Category Archives: staying home

Hessen, holidays, short breaks, trip planning

A fairly boring weekend…

The featured photo is from this time last year, which was a more fruitful time for my travel blog…

We didn’t do much this weekend, mainly because Bill has to go to Stuttgart this week on business. Our big thing yesterday, after I mowed the lawn, was to watch a German movie on Apple TV called The Lives of Others. I had watched the movie when Bill was gone last month, and I thought he’d really enjoy it. So even though we had beautiful weather yesterday, I suggested that we watch it together.

This was interesting to us, since we’re both old enough to remember East Germany– aka The German Democratic Republic.

The timing of watching this movie is timely, given that German Reunification Day was this past Thursday. Of course, that’s not a holiday for us Americans, but Germans get the day off to celebrate the reunification of East and West Germany. The Lives of Others, which came out in 2006, is set in the mid 80s in East Germany. It’s a fictional story about a hardened Stasi agent who has an attack of conscience while spying on a playwright whose actress girlfriend has caught the eye of a government official.

What makes the film especially cool is that the guy who wrote and directed it, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, was born in Cologne, West Germany in 1973, and was only 16 years old when the Berlin Wall fell. I am a year older than Florian is. I remember when it fell, too. Bill was actually living here when it happened.

When Bill lived in Germany the first time, from 1987-1990, he spent a couple of months guarding the Czech-German border. When we visited the Czech Republic the first time, back in 2008, Bill was very nervous crossing the border, because it was his old territory. He half expected to be busted by the Czech border patrol. Of course, nowadays, you can just sail right through the border with no issues. But we’re old enough to remember when that was definitely not the case.

On Friday night, there was a wine stand in our village, but we opted not to attend. It was chilly and cloudy, and we didn’t feel like drinking cheap German wine in the cold. Instead, we drank German beer, listened to my enormous playlist, and ate Armenian/Greek food from the Ararat Olymp Grillhaus in Mainz, which was available for delivery. It was delicious! We had lavash, khinkali, gyros, fries, flatbread, and tzatziki, and there was plenty left over for lunch yesterday. It’s nice to have Armenian/Greek/Georgian food so close and available to us for delivery. I do kind of miss our evenings at restaurants, though.

As for today, our big outing was to the PX/commissary, to buy me some cosmetics and food for the coming week. The commissary was pretty busy and it looked like it needed to be stocked. I guess the supply chains were running low.

I think the rest of the day will be spent on some mundane chores that need to be done before Bill leaves. We are hoping to get away sometime this month after we go to Stuttgart for our dental cleanings. We just have to line everything up with the dentist and the dog kennel. 😉 I’ve been looking for potential long weekend spots. I think we’ll stay in Germany, but I am not averse to going to a country bordering Germany, as long as it doesn’t involve a super long drive. Maybe it’s time for another trip to France.

Other than that, I don’t have much to report. The Apple Wine fest went on Friday and Saturday in Wiesbaden. It might have been nice to attend that yesterday. I forgot about it, though, until it was too late. Oh well.

I’m glad fall is here, but I kind of dread the weather turning cold and shitty. But at least I’m not being eaten alive by mosquitos anymore.

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blog news, dental, German lifestyle, Health, Sundays

Mother’s Day in Deutschland, 2024…

We had big plans to do something fun this weekend. The weather is fine, with lots of sunshine and warm temperatures. Unfortunately, we never managed to get out yesterday, because we got bogged down with chores. By the time they were done, it was mid afternoon. So we ended up enjoying the backyard, which was freshly mowed and trimmed.

Bill cooked burgers on the grill and we enjoyed lots of beer and my ever expanding music catalog on the HomePod. We weren’t the only ones who stayed home yesterday. Our neighbors on both sides were also enjoying the weather in their backyards. The featured photo is of Deschutes Black Butte Porter, which was a welcome find in the Class VI store on post. I miss American craft beers.

