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...that we did not have thunderstorms during night and I did not need to get up and close windows to keep rain and wind out. More than that, temperatures had remained warmer than expected, so that I spent another night beside instead of under the duvet, a perfect victim for mosquitos. And mosquitos we seem to have aplenty, even though this summer had been such a dry one! Rain started in the morning only and was more like a constant drizzle. Finally, temperatures were down under 20 degrees, as we were told. And the lights in the house were on- a preparatory exercise for late autumn and winter. I did some random housework and lunch cooking, before Flavius came into our house during an infernal downpour. The boy and DiL were drenched to the skin by running maybe ten metres from car to house. Hubby had to pump water off the pool, or our lawn would hsve been flooded.
Flavius was ecstatic, because I had bought another snow leopard, the moot point when playing with Schleich animals. Because both boys have declared the snow leopard as their favourite. Elsa had, too, but she always wants what Cassian wants. And promptly claimed the leopard for herself. But Elsa is not here at the moment (thankfully). We played zoo, we played safari, watched a Red Bull agility race for bikes, before Cassian was delivered to our doorstep. Hubby did a ton of fried squid rings for dinner (the boys love them), and at six thirty he brought the rascals back to their parents. Of course, we had to tell Cassian to behave at home- he must have been really bad, telling his parents that he didn't want to stay with them anymore but live with us grandparents. The older of the two is still moping because of their too long absence. Heaven forbid, I think I am done with children for the rest of the year!

...with more clouds than weather forecast had announced, but still a pretty good day. Hubby decided to do the sledging job without me helping out, since son had ducked out and daughter was at work, picked Oscar and Xaver up at nine thirty and drove up the nearby mountain. And, will wonders never cease, DiL1 opened the door and even talked to hubby! Meanwhile I did a quick tour along the rooms for doing necessary housework, even dusted (that's usually hubby's job), did a sudoku then defroze tuna sugo for lunch. It got hot quickly, too hot for jigsawing. So I opened the pool cover, found leaves and some drowned insects on the bottom which had to stay (robot is still dead) and did a first dip into the water. Not as cool as expected but beneath my comfort zone, yet it had to be enough. I'd definitely not skip this last day of summer. Besides, in the afternoon the clouds were off, temperatures were up to 33 degrees and I loved it. There's not much to love considering weather the next week anyway!
One phone call a day is standard for me, two are stressing, and from the third on I will be mightily annoyed. Good that the first call came from daughter mine to tell me that she´d be off to Vienna one day early- she and her friends will fly to Stockholm for a holiday on Friday. The second was from a friend, who wanted to dine with me on Thursday (no, thanks, no dining for me at the moment), then came sister mine, who thought that meeting up on Thursday would be splendid. No, thank you again, my mood bad already. Leave me be, sister dearest! Yet I am pretty sure she will try again for a weekend meeting, because she is pretty bored, since her husband isn´t yet as mobile as she wants him to be. Bad enough that she has confiscated one of his crutches, so that he learns to navigate with one alone...

Yesterday's BBQ took place too late for my stomach to accomodate. I had a bit of a rough night with a bad stomach and strange dreams featuring one Mr. Schweizer, a Swiss we got to know in Havanna, retired owner of an installation company. That's what he also did in my dream- do some installation in our bathroom and build a cat pen in the middle of our living room. Three cats, two litters- oh, look, I have started breeding animals! Hubby will be delighted, just the way he was when we noticed that our dwarf rabbit came back home pregnant after a holiday break at my paeent´s home and had six baby rabbits.
After housework daughter and I started another jigsaw, the one she said will get us hungry when jigsawing, because it´s cupcakes, cupcakes and even more cupcakes. Dozens of them, all very appetising. No real cooking today, the boys and daughter mine had leftovers from yesterday´s BBQ, I had some leftover soup. But I made Pofesen to get rid of the brioche and the plum jam. Daughter and son both left in the early evening. Son one day earlier than expected, but hubby did not have time to repair the bed son had killed last night. He could not stand the loud squeaking of the bedsprings, did some jumping and one of the springs went kaputt. Definitely not funny, even though it can be replaced, which will involve a complete dismantling of the bed, and all that in a relatively small room. Son is a dork... At least, this evening will be a quiet one. There has been way too much talking during TV programme lately.
Tomorrow there´ll be summer sledge riding for the boys and a last day with pooling for me. Then summer will be gone, but grandchildren number four and five will be back. Hubby has to bring them to our house on Wednesday- DiL 2´s summer programme (for not having to take care of her offspring) did not work out for the afternoon- none of the children´s friends wanted them at their house for two days in a row...

