ProseKnitic – of Words und Wolle

before the meter ran out.

All of this started with a trip to Prakitker for a radiator key. No, wait, that is sort of the end of the story rather than the beginning. It really started with the morning’s outing – Maus having a early Drs appointment. She thought 0800, I thought 0900. It was too cold to wander around for an hour so I got to enjoy an hour of knitting in the waiting room. Since she survived her torture, we headed off to do a bit of shopping (tights are a necessity if you persist in wearing dresses and skirts in NYC). Then of course there is Lebkuchen and Gummi Bears. At this point, packages in both of our hands that I broke down and sprung for a cab home rather than walk the entire length of the Hauptstrasse, take the strass and still have to hike up the hill.

Besides, my excuse was that we really needed to get home since round #2 was about to begin. The Mole had an appointment this afternoon during which time I managed to run a couple of errands and get in almost an hours worth of knitting while someone (I will not mention her name but she is really time lagged) nodded off to sleep a couple of chairs over.

Radiator key in hand – we (Maus and I) took the Mole on a detour. He now has replacements for his hiking shoes which were falling apart and didn’t object when we added a couple of sales sweaters to his shopping pile.

The meter cost a Euro and was good only for an hour. We made it back from downtown just in time and in just enough time to notice the Indian take away place.

We took curry home.

But first, for the skeptics in the group – my new shoes are bright – you can see them here.

After getting up early so as to not miss the furnace guy, I headed back to my bed for just a few minutes. I swear, I only closed my eyes for a second. Suddenly, it was 0845 and he had come and gone. I never even heard the buzzer. The Eldest had, and she did the letting him in the door honors and the Mole talked to him.

Obviously, by a few hours later it was obvious that at least some of the radiators were working. Which reminds me – it is “registers” when you have forced air heat and radiators when you have water running through them, right? It may take a few days for everything to warm up, but it is now higher than 12C in the house.

Oh, yes and the missing piano bench I have been hunting since May? It was behind the door in the furnace room where it had been masquerading as a step stool.

 

In fact, if I hadn’t picked up my rainbow sneakers, today would have been a total and complete waste of time. As it turns out, the furnace guy is not coming till tomorrow (fill in grumbling by off-spring who quietly got up this morning in case the door needed to be answered. No issues till the Mole called in the afternoon to find the correct day was Wednesday.).

And then there is the Red Cross. They don’t want to process me as a volunteer in case I might start working. Says it gets things confused. Go Figure. Meanwhile, CPO apparently still can’t find its way clear. Think they will about the time I get on a plane for Mallorca..

As a result, I achieved little today that was useful.

Except that I have rainbow running shoes (New Balance – trust me – this are bright!)

today marks 61 years. From the number of comments on other posts and in my email I figured not to wait till the end of the day to write since it seems that most of you remember from last year. Speaks to all of your great organizational skills.

I mentioned dinner last night, George took me to brunch today. The girls were most gracious with the Eldest finding me goodies and baking a small cake just for me; the Mole cleaned his room. Maus sent me email just after midnight.

I got a nice nap in the sun since we are having wonderful weather, did a bit of knitting and am listening to Howl’s Moving Castle.

And, if you want a bit of real fun – go read Mur Brewster’s comments on baking pies (as she has just survived another birthday).

After making large number of plans for today – I blew them all off. George was not exactly feeling up to snuff and managed to snore most engagingly for a good portion of the afternoon after wiping out on cold remedies.

It is also the first of Oct – I could lift my ban on new knitting/sewing projects. Or maybe alternate new things with finishing old?

In spite of my promise for nothing new in Sept – I managed three scarves (traveling and out of knitting), one test knit (a cowl) while frogging 6 items and finishing up three shawls, a baby pod, a vest, a cardigan and a pair of socks. The UFO/WIP pile has been diminished. In fact, it all fits into one container (well, it will as soon as I put away the yarn) and add the SOA which has been hanging around since before Kuwait. I think I had forgotten about that one. I even had started finishing the Norwegian Star Vest (1999) and was doing well till I ran out of yarn. As soon as I figure out which of all of those boxes has the last skein of grey – it can be completed as well.

So – should I start something new? Or continue up the back of Chess for George?

In other events – the crew took me out for dinner last night. We tried The Sahara at 165 Hauptstrasse. The food was ok, the service was horrible. Not because the waitresses didn’t care, but simply there was no way the three waitstaff could cover the entire restaurant, outside eating area and counter when the weather was lovely and the take-away was brisk. It is back to Cedars (Hauptrasse 105) for me.

One of the things that had not occurred to me when I retired was that checking the mail was to be a pain; similar to when I was in the UK. Not exactly local, although a few miles each way is much more convenient than 65 miles each way, I have to actually plan and execute the trip.

Plan it because it makes no sense to arrive at a time that the post office is not open in case I might just have a package. Executing the mission is just one more thing to add to the day. It doesn’t happen when I am out of town. Almost all financial correspondence comes these days electronically. Periodicals arrive via the German Post. Certainly we get enough junk mail and shopping flyers to fill the paper bin each month.

So when I get asked if something has arrived I answer without ever thinking about, or mentioning the last time I even checked for mail. Nope – nothing.

Instead of – yes – I have packages!

Including this totally pathetic and abused package. Please ignore my coffee cup. There were two books and a comic from a fellow SciFi fan in Baltimore. First mailed to my deployment address in Afghanistan it was forwarded to the 62nd’s rear detachment at Joint Base Lewis-McCord since we had all left end of March. One of the sergeant’s there figured out that I wasn’t in the unit and sent it on to me here. Only took a bit over 3 months all told.

