Pre-summer back
It's saturday evening. I sit in front of the house, glas of red wine next to me, birds singing. Niki is on night duty at the ambulance station, Julia will soon leave for a school class meeting. A cat is keeping me company, the dog just left for nextdoor, to check if Emil is still there. For those, who don't know our next door; it's a Gasthouse, one could say pub. A villagepub. Next door :-) Who's got that? Emil has been out fixing the road to Usseralpe today, together with, at least one person from each house (the houses thus have been here since "ever). It's called agrargemeinde, the rural community, of Schmieden. There are mostly 2 day you have to do some kind of work every year. Well, afer working together comes drinking beer together. That's the logical order :-)
I've been moving pots and plants today, as well as mending some favourite clothes and shearing a sheep. Maresi, the last one, that got the lamb the other day. I think she was happy to get rid of her winterfur now. But she was surely aswell glad to have it the last couple of days.....
Julia and I went for a bikeride today. We were out on a special mission :-))) Business, one might call it.
The cookies I made yesterday, are almost all gone. Tomorrow you won't find a crumble. But that what cookies are for - to be eaten!
T.
I'm baking
Yepp, that's what I'm doing right now. And I drink tea. Sweet Chai Tea. Lots of aromas, probably no tea, but good. French is, by the way the only language (that I know) that has got an own wörd for tea without tealeaves in it: infusion. That's a good thing. It's cold, although everything is green again. Yesterday it looked like in the middle of the winter. Felt like it too! Tomorrow we may expect 27° degrees C according to the weatherforcast.
Yesterday was a holyday. Kristi Flygare. We installed the flowerirrigationsystem we bought on wednesday. That was the day all that white stuff came down from the sky and we were not sure at all if we would do it all the way up home again, with our summertyres. Excitement in a less pleasant way. But we made it home without incidents. Some didn't - the ones standing wrong way round or in the ditches.......
Emil has, more or less, finished our new Friggebod, this weeek; it has got walls and a roof. And a floor. That's what one mainly need to keep things dry :-)
Cookies are ready! Brownies and dreamies. MMmmmm.
I haven't been trying very hard with the photo-part on this new laptop, I'm afraid. I do like to work with a computer as long everything just work, like always. I definitely do not like to change and install things, and things I do not like to do takes a little longer....... :-) (That's the part about prioryties, I guess?!)
T.
Summernight's dream
Actually the evening is faaaar so warm and sunny to sit at a computer and write a blogg - unless you have a laptop :-)))))))))).
Today we have summer. Real summerweather, at least. Yesterday too. Tomorrow we are promised snow in the mountains. If you live in the alps, you have to cope with fast weatherchanges. Store hotpants next to gloves and wollen hood. Never gets boring.
Today we enjoyed the summer with a bike tour. Mountain bike. Yesterday we took our bikes (yes OUR BIKES), the motorized ones, on a virgin trip. Legal, with registration plates. Our bikesS, because we kept the old XT and gave it it's own numberplates (instead of changing with the BMW, what's legal but you can only drive with one at the time; Wechselnummer); BI 53 and BI 54. So Emil and I drove away, each with it's on bike. Me on the old one, of course...... (but I have tested the new one too, of course!!!!) We left the XT in a garage, though, for service, beacaus it should bring me to Andorra, and back, in September! We have decided to go with two bikes :-))))))
Well, Julia and Niki come home from Innsbruck, this afternoon, now we've just finished our BBQ afternoon. I'm still at beerdrinking, Julia's wathing icehockey WM, Niki left with the MTB, Emil's hammering at the friggebod. Very idyllic. So here I am, with my new laptip on top of my lap, sitting on my freshly painted front porch bench(es). Red, this time. Last time they were green.
By the way, Julia found out, the dentist pulled out all 4 wisdomteeth, not only three, as she believed. Seems she lost conrol after the first three. Who wonders???? But she looks normal again, not any longer as Miss Nixon. And she can eat MEAT again.
