last day of september... i mean, october... i mean, november (233/365b)

nina came by this morning! it had been so long since we had time to just sit and have coffee, and i didn't want that restful moment to end. but minutes pass fast, and coffees are soon sipped away.

i love walking past this bicycle parking garage

theodore and i went to rehearsal for thomas' orchestra today. it was very nice, but two kids were so unbearably rude and annoying that my aggressive side was getting hot. thomas is what i would call "too" patient.

then i thought i had rehearsal at 6pm, so i rushed theodore out with me, but it turned out it was at 7pm, so i felt silly, left my stuff there, and decided to take theodore quick to lendplatz and back. the busstation had no sign up, but the lines were still in the road, and the pole was there, i assumed someone had stolen the sign. turns out they had moved the station a few feet farther. the bus didn't stop for us, so we moved to the next station and waited another 15 minutes. eh. i just let theodore go alone this time, since now i would get there at the right time.

rehearsal was sooo good. tomorrow, 9am the next one.

major triad (232/365b)

highly successful TU gig, we played really nicely, bright and early in the morning. then i went to go get theodore and henry arzt bestaetigungen for which i had an appointment. i was told i had to wait, and wait and wait, anyways, so i left. i really should have done this weeks ago, but i haven't made the time, and today was the last chance. so off i went to my pcp, who happened to be closed today. then to another one down the street, closed. then to another one, way on the other side of town, where they told us to ... wait.... again. hours later, we were all done. i was told mothers should still be brushing kids' teeth when they are 9 years old. i guess we can try.

at that point i had completely missed our trio rehearsal, and the kids had missed their singschule. our trio made do with a run through right before our first concert. we still don't have a proper name yet.

LtoR: my viola, helga, theodor storm, theodore fontane

checking the camera before taking a truly horrible blurry photo of the three of us

successful trio concert. there were 8 people in the audience. and helga read for nearly 2.5 hours, but the readings were beautiful, the mood was good, the tea was hot, and the cookies were nicely presented.

i LOVE finishing things! (231/365b)

//a little bit adrenaline high from finishing 2 projects back to back yaaaaaaaaaaay!!

one is that i caught up HERE!!! yaaay!

i don't even care that i took a crappy photo today, or that i didn't bother straightening it, or anything. i'm finally caught up!

my glass is full and brian's glass is empty
what does the optimist say to that??

i finished my introduction for my music publishing guy, about klenau's triptykon symphony, which has been haunting me for weeks.

I *didn't* get the required paperwork done for the kids' singschule - i have to get a doctor certification that they are healthy and fine. i chose a new doctor to go to since nobody was open in the afternoon on wednesday. i got there 5 minutes after they opened and there was already a line out the door - 20 patients deep, some with real problems/needs. so we just went home. tomorrow's the absolute deadline, so i kind of have to do that then.

henry desperately wanted to buy wool so that he could learn to knit, so we did that too. he chose the same type and color as theodore. they'll end up being different anyways, i know that.

and i DID go for a run today with brian. my toes were so very cold, but i was so very glad i went.

i had a work evening with kris (thus all the work getting done) and victoria, who i really like, but none of us socialized today, since the point was to get some work done. we contemplated going to swing afterwards. facebook events, and google searches made it impossible for us to really figure out what was happening - a dance or a concert? was there a cover charge? exactly what was happening? and when? so we gave up. no post work drinks. except for at home, just for me and brian, over more work. yay. it just feels so good!

a day off that wasn't much of a day off but still fun (230/365b)

felix stayed home with me. he woke me up about 8 times, because i was so sleepy i kept falling back asleep. finally i got up and read him chapters upon chapters of farmer boy. we cut the toes off some old socks so he could use them as wrist warmers (his idea, and his old socks, missmatched of course). then i had to go to quintet rehearsal and brian took over for a while, and apparently they cooked together (roasted veggies are very yummy... or were, while they were still around)

on tippytoes... what is he doing?

oh i see, cutting celeriac with a sharp knife.

we made an advent wreath, spontaneously as part of an event that irmtraud was promoting, but wasn't part of. we just showed up, meeting brian and theodore after his casting for the polish opera kol roger. (he was nervous, and didn't know how it went)  there were lots of teenagers making them, and we made our own in our own way. i think it came out quite nicely.

we made our own candles and brought them with us.
the kids insisted on not using a hot glue gun and used wires to afix everything
they insisted on a LOT of styrofoam stars
and they insisted on cinnamon sticks.
it smells amazing

brian left us to go to choir, and i read some stories, and then played computer stuff... mostly bog updating.... ALMOST caught up! (finally!)

project finished after a year (229/365b)

double pointed needles, he figured them out on his own <3

theodore finished his knit hat today. a long pointy cap, to go with a scarf he started last year.

i wanted to take his picture. Then everyone wanted a picture. And Henry desperately also wanted to take a photo too.