I also received a number of patterns ordered from Reconstructing History.

Most importantly, there was a package that left California 30 Aug 2011

a card and this luscious scarf tucked into a bag for save keeping.

A wonderful shade of red, this scarf is so soft and airy yet warm. It will brighten up my winter and coordinate beautifully with my grey coat. I knew it was out there in the mail only because Alison had inquired when I hadn’t said anything a month after it had been sent. So no, it wasn’t lost. It arrived at our local APO about 13 Sept, after my last visit to the post office prior to catching that Space-A flight from Ramstein.

From now on I will have to caveat everything with “please remember, I only go to the post office every 2-3 weeks and haven’t checked my box since (fill in date>.”

So I have a strange sense of humor and, after wearing nothing but hand knit socks for years have begun buying bright, colorfull comercial socks now and again.

The first time was in Monoco when I discovered Berthe aux Grand Pieds (not the woman, but the socks). Since then I have occasionally picked up fun socks when I found them.

Imagine my delight when Hancock”s Fabrics, AC Moores and Joann’s Fabrics all put their Halloween things on sale in September. I don’t know about you, but I thought that the party didn’t start till 31 Oct.

Anyway – for $1/pair – rather than doing laundry I wore a few pairs during the second half of my stateside trip. Since neither daughter here seemed at all thrilled, I still have these -

to wear for the rest of the month.

As I am sitting in Heathrow T5 for hours on end I am wondering at why I did this to myself.

Oh, right! $600 savings, that is why. Changing planes was cheaper than a direct flight, especially with only 7 days advanced purchase (and a return date more than 1 month in the future). Thinking about it now, I should have taken the puddle jumper to Philadelphia and then Singapore Airlines, but I didn’t.

Anyway – somehow I missed read the time I got in vs the time my flight departed. We arrived ~ 1100 after circling London a few times on the flight path merry-go-round. My outbound flight was 1645. That is almost 6 hours – and Ocean Nessie – complete with beads

was finished and I was out of knitting.

Can you believe it? The woman who always travels with 4-5 times the number of knitting projects that could ever be completed was out of yarn! I wasn’t out of reading material and after trawling through the shops it became obvious that I was not purchasing anything (sorry, but L465 for a leather iPad cover is really stretching it, even if it is by Mulberry. At least in the opinion of someone who bought a great padded leather case for her iPad on sale at less than 30$US).

I read from London to Frankfurt. Took the train from Frankfurt to Mannheim and actually managed to connect to the WiFi – letting my three at home know that I was on my way.

Exhausted, I got off the S-Bahn connection from Mannheim at the Heidelberg Westadt-Suedstadt stop to find Ms Soprano and the Gwennie waiting for me. Hiking home in the dark (now going on 36 hours of wakefulness) I was more than grateful for the company and someone else to carry the back-pack and computer bag. The Gwen behaved like a perfect lady on the leash which was good because there is no way that I could have held on should she have bolted.

Being home, in my own bed is wonderful.

in this box?

This is Odin, Carmen’s cat who, in typical cat fashion appeared the moment the box landed on the floor. He is not a small cat. While the box is not all that tiny,

as you can see he well overflows the box.

None the less, like the traditional joke where the foolish woman asks her husband a question about her appearance then is stunned and startled by the answer, so is Odin not pleased when we started to laugh as both Carmen and I started the joke at the same time. Just filling in the “So, do I look fat in this box?” for the traditional inquiry about pants.

 

In the last couple of days I have made significant progress in cleaning up the studio. There are several quite easy to understand reasons for the cleanup. Perhaps the most important was that I could no longer get anything done. The disaster area had just about driven me around the bend.

I also had committed to having several friends from the local knitting groups over for a craft morning – which just happens to be tomorrow. I would much rather sit around in the studio where I have everything we could possibly needthan risk people losing pins in the living room furniture.

You remember me showing you pictures of piles of boxes? All those boxes had to be emptied. I was down to the last few, which really didn’t help since those contained all the hard to figure out things. Plus – there are two ways to clean -

*Sort as you go and put away at the end

*Deal with each item as you go so there is nothing left at the end.

I decided to go the second route – and not handle most things 2-3x as I went.

And once I started taking it out of the boxes, or off the top of the boxes things started looking a whole lot worse before I could see any progress at all.

which is actually amazing considering that I found the floor at all. Something like hours (maybe days) later and several bags of trash and shredded papers, I realized that I was putting stuff on the desk, messing up the one area that might have been ok prior to my cleaning start.

When things got too insane, I borrowed the guy

who helped me scrub out the windows, do yet another round of vacuuming and carry out extra stuff. This was, of course, made possible by finally getting enough boxes moved and cleaning off the window sill (said window was solid stuff when I left for the UK so I can’t blame the entire mess on the fact that the movers dropped off all those boxes in my studio).

As of 2200 -

The room has been reorganized. I can get inside the cabinet and reach all the shelves. The various stuffed animals are on safe perches and not susceptible to being snatched by the retriever for ransom (or chewing).

My table is now on the sunny end of the room with plenty of extra space, printer and counter with the use of the window area.

And I even beat the deadline by 11 hours…….

Several days ago – I discovered the following mess on the living room floor.

This is not exactly how I pictured trying to use these particular yarns. They were in a bag, minding their own business when they were captured, tortured and given a shaking for good measure.

Ms Soprano then was privileged, as the responsible adult, to unsnarl the whole mess.

who apparently has been know to act like a feline.

Check off another year!

In honor of our anniversary, the weather today was hot. Sun shining, birds singing and the house needed cleaning.

Sometimes I wonder if any of the fundamentals of my life have changed at all.

