I made it into Norway on Tuesday (if it’s Tuesday it must be Oslo). Uneventful flight from LHR to OSL. I flew on SAS. For some reason (I have American Airlines miles, I think they may be part of Star Alliance) I was given an Exit Row seat. I didn’t ask for it. In fact, when I sat down I remember thinking ‘wow there’s a lot of leg room even though the seats aren’t very wide!’) The flight was less than 2 hours so the time went by fast. Continue reading “A Norwegian Way of Life”
Testing photo sizes
Just a quick post – I’ve received some comments about how small the photos are in the blog (and I’ve been thinking about their size also) so going to see if changes I made make a difference. Continue reading “Testing photo sizes”
Quick Check In Still in England
Well, last night I stayed up and watched the Superbowl. Stayed up as in it didn’t start until 11:35pm UK time. My initial plan was to stay up until somebody scored, but the game was so good, and so close, that I stayed up for the whole thing. Halftime show was disappointing IMHO but, like I said, what a great game! I have been rooting for the Patriots in the past since Tom Brady is from my hometown, but, since I live near Philly, and they were such underdogs, and the quarterback was the back-up quarterback, I just had to root for them. Continue reading “Quick Check In Still in England”
Another check-in from England
Good morning!
Yesterday was Bill’s birthday so we spent the day as he wanted to. Up around 8:30am, a bit of breakfast, and then out to take care of the horses – Spirit the pony, Jack, and Kato. Alfie and Dylan (the resident lab-lurcher mix dogs) and Coco (visiting cockapoo) went out to help too. I got to sweep out their stalls and shovel hay mixed with horse pee and poo, and wheelbarrow it to the ‘compost’ pile. Also put their breakfast in their stalls, and accompanied them with Bill leading the way out to the pasture, where they stayed for the day. Continue reading “Another check-in from England”
Another Day in Jolly Old England
After staying up a couple nights in a row, I think I am somewhat on England time now, 5 hours ahead of EST. Continue reading “Another Day in Jolly Old England”
I Made It!
I enjoyed Club World service to London Heathrow! After making it through security (no TSA pre-check – boo!) and having my ankles caressed by the nice woman security guard, I made it to the British Airways Club World Lounge. Continue reading “I Made It!”
The England / Norway Trip
Greetings! I thought I would put my trip itinerary and links to some activities I’m doing, if anybody wants to follow along.
I’m flying to London Heathrow tomorrow, Jan 25, arriving there Friday morning. I’m meeting my friend Louise at the airport, and then she and I are boarding a bus to Reading. Our friend Bill is picking us up in Reading, and driving us to his home in Devizes, England. He lives on The Cartway, if you want to Google Earth it. Continue reading “The England / Norway Trip”
Random Thoughts
I’ve had a few random thoughts rattling around in my brain the last month or so, so I thought I’d capture them here. Continue reading “Random Thoughts”
I Made Butter!
In my seemingly unending quest to try new stuff, I made butter today! Chive butter. Here’s the photo:
I ordered the ‘butter jar’ from Amazon. Basically, you add 1 Cup of heavy whipping cream. Let it sit for at least 8 hours so it gets to room temperature. Add whatever you want, and then shake the jar until you get butter! The strainer top allows you to pour off the buttermilk. I haven’t had it on bread yet, but I did taste it and it is delicious! Much more flavorful than store butter. I think I have a new ‘obsession’ !
I drove down to the beach house on Friday. Left home and it was 65oF. Drove through rain, fog, and sun. Today it is 24oF at the beach, 16oF at home. Sheesh!
I ran into my neighbors on Friday and they let me know that the neighborhood wine group was meeting that evening. So, I decided to go so I could meet more of my neighbors. I met a bunch of nice people, so now I know a few more peeps in the ‘hood.
I’ve also been wanting to try a restaurant in town – it’s very small so sometimes difficult to get in. La Fable (pronounced ‘fah-blah’ – French you know). I managed to score a reservation for Friday evening (left the wine thing a little early). Got into town, walked in and there was a guy just ahead of me checking in with the hostess. When I walked in, he turned around and gave me a friendly ‘Hi!’ He was seated, alone, and then I was seated. I decided to ask him if he wanted to join me, and he did. So, we dined together. His name is Craig and he works for John Deere. No romance there, but we had great conversation (foodie stuff and travel mostly, and some work stuff). It was a great evening. I had the best caesar salad I think that I’ve ever had. And Trout Amandine that was also outstanding. Had a nice martini and a glass of wine too. http://www.bonjourfable.com/fable-menu.pdf if you want to check out the menu.