This was his desired pose and placement.
Who's to say what art is?

Henry, with his pocket sewed on the front of his jacket, not the back.
"Today is sewing day, Mama, even though we also have so many other things to do, we still can sew things."

Scarf and hat all done, except for vernehen.

Henry's portrait of his parents. I guess that's how we look from 4 feet looking up.

ran tons of errands in town, replaced some earrings, bought new strings, failed to sign up for kids' parent teacher conferences, bought felix new gloves. i was so glad felix went with me, he was very adamant about staying home.

brian and i stayed up and watched "yes man" the movie to celebrate finishing the book. the upshot was, we had forgotten that we had already watched it in 2010 or so, probably when i was pregnant some time, and that it was better than the book, but still not great.

oh yes, and it was monday. I promised Felix a "pausetag" tomorrow.

more concerts (228/365b)

started the day stupid early, playing at the dom at 8:30, with a mass at 10. Schubert mass in b-flat. it was gorgeous and fun to play today, everyone was in a pretty good mood. Irmtraud was there too, filling in at the very last minute (they called her at quarter of 9, she was there by 9) for the originally contracted bass player who had overslept. Best (translated) quote from the conductor: "Today is national day against agression towards women. So men: just for today, don't hit back."

another concert that was just unbelievable. Barbara came too, and this time Cecilia, and Brian, and all my little kids. After all, it wasn't in Wels, this was just in the Stefanieensaal in Graz, a 10min bike ride away. Also, my three boys are the youngests fan of the group: the King's Singers. He loves their 1980s-ish version of La Tricotea. Henry has even named all the members, all of which have since retired. 6 brand "new" members on stage for their "50th anniversary" tour, which i think is funny. it reminds me of the saying about the axe that's been in the family for generations: "the head's been replaced twice and the handle three times."

Some highlights from the evening:

It was completely sold out, and I bought 7 standing room spots. The lady didn't want to sell me a ticket for Felix: "It's not a show for children" she said. I told her I would go home if there was a problem, that she should sell me the ticket, and she did. We got perfectly central standing room spots, and the place was really over-crowded. 

They sang gorgeously of course, and the final song of the first half was a funny one written for them about themselves,  including lots of quotes from madrigals and other accappella things. there was a moment were everyone stopped singing, and one guy alone said "tiddily doo" quite high pitched, and Felix laughed out loud. "everyone" turned and looked at us, and then they laughed too. Everyone laughed for the rest of the song too.

Theodore, Brian and Felix went home, but Henry insisted on staying (he deserved it too - he was the only one who had taken a nap) so we nabbed some left over seating, some of the best seats and sat there. The encore was "Cecilia, you're breaking my heart" and we all started half-dancing in our seats (we weren't the only ones doing that) and we pointed at Cecilia, and somebody, maybe all of us laughed. Not very loud, and not very long. And a lady in the row ahead of us, turned around and said quite loudly "Gibt es da was zu lachen?" and then the lady next to her turned around, recognized Cecilia and said "Ja *gruess* dich Cecilia!" and then more people laughed. The other lady was not amused.

Centa stayed to get a signed CD :)

We went home, and Henry was out in an instant. So fun.

best concert ever! anywhere! and it's in WELS! (227/365b)

barbara's instagram post
i left my camera in the car
couldn't really have used it anyways
sometimes cell phones are just better

weeeeks ago, i found out il giardino armonico was playing in vienna on a day i couldn't go. and not just them. they were playing with patricia kopatchinskaja and i'm basically completely in love with her. then i found out the last day of their europe tour was today (well, i found this out a while ago) and in wels, which is a tiny town near linz. only 2.5hours by car, in the middle of nowhere. and when i tried to buy the tickets i had to send a personal email to the head of the (newly formed) verein asking to buy the tickets. then they sent me physical tickets in the mail. it was quite funny. i took barbara, or rather she took me. we dressed up fancy and went on a date. it was delightful. 

