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...I refused. DiL2 wanted to send Cassian to us for practising with the clarinet. I heard it, when she talked about it with hubby, and told him No quite vigorously. If hubby wants to supervise the musical education of his grandsons he can very well do so, but at their house alone. I have had my fair share of my own youngsters playing instruments and swore to myself NO MORE! Hubby was thoroughly appalled, but not as much as I was, when I came to know about DiL´s plans. Bad enough that tomorrow the boys will be here for lunch already, even though hubby and I had agreed on picking them up in the afternoon only! And he also intends to invite their parents for Sunday lunch at our house- what this man will do for free concert tickets! At least he is off to the Festspielhaus now, and I have a free evening. Will have a spa day now with aromatic shower, face and foot mask and trying out the new, sensational body milk daughter has gifted me for my birthday. Says a lot that I will open the jar only now, one and a half months after I got it. Same with the masks- such things are non-essential in hubby´s view. No clue where he´s got this from, but I bet it was my mother-in-law...

... with fear. And I had thought another friend´s driving style was bad. This friend, a bit older than I am, seemingly wanted to top that- and succeeded. The drive to the shopping centre was bad, the trip back worse. The lady ignored stop signs and speed limits, almost overlooked the railroad gate closing. Most of it happened because she was constantly telling stories- about her grandchildren, her daughters, her husband who she thinks has Alzheimer disease. Now I wonder who of the two is the better candidate for this. Especially when she thought it was twelve thirty, when we left the shopping centre- she had picked me up at our house at eleven thirty. The drive to the shopping centre takes more than half an hour, and we spent a lot of time with shopping...
Back home I got out of the car completely sweat-soaked, not only because it had been a very warm day for the first of October. Okay, one of those month I greatly dislike- October, November, February, in no particular order. I made us a cup of coffee, we ate a donut, then my friend left. Since then I am upstairs in the bedroom, bone tired and burnt out. Getting older means that at some point I will have to forego a lot of things. Driving a car, for instance. I hope my children will tell me in time to give back my driving license in case I won´t notice that my driving skills worsen. I do not want to end up causing an accident and have others suffer- like an old acquaintance, who hit a child before he quit. Which also means that social contacts will dwindle- happens when one lives on the outskirts of a small town and friends in another town. Many of our neighbours are older than seventy, those I like best will hit eighty soon. My oldest son is on his way to hit the ominous fifty! So better lie down again and read a bit, all those morbid thoughts are hard on my brain today and won´t do me any good!

I had once noticed that something wasn´t quite right with my LJ account. I changed my password of many years, but yesterday evening I went back to LJ to read new entries on my mobile. When finished I wanted to log out. LJ asked if I wanted to end my other log in, too. Which other log in, please? I had typed the daily entry on my PC, logged out then deleted the history there. So who the heck is using my account, and what for? I am more than a bit confused now...
It was a hot day here with 28 degrees in the afternoon. Hubby, who had started his day at six thirty in the morning because he couldn´t sleep anymore, had spent the morning at son´s, shovelling and casting concrete and watching DiL sleep along. Since the boys are in afternoon care until four our Romanian princess is completely brazen- no getting up before the bell rings twelve or later even. Yesterday she forgot that it was Tuesday, the one day she has to pick up her sons, because they have instrument tuition at different hours. Afternoon care phoned that her sons were waiting for her. I already told you that Cassian has started playing clarinet. But did you know that Flavius, not yet five years old, has started playing cello? Now guess who has to make sure the two will practise? Daddy, of course, because mummy never played any instrument...
I was thoroughly out of it today. Too warm, too humid, too whatever. Maybe I only got up too early, too, because hubby isn´t known for being quiet when awake. In the morning, with husband away, I went through drawers and cupboards to find more donation items for this week´s flea market. Found a whole drawer with new table runners I hadn´t even unpacked. Hubby confirmed that he´d bring the boxes to the parish, because I will be off with a friend tomorrow. For lunch I did Japanese pancakes with sweet refried beans. Hubby forewent the beans and took apple sauce instead. Daughter was appalled that I did not wait for next week, she loves Japanese pancakes...
A former student wrote a message to tell me that her phone number would not work from tomorrow on. I was like Did I ever call you? before I noticed that Whatsapp would no more work either. It had been a company number, but the company went bankrupt (bank rubbed, haha again). The contract should have expired at the end of the year, but her wonderful cousin cancelled it and got himself a new number. Unfortunately he forgot to inform the rest of the family. Definitely not funny, because no one has a landline today! With family members like that, who needs enemies?
At six thirty hubby was off to supervise Cassian and Flavius, which I am grateful for. At the Knödelfest they told me that they liked their grandpa but preferred my company. So hubby can try to improve their connection. On Saturday it´s my turn again- the boys will sleep at our house, which means they will be glued to me. Probably in the true sense of the word- we will handicraft for the spooky season...