Since we had planned BBQ at five I did a pepper-tomato soup for lunch, with toasted bread for the boys. Added one chilli from our garden. Oh my, the three of us could have attended a class for fire-breathing. And I, idiot as I am, removed the seeds with my bare fingers. Should have known better. Hubby must have complained about the inexplicable spiciness (should have been a 5 out of 10) the day before, when I had been upstairs...
Last night I fled the loo after a mosquito attack. Another mosquito, another attack in the bedroom. This one I tried to fight off with insect spray, to no avail. But I had to change the bedding in the morning, because I also sprayed pillow and bed sheet. I unwillingly murdered the tiny spider on the windowsill when removing the blasted net I had been watching grow larger for two days. We have what we call Altweibersommer (gossamer) now. Cold nights, but warm and sunny days with warm temperatures. Thursday there even might be a hot day, from then on temperatures will drop rapidly. And there will be rain, lots of, if weather forecast is true (for once). Autumn depression has already set in with me. I can't stand the early darkness. The wind which blows all day long. The yellowish light. Early leaf fall thanks to the dry summer we had. Nope, autumn is definitely not my favourite season. Hubby knew what to do- he brought the boxes with warmer clothing down from the top of the wardrobe, so that I was occupied with reorganising its content. Summer clothes out of the wardrobe, warm sweaters in. And I have tidied the shoe cabinet. A lot of shoes went straight into the bin, since prices for repairing went through the roof.
BBQ started a bit later, since daughter had to stay half an hour longer at work. But the meat was tender and spicy, though not as spicy as the soup we had for lunch, the spareribs juicy. My favourite was hubby's garlic bread. Self baked, without yeast. Perfect for me. I do not tolerate yeast well, so my old man does doughs either with baking powder or cold fermentation, which takes considerably longer but needs less yeast. I have to admit he is better with baking than I am...

Number four´s best friend is Ciel. My niece´s boyfriend got named Sky. Today I pondered why people would give their offspring such strange names. And I had a lot of time to ponder- after daughter´s third early shift in a row and I playing cab I stayed in bed longer than usual and was back to bed soon after breakfast, nursing another cold I must have picked up when doing shopping. Which reminds me that the real season for cold will be upon us all quite soon. Cooler weather and children back to school and kindergarten will make sure of it.
There had been a bit of rain and lightnings to be watched when we left the house at three thirty. But when I came back the clouds had started to break up, and instead of a picture with lightning I took this one.

The ´mind´ of a mobile is a strange one- it will colour those pictures taken in the dark at choice. Thunderstorm, too, had drifted off, and I fell for a dreamless sleep, until the sound of pouring rain woke me and reminded me that I hadn´t closed the bathroom windows. And hubby slept through, as always at this time.
Son number four had arrived in the evening but was up at ten, which is early for him. He helped with preparing lunch, a giant oven pancake tarte flambée style with onions, peppers, ham and cheese. Easy-peasy and most of all quickly ready for consumption. I dozed off again soon after, and no amount of coffee was able to keep me awake. I am definitely too old for having to get up at such ungodly hours!
Hubby had to do more cat duties for son- family number two is in Vienna, and Florence is still in France. Means the poor man has to drive to son´s house twice a day to bring in and let out (and feed, of course) Sony and Gribouille- I think that´s that devil cat´s name. Gribouille bites, scratches, even if Florence tells otherwise. But Sony and Gribouille are bestest friends, which makes the bringing in easier...
Tomorrow will be BBQ day. Hubby is bustling about to ready the griller, son has been going through recipes for marinades, while I shook my head and continued with resting. Son was off with hubby´s car to meet up with Ciel, daughter Whatsapped that she´d come for the BBQ and I added ten rows (out of 300? 400?) to Cassian´s scarf, still wary that it might be too wide. But can a scarf even be too wide? I have no idea....

