bananas.

I did have one fun thing on Saturday. One of my post-retirement goals was to make lunch dates with friends new and old. I had recently found someone on Facebook who used to work in HR and we had clicked but then she left UNL. Jane counts as an old friend because I left HR 22 years ago! We met at Burning Bridges, which is a restaurant in Omaha that specializes in chicken sandwiches, and enjoyed lunch and a LONG chat. We were in there for almost 4 hours and got all caught up and chatted about everything and nothing. It was great.

Also on the friend front, I had a nice zoom with Cindy to catch up before she leaves for her long overdue France trip, which was supposed to happen in fall of 2020. I also zoomed with my friend Lia in Germany, who is the other moderator of the Socks from Stash group on Ravelry (knitting website). We had some admin stuff for the group but also caught up on life in general.

I did chores all week and knitted between being productive. There was plenty of streaming while I knitted but I also started listening to the audio book for book club - another true crime (not my fave) so I listened at 1.5 speed to get it done. Andrea was away so I was feeding her cat ever daily. When I wasn't heading out of town for something else, I ran Wahoo errands while I was on cat feeding runs. Between that and the burn pile runs, I was out and about plenty this week.

So it was a nice week staying home with a good blend of productivity, streaming while knitting and getting chores done. Plus the friend stuff. As far as I'm concerned this was a perfect week in retirement. I hope there are more like this after the hot weeks that are coming up that will be cramping my style. I'm so looking forward to cooler weather. Are you?

Week 35 - Heading Back Home

I had 2 more days in Rhode Island before I'd fly home Tuesday evening. It's a good thing I was having fun because home was calling to me. Even after a relaxing week at the beach, I was ready to be home. For a LONG time before I travel again. But first the rest of my RI time.

I used to love Dunkin Donuts but they stopped making my favorite donut - lemon filled with chocolate icing. Well Janice found that Market Basket (a Massachusetts grocery chain that has a couple of stores in RI) has them so we started the day Monday getting a donut. Janice had donations to drop off a a thrift store so we ate our donuts in the parking lot after dropping them then went inside. It was a lovely store - clean and well organized. I found a couple of Evesham ramekins so was happy with that. From there we went to yet another Job Lot. I think it was my 4th one on this trip but it was the biggest one so far and had lots of stuff I hadn't seen yet. I bought quite a bit more. : )

With our shopping done, we headed to one of our old haunts for a late lunch - Newport Creamery. It was bogo day for Awful Awfuls, which are super thick milk shakes (called cabinets in RI) so we got one after our sandwiches. Yum! After a quick stop at Dave's Market, where I stocked up on Near East tabbouleh mix that I can no longer find in Nebraska, we went home to veg. Janice and I were always big box game players so we played boggle for awhile. When we got hot, we jumped in her pool and then enjoyed swordfish and corn on the cob cooked by Chris (Janice's husband) on the grill. I had bought a small serving of grapenut pudding (another RI thing that's an egg custard with a grapenut crust) and we were so full we split it 3 ways for dessert. It was another fun day and my last full one in RI.

I started Tuesday packing up all my stuff, which was mostly Job Lot purchases. Lots of them. I got it all into my suitcase and loaded it into the car. We were headed to meet Deanne at Mrs. Basset's, who was our girl scout leader, for a visit. It has become a tradition on my RI trips and was fun, as usual. I said goodbye to Janice and Deanne and I headed to her new house where she had an inspection or something. I got to see it, which was cool, and then we went to a late lunch at Avvio. Delish. We had some time to kill before I needed to be at the airport so we drove to one of my favorite neighborhoods on the water in Warwick - Conimicutt - and then she dropped me at the airport and I was headed home. My flights were nearly empty and on time. I walked into my house at 11:30 and didn't let the cats out so I could shower and go right to bed. It was good to be home.

It was great to wake up at home on Wednesday and after unpacking first thing, I got busy with laundry - mostly sheets and towels from the beach house with a few undies thrown in. It all got hung on the line. I picked some produce in my garden, went to Lorri's to pick up the fundraiser peaches she'd picked up for me and then did some cooking - sausage with peppers from my garden, tabbouleh with my garden tomatoes and pasta for supper. It was a lovely first day home.

Thursday was a Lincoln day because I had scheduled lunch at the Chinese buffet with Layton a month ago. I started at the rummage sale at St. John's in Weston and scored some cool Pyrex mugs in lovely avocado green. Peaches to Anne was stop number one then I enjoyed a long lunch with Layton, catching up on all things UNL. From there I went to Helen's to hang for a bit before hitting Aldi and Russ' to restock on groceries. I was now ready to stay home.