This morning, I woke up with a horrible crick in my neck that really hurts. It’s somewhat better now, since I took some Advil. Fortunately, we can get Advil on post, as it’s not available without a prescription in Germany. The painkiller took the edge off the crick, but it still hurts to turn my head to the right. My stomach is also still bothering me a bit…

Bill finally made me an appointment with a gastroenterologist at the local hospital. Because we have Tricare insurance, they automatically give us the chief of the service. I guess Tricare is considered private insurance here, which means we rate the so-called “best” doctors. I’m nervous about the appointment, which happens a week before my birthday next month. I haven’t seen a physician since the spring of 2010. I saw a military doctor (who was a civilian) at the now defunct Fort McPherson in Georgia for what I’m sure are gallstones… Nothing was done then. This time, I don’t think I’ll be as lucky. 🙁 I expect this doctor will want to do some rather unpleasant tests… but maybe he won’t. We’ll see. Either way, there will be drugs involved.

I truly hate going to doctors. I was severely traumatized by one years ago, and it’s caused problems for me ever since. I pretty much have to be dying before I’ll go see one. Consequently, I have no recent medical history whatsoever, other than COVID-19 vaccinations. I am a little afraid this visit will prompt a cascade of medical attention… or, at least, they’ll encourage it. SIGH… and I am now at an age at which shit starts happening. Anyway, enough boring shit about my health. At least I don’t feel too terrible. The stomach thing is mostly just an annoyance. The crick in my neck is more of a nuisance on this Mother’s Day.

I was thinking maybe we’d go somewhere today, but again, it’s Mother’s Day, and that means a lot of people will be dining out. We once made the wrong decision to go out on Mother’s Day without a reservation, and it was almost a disaster. So, since it’s a big restaurant day, and because I don’t feel that great, anyway, I think we’ll stay home and enjoy the weather in our backyard. Or, I will probably do that after I take a nap. Right now, Bill is in the kitchen, cleaning up the oven. He sure is a sweetheart… Below are a couple of photos of lunches he packed for himself this week. Everybody gets a kick out of how beautifully presented and healthy his lunches are. Meanwhile, I would prefer to eat junk.

I don’t know how I ended up with a military veteran husband who is so in touch with his feminine side. But we sure do have a lot of fun together. I was hoping to book a short break somewhere this month, but we can’t seem to get the Hund Pension to answer email… As soon as they do, we will start building our next vacation, which looks like it will take place in Iceland. So… we’ll see what the next week brings.

Hopefully, whatever is causing my stomach issues won’t be anything serious… and I won’t run screaming from the room when I meet the doctor. I also hope he’s not the type to lecture… either way, I’m sure I’ll write about it next month. Tomorrow, Bill goes in to get the next part of his dental implant done. It will involve some minor surgery. Hopefully, that will go well for him. My own implant experience was not quite as traumatic as his is turning out to be.

We also heard from Bill’s younger daughter and her children. One of them made Bill’s day by saying he wanted to say hello to “Papa”. If you know our story, you know that is a very big deal. If you don’t know it and are curious, you can check the main blog… or just understand that parental alienation after divorce is a real thing and a huge problem. But, fortunately, Bill’s younger daughter inherited her dad’s capacity to forgive, as well as his good sense.

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trip planning

Winter came back to visit…

We didn’t do anything special over the weekend. It was too cold, and the weather was moody! It rained, sleeted, and even snow flurried a bit. Then the sun kept coming in and out, like a shy toddler hiding behind momma’s skirt.

Yuck!

Bill and I decided to stay home. I got some reading done, wrote two book reviews, and put together a new chair for my office. The chair is comfortable, but a little too low and reclined. I may not keep it as a desk chair, but move it to a bedroom. On the other hand, it may be easier to play guitar while sitting on it, since it doesn’t have arms.

