More changes, no news?

I've become semi-addicted to the Scramble Free game on my Android phone, which means that way too much time is spent interfacing with my cellphone.  I'd like to think that it's escape from reality, which it can be, but DANG!  Why does it have to be such a time-sucking activity?

It doesn't help that I get home from work late and then cook a meal, clean it up and poof!  There's a finite sliver of free time that seems to lend itself to competing against complete strangers more than it does going down to my room and either sewing or actually cleaning or sorting.

The disposition of my craft room was put on hold when we started the kitchen remodel.  The contents of the kitchen were loaded into big ol' boxes and taken downstairs into my room and family room while the remodel raged above.

We didn't do a lot of eating out as I managed to toggle together a lot of meals using the microwave and the grill outside.  After 7 weeks we're back in the kitchen and I'm a little tired of my grill.  It was a bit inconvenient to prepare meals during this time as the microwave was in a corner of the dining room, the grill was obviously outside, the refrigerator in the garage and the "kitchen" was in the laundry room.  The chest freezer was the "kitchen counter" and the laundry room sink (put in years ago for just this purpose) was where we did dishes, washed veggies, etc.  There were a few meals in there where I was pleasantly surprised with the results, but for the most part, it was food and we ate it.

We love our new kitchen and are very happy with all of our choices.  No buyer's remorse here.  I call it my spa kitchen which probably only makes sense to me, but I get such a calm, happy feeling when I go in there and see the soft gleam of the stainless appliances and the warm colors.  Especially in the evening when the under cabinet lights are on and there is such a lovely glow.  In the process, the wall between the kitchen and dining area was torn out and the counter and cabinets were extended down the length of the kitchen and a peninsula was added.

In addition to picking the counters, sink, flooring, etc., we got to design the tile back splash
ourselves.   Down low is a mixed deco tile and above a coordinating 1" square glass tile.  The Deco tile flows around the kitchen undulating from the focal point "peak" behind the stove to become "foothills" along the other walls.

The floor is vinyl, but is grouted like tile and just ties it all together.   Still trying to get the hang of the convection oven differences as the bake feature doesn't seem to brown like my old oven, but the convection feature does brown.  Not sure what you'd use the bake setting for then?  At any rate color me happy!

Grace has decided not to return to Germany for the three year position there.  It's been wonderful to have her and Zosi with us - and not because she does 90% of the laundry on Sundays.  It's been fun going shopping with her and going out on Mother's day instead of only being in touch by Skype.  She's been working as a technical writer as she looks for work in her field, but there aren't any listings out there lately.  She just had another article published too.  I try to remember as I enjoy her company that I am living on borrowed time and it won't be long before she moves on to the next phase in her life.  Sigh.

It's Sunday afternoon and this is the time when I begin to coax my brain back towards the work week ahead.  There's a plan for dinner and it's too drizzy outside to entice me out to plant the things we purchased this morning for the yard.  I think that I'll go down to my room and figure out my next steps...sew or sort.  So I'll leave you with a picture of my granddogter.  Her attitude sums up the whole rainy Sunday afternoon feeling for me.  Meh.

 (This photo was taken during the remodel as you can see from the protected floors)

It's been quite a long time since I posted last.  I can't even say what has occupied my brain.  The battery in my camera has surely drained by now and will need to be recharged before I take it out and seriously use it again.  Life has just seemed to have this drifty quality, very similar to the feeling I had years ago when I read the book Cold Mountain.  If you've only seen the movie, you've definitely missed what I'm talking about, since the book was able to take pages and pages to develop a scene where a movie would fail commercially if it tried to do the same on film.

My daughter Grace has received her PhD and has returned to the United States as planned.  Just before she left Germany, she was offered a position back in Germany.  She is having a hard time adjusting to the thought of returning back to Germany for the next three years, but this new position will definitely be good for her career.