We managed to load the car this morning chock full of things which needed to go to the recycle center. Stopping on the way, we had breakfast at Juice. Mini-omelets with tomatoes, feta and olives. Flat bread with cheese, milch kaffee and, of course, juice.

Open and airy without the echos that come with many of the modern designs, it also looks like a nice place to stop in the afternoon for a cup of tea and a bit of knitting. The service personnel are excellent and friendly (bucking also the trend trendy places needing waitstaff who sneer at customers).

Just as good as dinner last night at our favorite Thai restaurant. And that sums up the special things we did together since I am not really counting emptying out the car or sorting things in the basement storage rooms or attempting to get screens on a couple of windows.

Our evening had been preempted by a friend of George’s (dating back to the kids in the Altstadt Kindergarten) who was celebrating his 65th birthday. The salad was excellent, as was the pumpkin soup with the fresh fruit in chocolate mouse to die for.

Otherwise – I am listening to Tom Smith’s Death Sheep Radio which has a nice mix of filk, political satire and general whacky humor. The studio recordings in the play list are by far better than the live recordings, but hey – I am not complaining. I need the up as I wade through the studio which is in that horrible situation of looking worse before it gets better. I am down to the last box, I can see the window desk top and there are enough sucked dry insects to prove that spiders rule over all.

I promise pictures on Monday. Honest.

I certainly don’t think of myself as a hoarder, but I do have a lot of stuff. It is occupying space in more than a few rooms in this house. There is yarn, wool, fabric, sewing machines, books, magazines, spinning wheels, puzzles, knitting needles and computer equipment in the studio. There are books and knitting in the bedroom. There are bookcases and storage containers in the hall. There are books and more computer stuff in the office; there are full bookcases, spinning wheels and a weaving loom in the entry way. There are books and a small amount of wool in the living room (and two spinning wheels? not sure and have to check).

I am not wedded to most of this stuff. I have “plans” for a large amount of it – but much of it I would happily give to someone who was going to make use of it. I don’t save things that I might not use. I throw out things that don’t work and can’t be fixed.  I don’t have all the shoes, clothing or sweaters that I have ever bought or made. I have lots of thermos coffee mugs (still looking for the perfect one) but have been known to pass on/toss out those that I don’t want any more, don’t work well or are missing their lids.

I have been steadily weeding out books, yarn and fiber; finding homes for many of the items with someone who will love them more than I.

All of this leads me to our three storage rooms in the basement: another part of the interlocking mess that is our home. The furthest back room has been home to suitcases and a dozen cardboard boxes since we moved into the house. Going through them today – there is a set of three suitcases with clothes in them that arrived in 2006. Said items were originally left with me in Kuwait in 2003 for safe keeping while a fellow officer went to the HQ in the Green Zone. She hadn’t picked them up by the time I left in 2004. When my successor was leaving Kuwait in 2006, they were mailed to me (clinic was closing and relocating) because I was in Europe and MPS was free.

For a number of years I attempted to return the things. Finding the officer once, she laughed her head off that I still had them because she had effectively forgotten about them. Never did get any disposition instructions. Six years? I don’t think that there is any point in hanging on to them any longer. Tomorrow they are going to PHV and going on the free shelves. This is sturdy, middle of common sense pants and shirts (of the kind most often worn by civilians on deployment) and someone will get use out of them. The suitcases will also land there, again someone have something better than Walmart.

And then there are the VCR tapes, boxes of them. I am not referring to commercially produced tapes, rather all the shows taped from the TV in the early 1980s. Primarily German kids stuff, there are a few movies and educational programs as well. No one volunteered to burn them onto DvDs, so they will also make a one-way trip to the recycle center (except for those that one friend said she might find takers for).

Did I mention every backpack, suitcase and messenger bag that we have ever bought was hiding back in that room? Well almost every one. There are a couple upstairs right now and it looks like the brown set we had when first married are no longer around. Some of the packs and cases have rips, tears and scuffs gouged half-way through the bottom. This is before we discuss mold, stains and old lunches that have petrified. I now have the box of “things to disgusting to donate or pass along.”  Don’t you think that single, worn through shoes and torn curtains fall into the same category?

Now, none of this stuff is mine. So I am not a hoarder…. Right?

 

There are all these new procedures out there to make it safe and better for you.

Never mind that in the process you can go totally insane. For example – we got Social Security Cards for the kids when they were all infants. Meant that there were no problems along the way when the IRS started insisting on those very same numbers being on any tax return where you claimed said young’uns as dependants.

With the younger crew, it means we did that between 18-22 years ago. No hassles, right? And the cards were put in a safe place so that they would not get lots. I even made copies of them just in case. Fast forward to the Mole trying to do his selective service registration – first we find that you can’t do it from overseas without going to the Consulate (or, perhaps the local military passport office, but I will get to that later). While he was in the US last year, he got on line, only to find out that his SSN was “wrong.” He was reading it off his ID. What he had on his ID card did not match what we had on the IRS forms, but confusion had been introduced into the system.

Our tax records matched the Social Security Admin’s Database and the correct number is on his registration. Back to the challenges: for whatever reason, the guys never got the number fixed in the Army system. Further, banks want SSN verification prior to opening up checking/savings on young people. Using the number on his ID card obviously bounced when it was checked and he became flagged somehow.
The Army, bless their rules, were willing to take either his SSN card (we don’t have it) or his Selective Service Document as proof of the correct number and make the change. Asking them to print out a DEERS form for validation – lo and behold – DEERS now assignes a DOD ID number and no longer uses SSNs as of 1 June. Good for security (maybe) but bad in terms of validating what number the Mole really has.

