Last Week Home For Bit

This week was filled with music from the composers in the Danube region. I have listened to a broad array of composers this week, but  admit I have heard enough Strauss waltz tunes to last me a lifetime. He was one prolific dude. I like a waltz as much as the next guy, but can only listen to so many at one time.

(Question for any of you who took piano lessons for years as a kid. How many of you recognize some of the songs I posted from your piano lesson days?)

We will be leaving Tuesday for a Danube cruise, then we will travel by land for a few days before heading home. 

We have never been gone from home this long before, but I hope it is the first of many extended travel adventures for us.

  The Blue Danube

Johann Strauss

Monday:  This was just a regular stay around the house, drop dead gorgeous day.
What I learned: Different brands of low carb bread have significantly different spikes to blood sugar levels. One brand in particular was no different than regular white bread, which was surprising.

Listened to:  New World Symphony  Antonin Dvorak (Slovakian composer)

Dinner: Leftover Chinese

Tuesday: My kitchen table sits in a bay window overlooking the backyard. Sometimes I have my coffee on the deck, but Tuesday morning I was sitting at the table when I noticed something dark moving out of the corner of my eye.

 I am quite used to seeing Gray Gregg, the neighborhood assassin prowling in my yard, but it appears he has a rival in his hunting area. 

It was the first time I had seen this black male cat (name unknown. He is wearing a crimson collar so I think I will call him "Red")  

Judging by his stealth and cunning, I think we might have hitman number 2. We have a couple of houses of new neighbors and he might well belong to one of them. Don't know, but he has obviously scouted the yard before, for he was crouched near the spot chipmunks frequent most often, and he seemed to be extraordinarily patient. 

The backyard chipmunk community is most likely going to be under attack from 2 enemy forces.

TheHub met the IP participants at the Hoover Met for the first game of the SEC baseball tournament. I stayed home, did a little housework and made sandwiches for lunch. After the game there was a picnic at Star Lake* near our house and we enjoyed being with them. It was like being at my happy place by the lake instead of their facility.

Listened to: Moonlight Sonata  Ludwig van Beethoven (originally from Germany, composed mainly in Vienna where he moved when he was 22) I am only posting the 1st movement because it is the most familiar, though the 3rd is my favorite.

What I learned : One of the IP employees showed me a photo of her deck which is being destroyed by a woodpecker. She has holes about 12 inches long and 3 inches wide. I had no idea they could/would do that much damage.

Dinner: Chipotle chicken salad

Wednesday: TheHub made an appointment with my vehicle service department to fix a recall. This is not necessarily a bad idea, except that he made it for 7 a.m.  It works great for him since he goes to bed early and is an early riser.

Though I might well be awake at 7, I want to spend my time drinking coffee, not running to the dealership to pick him up while they work on the car.

We got home and I had a few hours to start making decisions about what to clothes to pack.  Other than 2 nights with planned dinners at 2 specific locations which I will need dresses for, I decided on 2 pairs of jeans and 2 pairs of black pants. I think I packed 6 blouses/tops and they will all go with everything else. A couple of scarves and a little jewelry should change up the looks , hopefully enough for the  days we will be gone. (17 days). I am also taking one black cardigan and a raincoat, and that is it. Unmentionables, socks and shoes go without saying. 

After the preliminary packing, we had an appointment with TheHubs nutritionist. It was an hour well spent, so he could relax a little with what he will be eating on out trip. 

I had already decided when we were in Salsburg I would be having a sacher torte with or without him. Now he knows we can share one.

What I learned: I learned if you do take your car to the dealership at 7 am you are not likely to run into anyone else getting their car serviced.

Listened to "Liebetraum #3"  Franz Liszt (Romanian dude with too many blooming 1/32nd and 1/64th notes. )

Dinner: Smoked sausage, peppers and onions, coleslaw, baked sweet potato

Thursday: We had a mostly stay at home day, which was needed to get things in the house done. And laundry. There is always laundry to do.

We are leaving Tuesday and will be back sometime on the 17th, so we want to have everything ready so there will be no surprises for those who will be keeping the house while we are gone.

Midday we had to run to the lawyers office to take care of some fiddly stuff before we left town.