Today I got up early. I had one disturbing and one hilarious dream during night. The first one involved the jigsaw and one piece missing, which I had not yet noticed. So first thing before breakfast was verifying that the jigsaw was indeed complete, which it was. The second dream I was not able to verify, because the neighbour involved is on vacation. Maybe he has taken the baby giraffe he had been giving a bath in the middle of the street with him. I hope so, because his son is mostly off, as is his car, so no one here to take care of the wee giraffe. The problem is that said son doesn't have a driving license, probably will never get one. He has failed the test thrice. He has consumed plus dealed in drugs. He is one sandwich short of a picnic. But all this has never kept him from 'borrowing' his pa´s car...
After breakfast I went carpet hunting. Lidl had a nice bedside rug on offer, but only for three days. I went to three Lidl shops- the last rug got sold yesterday. Damn, that's the third time I missed the offer. I so want to get rid of the old carpets!
Back home hubby took my car for a last transport of gravel to son's house. I was sulking along and turned the TV on, when all of a sudden I heard a loud whir, and a huge dragonfly landed in my head. I dodged, waved about, jumped off of my seat, then it was away, but not for long, because the ´beast´ was in the conservatory now. Poor thing found no way out, no wonder with fly screens on the windows. Good that I had put away most of the candles and glass bottles, because with hubby back it felt like having a big-game hunting inside the house. It took him a while to catch the insect- it was ten centimetres in length at least! Conservatory looked like a battlefield then. We released the dragonfly and closed the terrace door. No clue why those dragonflies love our garden so much, I found plenty of smaller ones outside plus two huge ones, when I hung up the new bird feeders. This I always do at the beginning of autumn, so that birds will memorise where to fly to get food during the cold season. Though it´s a bit hard to find the feeders at the moment because of all the greenery. But surely I won´t hang them on the lowest branches with less foliage- too many cats around here, and neighbour got herself two new ones even!
Daughter sent me the new working list of hers. From October 5th to November 7th she has twelve early shifts. She hopes that she can switch at least three of the shifts- twelve is a bit much, she says, even though well-paid.
During coffee break postman rang the doorbell. University on Vienna sent a long-awaited certification number three needs to present to his boss (for a rise in pay) to our address. Son hasn´t lived here for ten years minimum. So hubby had to drive to the post office to send it to the valid address. Even in universities one can find sandwiches short of a picnic- son confirmed that he had filled an application with the correct address. How they found the old one we´ll never get to know...

Husband mine must be bored, very bored. He has been going through the list of events in our federal state all morning long. It´s a long list, with medieval festivals (two of them, quite off but manageable if one gets up early), Rupertikirtag, Georgiritte, Knödelfest. And, of course, the boys should come with us, since they have been confined to their house today, save for one short trip to the dumpsite by bike- mummy was off with the family´s car to meet up with friends. That´s how it goes apparently, mummy enjoying life and daddy doing the rest. She was back in the afternoon and did a walk up the mountain with the boys then. No call back from son came, if the two plus dad (plus mum?) were available for a getaway tomorrow. Not that I want to get away, I want to finish the jigsaw and do a final conservatory cleaning, before the spooky season starts and the boys will decorate (they always start with the conservatory). I did a first jigsawing session straight after breakfast, but I am not as quick as daughter would be if she were here, which she isn´t and won´t be the next days.
I did a tour around the house after lunch, when it was fairly warm and sunny. The figs from Romania did not die nor did they grow. Each of the two got four big leaves, that´s all. My fig, the one I repotted during summer, gave me four very sweet figs, and now new ones have started to grow. Means I will have to take the plant in during winter, so that those fruits will ripen. Definitely the last season inside! Next spring the plant will go into the soil and stay (or die) there. I am so done with the amount of plants in the conservatory, want most of them gone! Strange that my hydrangeas, which had withered during the hot summer, now produce some last flowers. Must be so with others, too, because there are so many wreaths made of fresh hydrangea flowers on FB groups all of a sudden! But it looks strange, all those deadheads and the new blossoms in between!
Hubby took his bike in the early evening, fed up with son still not calling back. Half an hour later he was back with a backpack full of pumpkins he had bought at Lidl at a reduced price. We always buy pumpkis at the end of September, decorate the house with them then eat pumpkin soup in all variations for a while. No pumpkins will get bought at the farmers, those are twice as pricy than those in the shops. And no carved pumpkins this year, those for carving cost ten euro- the smaller ones. Since I hate pumpkin carving anyway (maybe because I can´t carve and cook at the same time) I will happily quit. Of course, this will only work if number three and family will stay at their beautiful house in charming Lower Austria. A country of farmers, none of them thinking that Halloween is worth celebrating. So if Elsa thinks that a trip to grandma and grandpa is in order to celebrate the spookiness, I see the return of the carved pumpkin. Spooky, indeed...