...alas, for one day only. I spent all of the morning doing boeuf bourguignon made of two kilos meat. Daughter got picked up by hubby, but late because of all the traffic. Traffic jam on the motorway and all other streets. Lots of people travelling back home, so it seems. Daughter was not amused, and so was I.
Our pool robot died this morning. Broke a wheel but that thing was ancient! Hubby found it doing somersaults in the water. A new one will cost around 1000 euro. At least, the next one won't have a cord we will trip over...
We had a very lste lunch after today´s early breakfast. Then daughter rested, while I had a swim in water warmer than expected- especially last night had been exceedingly warm with 19 degrees. It´s the nights that will make water temperature drop quickly- we had under ten degrees twice at least! But today´s weather was fine, a quiet reminiscence what a summer without daily siege done by grandchildren could have been. So one has to take advantage of the warm (hot) weather, we were up to 32 degrees in the early afternoon. Continuing the book nook was sweat inducing- conservatory needs an aircon, but hubby forgot about a unit there. Would have also been nice in winter for heating! But we were able to finish, even though I heard some colourful swearing done by daughter dearest.
The longer the day went on the more tired I got. Last night I spent a lot of time under the duvet because of mosquitos attacking my poor skin. Not even the insect spray did help. Same with daughter mine, even though at some point she managed to poison her attackers. But no fun, if you have an early work day ahead!

Our day started at three in the morning. While she was at work already, I started my way back home. Which included a detour and almost half an hour of sleeping time lost, because both ramps to the motorway were closed because of nightly repair work. I had to do the tour across the town. I was not amused! Got up a tad later than usual, soldiered through housework then did a bit of knitting, bringing the new yarn into play. Even started with the scarf, the real one- that's the easy part of the project. Hubby decided on doing Hot Dogs de luxe for lunch (bratwursts instead of Wiener, fried onions with bacon and cheese), daughter and I watched a docu about Istanbul- might be that we missed a bit because we dozed off. Hubby had brought elderberries and made roester with apples and peaches, which we had with icecream and coffee. Then daughter and I started project book nook number four. I thought it would be easier to do it together, but it's not. Because one hand often does not know what the other is doing. Book nook is almost finished, but there was a lot of searching for components and a veritable fight for the written instruction. Because of crafting I forgot about the laundry, which made it onto the cloth hanger quite late- not good, since daughter will need her uniform in the morning. One hour later than today, but still...

I have mixed up dates- daughter did not come yesterday but was due today. So I decided to pick her up at work and do the drive beyond the border one day early. First stop- shoe shop. We both needed decent shoes for autumn. My old ones (which weren't old exactly) died on me. They haven't been cheap, but I've never seen leather so avid of shoe polish. No matter how often I waxed it, it was always soaking water like a sponge. Not exactly useful in rainy weather! I found me nice dark brown half-boots. Nothing fancy, classic style this time. Daughter found her shoes (two pairs) in the shopping centre's shoe shop. I now know why I hate shopping. My feet are dead, I have spent way too much money, but daughter is very happy. I also got golden brown wool in the wool shop! Good that I stopped knitting the cat paws- now I can add the colour I have been looking for (after some unravelling). But during knitting I came to know that there are indeed soundless mosquitos buzzing along. A neighbour told me, she had read about them in an article in a psper. It's true- new varieties, hunting for blood during day even! No wonder that I am so pricked all over! You won't hear those beasts coming near. Well, that one I watched landing on my finger, ready to prick, won't be able to do this stunt again- t'was the mosquito's last try, which ended in an untimely death!

Because that´s what I did the other evening. And the evening before... Today at five in the morning (I looked the time up) I got woken by a poking at my back. Of course, I had dreamt of cows with long horns parading along a fence, waiting for me to remove the water on my neighbour's property, so that they finally would be able to sit on the white leather couch that sat on a small rise in the middle of the lawn. Cows. Sitting on a white leather couch. Odd dreams I have! The poking continued, but I was pretty sure it wasn´t a cow, because my cows were all gentle and well-behaved. I decided to wake up, and what did I find? Hubby, though fast asleep, was the culprit! I had a few, loud and maybe not very nice words for him, until he finally woke. Seems that I am not the only one in this house with odd dreams! But I so had wanted to see my cows relax on that couch!
Hubby brought his car in for service, which meant that I had to pick him up at the repair shop- buses only every half an hour (so much for public transport). We had to go and buy chlorine for the pool anyway, because hubby forgot to turn the saltmaster on and pool water was a bit greenish. But we steadfastly avoided grocery shops and searched the web for new recipes with cottage cheese and noodles made for filling instead. Those gave me problems the last time I made them, but none today. Precooking had been the solution, which hadn´t taken place in the old recipe. I was not even able to finish my after-lunch sleep when hubby´s car was ready for being picked up. I almost overlooked a car when entering the main street. It´s not that I haven´t called Citizen advice bureau that planting elephant grass next to the driveway will obstruct the driver´s view, but no interest in such mundane affairs...
I have started Cassian´s scarf, one cat paw is finished, the other will follow tomorrow. Already eying the wool offers in the shopping centre I will visit with daughter on Thursday- I know that Flavius will want a Sony scarf. And Sony needs black wool (which I have) and two shades of grey.
My cheek still hurts when I blink my eyes or move other muscles in my face. The blue has turned into black and gives me a some bold aura. I and bold, what a laugh!