Neither of us had eaten lunch (or for me anything for the day). At a little after 3 pm, we picked up a couple of cobb salads and brought them home to eat. 

What I learned: The weather in Central Europe is warming! Woo Hoo

Listened to: Eine kleine Nachtmusik naturally I had to include Mozart who is the king of composers from Vienna.

Dinner:  We had eaten a late lunch and were not hungry, so we each had a piece of cheese toast.

Friday: We did not have anywhere to go and could concentrate on packing and getting the house in a little better shape. 

Of course the Super Regionals for NCAA softball began mid day and we turned on the TV to keep up with them. Neither of us actively watched, but we did listen and would glance at the games when we walked through the den, stopping to watch a really good play. There were a couple of upsets, but the series was 2 out of 3 games, so no one was out as of Friday. 

We did actively watch the Alabama game

Listened to: Notturno for Strings and Harp by Arnold Schoenberg

What I learned: At the beginning of WW2 the Jewish composers in Austria fled to the United States if they were able. The majority of those who stayed were imprisoned and most did not survive the war.

One escapee, Eric Korngold fled to America and became a prolific film scorer (16 films) 

Dinner: Ball game nights require ball game food.

Hamburgers and all the fixings, coleslaw

Saturday: Woke early thinking I had so much to do and so little time before we would be leaving. For this trip I am taking a backpack and checking a suitcase. Because there is no guarantee the suitcase will arrive when we do, I made sure to have clothes for 2 days in the backpack, and also the dress I will need for a dinner party Thursday night.

I got the backpack situated and put things in the suitcase, but did not pack them because I needed to do one final edit. I want to have enough to wear but I do not want to have more than I need, knowing I will have to use laundry services at some point. 

I listened to a couple of videos about packing and decided to copy what one person used for her dress shoes. She packs solid black flip flops. I have those and decided they would work well for the couple of "dressy" events. (wearing maxi dresses rather than cocktail length)

We spent the day doing odds and ends, you know, all those pesky details that need to be tended before leaving. 

Then we settled in to watch the Bama softball Super Regional. What a nightmare for the women playing. Bad weather came in and caused delay after delay. The game that began at 1:30 was finally over at 10:15. I was impressed that even after the 4 plus hours of combined delays the stand were full of fans.

What I learned: Packing cubes are a game changer in a backpack or suitcase.

Listened to: Gypsy Rondo  Joesph Haydn

Dinner: This was a gathering of the fragments type of meal

Assorted leftovers

Sunday: Our church had just one service for the Memorial Day weekend and no other Sunday activities. We should have gone, but we skipped it. Instead I cooked breakfast which should not be worth mentioning, but I am not a breakfast person and seldom do it. I think if we had not had a bunch of eggs to use before leaving town I would not have. 

 TheHub worked on some trip details while I completely finished packing before getting ready to go out in a monsoon type storm.

We have season tickets to Birmingham's Broadway series and this play was & Juliet. I generally love musical theater, but this was written around existing songs like I Kissed a Girl,  I Want It That Way, Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely. The show had some clever dialogue, but in my opinion it was a lazy musical. We have seen a few that are written around already recorded songs and I have not been a fan of any of them.

Don't get me wrong, there were some fabulous singers, and I appreciate their voices, and the set and staging were great, but for me this was a one and done play. It felt more like a musical revue than a play.

What I Learned: I learned someone I am very fond of was recently diagnosed with Alzheimers, which made me very sad.

Listened to: Serenade Franz Schubert

Dinner/Lunch: After the play was over we met Son2, DIL2, and My Beloved Sister at The Pita Stop for an early dinner or late lunch. 

Grilled grouper or salmon, tossed salad, rice pilaf.

No plans for meals for the next few weeks because adventure and excitement awaits.

No plans for listening to specific music either. I'll just be floating along listening to whatever comes my way

Read: Beginner's Christmas,    The Soul of an Octopus

Have a great week staying on plan, going off plan, or with no plan at all.

May all your weeds be wildflowers.

Anne

p.s. *Star Lake is actually a really big pond, but I did not name it, so I call it a lake like every one else does.

I will most likely be posting nothing, but will be reading your blogs w/o commenting because my Ipad hates me.