I also like that it doesn’t have wheels, so it won’t roll when I don’t want it to.
I ordered a cushion to give me a boost. Right now, I’m sitting on a folded cushion that was supposed to go with my outdoor chairs.

Bill also did some cooking. He made a wonderful pizza on Saturday, and a girl drink for me. Yesterday, he baked cookies and homemade bread. Then, he made me a delightful breakfast this morning. We had toast made with the homemade bread, Black Forest ham, and a fried egg, garnished with fresh fruit. I am a very lucky person to have such a great guy in my life. He spoils me rotten.

Homemade pizza
Frozen Mudslide…
Breakfast! The Black Forest ham was delicious!

We did get a quote from a tour company in Iceland this week. I think we will probably try to plan a trip there for 2024. I don’t know exactly when, but based on the proposal they sent us, I think it will be epic… and very expensive! But it’s a bucket list item, and I look forward to finding more photos for my blog.

It may be hard to believe, but over the weekend, Schauinsland, where we were a couple of weeks ago, was covered in snow! When we visited in early April, it was green and gorgeous, with spring bursting out all over the place and surprisingly warm temperatures. But the places we visited all got dumped with snow over this past weekend. I guess it just goes to show you that the weather in Germany can be very unpredictable, even when spring is well underway. Click here to see the current conditions on their Web cam. As I write this, it still looks like a winter wonderland!

I just went outside to deal with Noyzi’s “business”. It’s still quite cold outside, although at least the sun is shining. I’m about ready for this crappy weather to vamoose. I want to get back into enjoying Europe and planning more trips. But I’m sure this will be the last cold snap until September or so. Maybe. We’ll see.

I wish I had more to report, but our weekend was spent hanging out, eating, drinking, listening to music, watching YouTube, and listening to music. It wasn’t a bad way to spend the time, but it doesn’t make for the most exciting travel posts.

Edited to add: Here’s a tribute video I just put up in honor of Dickey Betts, of The Allman Brothers. It features waterfalls I’ve encountered on our travels in Germany, Austria, Slovenia, and Croatia. But we didn’t always have “blue skies” when I did the filming…

Sometimes life in Europe doesn’t suck…
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Sundays

Bill’s beautiful bread & home brewed beer in the basement…

The weather has been really crappy this week. We have snow on the ground that is a few days old, but it’s been too cold for it to melt. Consequently, it’s not very pretty to look at right now. The sky is kind of light grey and foggy; I can see my breath when I breathe; and I just don’t feel like going anywhere.

I’ve been thinking about a few possible travel related topics based on the many trips we’ve already taken. But I don’t know if it’s worth my time to write those pieces, since this blog doesn’t get that much traffic… except for a few curious posts that I wrote ages ago. I probably will write them eventually, but not until I’m feeling especially motivated. 

So, today’s post will be quick and to the point… which could be a very foreign thing, if you’re also someone who reads my main blog. I think I’m writing today’s “travel” post because I want to hear more of my nostalgia playlist before I start practicing guitar.

As I write this, Bill is in the basement preparing to start brewing his latest batch of home brewed beer. He says he’s brewing a stout this time, and he has some new equipment to try out. I am a fan of his hobby, so I’m letting him have at it. Yesterday, he baked me a gorgeous loaf of sandwich bread. I requested it a couple of days ago, because although I like the artisanal loaves he makes in our Le Creuset bread oven, I especially love the old fashioned loaves that I can more easily turn into sandwiches. 

I’m actually thinking of having a piece of that bread right now… 

I used to love baking bread. I found it a great stress reliever. As I’m writing this post, I remember that I used to bake bread in Armenia when I had an oven lent to me by the USDA. And it just occurred to me that when I bought yeast there, I knew the Russian word for it, rather than the Armenian word. I just looked both up, just to be sure… and yes, back in the 90s, we used the Russian word for yeast, not the Armenian one. I wonder if that’s changed. Maybe that’s reason enough to visit there again soon. ;)

Seriously, after we take our upcoming intra-Germany trip with Bill’s mom, we will probably plan a trip to Spain. Spain won the last champagne bucket drawing, and Bill wants to go there to explore whether or not we’d like to retire there. Frankly, I think Portugal could be a better bet… I’d like to visit there again, too. Or maybe Italy. I love Italy… even if it can take a long time to get things done there.