we laughed and squealed the whole 3 hour concert, drove back, and i was still squeaky and high when i got back.

she had done things with her violin i had no idea how they worked. she did improvisations on vivaldi, and played pieces commissioned for her and the orchestra, all kinds of modern pieces that worked directly back into the baroque. she played *with* the orchestra. the orchestra was absolutely perfect too. the conductor and the soloist left the center and played a wind machine and an aluminum sheet during the "storm" concerto. it was just unbelievable. 

too loud (226/365b)

best way to start a gig. champagne, juice, water, dark chocolate

today my quintet played background music for a thing at the TU. we are 5 strings, with occasional drum/cymbal clashes. 

the decan and the people hiring us loved us, (once the decan, who was an amateur trumpet player in his youth, and therefore is described as "the musician" asked us what the atonal sounding piece was that we played before. "tutti frutti" we asked? no, before that. "star wars?" no before that. ummm.... "amar pelos dois?" no... he meant the russian sounding one. umm... we really didn't play a russian sounding one. and definitely nothing atonal. no idea)

the other people thought we were too loud. sometimes. not when it was a piece they were bouncing along to, but then when it wasn't they wanted to talk, and then it was too loud.

we went for persian food afterwards, and were very silly. but i warned barbara, that this was nothing compared to the music high i might be tomorrow night after the concert that we're going to go watch.

thankful!! (225/365b)

happy thanksgiving all!

dig in! (not pictured: a lot more food and a lot more people)

we made it through the 40people day, including a very busy pre-party day. not a holiday in graz, so i had rehearsal, and there was school, chorus, kindergarten and everything else. brian did all the farmers market shopping, and centa had to teach at 8:30am. most of the cooking happened afterwards. isabella helped in the kitchen and then had to leave before the party started. she came for an hour. nina's parents brought her soup while she was still at work. by the time we ate it, there was a decent crowd already, and they were pretty hungry, so that pot of soup didn't last long. manuela and d and kris and nina and i were the last ones left late in the night in the upstairs party. there was more games and fun party stuff going on downstairs, but i didn't have the social energy left to join them.

i hate shopping (224/365b)

i won't show it, but we took a picture of the receipt from crazy thanksgiving shopping this morning.
first we went for a nice little run/jog together, and then the marathon shopping session in an effort to spend lots of money on nonperishable items like booze.

after i got home from taking felix to chorus and stuff i just kind of decided to do housey kind of stuff and decided against swing and work date with kris. i had a kind of headache too, so i just gave up on that also. i made one pie, which got a little burned while i wasn't looking, and that was my pre-contribution to the thanksgiving festivities. meh.

nothing really (223/365b)

just a full day, i only remember stress. we would have gone to an elternabend, but jackie came over during brian's chorus and told us all the things the kindergarten told her. basically just more stress. centa read the kids to sleep while jackie caught me up on all the drama.

getting ready for thanksgiving... rsvps coming in. still not in hosting spirit. hope i get there.

mondays ... they can get busier (222/365b)

it was fuller "in real" (as felix says)
but we watied till after the concert to take a picture

monday stuff, all the stuff, like normal.

PLUS

so elke also invited me to her concert, where she played music for basson and/or viola, some of it with piano. it was strange but beautiful music. i didn't know until the last minute whether i would go or not. i wanted to take theodore too. also i had planned on going to the school planning committee meeting because i'd never been. the times overlapped. why not just do both? that's what i did. i took theodore there, he was supposed to be doing his homework in the meantime.

the committee meeting was just as terrible as it could have been. a bunch of sad looking moms sitting around a long table, taking votes on whether to have apples or clementines in the st.nicholas sack, with one very exact mom critiquing the vote taker for not asking for nays after a unanimous vote. i was glad to have an excuse to leave. on the way out someone commented that that "poor kid" shouldn't be "dragged along" to a concert "so late" ..... eh. we got home in plenty of time to get him enough rest. 

smashing success! (221/365b)

breakfast was very austrian, rolls and jam and coffee, all very exactly organized. the second we were finished the table seemed entirely crumb free. i wanted moooore coffee, but when i asked for more they got me a new cup and a new saucer and a new spoon even though i hadn't used the previous spoon, and then after that i didn't want a repeat of that, so i just went without coffee until we brewed a pot at the pre-concert sound check.

