Last Days of August, First Days of September

The week spanning August 29 to September 4 was busy, which explains why I did not go on many walks and only have a few photos to share.

My trip back from O.K.'s on Monday (August 29) morning involved a last-minute change, as my usual train was cancelled - luckily, O.K. heard about it on the radio while I was in the shower, and we made it to the train station in time for me to catch a connection half an hour earlier. Apart from work, I went on an errand for my parents which meant going to my parents' first to pick up medical documents, then to their GP, then to the pharmacy and then pack to them.

Like Monday, Tuesday was bright and sunny all day and rather warm. I managed a nice long after-work walk of 2 1/4 hours. The anticipated evening light was not quite as golden as I had expected, but the grey clouds building up in the west made for interesting skyscapes.

Wednesday was a mix of clouds and sun. My sister and I went to see our parents after work.

On Thursday (1st of September), I worked on site at my client's, now firmly installed in "my" "new" office (it is neither really mine nor is it really new, but you know what I mean). It was the hottest day of the week, and my client and I only went for a very short walk after lunch, sticking to tree-lined paths as we would not have been comfortable in the midday sun in our business clothes.

It was also the day my Dad was admitted to hospital again, this time for a planned operation that was going to take place the next day. 

On the way back from work, I got off the train one stop before Ludwigsburg and walked the rest of the way across the fields; it was cooler then and it only takes about 45 minutes to reach my parents' place. My sister had already been there for a few hours, and I joined her and my Mum in sorting and shifting things; my parents have now swapped bedrooms so that my Dad has everything on one level and my Mum sleeps upstairs. She can manage the in-flat stairs, my Dad not anymore.

Friday after work saw me and my sister back at Mum's to continue the work begun the day before. We learned from the hospital that Dad's operation had not quite gone as planned and had to be aborted half way through; the most important part had been done, though, and he was awake and breathing on his own. My Mum was allowed to visit the next day.

O.K. arrived at my place at around 8:00 pm. For our evening meal, I made a kind of Asian inspired stew of vegetables and wok noodles in a creamy coconut-oil based sauce with red curry paste and cashew nuts. Chilled rosé fitted it well.

We went out for breakfast on Saturday late morning (actually it was around lunch time for most people), sharing our table with up to 8 wasps at a time. They were particularly drawn to the apricot jam on my plate, and as long as they were feeding on that, I was fine. Still, it wasn't the most relaxed breakfast I ever had! Afterwards, we remained in town for a round through our favourite shops, stopping for an espresso in between, before returning home for a couple of hours. 

At 7:00 pm, we met with my Mum and my sister at the Indian restaurant round the corner from me. It was very busy and extremely noisy, but we had booked the table and were hungry enough to stay. The meal was excellent, as always, and after a while, the noise subsided somewhat; conversation was only really possible with the person directly in front of you. Still, it did our Mum good to be out for a meal and talk things through with us; she'd been to see our Dad in the afternoon.

On Sunday, my breakfast order of freshly baked croissants and rolls wasn't there - someone must have gotten to it before I did! It's been about two years now that I have been ordering with that service regularly; it was the first time this happened. Of course I didn't have anything else at home for breakfast, and so I had to get dressed and walk to the bakery (the same one where I order from) and buy everything again. 

We went for a round of slow jogging/quick walking of about 8.3 km on the fields, then after showering had our late breakfast. A bit of a rest was in order then, before we set off for an afternoon walk. For our evening meal, I pepared the Hokkaido pumpkin as described in my previous post. O.K. left just before 8:30 pm and was home about 1 1/2 hours later in spite of busy motorways.