where do I begin?

It has been a busy week for me

     I think I am nuts.  And if not crazy, then just tired.  Crazy tired?
     We came back early Wednesday from Switzerland.  Went out to dinner Wednesday night, baby sat the dogs Thursday night, Cubs game Friday afternoon, energy fair volunteer Saturday morning, Jimmy Buffett Saturday night, church picnic Sunday.... I am damn tired tonight.
The Cubs won Friday.  This makes me 1-5 in games at Wrigley this year.  It was great to see a win and be able to wave my W flag in the stands. Yes, I was one of those goofy people at the end of the game.  John and Dan put up with me but seeing a Cubs win makes it all worth while.
     By the way, they have now won four in a row and are 4-2 since I returned to US airspace....so nah nah nah to all you naysayers who thought I was the goat!  (No Doug, I am a goat of a different color.)
     Saturday morning I was ticket taker at the Illinois Renewable Energy Association fair in Oregon.  I love this event, because there are many good ideas on how to reduce energy use in the home.
     Unfortunately, there were not as many vendors as in years past.  Plus, I only had a few minutes to go through the vendors because I had to get ready for Jimmy!!
    I was a Buffett virgin three or four years ago.  Since then, I have been to 4 concerts.  Or is it 5?  Holy cow, can't remember.
     Anyway, if you have never been to a Parrothead show, you are missing a very strange and exciting event.
     We got there at 3:30 for a 7 p.m. show and the parking lot was full of people tailgating.
     You see all sorts of people and behaviors.  There was a Jimmy's Jugs cut out where people are invited to step up and show their breasts.  And yes, one young lady did while I was watching.  I am sure her mother is proud.
     There is also a free drink dispenser for Margareta's that strongly resembles a male reproductive organ....that sort of rhymes with genius..... and anyone could step right up and get a mouthful.  (Note:  I did not.)
     It was fun watching people.  Not only at the x rated booth, but at the show in general.  People go there to have fun....and we did.
     Chris cooked burgers, Carrie brought food, TC had cookies, I brought potato salad and we had a great cookout and concert experience.
      I did try yelling for a friend of mine, but I guess she did not hear me among the 30.000 or so that had to be there.
      So I was a little tired for the church picnic today.  We cut up fruit for our dish to pass.
     We just had our knives sharpened.
     Put the two statements together and you will know why I am wearing a bandage on my finger.
     Some pictures of the weekend.

Big crowd at the yard

Neon hat give a way in the bleachers

 Harry came back for the seventh inning!

So, if beer is $9 and you buy four......

 Just liked the reflections in the building

 Where is this foot?

 Grillin' and chillin'

 Getting close to the neighbors....who were nice people.

 Three cars down from us was a former student and his wife....they recognized me and yelled my name.

It's a costume, thank heavens!

 Weird world, isn't it?

 Flamingos in the hair

Plenty of coconut bras and even a cheese bra

Read the shirt]

The yougins in front of us mush have taken 300 photos of themselves

 Monica, that is a cigar said Bill, never

A good crowd.
And a good night.

finally

The curse is broken

     After watching 5 Cubs games, and seeing 5 defeats, I thought I was cursed.
     But today restored by faith in the baseball gods.  A come from behind 5-3 win and a 2 game winning streak.
     Life is good.
   

gaahhgh!!

I think I am losing my mind

     Simple task.  Watch the dogs.
     Losing the key was not on the agenda, but that is what I did.
     I stopped at Emily's rental house last night after dinner.  I dropped off a cable.  I locked the door.        I put the keys in the (fill in the blank), and when I went to let the dogs out Thursday, could not find the keys.
     I looked everywhere.  Under the bed, in the car, in the sweatshirt I wore, in the car again....nada, zilch, not a thing.
     How can I lose a set of keys??
     Luckily I had a key that worked in the back door.  I did not know that until Emily messaged me that the key should unlock the back door.
     It did, and the dogs were let out in a reasonable time.
     But I can't believe I lost the keys.
     I know they will show up sometime, just not when I need them.
     I think I have a little jet lag working.  I went to bed at 9 last night but was up about 5:30, which is not normal.  I saw the sun rise!
     Holy cripes I am not used to that.
    I am tired, which may explain why I can't find the keys.
     On the other hand, if I lost the keys in Switzerland I would have a real problem.  Julia's new place has one door that can be opened with a key!  One!!  If you lose the key for that, you can't get in.
     All the other doors lock from the inside and can't be opened from the outside.
     So when I do go back, I will have to be extra careful with any key I need.
     Speaking of keys, I think I am going to bed.