...for the hours around midday at least. I tore open all windows with a fly screen and accidentally blocked hubby out, who was in the garden but left the terrace door wide open. Did so when I noticed four wasps and lots of flies in search of sweets in our kitchen. No wonder, the grapes are all gone! I also tried an insider tip and sprayed water mixed with a few drops of peppermint oil, vinegar and detergent around the windows to keep spiders outside. At the moment those are gathering in front of our windows for invasion. Not if I can help it! Those fat, black menaces can bob outside in their nets or run along the terrace but will get killed the moment I find them inside. One of the best things with bringing daughter to work in the early morning is watching her fight her way from our house to my car like a kung fu fighter, to fend off spiders. Hilarious! Now that she´s off again hubby and I finally settled for salmon for lunch, served on quiche crust in a bed of cream cheese with dill, mozzarella and red onions. Recipe will definitely get a repeat- quickly done, besides, it tastes really good!
Amazon brought substrate for my orchids- I hadn´t even known that hubby had remembered to order it- I only asked him once! Alas, he forgot about the translucent pots, which will help with the watering- roots of orchids will turn pale or translucent, a sure sign the plants need water, which one won´t notice in regular pots. So hubby will have to order again, because he´s the one with Amazon Prime, and he will order today, because our dear politicians have decided to take two euro for each parcel from October on, to ~~fill the public purse~~ aid local trading. We will reactivate our ship-to adress in Germany and pick parcels up on the bi-weekly shopping trips beyond the border from then on...
They say we are in for a warm, wet winter. I watched three forecast, all telling the same-warm winter with lots of rain and winds. I will not complain! I am not a fan of snow and exploding heating bills, and ground-water level can recover. Snow might be nice at Christmas time, but we had next to none since my children were young- the oldest three are all over forty now. BTW: Facebook switched from Halloween to Christmas in the blink of an eye. Now that I need suggestions for ghost crafting there´s baubles and wreaths and dwarfs...

We were supposed to get a bit of rain today and cool temperatures. Weather forecast was right with the temperatures, but we hoped that rain would be sparse, but no- around lunchtime it started to pour. Hubby, who had hoped to be able to finish work at son´s house, returned halfway between our houses. I got drenched, when I brought our dustbin to the main street. Thoroughly pissed I started with cooking lunch. I had wanted salmon, but daughter and hubby wanted spaghhetti Carbonara, so Carbonara it was, but only after me peeling and hacking two whole bulbes of garlic- oh yes, hubby has started the new bacon-making season. Brought home six kilo of pork belly and rack of pork. I was too tired to complain- daughter´s early shift got moved from five to four in the morning, which meant we had to get up at three. Good that I had recently washed my winter parka and hung it on a hanger in the anteroom for further use- it was only three degrees outside. But it will get warmer from Saturday on, means that this Friday morning will still be a cold one for the two of us. I wonder why there are open-air pools still open for swimmers- one can have a look at how many people are using those pools. It´s zero exactly. Yet the water gets heated until the end of September, in case someone wants to make use of it.
While doing the Carbonara I found three bananas dying in our fridge and made a banana-yogurt cake, using my instinct instead of a recipe. The cake tastes really good, is fluffy and not too sweet. Only half of it left since daughter and hubby had coffee in the afternoon. I had to quit, no coffee after three, and definitely no cake. No fruit juice, no sweets at the moment- I noticed that my stomach acts up when I have sweet things. We continued with the jigsaw for half an hour, but at four in the afternoon it was so dark that we had to stop. Darn weather, how am I supposed to finish all the cupcakes till October 3rd, when the boys will be here for crafting! At least, hubby had pity and kindled a fire in the wood oven, so that we weren´t freezing when in the conservatory...

