We´re all mad here

I need a place to cool down

2026-07-09T17:04:56Z

Honestly, my life turns out as if I lived in a madhouse- with me as an inmate. I got up, had breakfast, dressed for a tour to a nearby shopping centre- and noticed that my car was off. I called hubby, who of course was off with it, only to get to know that he would return for lunch at the earliest. I see. Not good for me, so I went back to casual wear and did some house cleaning. Which, in the end, turned out perfect, because sis called and invited herself- again. I made lunch, baked a cake (blueberry strudel) then went upstairs for resting. Resting was not undisturbed, sis called and informed me that her husband felt the need to accompany her, as did her daughter. Oh yes, the more, the merrier... For almost three hours I got lectured about football, LGBT, women´s rights and unfair reviews in our oh so abysmal newspapers. Turned out that sis must have been one of the few who loved Berlin Alexanderplatz, the play most of the viewers left at the halftime break, if not earlier. Only then I realised that niece had been involved in the play, hence the indignation. It was hard for me to play host, listener and doting older sister. Especially since Hubby, freshly returned from the building site (he appears to be the only worker there) talked big all the time and sat, not even helping out a bit but drank a beer instead. When sis finally left, my nerves were a bit frail. I emptied the dishwasher, loaded it with plates, washed the coffee set we had used by hand- it got bought by husband mine and is not dishwasher-safe, but looked like the one hubby had when at home (how sweet)- then went upstairs to cool down and recuperate. Without visitors I would have done some swimming in the pool (good for my abysmal bodily condition) now that the water is clear again and its temperature has dropped down to refreshing 24 degrees. I already wonder what tomorrow will bring- I am pretty sure that my car will be off again....

Watching weather forecast...

2026-07-08T16:04:23Z

...is a waste of time. Yesterday it read `tropical nights for the east, cool with possible rain for the rest of the country. At eight, when I was about going down to watch TV, we had 13 degrees in the bedroom, sama as outside. I opened the balcony door and the windows and sat next to hubby for a docu. The glass rods of the lamp made in hell were merrily jingling in the fresh breeze coming from outside, though it felt somewhat cosy. That alone should have risen the red flag- bad weather (save for thunderstorms) never come from that direction. At ten I went upstairs- the bedroom felt too warm all of a sudden, but 27 degrees? I looked at the weather app- temperatures had not gone down but up, we had 27 now. Well, too late to turn the aircon on for hubby, who needs cool air for sleeping. At three thirty, when I was off with daughter, we were still up to 26 degrees. So much about no tropical night in the west. Not even when we had 39 degrees during day the nights had been that warm! But that´s what foehn does to us...
Strangely, I did not sleep in but got up with hubby, but only after having watched the video of Suisse´s win on penalties. That´s how games get won- one must not play good football, only the result is that counts! During breakfast the rain front finally arrived, and temperatures dropped quickly down to 17. Would have preferred them to do so way earlier!
While on kitchen-cleaning duty I heard the sound of helicopter circling. Too near, I thought, and went out onto the terrace to have a look. Oh no, not another one! But some minutes later they brought down a body bag containing the unlucky one who had fallen to his death- the third person this year, and probably not the last. Some drop out of the wand when climbing, some jump. Hate, hate, hate it- this happens at our very door! Even one of my schoolfriends committed suicide that way, only that she jumped off the higher mountain beside.
Son has kept a lot of those cooking books I intended to give away and will take them to Graz bit by bit. The first of them went with him yesterday. What´s left I have placed onto his desk, giving the same a good cleaning before. I hope the glass will hold- I have culled ten more of those books, intending to keep only the big, interesting ones like the Culinaria series. I think in my best days I must have owned around 300 cooking books, give or take! Probably even more! Still way to many of them on the shelves, especially since a lot of recipes now get found on FB!
Apropos FB: For a while I wondered why I got to see so many Halloween decorations all of a sudden. That was before I got to know that a lot of US Americans start decorating for Halloween just after Independence Day- and we wonder how people can even think of voting a rabid carrot for president. Now we got to know that quite a lot of very strange people must inhabit this country...