that was different

We are finally back home

     We landed at O'Hare sometime about midnight on Wednesday morning, which meant we did not get to the house until about 2:30  a.m. Wednesday.  Emily, John and Camryn picked us up at the airport...and we are deeply in debt to them for doing that.
     It was a day of confusion for the traveling twosome.
     Julia got us to Geneva airport in plenty of time for our 11 a.m. flight.  Using the wheelchair services offered by every airline, we had no problems checking in, getting to the gate, or going through security.
     Well, almost no problems.
     They took us back at 9:50....so I had a last semi tearful wave to Julia and stepped into the security area.
     (For those who are not aware, generally I am blubbering like a brook when we part.  The last couple of years it has only been a few tears and this year I did very well in holding back   I do miss my daughter in Switzerland.)
      At this point, we were passed security, luggage checked and there was no gate posted for our 11 a.m. flight to Zurich, where we catch a 1 p.m. flight to Chicago.  So we waited.  And waited.  And waited.  At noon special services came to get us and take us to the recently posted gate for a flight that would hopefully depart at 12:30, or in other words, well too late for us to catch our flight to Chicago.
     We were offered a choice......stay overnight in Zurich and hopefully leave Wednesday if they could get us on the flight or fly to New York and then pick up a connecting flight to Chicago.  And the New York flight was leaving in 20 minutes.
     We opted for the New York route.
     Unfortunately, our phone service was non existent at this time.  We tried calling and texting Julia, but nothing went out.  The attendant said service was good, but ours was not.  So we boarded a plane for New York without being able to tell anyone.
     The plus:  We were upgraded to business class for the 7 hour flight.  I have never had champagne at noon before, but it was pretty sweet.
     And the food!  Salad, entree, cheese plate, dessert....all served on our linen covered tables attached to our huge, puffy, comfy uprights that converted into lounge chairs and even extended out to a bed if we wanted!
     Those dinky little ear plugs you get for movie watching in economy?  Screw those!  We got big honking head sets that blocked out all noise except what the sound system was producing.
     (By the way, watched Water Diviner on the flight back.  Amazing film.  If anyone thinks war is glamorous, or glorious, watch this movie.  You will come away with a new appreciation for peace.)
     But being in JFK for six hours has a downside.  I thought we might grab a slice of NY pizza, but the only place that had pizza looked like a Casey's on steroids....so we passed.  Plus, we were pretty full.
     It stormed in Chicago Tuesday night.  That delayed our 8 p.m. flight for about an hour.  Plus, the route was changed to avoid turbulence, so it became a little longer time wise.
     But enough about that.
     My next few blogs will be about the experiences I didn't tell about already.
     And since entering US airspace....the Cubs are 0-2.
     Donations for business class travel back to Europe so the Cubs can get back to winning are being accepted.

homeward bound, home were my thoughts are waiting...

I had a quiet last day in Switzerland

     Usually we go out for dinner on our last night.  It's August.  So we ate in.
     So, why is August a big deal?
     Because that is vacation month.  Much of Europe, especially Switzerland and France, take vacations in August.  Two restaurants that we planned to go to are closed until next week......vacation.  Julia's office is not as populated....vacation.  The workers next door have a four man crew....vacation.
They must all head to the mountains, where it is cooler.
     So we ordered pizza.  I like the pizza.  Thin crust, not a lot of sauce, covered with shredded ham or huge slices of salami, which tastes like pepperoni.  And our favorite...margherita, a pizza of cheese, olive oil, tomatoes......
     Kevin and Cristina stopped over and ended up fixing the swing on Julia's terrace.  When the movers reassembled it, they put it together wrong and it would not swing.  It was a two person job to fix, and Kevin led the project.
     Today I did a little shopping....cheese and candy....and now everyone is off to bed.  I am planning on finishing up this little message and then going out on the terrace one last time.
     I will miss the mountains and lake.  I will miss the sparkling lights of the towns and villages across the way.  But mainly, I will miss my daughter.
     I never intended to visit Europe.  And here I am, for the 14th time.
     Julia lives in an amazing place.  She has amazing friends, who have adopted Jackie and me into their extended families.
     I used to worry about Julia being here.  She is a single woman, in a foreign country.  But she has such a great network of friends I no longer worry about her making it.
     My only worry now is that the chocolate and wine don't put my checked baggage over the limit.
     See you on the other side of the ocean!

