All in all it's been quite a good week.

 Goodafternoon everybody!

Weather is not really bad, but we could do with littler bit better LOL. Last few days temperatures are around 16-17C, with very much wind and pouring rainshowers every now and then. Yesterday already better, almost no rain and even some sunshine. Today about the same, and more or less for the whole week, you know, asome sun, some rain, temperature will stay 17-18C.

Last Monday I got my referaal for the eyedoctor in hospital, and I made a call that afternoon. Gosh, there are waiting lists there! For now it seems it can take about a month to get a first appointment. I had hoped for a appointment next week or so, but not a chance. Well, we will have to do with that.

Tuesday was a day for grocerie shopping and some housekeeping, I tried to do it all that day, because I had a lunch appointment with Heidi next day and wanted to have some things done, so I could sit with a "clear conscience" hahaha.

Heidi and I would meet at about 1.00 a.m. in town centre. So we did and decided to go to a small cafe-lunchroom nearby our meeting point. It was a nice place, quiet and with a nice range of sandwiches or other yummie things and for a not too high price. We decided to take a cappuccino and a sandwich(french bread it was) with goatcheese. Gosh we got about half of a big baguette, well covered with the cheese and bit of salad. Really fresh and tasting it was. We had a nice chat together, about all kind of things, in all tranquility and it was real nice to so again after a long time. We will try to do it again in a few weeks time.

After we said goodbye I made a quick visit to one ot two shops in town centre, and founc a few nice things. I found a curtain of christmaslights, we can use that for an inside window in our sitting room. Oh my, I was looking for that already for so long and never found the right one, or even sometimes not at all, so when I saw it I bought it. Also bought some birdseed in a shop where it is available in autumn and winter and for a nice price. I will go there for sure lots of times, because birdseed is used a lot in our garden LOL.

Next day Jan and I had to get up rather early, to go to the hospital, appointment with surgeanfor his vains. He had two scans to see if there might be something wrong with a stent they placed in a vain near hos liver. Well, we had good news, it all was still in good order so need for a further appointment at the moment.

It was a bit funny that we had to come to hospital to hear this mesaage, it good have been done by phone too! Never mind, I was glad to hear this result, hopefully all will stay well with Jan for a longer time! He is doing better every week after his fall, we even went to hospital without the rollator. Home again, Jan said it might have been a bit too much, but ...... he made it to and from without to much trouble. And after we had a cup of coffee, he had a good sleep on the couch(not surprising, because he almost didn;t sleep at night and the effort he made with the walk).

Yesterday the weather wasn;t really bad, and I did work for some time in the garden. There were some plants in need of cutting and also replacing and this is about the best time to do it, so I took courage in both hands and went to work LOL. Also cleared up a messy corner in the garden, where we put the pruning stuff, and debries, I filled up 4 big plastic sacs, and it looks much better in that corner again. I just left a little place in "disorder", where there are a few bricks and some soil and some small branches, nice place for a frog or toad that need a place to stay in winter.

Now I think I will sit down with a cup of tea on the couch, watch a bit of sport and take it easy for the rest of the day. Tomorrow I want to do some necessary things, like laundry, ironing, and such, hope I can do a lot in one day. Oh and Wednesday we will have to go for our flu shot.

I wish you all a wonderful week and hope you will stay safe!

We'll have to prepare for fall!

 Goodafternoon everybody!

We have some gorgeous days at the moment with temperatures around 21-22C, in full sun and without wind even a bit higher), and we will have that for some days more. Later in the week, towards the end, they say temperatures will drop again to perhaps 18,or 17C, That is the normal temperature for the time of year, but if you would ask me, I could do with some weeks more in the 21-22C LOL.

I will first tell you some sad news. Last Tuesday afternoon I had a phonecall from Heidi in which she told me that her doggie Tommy had crossed the rainbow! It happened so suddenly, no one saw that coming.  Of course they all are sad and it will take some time to get used to the fact, there is no dog in the house.

And I say to you that I shed a little tear too, hearing about it. I will miss him too, he was a little bit our pet at distance, you know.

Wednesday I called the doctor for an appointment about the eyes. I could come on Friday morning, and after a short visit, he will give me a referral for the ophthalmologist. I can pick it up Monday morning, and then I will call the hospital for an appointment. I hope I can go there soon, but the doctor already warned me that they have quite a long waiting list. Well, we'll see what comes.