Friday was laundry day and I enjoyed knitting and catching up with YouTube videos. I talked to Lori in the morning and offered to chart a sock pattern that she wanted to make but it had no chart and needed to be converted from toe up to top down. I ended the day with more knitting charts. Rene wanted to make basic cabled socks and after we looked on Ravelry and couldn't find the right thing, I charted that out and emailed it right before bedtime. Helping friends with sock knitting - all good.

Since I retired, weekends have become time to spent at home to avoid all the working people who flood stores on their days off. I got dressed early because Tim was coming to mow before the rain. I had just enough time to pick produce and throw some fertilizer on my containers before it started raining. I spent the afternoon on socks - frogging 2 pairs and then spending 4 hours reclaiming the tangled skein from one of them. I was way behind on my temperature blanket so did minimal chores on Sunday and knitted squares galore. When the internet went down that night, I went to bed early to read and called it a good weekend.

While I had a great time in Rhode Island and it was a totally relaxing time, I am travelled out! I want to stay home for a long time. Like maybe I won't travel until next year. I have lots to do in the yard and have a basement to clear out so they can reblock my east wall this winter. I also want to get into a routine. Gotta work on that. I'm ready.

Here's a pic of my front step, done Janice style. She has a front door she doesn't want anyone to use so puts an enormous plant blocking the step. I never use my front door so centered the huge impatiens on the step instead of having it on the side. Great idea and I like it.

Week 34 - Relaxing Beach Week

The week started out with absolutely gorgeous weather and we had guests scheduled for every day. It was going to be a great week. Unless Hurricane Erin caused problems.

John was going out to lunch with his friend Nancy on Monday so I called Janice and she came over for lunch and the afternoon. Janice was my best friend from 7th grade through college so it was fun catching up and we laughed for hours. When John got back and asked what was so funny, we couldn't even say. After Janice left, we had yummy burgers for supper and enjoy this beautiful sunset. Beach living. Gotta love it.

Deanne was coming on Tuesday but wanted to go out for lunch. She and I went to The Coast Guard House, which is right on the water in Narragansett and is a Rhode Island institution. I had a lobster roll and we split the most delicious pea salad. We then shopped in Wakefield before she dropped me back at the cottage because she had a zoom at 4:00. Kathy, who used to own the cottage and was how we found it in 2020, was coming for supper. While Dee and I were out, John had gone to the fish store for fresh swordfish (caught that morning) and the farm stand for sweet corn. It was all delicious and the conversation flowed. It was another lovely day.

Wednesday was Cornelia day. We became friends when we lived in adjacent dorm rooms on our junior year abroad in France. It's been more than 40 years. How are we that old? Anyway, we met her at Aunt Carrie's for clamcakes and chowder and then she came back to the cottage for a chatty afternoon until she had to leave for a hair appointment. For a change, I cooked dinner - sausage and peppers with zucchini. The veg came from my garden and had survived being packed in my suitcase just fine. Some of the peppers were spicy (they weren't supposed to be) but it was still good. It was raining so we watched Rogue Agent, which was worth the watch, and went to bed early. 

Hurricane Erin was off the coast and starting to affect our weather by Thursday. The tide was incredibly high and it was cloudy and windy all day. With the high temp only 68, it was pretty chilly. John's aunt and uncle were coming for drinks and nibbles that afternoon and luckily the sun was coming out by then. We had a nice time chatting and ate so many snacks with our drinks that after they left, we skipped supper and had an early night after watching a few episodes of Leanne on Netflix.

It had been cool all week and still was but Friday was our beach day. Carolyn and Matt were coming but with Erin offshore, the waves were huge and swimming wasn't allowed at the state beach. They got to the cottage at noon but John and I aren't ones to sit on the beach so we stayed at the cottage for lunch and said we'd walk down and meet them later. They were planning to leave the beach at 4:30 so we walked down for 3:00. It was too windy for an umbrella so it was a good thing we weren't there long. The waves were crazy big and roared onto shore. I went down to stand in the waves (that was allowed) and they were so strong that just one wave pulled the sand out from under my feet. Sheesh! We drove back to the cottage and John made his marinated chicken, which is always yummy. We watched more Leanne after they left then I took my last outside shower of the year and sat out on the deck listening to the waves crashing from the beach, which is about a quarter mile from the cottage. The stars were bright and I enjoyed sitting there for quite awhile. Another beach week was over. In a flash.

Check out time on Saturday is 10:00 so we got up and got busy packing clothes, linens and food. The car was loaded and we drove out at 10:15. We went to the big Job Lot (a RI store that's like Big Lots used to be but better) in East Greenwich and didn't even get through it all before we had to head to Carolyn's. Our friend Bob was coming and we were going to have a lunch of leftovers from the cottage, which we had plenty of. It was another fun catch up and then John dropped me at Janice's, where I'd be staying for a few days before flying home.