Number one with Oscar and Xaver in tow came for pitzza. Hubby has always been famous for his pizza, and since he bought himself a pizza oven he was in full cooking mode from early morning on. He got up at seven. Had breakfast, showered (that´s when I was finally out of bed) then did a first grocery run, just when I started breakfast. The second run followed shortly after, when he noticed he had forgotten the capers. I quickly did the most needed housework then decided to not stand in hubby´s way and start some work on the second floor. That´s when DiL 2 wrote that Cassian needed a 3,5 crochet hook for school, and if I had one for him. Of course, I found one (and many others). But the chaos in my handicraft drawer had doubled during my search, so I took hubby´s slide caliper, rubber bands and all zipped freezer bags in the house and started reorganising the content of the drawer. Son came early, so Oscar got instructed how to measure the knitting needles, which made the task easier. Oscar loves gadgets, I hate them. At lunch time we finished, just when the first pizza came out of the oven. Out of all grandchildren number one´s oldests are the quietest ones, perfectly trained by their parents- I think they overdid it a bit. Both boys have to be perfect in school (they are), but they won´t behave like ordinary children. DiL will very much regret that she sent them to us, because grandma is not one to stand down discussing such things. I found Oscar listening closely what I told his father. Mummy won´t be delighted, but some things have to be said, and say I did.
Weather forecast is never correct here- the rain we were to get this morning came yesterday evening already and stayed until morning. More rain came in the evening, when we were supposed to have clear skies. I hope weather will be fine tomorrow, because number one wants to drive to Munich for Hellabrunn zoo. He wanted us to join the family, but we declined. Not sure if our sight will lead to more hysterics with DiL. Besides, daughter will come tomorrow, and I will have to cook for all of us, since she will be at work until late afternoon.
BTW, hubby is banned from grocery shopping the next days- our fridge is on the verge of exploding. So many things that need quick processing! How come that doing pizza involves three packages of different cheese (only one third used), cheese that will go bad in the space of a few days. Then there´s number four, who is supposed to arrive on Friday. Number four has a fit when he finds cheese next to the things he eats (which are few)...

Yesterday evening I skipped watching TV and went to bed early. My face had started hurting after sis's heavily exaggerated sisterly kiss. It's still hot and swollen, I hope the bone is intact. If not it will take a bit longer to heal. Anyway, in bed I turned my tablet PC on to read fanfics. For a while I was torn between squirming and outright laughing- at least with the new fanfics. So back to the beginning of the fandome, and yes, fewer fics, but the quality was so much better! Seems that all hard core fans of fandoms must have started writing, and a lot of them must be still in school. Or not. Because there was the one fic that described at least four imaginative castles located in England, wavering between the exact description of an American version of Neuschwanstein (en suites to every bedroom- ha!), Miramare inflated to epic proportions and two impressive medieval castles, servants included in all of them. I knew that there should have been a story to the sightseeing tour but did not find a real one. Maybe the search for a place to do the nasty does count as one. But there hadn´t even been...whatever. Today I will go to bed late, to nurse my hip. As a right-hander I will spent my reading time on my left side. As a victim of my boot lid I will do the same all night long. Definitely not the best thing to do with a hip acting up regularly. In compensation I did quite a few laps in the pool. The last days with hotter temperatures made water temperatures climb up to 24 degrees- still cool but acceptable, and even more if one needs swimming to relax and strengthen muscles. Since hubby and I had decided to have a lazy day I warmed up some leftovers and made myself comfortable on the terrace- tomorrow there´ll be rain again, so maybe this was indeed the last swim of the year. I had taken my Tablet PC with me but opted for a book to read. Not that hubby would want to know why I was laughing so hard. And then the two of us plotted- a new suite for the terrace, a bench to bunker wood underneath, but mostly ways to eliminate neighbour´s huge plum tree. That tree has gone out of control and is keeping so much sun off our property! Hubby said he´d talk to the phone company. Their landline is already caught between the tree´s branches. Another neighbour had the same problem, and a few days later people came and cut down the hazel bushes. They won´t cut a tree down but it might get mightily reduced in height to not destroy the landline.
Good that our house is in acceptable shape. Tomorrow family number one will come to have pizza for lunch. I am delighted. At least, hubby will do the cooking...