Number four off, number five in

2026-07-07T17:50:48Z

Son had to go back to Graz today. So while hubby was at number two´s house doing more shed building (as if, they haven´t even finished the floor plate) I rummaged in the freezer for beef, because son wanted a selfmade beef broth with vegetables and Frittaten (stripes of pancakes). A typical meal for cold days, only that we got 30 degrees today, before cool weather will hit again tomorrow. Number four spent the morning in bed, a bed he usually does not like at all- too narrow (140 is not enough?), too firm (okay, that´s true, I tried to sleep there once and woke with a stiff neck and my back hurting). With son in bed I had a lot of cutting to do, while the beef was cooking. There was one mishap, when I banged my fingers on the metal pot and, to keep me from swearing (Dil has complained that the boys use swearwords all of a sudden) propped my hand onto the next hard surface and started to count to ten. Did not make it, because the hard surface had been the still hot stove top. The burn is not that bad, but my swearing woke number four, who finally showed up, gave me a plaster then cut the leek and the parsley. Hubby came back and made the Frittaten (one of the few things I won´t do, because it involves hot oil, which always leads to breathing problems with me). I have to admit that I completely forgot about daughter´s first early shift in July, so when she showed up just after lunchtime I was a bit flabbergasted. But she brought cake (lemon, ny favourite) and my favourite buns for tomorrow´s breakfast, while hubby bought cherry cake for snack break- oh yes, hubby loves sweets...
I cleaned the conservatory to be able to do the next jigsaw (it was less tidying but more spider hunting), watered the few plants that are inside at the moment then let daughter sort out the pieces for the frame while I helped son find the things number four needed to take back to Graz but was not able to find. That man is such a chaotic person, the opposite pole to his sister, who has a to-do list she will meticulously work off. Honestly, I was so done when son finally left that I was no big help with building the frame. Besides, it was hot and sweat inducing up to the moment we finished, then the clouds started to sail in and temperatures began to drop. Wish this would have happened sooner! Hubby, who had been sitting on the terrace for sunbathing went back in to watch football. Apropos football: First thing at four in the morning, when I woke for a tour de loo, was looking for the result of last night´s game. We have been discussing the Big Orange´s idiocy while pondering how long a corrupt Infantini will be able to keep his position. Hubby mentioned (for fun, at least I hope so) that surely Orange will do another phone call to reverse the result, because someone hadn´t told the teams where the goal they should place the ball into was located. My oh my...

Heroic hubby

2026-07-05T15:51:43Z

We made it back from St.Pölten safe and sound thanks to hubby´s heroic acting, when my glasses broke out of the blue- he took them and went to Fielmann, where they found a new optical frame similar to the old one and adapted the lenses. He did so definitely not only out of compassion, but because he had planned to have a few glasses of non-water at the party, as did son number four. No problem with the new glasses, the only problem was the seating arrangement in the car- hubby had to take the seat between the boys´ children´s seats, and hubby is tall, even though he might have lost two or three centimetres with age. He´s still too tall to fit into that place lengthwise but bony enough to can be seated there. I did not want for the boys to take the dickeys in the back row, which was good, because at some point the two decided to colour and do arithmetics and whatever books they had been given by their father (their mum had been asleep up to the moment they had to leave their house to get to number three). No quarrels, no loud talking, the biggest problem was Cassian exercising his whistling skills, which number four in the front row did not tolerate well. The night with the boys was (almost) perfect, the older woke at five but went back to sleep again, and at seven they both journeyed to the marital bed for some tablet watching, while hubby got up and prepared breakfast. I tried to sleep along, because I had watched last night´s football game, were a brute team tried to literally kick out the French, which fortunately did not happen. Sometimes I wonder why they have referees, if such brute performance gets tolerated anyways...
Of course, hubby had invited family number two for lunch. A lunch they took home, because they had had breakfast at one- Dil does nothing but sleep in after such a hard night of vernissageing. Flavius delivered another act of freaking out, and mum did exactly nothing to stop him. Poor Cassian had to do a lot of searching for smashed Lego in the lawn. I am glad that Flavius does not provide such freak shows more often, or I´d be worried. Oh well, maybe I am worried, but it´s mummyy who has the saying! After the family had left the three of us did a lengthy rest. Mine was the longest, I only woke when hubby turned the coffee maker on- I had slept for two hours then! Then again, the weather was cool, dark and rainy, so I did not miss much. We barely made it up to 20 degrees and even got an impressive thunderstorm at five in the afternoon. Hubby got completely soaked by the downpour, when he tried to save the pool water, which had turned a nice shade of green in the space of four days. Apparently he forgot to turn the salt master on after the cleaning. Or that darn thing has finally died, it pretends to do so at least twice during the pool season. That thing is ancient....

Dead

2026-07-04T19:59:34Z

The party was fun, grandchildren had a field day. Prasselkuchen was a hit- I baked it in the morning, all in all it took thirty minutes. But I was the lucky one who had to do the drive back home, because the big boys had beer aplenty. I also was the one who put Cassian and Flavius to bed, later than usual, because we arrived after their bedtime. Now everything is quiet again, and I poured me a glass of wine, and one more to follow...

That's so typical.

2026-07-03T14:30:15Z

And annoying to no end. I have a 'ton' of cowboy butter to make. There's a cake that needs baking (found an easy recipe called Prasselkuchen, to which I will add currants). In the morning I vacuumed the upper floor, changed all beddings then was off to get all ingredients for tomorrow's party afterwards. Came back home, made lunch (pork fillet, shallot sauce and potatoes) and was supposed to have a nice after-lunch nap then- impossible when there's one call after another coming in. Nothing of importence- sis wanted to come for a visit tomorrow (we aren't at home), friend wanted to visit (same). It's as if everyone is awake again after dozing through the heat days! So I got up, went to the bathroom to change the towels, and on the way out my glasses fell. To be correct, a side fell, the rest stayed on my nose. Broken off. The only pair left, and they were only two and a half years old. And just before I am supposed to do some car driving tomorrow, which won't happen now, since I am blind like a bat without glasses. Hmm... I fear that baking might be an interesting experience. At least, I won't turn blind when I open the door of the oven to see if the cake is ready!