I normally stay with Carolyn or Deanne when I'm in RI but Carolyn was starting school that Tuesday and Deanne is living with her mother while her new house is being built so Janice came to my rescue. Janice and I grew up together so I knew it would be fun. I settled into her spare room and her husband made burgers on the grill. Just like that, Saturday was done.

Janice lives right by the water and they have a BIG (43 foot) boat so we were going out on the boat on Sunday. Janice's brother and daughter-in-law came too and it was fabulous. Despite having grown up in RI, I'd only been out on the bay a few times. It's so cool to see things from the water - a totally different perspective. We went to a Potter Cover off Prudence Island and dropped anchor. We spent the afternoon enjoying sandwiches, snacks and just being on the water. We got back at 6:00 and when they mentioned going to "the club" for supper, I was thrilled to hear they meant The Firemen's Club in East Greenwich. It's legendary and you have to be a member, which her husband and brother are. It's prime real estate overlooking Greenwich Cove and I was thrilled to go there. The food was good and it was a perfect end to a wonderful day and week.

Another RI beach week was in the books and I had just one more day before I'd fly home on Tuesday. I was having lots of fun with Janice and got to check a few new things off my list. Still, home was calling to me. I'd be staying home for a long time once I got home. 

Week 33 - Rhode Island Bound

Any week that includes getting on a plane for vacation automatically becomes busy but this wasn't too bad. I had lots of free time in the four days until I left.

I spent Monday doing some cleaning in my nightie, including putting the laundry room back to normal after the contractors had moved things when they had to replumb my shower. There was strange gunk in my sinks down there - a layer or what felt like rusted metal. It took time to chip off and then left rust stains on the enamel. Anyway, when I was done with chores, the nightie went into the hamper, I took a shower and got dressed. I made a strawberry rhubarb pie to take to knitting, which was the icing on the productive day I'd had.

I did laundry and hung it out on Tuesday and then spent some time neatizing the house, including organizing my knitting, between episodes of The Studio on Apple TV. I made egg roll in a bowl for supper then went to my library board meeting. Not quite as productive as Monday but not a total slug day. I was in pretty good shape for my trip too with clean clothes to pack and the house chores done.

With that in mind and a clear calendar on Wednesday, I decided it was time to tackle a one day project, which was my bedroom. Clothes were off the list but I went through the bottom of my closet and cleared all the surfaces. Then I started cleaning. It was the perfect project and looked great when I was done. I also finally was able to set up Venmo on my credit union account having given up on my Wahoo State Bank account, where I'd failed to get it to work three times. Pixel, who was looking much better, got her last dose of antibiotics. It was a good day.

I was heading to Lincoln on Thursday for lunch with Dana and Cindy so recycled my glass on the way into town then dropped some travel presents off to Darla before picking them up. We had a lovely middle eastern lunch at Fattoush, which Dana recommended. The big boss - Vice Chancellor for Business and Finance, Mike Zeleny - was leaving UNL and I'd be missing his party so grabbed a few minutes with him between his meetings to say goodbye. And since I was on the third floor, I talked to Ben then went upstairs to chat with Erica and Layton. It had been a long time since I'd spent so much time in the office but it was great to catch up with people.

Friday was all about getting ready - watering plants (inside and out), setting up many litter boxes, cleaning out the fridge, doing a final load of laundry and packing. I even knitted the final squares on my temperature blanket to catch up from my last trip, knowing I'd be twelve days behind again before I got back from RI. I had plenty of time to get this all done though so it wasn't stressful. I had to be up at 4:30 for my early flight so went to bed early and called myself prepared.

I got a decent amount of sleep before my alarm went off and was on the road by 5:15. My flights were completely uneventful. John picked me up and we went straight to The Crow's Nest for my favorite fried clams. Delish! We went to Trader Joe's for supplies then headed to the cottage, which is where it got interesting. It was strange to see that Vivian's camper had been removed and there was a nice, new deck on the cottage but the door for the outside shower was gone. Changes.

Our neighbors came over to greet us and helped us unload but when we looked for the key in the lockbox, it was not there. John called and texted the owner but didn't get an immediate response so he got creative. The kitchen window that opens onto the deck wasn't locked so John unscrewed the screen and climbed in the window. Yay! We unpacked the groceries, made beds and settled in. But when it came time for dinner, we had nothing to eat despite buying tons of food at TJ's. I made us fried egg sandwiches and we called it good.  When it was time for bed, I evaluated who could see me if I showered outside and decided it was only one house across the pond and they'd need binoculars so I used my phone for light and took a nudie shower outside. All good. 

Sunday was a low key day with no visitors coming. I took my breakfast out to the deck and then spent the entire morning there knitting, thoroughly enjoying my happy place. We headed out for Stop & Shop to fill in the gaps in the food we'd bought at TJ's. Lots of meat was procured and we had saugies (a RI hotdog) for supper. With the fridge stocked, we were ready for a week of visiting with friends and relaxing. We had a gorgeous sunset to end the evening (the pic at the start of this post. 

