Soledad's Journal

Minor ones, but again, leading a quiet life can be a blessing sometimes, can't it?

Mum's slowly recovering. She's still in pain, but at least could sleep in the night, thanks to the painkillers. She's only allowed to take one a day, so we time it for before turning in. Restful sleep is important. Being a tough cookie, she's soldiering on during the day, with lying on every three hours or so a bit. Her right shoulder, arm and knee are really interesting shades of purple and red and black. We keep treating the bruises with comfrey ointment and wet wraps and hope for the best. At least she can use that arm, even if it hurts.

I did one third of the cleaning today. I wanted to do the usual half, but was so exhausted from yesterday's shock that I simply didn't feel up to it. I did the kitchen, the bathroom and the loo, which were the most urgent parts, and I'll have to make an extra cleaning day for the anteroom and the balcony. The actual cleaning isn't that bad in itself, but I have to empty each and every room first to be able to wipe them, and then put everything back to its place. That's time consuming like whoa.

Having to do the washing-up from yesterday as well (usually Mum does it, but she can't right now), we decided to have a very simple lunch - basically scrambled eggs with cucumbers and a coffee. As it's over 31 degrees here, we don't have that much an appetite; Mum didn't even want ice cream, which is a first. At least she's still eating chocolate bonbons, so her sugar intake is ensured. *g*

I labelled 12 more cellophane bags (the ones that'll -hopefully - contain the Turkish delight), but that was all I was able to do crafting-wise. We called H. on Viber, so that she could see that Mum is still in one piece, and then I slept for an hour and a half, too. I'm emotionally exhausted, and the heat doesn't help.

I had to get up an hour earlier, so that I could prepare everything (including Mum's breakfast) before the chiropodist lady would arrive. It turned out, I could have slept in - she didn't arrive before 10.30am; by then I've made 9 more cellophane bags. She then worked on us for two and a half hours and talked us to death in the process. Especially Mum, as I escaped as soon as she was done with me to do the second half of the weekly shopping.

When I came home she was gone, but then I had to rearrange the living room to its usual configuration. Then I made the remaining little bags; now they are done and I've run out of cellophane. But I think 64 bags ought to be enough. *g*

No cooking was done today; we ate leftover soup and some sandwiches. Temperatures have dropped a few degrees - for now, tomorrow they'll start climbing again - but the invasion of the flying dinosaurs continues. When I went out today, the scenery reminded me of that Hitchcock movie with the birds - only with oversized insects instead.

Considering that the frigging beasts are supposed to be night-active, they were certainly swarming - literally swarming - all over the place the whole morning. They're still around, but since we keep the windows closed at this time of the day they can't get in now. A couple of them are still inside the flat; when I can I chase them out of the window, but last night I managed to kill two of them... that was very satisfactory. I don't know what happened. I've never seen so many of them, especially during the day, since we moved here almost fifty years ago.

Today, I was busy again. First, Mum and I made our weekly trip to the corner café. It took longer than usual because her knee was acting up, but we managed it nonetheless. We wouldn't miss this for the world, as long as the weather cooperates.

After that, I made some more cellophane bags. 16 pieces in just under two hours, to be accurate. I'm really getting the hang on this. 32 done, the other 32 to go - then I'll run out of cellophane. *g*

I didn't need to cook today (bought some goodies at the café and only made a Tütensuppe to go before them), so I gave one of the spicy apple jam with raisins recipes noadvertising suggested a try. Well, it was a bastardized version of the recipe by someone called Marion, as I replaced the orangeat with aromatised orange zests and left out the almonds completely, but so far the little jars look great. I just hope the lids will remain sealed after they have cooled down. *fingers crossed*

That about took care of the rest of the day. We also watched some telly, and are now lazing around - with all windows closed, unfortunately, to wear off an unexpected attack of huge Nachtfalter - no idea what they are called in English and why have they suddenly decided to invade our home, but I don't want the disgusting creatures around us. Annoying, though; it is the evening hours when we can actually air the flat, as we get direct sunshine all afternoon. *sigh*

I've found a YouTube video (see here about a quick and easy method to make paper gift bags. I'll need an ungodly amount of cellophane bags for my Christmas fair wares, so I gave it a try. Admittedly, cellophane is a lot harder to handle this way than wrapping paper, but I managed 9 bags nonetheless. 7 more are due tomorrow. All in all, I have the raw materials for 64 bags - that ought to be enough, I think. At least it's faster than weaving those little paper baskets... of which I'll also have to make a lot yet. And there are only five and a half months left till the fair. *sigh*

Other than that, I did the first half of the weekly shopping today. Aside from the groceries, I also bought myself two long, lightweight summer blouses and some underwear at Kik, since they had a 30% reduction in clothing prices, assuming one had a customer card. Which I have. So, that was really a bargain.

Temperatures were up to 30°C when I came home, sweating like a pig. As soon as I finally was at home, the wind started blowing and temperatures dropped eight degrees. Speak of lousy timing, eh? They promise rain for tomorrow - let's hope the balcony can withstand it. *fingers crossed* Otherwise, I don't mind the rain; it cools down the weather a bit and besides, I'm not planning to leave the house tomorrow. I'm still very, very tired from yesterday and from today's activities, plus the heat, so staying indoors sounds nice.

