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According to DownRightNow it isn't, but it doesn't work for me. And several people from all over the globe seem to have the same problem.

Anyway, Mum is home, and we are trying to find our new rhythm. It is not easy, but we are doing our best.

Oh, and Happy Birthday, dear Elwendell, I hope it was a lovely day for you.

Current Mood: frustrated

I've prepared the flat for Mum's return. I've cooked for at least three days in advance. I've bought all supplies I could think of. I've spoken to Ilonka's daughter and she's - hopefully - coming over on Tuesday to figure out how we'll do things. I've visited Mum; I was lucky enough to get a cab both ways.

And now I'm just tired. I've even forgotten Grandpa's birthday; he'd have been 130 yesterday. My mind is like a sieve.

Current Mood: drained

... because I'm exhausted and anxious about Mum's return (even though I'm looking forward to it very much). Once again, I wasn't able to get a taxi to take me home (not even via pre-order), so I had to creep down from the hospital to the tram station with my bad leg, for the 4th time within a week. I hope the idiot who decided to build a hospital on top of a steep hill has to climb such a hill in purgatory for a very long time. As well as the other idiot who decided that the trauma surgery station for accident victims of all western districts of our city have to be on the highest spot of aforementioned hill.

So yeah. The whole hospital complex is a labyrinth, sprawling over three levels, and the way down consists of endless flings of stairs and takes twenty minutes. Unless you chose the serpentine way, which takes half an hour on foot. I took the stairs, but my legs were literally trembling when I was finally down. And since I had to take the tram anyway, I went a stop further than our home and bought the salve and the diapers I'll need once Mum comes home. I never knew a package of diapers can be so dratted heavy! I think my arms are now at least two centimetres longer than they were in the morning.

Being cross already, I've decided to stop posting birthday greetings for people on my friendslist who have vanished years ago. What's the point? I tried the nudges, but they didn't work, so I'll just stop.

Current Mood: pissed off

Which, after the horrid summer we had, is a real blessing. It is also a slow, steady rain, coming down in a straight vertical line, which fills me with hope that the balcony would remain dry. I'm all for rain in the outside - I don't want it in the inside!

We had a slow day indoors. Well - slow except it being laundry day, the need to cook and my sudden bout of insanity that resulted in making nine 50ml bottles of ginger syrup. I thought since the ginger had been waiting in the freezer patiently for months by now and since I was already in the kitchen, it would be a good idea. Well... yeah. At least it's done now, and I can tick out another item from my fair-related to-do list. Small victories and all that.

Cooking-wise I made plum soup and something that came in a bag. I had bought it out of curiosity a few weeks ago and decided today was the day to give it a try. Some kind of pasta with what they called a chicken-and-cream sauce. I failed to find the chicken part of it, but it wasn't too bad. At least it was really soft, which is always a good thing for Mum.

One of my younger ex-colleagues (young enough to be my daughter but no longer in her 20s, either) called to congratulate me to crossing the 70-mile border. We had a nice chat. She's a fun one; doesn't call often, but when she does, we always laugh a lot.

No crafty or literary activities today. Perhaps tomorrow. There is always tomorrow.

Current Mood: accomplished

Granted, only five of us could participate, but there was a caramel cake:

and hot chocolate:

and the other birthday girl loved the birthday album I made to pieces, so we had a lovely time. She didn't know that I had told the others about her having turned 70 as well, so she was surprised and touched that everyone brought her presents as well. We spent over two delightful hours together, then everyone returned to her own family duties.

I brought the leftover cake home to Mum, who very much approved of it, so everyone is happy... save for the fact that everyone missed Mum. Especially me.

I also had three calls from various family members, two calls from Mum's friends and one from Evie. Talk about proper celebration.

Current Mood: delighted

Well, the long-awaited 70th birthday party won't be going as planned. After Evie and Erica had to cancel, Mum admitted that she is not sure she could make it, either. Her leg is doing worse at the moment, there is no guarantee that the taxi would be able to park close enough to the café for her to manage the short walk, and the café has neither a barrier-free access nor an accessible toilet. So, after much consideration we agreed that she would not come. We'll go to the Savoy Park shopping centre at a later time, where I can push her wheelchair from the low-floor tram right into a different café there. Or so we hope. We haven't tried to board a tram with the wheelchair yet, and cars can't park at the entrance of the place. *sigh*

I knew things like this might happen. My friends are either my age or not much younger, and most of them are grandmothers several times over. And Mum has been getting more restricted in her mobility with each passing year. I'm still very disappointed. I so hoped to have just this one nice afternoon with all my friends and Mum. I won't be getting 70 again. But it was clearly not meant to be.