katja went running this morning, and i stayed back, and ate a bag of cookies and practiced for my lesson tomorrow.

the church we are playing at is soooo cold. colder than outside, and it's really cold outside. it's the first day of freezing for me this season, so i wasn't even used to it. and i hadn't really packed properly for needing a thousand layers. i had packed carefully to be a fancy dressed soloist.

teeny tiny bit neverous before the concert
when i saw the church was entirely completely densely packed

it went so great though! i warmed myself between times. it was hard to hear each other because of the extreme reverb, but we had a totally rauccous bach time.
afterwards we went to get something at a fancy dinner, but vegetarian options were few. and i really wanted a drink but i had to drive and when we came out of the restaurant it was snowing. katja squealed with delight.

the drive was sooo long and so tedious, and so terrible. i got radar controlled (i think) and over all, i was not comfy with the whole hairpin turns at night on a cold night, in the snow. i was happy to get home.

brian's back! but i'm gone... (220/365b)

so brian's flight was delayed, and delayed, and delayed. so instead of yesterday evening, he arrived home at nearly 9am, and at 10:50 katja picked me up and i drove to waidhofen on the ybbs for my brandenburg concerto concert weekend.

i hate the drive there. also, katja kept telling me when to shift.

felix teaching papa to finger knit the second he arrives home

rehearsal was really great! and katja's various family members fed me and hosted me.
upon being asked what i wanted for breakfast, i said anything, except i was vegetarian
not trolling at all, the guy said he would pick up rolls and deli meat.
"but she's a vegetarian" protested the wife
"ja, klar, aber ein bisschen wurst geht ja hin und wieder."
("of course, but now and then a little meat is fine.")

not a hotel room, and not my usual settings
but i continue my self-portrait in strange beds series
reading "yes man" which i somehow strongly dislike.
i hope the movie is better

but first coffee... (219/365b)

friday, the last full day brian is gone. very happy to know that he'll be back tonight!

practicing sleigh ride with quintet...
...that time of year again!
waaaay too early, 8:30am.

was at jackie and andi's house before 8am with felix, and headed out right from there.

henry was so happy i picked up a willhaben pencil case for him. a little more effort than buying one at the store, and not any cheaper, but it somehow is just my thing to find new homes for things that aren't needed anymore.

trash or treasure (218/365b)

??? .... don't know why henry's being so strange, he cried hysterically today because he doesn't want to go alone to chorus. he doesn't typically act like that. as soon as i said he could stay home he wanted to go, but only with me. :-/ i'm a little worried, i hope needlessly.

henry drew this and i remember his flowers from a long time ago

this type of drawing is why it is so hard for me to remove any kid-stuff ever at all. there are plenty of trash things of course. some things i don't care for much, but are treasures for my kids, and there are plenty of things that go the other way around too. i tried to sort some of it and was so overly emotional that i gave up.

weeping about paper junk

mary heads out (217/365b)

sad to see mary and agnes leave so early this morning. since they are headed to japan for 3 months, we said merry christmas and happy new year and safe travels, and see you maybe in march... i had to take kindergarten kids early this morning, and when i got back they were in a state of packing. we thought it would be a good idea to fix henry's bridge and when we moved it so it stood correctly the sound post fell down inside. yay for new projects. i'll have to go get that fixed now. we somehow got everything together in time, and we drove them there. centa went in with them to make extra sure they got to their train on time, and then we walked back together from the foersters after dropping the car off.

centa rearranged the vegetables and henry and i took some sweet potato photos. i tried to capture henry's green eyes.

that color does not allow itself to be captured!

blossom

leaf

our baby sweet potato (216/365b)

the electrician finally fixed all our hallway lighting problems nearly 6 months after i initially called them and told them what i wanted. they showed up early this morning, pretty aggressive and annoyed, but also had to admit that the solution was not what i had asked for. and they put in a solution that worked in about an hour. that wasn't so hard was it? i was very proud that i stood my ground, and very proud i didn't apologize. mary pointed out they didn't apologize either.

i took a photo or two of the gigantic sweet potato that brian bought at the market, that centa made into a delightful arrangement, for eventual use on the thanksgiving party invitation. but my battery was out after a shot or two, and i went to charge it, and by the time it was charged it was dark out and centa had put everything back.