Checklist

2026-07-02T14:54:06Z

knitting: done
flowers: sewed on
threads: darned in
washing of the jumpers: done
Now all I have to do is take a photo. Might do so this evening, in case that all jumpers and the top have dried and hubby deigns to clear the table of the tools he has spread there. I always thought that we are supposed to have our meals there, but no...
And here it is:

I did some decluttering, not much, but another drawer of the old writing desk got cleared, things wandering directly into the dustbin, before hubby would be able to protest. Then I selected a recipe for the lemon tiramisu I intended to do, only to have hubby tell me that family number three does not want tiramisu but some other cake- and that he wanted to tell son which one I would do now. I told him to get off and that I definitely won´t tell him. If son (or DiL) wanted a special cake they´d have to do it themselves. And please, do not tell me that it´s because of Elsa and Matthäus- the two haven´t eaten any cake on their plate, as far as I have seen. Could be because they had eaten way too many sweets already when cake got served! At the moment I am looking for another cake recipe which is easy to make, does not contain alcohol and won´t die on the way to St. Pölten- weather forecast for Saturday tells me that temperatures will already be considerably higher. And no alcohol, because Cassian and Flavius are cake addicts. They smell one the way a vulture will smell carrion- from far away!

Clap! Clap! Thunderclap!

2026-07-01T16:13:50Z

Finally! It took quite a while for the thunderstorms to arrive. When in the dark kitchen last evening I was able to watch a show of lightnings- impressive, but the thunderstorm did never make it over here. But at five in the morning te time for cooling down had come in form of a huge one, which made hubby and me run to close all open windows, which were many. Absolutely no fun, because this was the third time we were up, because Marlene woke us with her football-induced war cries. That lady is a menace to our health. Still don´t know how she does it, but I think she brings Konstanze over to the grandparents, drives Charlotte to school then sleeps, until it´s time to do lunch. Three more weeks, then it´s over, and we can sleep safely again.
You won´t believe it, but chances are that I will finish Elsa´s top in time- today I did the borders, threaded in and crocheted twenty tiny flower heads I will sew on tomorrow. Then the top will go into the washing machine and hopefully dry up till Saturday. Friday I will do Cowboy butter and lemon tiramisu for the birthday party. I still miss my cold box which got taken to Romania but never made it back! Will have to make do with cold packs and a plastic box then for the drive to son number three.
During day it got pleasantly cool inside the house- we had only 19 degrees outside in the afternoon. The strong winds made us hang the washing in the living room. Bad idea, because for a while air moisture went through the roof, and life was miserable even though the temperature inside was down to 23. Since we had salmon spaghetti for lunch a good airing was called for, which solved the issue. I had a long, unplanned nap after lunch and only woke two hours later, when hubby turned the coffee maker on- he, too, had overslept. No wonder, today it´s such a dark day that we decided to make good for last night´s lost sleep! Which reminds me that there´s a mosquito in the bedroom I have to deal with. I heard the beast, grabbed the bug spray, listened some more then fell asleep again. Repeat. I think I did this thrice but never caught it. The mosquite was more successful, I have brandnew bug bites. Why always me, when there´s a hubby sleeping nearby?

Race against the clock

2026-06-30T17:51:58Z

This day got mostly spent with knitting and crocheting. Elsa is a tall girl and I decided late (too late?) on doing a summer top for her. It all depended on how work was going with the boys´s jumpers, which went exceedingly well. We will be to number three´s birthday party in Lower Austria on Saturday, means that all handicrafting has to be finished then, or we will get a very grumpy young lady. Daughter had asked me what I was knitting, and all I could tell her at that moment was I do not know, but it´s rather big already. I do not use knitting instructions, I need a shirt or a jumper in the actual size of the recipient and a picture of a jumper I like, and that´s all. Usually it will work, but this time I wasn´t sure. Turned out that the top will look nice, question is: Will I be able to finish it! Hubby was a lifesaver, he tidied the kitchen, did housework but only after he had put up a nice outdoor working place for me, airy but thoroughly shaded to keep my eyes out of danger. Brought me fruits and coffee. Cooked shop-bought pelmeni, I only had to add sour cream sauce and cabbage salad. Uncovered the pool for swimming- the heavy thunderstorms we were promised in the late morning did not come, but it was terribly humid though far from hot (29 degrees only). I think hubby wants a happy Elsa on Saturday, not a beasty (hence extremely loud) one. But knitting at such humidity is definitely not an easy task- the yarn got stuck around my fingers all the time. Tomorrow we are promised 21 degrees- not my favourite temperature for summer, but after such a hot period our house needs a cooling down, before the next heat wave will set in (it´s already on the way they say).
The ducks are back, now it´s two males with females. God forbid they will breed- I love ducklings, but neighbour´s garden is full of badly behaving cats hunting all day all night. Building nests on the bank of the pond will turn into disaster! I already suggested to let the nice young man who works at the business build a nesting place in the middle of the water, but then the ducks were off, and now that they are back it´s too late.
Hubby was off in the evening to record a musical birthday greeting for the orchestra´s old conductor. Now I wonder if he has locked the garage and barricaded the door to the stairs that lead down to the basement. Yesterday I had to do all this during the heavy storm that came with the thunderstorm. That was definitely no fun!