(Aside here – the difference in the numbers was one digit in the middle of the last four which maybe why we never spotted it. Wrong number duplicated.)

The Military Passport office does in fact do the paperwork for Social Security Cards. They have the forms, make copies of all the supporting documents (two forms of proof of citizenship – never mind that a passport is a derivative based off the birth certificate which was the other document which was required), and sends them off to the Consultate in Frankfurt who will mail him his card sometime in the next 4-6 weeks.

Meanwhile, I am about to have another go-round with the bank. I think they should take the Selective Service paperwork since that particular organization independently verifies the SSN.

The recommendation I have for all of you is to go and check to make sure that you have the basic life documents that you need. It is much easier to get birth certificates, SSN cards, marriage licenses, death certificates, and the like when there is no pressure. Then figure out a decent filing system so that you don’t have to dig through a desk piled so high with stacks and binders that an avalanche would be inevitable. When we get that far in the cleaning – you will get a before and after photo.

As September rolls around every year, I take stock and try to do some sorting out.

It is not just that I am thinking on an academic school year calendar, it is that Fall (and the High Holidays) seem more year-end to me than does New Years. Academic calendars really don’t impact on me directly – more on the off-spring. Medical personnel get on a 1 July schedule with Internships and Residencies; a fact that is reinforced by the military summer PCS cycle for docs which happens in July as soon as training is finished giving an underlap with those who departed in May/June to meet the 1 July starting date.

It is more taking the month of September and using it to clean up and catch up. Sorting out the studio, finding homes for things that I am never going to use, and frankly – not starting new knitting projects. Not buying any yarn is a good secondary goal. Or fabric – let me not forget to avoid buying more fabric. I don’t have quite enough fabric and patterns to start my own shop (unlike perhaps with yarn) but I could get close given half a chance.

I have convinced myself that a couple hours a day of cleaning and organizing followed by knitting time with audio books really doesn’t sound too unreasonable. After all, besides the studio there is the back hall, the entry way, the living room cupboards, the office and probably about 3000 books on various book shelves.

We made a start today. Ms Soprano gave me a hand this afternoon and logged about 80 books onto BookCrossing while I emptied two more good size boxes and put together another two bags of yarn looking for new homes.

The following is probably only of interest to fiber folks:

I took stock of knitting projects and am not surprised at the number of partly completed things:
1) I have a couple of things listed on Ravelry – they have been uncompleted for years and I am not sure that I really care, but would be too much a pain to rip.
2) then there is a heavily cabled sweater out of handspun that is 3/4 of the way finished. Started in 2003, I was headed down the body when I left for Kuwait. Knitting wool in 50C was not an option and knitting pretty much fell by the wayside for those 15 months.
3) between 2004-2007 – anything that was started has either been completed or frogged (Rip-it party in 2008)
4) however I now have several large projects just begging for finishing, all but one started prior to Aug 2010 when I headed for Afghanistan
a) Lastrada – a Hanne Falkenberg pattern in two pieces. The first is done, the second about 1/3. I am still at the infinitely long rows of garter stitch stage
b) Donna – another HF pattern. The body is complete, only needing the collar grafting. The first sleeve is half done and the second one is only a few rows into the pattern.
c) Swing Coat – body is 3/4 complete (only part of one front remains) and the first sleeve is done. This is an Australian designer and there are going to be a ton of ends as the garment is made of mitred diamonds. I love the colors and design, but not sure in which life time it might be completed.
d) Chess – Men’s Sweater started this spring (2011) when I got back. the Front is complete and I am 1/2 way up the back. I had lost the pattern for a while. Then found the pattern but lost the yarn. All are now in the bedroom on top of a bookcase so I have little excuse…

5) Digging through bins and baskets – three half done first socks turned up all of which will be frogged (two are plain and the third an intricate twisted stitch pattern, but I have no idea which pattern…). I have already frogged six different shawls, none of which were beyond the first 10-20 rows. No patterns with any of them – so what is the point in leaving them on needles?

Then there is the forever afghan which is 30 cm high and 500+ stitches long in feather and fan.
And the green pod for the Eldest to use in her photography.
And Nazo (a really cool vest for me for this fall).
And Aeolian Shawl (beads on stems, slows you down but looks really cool once you get the hang of a 1.00 mm crochet hook)

Time to crawl off to bed – I am tired just reading the list!

It is only one day, right? I mean really, I made a couple of runs with various assorted off spring who had appointments (thought they had appointments or needed to get paperwork) over at the hospital. Ms Soprano and I stopped at the Rohrbacher Rathaus to drop off paperwork to make the pup legal (not saying that she is not owned, just that she is not in the German system which would make it harder to get her back should she decide to go tearing off).

I finished up the baby pod I started two days ago (pix tomorrow) and decided that Patton’s Fairy Tale needs a tighter gauge than recommended since it grew when wet rather than tightened up. I knit another few cm on the green one.

But mostly I indulged in Big Fish Games. You know them? Suck you in by offering the higher end versions of the games for the regular price? Downloaded directly to your computer and pay in whatever currency takes your fancy? Buy enough and you even get coupons for more the following month.

Maus likes this particular type of game a lot. I usually like mindless versions of Match 3 or solitaire. The Mole (out of his room numerous times today – and BTW – his room is clean) likes strategy and world building games with past detours in WOW. The Eldest will play a bit of anything (she has been trying out a few games) but really doesn’t waste much time in that direction at all. Ms Soprano hasn’t shown much interest that I know of. George? I think he may have moved up a level in solitaire as the iPad is terrific for Spider.

But this past weekend, I bought a few Hidden Object Games.