Today the world is in balance sun-wise. From now on we are quickly tilting towards the wintery season, which I greatly dislike. Yes, there will be Christmas in winter, but having experienced Christmas on the other half of the globe I can report that I can very well live with warmth at that time of the year. I wish that there´d be repeats, but I fear I have waited too long and am too old for such a long flight now.
Today was a lazy day. Daughter and I were preparing for a short night. She got up late, I got up early but did only marginal housework. Filled a box for the upcoming flea market. Was brave enough to give three of my favourite but too tight shirts away. Took some pictures of the garden, but did not look at what I had taken pictures of, namely my fingers- will have to do a repeat tomorrow! The woods have been mostly green until now. Today we had four degrees in the morning, and the last nights were only marginally warmer. So we are going from green to brownish yellow quickly now. I should remember to take a picture each morning, alas, the shutters are closed then, and I will go down and simply forget for the rest of the day. Hubby harvested the grapes, and we made grape juice which tastes of apples. Very sweet, very addicting, definitely not enough of it. Half of the grapes fell victim to wasps, until hubby ordered little bags to secure them (the grapes, definitely not the wasps). Next year those bags will get installed the moment the grapes get big enough to capture the interest of the stinging beasts! After juice making daughter and I jigsawed a bit, battling with the autumn sun blinding us, another handicap at this time of the year. So not much progress on this front!
I fried chicken with onions and peppers for lunch and cooked way too much couscous with it. I will have to find a recipe to make use of what´s left, preferably with few vegetables, lots of spices and plenty of chilli, just the way daughter and I like it. Hubby went to son´s in the afternoon to strip the formwork of the future shed. No grandchildren there, because Cassian and Flavius have to stay in afternoon care till four now. Their mum left the house at three fifty-five, to not loose too much mummy time. Honestly, the woman drives me crazy. No work outside the house, none inside the house, but visiting friends and doing sports and clubbing regularly. Something must have gone very long with the lady´s upbringing!

I had a bad night- cramps in my left foot woke me thrice. Twice I got up, sat on the bed for a while, and since the cramps did not go away I walked the floor outside the bedroom. Son was not amused, hubby, neither. So the third time my foot acted up I went down to the living room for walking exercise. Foot de-cramped, I sat down on my recliner and promptly fell asleep. Woke at five freezing. No wonder, it was 18 degrees and I had no blanket. At the moment night temperatures are down to six degrees. Hubby had fired the woodstove up, but it was not enough. As I said- we have to go back to winter setting with most of the windows closed, which I hate. I love fresh, clean air and the sounds from outside. Save for the occasional techno music, but big parties are few here, and the usual culprit will leave his parents' house at the end of the month to move into a flat- parents were not amused about his girlfriend taking over the house.
I helped number four packing (he left in the early afternoon and had to pack equipment for the festival he will attend), daughter came, we ate the rest of the birthday cake and were lazy, until the washing was ready to be hung. From then on housework and cooking- son and daughter had leftovers, hubby insisted on having baked pudding with semolina and curd and apple sauce. In the afternoon, after resting in front of the TV while watching Ancient Aliens, we continued with the jigsaw. Damn, daughter is so good! Of course, I had neglected jigsawing in favour of knitting, but October is drawing close, so is handicrafting (for this I need the table in the conservatory, hence the jigsaw has to be finished) and decorating for Halloween with the boys. Apropos boys: Son sent a list to hubby, when we have to put the boys to bed (hubby's job mostly). Plus son has to work at the bureau and his wife is off to museums on October 3rd. Means that the rascals will do an overnight stay at our house. October 3rd is the (Long) Night of Museums here. Not that I intended to go to town and visit museums, but when I did once, I took number four and five with me, and they loved it. But in family number two it's all about mum, so mum will visit museums while we take care of her sons...

We sat in front of the TV, watching Vera (one of my favs), when the ruckus started. Gun salutes, lots of them. Extremely loud. Then people shouting ecstatically. If you thought you ended up at a crime scene you were wrong. Someone just had organised a techno party alpine style, hence the salutes. I'd have preferred they better eliminate the disc jockey, but no- the blasted music wss still on at six in the morning, when I was ready to commit murder personally. Hubby, son and I were up most of the night. On the way to the loo (all three of us), closing windows (hubby), opening them (that was me, I need fresh air, loud or not), going downstairs for a snack (son and I). Not much sleep was to be had, until at seven, just when I had dressed and was out of the house to jump into my car and search for the culprit, all the ruckus stopped and the only sounds left were a few cars and the lot of magpies. Not that I hadn't done research during night to find the culprit but came up with nothing. So nothing official then. I went back to the kitchen and prepared breakfast. Put out the cake hubby had bought for son's birthday today. Put sturm in the fridge (son won't drink a toast with prosecco, and beer is too ordinary). After breakfast I continued working on the cat scarf: darned in the threads, stitched the head on. Will post a picture after washing it. When temperatures were warmer I harvested apples. Most of them were 'worm-ridden', despite all I had tried to fight off those darn codling moths. Hubby cut out the parts with the grub and put the apples into the freezer. Next year I will resort to pesticides. Those apples are simply too tasty to let them rot!
Hubby made burger for lunch, we had cake and a glass of Sturm, then son left to meet with Ciel for a visit to a museum, and I went upstsirs to take a nap. Only that one neighbour thought it funny to turn on techno music. Very loud techno music. But only for a short while, because ex vice-major threatened to call the police. Apparently she, too, heard enough of this music the night before.
Hubby left to help son with the new guest bed. They finally were able to find the hidden screws, separated the two elements and carried them to the guestroom. Cassian and Flavius were not exactly helpful, and even hubby lost his countenance, when the two spread sand from the sand pile all over the parking lot. Of course, mummy was nowhere to be seen. Probably hunting for moths and/or mold- favourite occupation in Romania...