It has been wonderful having her around to simply hang with, run errands, etc.  We have been working on making quilts, which is my latest passion.  http://gotkwilts.blogspot.com/2011/12/polar-express.html?spref=fb
http://gotkwilts.blogspot.com/2012/01/tumbling-batiks.html
She is also taking me in hand and doing a Clean Sweep on my craft room downstairs.  At the outset, she was concerned that I would be resistant to getting rid of things, but the purging has been rather cathartic.  Working down through the layers on the flat surfaces of my work space is a bit like an archeological dig.  I think the oddest thing we have found so far is a pair of brown ribbed pantyhose that was tucked into a spot in one of the bookcases.  There was absolutely nothing wrong with them so I'm rather puzzled how they migrated their way from my bedroom upstairs down to my craft room.  Needless to say, I have a lot of things to either sell online or give away to friends or GoodWill.

At work there have been changes recently.  I have acquired more people on my team, making it even larger than it was.  I am working on putting the additional load into perspective.  I got off to a rough start at first as along with my new responsibilities, I inherited a highly visible project that was behind schedule. I've let myself get wrapped around the axle with anxiety as I worked to get our part of the project back on track.  In hindsight, I recognize that and I'd say that is half the battle towards beginning to take a more easy going approach to dealing with that kind of stress.  The light went on one day when I realized that these types of things are not problems, they really are opportunities.  In the past I have hated it when people used the word opportunities, because it was an excerpt from one of those management "books of the month".  However, they really are nothing more than a chance to push yourself outside the normal box in which you operate and try a new approach or at the very least, to approach it with a different frame of mind that may result in a new approach.  Luckily, I like the people with whom I work; they are a very funny, quirky set.

Tomorrow, we have an appointment for a local firm that remodels kitchens to come in and meet with us.  They will measure our kitchen and talk with us about what we want before they go away and come up with a design and what will seem like a very high price for the work.  Our kitchen is original to the house which was built in 1962.  Wow, doing the math I realize that's 60 years this years.  I wonder if we can call it vintage?  At any rate, it is way past needing the remodel.  The counters and cabinets were not high end at the time they were installed and it will be so nice to have them replaced and to have a new workspace that will be more modern.  Bob has some great, practical ideas and I am looking forward to cooking our first meal in the near(?) future.

I started this entry with the idea that I had something important to say.  Needless to say by now, that I am several paragraphs into this and haven't found it yet.  Since probably no one is reading this, it's not a big deal.  At least my state of mind has been recorded.  I believe that 2012 has a lot of change in store for me and this is as good a place to record if for later reflection as any.

The Magical Mystery tour takes to the road in a Toyota Sienna van

The weather since I have arrived in Asheville has been variable to say the very least.  This morning as we set out on our magical tour in our natty Sienna van, the weather was gorgeous. The air was crisp but not too chill and the sunlight made everything it touched glow and shimmer. 

Charlene and I rode tail gun from the back seat.


We headed straight to the Southern Highland Craft Show where Dawn had some friends participating in the show.  I was interested in seeing if the show was different or similar to the Best of the Northwest show in which I have participated back home.  One major difference was that there is more glass and photography in the NW and more wood, pottery and weaving here in the SE.  The booths were also pretty tight up on the concourse, but very nicely set up.

I bought a few Christmas gifts and met some very nice people.  One vendor, Russ's Rural Rockers, had the most incredible hand carved rocking "horses".

The detail in his work was gorgeous as was the finishing.  The layering of the woods and his use of burls was also beautiful.


After the craft show we went for lunch at Salsa's .  What a wonderful menu.  I wish this restaurant was in my home town so that I could taste my way through it.  I had a Mocaljete, which came in a hot lava cauldron with three legs.  In this video, my meal is happily sizzling away in the pot.  It had chicken with a curry-coconut sauce alongside mushrooms that had a carmelized-chipotle flavor.  There were vegetables underneath and a little side plate containing rice, beans, salsa and a freshly made guacamole.  Yum.

Afterwards we went to the University of North Carolina Botanical Gardens where we walked around for hours enjoying the serenity of the forest within the bustling city.  The creek that ran through it made just enough noise that it blocked out the traffic on the edge of the park.

Some "groovy" rock formations.

This is the bark of a tree called The Devi's walking stick.  One can just imagine why.

Afterward a couple of hours of plant therapy we head back to the house for dinner and an evening of working on uploading photos and laughter.  The highlight of the evening was having Ken Thomas show me how to use the various tools in iPhoto to improve my photos which I really appreciated.