i'll try again tomorrow

phil the fiddler had invited me over, so i went over there and we worked out some songs, and when i came back mary and i recorded all the rest of the movement's of siegl's gartenmusik, and stayed up till 2am after that. centa donned earmuffs, with one ear off, so that she could better play the role of sound technician for us.

a too-short visit (215/365b)

today was our typical monday with so much stuff PLUS a Nita visit (and of course Mary and Agnes are still here)

Mary saved the day by picking up Theodore and taking him to lunch. I cooked with Nita, and we just chatted, and when Mary got back, we had wine and chatted more. we finally gave back the laptop that priya had left here over the summer that we had been intending on sending back in the mail.

nita's here!

she even wrote in agnes' awesome funanimals notebook book

she stayed as long as humanly possible, and i went to the train station with her in a taxi, and took felix along too. while we were waving to the train a guy asked if i had any cigarettes, and i said no. then he asked felix if he wanted an umbrella felix said yes, and the guy gave him one. a huge one, longer than felix, and with a wooden handle. felix beamed the whole way home. it wasn't raining. it was beautiful fall weather.

a day of all the things (214/365b)

yuck. concert in the morning. i took theodore and henry, and they took a very shaky video of me playing a movement of herzogenberg. i ran into distant relatives (erna?) there, and was embarrassed that i wasn't sure who they were right away, mostly because i wasn't expecting to run into anyone i knew. 

i sent the kids home, and took a break alone to drink coffee and have dinner at parks. i sat outdoors, the sun shining warmly, and i took a few long deep breaths to just love the gorgeous weather in november. then a guy asked for directions to premstetten, which is not near here. i gave him a map, which he just opened and closed again, folded the wrong way. then, over a beer, he sat near me, and mumbled things, mostly about his life, and how wrong things had gone today, and how he wanted to throw himself from the next bridge. i didn't have much to say to him other than giving him accurate directions to the train station. when i left, he wanted to go with me. i basically ran all the way to my audition. warmed up a bit. maybe too much. played, it went ok, but not great. i wasn't nervous until halfway through, when the lamp overhead started making weird clicking sounds and i asked to turn it off, and they turned it off, and then it was just... so.... silent. //shudder

home again for a few hours. 

henry and agnes balanced things all day and took pictures of their creations

talking with mama - she'll be back in just a few hours! hooray!

and then that terrible dom concert, where nobody wanted to play well, for some reason. i played much better with my glasses on than i was playing yesterday without them. really, seeing the notes is important. brian's choir mass was over at the exact same time, and we walked back together under the stars. mary was there, and we stayed up late and chatted, but not late enough to say goodbye to brian leaving for london on the 2am flixbus.

more lanterns - now with spontaneity (213/365b)

a rehearsal today seemed like it was really ages long. it was only a few hours, but the people in the orchestra were all in such a bad mood. also i wished i could just have the time to practice on my own. it was cold in the church.

henry made agnes a laterne, so we went on a laternen walk with her, and we collected several kids along the way. maria's kid gabrielle, and michi's kids, and some friends of michi's kids. all in all we were 9 kids and a few adults so we knocked on ingrid's door and sang laterne laterne. yay for spontaneous lanternfest singing (only one day early, although i thought it was one day late)

the moon peaked out between the apartment buildings
so cutely

they were all cold
they hadn't wanted coats.

laternenfest and agnes arrives (212/365b)

lantern fest at kindergarten. as everyone keeps telling me: my last one. i am a bit sad to see time passing so quickly.

i spent so much time practicing today, and completely missed out on helping bake for the party with jackie. when theodore and henry got done with school, nina and i met them there, and we wanted to go see the museum that henry had picked out, but that opened at 14:00, and it was slightly past 12. so we went to see the peter rosegger exhibit instead. it was nice, but not quite exactly for children. not that it matters so much, they can also see some non-children-centric stuff once in a while. i think it's also hard to make an exhibit about a writer. there were lots of places where there were headphones and you could listen to small portions of texts.

felix got to play st.martin. the cloak velcros in the back so you can separate it in two
one to give to the man in need

theodore brought one of his old laternen too, because he wanted to be part of the festivities
he's growing up so fast.

beginning our lantern walk

the consensus among the parents was that everything was too short. we had just gotten our little raisin-bread things, and already the kindergarten told us it was time to go home. so we congregated at jackie and andi's, brian and i took the slightly longer way through the woods <3, and when we got there, i made speed pizzas for everyone, and we celebrated our own way.