We had sushi for dinner last night. It was pretty great. And I expect Bill will cook a roast for dinner. It is Sunday, after all, and we like our British traditions, even if we’re Americans living in Germany. :)

Anyway, I’m pretty proud of Bill’s work on that loaf of bread. If you’d like the recipe, here’s the link. 

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Sundays

A weekend of honey dos…

I mentioned in my main blog that we didn’t really do much this weekend in terms of “travel.” Bill and I have a big, expensive, Nordic trip scheduled for next month that has eaten up a lot of our disposable income. We also have a U.S. holiday coming up this weekend during which we’re hoping to do a few day trips from the Wiesbaden area. Plus, we had some chores that needed to be done in the backyard.

I had been contemplating planning a dog friendly trip for the holiday weekend, but then I realized how much we’re spending to visit Norway, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, and Denmark next month. Then I remembered that we were denied the opportunity to see a lot of our local environs due to the COVID pandemic.

There are quite a few somewhat local places I’d like to visit, and Bill has some leave time he needs to take, anyway. So he’s going to take a few days off this week and next and we’re going to try to explore. He also needs to go see Dr. Blair again for a tooth repair, so that might get done this week or next. It sucks getting old! ETA: as I’m writing this, Bill says he has an appointment for tomorrow at 2:15PM. Guess he’ll take the ICE train. I think it takes about an hour to go from Frankfurt to Stuttgart on the train.

As for what we did this weekend… well, we tried Galliano liqueur for the first time and Bill made us a round of Harvey Wallbangers. It’s not a bad cocktail, but I probably wouldn’t order it at a bar. Maybe I’ll try one on Regent Splendor next month. 😉 Ours were missing cocktail cherries, because we didn’t have any on hand. Bill also shaved his beard and left tiny hairs all over the bathroom. I cleaned that up.

Bill went to the local “bee bomb” vending machine and bought six more capsules of seeds. We planted them in some empty planters we had. With luck, they’ll sprout and bloom, and we’ll have pretty wildflowers that will also feed the bees. I’ve never particularly been a big fan of bees, but I know they are essential to life. I read some sad stories in summers passing about bees not having enough to eat. So I’m hoping we can do our part in helping them out. I already started some bee bombs a couple of weeks ago, and we have some pretty good sprouts already going now. If you look at the featured photo, you can see the capsules of seeds in the background.

I pulled some ivy vines down off our garage and gave the patio furniture another layer of teak oil. Bill charged up my car’s battery, which I’m sure will be dead in a month. I really need to drive my car more.

Bill gathered more old clothes for the bins by the grocery store. I need to do another round of that myself. I have tons of clothes that won’t fit in my dresser, and some others that won’t fit me. 🙂

I did more yardwork, though I can hardly call it work, since we have a robot to mow our tiny backyard. I do have to use the weed whacker, though. I didn’t do much yard work yesterday because it was Sunday. We aren’t supposed to make a lot of noise on Sundays. It probably would have been okay, though. Our neighborhood is pretty chill about that kind of stuff. I wouldn’t dare use power tools on Sunday in Baden-Württemberg. That would be sure to earn me a good tongue lashing from a neighbor or the Polizei. In Hessen, it’s probably cool.

I spent some time moving more of my massive music collection from my old computer to the new one. It’s a very tedious and annoying undertaking reminiscent of when I moved this blog from Blogspot to WordPress and had to reformat a bunch of old posts… some of which are still not properly formatted.

And we also enjoyed some barbecue… spareribs last night and chicken on Saturday. It was quite yummy!