Going walkabout in Asheville

Yesterday was a busy day as we began our workshop experience.  After covering the structure of the workshop, we convoyed off to The Screen Door in downtown Asheville first thing.  This place was phenomenal.  I had a hard time actually getting inside as there was so much cool stuff outside.

 

Inside the world exploded.  

This is detail from one of three velveteen pumpkins with real stems just inside the door.

And this is a photo of "retired" yarn or thread spools from some of the old closed mills that used to populate the area.  All of this work is now done overseas.

As I've noticed in the past, some of the items are odd if not down right disturbing in some instances.

We had a wonderful late lunch at a restaurant named Tupelo Honey Cafe.   The menu was really loaded with wonderful sounding options and they even had gluten free items.  Here are Chris and Andrew waiting at the restaurant.  We had an hour wait, this place is that popular...and we got there at 1o'clock.

While we waited I took pictures in the little triangular park, tucked in between three intersecting streets as the buses, trolleys and ambulances whizzed by.

During lunch it seems like the temperature had dropped even further and with the wind chill factored in, it was bordering on uncomfortably cold.  We walked through town and dropped into a wonderful little bookstore called Malaprops and also a little cafe, The Chocolate Lounge, where we drank coffee, hot cocoa or wine depending on our individual whim.  They also had some very nice looking chocolates from which I abstained - although I’m not sure why I did.  They looked and sounded really tasty as I listened to the exclamations all around the table.  

We also visited the Chevron Trading Post & Bead Co. where I spent my time trying to get the fish to pose nicely in front of the interesting corals in the salt water aquarium.

Before leaving the downtown area, we stopped into a lovely little store called the Funky Mutt with the express purpose to meet this cute little kitty in the window.   Her name was Fancy and our timing couldn't have been better.  Susan, the owner, provides a foster home in the store to pets like Fancy until they are adopted.  This photo was taken just moments before Fancy left the Funky Mutt for her "forever home" with her new owner.  What a neat concept.  (It kind of looks like she's watching the fish...)

Back at the house, Andrew’s sister Cynthia and her husband Greg came by and brought us dinner which was a very tasty vegetarian chili.  One of Kate’s old friends Ken Thomas, a photographer, also dropped in.  It was another evening of convivial conversation and laughter and a late bedtime for most of us as it took a while to wind down afterwards.

Unakite Mountains

I flew to Knoxville yesterday arriving about 3:30 on a sunny, warm and slightly humid afternoon.  I picked up my rental car - a Nissan Versa.  What a disappointment.  No electric locks or windows.   The car has one lock on the driver door so you have to reach over to unlock the passenger side and then contort yourself around to unlock the doors in the back seat.  Drives like a tank and the engine is sluggish going up an incline.  I kept wanting to shift into a lower gear, but alas, it was an automatic.

The drive ahead of me was about 2 - 2.5 hours which I didn't mind.  I like to drive "cross-country", watching how the landscape changes and noticing the regional differences.  Once I got onto I-40 (two lanes) through Knoxville and for a ways beyond, the driving was a bit difficult.  A lot of people drive at least 15 miles over the speed limit, a smaller portion drive the speed limit and then there are the trucks cruising along at whatever speed.  Great fun; keeps you on your toes.

After turning south on I-40 where it divides from I-81 you enter the Cherokee National Forest.  This part of the drive was beautiful as the road winds through the mountains.  As a storm front moved up from the south, the sky lowered and the light became flat.  The autumn foliage on the mountainsides had a pointillistic style in the same colors as Unakite.  It was gorgeous, but I had to keep my eyes on the windy road with all the trucks.  I arrived at the house about 6:45 and was greeted by a group of women gathered around the island in the kitchen, drinking wine, eating chicken and pulled pork and chocolate while we caught up and introduced ourselves.

Big day tomorrow.

What's in a name?

Last spring I signed up for another blogging/photo workshop.  This time in Asheville, NC.   I thought it would be a wonderful place to go in October with the changing leaves.

Then a month and a half ago, I found out that I was going to Las Vegas for a conference for work the week after my trip to Asheville.  In fact, I will fly home this coming Sunday, be picked up by my husband, go home and swap out the contents of my suitcase and then he'll drive me back to the airport for a mid afternoon flight.