You know the kind? Find strange things hidden in plain sight combined with puzzles? The story lines range from strange to completely bizarre. Normally I can’t manage them at all – I simply can’t see the objects and I get really annoyed at the puzzles. But on sale? Completely different kettle of fish! The offer was for the Collecter’s Editions for the price of the regular game.

Having extra art work or extended game play is all right. No sweat. But having the strategy guides included? It depends on how you look at timed games and hints. Me? I turn off the timer on everything possible. I want to relax, not be stressed. I don’t care if the score says that it took me 8 hours to work through a game when I know it took under 3 hours (30 minute penalty for skipping a puzzle; each and every time). You might call looking things up cheating – I call it saving my sanity. Just the same way that I don’t see anything wrong with looking up patient information, treatment suggestions or further recommended diagnostics. When I am stuck I dislike wasting time and being frustrated.

My attention span is not so short that I am looking in the guide every five minutes – but maybe 3-5 times in a game. I really don’t care if I “win” or lose. A lot of it is just the wandering around from room to room and trying to outguess the designers. When their brains are too strange (it would never occur to me to use a bar of gold bullion to break a window – it is just too soft), I look it up, take the action and move on.

Where was I going with this anyway?

Ah, hidden objects. After an hour this morning of dealing with the hidden objects in my studio I switched to games. I like the story lines better and those have a definite end that can be accomplished in a few hours!

When I was a kid, I can remember wringer washers and clothes lines in the backyard from which everything was pinned to flap in the breeze. It must have been an occasion when we first had a dryer and no longer had to “freeze-dry” clothing in the winter since Minnesota and winters were synonymous with cold, ice and blowing winds.

Fast forward to leaving for college and the unpleasant discovery that doing laundry took time, effort and money. Detergent did not magically appear in my room, loads of clothes could not be left unguarded, and the temptation to use the “sniff test” for cleanliness meant perhaps 3 loads in two weeks rather than two loads a week. Clean sheets and towels every week? You have to be kidding …..

Moving to an apartment wasn’t a whole lot better, there was still the issue of having to find a laundromat somewhere. Housesitting was a good deal, real houses had washing machines and dryers. Even at the point where I was finishing my residency, my possessions still fit in a VW Beetle which means that laundry was still an issue.

This evening I was reflecting that part of George’s appeal might have been his house, but it well could have been that he had a washer and dryer.

After that – I pretty much took for granted that I had the ability to do laundry without getting dressed or disturbing the neighbors until Stuttgart where we moved into government stairwell living with all the amenities located in the basement to share between the six families on our side of the building. Trucking up and down the stairs was a pain, but the opportunity to commandeer all six machines at once was fantastic. They required no coins, just load, fill and go followed by dumping everything into the six matching dryers.

Since then, working for the Army, appliances are something that housing overseas has normally furnished. The office in Heidelberg let me keep their washer and dryer during my stint in Kuwait and again when I was posted to the UK. Even when I retired, with the threat of employment, Heidelberg Housing was willing to let me hang on to the washing machine and dryer. In reality, it also might be that they had more than enough stocks on hand with the draw-down that it really wasn’t an issue.

A couple of days ago, the washer started choking and giving me a “defect” error. The dryer has not exactly been running full up for a while, but we have been able to cope because it was summer.

I looked at the floor in the utility room. Frankly, it was disgusting. Clothes, stuff and detritus abounded. The sink had unidentifiable stuff in it. There were things parked on top of the washer, dryer and drainboard which I could only hope were clean. No way was a calling a service guy with this mess. Besides, we had been talking about investing in our own. The last time we had owned either appliance (I am not counting the cheapies that were passed to me in the UK that passed along) was 1997 and they stayed with the house on 28th NW in DC.

We went to MediaMarkt. Armed with what we wanted, it didn’t take all that long, especially since there were few choices in the larger models. Delivery will be Saturday. Between now and then the room has to be cleaned, the downstairs hall freed of anything that will block the workmen from bringing in the new machines, and the old machines need to go to the garage pending pick-up.

Meanwhile, I still had laundry. Calling one of the women in the MTV knitting group I made arrangements to use the washers and dryers in her basement. It is old-style stairwell with shared machines and they just happen to be the only ones left in her building. Three washers and dryers just open and available. Gathering up just about everything – in one evening I managed nine loads of laundry; a feat that would have taken three days with our German machines.

Effectively, I was back to the laundromat sitting with my knitting waiting on the dryers. Only time has passed, iPods exist, and it is more than just my things which needed to be done. As much as I admired the efficiency, I don’t really want to do this again!

You know how, when you hurry like made to get somewhere on time it seems like everything just sort of tumbles into your way increasing frustration and delays. Perhaps a detour or three, the luggage being the last of everyone’s off the carousel, or the inevitable person who can’t be bothered to get out of the doorway which they are blocking so engrossed with their cell phone that they don’t notice how close to becoming a murder victim they really are.

This morning was like that. Getting dropped off for the flight left me plenty of time. Even after I picked the pat-down over the whole body scanner, since I have no faith in TSA’s ability to keep their files straight, private or otherwise under control.

The sardine flight wasn’t even too bad. I managed to switch seats with the very confused, elderly African gentlemen so that he was now next to his son and DIL. This meant that I had a chance to get some sleep while they were up and down seemingly every ten minutes for the whole flight.

When I got to Frankfurt, I didn’t hurry to the train station. I stopped at the USO, called home and got a Latte. Coming down the escalator to long distance track 5 I watched the train for Mannheim pullout. No worries I thought since there is normally a train twice an hour.