...that I am still accustomed to the early hubbub in our house mere eight days ago? Today I got up at six thirty. Not a must- hubby was still asleep, the streets were very quiet (Saturday, school holidays will last two more weeks), no annoying cows and sheep to be heard. Yet there I was, in the kitchen, preparing breakfast. At least I was able to read the daily without having to share (sports and world news for hubby, local news for me).
Yesterday evening I had searched my medication drawer and noticed that quite a few things were missing. Maybe our grandchildren had their finger in the pie, maybe not. It was clear that I had to do a tour to a drugstore today. Had planned to do the trip in the late morning before lunch (leftovers, yay), but sister invited herself again. Her week is full of assuming an air of importance, but her weekends must be boring. The problem is- she and her husband always are up for sweets but never bring a cake. So I sent hubby to the shop to buy some fruits and baked another DDR cake. After lunch I left, but it took me two drugstores to find what I needed. On the way back to our house a neighbour tried to invite me for coffee and cake (see, this works for some people), but I had to decline. Isn´t it strange: The moment I could have some fun, family has already made sure that I won´t have any...grr!
In other words- my day was a bland one, especially the afternoon, with sis and hubby gossipping about cultural affairs, BiL nodding off during their discussion and me doing either sarcastic comments or eat another slice of cake (which I shouldn´t)...

Turned out that neither number four nor number one did come for a visit. Better for me anyway, because I'm not nice to look at at the moment. When putting the grocery bag out of my car's boot I contemplated if I had put the right account card into my purse. I waited a tad too long to step back and had a collision with the boot's door. My face is a bit swollen and bluish on one side. Good thing is that my glasses are still intact. Lucky me! What did come was the storm front meant to happen only in the east of the country. One moment I was looking out of the kitchen window, wondering about the strange light and the grey woods, the next everything went flying. Hubby tried to bring in his painting tools, while I firmly kept the covers of sofa and chairs in place with my body weight and pulled the blinds in at the same time. Then I hunted the pool noodles down. They are on their way down to the basement now, no need for them until next summer! Pool water is down to 20 degrees now thanks to the cool nights we have at the moment. Where are the days, when summers were not so hot and autumn didn't come so early! Now we are waiting for the thunderstorm, which surely will come, unless the strong winds have blown it off...

All work like sanding and painting gets done by him now, even the repair work on my table for decorating. I feel left out...
Not much housework had to be done, so I changed and washed the bedding of the marital bed instead, hubby´s favourite place for snoring along. I think I will have to buy me a new assortment of earplugs! But the table is grey now and looks pretty again. I will start decorating as soon as I get my hands on some autumnal plants at reasonable prices. I have seen the actual prices of Hokkaido pumpkins at our grocery shop- one kilo costs 2,70 euro. Do they pet them so that they will grow big and strong, because that would be the only reason for such prices?
All in all it was a dull day. We have put away most of the shading on the terrace- it had been mostly cool and overclouded the last days, even if the weather forecast promised sunshine. But today temperatures climbed up to really warm 32 degrees, and not even the huge amount of Saharan dust kept enough of the sunlight off, so that sitting on the terrace and mournfully looking at a pool with water way too cold for bathing was no option. I sat inside instead and went through the gallery on my mobile, to find an acceptable picture of Samsung- after all I have promised to knit a cat scarf for Cassian that will always remind him of his beloved cat. I have to admit that even I miss that cat! I found a picture that shows Samsung in all its glory and will have to restock on light brow wool now. Not an easy task, because my next tour to Germany will only happen at the beginning of September, together with daughter, whom I promised new shoes in exchange for Dutch cheese she bought for me. I am so done with the stinky mountain cheese (it´s not exactly stinky but the boys hate that smell) hubby buys all the time...
Tomorrow I will get a visit from son number four and, if I am out of luck, from number one, too. Maybe the latter will stay at home, if the thunderstorms announced for the afternoon will really happen. His car has been damaged twice already by hail...