I got up earlier than I usually do on a Saturday, because after a night with backache I had to accompany hubby to Obi, where he picked the mixing machine up for son's garden project- we had been gifted one that did not work. Only that it does work when turned on correctly, but this hubby got to know too late. See, hubby is not all-wise, even if he pretends so. I brought hubby to son's house then returned back home for houseworking. Not my favourite occupation, even more so when this has to be done with backache and without help. Afterwards I finished the cat head for Cassian's scarf. The outcome is not as fancy as I had wanted, but it will have to do. I picked hubby up at lunchtime, we returned the mixing machine, hubby went to the bakery for Brezen then fetched son from the train station. First thing was covering the pool with the metal plates. After that was finally done we had our Oktoberfest lunch. Both hubby and son were complaining about backache then- no wonder after having to drag those heavy plates around the house to the pool! Plus, hubby had been mixing concrete all morning long! Now we were three who weren't able to move the way a human being is supposed to. Hubby was nice and shared the painkillers prescripted by his medic, then we rested. I think I fell asleep for the first time during an after-lunch rest, but it felt pretty good!
Now our garden is ready for the cold season. There will be some tree pruning, probably one or two trees have to be taken down, but the worst is over. The shrubs will only get cut back in spring (insects will hibernate there). The terrace is cleaned and ready for being decorated. And I was off to Youtube for ideas...
BTW: Last night daughter kept us awake for some time. She and her friends were supposed to return from Stockholm at ten in the evening, but their flight was behind schedule and they missed the last ÖBB train to Salzburg. Hubby found out that at a quarter past midnight there was one last train from Vienna main railway station, so the three took a cab into town. A close call even then, they arrived at the station five minutes before the train departed. The fastest runner blocked the train door (forbidden, but who cares at such a late time), the two with the luggage followed suite. Of course, daughter had to tell me about their endeavours and even sent a message that she was back home- at three thirty in the morning. And I had forgotten to switch my mobile to silent...

I finally braved the tour to the apothecary. It's always an expensive one, because my physician sends out a two-month prescreption. It was the first time that the original prices for those drugs were listed on the bill. Most were only a bit over the prescription charge, yet I needed a prescription from the head of department, if I wanted more than one. Funny thing is that I could easily have two or more of the real pricy drugs- without approval. Our medical system is on the way to collapsing, and I do not even wonder why...
Still no news about number four's coming in the morning. Anyway, I cooked a lunch without cheese- almost unheard of in our household. Tiny meatballs with white sauce and noodles. Cheese for me for afters (I am always low on calcium). Hubby had chocolate. My after-lunch rest should get spent with sleeping, but sleep in the afternoon always eludes me. Not that my night's sleep is undisturbed- my dreams are getting odd again. The first one I had last night was about a pool party with my school friends at our old house. That was strange, because the house is built at the foot of a mountain, with lots of trees around but no sun. Special guest was a young devil. Looked like Dudley in HP, only with horns. The little guy was so sad that we girls did not want to swim with him!
In the afternoon hubby and I went over the border and did Aldi shopping. Finally son called- he will come tomorrow. We will freeze the meatballs and have Weißwürste with Bretzen instead. And beer. Tomorrow is the official start of Oktoberfest. One must celebrate when one has the opportunity...

We had more rain during last night than we had in a full month. Our street was one big puddle of water. First thing hubby did in the morning was pump water off the pool, lest it went straight back into the technic duct via pipes, with no gadgets to stop it. Needless to say that I did not want to go out and fetch my prescriptions, and then I had a shower and did not want to blow-dry my hair (and could not go out), and then I had to do some housework then some knitting. There´s always an excuse to avoid fresh, wet air. When the rain stopped and it got warmer (wow- 16 degrees!) it was already time for lunch-cooking. Hubby had brought a box with vegetables and fruits at reduced price, so I had to process a lot of peppers, apples and carrots. I decided on spicy carrot soup that went into the fridge and pork with peppers and the last home-grown tomatoes. Tomato plants are as good as dead anyway, even though we keep them under a roof. It´s definitely too cold for them now!
To compete with my cooking, hubby started a huge batch of bacon jam for his ex-colleagues. Means he had to endlessly fry bacon and onions and whatever goes into the jam- not good for my lungs, which won´t tolerate hot fat (makes me cough to the point I will have to make a run for my inhalator). So I took my knitting and went upstairs to the studio. I have started the cat head already, which might cause me quite a headache. But I will master those problems, I just don´t know how long it will take to figure all out!
Still no mail today- no letters, no leaflets, no nothing. Hubby is rather upset- with those leaflets come discount tickets, which come in quite handy for buying more expensive foodstuff. Last postman who honoured us with his presence came last Thursday. The staff got those fancy e-cars which apparently don´t find their way into our street. Christoph, our old postman, is on vacation for three more weeks (probably touring across NZ again). Of course, he had only been given an e-bike, but he came at least twice a week...