Yes, well sort of. The alternate route is over Frankfurt HBF, and said train just happened to be running 40 minutes late. This would get me to Frankfurt too late to make the transfer to the direct Heidelberg train. Pulling out the headphones and knitting, I settled in for 55 minutes.

The next Mannheim train rolled in just on time but became delayed on the way to Heidelberg. The connecting train on the close track had already departed leaving me to haul suitcase (the 30″ one with the 22″ smaller suitcase and a backpack all tucked inside) down the stairs to the last pair of tracks and back up a flight of stairs.

George met me in Heidelberg for which I was really grateful.

Now, if I hurried from baggage claim directly to the track in the first place would that first train have been on time?

or maybe not, I can’t tell. What I can tell you is that today has been consumed with running here and there on errands for various family members followed by the friends who were going to stop by for lunch not making it till close to 1600.

This, of course, blew the little that remained of my schedule completely out of the water. So – altho I have done three loads of laundry today – I am not completely packed.

The printer gagged on paper as we were trying to print boarding passes, repeatedly managing to jam and shred paper until what was left of the blank ink cartridge was empty. At this point, rather than take a hammer to the feeder mechanism I sought help.

The Mole unpacked the printer which I had packed up in the UK about this time last year, plugged it in, added paper and – amazing – I have printed boarding passes. Which reminds me – printing boarding passes has nothing on the Deutsche Bahn which wants you to specify an identification method at booking time. At printing time (and I should have done this immediately but hadn’t figured that part out) you have to enter this specific information in order for it to cough up your ticket.

Like I remember what credit card I used for the ticket? Or that Maus used her Bahn card for ID (which makes sense since she is traveling back at a different time and won’t have my credit card).

ARGHHHH!!!!

I also didn’t get all the books for some of the VBBs (Virtual Book Boxes) posted to my shelf at Bookcrossing which meant a few more “I am really sorry emails.” I won’t even mention that I did get all my hard drive back ups complete, everything synced and pictures edited. Hardly counts since I didn’t get them posted.

At this rate, I will be sleeping on the plane tomorrow….

(train time is 0547……)

Or holding pattern as the case maybe.

Expect this post to disappear in the next 24 hours to be replaced by something a bit more relevant. I loved the rest of the cruise, had a wonderful time in Seattle with Kris and her husband, enjoyed (as much as one can) my upgrade on the flight home and had zero fun on the train ride home.

Since then, it has been a bit of this, that and the other thing eating out time and keeping me from feeling like I am getting anything at all accomplished.

All offspring are alive, if not particularly pleased with life on a daily basis.

I now have the next 24 hours to finish packing, printing boarding cards and preparing myself mentally to head to the US with Maus for 1) drop off stuff at Pratt 2) Renovation 3) return to Pratt and get her settled/books/oriented and 4) come back home.

Then I think I want to go on vacation again! Anyone up for a cruise?

It is just short of midnight. The DH and I have accomplished an incredible amount today.

We got train tickets

went to the bank

picked up Maus’s official Zeugnis translation

shopped for a wedding present

picked up groceries

bought dog food

cleaned our room completely

packed.

Never mind we didn’t start till early afternoon.

The end result is that we will head to San Francisco in the morning without being really worried about the state of the house. I managed to jam my stuff in a suitcase (covering the variety of business meetings, visiting with friends and cruising along the Alaska straights), find knitting and be almost organized enough to round up a paperback or two.

The cleaning? Well, Ms Soprano is headed back to Germany next week (golden retriever in tow which explains the dog food). Since there are already three people living downstairs in the three available bedrooms we are stuffing her in our room for the couple of weeks we are gone. There is also the small matter of her broken foot and non-weight bearing cast making stairs a real risk.

Now I am trying to get everyone wound down and headed to bed – we have a 0547 train. That means that George might just finish up the kids puzzle that got knocked over ….. and Mole is busy explaining formula 1 race cars, lift and high winds….

Not me – I went that route in April/May remember? Whacked a good 40cm of hair off by the grabbing the tail – taking the scissors and going chunk.

I am talking about the Mole. Our son, the one usually known by the hoddie pulled down over his face; the one with the really shaggy hair.

as he dislikes getting his picture taken.

The story goes like this – the Eldest has a friend standing for her Master’s Beauticians Exam. Besides all the written components, she has multiple demonstations to perform for the examiners (cutting, styling, colors, streaks, perms). She is good – she is the one who did Maus’s hair for Saturday.

He got volunteered as Dorrie needed a young man. Dressed up because he had to model the hair cut for the examiners afterwards I dropped him off early afternoon.

This is who I picked up

and a rather nice looking appearance if I do say so.

This more than made up for my day spent driving everyone else around (to the train station, to appointments, from the train station, noch mals bahnhof….

Miriam’s Abi Ball was last evening.

For those not familiar with Germany and its’ education system, the Abitür is what you achieve after all of your studies provided you are successful in your courses (the last two years are counted together) and pass your cumulative written and oral exams. The exams are State wide (in this case we are discussing Baden-Würtemberg) and the schedule was early this year. Maus was essentially finished with school by early June.

The Ball is a combination of graduations ceremonies and a diner with parents and friends. Yes, everyone gets quite dressed up and there can be dancing. But it is not a Prom and a date is not required. The event was held in Ludwigsburg, north of Stuttgart.

This post is picture heavy. On the blog – clicking on the picture will get you a larger version

All the students arrive early (or at least were supposed to for class photos). After that we hung out (George, Noah and I) while Maus went thither and yon since she had been dropped off early as one of the organizers.