... can do pomp like this - and I mean it in a positive sense. I spent all morning and early afternoon watching "Trooping the Colour", and loved it! Loved the coreography, the music, the uniforms... everything. I'm so glad both ZDF and ORF 2 broadcasted it, because BBC News did not, nor did any of the Hungarian channels. It was a delight, it really was.

Fortunately, I didn't have to cook today, so I could afford to be lazy in front of the TV half a day. *g*

We caught up with sleep in the afternoon, ate leftovers, watched the Great Canadian Baking Show, and with that, the day was over. Loved it.

And on a completely different note:

Happy Birthday, disthrainsdotte!



I hope you had a wonderful day. Wishing you many happy returnings!

Thank you, elwenlj, for the lovely little bells - I've never seen so tiny ones, and I'm sure I'll be able to put them to good use. :)

Also thank you, thesmallhobbit, for the lovely summer card. It was such a pleasant surprise! :)

In other news, Mum and I made our weekly trip to the corner café, which was really nice. Then I made cauliflower Strudel (sorry, noadvertising), talked to my friend Evie on the phone and we watched re-runs of the GBBO. And now I'm about to read some fanfic until "The Repair Shop" starts.

Question to well-informer British people: Is BBC News not showing Trooping the Colour this year? I'd love to watch the parade, but I couldn't find any hint at a live broadcast.

Now I'm up to 5 and have nearly run out of the 1 cm wide paper strips. I'll give the slightly wider - and delightfully patterned - ones a try next. Hopefully the design will work with them, too. *fingers crossed*

I skipped choir practice today (again). Had it been a regular one I'd have gone, considering that we have our term-closing concert on Sunday. But there was planned the good-bye "party" of our little diva, the soprano solist who presumably won't join us next term anymore and I just didn't have the time to waste for that. We'll have an extra practice on Friday, so I'll take part on that one. Yeah, I know I'm petty, so what's new?

Not much else happened. We ate leftovers, I fetched my alarm clock from the horologist and made a quick trip to Lidl for milk, yogurt and ice cream. As usual, they didn't have our favourite, the salted caramel one. From the brand we favour they only had walnut ice - huge staples of it. Their freezer is always full with walnut ice, I don't know why they keep ordering it as nobody seems to buy it. I bought strawberry flavoured Vienetta instead, but caramel ice would have been so much better. Or the coffee one. Ah, well.

The weather is warming up again. It was 27 degrees today but it felt more as the wind has stopped. I mean, I'm glad we can open the windows again without having to nail down everything first, but the heat is so not mine.

Happy Birthday, lissas_elves!

I hope you had a lovely day. It would be nice to hear from you again. It has been too long. :(

Over here, it was a rather unremarkable day. I did the second half of the big cleaning in the morning and was accordingly dead afterwards. Fortunately, we had leftovers (the excellent chicken paprikas I made yesterday), so I only had to throw together a salad. No cooking is always a good thing.

Other than that, I was lazing around and reading my own older BSG/Star Trek TOS crossover stories. I'm planning to start another one in that series, parts of which have existed for quite some time, so I need to check what I had written earlier in order to prevent continuity mistakes. Considering that the first part of the series was written twenty or so years ago, this is really necessary.

The promised rain finally arrived - fortunately for our balcony, it was a very minor one and lasted about five minutes or so. I hope that was it and we can breathe again. At least daytime temperatures dropped by nine degrees, so it's quite pleasant at the moment.

... concerning the basket weaving. I've tried to put together the existing three sides and the basket promises to be an uneven, clumsy and ugly piece of work. I will finish the fourth size, just because I'm stubborn like a mule, but will never give this pattern another try. I've found another one on YouTube - more than one, actually, all of which are done without any glue involved, meaning that the end result won't be sticky and spotty and altogether disgusting. I hope. If not - well, there will be another way to use up my collected toilet rolls.

In other news, it's still freaking hot over here. Temperatures peaked at 32 degrees, they are still at 28 degrees at the moment. Mum is suffering with her aching joints a great deal, I'm just uninspired and sleepy all the time. I had to do the grocery shopping in the early morning, when it was "only" 22 degrees, and that meant getting up an hour and a half earlier than I usually do. Getting up early isn't something I do easily, but needs must. I'll have to do the cooking in the early morning tomorrow, too, or else I'd keel over in the kitchen. Oh, joy.

As for social life, I talked to H. and my friend Evie in the early evening, so at least we still know that the other one is alive. Evie is still at working age, and (my former) Boss Lady is getting more insane with each passing year. Poor colleagues are run ragged, and a lot of things she makes them do are overblown or completely unnecessary. God, am I happy to be an old hag and retired!

... with the basket weaving. I've used a different wet glue. The work itself went a tiny bit better, but the glue soaked through the cardboard and the weave ended up every bit as lopsided as at the first time. Next try: the glue stick. This promises to be a frustrating project, I'm afraid.

Otherwise it was a quiet day - quite warm, too, so we got up earlier than usual to go to our beloved corner café while temperatures were still bearable. The former student of mine who's a fruit vendor was out with his booth and sold excellent strawberries, so I went over and bought some. They weren't cheap, but they are delicious and ripe and Mum loved them.

We then came home and joined forces making lunch: I boiled and peeled the potatoes and the eggs and Mum put together the potato casserole. Then my friend Elise came to fetch her cookies, after which Mum and I both had a nice, long nap. Until it was time to watch re-runs of the GBBO. And now it's nighttime again... but still quite warm. Phew!