Week 32 - Aug 4-10

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!