The program

was placed on the table with exactly what you would expect – Welcomes, speeches, various expressions of thanks. The introduction of each student was accompanied by a slide show -

with all of them

there were several musical performances

The thank you’s to the faculty included roses

I think she had a good evening

They ended by releasing ballons carrying aloft wishes for the future

only a few of which didn’t make the sky

It was a lovely night to stand outside and talk

before heading home, realizing that yet another milestone has been passed.

There is a noisy bunch of old dudes – excuse me – mature men having a good time on our terrace. George celebrates his birthday every year by inviting the members of his Stammtisch (read Thursday night men’s discussion group) over to grill.

They start with snacks, wine and beer. They progress to salads, more snacks, vegetables and things from the grill (steaks, burgers) with more wine and beer. At 2200 the sun has finally dropped below the horizon and the group is more jovial with passing time and years.

Since he started this tradition (Maus and I think this celebration dates from the summer after we bought this house which would put it around 2002). It is a good way to celebrate. For whatever lucky reason, the weather is nicer and warmer this evening than it was this afternoon when rain with cold and grey threatened to spoil a good time.

We had an alternate plan and the living room was set up for either the initial party or whenever they chose to move inside.

Sewing

Paired with the top she is planning on wearing – the skirt is done except for

is the hemming!

Knitting

and the MTV Group which means every couple of weeks on Thursday morning has a couple of members knitting these -

We went to dinner at the Restaurant Luegeten for the birthday dinner. Situated high on the hills over looking Lake Zurich,

you can hear the cows in fields above us with traditional bells on their necks as they graze the fields.

If you would rather have your cows a bit more tame

there is always that possibility.

Unlike others –

we had a reservation and were seated promptly. The evening was perfect, the weather just wonderful. I loved the company and the food was excellent. Much better in fact than either meal we had in Monaco (or Mallorca for that matter) and significantly more reasonable.

If you happen to have a few extra million Swiss Francs lying around –

But I might much rather have this jewel -

If I claimed to be a loving wife would you believe me? George turns 63 today so here I am with him in Switzerland so that he will not be alone on his birthday. Alone – with a day in the office just chocked full of people who know that today is his birthday. (birthday greetings if you want to gr AT aeris-capital DOT com . Since he is a Crackberry addict, that ought to make his day a bit more challenging, especially given the time zones).

Rather than hang out there today, I stayed in the apartment with great wifi access, a basket or two full of handwork projects and a camera loaded with the rest of the Mallorca pictures. Of course, that is about all there is here. The guys rented this place at least three, and I think really four years ago. Kitchen area which has the normal cupboards, a few dishes, fridge, microwave and coffee pot. The common area has a rectangular table with four chairs serving as both eating and work space. Additionally there is this squared edge orange couch of the IKEA variety and a small table with flat screen TV. In keeping with the low cost method of living – it is about an 18″ diagonal augmented with two old PC speakers.

Otherwise there are two bedrooms, each with a bed and a lamp. There is nothing on the walls. There are wires dangling from the ceiling because they would have to buy light fixtures if they wanted overhead lights. The closets are bare. The bathroom sports a small cabinet – each of them having a shelf.

My plan for the day is progressing nicely. I have managed finally to get the pictures for 2-3 July posted, have done the finish work on three scarves,

and the hand sewing on two jackets

with another scarf in progress

and the waistband of a Maus skirt to go, but I am going to take a break since we are headed out to dinner tonight!

Finally got around to taking pictures of a couple of knit projects – the first is a Hanne Falkenberg pattern which is obviously not knit with her yarn. Rather – I grabbed a skein of wool/bamboo blend sock yarn and paired it with a skein of lilac bamboo of a slightly heavier weight that I purchased at Downtown Yarns in NYC. It is about 120 stitches around with 10 rows of stockinette in the sock yarn followed by four rows of the bamboo in reverse stockinette. All of which were knit till one of the yarns ran out. Beginning and end are the bamboo. Having no particular love for purling – I flipped the cowl and knit it inside out for the reverse stockinette areas

Volan is the second project.

Knit from two skeins of sock yarn – again bamboo blend it has small paired ruffles on the upper edge, a steadily increasing body, then ends with two larger ruffles. After messing around, I found that one solid paired with a multi-color yarn gives the best contrast. Add in a couple of extremely long 3.00 mm needles and I was all set. Other than a couple of rows where I am either knitting together the first set of ruffles or the row which splits the body into the bottom ruffles, this makes for great mindless knitting.

Other than that – the weather was wonderful – there were only three of us at Red this afternoon for the Heidelberg knit get together. None the less, it was a lovely time. I am not going to be able to make it again till August. At least one of the other women is also a Book Crosser. We were lamenting the demise of the Heidelberg Treffs. It occurs to me that it would not be a bad idea to bring along a bunch of books the next time…. just in case there are any takers.

We had friends over for supper. Being able to eat out on the terrace was great, so was talking to another adult (while the guys just had to watch soccer championships).

The theory of my making some particular clothes for the Maus is that she puts in some time and assistance. To a large extent, this has happened. When she vanished partway through the day, I went to find her. All this clipping, pinning, snipping and ironing apparently has taken more out of her than planned.

Knitting

Just to show of totally and complete pictures of the City Sweater ….

A Vivan Hoxbro pattern that came in a kit – I substituted the red for the two shades of yellow/gold that were supposed to be the contrast trim. Knit in Harrisville Shetland on 3.00 mm needles in a very dark charcoal and natural, the Shadow knitting make the pattern. Not exactly garter stitch but close, there is a lot of back and forth – more knit rows than purls and, since each section is worked from the outside in, one has the pleasure of each row getting shorter and faster.