Hubby was off to an amusement park with Oscar and Xaver. Apperently he can't get enough of his grandchildren- wish he had been equally interested in his own offspring, but no... I decided against a spa day and left for a bit of shopping instead- mostly cosmetics and some magazines. Cooked a pepper- tomato soup for lunch, enough for two days, so I thought. Spent the afternoon trying out a few crocheting tricks then continued with the book nook. I almost killed Hogwarts castle! Daughter and I have done a few book nooks already, but this was the most fickle one, and I had to do it all alone, because daughter will only cone for her early shifts at the beginning of September then will be off to Sweden for holiday. Tiniest, filigrane pieces, some did not even make it out of the model whole. There was a lot of glueing necessary, and one boat still looks ready to sink. But I finished, just before hubby was back.

I sincerely hope that the boys won't have caught a sunburn, because hubby left their sunscreen in the car- weather had been overcast until three in the afternoon. DiL 1 will have a hysterical fit if one of them (or both) turn pinkish and won't allow him to take the boys out again, if that happens!
After hubby's arrival I went upstairs to change the bedding in number four's room- he will come for a visit on Friday. When I went down again I noticed that hubby had eaten the soup- all of it. Apparently he had skipped lunch, only watched the boys eating Schnitzel, and was very hungry. So cooking for tomorrow has been in vain. Darn! I thought I'd do a tour to a shopping centre and get information about the mobile contract I used once upon a time but never terminated. It's not much I pay each month, but it's completely in vain. I don't even know the number or my access data!

DiL number two crashed my birthday party. All was well at first. Daughter dearest had made cake and muffins, I had made sugar syrup, because DiL wanted Pisco, a Peruan cocktail she loves (says a lot what she did when abroad- spend time in bars drinking Pisco in the evening), we had a range of sandwiches, devilled eggs and fruit skewers. And then DiL started to accuse hubby that he'd try to influence the boys concerning Romanian language. Apparently she had had too much of Pisco and prosecco. Needless to say that the atmosphere had soured drasticslly after her outburst. Son did not say much, only that he had agreed that the boys would be raised bilingual, which in DiL's opinion was Romanian at home, the German part done at our house. No wonder that Cassian often enough had brought unfinished homework to school - his mother made him write and read Romanian instead. I listened for a while to hubby´s and DiL´s arguing, until I had enough and told her that, of course, she could rear her children bilingual. But also that here it's common practise that guests will accomodate to the language spoken in the household they are visiting. Even DiL's friends will do so. She is the only one who will continuously talk Romanian with the boys (now and then with son, too) at our house, which is quite rude. The family left soon after with a dramatic exit of DiL.. Thank God that the other guests arrived later only. I think that they are all fed up with Dil 2 and her Romanian babbling...
Another neighbour died last week- the third in a short lapse of time. Four men, none of them madec it up to the ominous 80 years. But idiot neighbour aged 85 and my friend, the one with cancer and shingles and two strokes (almost forgot to mention the two hip fractures) are still alive. I think the second would gladly have swapped places with one of the deceased persons- she is down to 38 kilo now...

...but we did not get through without accident. Imagine: two adults (number three and his wife) outside supervising the children, which got the order to not take out the bikes. Of course, they did not follow the order. Flavius took a fall then fell a second time. A skinned elbow, lots of howling ensued. How come that this always happens the moment we think that all has turned out well!
Hubby said he'd buy roasted chicken for lunch- only that he did not get any. It took him five shops to finally buy half a roasted chicken, so he bought roasted pork and Leberkäse, too, to feed the family. Family number three left after lunch. But family number two did not show up for a long time. The boys were very disappointed. I found Cassian sitting next to my car, watching the street for his parents, and believe me, he sat there for a long time, because number two and wife arrived at five in the afternoon only. DiL had to clean their sofa and the rest of the living room first, because Sony had been roaming their house and left a lot of cat hair in the wake!
Our ühouse is not such a big mess anymore. While Flavius and I had an after-lunch nap and Cassian played on his tablet, hubby cleaned the bathrooms and the kitchen. Thank you, husband dearest. I think you are feeling guilty that you brought all that chaos upon us by saying yes, we can do to son number two!

