Bots, Books and Watches

The bots are hot and heavy these days -- reading numbers up like crazy. Who knows -- maybe it's always been bots reading. I write like I'm talking to other people, but it's just one of the ways I like to journal about my day and it feels easiest to write like I'm talking to someone. I don't know if I should be concerned about bots, but it's enough that I don't post pictures of my grandchild or some other family pictures. Usually after a break, the bots slow down, but they didn't this time.

So hello, bots. Or hello, people. Welcome to random ramblings about nothing exciting.

Today is a bit about books. I read a few on my trip. Nothing that super wowed me and no pictures because they're on kindle.

"The Christmas Bookshop" (Jenny Colgan): Best of my reads. Cozy little predictable fun read.

"The Six Deaths of the Saint" (Alix Harrow): Strange 30 page book. Interesting though.

"Fellowship Point" (Alice Dark): 600+ pages. Long saga. Just okay to me. Had a lot of promise, but I got bored about halfway.

I started this from the library. Has promise -- good so far.

A couple in the mail that I'll read after the slew of library holds waiting.

Switching subjects ...

I looked for a vintage watch on our trip. Found 2 that I liked, but both were overpriced so I passed.

1988 men's watch

From 1950s -- I loved this one.

Turns out hubby has a couple of old watches. He took them to be fixed (one is still getting repaired that belonged to his dad). Both are too small for him. I bought a vintage watch strap from 1950s that reminds me of a man's tie and paired it with the watch. I really like it -- fun to wear with jeans. A little quirky too.

It's special because it was his
first watch when he was in school
(gift from his parents).

This satisfies my want for a watch that is different from my other one. I'll show you the other one when it fixed. I like mixing up and wearing a man's watch style -- the older ones are the size of most lady's watches now.

I had a really nice day yesterday catching up with a friend and then babysitting my grandson. Man, he's a cutie. 

Hope you're having a good week. Later gators.

Plants and more Plants

The garden grew -- phew. The only thing I lost was a pot of mint because it got flooded with too much rain and watering (I left it in a bad spot). I'm replacing them this week because I like mint in the summer for drinks.

Basil from seed (grow room)
cilantro from seeds.

Peas and carrots from seed.

My peppers and one from the farm

Cucumbers and onions

Cabbages, tomatoes and greens

Filling out

I picked the greens this morning to bring a Cobb salad to the kids for dinner (I'm babysitting my grandson for the afternoon -- very excited) and sharing the garden is one of my ongoing goals. Although I was temped to keep them for myself -- fresh and crunchy.

It's a lot more than it looks.

My indoor plants survived too. Makes a difference to move them away from the strongest sunlight -- slows their water needs up enough to survive such a long stretch. I ended up rearranging some plants and got two new ones because (like books) I have a problem.

I'll replant soon. It needs time to adjust.

I liked the color of the leaves.

One my my favorite spots in the house

I'm staking the tomato plants -- they grew more than I expected. Time to help them out. I got the wooden stakes yesterday (hence some new plants). I need to watch my back today because I'm babysitting so it has to wait until tomorrow.

Hope you're having a good week. Later gators.

I'm Back :)

Hello (!!)

I'm home (since Sunday) and am back at regular life today. I needed a couple of re-entry days to get going. 

The trip was really good. I loved Lucerne especially. We had a few hiccups -- train strike (so no Lake Como), Ascension Day (so all shopping closed on our Zurich day), fog/rain (so no trip up Mtn Rigi) ... but everything else was fantastic.  

We ate and ate and ate -- so much (too much) good food. I drank a few nights too -- not much, but a couple of glasses of wine with dinner. 

Took food tours, vintage clothing tour, day in Bologna, chocolate tour, Duomo (with roof tour), boat ride, museum for Picasso exhibit, quick trip to Zurich. Rode so many trains. Our hotels were right in the thick of things -- made the days easier. Weather was a lot of rain, but it wasn't a big deal. I was happy for the cooler temperatures. 