Hubby bought them for the boys for a healthy snack. Flavius did not like them- too many hard kernels. But Cassian loved them, so I had to peel, and peel again. Strange, I grew up eating them but apparently never peeled them. Or my brain has turned into mush, and I forgot about the prickles and that wearing gloves should be mandatory. I am still picking those prickles out of my poor fingers. Good that the barbs had been removed already, or things would be worse. Makes me wonder why I had those plants in my garden, when children were running along. But the only incident I remember did involve the son of one of hubby's colleagues, who came into the house and promptly touched my opuntia. We were picking out barbes for the rest of the afternoon. Since there were so many of the fruits I ate some, too- made me remember good old times spent in Italy.
Cassian's scarf is progressing nicely, I already finished the cat tail and am occupied with knitting the second hind paw. The cat face might turn out a bit complicated, because there's not much of the light brown wool left- but Cassian told me that it did not matter if the scarf would not match Samsung exactly, he´d love it in any case.
Hubby and I loaded the trailer with more things which have to go- old paella pans, crockery we once had used at big gatherings but got replaced by a new, fancy set yet never made it out of the house. We were never firm when it came to decluttering. Well, we are now. The basement is much better already, but I will have to keep hubby from bringing in new clutter. In two weeks there´s a fleamarket of our church, and lots of daughter´s old toys will go there, since Elsa won´t play with dolls anymore. Hubby also took down all gadgets in the pool duct. Salt master and pumps are in the basement now, the filter got cleaned. Hubby dragged forth the small metal sheet for the duct cover and leant it against the garden fence. The strong winds that came with the thunderstorm overturned it, and the loud bang almost gave me a heart attack. So strange, that our once noisy neighbourhood turned into such a quiet one (save for Konstanze´s tantrums). It appears that at the moment we are the loudest ones around!
BTW: Only 100 days until Christmas Day. 100 minus one until Austrians will have presents on Christmas Eve. Time does fly!

Hubby and I had a bet running: I said that DiL2 would call for help this week, hubby said no, she wouldn't dare. Well, I won. Hubby left our house in a hurry yesterday evening, because the parents had an appointment, and hubby had accepted to put the boys to bed. He only forgot to tell me... And today he had to pick the boys up at school and kindergarten- no afternoon care in the first week of school. DiL had a doctor's appointment she had arranged before she went on holiday but forgot to tell us about. Honestly, I am fed up with the family. If it were not for the children...
At least, this way I was able to try out rice cooker Oyakodon. The boys and hubby liked it, I not so much. Too bland for my taste...
Temperatures went up to 27 degrees and gave us a last summer greeting. Only that the days are too short now- the sun hides behind the range of hills at four thirty already, and it's getting worse with each passing day. The ghost pumpkin in the latern was rattling and howling along all afternoon. The dragons got brought down by the boys and dwell on the shelves in the anteroom for the next weeks- the Halloween season is near. Must be, because the reels I get on FB are all about Christmas now. Come November I might get tips for a proper menue for Easter...
After the boys had left, I went upstairs to recover from the noise they made (personally and by the help of the pumpkin monster). Hubby did the same on the couch in the living room. We are definitely too old for so much excitement!

...I cannot try out this week. Hubby is such a chicken! Yesterday I told him what I intended to cook for the next days. Even told him to buy sushi rice for today's lunch. Slept late, and what did I find in the kitchen? To avoid new recipes hubby had defrosted pre-cooked lunch and put meat for cooking in the fridge for a slow defrosting. Pork belly, which I did not need at all, at least not this week. Which keeps me from cookingt the new recipes for the next three days, which is a shame, because I really wanted to try out before number one will be back for his birtday, which is next Sunday. Means that he´ll be here from Friday on, and what does that tell us? No pork, no fish, no cheese and a no to lot of other things, especially green ones. Seems that hubby insists that I cook like Mutti again, for son´s and especially his own sake!
The prices for gas are extremely high and will climb even higher, but all of a sudden husband mine is off thrice a day. With his car, of course, because the weather is too wonky for biking at the moment- not cold, not warm, but a bit rainy and windy. It´s not even typical autumn weather we have, because then there´d be more rain. Our garden is ready for the cold season, we have tidied it up nicely. Tomorrow our pool will get pumped out ( :((( ) save for half a metre water which will stay, so that frost won´t do harm to the basin. Weather forecast tells us that we will have a mild winter anyway, with lots of strong winds and a lot of rain, no matter that the amount of berries on the trees and bees and storks tell otherwise. Next to no snow, they say, if the circumpolar whirl will be inoperative, which is their guess- bad for skiers but good for the polar bears (those like it cold). Since I am not a fan of snow I don´t care. Neither do I favour skiers nor polar bears. Both groups can duke it out, though I fear the bears might win the contest.
Cassian started with year two at school. He still hates to do the daily walk there. Not because he has to get up early- usually he is out of bed at five thirty. But he greatly dislikes his teacher. I can commiserate- that woman had been unpopular when I lived there. Now that she is near retirement age her attitudes might be even worse! Son is already looking for a new school for him. One with afternoon care, of course. Oh dear, mummy might be very surprised, should she herself have to bring Flavius to kindergarten in the morning, because daddy is off with their oldest to Salzburg (that thought alone made my day)...