Oh, Thirsday we had the final measurement for our windows. They would come between 4.30-5.30 a.m. but earlier in the afternoon we had a call with request if they could come righ away(that was around 3.30 a.m.) Of course it was no problem, they did their thing, we had a few quiestions to ask, they were answered to satisfaction, and now it is waiting when they can come to place them. That was the only thing that didn;t please us too much, they said it could be as late as January next year! It seems they have a very busy calendar, and also the Covid stuff didn't help. But I will keep hope they might be able to do it a bit sooner. It is a bit of disappointment, because we had hoped for late November may be. On the other hand it gives us some more time to save some extra money LOL! Let's try to see the bright side, hmmm?

In between all that of course the "normal"things had to be done, but not truly interesting to tell, only that I took courage in both hands and cleared a part of a closet. Meaning I searched through some clothes of Jan and me, got rid of quite some stuff we NEVER wear anymore, still a lot of it in good order, but out of fashion, or we donlt fit in anymore. And also gor rid of some sets of duvet covers, that really needed replacement. Gosh, that gave some space! I still have enough sets, may be it needs another search through, and certainly more of the clothes. But it is again a good start. Next will be the towels, big and small ones. I hope I can do even more in the next few weeks. 

Yesterday Jan and I worked in the garden. It is about time to plant some spring-bulbs, so that we did. We still had some tulip bulbs from last spring, we stored them after the bloom and drying in the shed and I am curious how they will do this time. And I also had bought(of course, what else is new???)some new ones. So in some planters there are now the bulbs, with on top of them still some annuals that won;t give up blooming and performing well(due to the quite good weather).

And in the spirit of this week, when Jan said he could stall his bike at the moment perhaps IN the shed(normally it is in the hallway, but due to his falling accident, he surely would not take his bike for some time, and I stalled it in the garden under part of the roof of the shed). I took a look in the shed and saw no place for the bike, really(and it is really a small shed). What to do? I got rid of a lot of old wood, of all kind, some big cannisters with some rests of old paint in it, some folding chairs, we never will use anymore etc. Jan had some trouble with throwind away a part of the wood, (old shelves, and left overs from who knows what LOL) but I didn;t gave in and I am glad I was tough! Now we have quite some stuff that i can put on the street and then call the municipal service of bulky waste collection (they come collect it for free). Oh my, I was rather proud of myself. Now we'll see if i can put some more things in that collection. It usually takes a few days before they can come along, so that will give me perhaps opportunity. We save so much stuff, always saying it will come to use some day, or something like that and most of it never will be used again! Is that something that sounds familiair to you????

Good, I just made a quick break to taste the stew that is on the stove. It is a breasing steak chopped up in dices in some Indonesian herbmix.  They call it Rendang. There are an awefull lot of different ways to make it.Depends on the boemboe. 

Boemboes are finely ground spice mixtures used in Indonesian cuisine. Traditionallythe ingredients are ground in a mortar. A bumbu paste is created by adding (vegetable) oil

This time I made it easy for myself and bought a ready to use made bumbu. It isn;t always as good a freshly made, but I tasted it just now and it isn;t bad at all! Quite spicy, I can say. Well, I can always ad some water, or some creamy coconutmilk extra, also depends on how much the cooking liquid9water and some creamy coconutmilk) reduces. I already was a bit careful when bying the bumbu, I looked on the pack how spicy it was, smart hey? Yes, i like a little bit spicy, but not so much that your mouth looks on fire! And secondly, most important, I cannot eat too spicy, it gives trouble with the stomach. Not sure yet what I will make additional to it. Usually you eat some rice with it, but Jan isn;t a rice eater at all, so perhaps I just make some boiled potatoes and some vegetable, or perhaps some nudel, that's also an idea. Oh my God, always all the choices that have to be made, hahahaha.

 

First I think I will make me a cup of tea, and perhaps a bit of gardening, now that it still is noce weather. There are still lots of things to do in the garden, to prepare it for autumn- and wintertime.

You all have a lovely week to come, try to have some laughs and smiles and stay safe.

 

Busy with a lot and nothing LOL

 Goodafternoon everybody!