Really long travel day on the way home -- 2 trains, 2 planes and a drive from the airport. Flight delays, heavy traffic at midnight (construction and an accident). 27 hours later we got in our front door.

The next morning, in a rush to water plants, I fell on water drippings. Took out my foot, landed hard on my knees and hands. Finally able to put full weight on my foot today. Geez. And my finger is still a mess. Typical life with me these days.

Here are a few highlights. 

Lucerne

Swiss fondue

Picasso

Lake Lucerne

Train from Milan to Switzerland

Love a train and a book

After a hike up the forest mountain

Signs in time, not distance

Lunch on the river

Best hot chocolate recommended
by my friend whose husband is Swiss.

Fundicular

Pretzel with Lucerne cheese.

So much good food

Watch shopping

Old Town Lucerne

Window view from our hotel room
in Lucern

Another dinner

Yes!!!

Food tour in Bologna

Vintage book fair

Doing my thing

Dairy free

Bologna

Rooftop bar in Milan

My earlier pictures from Italy are still trying to load for some reason, but this gives the idea.

I need to get moving this morning. Early HVAC appointment and I want to see if my foot is okay to workout on the bike. 

Have a good day -- I'm glad to be home. Later gators.

T Minus One

Today is THE DAY BEFORE and it's my worst anxiety day of any trip. Let me fill you in on a couple of things.

I shut my left had in a door heading out for a run with Duke on Sunday. I ran with an icepack wrapped around my three middle fingers. Not the best idea, I know, but Duke was already in the car and I didn't want to cancel. It's pretty hurt and blood filled under my nail -- worried about having to drain it but I expect I'm out of the woods now. I couldn't use my left hand at all yesterday -- so no typing. It's improving though and now it's just my fingers.

What does this mean? No preview packing. I took an 8 mile hike yesterday and bumped my hand (*stars*) so I needed to elevate and ice yesterday. I chose the hike over packing because that's the kind of person I want to be lol.

Today is all day packing ... slowly and carefully. So much to do so I'm in full blown DAY BEFORE feelings. It's my MO lately -- something to prevent me feeling my best before a big trip. I'm certain my monthly will join the fun before the trip is over too. At this point, I give up ... whatever, fine, bring it.

My garden is doing so well. And now I leave her for almost 2 weeks. I'm not very confident on the watering schedule. Fingers crossed I come back to something still flourishing living. This year has 2 big trips during the height of growing season. I don't plan to do that next year -- of course, I'll know more next year so maybe it won't matter if I'm away.

I've had a lot of greens this spring.
I'll plant a ton more next year.

Make-shift climbing wall.
Grow little peas

And good luck to my indoor gals too. I'll probably lose a couple to the long drought of no watering. I did last big trip.

I'm excited for the trip though. I need to remember to bring FS attitude and curiosity along and it'll be a success. Maybe I'll take a step toward not getting anxious before travel?!?

I'll stop here -- I'm 7 finger typing and that's getting old. Hope you have a good next couple of weeks. Later gators.

Hello (!!)

I didn't expect to be off-line all week. The bots are active so I decided to give it a couple of days to settle and that became the week.

Let's do a list --- in no particular order, except for the pictures that insist on loading backwards (can't figure this out).

1. My mother came to town. I didn't see her. She played the victim and manipulated the circumstances into "poor her" and "she just doesn't understand how I can be so mean." Lovely. Glad she's gone back north. Crickets from her even though she told everyone she is "doing everything she can" to love me. It was a hard week having her so front and center with my family.

2. Had a week full of stuff-to-get-done and I got it done -- big win. Volunteer training, global entry, chores, etc. 

3. Books. I have a library stack I'm trying to get through before we leave. 

"The Ritual Effect" was very good. Talks about the difference between habit, routine and ritual. It's an interesting way to understand why some things stick, some don't etc. I liked it a lot. "The Secret Life of Groceries" was a bit of a skim read toward the end, but I liked the first chunk about Trader Joe's. 