Yay, thunderstorms!

2026-06-29T17:36:14Z

Yesterday evening we were supposed to have one, but all we got was strong winds. And afterwards the warmest night of this hot June- 24 degrees, which is abnormal for our region. Usually we are down to 18-20, even when it´s very hot. Hail to our aircon, again!
My eyes were better in the morning but far from okay. Me and sun glasses, oh my! I wore them all day long, even inside, because the day was sunny, even though they had promised us rain and thunderstorms and strong winds. I mostly kept to helping hubby with the red currant jam. Those berries had to be parted from the stems- two kilos of the red menace! It took me quite a while, and afterwards there was a lot of floor cleaning to do, because those berries are not only blood red but bolting if they have the chance. And hubby never looks at what he steps on! After jam making it was knitting (Elsa´s top now) and putting Matthäus´s one into the washing machine.
Since it was still too hot though far from yesterday´s hotness (we only made it to 32 degrees), cooking was another shortcut- gnocchi and pesto rosso straight from the grocery shop. In the afternoon I put on my bathing costume and did a bit of swimming- always on the shaded side of the pool, thank God that our neighbours have planted apple trees! Hubby was off to Cassian and Flavius at six. Parents have an appointment, so he is the one who will put the boys to bed. I wish him luck! I wanted to watch the football game, but the moment it started an impressive thunderstorm arrived. I had to secure the garage door (hubby forgot), close all windows (too late for the bathroom, then again, this room is surely accustomed to get a bit wet). Now that the house is safe from getting flooded inside, I decided that football is overrated anyway and turned my PC on. For the first time in recent days I was able to do this without the help of the aircon- poor Ashmael does not tolerate heat well...

Short post today

2026-06-28T15:00:48Z

I spent too much time in the pool without sun glasses. Now my eyes have a sunburn- that hurts! And all that after a night of horrors- the boys slept badly, even though the aircon was on, I did a lot of coughing because the aircon was on. We got a public disco from two to four done by some neighbour, there was a public viewing party for the football game going on afterwards, and when the viewers went back home, thoroughly drunk and bawling, we were already down having breakfast. From then on we were mostly outside pooling or reading, hence the sunburn. No more sun, no more reading for me. And no TV watching, of course. A dark room and closed eyes it will be...

Dead again

2026-06-27T17:47:32Z

Not because it's quite hot- I like hot! But I had to get up too early, was quite awake after my four thirty swim which was no swim but a silent floating in the water to not wake our neighbours, fell asleep for maybe an hour then but got up at seven together with hubby, who soon was on his way to number one for casting concrete. When he was off I did a lot of housework, which I hate. Hubby returned at ten and family number two arrived soon after. Nothing better than having parents with a pool to swim in! Hubby started making pizza, I picked daughter up and brought her to our house for lunch. The new pizza oven is super- I am in love with it already! Turned out that the boys were to stay overnight. That I definitely did not like, but hubby was ecstatic, as always. We spent a lot of time in the water- best way to cope with 38 degrees, I only left to bring daughter to the train station- she was on the way to meet up with friends at the annual town festival. I had wanted to go there, too, but impossible with two youngsters in tow. The two were properly powered out by so much pool time and went to bed at seven thirty. Finally time for me to take nap in front of the TV, but only after a big, big glass of gin tonic- I think I have earned this!

Stuck...

2026-06-26T17:41:03Z

My weather app is stuck. Frozen. Still shows Tuesday's temperatures. I deactivated it, activated it again. Nothing new. We were still at 29 degrees though we made it to 36 today. Didn't feel that hot with all the wind!
Hubby and I drove to the next Aldi in Germany in the morning, only to realise that all the shop's refrigeration system had died. No milk, no cheese, nothing which needs cooling. Also no meat- poor lads who wanted to shop for their BBQ! So not even boycotting Austrian supermarkets would work today, which I started, when too many people wondered about the significantly higher prices in our country- and got to know that this was because of Eu-tolerated, additional charges of the companies. No wonder that we feel ripped off!
Tomorrow I might do a four thirty swim after coming back from bringing daughter to work! Lil came for lunch today and is currently enjoying her untidy (not mine to clean) but pleasantly cool room. All hail to Frosty the aircon, even though he will be forced to retire from Tuesday on. Let's hope that this year's July won't be as bad as last year's, when the heat wave evaporated on the day summer holidays started in the western part of our country. But it might be pretty much the same- at dormouse day rain and significantly cooler temperatures will be back, just like last year. You know what this can mean- seven weeks of non-summer! Unfortunately, those weather prognostication days are mostly correct...

That was a new...