And, I’m leaving for England and Norway in less than 2 weeks! I’ll probably repeat this link, but if you want to follow my Norway travel, the boat I will be on has webcams so you can see where it is. Here’s the link:
https://www.hurtigruten.us/our-ships/ms-nordnorge/ . We got an Expedition Suite – it’s on Level 5, Room 502 so you can see where our suite is, and an idea of what it looks like, if you’re curious.
Anyway, I think that’s it for now. Stay warm people!
Just Some Quick Stuff
I’m getting ready to go on my trip to England and Norway. Out of curiosity I decided to check the temps and the amount of daylight hours I will be experiencing. Sharing it here now, but, more to come!
I’m flying to England first, and then flying to Oslo on Feb 6 and to Kirkenes on Feb 7.
Here is where Kirkenes is:
It is WAY above the Arctic Circle. And it is pretty much on the border with Russia. This little piece of Norway is surrounded by Finland and Russia. This is where we will be boarding our Hurtigruten boat.
And here is a table showing the daylight hours we’ll have when we first arrive. 6 hours of daylight to start, but gain almost 11 minutes per day!
I know this is short. Just found this fascinating for some reason!
If You Want Notifications When I Update The Blog …
A few people have asked about getting notified when I update the blog. Thanks to Nina, I did what she told me and I jotted notes down, so if you want the notification, this is what you do:
Go to Feedly.com
Create an account
Type in www.reterriment.com as the source you want to follow
Create a New Feed, and give it a name (I used Reterriment)
This is the first post I’ve added since I did that, so I can’t guarantee that it works. But, Nina wouldn’t have steered me wrong! Good luck!
Follow Up
So, last post I talked about chickpea flatbread, prednisone, the weather, and other random stuff.
I made a few observations (or had some catch up thoughts) since then.
The first day I was on the prednisone (I was on it for 5 days in a 5-4-3-2-1 per-day type dose – I took the first 5 right after I went to the doctor, in the late afternoon), I woke up and thought, “Man, I feel great!” I felt the best I had felt in weeks. I got dressed and went out to run errands, including getting 7 bags of wood pellets (and BTW, in a previous post I said each bag weighed 50 lbs – I was incorrect – each bag weighs 40 lbs, and 50 bags makes a pallet). As I was picking them up I thought – wow, these bags feel so light! I really must be feeling better! And that night I had enough energy to stay up and watch Jimmy Fallon, although disappointingly it was a rerun. Now, the doctor had said prednisone can cause insomnia, but since I didn’t have to get up for work or anything, I wasn’t too concerned about it. So, I stayed up late, but slept well. Got up the next day, still feeling pretty darn good. Stayed up late again. And so on for a few days.
It dawned on me yesterday that the reason why the pellets felt so light was because I was on STEROIDS. Duh. I can now see why people like taking them. I felt GOOD.
I was also lucky because prednisone is one of those drugs where you can either get ornery, or you can get happy. Luckily I got happy. I was in the best mood in a long time. Not that I was in bad moods, but you get the point.
Of course, prednisone is one of those drugs with plenty of other side effects, so I was quite happy to be on it for only 5 days. But, it was interesting. Learned a few things. My mom was on it long-term, and some of her experiences were, shall we say, harrowing, so I was pretty respectful of the drug when I got the prescription. My doc and I had an interesting conversation about it. I’ll leave it at that.
UPDATE: I forgot one other thing – one of the ‘good’ side benefits of the prednisone is my IT Band doesn’t seem to be sore any more. Granted, I have been doing exercises and babying it, but, until this week I could ‘feel’ it sometimes. Don’t seem to notice it now!
In other news, it is getting warmer. Current temp is 23oF. Yay! Except, there is precip coming. In the form of snow, sleet, freezing rain or some combo thereof. Honestly, if I had the choice I would pick colder with snow over the wintry mix. Ice is the worst! But, it is supposed to get up to almost 60oF on Friday. What?!?
Today I started going thru my drawers to see what kind of stuff I have for my trip to Norway. I found a pair of fleece-lined leggings that I forgot I bought. I found a skirt I forgot I bought. I found some other stuff I forgot I had. Not even sure when I bought the stuff. Better make sure it fits! Good thing I didn’t just go shopping for this stuff, since I had it already (assuming it fits). This spring I guess I’ll have to go through every drawer, and my closet, again. It’s fun finding surprises though!