Week 32 - Lincoln and Omaha

It was another nice week that started with time inside and ended with all things social.

I spent the first three days of the week puttering inside, finally catching up on online things and doing more cooking. I was feeling guilty about so much streaming while knitting so switched it up to reading and knitting a couple of charity hats. Same chair and same sitting but somehow better. In my mind at least. Here are the hats.

My new friend Ana, who had been staying in Wahoo to go through family stuff and get some intensive PT, was going back to NYC so I said goodbye to her before knitting on Monday. She had been living in a hotel so I'd invited her over for many a meal over the summer and also worked on puzzles with her at the library. I'd miss her but she's planning to move back to Nebraska after she sells her apartment so I'll see her again.

A talk at the lake on Thursday morning was the start of my busy days. It was on specialty crops in Nebraska and was very interesting. From there I went to The Warehouse, the library and then dealt with the driveway weeds. I'd attempted to take them to the city burn pile earlier in the week only to find it closed because they were burning. So when I saw that Lorri had her trailer piled with weeds to take to her brother's farm, I asked if I could add mine. They'd been sitting on the alley for a couple of days and it had rained so they were a mess. She said I could so I loaded them back into the car and offloaded those. After that, I called it a day and relaxed all afternoon.

Friday was my Lincoln day and I had a full agenda. I started at the Nebraska Library Commission, dropping off the book club books they'd discussed while I was in Europe. From there I went to Knit Paper Scissors to pick up the August yarn that I'd ordered, which was a good thing because it sold out. Then it was on to the cancer center for what I hoped would be my last appointments for awhile. I was meeting with my oncologist and the radiation oncologist. I'm happy to say I am done for awhile with my next appointment scheduled for Halloween. I feel like I have my life back again. To celebrate, I met Dodie at Starbuck's and we chatted over yummy coffee. It was great catch up and from there I went to the newly opened Stuff Creative Reuse store and totally scored some yarn. They had a couple of cubbies with "special" yarn that was $10/skein. I scored another skein by the same dyer I'd just picked up and had paid $38 for. SCORE! I got another expensive skein and then all the others were only $1 each. I scored some labeled sock yarn and some remnants. After a grocery run, I headed back home. It was another lovely day.

My plan Saturday was to go to the Thrifty Artists Garage Sale, which I'd tried to get a vendor table at but failed. I'd sold there pre-Covid and wanted to have a table to sell yarn so was going to check it out and run Omaha errands. There had been storms overnight but I'd slept through them and only had a small branch of my silver maple down, which happens all the time so I gave it zero thought. Anyway, when I went to the ATM to get cash for the sale, they didn't have power then the next town towards Omaha didn't have any power either. I pulled over to check that the sale was still on and it was but they said they'd had cancellations of the food truck and several vendors because of the storm. Hmm.... I drove to Omaha and found an ATM to pay a $4 fee to get cash because that's what I'd need to buy anything.

I started by hitting all my fave carb places (Bagel Bin, Winchell's Donuts and the Rotella bread factory) then went to the sale. It was lame with nothing much at all that interested me. I spent $2.25 cents and called it a bust. I did talk to one of the people who runs the sale and suggested they not bury the call for vendors like that had this time, which is why I missed it. Also, a friend from my spinning group was selling so I offered to mind her booth while she went and got lunch so that was helpful.

One thing on my Omaha list was to go to the new Ollie's, which I'd been to in my sister's town and enjoyed. I thought it was on 72nd Street in the heart of Omaha but when I got to where I thought it was, it wasn't there so I googled. It was way up in north Omaha so miles further up 72nd. I stopped at a couple of thrifts on my way there but they were mob scenes. I guess I've become completely accustomed to weekday shopping when the stores are empty. Go retirement! I did make it to Ollie's and found a few things to buy but then made a beeline home for a cup of tea and the enormous apple fritter I'd bought at Winchell's. Note to self - never shop on weekends if it can be avoided. Duh!

I started laundry Sunday morning and then headed to Ashland. The "swim ladies" (Anne, Rene, Amanda and I so named by Amanda's husband) were getting together for lunch at BW's. We enjoyed lunch (I got a fried egg sandwich with tots - talk about an old school menu option!) and talked for so long that Amanda's son left, came back with a change of clothes and left again. Lots of chatting and catching up. I didn't go back to Amanda's because there were big storm clouds so I headed back and drove through torrential rain for a bit.

I'd call that another nice week. It was a good mix of relaxation, productivity and social events and it wasn't ridiculously hot. Still hotter than I like but that's summer in Nebraska. I'd be heading to Rhode Island for my annual beach week and it looks like it'll be much cooler when I get back. Can't wait for fall weather!