Always. After hubby retired shortly after I had done so, some routines developed which I do not like at all. Eggs and bacon for breakfast will wake me at seven thirty, a smell I can't stand (the egg part). No housework safe for hubby vacuuming the living room and I rearranging the blankets and pillows on the sofa- I need a bit of movement to get my body going. Then hubby will hand me out a new sudoku he has found on the web. We will sit and compete. Mostly it's hubby who wins. Today it was I who won the race, because hubby made a grave error and had to start anew. Coffee at ten- punctually. With one cookie, a small one, if possible. Answering e-mails afterwards, both of us. Then a discussion about the rabid pumpkin and his counterpart in Ru... Where are the times gone, when we drove off for some event like Bauernherbst or a rennaissance fair? Or invited guests to our house who are NOT family! I studied the newspaper for events not so far away- and came up with nothing, which is strange. Not even a flea market. Well, I found an Oktoberfest organised by our Freedom party, which should be avoided at all costs. Should this party take over, and it seems to be this way, we will be done with freedom. Their current leader is not so far off the One who´s name should not be mentioned. At least, we did some cleaning of the pool and had a nice chat with the neighbour, who has already given up on cleaning. Part of the pool water got pumped off, and hubby and I scrubbed the greenish border. My knees are hurting now, even though I have used a gardening kneeler.
Weather turned from so-so to a bit rainy in the afternoon. That did not keep Konstanze, neighbour´s granddaughter, from throwing tantrums in the garden, to her mother's and grandmother´s ´delight´. That child is a handful, I must say. Glad that mine weren't the same, or I'd have stopped after the first one!
At four there came the call I had been waiting for all day long- number four is in need of help with the new sofa. Hubby was ecstatic, I, too- he, because was finally needed, I because I was finally alone for a while. I had a Whatsapp talk with daughter mine, who just had left a huge escape room in Stockholm at that moment. They will try another one on Wednesday. Strange, again. I remember that hubby and I at least went to museums, churches and the like. Nowadays one visits escape rooms...
We are concerned about idiot neighbour number one. The man will come out into the garden only once or twice a week, and he looks frail all of a sudden. Wears heavily tinted sun glasses. Walks with a stick. No more sawing or hammering at ten on Sunday. Not even the boys, almost as idiotic as their father, will start making noise. Strange, very strange, I think we should be worried!

Today I mindlessly added 90 rows to Cassian´s scarf, which now reached a metre in length. All the while knowing that the scarf was a bit on the wide side. To be honest, a big bit on the wide side. Unravelling it? Never ever! Scarf may look as if it wants to strangle its owner, but it´s knitted following late Samsung´s fur, and Samsung was a very intelligent, nice cat. At least, the boys say so. Intelligent, yes, very much so, but nice? To the boys, indeed, but Samsung was a chicken, and in case he was afraid he bit!
Counting is not my forte at the moment. I changed the bedding again, even though it´s my least favourite chore. Only that I was one whole week early. To hell with my old brain! I only noticed when hubby murmured Again? when he picked the bedding up to carry it to the washing machine in the basement.
I also reorganised the content of one of my bedroom drawers. Last time, when Flavius was with us alone for a while, I read while he played on our marital bed. Suddenly there was the sound of my electric foot file to be heard, and there was dust- the boys was filing his kneecaps! I took the file, put it back into the drawer and continued reading. Five minutes later Flavius thrust the laser, perfectly put together and plugged, into my hand. This was the moment I knew that I needed a better, safer place to hide those gadgets. They are in a box on the highest shelf now. Out of the children´s reach and out of my mind. Seriously, I might end up as a dwarf granny one day in the near future. While my scalp hair is shedding like whoa, unwanted hair is sprouting on my chin. Without laser I am lost!
Hubby wanted sausages for today´s lunch, preferably the ones he had bought a few days ago at the butcher. Damn! If I thought yesterday´s kebab was quite spicy, those sausages were mouth burners then! I told hubby to act a bit more compassionate- I should not have spicy things at the moment, at least as long as my stomach is not 100 percent okay. I am at eighty at best, if at all. With so much spicy food I will soon be back to the beginning! Did not want this to happen, so I cut back on coffee in compensation. I already know who will doze off during prime time programme!