Tomorrow I'll give it a try with the photgraphies, in my blogg.
T
My new e-mail: [email protected]
Tjo-i-loen
I'm still alive! But the old computer is dead. So is my Outlook Express :-( I've got a new nice laptop here, and I'm trying to figure out how to find to all my old stuff and maybe get my self a new e-mail adress. If it doesn't work I'll ask Manfred, my computerguy - but first I want to try alone!
All the snow is gone now. So is our blue bird Sunny:-( Maybe he turns up tomorrow, again, when he gets hungry..... As long he hasn't got eaton by some other hungry animal......
I'not really in the mood of writing, rihgt now. I'm frustrated by the loss of my e-mails! I think I'll give Manfred a call, after all, hmmmmm.....
T.
April, april.....
Typical weather for this time of year, I'm afraid
Cold breakfast for our neighbours, the deers, this morning. Brrrr.....! View from Julias window.
T.
Cold breakfast for our neighbours, the deers, this morning. Brrrr.....! View from Julias window.T.
Our yellow dream
Last friday at lunchtime we arrived in Cologne/Köln, loaded up our yellow beauty and headed for home again. 1220 km and 14,5 hours later we loaded off in Schmieden. After a short test by Emil and Niki (they were very satisfied!) the machine now has to wait in the garage, for Austrian papers, plates etc. Will take 2-3 weeks. But as the weather is cold and rainy/snowy anyhow, it's not too hard for us to wait for the first real trip together :-)
This bike is a longtermdreamrealization by Emil and me. A 25-year project!
T.
Après ski
Today, thursday 12th of April 2012 12.30h, I finished my skiteaching season! It was a good season, in spite of many days with really cold nasty weather. Lots of work - that's what counts. The sun was shining on us today again, after a snowy windy day yesterday. Skiing was really good, just like in winter. But now I will focus on spring. Emil and I start right away and go to Köln (Cologne) tomorrow to get us something that we have planned for 25 years! It's yellow - partly. And pretty big. Exciting :-)
T.
PS: Now we have eaten all those nice eggs
T.
PS: Now we have eaten all those nice eggs
Happy Eastern!
We didn't only have a white Christmas, we even have a white Eastern :-)
So we'll grab our skis tonight to grab the last oppurtunity to walk up, straight away from the kitchendoor (last week we had to carry the skis quite away to the pist), to have the last beer, for the winterseason, on the middlestation, in Huburtushütte. Tomorrow our skiarea (Neunerköpfle) closes for the season. The area in the neighbourvillage Grän will run for another week, so I'll move my work over there - as long as I have one. Expectedly until next thursday.
T.
So we'll grab our skis tonight to grab the last oppurtunity to walk up, straight away from the kitchendoor (last week we had to carry the skis quite away to the pist), to have the last beer, for the winterseason, on the middlestation, in Huburtushütte. Tomorrow our skiarea (Neunerköpfle) closes for the season. The area in the neighbourvillage Grän will run for another week, so I'll move my work over there - as long as I have one. Expectedly until next thursday.
T.
Home, sweet home
Back home for over a week, and nooooo time too write in my blogg. I've been so busy with just beeing at home and enjoying it. And I'm back to work since last saturday. Teaching ski, of course.
In those three week in, that I was gone, I learned a lot about my back , so now we're really getting along much better, me and my back :-) I found out what to do, and especially what NOT to do; like monobiking, making handstands, carry heavy things and so on. Mountainbiking is good, though. Emil was so happy to get me back, that he bought me a new Stumpjumper straight away.
It's actually used, a very convenient deal :-) Tried it out immediately, of course. Soft as butter, with lots of hightec feathering. I do everything to keep my back happy! Walking up the mountain whith skis ( to get to that saturdaynightbear......) is another good sport. We tried that out last saturday, again. It's really great to be back home!