I did think wistfully about going out somewhere fun, but I really have fun with Bill wherever we are. It’s so nice to have him home again. This will be a short work week for him, so I’m hoping to have some good content later this week. We won’t be doing the “honey do” stuff this weekend… although we might do the “honey do me” stuff. 😉

I’m kidding about that… sorta. 😀

I would like to do a dog friendly trip soon. Maybe we’ll do one to pick up a new friend for Noyzi… We’ll see what the future holds.

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I like it when Bill shares his crack with me…

😉

Spring has sort of sprung here in Wiesbaden. It’s still chilly a lot of the time, but the sun has been coming out more often, and it’s raining somewhat less. I’ve done a few things this week to make our backyard a little more conducive to outdoor time.

Last week, for instance, I bought us a new wine barrel to replace the one that disintegrated after the dry summers we’ve had. The new barrel looks great and smells of wine. You can see that the old barrel is clearly kaput. The barrel sale was organized via Amazon, but was brought to us by a delivery guy who had an electric lift and a dolly on his truck. It really came in handy.

Yesterday, the weather was warmer, and the sun was out, so I tried using the umbrella I bought us two years ago. Unfortunately, it is a cheap piece of crap, and the hand crank broke. Since it wasn’t a big investment, and the local hardware store, had sun parasols in stock, Bill and I went there today to pick one up. We ended up getting one for one of our balconies, too, plus granite stands, which will work much better than the water filled tanks we’ve been using.

We’ve spent the afternoon setting up the sun protection. The hardest part was getting the 50 kilogram granite stand into the backyard. Fortunately, the bigger stand has wheels on it. Even as it was, Bill had a hard time pulling the stand into the yard. That thing is HEAVY. The 25 kilogram stand was also heavy, but manageable.

Below are some photos. Our hardware store rocks, especially if you’re a kid. They have a slide, and a coffee bar for the adults! I have raved about the hardware store before, but it bears repeating. It’s so nice!

The new umbrella is better quality than the old one is, but it’s not as big. However, it fits better in the space we have, and because it’s from Austria instead of China, it will probably hold up better. I didn’t even get two years out of the umbrella we’re replacing. I just need the umbrella to block the sun in the afternoons, so I can sit outside and not go blind.

The granite stands weigh so much, but they are steadier, look much nicer, and don’t leak water like the ugly plastic tanks do. They also aren’t homes for earthworms.

Below are some photos of Bill, hard at work… I love it when he shares his crack with me. Now, we just need some flowers, and maybe some new cushions for the chairs. I even got a cute bottle opener for the outside. Just need to hang it. Taking apart the old umbrella was a real pain.

I didn’t put up the umbrella, because our sun went away… We don’t sit out there very often, but now that we have an umbrella, maybe we will start.

It’s been a rather busy day. It would have been nice to go somewhere and have some fun, but since the weather turned on us, maybe it’s just as well that we got some chores done.

Bill started sanding our table today, too, before he ran out of battery power. He bought a new sander last weekend. Once that’s done, we can stain and varnish the wooden table and chairs down in the garden and things will look a lot nicer. I think I’m turning German!

By the way… the saying on the featured photo is, “Home is where the beer is.” They had German signs, too, but they didn’t say that, nor did they have little drop boxes for the caps. That’s why I went with my native language… 😉

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Less than 48 hours with Bill…

Bill got home from his latest TDY at about 7:00pm on Friday night. Unfortunately, he has to leave again this afternoon for another three nights in Bayern/Bavaria. At least it’s just part of the week. I hate it when he travels without me. 😉 March seems to be the worst month for business trips.

I was kind of hoping we could go out for lunch yesterday, but Bill had some errands to run, and the weather was kind of crappy. We had sun, but it was cold and windy. Today, we have a wintry mix. March in Germany is typically like this, with totally random weather. One day, it’ll be sunny and kind of warm. Another day, it’ll rain or snow, or there will be terrible wind. Friday we had wind so scary that Noyzi didn’t want to go outside. Then there are the days when we get sun, rain, snow, wind, and hail in the same few hours.