To finish this pity feast on a lighter note: I've just got a lovely birthday card from

the_wild_iris that says"True happiness is a sofa and a good book". I can't argue with that.

Edit: Sorry if I was unclear. The party is still supposed to happen, just without Mum and with a smaller crowd. Let’s hope no-one else will have to cancel. *fingers crossed*

Current Mood: sad

Okay, so we survived the big cleaning frenzy again. For another month, I'll have peace from it. I'm tired but relieved.

The dentist's assistant phoned today. My replacement won't be finished till next week. So the whole process will be delayed by another week. God, I'm so fed up with the whole thing! Unfortunately, I'm neither a shark nor a crocodile, so I can't grew new teeth at will. It's so unfair!

My friend Evie is suffering from a slipped disc. She hasn't been able to leave the house for the last four days and won't be able to come to my birthday party, either. :((

So, that was it, basically, for today. I managed to write a little bit, but was mostly resting after today's ordeal, and so was Mum. But at least we're done until November.

Current Mood: drained

Tomorrow we'll have our monthly, pre-scheduled cleaning frenzy. So I had to clean the balcony today and to move everything that is movable there afterwards, so that the cleaning lady can move around unhindered tomorrow. It is always exhausting, but now that I'm still dealing with the aftermath of my recent accident, it is even more so. But I managed, and I'm relieved.

Cooking was relatively easy today. I made the broccoli Strudel, which only required cooking the green beast, chopping the ham and grating the cheese. Easy-peasy. Thank God for ready-made puff pastry. Now we'll have food for tomorrow as well, which is also a relief.

I finally got around to take photos of my jams. You can view the entire collection here:

https://hu.pinterest.com/ekunster/cooking-experiments/creative-jams-and-syrups/

And that was basically today, save for the hour-long nap I took in the afternoon.

Current Mood: tired

... and I don't mean the phone service. *g*
Today I made the longest trip by everyday means (= not by taxi) since... well, whatever had happened to my hip ten or so days ago. First, I rode the tram to Stühmer's Café to book a table for our little get-together on Friday. I also ordered a caramel cake - caramel because Mum just loves caramel, and since she insists to pay for the whole thing in lieu of a better birthday present, she deserves to have a cake that she likes. At least I hope she'll like it; the café usually has excellent cakes, this one shouldn't be an exception. *fingers crossed*

Yeah, I'll remain 69 years old for exactly another four days. It sounds bizarre. I sent my invited guests a reminder, so I hope everyone can make an appearance. Especially as we'll celebrate Ilonka's 70th birthday, too. She just doesn't know it yet.

Anyway, I boarded the bus afterwards and went to the Chinese store of my preference to buy washing powder and other such things. The bus stops almost right in front of it, so it was very convenient. Then I get back into the next bus and came home, with a little detour to Lidl. Now, that one was exhausting. I still move around very carefully, especially outside the house, and moving slowly is very, very tiring. At least I had the shopping cart to lean on it as if it had been a rollator. *g*

No cooking was needed. We still had leftover carrot soup, and I bought Zwiebelküchle at Lidl, which served perfectly as lunch. We also had coffee, and then I was very lazy for half the afternoon. Later on I dismantled and cooked the broccoli I had also bought; it will be turned into a broccoli Strudel tomorrow, while its boiling water will serve as the base for a vegetable soup. Nothing gets wasted in this household!

Again, no actual crafting got done. But I did labeled and decorated my jam jars, so they are ready for the fair. I'll try to take some decent pictures tomorrow, but knowing my nonexistent skills as a photographer you shouldn't expect much.

Current Mood: exhausted

I mean, I made more jam: blueberries with lavender and apples with lavender. Both turned out delicious, but the apple version was a lot of work. I had small, hard apples that I had to peel and cube, and it took forever. As a rule I cook standing because that is how Grandma did, and she taught me just about everything. But today I simply had to sit down in the middle of the wrestling match with the apples. *g*

I was accordingly exhausted in the afternoon. Fortunately, Mum volunteered to make the potato casserole (I boiled the potatoes and the eggs in advance), so I could be lazy, watching inane YouTube videos on my iPad.

No actual crafting was done today. However, I did label my little 40ml bottles of lavender syrup. I bought it for the jam, but they only had it in a 500ml bottle, and I needed about 20 ml for a batch of jam, so I filled the rest into small bottles and will sell it at the fair, too. The labels look pretty, so I'm content.

As for social life, I gave three different friends a phone call, and - miracles never end - all three of them actually answered their phone. I call that success.

OTOH I didn't write a word today. Too brain dead for thinking. But there's always tomorrow.

Current Mood: exhausted

... since it is Saturday, and Saturdays are always crazy busy. Well, not exactly crazy today, but busy nonetheless.

