Soledad's Journal

Not that I'd gotten far. But I did the grocery shopping in the morning and went to choir practice in the late afternoon. So, there was action, even though choir practice wasn't very satisfying today. And the weather was really nice: crisp, sunny, just the way I like it.

The TEDI Teddy and the TEDI Kitten have left for their new homes. I hope they'll be appreciated. I brought home some free apples from school, so there'll be Apfelküchle tomorrow. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday anyway, which means a feast day - no meat and a limited amount of futtering. We're beyond the age when it would be mandatory, but Mum insist; and I don't mind. Apfelküchle are yummy.

But seriously, how is it possible that Lent already starts tomorrow? I'm glad I bought some Krapfen today (one for each); that's Faschingstradition and we hadn't had any during the carnival season before.

Otherwise known as St. Lucia's day. The day when you're supposed to plant the germinated wheat seeds, so that they'd sprout on Christmas Day.

First of all, I want to thank everyone who wished us luck with the concert and crossed various appendages. I'm happy to report that it worked! We got every piece right, I managed not to mess up my tiny little solo part in the Coventry Carol, and people were enthusiastic about the performance. Phew! That was another great chip off my shoulder.

Eldest cousin, who was supposed to visit us with his son tomorrow cancelled the visit. He caught some sort of virus and doesn't want to share it with Mum, which is very considerate of him. On the one hand I don't mind having a quiet day after this week - even if we're planning to do the laundry and I'm planning to use the unexpected time off for some baking. On the other hand I'd have preferred to bring all my obligations behind me and have some peace and quiet next week.

Ah, well, at least I'll be able to write my Christmas cards tomorrow and post them on Monday. I've already selected them and prepared/decorated the envelopes, so it ought to be possible.

I've been seriously sleep-deprived lately. Which is my own fault - staying up reading fanfic till 2am when I have to get up six hours later isn't the most intelligent thing to do. But the late night hours are potentially the most undisturbed ones, and I've discovered this interesting Voyager AU series a week or so ago and have been binge-reading it ever since. The overall angle is a bit too gay for my taste (I've left my very slash phase behind years ago), but considering the author it isn't surprising. But the re-imagining of the canon episodes (well, most of them anyway) with a different set of canon characters is brilliant, the world-building is highly imaginative, and all in all, it is a good read. I'll probably add a link to telekis_vendiak, my fic recommendation comm later, if the author keeps up the quality.

Of course, such short nights mean that I need serious naps on the next day, but that's doable. Usually. Unless I have to leave the house, which complicates things. *g*

Today I went to our on-site concert rehearsal (after visiting the grandparents in the churchyard). The rehearsal went surprisingly well; much better than Tuesday's regular practice, in fact. Perhaps because we didn't have piano accompaniment (our pianist lady couldn't come) and we found our tune better that way? We'll see how it goes tomorrow, when we'll have extra practice. *fingers crossed*

On my way home I did a bit of grocery shopping; well, half of it, as it became dark while I was at Aldi, and the maze that is the Lidl parking lot can't be safely navigated in darkness. So I'll go to Lidl tomorrow. I found some lovely baking supplies at Aldi; supplies that I don't actually need right now but that might vanish by the time I'll need them, so I bought them. They'll keep.

My friend Evie called after I go home and we talked for about 40 minutes or so. We had a lot to catch up, as we hadn't talked for a week, which is a rare thing for us. So, now we're both well informed about each other. :))

The best laid plans of meeces and men and all that...

In other words: I didn't go to the Christmas fair today. When I got up at my usual time (way too early if you ask me), I looked out of the window - and couldn't see the other side of the street due to the thick fog. So I decided to go back to bed and slept almost an hour longer than usual.

We went through our morning routine with some delay, and then I slept until breakfast. After breakfast I slept again for roughly two hours or so. Clearly, yesterday's cleaning frenzy did have an aftermath. Despite all that sleeping (due to which I had completely forgotten we had a short practice with the children's choir today) I'm still sleepy like whoa!

There was no need to cook - I made the veggie soup and the cauliflower strudel yesterday, after the cleaning - so I solved a few crossword puzzles, watched a bit of crap telly... and did basically nothing. But that's okay. We have a rather eventful week before us, with two additional choir practices, a visit from the hairdresser (for Mum), the concert on Saturday and a visit from my eldest cousin and his son on Sunday. So, a lazy day was a real life-saver today.

Okay, I'm royally pissed! I've been watching older episodes of "Richterin Barbara Salesch" on the Sat1 channel, and now some of them are suddenly auto-dubbed. What the freaking hell? Isn't there enough English-speaking stuff out there, now they are auto-dubbing German channels? And not just this one - I tried to watch some baking stuff, namely how to make Bratmandeln at home, and one of those was auto-dubbed, too. I've tried to find out how to remove the auto-dubbing, but apparently, I can only do that for the stuff I've uploaded myself. If anyone knows ways to do it for other videos, too, please tell me.

In other YouTube news, I'm about to go cold turkey on the stupid stuff I've been watching too much lately. I've blocked several dozen channels and hope for the best. We'll see. That will give me back a lot of time I've wasted in recent weeks.

We also had choir practice today. One of M's pets showed up again - joy, joy... not really. M finally realized that the way too ambitious Kodály piece simply isn't doable with about twenty people, more than half of whom is middle aged (to put it mildly). So we'll sing something else instead, which is, at least, a relief.