Anyway, the upshot is, as usual, my travel blog isn’t very interesting. I promise more engaging posts are coming soon. We have to go to Stuttgart at the end of the month, and that means if Arran is still with us, he will probably be boarded. Or maybe we’ll take him and board Noyzi. I hate to put Arran in boarding now, even though I know he’ll be well taken care of. He much prefers to be with us.

Speaking of Arran, he just had another chemo treatment the other day. He’s still pretty sparky and vibrant, although the tumor on his side is about the size of a large plum or a small peach. It doesn’t seem to hinder him much, although I have caught his scratching it a few times. He still eats, sleeps, wants to take walks, and even runs around sometimes. Again… he’s done amazingly well on the chemo, and totally surpassed all of our expectations. And the chemo has been affordable, and not that difficult for him to endure.

Of course, not all dogs react the way Arran has. We never had the chance to try chemo with our late dog, Zane, but I don’t think he would have done as well. The lymphoma he had appeared to be much more aggressive, and he wasn’t as strong as Arran is. Throughout his life, he had more health problems. Arran has always been very healthy and strong, having no problems with allergies or sensitive stomach issues.

In any case, you can see by the below video that Arran is still quite full of beans…

The boys were so happy to see Bill! So was I!

Meanwhile, Bill and I have been talking about places we might visit at some point soon. Most of the places we’re thinking about would probably require a plane ride. I haven’t flown since November 2019. I discovered some interesting places in the Baltics, for instance. Yes, we could drive, but it would take a long time. On the other hand, we drove to Germany from Sweden in the summer of 2019, so it’s doable. Just got to use a ferry for some places…

Sweet Noyzi from Kosovo… he’s come such a long way, and he’s absolutely adorable…

Noyzi just came in here and put his head on my thigh, asking for a pat on the head. He just had a much needed bath, and it wasn’t easy to get him in the tub. But once I got him in, he stood there and let me wash the stink off of him. He sure has become an adorable, lovable family member. Arran is being nicer to him, too. I think it’s because he knows that pretty soon, it’ll just be him here with us until another dog comes our way.

I don’t look forward to saying goodbye to Arran, but I am ready to travel again. This week, the most interesting things that happened were that I drove to the store and bought more beer… and they had a noticeable shortage of Hefeweizen. And then, I went to the vet with Arran for his chemo, and didn’t have to wear a face mask. That was notable. In fact, I wondered if I’d ever see the day.

Arran has another treatment on Wednesday… When I brought him home the other day, he actually ran around the house like a nut after I took him off the leash. Don’t ever let people tell you that chemo for dogs is like it is for humans. It’s definitely not.

The only other notable things that happened involve the sound system in our house. I finally managed to tame the four Echo Dots I bought, so they are programmed to play in groups. And I got a new HomePod, which I put behind the TV in our bedroom. The sound is a hell of a lot better on the TV now. It will make watching movies better. I might buy another one for the other TV. It’s that much improved.

Well, that about does it for today. Hopefully next weekend, I’ll have something more interesting to write about in my travel blog. Cheerio.

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holidays

Milking MLK weekend for all it’s worth…

I can’t believe we’re already in the middle of January 2023. Time sure is flying. Ordinarily, we would have used Martin Luther King Day weekend for a short trip somewhere. But we haven’t been living in ordinary times for awhile now. Last year, we had COVID to deal with. This year, it’s Arran’s cancer.

Actually, we probably could have gone somewhere. He’s not so ill that he can’t be boarded. All he needs is Prednisolone every other day, a vet visit every other week, and Endoxan twice a week, every other week. This week, he just got the Prednisolone, which would have been easy for our regular boarding facility to manage. I just don’t want to board him if I can avoid it, because I know he’d rather be with us.