2026-06-25T15:25:14Z

...even for me- I got up at six (got harassed by a mosquito and was not able to hunt it down), tore all doors and windows open, made breakfast and put it on the terrace table then had the first swim of the day at six fifteen. The water was warm, the air not. We had 19 degrees in the morning, but temperatures were rising quickly, until we reached 34 in the early afternoon. Next thing I did was peel two pounds of carrots, because hubby had bought the big bag instead of the small one. Four carrots I left for the carrot-ginger soup with chicken for lunch, the rest went into the freezer. And because Matthäus's jumper is almost finished (only a few threads need darning in) I started Elsa's summer top, having a vision but no tutorial how to do it. Well, we'll see how this goes...
From one to two in the afternoon I was safeguard for suicidal grasshoppers. There must have been an advertisment in the grasshopper newspaper- come to the pool, drowning included. I think I had to save at least thirty of them- yes, I love grashoppers! At two the dare ended and I held after-lunch rest on the tiny outdoor sofa (big one is for hubby). I am quite experienced in sleeping in a sitting position, so no harm done! In the afternoon hubby and I put up the new slide for our grandchildren together. Plus- hubby bought himself an outdoor pizza oven. Blessedly a small one, gas-powered. All of our grandchildren love pizza- does that mean that hubby wants them at our house more often???

Tired...

2026-06-24T17:15:32Z

...from being lazy! The only one still running because he cannot do otherwise is hubby. Up early, out early, shovelling gravel, doing grocery shopping. I am content with householding, making coffee, doing crossword puzzles and swimming- a lot. Hubby and I had an argument, because he took my clarinet, went to a friend who is headmaster of a music school and showed him the instrument. It's not practicable for Cassian but for older students, so hubby gifted it to the school. My instrument, the one I used to play a while ago, when asthma hadn't hit so bad! The one I have been gifted by a friend! But that's my husband- it's always he who will decide what's allowed to stay and what has to go. Let's not talk about my violin, which he gave to our number two, who painted it black and nailed it onto the wall. It's not that I intended to keep this instrument of torture, but I thought that it should have been my decision what to do with it! Since it was so warm today I did not want to provoke a quarrel and absconded to the terrace, where I spent the rest of the day. No cooking got done, hubby warmed the Peking soup from the freezer, which was fine. Even served me strawberries with yogurt, a sure sign that he knows that he has crossed the red line. Yet the deed is done :(
Only three more hot days and one day interspersed with thunderstorms but hot still, then we are back to our usual summer which is not so summerly at all! Good that the football world cup will turn from boring to interesting then and will warm us up!

Holydaying...

2026-06-23T16:09:12Z

...on our terrace- that's pretty much what we will get this summer. In one month the boys will be already with us, their parents on their way to Peru. I tried hubby to persuade that we need a better shading system for the studio, but you know the way hubby works- sit it out, that's the best way to describe the situation. Be prepared that if the day of the boys's arrival is imminent he will be on the way to the DIY market. But only because he loves his morning sleep, which he won't get if the sun blares into the studio in the early morning, which is long before seven, the earliest time hubby might get up.
So hubby was busy and brought gravel and cement to son's abode while I did exactly nothing save for a bit of housework. It's holiday time for me- the weather was fine (hot, just the way I like it), no big chores to do, so pooling and reading it was. Besides, I had to catch up on sleep- the thunderstorm we were told that it would definitely not happen hit at one in the morning, and I had to run down to save bathing tools and clothes from taking off. Hubby, deaf as always, slept through the ruckus. Or pretended not to hear any of it.
We did not make it to the inn because of two reasons: the weather was as expected- here a thunderstorm, there a thunderstorm, so the chance of getting rained on or hailed on was a big one- and BiL, who did not feel well. He is definitely too old for such temperatures (though he is 82 only). We will have to try again next week, because the inn is closed on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and Friday and Saturday will be the hottest days here, before rain will set in and temperatures will finally go down to normal.
BTW: It was a good thing that we cancelled- at six, the time we intended to meet at the inn, a huge thunderstorm set in, with strong winds and lots of rain. One cannot sit such a big one out under a parasol sunshade, even if those for gastronomy are huge!

Not exactly busy...

2026-06-22T17:52:54Z

Seems that with temperatures quite high for the region we live in we are getting used to being up early. Today I dreamed that it was raining, which seemed odd because I had been up at five with no cloud in the sky. Turned out that a neighbour still hasn´t finished renovation work and got a load of gravel delivered at six thirty in the morning. Hubby got up immediately after a caterpillar started to distribute the gravel (sounded as if the machine was doing its work in our garden thanks to the stone walls next to the street reflecting the noise) while I waited a bit longer- hubby always airs the rooms before he prepares breakfast, so it was wonderfully cool when I finally showed up. Hubby drove to son´s abode to pick the boys´s bicycles up, because those needed repair work. A broken brake, gear box defect, but hubby has completed not one but two repair work shops and solved the problems easily. I for my part took a shower, dressed and was off to the bank, to Bipa (six cans of insect spray, a very effective one loved by all family members, hence the amount of cans) then to KIK for a bathing suit. I bought two in the end plus a thermo cup for leisure time on the terrace. Don´t want to run in and back out with a dripping bathing suit, when I am thirsty. I also don´t want to sip tepid water that has spent to much time in the sun. In fact it was I who spent to much time in the sun while frolicking in the pool (hubby bought the fabulous lilo which is so good for dozing on the water). I now have a sun burn- my skin is not used to sun anymore. Blessedly I found a jar with after sun lotion, otherwise I´d have a hard night. No cooking today because of the grilled meat son had made in abundance and the leftovers of yesterday´s Thai salad. Also no after-lunch resting in bed- I did rest on the terrace.
I did not knit one stitch today, because I have overexerted my poor, old fingers. I only browsed for a summer top for Elsa I might be able to finish until July 4th. Found none, so no more knitting for a while. My fingers will rejoice!
Tomorrow we might or might not meet with sis at a country inn. There´s a really beautiful garden to eat in, but tomorrow we might also get thunderstorms, hence the might not. Then again, it might be the coolest day of the week with only 31 degrees, before the temperatures will rise for a last time. Next week we will be back to usual, the heat having drifted off towards the east of the country, while we finally will get rain again. Only that sis and her husband will be off to Berlin then, to visit my nephew- the last possibility, before BiL will get a new hip and will be confined to hospital and rehab centre for a while!