As I was very strict with the food as I was gone, I have to make good for that and bake a lot of good things. Bought a new waffleiron and made perfect (totally uninteresting) waffles for the family on March 30 (instead of the original waffleday March 25!). Then we made those fastlagsbullar - ........mmmmm - another MUST EAT in March;
And look - spring has arrived, even in Schmieden. Wonderful!
Niki is helping out as usual.
T.
In those three week in, that I was gone, I learned a lot about my back , so now we're really getting along much better, me and my back :-) I found out what to do, and especially what NOT to do; like monobiking, making handstands, carry heavy things and so on. Mountainbiking is good, though. Emil was so happy to get me back, that he bought me a new Stumpjumper straight away.
It's actually used, a very convenient deal :-) Tried it out immediately, of course. Soft as butter, with lots of hightec feathering. I do everything to keep my back happy! Walking up the mountain whith skis ( to get to that saturdaynightbear......) is another good sport. We tried that out last saturday, again. It's really great to be back home!
As I was very strict with the food as I was gone, I have to make good for that and bake a lot of good things. Bought a new waffleiron and made perfect (totally uninteresting) waffles for the family on March 30 (instead of the original waffleday March 25!). Then we made those fastlagsbullar - ........mmmmm - another MUST EAT in March;
And look - spring has arrived, even in Schmieden. Wonderful!
Niki is helping out as usual.
T.
Kurlaubsblogg IX
(For Julia: as I wrote #V twice I skip #VIII :-)
Tomorrow is the last day! Hurray! Wednesday morning Emils comes and picks me up. I had a funny thought the other day; I haven't been into a car for three weeks. Isn't that amazing?!?! Can't imagine that ever happened in my life before!
End of last week we had a some rain (I love the smell of early springrain!) and some thunder. Made some minor biketours, had a new innertube put in at the bikestore, because the old one had a tiny hole, apparantly, that couldn't be found. After that more biking. Sunday I went to CZ again. About 35 km. The nature is wonderful, somewhat "swedish", but the one little village I passed was terrible. Would rather life under a bridge in Paris, then there. If those former "eastcountries" ever will get rid of that image. "East ist east, and west is west - and never the twain shall meet". I think it was Rudyard Kipling who said that, but seem to refer shorter distances than that between the occident and the orient, as well......
Since sunday we have sunny weather but the wind is pretty cold. Today I was very busy, her in the hotel, with training, massages etc. Busy is good, makes time go faster. Spent some time on the sundeck and went for a walk in the forest before supper. Tomorrow I have the afternoon off, so I'll go for a last biketour. I never had a boring day here, but still, now I really feel it's time to get back home.
T.
Kurlaub VII
Today is Wednesday. One more week to go! I have reached the Kurlaubsnirvana now, I feel. I can relax, be lazy, sleep well and much and I just feel good all around :-) Monday was a somewhat greyish day, where I practised all those partly new skills. I found an Agatha Christie in the hotellibrary, so I have something relaxing to read again.
Tuesday, sunny but chilly, I went to "town" with my bike and bought some souvenirs. Edible souvenires. (I like practical souvenires)(...and everybody likes things to eat!) They have a bakery here, Kastners, established 1559. Their speciality is Lebkuchen - a sort of thick,soft gingerbread, one might say. Emil just loves Lebkuchen and I suppose Kastners has got the perfect recipe - I mean, they had time enough to get the hang of it!
This afternoon I was active again, after having been spoilt all morning with fango, massage and other healthy things. Took my bike for a ride through the surroundings. Sunny, but not so warm. No shorts today. About 20 km. Back home I pushed some weights - and enoyed Miss Marple.
Time for supper! Yohoooo :-)
T.
Kurlaubsinsert VI
My mountainbike tour to Vissy Brod (CZ) was wonderful. In all about 35 km. Started at 10 and was back 14.30, but I didn't hurry. Great nature impressions, that I would have liked to share with Emil & JuNi.