Another week has passed, in more or less nice weather, not too warm, just around 19-20C, but we had some rain and later this week more and more sun, and now the next two or three days will be as in high summer, they expect temperatures around 27-30C! Oh, perhaps a bit too warm, but still we should enjoy it, it will not last long and soon we will have forgotten how that feels.

It seems lately that Mondays are my most energetic days hahaha. I just wrote it down on the calendar to see what I did that day. I started with a bit of grocerie shopping, (my start is always late in the morning, remember that, I am kind of a diesel, coming on speed very slow, but once I am on the right speed, WOW, ) Coming home first of course putting all the things away, then I think I had a quick sandwich or so, Then I gave Jan a haircut, it was about time again.After that you always have hair lying around, even if you have a plastic on the floor to prevent it. So best is to do a vacuumcleaner round. Then I made a cleaning in the toilet room, not everything but the most necessary things, so the walls and so I left as they were.

A little pause, and then into the kitchen to do something about dinner. Finished it as far as possible, oh and also made finally an appointment for the hairdresser. Think it is quite a well-filled day.

Next day we had to go to hospital for Jan's CT-scan. That takes time, first the travel to and from it(it was the further away hospital, so it takes about 1/2 an hour to get there. Then the waiting and scan and back home again. All went well, and home again we took a cup of coffee and then I don;t know what i did exactly.

Oh, last sunday I also did a bit on the ivy in our garden, that grows like crazy, always, early Spring Jan already took away a ot of it, but there is still a part, that has to be done. We try to do it ourselves, but probably later in Autumn we will have to call in a gardener, that can take care of it for us. Nevertheless I could cut and break away quite a lot, without climbing on a ladder(If I donlt really have to, I don't do it, it is a bit tricky in the garden on the soil putting a ladder).

Wednesday it was the hairdresserday. Oh, I am sooo happy I went there, I have really short hair again and it feels fantastic and it's so easy to comb and keep it modelled. Gosh, suddenly it seems if I walk a lot lighter, LOL.

Rest of the week nothing really exciting, apart from Friday, when I , also finally, went to the optician, to loo for another pair of glasses. And after they did the eye-measurement gave me the advice to go to my doctor who could give me referral to an ophthalmologist, because i might have start of some cataract. Gosh, I did not expect that at all! Now isn't the opinion of the optician all conclusive(because there are quite some differences between the divers opticians), so tomorrow I will call my doctor for an appointment and see what he thinks. Never could be wrong to have a really professional measurement in hospital, because my last measurement already was some years ago and I notice that my glasses arent quite good enough anymore. But you see, when at last things seem to go rather smoothly, there always is coming something in between that scews it up(forgive the expression, but if really sucks a bit.) On the other hand, it might be not that serious, so we'll wait and see and act then.

Today is a nice day, temperature already is much better, lots of sun, and I am already happy that it goes eacht week a bit better with Jan. He even washed the windows at the backside of the house! With some perseverance I could talk Jan out of the idea to use the ladder, (which was only needed for the little windows at the top), and that was a great relief for me. The little windows he could do with and extended window washer I still had somewhere). Well, we can see through the windows again, LOL, and Jan feels better to have done something again after a longer time. Everybody happy, yeah!

Good, that's about all there is now. Oh, just one good bit of news too, Heidi wasn;t feeling really happy end last week, had something like a cold, although no fever. Still, with her health condition it is tricky nowadays so she had a testing for Covid-19 and was negative, so NO corona. That was for everybody a real great relief.  

It might be just the good tie now to have a moment in the garden, the sun is shining there now, so why not take advantage and enjoy the weather. Wishing you all a very good week and hope everybody will stay safe!

P.S. Yesterday Jan and I watched on tv a show of "Holland got's talent", and sometimes there are some really surprising auditions to see, as yesterday. I give you the link, hope it works for all of you. I found this something really special and it touches your heart. It's all about the first audition, with the puppet of paper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F1YIpbjSyU

Lot of hospital travels these days LOL

 Goodmorning everybody!

Our weather has improved again the last few days. Temperatures are around 19-21C, but with a lot of sunmoments, so we should not complain at the moment. 