Books and Audio Books

I have been doing well in various Bookcrossing Virtual Book Boxes having been able to send off several books to people who are interested and picking up a few more that I would like to read. That takes care of the Dead Tree side of things. Unfortunately, Audible has another sale, so my “to be heard” queue is actually longer than my TBR pile is high. Go figure.

We arrive home very late last night. By the time the plane had landed and we had corralled our luggage the sun was dipping low in the sky. Add in the time it takes to manage the maze that is Frankfurt Airports parking garage which can take years to navigate and the drive home and it was barely the 3rd.

Other than one nameless member of the family who I think drifted toward the television before being stopped by the short hairs – everyone seemed to
1) complain that there was no food in the house
2) crash.

The first was sort of true. The cupboards are full of all those strange things that are left over when you are done with menus: soups that no one likes, rice, noodles (but no sauce), canned pumpkin and salsa. The fridge is packed with partially opened jars of preservatives and condiments. What I don’t get is why I came home to the same left overs that were inhabiting the shelves before I left.

It is not like 10 days is going to improve either rice or Indian food. There may be a market for 100 year old Scotch, but trust me – you don’t want 2 week old green curry chicken. Or maybe you do if multiple colors of green turn you on…..

Is it that hard to throw things out? Dead things, disgusting things, unidentifiable concoctions? Probably since that would have required first that the garbage be taken out. To empty containers means that the bio-bucket under the sink has to have space unless you can get up the strength to walk down the fall with the intention of flushing organic waste. Must fall into the too hard to do category. Since I am not a fan of smells, fruit flys or trash, the whole encounter did not leave me in the world’s best mood.

Oh, he says, I would appreciate a ride to the train station in the morning. But it is not the 0615 train, I thought the 0830 would be better.

Yes, definitely it would be better – and take the garbage with you on your way down the stairs?

The time, the new SIM card for the handi, the Beret.

Not sure that I really did anything at all today, but I was quite busy doing it. I ran errands at HMEDDAC, dropped off library books, couldn’t find anyone home at the Patton Ed Center. Most importantly, Mole and I bought a new ironing board, cover and drying rack. The old ironing board had taken a ride to the recycling center earlier this month. After being dragged around for years with legs bent at odd angles, it finally refused to stand up straight with a 50/50 chance of collapse just as you pressed down with the iron. Don’t know about you, but I really am not in favor of ironing clothes on the body; not my body or anyone elses for that matter. Since I have been bitten by the sewing bug, crawling around on the floor trying manage seam details while protecting the hard wood floors has proven not great for my back. The drying rack we have is so old that the paint has peeled off the wood and falls over when even a mild breeze comes by.

And then there is time spent doing back ups and searching for the SIM Card. It came in the mail earlier this week and I very carefully put it where it would not be lost, then forgot about it. When George called me today to inquire about having the phone ready to go I took a deep breath and went into the office. An hour later I had a lovely box of trash and empty envelops for recycling (seems to me that it should not take two years to open things. Sometimes there can be good things missed because a deadline passes. More often it winds up costing more money. I hate paying stupid service fees, but I digress). Have a showed you a picture of this room?

No, I didn’t think so and since it is not technically my space I will refrain from making other members of my household look like packrats. The SIM card envelop (which, since I had signed for the thing last week, I knew had to be in there somewhere) was on the desk under a few layers. The Mole put it in the phone. And then I put the phone somewhere brilliant.

Probably in the same place as the City Sweater which is at 90% complete and I tucked away before heading to NYC. If I am lucky, it will turn up as I pack. If not, I take along the sweater I promised George. In either case, yarn gets used.

Certainly none of my missing things are in the same place as the US Army Beret which is finally going be replaced with a patrol cap with the ACUs. Being retired, it is not my problem. For the last five weeks on active duty it was since I didn’t have a clue where I had put it (hint – door pocket in the car) prior to deployment and was “forced” to live with the patrol cap. If you are not familiar – the beret is the dorky black version with the cocks comb in front requiring two hands to position it properly and only fitting well on shaved heads. The patrol cap is that nice ACU patterned hat that is almost but not completely like a ball cap. Flips on with one hand, shades the eyes from rain and sun.

Camera – check
computer – check
wallet – check
passport – check
money – oh, oh.

Ok, just in case you were wondering – there are even worse movies than the one on which I reported yesterday. The suggestion tonight (from the Father’s Day Boy) was The Kids are all Right. According to several blurbs – it was actually nominated for awards. The Mole and I looked at each other, shook our heads and wandered off. I finished up my row of knitting before leaving – he just headed downstairs into a hole without a backward glance.

I think at the heart of my disgust was that facts didn’t tract with either science or the characters protrayed in the movie. Yes, there was AF available 19 years ago, so that is not an issue. What is an issue is that anyone who got through med school at that time (plus residency) was not having children during school or training. That puts her at minimum of 30 by the time she finishes training. With all that education – she is going to pick an uneducated 19 year old sperm donor  because? I think not. Then the dude says he forgot about the whole thing. Well – to have the same bio-father for both off spring, that means multiple donations and most facilities would rather not use sperm that is 4-5 years old if there is a more recent alternative.

Off soap box; but just saying -if the basic premise doesn’t hold up, why would the rest of the story have any credibility/interest? Kind of like watching a police procedural where everyone is picking up stuff at a crime scene with bare hands and later saying that there were no figure prints of any kind found in the room or on any object. Hello?

A bit later – we suggested an alternative when the movie had been scratched in favor of the news. Sci-Fi? Cartoons? Something funny, not stupid? He was not amused and turned us down flat.

So I will have to entertain myself with another puzzle -

which, as you can tell comes from the same people as all my other favorite puzzles.