...a bit of sunshine and humidity is way worse than 32 and dry air. Sweat like a pig, that's what I did all day long. Worst was that it was too cold for me to do a jump into the pool. Might have replaced the second shower of the day! Elsa had the first Pofesen in her life and loved them. Even ate the carrot soup with gusto. I don't get it- it has always been hard to feed that girl!
Family number three arrived at four in the afternoon, when our grandchildren braved the pool for the last time this year. From then on- chaos. Elsa was back to her usual behaviour, tied to her mother's apron and being a diva. Quit eating things she had been eating all week long. Was whiny and stressed all of us. Good that the family will leave after lunch tomorrow. And even better that hubby decided to bring roasted chicken to feed all of us...
BTW, son number two and wife arrived at Istanbul airport in the afternoon. Their flight to Munich will be in the evening, then train to Salzburg, then a cab back home. Hubby is a bit upset, because today he has to bring in not only Sony but Gribouille, Florence's cat, too. Son forgot that he'd be back on Saturday only, and Florence is on her way to France already. Gribouille is not a nice cat...

We did the trip to Königssee today. Started at nine in the morning after a rather sleepless night for my part (I caught a cold) and lots of stress with feeding and dressing our grandchildren. Funny how the boys differ from our granddaughter! With Elsa it's Shall I take that pink dress or the glittering shirt, with the boys it's mostly Grandma, I can't find the shorts and my socks and and and...
We took the boat to the tiny pilgrimage chapel at the western shore (Cassian loves churches) then had coffee and cake at the inn there. Walking disaster called Flavius did not fall into the lake but fell into a puddle of rainwater instead. We went back to the car park early with a very dirty young boy in tow. Coughing got worse in the car- darn hubby, who always needs the aircon on! I'm on Boxagrippal diet at the moment, to lessen the symptoms of the cold. At least my appetite has died down, or was it the lack of interesting burgers at McDonalds (I am pretty sure there will be an uproar by families two and three, us grandparents putting their offspring at risk). At home I made a double coffee, black, no sugar, for me, to make it through the rest of the day. Even had a short swim in the pool- water is down to 23 degrees now and will go down even more soon. Not even our grandchildren stayed in the water for long. The end of the pool season has truly arrived. The next days will be cold ones with lots of rain. It's time to put away all swimming utensils and start decorating the terrace for autumn...

I carefully logged out of my account yesterday. Even checked it in the evening. What a surprise when I was logged in again this morning! Strange things are going on in the house! I will have to change my password of many years and see what happens then...
Today it was a very wet and cool day. Weather forecast was so wrong again- we were promised sunshine in the afternoon! Our grandchildren were confined to the house save for the trip to Tedi. What a surprise that Halloween decoration already found their way into the shop- Cassian would have started a shopping spree had I not restrained him. A bit. Now I am the proud owner of two more skeletons, Halloween napkins, black candles, a ghost for our entrance door and a mummy cat. Next time I will do the trip to Tedi alone- less stress for me. Number two and wife called after two days of absence. They are back to Lima and will start the long journey back to Salzburg on Thursday evening. They will be back on August 22nd, the day Elsa will get picked up by her parents. Whoot, even more family in the house! I am truly blessed (or maybe not, not so sure about this anymore).
Elsa is very good at reading and maths and hopes for school to start again soonest. Cassian would love to quit school after one year. But since he noticed that he can do cursive handwriting and Elsa can't he is a bit more motivated to move up to second class.
Tomorrow we will be off to Königssee with the boys. I hope weather will be warmer than today (17 is definitely too cold for late summer). Doing the boat trip on a rain day is horrible- had to do it often enough when I was young and always froze my tail off. Not that the helicopter parents- and yes, parents number two and three belong into this category- will have to cope with sick children! That'd be terrible! Heinous! Inexcusable! How dare we!

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Page generated Oct. 3rd, 2026 07:23 am

We´re all mad here

Welcome to the asylum

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