Gardening

Didn’t sleep so good last night – it was too humid and warm. Woke up early and couldn’t go back to sleep so I got up and had an early breakfast instead. 

I spent all morning working cutting this huge rosehip bush down. We do that every year and it gets this big at the end of the summer. 

My hubby helped me with the last couple of branches since they were a bit too big for me to manage by myself. In our paradise we have a big cutter / branch scissors – we sure could use one of those here too. Maybe something for our Xmas wish-list?  

My hubby has been busy painting while I was cutting down the bush. So we both need a break and sit down for a minute before we do anything else. Nice to be productive! 

Rainy day

It’s been raining off and on all day so no outdoor work or activities today. Saturday chores as usual but also some laundry.

We had a nice dinner tonight and bought some fresh strawberries for evening treat. Yum.

Now we’ve tucked in our corners, all sweaty with the heat and humidity (we have about 30C indoors…) – would love an air conditioner downstairs. But, with only a few days per year when we would need it I guess we’ll just suffer thru.. Lol.

Fingers crossed our pole vaulter Mondo will win tonight.

Done

It’s been awfully humid today and degrees above 30C in the city. Terrible. Miss the ocean. No rain yet but it feels like thunder is on the way. 

Celebrated completing the first week back with a take-away dinner. I chose pasta of the house. A quite spicy, creamy pasta with mushrooms, beef and bell peppers. Mmm. Served with a cold non-alcoholic beer and a pizza-bread. 

Now a glass of white and corner time. Let the weekend begin! 

Trivia

Last night they talked about the old triple-jumper Willie Banks whom used to have the world record  of 17.97 m from 1985 before Jonathan Edwards broke it 10 years later (Edwards has broken many world records since and still has the current one of 18.29 which he set in Gothenburg in the World Championships back in 1995).
For some reason I googled him and according to Wikipedia, Willie Banks was born at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, California. The same city I was an exchange student in. And I have been to the TAFB many times. So weird. What are the chances?  

Long day today. Made cod for dinner with pesto and rise. Now some corner-time watching more track&field on the TV. 

Summer heat

It’s been so very hot in town today. Fortunately we have an air-conditioned office, but our landlord has cut down a bit on the air-conditioning (I guess due to the electric costs) so it is warmer there than usually. But still much better there than in our house. We have had 30C in our house this afternoon. Puh.

Chose the wrong shoes this morning – a pair I haven’t worn in a while. Turned out to be a bad choice and I ended up with a chafing caused by friction and I had to work barefoot the rest of my shift. Lol. Couldn’t take any extra steps on my way home either so instead of a stroll I waited 30 min for the next bus. Lol. Oh well – I will wear other shoes tomorrow and maybe a bandaid on my wound.

Long day

Tuesday and a long work day for me. We have an office meeting every Tuesday when everybody is supposed to work at the office so I met a lot of colleagues today. Great to see everyone after a long summer away. 

Some of the roses infront of our house are still in bloom – both the yellow, the white and the purple one. Not many flowers but still pretty. 

My hubby had dinner ready by the time I got home. Fresh pasta with minute steak and a creme fraiche sauce. Nice! 

Back to work

The alarm went off at 06.00 AM this morning. Puh. Time to get back to the real world again. Started my work-week with a short day and it went without any problems. Nice to see my colleagues again – not many there though. 

After work I went to get vaccinated towards TBE – tick-borne encephalitis virus. Five years since my last shot so it was time. And I got a tick bite this summer so better safe than sorry. 

My pink rose-bushes are just amazing right now. Overfilled with pink wonders. Love them! 

Homegrown

No morning swim this morning. But a nice quiet breakfast planning what to do today. First out – figure out what groceries we need and go and get them. Stopped by my parents to say hello and chat for a bit. We had brought a few things with us home for them and my mom gave me homemade cordial and jelly from red currents. Yum! 

We have worked all afternoon with different things – me mostly indoors and my hubby mostly outdoors. Made a chili for dinner which turned out pretty good. 

The tomato seeds we planted earlier this summer has actually started to grow tomatoes on the plant. Wow. Fingers crossed they will be able to ripen so we can taste our own tomatoes. 

Bye for now

Can’t believe how quickly time goes by. Five weeks gone in a blink of an eye. We’ve had a fantastic summer in many ways. Both ups and downs. Laughs and cries. But most of all – a chance to regain energy, spend quality time together and breathe. 
The trip home went without problems. My sis and I drove our car and my brother-in-law and niece their car. The trip took us almost 7 hrs but not due to traffic but rather us taking breaks and didn’t hurry.
Now I’m back in my corner with a glass of white – happy after seeing my youngest (for the first time in over a month) and hubby again. Full after a take-away dinner. Perfect ending of a long day. 

Final day

A perfect day in many ways. Pretty busy with putting away the last things and getting our paradise ready for winter. Harvested our potato plants to bring with us home. Not much there but some. 

We tried out our new stove today and instead of taking forever to heat up the oven it went really fast. And the food turned out great – such a relief! A working stove – finally! Too bad it was delayed for most of our vacation. But at least we got it in time and next visit will be a joy! 

We sat outside and enjoyed dinner and later on the most amazing sunset. A perfect ending of this vacation. Now I have packed my belongings and we are ready to go back to the real world again. Miss my youngest whom I haven’t seen all summer. I will be good to hug both my guys at home tomorrow afternoon.