The Merry Month of March… harrumph

Still here although I have not had much opportunity to write.

We took a week off without pay, making the tough decision to swallow the loss of income.

We packed the car with clothing and Mist and headed for our little house in the city.

I was so wound up from work that I felt ill for the first four days. Then the experience of spending time with friendly loved ones began to work its magic. By the time we left I was sleeping soundly and feeling very mellow.

Attila did some plumbing and I am happy to say that at last the kitchen has cold running water. When we first visited the house after taking possession of it over a year and half ago, it was a great shock to discover that in the kitchen only had access to water from the hot water tank. This water is not suitable for cooking or drinking, in our opinion, so we have been trekking into the bathroom and filling water containers under the tub tap. Very inconvenient. After only a few hours work Attila had cold running water coming out of the kitchen tap, another luxury attained.

Mostly though, on this trip, we relaxed.

I enjoyed the thermostat, always it seems like a modern wonder to me.

Shopping is something we do not have access to at our country house, so we took our urban visit as an opportunity to peruse the shops and stock up on hard to obtain items. There are excellent food outlets near our little house in the city, so we purchased a lot of frozen fruit and fresh vegetables.

We also indulged in long drives into the countryside, where we explored the roads and visited the local shops and coffee shops in the surrounding small towns. We met some very nice people on our journeys. We brought our own picnic lunches with us on our trips.

We did not bring food with us on our first shopping expedition. This taught us a lesson. I can eat at McDonalds restaurants, but hesitate to do so because the food choices that I can eat there are too high in calories and contain too much sodium. On that first trip I decided to buy a healthy snack at a Walmart grocery section. Attila had brought along some dates, so I purchased a bag of walnuts, the ingredients said “walnuts”, nothing else. But when I got the bag to the car and was about to pop a walnut and a date into my mouth, I glanced at the package and to my horror saw warning near the bottom, “may contain sulfites”. No walnuts for me, and a near miss on the anaphylaxis front. Shame on you Walmart for stocking a healthy food like walnuts, that may be contaminated with sulfites.

We ate our lunch at McDonalds that day.

Subsequently though, we packed picnic lunches of oat cakes, fresh fruit and fruit smoothies.

Attila likes crushed ice, so on our first shopping trip we indulged ourselves by purchasing a BPA-free little blender by Cuisinart, that crushes ice and creates wonderful fruit smoothies in the cups provided. Easy to prepare and to clean up. So Attila enjoyed his crushed ice and I enjoyed my fruit smoothies. A real holiday treat.

For entertainment we watched the series Hamish McBeth; still wonderful the third time through.

That was our little holiday. A few small projects completed. A few winter picnics in the countryside. A few evenings watching the “tely”. And best of all many, many hours spent chatting with each other and consulting with Mist the kitty (who made the trip down with us, to her temporary dismay).

Now it is back to work. Both of us are working six days a week all through March, with one Saturday off in the whole month. And when we are done with that, it will be SPRING!

Worldly Distractions

Weather

-1 °C
Pressure: 102.3 kPa
Visibility: 16 km
Temperature: -1.1°C
Dewpoint: -4.8°C
Humidity: 76 %
Wind: SSE 24 gust 35 km/h

Quote

“Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. As a peacemaker the lawyer has superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.”
Abraham Lincoln
(This advice has been almost totally ignored!)