Week 31 - Heat and Sweat

The worst of my jet lag was over and my cold was almost gone so I was looking forward to a week of nesting and catching up. But holy crap! The weather was crazy hot to start the week.

It felt like 114 on Monday so going out was off the table. I was madly crocheting the border on a baby blanket that I wanted to enter in the fair and entries were due that night so I spent most of the day on that. I got it finished and into the wash right before the contractor came to go over some changes. I'd asked for bright shiny chrome and he'd installed all brushed chrome and the paint needed some touching up. He was great about it so that was a relief. This contractor will be doing more work at my house for sure. Anyway, I pulled the blanket out of the dryer, attached the fair labels and had my entries dropped off before Monday Night Knitting. I picked up a few things at the local market and called it a good day.

It was almost as hot on Tuesday so I stayed inside again. I talked or zoomed with my sister and friends for most of the morning and then got busy cooking. After weeks of mediocre food on the trip and living out of my freezer since I got home, it was a joy to cook. I had picked wax beans from my garden so made 3 bean salad, potato salad, turkey dinner casserole and mashed potatoes for a future casserole. I had a Ripples Project zoom at 6:00 then ran to the fair to check my ribbons. While my colorwork cowl won best of lot and best of division, like last year I missed best of county, which is the best craft in the fair and gets to enter a special category in the state fair, by one. It was reserve best of county. Will I ever win that? I'll keep trying. I stopped at my friend Lorri's to pick up some beets from her garden. It was another good day at home.

The temp wasn't as high on Wednesday and I tried to go outside to give my garden some love but it was still super muggy so I was dripping sweat within minutes. After that sweaty hour, I went out in 10 minute stints over the course of the day and at least got my containers looking better. I unpacked all but the breakables in the bathroom, hung my new shower curtain and called it a day. I made zucchini butter pasta, which was easy and delish, and had it with some wine. 

Thursday was a Lincoln day because I had a post-trip OT appointment because they were concerned that my trip would exacerbate my lymphedema, which it hadn't. Of course I had many other things planned since I'd be in the big city but I had already decided not to swim so I could do a big grocery run. I started with meeting Cindy on campus to pick up some sock yarn she'd scored for me at an estate sale (yay!) and had BBQ on East Campus (the last BBQ of the summer) with Darla before heading south for the appointment. I was officially done with OT but they didn't close my case so will call in 2 months and if it's still OK, they'll close it then. Of course I thrifted a bit (found $1 bags of yarn - mostly acrylic for Dottie) and hit Aldi and Russ' so had loaded up on groceries. All good.

Finally I was home on Friday to work outside in the much cooler weather, although it was smoky from Canadian wild fires, which had me coughing. The kid who mows for me had done the grass but I had foot high weeds in my driveway cracks so that was my focus for the day. I also wanted to weed my veg beds. I spent hours outside and was only half done with the driveway but did get the veg beds done. I was toast so took a shower and got stuff done inside like bleach testing the mystery sock yarn (almost all of it had nylon), doing the July tally for my Ravelry sock group and catching up on some shows. I felt good with my progress.

I was sore on Saturday so didn't get outside until the afternoon and it took most of the rest of the day to get the driveway done but I did it. Done! I had just dropped the weeds when I pulled them for them to dry out so had piles all over the driveway. I was watching the news first thing Sunday and they said it might rain so I went out in my nightie and swept the piles to the side of the driveway. I had to go pick up my fair entries and didn't want to drive over them. Good thing it was 6:30 am so no one saw me. Ha!

Andrea was at my door after mass and had picked up my fair entries so cross that off my list. Lorri stopped by after church so I had a nice, chatty morning and didn't have to go out again. I did more cooking and caught up on more streaming. I was very disappointed that it was so cool out that they never opened the Lincoln pools so my water aerobics was done for the summer. I love the Sunday class so missed out. Oh well.

I'd still call it a lovely week. I was completely over my jet lag and felt back to normal having caught up both inside and out. Just cooking again was wonderful. Two more weeks before I head to Rhode Island. Hopefully they'll be nice weeks too.

Week 30 - Prague and Home

As if the salad bar and non-chicken from the night before wasn't enough, I found mini wheats when I went down for breakfast on Monday. Yay! Could this hotel get any better? It was the last week of the trip and I was snotty (a cold?) but I'd be sleeping in my own bed by the end of the week.