And on a final note, I am hooked on this chickpea flatbread. Made it for lunch – pumpkin seed, arugula, leek flatbread. Here it is – try not to drool too much!
Oh – one more thing – I got another wedding request! This one will be unusual and fun. It is a re-marriage I guess you’d call it, affirmation of vows anyway. And they are doing it on their ‘previous’ anniversary. And I am going to be in England so we’re going to do it via “What’s App.” It will be short and sweet, but it will be unusual and fun. Of course I’ll post about it after it happens (in February).
All righty then. Back to doing something useful. Talk soon!
Yes, it’s still cold
Yes friends, it is still cold here. Temperature right now is a balmy 12oF and with wind chill the ‘real feel ‘ is -14oF. Yes, you read right – MINUS 14 degrees!
I did venture out today. Thought I should drive the VW since I haven’t driven it in a few days, and I needed to get rid of a bunch of recycling. The roads weren’t bad. The drifting I noticed yesterday was less today. Still numbingly cold though. But I accomplished something outside today! Even cleaned out the wood pellet stove (you have to empty the ashes and scrape the inner surfaces off roughly once a week or so). Of course, that meant the stove was off for a half hour or so, but that was okay.
Before I get to my opinion of ‘Get Out’ that I promised last time, I have a health update. You read my complaint a few posts ago about being sick for weeks. That particular illness I was sleeping like 12 hours a night, for a while. I finally felt like I kicked it a couple weeks ago. Well, New Year’s Day I woke up with a scratchy throat. I’m thinking “here we go again.” Felt okay though, so went the NYD ‘Doke Appreciation’ hash, which was short and sweet. The next day, felt a little worse. That night, woke up, throat on fire. Swallowing hurt like hell. Throat hurt like hell. Called the doc as soon as I got up and got an appt for that afternoon. Went in there, and he was like, man, your throat is red! The gland on the side of my neck was visible. And needless to say my throat was swollen. He was surprised I wasn’t “writhing in pain” and asked me if I wanted pain meds. He also told me if my breathing started making a “hoooo” noise to get to the ER immediately because my throat was closing up. (very comforting). Anyway, I am now on prednisone (my first foray into taking it) and antibiotics. I felt 100% better the next morning. I am forcing myself to not do all the stuff I want to do (like hashing today) and take it easy. So far so good.
So, “Get Out.” Well, it is not what the commercials would lead you to believe. Honestly I’m not sure if I liked it. It was … okay. I don’t think it’s Oscar worthy. Just my opinion.
Last night I watched “The Big Sick.” I like Kumail Nanjiani – he’s pretty funny. His thing about taking apart his dad’s VCR is hilarious! The movie was decent too. Thumbs up!
In cooking news, I made a chickpea flatbread this week. What an easy thing to make. Tasty, easy, good protein. Look it up!
After doing some clothing testing for my Norway trip, I discovered that my current gloves aren’t going to cut it. I got an email from EMS (Eastern Mountain Sports) that a bunch of their stuff was 40% so I found a pair of gloves with high ratings that were on sale. Tried them out this week. Hallelujah! They come with liners and I didn’t even need them (actually the gloves were warmer without them). Now I need to figure out if I need a balaclava or not.
This post’s gratuitous photos include a glass of “Magenta Dragon” (a hard cider) from Liquid Alchemy – a mead and cider brewery in Delaware:
It was delicious! And so pretty!
And, a photo of Kenn, learning something from one of his FB friends:
That’s all for now peeps. Stay tuned for the next post!
PS
I thought of a few things I forgot to mention in my last post, so, here I am, back again!
First up: I went to see ‘The Shape of Water.’ Really, really, enjoyed it. Seemed as an homage to the old Creature From The Black Lagoon movie(s). Guillermo Del Toro wrote and directed. If you are fans of his, then you probably have seen Pan’s Labyrinth. If so, the creature was played by the same guy who played Pan, and the thing with his eyes on the palms of his hands. Definitely 4 out of 4 stars for that movie! Years ago I also saw The Orphanage by GDT. I’m not a fan of horror movies because I get too scared, but, it was also very good. I guess I need to try watching Crimson Peak …
I just got done watching ‘By The Sea’ written and directed by Angelina Jolie, and starred her and Brad Pitt. Stupid. Don’t bother.
In other news, I tried the too-tight Edgeness Pants on a walk at the park today (I can button them and zip them up, and they’re stretchy, so …). Those are the winners so far. I wore an older reversible down jacket that I have, rather than my fancier, newer one. Between the Edgeness pants and the older jacket, I was very warm. I had on one less layer under the jacket too! Legs never got cold. Took the hood off. Had very thin gloves, and though my hands were cold, they warmed up quickly. And it was 20oF out! And snow on the ground!