when we got back the kids went right to sleep, and we grown-ups waited for agnes to arrive. mary left within 2minutes, on tour with her orchestra. 

work is play and play is work (211/365b)

i bought barbara a selfie-stick
finally
so that we can make more stupid videos
so we can get more clicks
so that youtube doesn't keep ignoring us
on purpose

all morning, barbara and i hatched silly plans for how to beat youtube's algorithms. we found ourselves in the hauptbahnhof pretending to buy random things. what we discovered is, we are neither good at acting nor improvisation. we thrive on scripts and rehearsals. 

at home i discovered my little ones doing their homework in the garden. we have been blessed with delightfully spring time weather in november.

happy at home (work)

if you don't want to hard enough you won't do it (210/365b)

I wanted to take a picture today, but i had no battery. Then I charged my battery and took my camera with me to a work evening with Kris, but when I wanted to take a picture there I had my card in my computer, and then I was too lazy, also the subject wasn't that amazing, just us sitting in the corner under some gigantic paintings that were being changed. Cafe Erde has this "Freies Atelier" where artists get together once a week and can put whatever art they want on the walls.

In the morning I met up with michi for her birthday. it was breakfast at the kunsthaus cafe. we found tons of stuff that michi said she would be interested in, but in the end i was the only one who stayed past food, and we just walked around the museum store. breakfast there was a "green omelette" with spinach and herbs" and the herbs included cilantro (which i detest) and also the place had never heard of salt. also their coffee was weirdly sweet. i was not impressed. so much for my unpublished yelp review.

i lastenradled the kids to chorus, and when i came back, went directly out again, to meet up with kris. then we went dancing. the band was from vancouver, and played a little bit weirdly for dancing to, but we totally had an awesome time.

lost tuesday - some days just get lost, even with the best intentions! (210/365b)

let's just say that tuesday was lost to some things that monday is usually reserved for, and lots of practicing - audition coming up.

there was coffee in the morning, and nina brought me some presents from france and japan, some by proxy. some of the magical japanese rice paper with gold flakes origami paper got made right into earrings. in the night time nina brought over the rest of the zubehoer for earrings (the earring part), and kris and nina and centa and philip the fiddler and i had some wine before brian got back from his choir rehearsal. philip and i stayed up late and talked about possible band ideas, and our jam session ended up being all of 2 songs.

little tiny amounts of quality time (209/365b)

got to start the day with a rehearsal at the dom, although i was so tired i could barely see the music. playing a very difficult piece by mendelssohn that i wish i could like, but instead, i don't really like it, it's hard, lots of notes, not one of his best works, and nobody is playing very nicely together.

bridged the gap between theodore's violin lesson and stimmbildung by taking him for dinner. there was so much food though, and so little time, i sent him off after he had had his soup and called brian to send henry to take his place. henry didn't seem to want to eat much, but he and i had so much fun just chatting, and i showed him my reversed lens technique. it was quite nice. i looked through a vegan propaganda magazine, that had an article about vegetarian restaurants of early 20th century vienna.

but first, salad

hard to focus.

andi told me that felix was arguing with ronja about the letters A, E and I, typically difficult to explain that the letters don't have the same name in english and german.

home again home again (208/365b)

got ready to go right away when i got up. frieda was sad to see me go, she cried a few times. i made some palatschinken as best as i could with a terrible pan, fake butter (that's what there is) and some who-knows-how-old flour. i would say on the cooking scale it was nearly british, but ... i think still somehow better than some expensive meals i've had in london.

england's famously bad weather means pretty colors everywhere

some signs i liked in manchester...

as few minutes i had to be just on my own i got to pretend to be a tourist.

my kind of sign.

"this is still a 20mph zone" (in case you forgot)

somehow just funny!

somehow the flight was not too fun, but there was the flight attendant who yelled at me for ordering a coca cola. everyone else for a few rows had ordered one, and it seemed to be very catching. she chose me to yell at. "why do you want to drink that? it's not healthy! do you know what I use coca cola for? to clean my toilet. what is today? drink a coke day?" i started to tell her i never drink coke, and only asked for it because it somehow just sounded good right now because everyone was asking for one, but then gave up trying to defend myself.

stayed up waaaaay too late (after 1, ewww) with jacky and andi, ostensibly to talk about driving logistics, but mostly just to socialize and hang out. too bad tomorrow's not a free day.