Summer solstice

2026-06-21T16:55:27Z

I did not even try to go outside and watch a bonefire. The thought of loosing daylight from now on always makes me depressive. The weather had been strange anyway, but the thunderstorms they heralded did never come. Instead I went to bed early- hubby watched another football game after the daily crime story on TV. We got up quite early- the farmer up the hill thought that six thirty was a convenient time to ted, and idiot neighbour was terrorising the neighbourhood since five in the morning, when he began to hammer sticks into the soil to stake plants- in drawers and nothing else. People are so grisly here!
Hubby and i did a bit of householding then switched to pooling. I made a Thai cabbage salad for lunch, hubby added some sardines- for him only, because my medication was finished. Will have to reorder tomorrow! Hubby went over to number two and helped him with dragging the new old chest up to the second floor. Number one arrived at two in the afternoon, and Oscar and Xaver spent most of the afternoon in the pool while I was waiting for them to leave. I won´t put a foot into the water with two rabid boys nearby- my poor eyes do not take lightly when getting swamped with salt water! When they finally left for home at six a harmless thunderstorm showed up, so there was no more pooling for me. No problem, tomorrow is another day!

Kaboom

2026-06-20T16:55:43Z

I went to bed yesterday at eleven, hubby followed half an hour later. I love our aircon- it was 22 degrees in the bedroom and the studio then, cool enough to turn aircon off and open all the windows for a proper airing. I was just on the brink of falling asleep when I heard a noise which suspiciously sounded like heavy raindrops. Some seconds later there was a flash of lightning followed by loud thunder, and electricity was off. Hubby and I intended to lie out the drop out, but the rain got so heavy that we had to act. Hubby padded downwards to save the towels and his swim trunks, and, of course, close all windows he had just opened. I did the same on the upper floor, even had to wipe water from the floor in front of the bedroom window and the bathroom. What a job, if one has no flashlight next to the bed, and your handy is somewhere down in the living room! After all was secured and closed and wiped dry electricity was back (how do they always know the exact time we are finished???) and we listened to a real impressive thunderstorm, which kept Marlene the hooligan inside the house and her war cries at bay. And the air smelled fabulous after the torrential downpour! Pretty much the same will happen today- not nice, since there are lots of summer solstice bonfires planned this evening. I loved to watch them once, when we had unobstructed view of the hills.
Son number one announced his coming, together with Oscar and Xaver. No Konrad, he is still stuck with his mum, who is still very afraid of bringing the boy in contact with germs of all sorts. Or meat. Or sugar. Or PFAS. Yes, PFAS is definitely the worst. DiL1 is on a crusade against it. Oscar is twelve and a half now. He is not allowed to buy himself clother he likes. Jeans, shirts, everythig has to undergo mum´s PFAS scanner. At the moment the younf man looks less like a prospective teenager of a respectable family but more like an eco-freak! Since we will eat leftovers for dinner tomorrow there´s still plenty of time to knit one or two sleeves of Matthäus´s jumper, before family number one will sail in. Should be ready midweek, then on to Elsa´s jumper it will be!

Improvising

2026-06-19T17:20:33Z

Not me, but husband dearest, much to my chagrin. When it´s sunny and hot like today, our terrace turns into a furnace, so we need shading. Last year hubby bought a steel cable system which did not hold the curtains but let it fall, because it collapsed. Has done thrice this year alone, so hubby bought a new cable- the problem stayed (the hooks). Now we have a cable system which once held a curtain to separate the TV booth from the rest of the living room but serves as a holder for all sorts of decoration objects now. This one never failed. No wonder that hubby had the splendid idea to unscrew it and use it for the terrace. I heard the step ladder and was down in the living room in a moment- must have a sixth sense. The steel cable is still in place, and hubby got thoroughly chastised. I went back upstairs to cool down- that man drives me crazy at times, and it´s gettings worse. After some time I went back down to continue with knitting, and what did I find? The curtain was now pinned to the wooden beam by cords (my precious wool for knitting), one end weighted down with two heavy clips usually used for fixing the outdoor throw on the sofa, the other end tied to a full watering can. My poor fig tree with its four tiny figs was in between, the curtain mercilessly threaded through the few branches. It had already lost some of its precious leaves, but hubby was happy, because- shade! I carefully freed the tree and placed it on the other side of the steps, barely avoiding getting kicked by the clips, which swung back and forth with the puff of winds. Went to the conservatory to put the pieces I had assembled to their proper place. Only that meanwhile hubby had sorted the pieces by shape, and what I had done had been in vain. From today on husband mine is banned from the conservatory- I will do my jigsaws alone or with daughter and not with the colourblind bat hubby is!