Thos week Jan and I had to go  to the hospital because Jan had to undergo some tests. And as I am a kind of mother hen, I go with him just because he still walks outside with the rollator and it is sometimes tricky in the tram(getting up and then hold balance when tram is using his brakes). No, first he had this week a call from heart surgeon with result of last test, now he wants to do also a CT scan, to be sure all the stents are still okay etc. Well, better a good check than not I say.

And last Thursday Jan had to go to hospital for a gastroscopy. It was middle of the afternoon, a bit annoying, because Jan had to be sober for it, so couldn;t eat anything from around 7.00 a.m. Lucky he could drink something, like water or tea. So we went at time, I "delivered " Jan at the spot, hahaha, and went quickly to town centre to look if I could find that summer/autumn jacket I was looking for. I knew where to go for, now just hoping there wasn;t a that long queue at the cash registers. I was rather lucky, so now I have a very lightweight jacket, that still is warm enough and that I even can fould up and put in a small pouch, easy to carry with you. Wonderful!

The gastroc=scopy went well and quick, but as Jan had a light anesthesia, he had to stay there for about an hour to "sleep"it off. I went there around 4.15 p.m. had to wait a little while and there he came out of the ward. Still a bit sleepy, so I was happy he was awake enough to walk, we catched the tram, came home, had something to eat and Jan went back to.... sleep. Wow, in long time he didn't sleep as much as that day and night LOL!

Just before we went to hospital with the post came the appointment for the CT scan. That should happen next week, but then I saw that it was in another hospital. Normally no a big deal, but this was in one that for us was difficult to go to, bad connection, we had to take two or three lines, one with tram and the others by bus, very unhandy, by taxi it would cost us a fortune(and also difficult with the rollator). So right away I called to hospital to ask if they could change the appointment to another hospital. And in no time(the lady at the phone was wonderful) we had another appointment in another hospital. That one we could go to with the tram we have in front of our house, and it stops in front of the hospital. So we will go there on Tuesday. 

We also signed the contract for the new windows and sent it to the company. (so did our neighbor, we sent it in the same envelope). Now it is waiting for the date they come for the final measuring and then wait for the date they will come to place the stuff. Very exciting times(also very expensive, but it's something that will be for many years, and is an improvement to the house). When the windows will be places, we can go looking for curtains , because we must use probably another kind of systems to hang the curtains. You cannot drill into the posts of these windows, so it will be with a may be magnetic system, or plying curtains or whatever). We like to have the upper part of the windows free and the lower part covered by net curtains and we also want to have new drapes(the old ones are really old and a bit de-coloured and so). It's more Jan who likes to have the upper part free from netcurtains, for me that isn;t really necessary, and is we would take "whole"ones, it would be much easier to hang them. Just with a rail against the ceiling or wall. But all that we can do only when the new windows with windowsill are placed. Oh, there is a lot of planning etc. coming our way towards the end of the year! Somehow we will survive it, LOL, and I hope at the end we will be happy with the result.

I am still knitting every now and then, although I first should put together the blankets that are more or less finished. Well, I have the panels done, so now I must crochet them together and see what edge I will make to it. In the mean time I started another one, LOL. As I was in town this week for the jacket I also bought a bit of new yarn. Couldn;t resist it. I will make this into a smaller afghan, just to use when taking a little nap on the couch. That's at least the idea.

We'll see when I get that finished, It keeps me busy with my hand during watching tv, and if I shouldn;t use one or two afghans/blankets, I always can give it away. 

Oh boy, it's time I wake up Jan, time passes quickly when writing the blogpost. Then we could take a cup of coffee and may I will right away make our dinner for this evening then I only will have to put it in the oven later today. Seems a good plan( we will have mashed potatoe with sauerkraut mixed together, it is a dish that is made quite a lot here in Holland). Probably I will make too much for one day, so for tomorrow it will be the same(but it tastes always better the second day). There will be little slices of fried bacon in it too to give it a bit more taste.

It looks nice outside, so may be later today I can do a bit of pruning and cleaning up in the garden. May be Jan can even start to put some tulip bulbs in pots, so we will have nice flowers next spring. He can do it when sitting down, and I can bring him the things he need, and it will be good for him to do something again. He feels so "useless"at the moment, which I utterly can understand. He is yet in no position to do a lot, but slowly he gets better and more steady on his feet. It is just a matter of time.

Wishing you all a wonderful week, and stay safe.