Today was filled with lots of little things. I put the last batch of cookies away in a tin, washed my hair, did a little bit of writing, went to the grocery shop to buy milk, bread and cold cuts, watched some YouTube videos, chopped pecans for tomorrow's baking session... that sort of thing.

Mum had a visit from the physiotherapist lady who took a look at her lab results and declared that she'll live forever. *g* I then left for choir practice and came home with a shopping bag full of cookie tins - my usual customers headed my call and brought storage material.

Choir practice was nice enough, save that one particular piece, albeit quite beautiful in itself, made me incredibly sleepy. No idea why. In fact, I'm still sleepy. But I have "miles to go before I sleep", as they say.

All in all, it was a pleasant day. I enjoy social life... a limited amount of it anyway.

... or so I hope. I'm getting tired of jam-making; not to mention that I have at least four other things to make for the fair.

Anyway, behold my gingered pears:



They didn't set as well as they was supposed to; probably because the wall clock in the kitchen stopped at a crucial time and I didn't realize I had overcooked the jam. With traditional methods that won't be a problem but with this Dr. Oetker jamfix it might be. Ah, well, they are thicker than a syrup, although a bit too liquid for real jam, but they taste fantastic, and that's the important thing.

Work on "Granny's Secrets", my hand-made recipe book for H's 70th birthday continues taking shape. I hope I can finish it by the day after tomorrow - basically there's just the decorating part left.

The weather continues acting up. It rained last night (fortunately just mildly, so the water stayed outside where it belongs) and when I left for choir practice it was so humid, cold and windy that I turned back from school. The clothes I had put on proved not warm enough by far, and I didn't want to develop pneumonia. I haven't been ill since I had retired six years ago, and I certainly don't want to start now! M will be put out that I didn't go to practice but my health is more important. It's not just myself I'm responsible for, after all.

... as useless craft supplies. Today, I made tiny little Christmas elves, using supplies I had bought randomly, just because they were pretty. Well, the little gnomes are pretty, too - save that they have no faces yet. I'll post a pic as soon as I've drawn their little faces; hopefully tomorrow.

Other than that, I went to choir practice today. M's pets weren't present, but even that didn't elevate the atmosphere much. I wouldn't have gone at all hadn't I had to fetch the eggs I had ordered; and I hoped to get some free apples again. Alas, all I found was a single apple, sitting in the box in its lonesome. I brought it home where it will be appreciated, but more apple jam will have to wait.

Erica brought me a bag full of empty toilet rolls. More surprise boxes are in the planning tomorrow. Fortunately, I can fold them and paint on the cat faces in front of the telly, so that will be amusing enough.

On my way home I brought Mum croissants from the corner café. She was very happy. we had a light but delicious supper. And those are all the exciting events in our life - not that I'm complaining. I really don't need any excitement beyond the news that deliver the stuff of nightmares each day.

I made the condensed milk cookies - for the first and last time. They aren't bad, per se, they're just hopelessly flavourless. Dunking them into coffee helps, but I won't make them again just for that.

I also made lunch - the kind of lunch you just have to put into the oven and leave it to cook on its own. And Tütensuppe. In the second half of the week all activities creating even more heat will be seriously curtailed, as they promise 38°C for Thursday and Friday. And really bad storms. I'm sure the balcony is going to turn into a swimming pool. *sigh*

I worked a bit on my dollhouse quiet book project. Cut out twelve red felt apples of the size of my smallest fingernail to add them to the trees on the back cover. Six are sewn on, six more to go. I also finished the bird house of Book #2; then decided that it was enough for one day. The rest of the afternoon was spent with solving crossword puzzles and watching inane YouTube videos.

Later on my friend Elise called, and though her news was not good (her father, almost as old as Mum, is currently recovering from pneumonia), it was very nice to talk to her. Choir practice also restarts next Tuesday; I wonder who'll be the next pet of our choir leader, since her fabulous soprano solist has left. Well, she'll find someone else to prefer. She always does.

The bug guy did turn out after all - perhaps for the last time. They're considering doing only big office buildings and the likes in the future for financial reason. Well, if they do so, I won't cry my little heart out. I'll just buy bug spray and apply it once a month. That's as good a prevention as anything else, right?

Sometimes there's nothing for weeks. Then everything comes together on the same day. But I'm not complaining; on the contrary.

Anyway, I got up in a fool mood. In fact, I've been in a fool mood for days, for no apparent reason (save for the heat). I almost skipped today's extra choir practice, which would have been a shame, as it took place at 2pm, when all my still active (ex-)colleagues were at school. So there was a lot of hugging and talking and laughing for the next ten minutes. It was really nice.

I managed to do what little shopping was to be done before choir practice, so I still caught the second half of "The Repair Shop" extra afterwards. And then, just when the GBBO started, another retired colleague phoned, asking if I'd like to go down to the playground next to our building, since she was there with her two little grandkids. Of course I wanted, so I hopped down, took my way-too-smart phone with me and took photos of the little cuties, so that Mum could see them, too. It was just a short encounter, but the smaller one, a little girl, I had never seen before, so I was very happy about it.

Aforementioned way-too-smart phone tells me that it's 27 degrees outside. Honestly, it feels more, perhaps because of all the concrete monstrosities all around us. I fear summer has decided to come in earnest.