We had laundry day. Granted, Louise (the washing machine) does the actual washing, but pre-soaking things, filling Louise and then emptying her takes time and effort.

( Shopping spree )

Coming home, I made carrot soup, and we decided to have sandwiches, coffee and Quarkdessert for afters, as I really, really didn't feel up to cooking anything else. I then had a lovely phone talk with my friend Elise and subsequently took a nap.

Craftiness: I've finished the pencil holder cover. This is what it looks before gluing to the actual tin:

https://hu.pinterest.com/pin/341640321756295071/

Writing-wise I've produced two-thirds of a Din A4 page. I so love writing Vulcans, their mindset is so different, it's an adventure to try getting into their heads.

So yeah; a busy day, but a successful one.

Current Mood: accomplished

I overslept by half an hour - it felt really god, but it made my morning schedule a bit tight. Still, I managed everything just fine, and then worked a great deal on the new pencil holder. It is nearly done, I just have to stitch a few random stars onto it and then I can glue it on.

Today's writing resulted in half a page only, but at least I completed the scene I was working on. Well... if having a 200-year-old Vulcan reminiscence while slowly awakening from cryogenic sleep counts as a scene. But at least it is finished.

Cooking was quick and easy today. I only made instant soup and Topfenknödel. Alas, making Topfenknödel always results in a heap of dirty dishes of the heavy and sticky kind, so poor Mum had a hard time with them. But she insists to do the washing up, and I can only wash a few of the dishes in secret. I opened up a jar of apricot jam from 2022 to go with the Knödel; it was delicious.

The rest of the day was spent with resting, watching TV and being generally lazy. Such days are a true blessing.

Current Mood: lazy

Since I've been getting old and tired, I could only achieve one major thing a day as a rule. Today was a welcome exception. Not only have I done the grocery shopping in the morning, I also managed to work quite a bit on my pencil holder, and even wrote a full page for the next chapter of my alternate Voyager pilot. And took a nap in the afternoon and gave a friend/former colleague (now also retired) a call. *is proud*

Granted, I didn't have to cook today, save for frying a handful of frozen fish fingers, and Lidl didn't have any frozen blueberries (usually they have mountains of them), so blueberry jam with lavender will have to wait. It doesn't matter, I'll make the apple one instead, before my free apples would rot.

I've just typed up what I wrote in the afternoon and am very pleased with it. Yay for the muse ending her hibernation!

Current Mood: content

... in honour of my upcoming birthday. A bit early, granted, but the hairdresser could only come this week, so... at least we'll have a decent haircut next Friday.

I made Erbsen und Möhren for lunch and heated up two pairs of Frankfurter sausages to them. Mum approved. We only ate half the veggies, though, so I won't have to cook tomorrow, which is always a win. Especially as grocery shopping is on the list for next morning.

Crafting-wise I started another pencil holder (since the green peas I cooked came in a tin of the right size). More ugly dark green felt got used up; this will be another Christmas gnome, surrounded by bright start and pine trees. I also have a different tin - one of the chopped tomatoes - in reserve. It will have two trumpeting angels and either a bell or a large start. We'll see.

Current Mood: accomplished

I spent the morning at the dentist's. Got there by taxi, survived the spiral staircase, got home by taxi. Price-y but safe. Or as safe as getting into the car of a complete stranger can be.

Things are developing slowly on the dental front. I'll have to wait at least two weeks for my next appointment because the dental technician is having knee surgery. By this speed we won't be finished before the year ends. *sigh* I just wish to be done with it!

The rest of the day was spent with doing absolutely nothing. Well, I did make toasted sandwiches for lunch, but that was basically it. I talked to my friends, Evie and Erna, on the phone; that was nice. I slept an hour and a half in the late afternoon; walking with tiny, careful steps is exhausting. Much more exhausting than marching energetically. I hate being restricted in my mobility.

Current Mood: depressed

... was a careful one. I only realized that I'm still a bit wobbly on my feet when I left the house. Fortunately, I only needed to walk to the tram station. The tram line that goes to the Savoy Park shopping centre consists of low-floor vehicles and stops right in front of the entrance. From there on I could lean onto the shopping cart. Which, unfortunately, had a dysfunctional wheel, so I had to wrestle with it all the time. But I did get the things we needed and was back home within an hour and a half.

The rest of the day was spent with, well, resting. We had leftovers, so no cooking was needed. The only actual activity I performed was to stick the labels on three jam jars. But today's experiences made me understand that I'll have to take a taxi to the dentist's tomorrow, after all. I'm still in no shape to cross busy roads without traffic lights, aka run for my life. So, it will hurt my wallet, but - hopefully - not my hip. Climbing all those stairs at the dentist's will be bad enough.