Noyzi loves being boarded, but I don’t want to drop him off and take Arran with us. That’s a hassle. Taking Noyzi with us is also difficult, because takes up the whole back end of our car. It’s better if he gets boarded. It’s hard to shop when the dog takes up all the cargo space. At this point, we have plans to go to Stuttgart at the end of March. The dogs will be boarded for that.

It was a lot easier to travel when we had Zane, as he and Arran could share the back seat. Zane also didn’t mind going to the potty on the leash. We did manage to get Noyzi to poop on the leash when we took him to France, but it took awhile. On the other hand, Zane was a lot louder and naughtier than Noyzi is. We were more likely to get yelled at by locals when we traveled with Zane.

The weather in Germany was pretty gloomy this weekend. We’ve had rain every day. While it’s not super cold, it is pretty windy and blustery. I still have a touch of cabin fever and would like to get out and do something fun. Then I look at the depressing weather and decide to hibernate.

It’s not all bad, though. I used the fireplace last night, which is always nice. I wish we had seating in the living room that makes the fireplace easy to enjoy. I like this house a lot, but the downstairs layout could be better. The living room is like two rooms that open into the dining room.

I was thinking the other day… I’d like to turn the dining room into an extension of the kitchen. Put in a pantry and a wine fridge, and move our spare fridge upstairs. Maybe install a kitchen island. and more counter space, and put in a door to block the kitchen from the living room. Too bad this isn’t my house and I don’t have tons of money. 😉

Bill and I spent the weekend watching movies, listening to music, drinking wine, and talking. He tried out making calzones with the empanada makers I got him for Christmas. They tasted good, although his presentation technique needs some polish. I’m sure he’ll get a chance to practice. He also tried a couple of new recipes from one of the cookbooks I got him.

I have been giving some thought to places we’d like to visit this year… I know Bill wants to go to Spain and/or Portugal again. I’d like to go to the Baltics, or maybe Finland. I’d also like to visit Brno in the Czech Republic. There are more exotic places we’d like to go, as well. They would require flying, which I’m still not sure I want to do unless I have to. I do know, however, that I’d like to venture out beyond the usual countries… France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, and the like.

For now, though… we’re at home. At least Bill got lots of sleep, which he really needs. Below are some photos… The first, second, and fourth are of the calzone experiment. The fifth is of some Bearnaise Sauce Bill tried to make using a new recipe out of a Michel Roux cookbook I bought him.

The last photo is a bottle of wine a friend bought that comes from Bauerwein.de, a winery in the Pfalz. They have lots of wines with funny names. There’s one called Bullshit, and another called If You’re a Terrorist, Racist, or Just an Asshole, Don’t Drink My Wine. I could list more, but some of the names are really long and I have another blog post to type. I’m thinking of ordering a bunch. If we’d had nicer weather, maybe we would have paid them a visit. Their outfit is about 80 minutes away from us.

I’d really like to kick the travel blog back into gear in 2023, although I don’t have plans to publicize it much. I can see there are a lot of people who are better at this than I am… and make YouTube videos, and shit. I just put songs on YouTube. 😉

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President’s Day weekend, 2022…

I know I usually update this blog at least once a week. Before COVID hit, I would write even more regularly than that, because Bill and I were always going out to eat or traveling somewhere. The last two years have definitely been *different*. Even before we came back to Europe in 2014, we would go out to eat pretty often. Nowadays, it’s a very rare treat, just because going anywhere is a pain in the ass right now.

But that reality may be a memory soon, as COVID cases are finally declining again. The weather is warming up, and more people are getting vaccinated, getting sick and recovering, or dying. I noticed a recent headline indicating that Germany is on the brink of a recession, thanks to COVID. So, I would imagine that the restrictions will probably be loosened next month, because money is important. Ready or not, the world will probably have to open up soon. I am ready for it. But besides the need for business to resume, cases really are going down here. And the severity isn’t as bad as it has been. Or so the headlines say today.