With a belly full of mini wheats, our first stop was a walking tour of downtown Linz, which was Hitler's favorite town. Go figure. We were going along with the tour but the guide had a really obnoxious voice and seemed to go on and on so when Anne found a yarn shop, we snuck away and went yarn shopping. After the first shop, we bumped into our tour guy and Dom pointed us to another yarn shop that had no online presence. It was small but we found more yarn, of course, and then headed to Starbuck's for yet another frapuccino. Two new friends from the tour joined us and we sat outside until it was time to walk back to the bus. That afternoon, we drove to Mauthausen - a Nazi work camp. They didn't gas people because they worked them to death. Needless to say, it was a sobering experience. We had another yummy dinner in the hotel and our time in Linz was done.

This was the point when our time on the boat would have been over so we were back to the original itinerary, which meant no more 20 euro handouts for food. On our way to Prague, we stopped in the prettiest town - Cesky Krumlov. I'd never heard of it but it was gorgeous. We had another walking tour then had some time on our own. Anne went off to take pictures and I went with Tom and Jill to get some lunch at an Italian restaurant Dom had recommended. I got a yummy pizza and Anne and another friend joined us after a bit and ate some of it. It was the first meal of my own choosing that I'd eaten in a week and it was delicious. From there we headed to Prague.

I don't know if it was because I was tired, snotty and ready for home but Prague was my least favorite city of the trip. There was no greenery anywhere and it just seemed grubby with dirty buildings and lots of trash. And so many people! Anyway, we started with a walking tour in the morning, another in the afternoon and when we were set loose for free time, Anne and I went to the river and did a one hour boat tour, which was lovely. We both thought the tour company missed an opportunity by not having a dinner or cruise during the trip, which would have been nice since it was supposed to be a river cruise. Anyway, we stopped at a cafe for a big piece of cake and went back to the hotel to get organized. Thursday would be our last day in the city and of the trip.

We went across the river Thursday morning and had a tour of the castle district. Even the gardens there were nothing special but we sat in them to knit and watch people. There were shuttles but, as usual, Anne and I walked back. We'd been doing 16-17k steps most days and since we'd be sitting all day Friday... Back at the hotel, we had a farewell talk with the 4 tour managers and then dinner. Then it was back to our rooms to finish packing. It had been a good trip but I was more than ready to head home.

We didn't have an early morning on Friday, only needing to leave the hotel at 10:30. It was just the 2 of us in a taxi and we were facing a long day. We flew from Prague to Munich and then had a 10.5 hour flight to Denver. It was SO long. I watched a short movie and then decided to watch Godfather 1 and 2, which took me almost to the end of the flight. By the end of it, I couldn't sit another minute. I got up and went to the galley (we were at the back of the plane) and did some stretching. We buzzed though Denver thanks to Global Entry (worth every penny), rechecked our bags and headed to our flight to Lincoln. By the time we arrived, we'd been awake for 24 hours. Despite us rechecking our bags together, Anne's arrived and mine didn't. I filled out a lost baggage report and went out to the curb where Andrea was waiting. 

Andrea hadn't seen Rosie the entire time I was gone and I did have contractors going in and out of the house so I was worried that she may have gotten out but when I got home just after midnight, all 4 cats came running. I let them out and proceeded to unpack my my carry on and take a shower in my gorgeous new bathroom. By the time I was ready for bed, the cats all wanted in to get some loving so I went to bed happy to be in my own bed and with all my cats safe inside.

Despite total exhaustion, I only slept 4 hours. Sheesh! I was a zombie but filled the day with talking to friends, catching up on computer stuff and going through my mail. My luggage arrived at the end of the day so I unpacked and got laundry sorted to do on Sunday. I got all the laundry done, talked more on the phone, stashed all the yarn I'd bought, prepped all my fair entries and called the contractor about a few things he needed to fix. I didn't trust myself to drive to Lincoln for swimming so bailed on that.

So, it was a successful trip despite not being the cruise and so feeling longer than I'd hoped (taking a bus from hotel to hotel is not as relaxing as sitting on a deck with a fancy drink watching the scenery along the river) but I'd seen cities I'd never been to and had lots of fun. As always, it felt wonderful to be home and I had high hopes to get over jet lag and the last remnants of my cold so I could enjoy the next week at home. Life is good!

Week 29 - Bratislava and Vienna

One of the missions of the tour company (Overseas Adventure Travel and Grand Circle Cruises) is learning and discovery so we started Monday with a talk on autocracy in Hungary, which was very interesting. Then we headed out to the covered market, where Anne and I went to Aldi. Ha! We went to the first of many chicken meals, after which we got another Starbuck's then were on our way to Bratislava. That wasn't very long in Budapest but I was excited for Bratislava.

Unlike in Budapest, our hotel was centrally located on the main square of the town so we headed out as soon as we were done with supper. I loved the town immediately. It was small so walkable and I found some art that I wanted to buy but didn't have enough cash. Get this - we were supposed to eat all our meals on the boat so anytime there was a meal we had on our own, they handed us each 20 euros. Just one more round of lunch money and I'd have enough for the 2 pics I wanted. Anyway, there was a fun fountain right out front that did a light show that was synchronized to music each hour so we sat outside until bedtime. Nice.