Current Mood: tired

Today was me-day... sort of. Meaning, that beyond the usual chores I did things I actually enjoy.

Firstly, I made sour cherry jam. With lemon and thyme. It turned out delicious.

Then I gave this recipe a try:

Because my friend had brought me free apples from school and I wanted to use them before they'd go bad. The cookies turned out yummy, too, although not quite that soft as promised. Mum still enjoyed them. We had them for lunch, after the leftover potato soup.

Then I finally finished Chapter 20 of my "Alternate Caretaker" story. It's posted to both Ao3 and

otherworlds_lib. AO3 counts it as Chapter 26, because of the Prologue and the various Interludes, but as regular chapters go, it is the twentieth one.

Then I labelled my little jars of spicy mango jam. The lids are decorated with a star anise, each; that gives you an idea about their actual size:

https://hu.pinterest.com/pin/341640321756252333/

Also, I talked to H. on the phone and had a nice, hour-long nap in the afternoon. So, all in all it was a very successful day.

Addendum:
Oh, and by the way, I've finally managed to take photos of the finished birthday journal. They can be viewed here:
https://hu.pinterest.com/ekunster/my-journals-cards-boxes/ilonka-70-birthday/

Current Mood: accomplished

Okay, first things first: both my Women's whim cake and the cheesy scones turned out very delicious. Which is a relief, considering that I'd had a few baking mishaps lately. So, knowing that I haven't lost my baking mojo is a relief.

I also made spicy mango jam today. With vanilla, star anise, a pinch of cardamom and some orange zest. It also turned out great.

I used the cooking sud of the Königsberger Klopse as base for potato cream soup. Also yummy. So yeah, kitchen things went great today.

LJ, on the other hand, is slow like molasses at the moment. I hope it is only temporary. *fingers crossed*

During my late afternoon nap I dreamed that one of my recently tormented teeth had fallen out. In my dream, I was very upset of the thought that the dentist now would have to reshape the whole replacement and the entire procedure would have to start from square one. I was very relieved that it had only been a dream.

Grandma always said loosing a tooth in your dream means somebody is going to die. Since it was a painless occurance, it also is supposed to mean that the person wouldn't be someone close to me. If that were true, half of my loose acquaintances would have died, based on how (relative) often I have that dream. *g*

Current Mood: accomplished

Good news #1: My hip is almost back to its normal function. I still took a taxi to the eye doctor and back, just in case - the walk from the bus stop to the clinic is a fairly long one for an old hag whose hip had been acting up just two days previously.

Good news #2: The eye doctor didn't find anything alarming, even though the sight of my left eye might have worsened a bit, according to the see test. Or it was just tired. In any case, I have to go back for control in three months' time, and that was basically it. Only cost me three hours of waiting or so.

Not so good news: The eye doctor is switching jobs, so next time I'll see a different one. I just hope the new one will be a sensible one, too. I still don't want the surgery, and I'd prefer if I wouldn't have to fight the doctor about it. In the end it is my decision, but some doctors can be fairly unreasonable about such things.

All in all, the news are good, so I decided to celebrate tonight. By baking a Women's whim cake, for which I've just found a very simple recipe on YouTube. When I mentioned my plans, Mum asked for her favourite cheesy scones, so I'm going to make those, too. It's cold over here, there'll be only 7 degrees in the night, so having the oven running for two hours will warm up the flat very nicely.

Current Mood: relieved

I'm glad to report that my battered hip is doing much better today. It's still tender, doesn't like moving in certain directions, but I can walk with relative ease without a cane or holding onto the walls and furniture. I might not even need a cab tomorrow to go to the eye doctor; although I still might call one, just to be on the safe side. The practice is in the middle of a long street, so it might be a good idea not to risk the current improvement.

Otherwise it was a quiet day. I rested a lot, even slept more than two hours in the late afternoon. Before that, I made Königsberger Klopse, and they turned out very, very yummy. So I'll put them onto the regular menu. My friend Evie did the grocery shopping for me, which was a big relief. She's such a jewel!

I originally intended to take pictures of the finished birthday journal, but we had cloudy, rainy weather today. Perhaps tomorrow. There is always tomorrow... in theory.

Current Mood: exhausted

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Soledad's Journal

My online rambling place

Recent Entries

Is LJ down?

Not much to report

Feeling cross today

It is raining

We had a party, after all!

Disappointed

Hard days, Part 2

Hard days, Part 1

Roaming

Jamming again

Considerably less tranquil today

Another good day

Time well used

We both got prettied up

Slow progress

The first food run on my own

More baking, more jam and a new chapter

Baking success, weird dreams and the likes

Status report

Improvements