At this writing, we’re still planning to visit Stuttgart to see the dentist next week, then head to France for the weekend. Maybe we’ll have a chance to visit Bitche, which is a militarily important town in France, and has the distinction of having had its Facebook page taken down without explanation. I have a feeling a bot decided Bitche was a bullying page. When I read about that happening, I wasn’t surprised. I was, however, disgusted by the ignorance. I really feel like Facebook needs human beings running it.

Europe is rife with places that have “profane” names. Or names that are profane in English. English is not the only language there is, though. Sadly, some European towns are changing their names thanks to obnoxious tourists. The Austrian town of Fucking, for instance, is now called Fugging, because people were fucking under the signs or stealing them. I’m glad we had a chance to visit before the name change happened on January 1, 2021.

Anyway, since I titled this post “President’s Day weekend, 2022”, I guess I should write about what we did this year. And the answer to that question is, not a whole hell of a lot. Bill ate stinky cheese from France. We drank wine and talked a lot. I did some writing, and Bill finally replaced the strings on his Telecaster. I started watching my Facts of Life DVDs, which gave me a temporary return to my 1980s era girlhood. Arran and Noyzi got some quality time with Bill, with lots of snuggles. I cleaned the inside of the glass on the oven door, which is a nasty job. Last week, Bill took some online courses at the Carl Jung Institute. Originally, he was going to go in person, and I would have joined him, but we decided not to go because of COVID rules.

I took this photo in February 2021, when Bill first got his guitar. He just now changed the strings. But he still loves that shirt, as you can see in the photos with Arran.

I truly hate not traveling on the long weekends. I have some hope that this will be the last time we will have to forgo our usual long weekends. There’s still so much we want to see in Europe. But we’ll see. COVID is always mutating, so this could be an issue for awhile yet. But at least I might finally get to get my Bitche on next week. I’ve been curious about that town for awhile. And Bill will enjoy the military aspect, since that’s his life. I hasten to add that we haven’t been staying home because we have to, due to the local rules. It’s more because the rules make traveling a pain in the butt, and not much fun. That will hopefully change very soon.

These photos sum up our holiday weekend. Not bad, I guess… there are worse ways to spend a weekend. But I hope we can do better next year. With any luck, the times soon may be a’changing. At least Bill managed to finish reading Maus.

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Hessen, pandemic

Another week of not much to report…

This time of year, especially during a pandemic, is for the birds. The weather is wet, cold, and yucky. Add in the crazily contagious Omicron variant of COVID-19, and Germany’s ever changing pandemic rules, and it’s tough to keep a travel blog going.

We did have a couple of fun developments this week, though. The less exciting one is that Noyzi and Arran got baths yesterday. That may not seem like a big deal, except that it was only Noyzi’s third bath in his lifetime, and he’s already about three years old. He was getting kind of stinky. I keep watching dog grooming videos on YouTube, and the groomer is always talking about how important it is to groom one’s pets. I decided that it was time for Noyzi to get a bath, and we decided to bathe Arran, too. Now, both of them smell much better, and Noyzi’s coat is all soft and shiny. He likes baths, too, so that’s a good thing. I would hate to have to wrestle him in the tub at his size. He’s a big boy. Incidentally, Noyzi loves to watch dog grooming videos. He’s as fascinated by them as I am, although for different reasons.

The more exciting development is that my husband’s daughter found out that she’s expecting another son in a few months. She announced the gender in a really cute way… using pink and blue ice cream cups. I know she’s excited, as are Bill and his mother, who were kept out of her life for many years. I am excited too, I guess. I knew she was carrying a boy, just like I knew she was pregnant before she announced it, just because Bill had said she looked like she was glowing on a Skype call back in September.

I’m feeling a little down today, for a lot of reasons, so I’m going to keep this post short. I hope next week, I’ll be a little less depressed.

Apparently, she’s been craving pickles a lot.

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