The (almost) last thing I wanted to mention is, a few weeks ago my friend Woody told me about a book that has exercises in it that are associated with potential issues you may have with your body’s alignment. I have been doing the exercises for about 8 days in a row now. My posture feels better. The issues I’ve been having with my IT band have improved, and I am sold on these exercises.
So, this book has you evaluate your body type and what issues you may have, and then you do issues based on what potential issues you have. The theory is, many of your muscles overfunction, making up for other muscles that are weaker than they should be. These exercises help your muscles come back into balance.
Here is the book if you’re interested:
OK. This snowy afternoon the next movie is up – “Get Out.” I’ll let you know what I think!
Keep warm, people!
Happy New Year
Greetings blog readers —
It has been f—ing cold here! And today it’s snowing! Not supposed to add up to much, but definitely feels like winter here.
I’m working on a painting. I had started it months ago, and got ‘stuck’ on it. Didn’t feel like it was done, but didn’t know what to do with it. The other day the painting spoke to me so I’m working on it again. I’m not quite done with it yet so won’t post a photo just yet, but thought I would post some photos of past paintings I’ve done, in the meantime.
The first one is the first painting that I did when I got back into painting, almost 3 years ago to the day.
I didn’t title it, but it’s at the beach house. The only thing I had in my head was to just use blue and white paint – to make it “ocean-like.” I didn’t “think” when I painted it – I just let things flow. I was pretty happy with the result!
The next one is admittedly a copy of another painting. My friend Peter and I saw the original in a restaurant and both really liked it, so I surprise painted it for him, but with ‘my’ technique and colors.
First, here is the original:
And here is mine:
The next painting was done under similar circumstance – saw the original with Peter and did a version of it. First the original (this is a huge painting – like 3 ft by 4 ft big):
And now mine (not even half as big as the original):
Oops – just realized this isn’t of the ‘final final’ painting, but, close enough for this!
In other news, I went to the airport this week and got approved for Global Entry! Yay!
And when I went to get gas, I saw this little rock:
It said to post it on FB so I posted it on my page – didn’t know where else to post it – and one of my FB friends knew what the story is – “PRMD” is “Painted Rocks of Maryland” (I was at a gas station in Maryland – I live about 5 miles from the Mason-Dixon line). Apparently these little beauties are all over Maryland. And Pennsylvania also has something similar. I think it’s pretty cool!
I’ve also been testing out clothing for my trip to England/Norway (mostly the Norway part since it will be very snowy and cold). I have determined that my gloves are not enough for this trip, so I’ll be shopping for some next week. And for some reason I have obsessed about what pants I will have with me. I got some at an Eddie Bauer outlet that are water-resistant, stretchy and fleece-lined. Wore them for a walk yesterday in the 16oF weather. They worked pretty well. Also got a pair of Prana adventure pants – also lined – and they seem okay too. I ordered another pair of pants (stupid FB ad!) from Edgeness. I ordered a size L. Those of you that know me know I am not particularly large (in the grand scheme of things). But they are tight!! However, I do need to lose a few pounds, due to all the holiday feasting. So, I am planning on keeping those and planning to lose those pounds before my trip. Today I may be testing out different shoes/boots that I have, since there’s snow on the ground.
OK, one other random thought before I end this post that is all over the place :-). I went to a party the other night. Stopped at a liquor store to get a bottle of Tequila for the hosts. Came back to my car, and there is a van, motor running, darkened windows, backed into the parking spot next to the driver side of my car. Due to my paranoia, I was unsure whether to try to get into my car, given I was going to be right outside the van driver door, and there was somebody sitting in it. And did I mention their motor was running?
Anyway, my car has keyless entry – just pull on the driver door handle with your keys on your person and the door unlocks. Wouldn’t you know I must’ve been standing at an angle where my body blocked the key’s connection to the car. I pulled on that frickin’ handle 3 or 4 times before I got it open. I started to panic. Anyway, got right in and locked the door and got the hell out of there. The guy in the van probably thought I was crazy. But, I was ready to fight if need be :-).
On that happy note I will end this post with a hearty Happy New Year! I may or may not post before 2018 arrives, depending on what’s going on. Hoping 2018 brings you everything you need and want, and your end-of-2017 celebrations are joyful.
Talk soon!