At first, still on the austrian side of the border, I passed the continental north/south divide - ca 750 m over sealevel. Then I crossed the border and came into the former iron curtain corridor. I was surprised to find a so empty landscape in central Europe. Most of it open range.There was absolutely nothing! And nobody! The trail was comforting well marked, though, to my relieve. In the small town of Vissy Brod, upon Moldau, I met on civilisation again. As I headed home, towards the border, this time through forestcovered hills, - again, NOBODY except me. Glad I didn't have a flat - or something worse.......... It was a beatyful forest, with small rivers, some snow and ice (had to push and drag the bike a couple of time, only short passages), the sun shining through the trees. One could have expected little Red Hood and a wolve behind any turn. Or a unicorn. Or a bear and robber. Huh!
As I came back into Austria the houses and farms were within sightdistance, from each other, again.
Back to the hotel I managed to catch some sunrays, for my belly, on the sundeck, before the sun disappeared behind the treetops and I disappeard into the sauna.
Tonight I'll have turkey in curry, for supper. I'm hungry!
T.
Kurlaub V
The sun shone all day again. Now she (the sun) is gone, of course, soon time for dinner. I'm hungry! Started the day at 7 o'clock with an aerated bath (carbonated?), then breakfast (big one!), then swimming then muscle training and gymnastics. Had the afternoon off, and went biking. What else?! Choosed the short pants - and didn't even freeze my legs off. Amazing!
Back at the hotel, same procedure as usual; sauna, but no solarium, as I enjoyd the real sun on the terrace, at lunch time. Instead I tried a face mask. Peel-off type. Bought it at Schlecker, before I left. It stuck to my face like Super Glue! I learned that one should follow the advice on the package and leave the part around the eyes out. I hope eyebrows grows grow fast........:-))))
T.
Kurlaub V
The wind has changed from cold to warm :-) After a slightly frosty morning, the sun was shining from a bright blue sky, all day. Today is friday. The morning hours were almost a bit "stressy", but I managed to sit on terrace in "portions" inbetween. After lunch I got my bike (no gloves today!) but found it had no air in the back tyre. Upps!? I walked it to the nice sports shop in town, the guy checked it, everything OK, except for the missing air so he pumped it up, an meant it wouln't cost anything. Instead I bought a shirt, 50 % off. Good deal! ( But still I wonder how the air disappeared at the first time....... - somebody let it out?????)
Yesterday I rested my legs a bit. Took a loooong walk in the sunny (but still chilly and somewhat snowy and icy) forest. Didn't meat a person. Birds where singing. Small creeks, crossing here and there. Wonderful!!!
T.
Kurlaubsreport IV
I'm truly having a good time here; yesterday (tuesday) I got salmon in sauce vin blanc. MMmmm! Today I got a wild pig (dead and cooked, yes!). Wildpork?? Bore?? Vildsvin :-) Yummi! All the other stuff is good too, of course.
After some gymnastic and swimming, on todays programme, I had a loooong good breakfast. Then I got wrapped up in warm cosy mud. Heavenly!
Weather today was dry, wind a little cold though, some sun. So after lunch I took my bike and rode it throuhg the hills, around 20 km, and daydreamed I rode on my white horse....... Back " home" I went to the sauna - the empty sauna (except me, of course), then finished off with solarium - imagining I would lay on a caribbean beach......
Last night I even socialized, in the hotel bar, for a change, in assitance of a glas of red wine. Tonight they show "Wicky und die starken Männer" here, with and by Bully Hörbiger. He's mostly funny!
T.
Kurlaubsrapport III
Duggregn, men töväder - vilket är positivt. Förutom pliktterminerna simmade jag 30 min idag. Hur manga längder det var, vet jag inte - sa langt kan jag inte räkna! Bassängen är 12,5 m. Uppförsbackemaskinen vandrade jag pa i 25 min i 5 km/timma, vilket man inte kommer sa langt pa, men det blev en hel del kalorier förbrukade, trots det. Sedan de vanliga muskelmaskinerna och lite solarium. Det gäller att passa pa! Försöker anpassa min kroppsfärg (o pannan o örona) till mitt bruna skidläraransikte. Hittills med mattlig framgang, men jag ger mig inte.