Tuesday was a full day and started with a talk on the transition from communism to capitalism (interesting) then a walking tour of the old town. When we went by the man with the art, I ran over and used my second lot of lunch money to buy it. Yay! After the tour, Anne and I took a Bolt (Slovakia's version of Uber) to a local yarn shop that was wonderful. I found some yarn for myself and for Andrea as a thank you for feeding my cats. We were walking from there to Lidl to buy something for lunch when we passed a cute shop that was a co-op full of fun handmade items. I bought a few things there too and with a savory pastry from Lidl, we Bolted back and ate lunch in a park by the river. We had a couple of hours to kill so went to a cat cafe by the hotel for a bit. The cats were not super engaged but they were the first cats we'd seen so far. From there we went to home visits, which is another thing the tour company does. Four of us went to a woman's apartment, which was tiny and apparently the norm. She was lovely and told us all about life in Slovakia. Then it was back to the hotel to walk to a horrific folk show in a basement that was ancient and a total fire trap. We sat by the door so we could bug out if it was lame, which it was, but the band set up blocking our exit. They were so loud and the food was meh. The minute they took a break, we were outa there.

Somewhere over the course of the day I developed a small blister on my big toe. For some reason is throbbed all night. Throbbed like I was being stabbed with a pin every 2 minutes or so. I barely slept, like still awake at 4:30. Good thing it was a day with bus travel. We had a talk on Bratislava's next generation, had another chicken lunch near the hotel and headed to Vienna on the bus. Our hotel was right across from the main park in Vienna so we headed right there, found a bench near a pond (the pic is the view from the benches) and knitted until dinner, which was in the hotel. Afterwards, we went to the mall behind the hotel and found exactly what I was hoping for - supermarket sock yarn! It was in a SparExtra so technically the extra stuff that normally wouldn't be in a Spar grocery store but good enough. It was only 6 euros for a ball that would cost ~$18 in the US so I bought some for my knitting group. I survived on zero sleep and was loving Vienna so far.

I slept like a rock so was ready to go on Thursday. We started with a bus tour of the city then had yet more chicken in a hot basement restaurant so we left before lunch was over. We walked all over the palace area, starting with the rose garden, and then made our way to a yarn shop, which was very small and I only found 1 ball of sock yarn that was manufactured in Austria. Then it was back to the park to knit on our bench and wait for supper, which was in the hotel. We chatted with an American who was travelling with her dog and several people from the tour as we knitted away. It was a lovely way to end the day.

Friday was a mostly free day so we walked from the yarn shop that was near the hotel (the owner told me sock yarn was out of season (!) so I only found one skein to buy) and then crossed the river to a less touristy part of town and hit the best yarn shop of the lot. The owner was lovely and I bought some great yarn and my fave sock needles so I could cast on another pair. Always a good thing. We stopped at a cafe near the park and had a pancake thing called a Kaiserschmarrn that my friend Layton had recommended. Delish! There was a bus trip to a strange building Austrians seem particularly proud of then back to the hotel for a lecture on Austrian history and their neutrality. I clearly need to read a book on European history. After dinner in the hotel, Anne and I did a carriage ride with 2 other women from the trip. We just took the first carriage in line but neglected to ask if he spoke English. He didn't except for a few words here and there but he knew enough to say "Vladimir Putin good" and give a thumbs up. OMG! Despite him, it was a nice way to spend an evening in Vienna.

Saturday was an out and about day. We went to a cute down called Durnstein that was on the Danube. I took the opportunity to get my feet in the river because wading is one of my very favorite things. From there we went to Gottweig Abbey for lunch, which we ate outside on a gorgeous patio overlooking a gorgeous valley. Then it was on to an apricot farm where we learned so much about the process, ate and drank everything apricot and then I hit the gift shop and bought all the apricot things. We did not need supper when we got back to the hotel so 20 more euros went into my pocket. : )

On Sunday, we left Vienna, which I was sad about since I'd loved it all, except maybe the Putin loving carriage driver. We went to a town called Melk that had a big abbey that we toured before having yet more chicken in a restaurant that was super stuffy. I was so sick of sweating! From there we drove to Linz, which was the longest bus trip so far so lots of knitting time. Linz is an industrial town and was the last city on the Danube and where we would have disembarked from the boat. Our hotel was not near the city center but the restaurant made up for it. We'd been eating chicken at nearly every meal and vegetables were rarely on offer so when we saw a salad bar in the restaurant, I was thrilled and had a huge plate of salad. And they had beef and ribs as proteins so not chicken. I was a happy camper.