Casey Jones, what an engineer

I rode a steam train today

     There is a train museum near Vevey.  I had talked about going up there and riding the steam train.  The train only runs on Sundays, so I decided today was the day.
     Craig and Yvonne, friends of ours and Julia's, and their two lovely girls Penny Jane and Lilly, joined me.  The group grew as Elizabeth and her two youngsters, Eleanor and William, also made the trip.
     It was a dreary, cool and damp day, but we had a great outing.
     The steam train climbs from a town called Blonay to Chamby, then it backs into the train museum.  It is only about a 20 minute ride, but the steam and whistle and old rail cars was a trip back into time.
     At the museum, we got to wander around vintage cars and look at vintage engines.  It was interesting to see the progress railroads have made here in the last 100 + years.
      And I did something that may have been illegal.  I took some coins and laid them on the track.  When the train came back into the station, the coins got flattened.  I gave each of the kids one of the flattened coins and they were pretty impressed.
     Then I got to wonder.  Is it a crime to deface currency?  Is it a crime to put objects on the rails?  Was I going to get arrested and deported?  If I get deported, do I get a refund on my plane ticket?
     Fortunately, none of that happened and all's well that ends well
     Julia had people over yesterday, kind of a housewarming.  It was amazing to see almost everyone we ever met here at one time.
     In the olden days, these parties would go on all night.  But with so many families with children, it  broke up fairly early.
     There are several empty wine bottles......maybe 15 or so....including one rose I drank from last night.
     I thought it was a pretty rough rose.  When Craig sampled it today upon our return from the train trip, he pronounced it terrible and we dumped what was left.
     Now, to show my expert wine taste....I had two glasses of it last night, even though it wasn't very good.
    So I don't know if I am cheap, or just a poor judge of wine....or both.
     Anyway, a couple of pictures from today.
     These really don't do the day justice  because it was a blast.  But I thought I could use Julia's cord to download pictures, and I can't.  Plus, the video I want to post has about 20 seconds of my left shoe.
Such is life.

 The train is almost ready to leave

Part of our traveling show!

yikes.....what a difference

I can't believe I am wearing a sweatshirt

     Yesterday at about this time I was sweating.  It was 85 degrees and humid.  Then the storms came through and it is now in the mid 70s.
     Making it even stranger, we went to a friend's  house for dinner and I could see my breath!  No, it wasn't pretty, (my breath) but it was cool and the view was pretty neat.  We could see the mountains that I see at Julia's, but George and Monica are  way out in the country so there were hills and trees and cows before the mountains.
     My friend Dan and I were here in 2011, just after they moved into their new house.  It is a pretty cool place with an awesome wood burning stove.
     Been a quiet two days.  My knee is much improved.  I bought a knee brace at the local store and it seems to have helped tremendously.
     We have the garage cleaned out at the old house... mostly.
     There are some different ways of doing things over here.
For example, Julia moved out of her apartment.  A rep from the agency comes in and does an inspection.  The stove is checked, the refrigerator, all the shades and window coverings are checked to be sure they operate correctly.
       If there is anything wrong....walls not clean, doors not working, etc....then Julia won't be cleared of the apartment and has to hire someone to make the repairs.
     When the tenants moved out of the house she rented, the agent inspecting checked the oil tank in the house.  It had to be full, because that is how it was when it was rented 8 years age.
     Everybody has insurance to cover repairs.  Julia had some damage to the wood floors, and the agency can have her repair that.  In that case the insurance company would cover repairs over the cost of the deductible.
We met a woman who has a rescue dog.  Not a rescued dog, but a rescue dog.  This dog will go search for people in the woods, mountains, wherever.  She has to undergo several hours of training for this and is still completing classes.  No, it is not a St. Bernard.
     She dropped a bit of info about dogs that baffled me.  If you want to have a dog here, you must undergo 75 hours of training, register the dog, and have the dog certified as a non threatening breed.
If you have a breed of dog that can be consider viscous, then you may be required to have more   training above the 75 hours.
     And if a dog bites one time...it is put to sleep.
     Maybe that explains why I never see a stray dog.  After going through the training and expense you share as heck don't want to let him go!
     As for me, my dogs are tired so I am gotng to bed.
Nightie night!