...so hubby and I went to Action today, because I wanted to buy things to craft with our grandchildren. This summer told me that there´s only one thing they love more than Lego. My crafting stash got seriously decimated, and the things in the leaflet I wanted to buy for a refill...were not to be found in the shop, as always. But we met DiL1´s mother and had a nice talk. She´s still banned from her daughter´s house and hasn´t seen Konrad in ages. She also told us that her daughter had thrived during the family´s holidays (the older boys had hated the overpriced resort overrun by oldies) but fell back to old habits the moment she was back home. I invited her for a visit- apparently I need more gossipping. We did another stop at Müller´s (Flavius wants a robot for his birthday, Müller sells one) where I bought wool in autumn colours for a new project (still don´t know if I will be able to read the crocheting instruction I found on FB). On the way back home we stopped at Lidl to buy buns but noticed that the Kebab shop was open again (new owner). We haven´t had kebab for a long time so hubby bought some for (early) lunch. Kebab is now better than the one done by the last owner, but prices climbed even higher- we will hit the ten-euro mark soon. And if mine was ónly a bit spicy´then I do not even want to know how a real spicy one will taste!

After lunch I added twenty rows to Cassian´s scarf, before I went upstairs to do a short nap. Since it finally got warmer (15 degrees) I went outside to help hubby with decluttering the garden. We managed to get a full load into the trailer which got droven to the rubbish tip afterwards. There´s another load waiting to get driven away tomorrow. Good riddance!
And since autumn depression is in full swing now I started to read poetry during night (instead of sleeping). This is my favourite autumn poem, done by Rainer Maria Rilke:

Herbsttag

Herr, es ist Zeit. Der Sommer war sehr groß.
Leg deinen Schatten auf die Sonnenuhren,
und auf den Fluren lass die Winde los.

Befiehl den letzten Früchten, voll zu sein;
gib ihnen noch zwei südlichere Tage,
dränge sie zur Vollendung hin, und jage
die letzte Süße in den schweren Wein.

Wer jetzt kein Haus hat, baut sich keines mehr.
Wer jetzt allein ist, wird es lange bleiben,
wird wachen, lesen, lange Briefe schreiben
und wird in den Alleen hin und her
unruhig wandern, wenn die Blätter treiben.

AUTUMN DAY

All done, the summer’s bright immensity.
Upon the sundials colder shadows pool.
Rippling through meadows, winds run wild and free.
The last grapes ripen, ponderously full:
in a day or two, wrenched harshly from the vine,
they’ll let themselves be trampled into wine –
surrender their final sweetness, like a jewel.

Whoever has no house now never will.
Whoever is alone will stay alone,
waking to read, or write to everyone
they know, or wandering in the park until
dusk, aimlessly, where shrivelled leaves have blown.

Robert Saxton, who wrote the only translation with an adequate rhyme pattern

I have been mostly trying to make our living room ready for today's visits. Friend number one came over for a late breakfast, so I had to get up early to achieve a mostly clean ambiente- with the help of hubby, of course. More dusting, mopping, picking toys up and putting them into boxes. One afternoon with children, and everything will go down the drain. I firmly ~~sealed~~ closed the door to the conservatory. Did not want to do another spider hunt. Bad enough I had to do one last night- that darn thing came down and up from the ceiling like a yoyo. Hubby finally killed it. Good man! After the first visit I defroze another box hidden in the freezer for lunch. Then I rested, mentally preparing for the next visit. That friend is detoriating quickly. Her body is relatively okay, her brain not so much. I wonder how long she will be able to keep up with her current living situation. Not my problem, she has a daughter and an ex who will know what to do in the (near) future. Yet I am unsure if such a person, friend or not, should be allowed to drive a car. It's been some years that I went on a trip with her, and it had been like a tour along a tunnel of horror. It won't have gotten any better...
Yet I was able to add twenty rows to Cassian's scarf. The boy is so in love with what he's seen so far. It's not that I am in a hurry- we had two very cool days in a row with temperatures down to 14 degrees, but it will get better towards weekend. Next week temperatures during day might even climb up to 24 degrees- perfect for the school- and kindergarten field trips, which always take place at the beginning of the first semester of the year.
BTW: Cassian is still unsure if he will attend second class. Poor boy, no one has told him that nine school years are mandatory...

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We´re all mad here

Welcome to the asylum

Recent Entries

And today...

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