Um...

2026-06-18T16:44:48Z

Charlotte got called in sick today, but I saw her wandering along in the garden in a bathing suit in the afternoon. Could it be that she did not get enough sleep during the last nights? This morning Marlene´s war cry resounded at four in the morning, followed by a child´s weeping. Does that woman ever sleep? And even more, does she think others won´t hear her? Too bad that her husband works night shifts mostly and won´t hear his wife´s squees!
Today was a beautiful day: quite hot (30 degrees, which is okay) but way too humid for my liking. Hell, we got two more thunderstorms with rain during night! Hubby was at son´s to continue with the foundation of the garden shed, while I did housework. Could not drive off anyway, hubby had taken my car and will do so tomorrow, too. I so love it! There´s nothing better than being confined to housework! Hubby returned at eleven, and only because his cut finger began to hurt- I told him to stay at home and do exactly nothing to take care of the problem. Hubby was like And who will build the shed? Well, it´s not ours but son´s, so if he wants it he will have to do the major part himself and not let others do all the work!
Even jigsawing was sweat-inducing, so hubba and I only spent a few minutes in the conservatory before we went back into the living room to cool down- and start anew. Amazon has delivered two new jigsaws today, and my favourite one seems too big for all the tables we have in the house-hubby says he will find a solution which won´t involve kneeling on the floor.
Hubby braved the pool in the late afternoon, which felt acceptable if one floated at the surface. Half a metre down it felt quite cold. No wonder after so many cool days! Tomorrow I will be brave, too, because then we will be over thirty, with no noteworthy cooling down during night. Yay! Tropical nights! Yay! Aircon on! This time I will spend the night in the boys´s guestbed, so that I can heve the cool but won´t get a cold from being blown on!

Morning´s at six...

2026-06-17T16:33:07Z

the world is definitely not in order when our football team has a game to absolve. Because at six exactly Marlene´s (mum to Charlotte and Konstanze) war cry woke me from slumber, and soon the horrible sounds of vuvuzelas played by idiot neighbour´s sons joined in. The ruckus was perfect, and hubby, who had already pondered to watch the game went downstairs to the TV nook. If you think that I was able to fall asleep again you are so wrong- Marlene is a force of nature when it comes to football. I wonder if she ever sleeps these days! Two days ago I woke, because she was apparently watching a game that started at four in the morning, shouting and clapping as if her life would depend on it. If only she would close their balcony doors! Charlotte and Konstanze are not happy about their mother´s hobby, because they have to go over to their grandparents for breakfast and a drive to school, so more howling at six thirty. Live is a hard one if you have such strange neighbours!
Friend came over at ten thirty and we left for a shopping tour in Germany. Weather was warm and humid, and shopping was not that much fun today. I bought lunch for the three of us on the way back home. We had it on our terrace, but only after we put away the tools hubby had spread all over the tables (there are two of those). Yes, hubby is not only a hoarder but also a top spreader. We sat outside for maybe an hour before the first shower went down, and then another followed by a first thunderstorm. Happens when it gets too warm too soon after so much rainy weather. At least, my weather app was correct while my friend´s was not- even though she always tells me that her´s is an infallible one made for those sailing in the Adriatic Sea, which she does at times. My friend left before the second thunderstorm hit. She was afraid that this one might bring hail- the clouds were dark as midnight, but the only things which happened was a series of very impressive thunderclaps and a five-minute downpour, and then the thunderstorm was off to new pastures. I cleared the tables, so that hubby was able to spread again, and went upstairs to torment good old Ashmael. Now I am off to the bedroom to give my poor feet some rest...

Luckily they erred

2026-06-16T16:47:41Z

We were supposed to get rain again. Well, we did not, not until now. Hubby was happy, because he was able to continue with the foundation of number two´s (wiseheart) garden shed. He even bought steel mats, that´s why my car was off all of a sudden and did not return for quite a while, so I wasn´t able to drive to Tedi for the cleaning devices they have on offer at the moment. Hubby wanted meat for lunch, I cooked him (and me) soup. Not that I don´t eat meat. Au contraire, I love it, but three days ago I managed to burn my mouth, and my palate is a mess since then. And because vile things love to add up I suffer from a veritable rheumatic relapse. Started with my fingers, expanded to my shoulders and even went down to my hips. I hate it when it comes to this. Blessedly my physician doubled one prescription but wanted to add a bit of cortisone to the mix, which I declined. No thanks, bad enough that I have to inhale it daily! So when it came to kitchen cleaning, hubby did the upper fronts and I the bottom part- easier for my arms. Five very out-dated cooking books went straight into the waste paper bin, before hubby dragged it to the main street. That´s one thing I am waiting for- can´t fathom that the future residents of the flats not yet built intend to drag their bins, too. So maybe there´ll be progress with the litter service, and one day those bin lorries will drive into our street...
My dreams are getting stranger with each day, and they always involve pieces of my past now: my parents, the flat I grew up, the house they built in place of gran´s old one inhabitated by a wizard with a daughter with down syndrome (living in a nearby house there was one boy called Walter who suffered from it, he did not get older that three), a car chase, two of my grandchildren and I on the way to hubby´s former worksite, not finding the way but meeting his old (and very dead) colleagues. Those dreams are no fun but frightening. I mean who wants to meet up with dead people! I blame it on my battered car and the bad weather afterwards, which made me stay at home mostly- while I hate crowds I love to mingle with people I like. So I called a friend, and we will be off to Germany tomorrow, searching for a hydrangea with tiny white or pink blossoms which will show up all summer. I only need the find the name of it, saw it on Facebook but forgot to save...