Dagens friskluftsintag inskränkte sig till att cykla till byn, som egentligen är en liten stad. 4000 invanare, och riktigt trevligt. Jag behövde ett nytt framdäck till cykeln. INNAN det gamla skulle fa för sig att smälla - antagligen i en nerförsbacke da. Skrämmande tanke. Slangen tittade redan ut, vid sidan, som en liten pestbula. Emil hade visserligen gjort cykelservice, nytt bakdäck ( som var ännu slitnare), men vi tittade väl lite slarvigt ( o pa fel sida) o bestämde oss för att däcket borde halla minst 3 veckor till. När jag ända var där, slog jag pa stort o köpte en ny cykelflaska med därtillpassande Isostar. Pa onsdag ska det visst bli soligt. Men först, i kväll, blir det Desperate House Wives, med min lilla fina whiskyflaska, som jag fick av Beate. Det var en fin present!
T.
Kurlaubsbericht II
Idag är det söndag. Ledig dag, fri för fria aktiviteter. Sov lääääänge, ända till sju. Normalt vaknar jag sex, men ligger kvar till sju. Frukost serveras fran halv 8. Efter att ha intagit ett par skrattenheter med min bok Winterkartoffelknödel (krimi à la bayern) och smält frukosten, begav jag mig ner till fitnessavdelning. Där finns en "vandrauppförbergmaskin". Jag vandrade uppför i 40 min, förbrukade 411 kalorier. Sen hoppade jag ner fran mitt berg i poolen och simmade en halvtimma. Fast först tränade jag lite med div. muskelmaskiner, förstass. Sen var det dax för lunch. Därefter bok, och sen blev jag sa lat sa jag somnade. Sköööönt. Vädret är passande gratt, med lite duggregn. Nu är jag vaken och hungrig, för jag kunde förstass inte lata bli att ta en skön promenad i skogen. Friskluft är drog jag behöver varje dag:-)
Igar var jag oxo flitig. Ledig hela eftermiddagen. Solen sken, sa jag tog min Stumpjumper och cyklade i väg en 17 km's runda. Men det bidde säker minst 20, för det var inte sa lätt att hitta överallt. Världen här i Oberösterreich (Mühlviertel) är kullig. Hälften fält, hälften skog. Orten, Bad Leonfelden) ligger faktiskt pa över 800m ö havet, har jag upptäckt. Nästan lika högt som Reutte! Och fortfarande gott om snö, precis som i Reutte. Fast cykelvägarna var torra och asfalterade cykelvägar, igar, snötäcke till höger o vänster. Nästan som att aka skidor, när det gick nerförbacke..
T.
KURLAUBSBLOGG I
Titta va ja hitta! En dator, i ett hörn.
Bäst att rapportera lite undan för undan, sa att det inte blir sa mycket till slut.
Anläggningen var definitvit en angenäm överraskning. Ur-huset, s a s, finns visst här sedan 60/70-talet, men det nuvarande tillstandet är nyrenoverat, fräscht, modernt. Maten är god, man kan välja mellen mer eller mindre kaloririka menyer.
Delvis blir man kommanderad till diverse gymnastik och träningsenheter, delvis blir man bortskämd med olika behandlingar man bara behöver njuta av. Det bästa hittils, var en MOOR packung. Varm! Svenska? Fango?! Denna "gyttja" hämtar de snälla medarbetarna ur en mossa i skogen, här bakom hotellet.
Toppen! Nu är jag hungrig. Har varit ute o cyklat i eftermiddags. Här ligger fortfarande en hel del snö. Bara de större cykelvägarna är snöfria - till större delen, i alla fall. Det är ganska kallt, men jag har mysse o langkalsingar med :-)
T.