So our full week had us in 3 different countries learning at every stop and I'd found lots of fun yarn and made some new friends. There was way too much chicken but considering they had 4 days to redo the tour and find hotels and restaurants that could handle 100 people, I shouldn't complain. We had another day in Linz and then would be on the original itinerary because Prague had always been a hotel/bus portion of the trip. All good.

Week 28 - Best Laid Plans

What a week! It started with a BIG change in plans and ended in Europe. Can't beat that.

The only thing on my agenda for Monday was a 2:00 zoom for 15 minutes with a vendor about a new service for the library (wearing my library board president hat). I had no sooner started the zoom when my phone started blowing up, Anne started messaging me and then doing a video call. I finished the zoom (it was totally lame with a slick salesman who couldn't answer any questions) and immediately called Anne back on Messenger and that lead to a 3 way call with the company doing our river cruise and then came the big news.

Due to drought, there was not enough water in the Danube so we couldn't do a cruise. They offered several options including doing the same tour but staying in hotels and taking a bus between cities. Since I was having my only bathroom gutted to the studs and redone, I had to be gone so we picked that option. Because we agreed to that, we'd be getting everything we paid back as a mix of cash back and future trip credit. All good but I'll admit to a bit of disappointment to not be cruising down the river but what can you do? We'd still have fun and going to Europe is always good. 

The rest of the week went by in a blur with me checking things off my list. I replaced wheels on my luggage, shipped a box of yarn to Dottie, bought paint for the bathroom, got friends and neighbors set up to water plants and feed cats and finally packed. After doing the last few things on Friday morning, I soaked my head (the sweating!), got dressed and was ready when Lorri and her husband came to take me to the airport. I met Anne and we were off!

Our itinerary wasn't ideal. We were leaving from Lincoln, which is always nice, but were flying west to Denver then back over Nebraska to Munich. 10.5 hours just for that flight and then 45 minutes from Munich to Budapest. I barely slept on the long flight but sat next to a man on the flight to Budapest who gave me all kinds of tips on Budapest and told us a couple of must eat items. Cool. Not cool was finding out our luggage was still in Munich but we got a text telling us that just as we got to the baggage carousel. They'd deliver it later that day so not horrible.

After a quick bus ride, we checked into our hotel, dropped out luggage in our room and took a shuttle downtown. Despite being pretty tired, we walked around for a couple of hours, got a Starbuck's caffeine boost and took a shuttle back to the hotel for supper. We made it through the day on barely any sleep. Day 1 success!

After a nice hotel breakfast (great buffet), we had an orientation at 9:00 before heading back downtown for a walking tour. Since I knew nothing about Budapest, it was very interesting. Afterwards we had time on our own to explore and Anne and I immediately found a restaurant to get a langos, which was one of the recommendations from the man I sat next to on the flight. Delish! It was hard to explain but was a big deep fried dough dish with edges filled with Hungarian sour cream, which is different and delicious, bacon, onions and cheese. I'm sorry to say it was the best thing I ate on the whole trip. We shuttled back to the hotel and walked to a buffet nearby that night that was bedlam with zillions of people (beyond our 100+) and so loud that I couldn't wait to get out of there. 

While it was clear that the food wouldn't be the star of the trip (we were supposed to be eating every meal on the boat), there were fun people and our tour manager was great. They split the 101 people in to 4 groups and each group had our own bus and manager so we weren't crammed in. I was looking forward to the rest of the trip. Stay tuned.

Week 27 - Focused on Cowl

It was my last full week before leaving for Europe but did I focus on packing? Nope. The start of the week was pretty normal and then I was busy finishing a project to enter in the county fair right after I got back.

There was lots of socializing early in the week. I went to Lorri's for lunch on Monday, which was supposed to be in a park but rain nixed that, knitted at Nan's in Fremont instead of the library, took Dodie to Green Gateau for her birthday then had tea at Rene's and chatted the afternoon away. After a day at home on Wednesday when the contractor came to get a key and do a final project overview, I was back to Lincoln for another OT appointment, hanging at Helen's and then swimming. I watered in my yard and my neighbor's in a wet bathing suit then showered and was ready to knit.

I have been trying to win Best in County at the fair for a few years now. Last year I got reserve best (2nd place) and so this year was going to finish the colorwork cowl I started on my Norway knitting cruise in December 2018 in hopes of winning. It was only a third done and required concentration so that was my mission for the weekend. Other than watering plants, including my neighbor's, and doing a few chores, the Friday through Sunday was devoted to the cowl. Since it was thick and would take a long time to dry, I needed it finished and blocked well before my trip. I didn't finish it until Monday but here are the 2 sides of it.

As usual, I ended the week going to water aerobics in Lincoln, which I needed after sitting and knitting for three days. I was happy to have the cowl done and since I'd be leaving for Europe on Friday, it was time to change gears and get ready to be gone for 15 days. Yee ha!