contemplative in manchester (206/365b)

Come on come on
that's all i ever hear from you
come on come on
like a horse
like a trojan horse
 -aunt frieda, who doesn't know she's a poet

in the morning, the caretaker katrina came, and noticed that in the night frieda had moved all kinds of things, including the telephone. Frieda told me she had had so many bad dreams, and had tried to phone the police because she thought she was being robbed. 

that would explain all the times she woke up in the middle of the night and the two of us crept downstairs together to check everything out. i don't know when she tried to use the telephone though, i wasn't awake for that one.

it would also explain why she was so tired and didn't want to wake up until noon. 

annoyed that i had taken off my wide angle lens right before i left

i played a lot of viola, wrote a lot of belated blog entries (though none as belated as this one) and researched some stuff about paul von klenau with papa's library proxy help from australia. so... in england, researching things for a german publisher about a danish composer (who wrote a german opera based on a british play) and i call my dad in australia to get a copy of a 1926 article published in the new york times which cites klenau speaking to the frankfort zeitung (sic).

i went shopping for some food in the food desert of greater manchester. i found a terrible little liquor store that had some kind of packaged noodles and some very sad looking tomatoes. finally ate again. aunt frieda was still not interested in any food (her last "meal" was tuesday, and very small)

better luck today

played some viola for her in the evening. the stuff she liked the best was some waltz melodies, like the blue danube, and little german childrens songs, like ein mänlein steht im walde. we watched some ballroom dance tv show and then i convinced her to go to sleep at a regular time. she kept asking if it was breakfast time or bed time. honestly, i thought she should be able to chose, i would totally have decided on breakfast time at 8:30pm if she had wanted breakfast, but also, honestly, on the other hand, it would be just too confusing, so i insisted on telling her it was bedtime. she went to sleep with the tv in her bedroom blaring some really creepy tv show about crime investigation, and i was very happy when i got to turn it off. i wanted an ibuprofen but i hadn't brought one and didn't want to go through much stuff to find one. in one medicine cabinet i found some that had expired in 2006 and were perscription strenght so i took half of one to help my poor sad headache. i hope it works. somehow taking really old medicine creeped me out a bit, but it's all the same stuff, right?

off to auntie frieda's (205/365b)

Looking forward to hiking with manuela and the kids, prosting to pauli's birthday party, and lots of practicing today.

"Why does a woman have such a nice camera and you don't even know how to use it?"
-a. frieda

"Nun ist es also wirklich bald so weit: Tante Frieda schläft ihrem Ende entgegen." .... was the email i got today.

with a sudden change of plans we booked a flight to manchester for me.

after she had gotten over her initial excitement of seeing me it became clear that she was actually doing quite well. she was so tired, but so happy to see me, and I spent the next several hours saying over and over gain who I was, and that I lived in graz. She wanted me to take a photo of us together, and I did, and she didn’t like the photo, nor that I couldn’t get a good one. We said many times that it was time to go to bed, but after I was asleep I heard her getting up over and over again.

talked until late... too late for me even, we went over and over all our family connections. looked at her albums.

i can't believe it
i just can't adam and eve it
they did their part
in populating the world
taught us
taught your mother

and now you.
-aunt frieda, accidental poet

one highlight. she leans back heavily in her arm chair and weakly says "i'm so thirsty" i ask if i can get her water, and she sits right up and says "water? i'd rather die than drink water. you know what i want. get the sherry." so i did. she didn't drink much of it, but it was a very funny little moment.

a real day off! (204/365b)

mornings the way they should be....
listening to the kids in the other room deciding on the fairest way to share ingrid's strietzls for breakfast. in the end each one cut a piece of theirs off and saved it for one of the adults. then they tiptoed in and asked if they could go to the dumpster to get cardboard. i asked them (especially in lieu of our neighbors calling the police earlier this week!) to at least wait until after 8am. they waited, went, and then played in the basement, overjoyed to have found not just cardboard, but real plywood too.

i wanted to show them how rivets worked, but i couldn't find them, or figure out how to use them, or both, or ... i just don't know. i guess i have to learn how rivets work first, then i'll show them. they would be very useful for a lot of the projects.

i wanted to go for a walk with Maria after brian's work, but the time changed from 6, to 7, to 9, to 10. we found each other at lendplatz around 10:30 and walked a nice round, i listened to her single-mom child-rearing woes.