On the way

2026-06-15T17:23:11Z

.... to proper summer weather. Also on the way to finally finish a puzzle in record time. Of course, with the help of valiant husband and a daughter, who is a true expert. Then again, she might be short-sighted, but her eyes are sort of young, while mine are old and tired. But we complimented each other perfectly- I was the one who sorted out colours (not the usual blue, red, green but light blue with grey nuances, blue with a tad of grey for example) while she searched for the fitting pieces in the heaps I created for certain parts of the jigsaw. Worked well, and worked quick, which is necessary, since I ordered two new jigsaws from Amazon, which will be delivered in three days! I finally found the Black family tree I need for decorating at a discount, while daughter mine will get the cupcake jigsaw she always had wanted. Seems I will need hubby do some extra hours in the conservatory to help me get rid of boring New York City, the hairy jigsaw with too many missing pieces!
Today, the first day with sunshine and acceptable temperatures after such a long period of rain and cold, was washing day. New bedding, the throws needed cleaning, and the laundry box was full to the brim. A constant wind was helping with the drying, and daughter, who left at five in the afternoon, was able to take her freshly washed clothes back to her flat. She also took what was left of today´s lunch- two burgers (selfmade, of course). Since hubby loves to do burgers I did not say no when he volunteered. He made six of them, each of us had one for lunch, and daughter got number four and five for dinner and a late breakfast tomorrow. Number six went to hubby- I was done with eating for today, since we still had cake for afternoon coffee break.
Hubby is at his best when running to the conservatory (for jigsawing) and back to the TV for watching football. This disaster will last long into July, the finale is on the 19th I think. Blessedly, after this first round of play-offs there will be time for other TV programme, too. At the moment I am not a happy camper! Besides, number four has planned his birthday party for the forth of July, carefully separating our and DiL3´s family. Apparently his wife is not so fond of me getting along so well with her mother, with whom she is on bad terms- again. She does not want to supervise Elsa and Matthäus as often as DiL wants- the good woman has a life of her own and is off with her new life partner too often for DiL´s liking. Could it be that Dil is still resentful that her mother found a new partner? It´s more than thirty years that her father has died! Problem is- only family number two might do the trip. Family number one is in hiding, DiL1´s problems not getting any better, so they won´t come. Our number four has not yet finished his classes and will stay in Graz, and number five has work to do at the airport. Now hubby dearest considers doing an overnight stay, to be able to join the beer party, which surely will happen. Over my dead body only!

Today...

2026-06-14T16:21:04Z

...was Father´s Day in our country. Hubby and I woke a lot during night, because someone deigned father´s here unworthy of having a proper day to celebrate- we had two thunderstorms and plenty of rain during night. And while the rain stopped in the late morning strong winds set in. Only in the later afternoon weather got acceptable, but by then most family activities had been cancelled. Daughter and I gave hubby a gift basket with original Dutch cheese, Twentenaar and those famous Dutch crackers with dried pears and nuts he loves so much (they taste like desiccated fruit bread). Daughter also wrote him the instruction ´´Mum helps with the cutting´ in reference to the injury he sustained when trying to cut into the smoked cheese I got gifted by daughter dearest. Cooking lunch was a bit tricky, because I had to additionally do champignon sauce- hubby bought a surprise box containing fruits and vegetables for three euro, all things which needed imminent processing. No problem with blueberries, oranges and apricots- they got eaten by the boys, but champignons get bad rather quickly. I added parmesan risoni and French chicken cutlet and found my kitchen too small for two people in the process of cooking, soon followed by daughter, who applied for doing the risoni- and almost managed to burn the onions, all while hubby happily cut radishes and tomatoes in the midst of the room. We had dinner earlier than usual, which meant that daughter and I were soon out to the conservatory to continue with the jigsaw, with occasional visits from hubby, who nowadays is found doing jigsawing, too, probably because he knows that I am not so excited about this. Hubby jigsawing is similar to hubby doing a salad- he needs the better part of the room. The funny thing is that husband mine baked a cake (there had been bananas in the box which neither Cassian nor Flavius wanted to eat), and just like me he forgot to add the oil. So we had banana cake served with a layer of jam and lots of whiopped cream. I had to double my daily amount of coffee to make it to the evening awake, but daughter found a programme about yetis and where they show up as of late, which almost killed our diaphragm- I am pretty sure we both will have muscle hangover tomorrow because of all that laughing we did!
BTW: Do others have problems with LJ, too? It´s loading so slow that I almost fall asleep in front of my PC out of boredom for the pages to show up...