I didn't particularly like this one. It's a fictitious memoire which is a clever way to tell the story, but there wasn't much of a story to tell. She studied dragons at a time when women weren't allowed to be scholars. That's the beginning, middle and ending in one sentence. The writing is good, but it needs more story.

This is a used book. I ran out of fiction from the library (no time to suspend a hold) so I chose one from my TBR. It is an old library book and I need to remember it's mine when I return the 9 books I have out right now (3 are travel guides). It should be a fast read.

Good so far!

I'll read/skim the other 3 books in the next few days.

4. I found a thrift store that's part of a good community organization. I have bin of donations that will work well for them. Got some goodies yesterday -- here are 2 of them.

Little lidded jar. I picked some
gangly mint so I filled it up
for my desk.

Plant stand. I'll move the gals
around when we get home.

Not pictured -- 2 new plant pots. I'll one to hold clippers (no drainage holes) and one to plant a propagated spider plant for a little gift. 

I also got 2 sets of vintage embroidered napkins that I'll use for crafting journals once garden stuff settles down.

5. *TMI* Still no monthly -- it's late and I guess is waiting to screw up my trip. Fun. Worst part is making room for the supplies on the trip. I tried a cup a few years ago and couldn't get it right.

6. The packing list is started. I have a lot to organize this weekend to make sure I have everything for this (too) long of a trip. I always have travel anxiety the day (or 2) before we travel, but now I'm getting travel DREAD the week before. I think it's because this trip is too long -- makes everything that much harder to get ready. Yes, boo-hoo, poor me traveling too long in Europe. I hear it. I get it. And, I have tons of dread.

I'll feel better when I get my list whittled down a bit more.

7. I've been eating like crap. Stress from mother visit, dread of travel, hormones. I KNOW it doesn't help, but I couldn't get myself together anymore than I did this week. I relied heavily on this old coping and soothing crutch -- I'm working on changing this ... broken record. Even though this was a backwards slide this week, I think I'm making progress overall. 

8. I need to regroup and refocus this summer. The year is going well, but I want to plan out the summer months. I have some ideas and goal progress to work on in June and July -- I'm excited. More on this later.

9. The Chimps 5k ladies are getting together again for the Mushroom 5k (3 of us went last year). I'm glad to be included for the hiking/nature adventures.

10. Even though the week was hard (and I fell back on coping mechanisms), I showed up in a lot of FS ways and I'm proud that I do that even when I'm off my game or when life feels rocky. That's progress for me. And progress to give balance and credit to what I did WELL too.

Hope you have a good weekend. Later gators.

Change of Plans

I'm not going to Asheville this week. If I could shift the trip by even one day, I'd go, but I can't. I'm pooped. In order to leave this morning, I'd need to move mountains and I don't have that energy. Plus I really, really need time at home to finish planning our trip for next week. Hubby is going tomorrow because he can stay longer (I have volunteer training this week). Energy is low because of a lot of work, hormones and SUGAR.

This re-configures the entire week -- in a good way. I want some Asheville time, but I NEED to be home more. Asheville will be there in May.

The HBD party went really well. The cakes were a lot to finish though. All 3 icings needed to be rewhipped and assembled. I made it -- just barely. The cake was delicious -- Cakes by Courtney. She has outstanding recipes. I had 3 variation for everyone's food sensitivities. (I still can't figure out why the pictures load backwards.)

Cake jumped ship!
I cut slices to freeze and this
last one fell over.

Not level, but good looking.

All the choices.

Messy drip, but I didn't
have a drip bottle.

Crumb coat

Trying to pretty it up

The stack

Assembly chaos.

Now for a re-entry day today. Even though I didn't go anywhere, I need a transition day. It's a day where you get organized enough and do enough to be able to start back to regular life -- tomorrow.  

That's today. And I'm taking care of myself too. Peloton ride, gardening, reading -- no rush, no fuss.

BTW, I finished this last night. 5/5 -- excellent book.

Hope you're off to a good start on this Monday. Later gators.