About having a break
Tomorrow morning I'll be off for a KUR, three weeks. Bad Leonfelden in Mühlviertel, Oberrösterreich. So for three weeks I'll be out of office, so to say. What's KUR in english. Rehab? Cure? At least I hope I'll come back without backake. My back is annoying me severerly since last fall. I think I have packed everything by now; books, sportswear, 22 (!) underpanties and my bike. Biking is about the only thing I'm good at, at the moment :-)
T.
....... see you later, alligator(s)
Spring!?
The last insert was on february 12. What have I been doing the last couple of weeks? I guess a lot of important things. Like eating out with good friends, drinking afterwork beer in the skischool, treat sick familymembers,climb the mountain with skis (randonnée, that's right?) to have another beer, having guests, beeing lazy watching TV, doing my everyeveninggymnastics and so on. And I worked a lot. Most days 6 or 7 hours. And it was sooooo cold. Brrrr. WAS! Because now it's sooooo warm and the snow is melting. You can hear it melt, but till now you can't really see any difference. It's just so much of that white stuff. Today I found those white little hairy willowbuds (videung) for the first time this year. That means spring; snow or no snow!
The last snow came with a blizzard on feb.15. We all had a day off. Julia and Niki were teaching ski in their lecture free time, in february. Niki taught cross-country, for the first time, and enjoyed it more than "alpine" kids.
Hope this snowmountain will rather shrink than grow, now.
Unfortunately we never got to visit Uffe & Co in Ischgl, this year. Beacause it was the busiest week of the year, and we could impossibly get a day off, all of us. But then Niki and Julia turned ill and sick - .......and had to stay home from work anyhow!
Luckily niece Kajsa, with Willem and Selma had decided to stay over night on their way from the Netherlands to Ischgl, so at last (and least) we met them. We never met Willem and Selma before.
Nephew Victor, with Anna, intended to drive through from Sweden to Ischgl. Unluckily for them, luckily for us, they got stuck in the traffic in Reutte on Saturday evening, so we after a short phoneconference they decided to make a detour to Tannheim (25 km) to stay over night and then go on next morning on empty roads.
Victor and Kajsa haven't been here since Emy died, I think. So this year all three of them were here already :-) Linda, Kajsa, Victor. Nieces Hilda, Maja and Marleen were here last summer :-)
Last Tuesday we did it! We left work. All four of us. For a one day substitute ski holiday in Sölden.
Julia and Niki at Gaislachkogel top station on 3040 m. Julia is, by the way, very satisfied with her new Salomon skis.
T.
The last snow came with a blizzard on feb.15. We all had a day off. Julia and Niki were teaching ski in their lecture free time, in february. Niki taught cross-country, for the first time, and enjoyed it more than "alpine" kids.Hope this snowmountain will rather shrink than grow, now. Unfortunately we never got to visit Uffe & Co in Ischgl, this year. Beacause it was the busiest week of the year, and we could impossibly get a day off, all of us. But then Niki and Julia turned ill and sick - .......and had to stay home from work anyhow!
Luckily niece Kajsa, with Willem and Selma had decided to stay over night on their way from the Netherlands to Ischgl, so at last (and least) we met them. We never met Willem and Selma before.
Nephew Victor, with Anna, intended to drive through from Sweden to Ischgl. Unluckily for them, luckily for us, they got stuck in the traffic in Reutte on Saturday evening, so we after a short phoneconference they decided to make a detour to Tannheim (25 km) to stay over night and then go on next morning on empty roads.
Victor and Kajsa haven't been here since Emy died, I think. So this year all three of them were here already :-) Linda, Kajsa, Victor. Nieces Hilda, Maja and Marleen were here last summer :-)Last Tuesday we did it! We left work. All four of us. For a one day substitute ski holiday in Sölden.
Julia and Niki at Gaislachkogel top station on 3040 m. Julia is, by the way, very satisfied with her new Salomon skis.T.