So, I thought I'd call American airlines to see how much it would cost to change my ticket.  Here's how it went...

    Thank you for calling American Airlines....bla, bla, bla.  Several selections later, we get down to business.

  "the Voice" asks me 'What is the name of the airport from which you will be departing?'  

     I say 'Knoxville'.

 "the Voice" asks me 'What is the name of the airport at your final destination?'  

     I say 'Seattle'.

 "the Voice" asks me 'What is the date of your travel?'  

     I say 'October 23rd'.

  "the Voice" asks me 'What is the passenger's last name?'  

     I say 'Kay'.

 "the Voice" says 'I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. What is the passenger's last name?'  

     I say 'KAY'.

 "the Voice" says 'I'm sorry, I still didn't undertand.  Please repeat the passenger's last name?'

     I say 'Kaaaayyyyyy'.  

 "the Voice" says 'I'm sorry, let me transfer you to the first available agent.

    I think to myself that it's about time.

I couldn't believe that the voice recognition software could pick up individual city names and dates but couldn't figure out a simple last name like mine.  Since I married into the name, I've been amazed how a name so simple can stump so many people.  I get varied reactions from people when they ask me for my last name.

    'Kay'

         No, your last name...

         What does the 'k' stand for?

         Does that have an 'e' on the end of it?

What IS in a name?  Obviously, not enough...

And to finish the other thread in this: to change the ticket was going to cost about $500.

Ouch.  There is the reason for my rapid turn around next Sunday.  

Countdown to blast off

Wednesday morning arrives with leaden skies that develop into rain as we set out on our drive to Aschaffenburg where we will spend our last night of vacation.  Since the actual driving part of the drive will only take about 3 hours, we make the decision to stop in Rothenburg ob der Tauber.  This city had its heyday in the Middle Ages as it was on the road to the Crusades as well as the trade route with Asia.   The quartering of troops in the town in 1634, followed by an outbreak of plague left it poor and empty; effectively turning it into a backwater village with little change.  In the 1880s, the artists from the Romantic movement "discovered" it once more and put it back on the map for tourism.  At that point laws were created to prevent major changes and to preserve its 17th century state.  This means that the old fortress walls and towers are intact.

We make our way towards the old medieval town in the center, park the car and head in through one of the gates in the wall and wend our way to the center.  A few blocks in, I recognize a coworker whom I knew was going to be in Germany at the same time, but never dreamed that we would both be anywhere on the same date at the same time.  

We ate our lunch in the main square after catching the clock's noon time display.  This consists of a window opening on each side of the clock face and a figure in each window hefting a large tankard (of beer) and drinking heartily.  Of course, you have to be told that is what is happening before you "get it".  We walked around a few streets for a while enjoying the ambience of the old wall, towers and houses.

CDB?

We even found a 1 Euro Store, but we didn't go in. I'm sure that would have been a highlight of the entire trip.

We then headed for the Criminal Museum along the south wall.  This museum consists of 4 floors of torture devices as well as displays that covered how all manner of bad behavior has handled in past times.  An Iron Maiden, a water torture device and a rack are some of the larger items.  Manacles and shame masks were also present.  These shame masks are iron masks that are clamped on your head for a mandated period of time.  One was a wolf head for a person that told baudy jokes.  There were masks for gossips too.  Women who fought were placed in a double yoke.  Outside they have a pillory that people can pose in for a picture.  (First three photos courtesy of Hayley)

The rain had stopped before we arrived in Rothenburg, but started again as we arrived in Aschaffenburg.  I had saved the map in Google the night before, but made the mistake of not getting a good enough reference of where the hotel was in the town so we had only the directions provided on the hotel confirmation email.  We eventually found our way to the hotel, but I think the big lesson here is that taking the GPS would have been a good idea.

We went out for a nice dinner at a Restaurant called "The Potato" (in German of course) where it  was "schnitzel day".  Everyone had a nice meal that was even reasonably priced.

Then it was back to the hotel to begin the preliminary weeding out of items from our luggage in preparation for our flight home and an early bedtime for all. 

The next morning we drag ourselves out of bed. Justin and I were kept awake last night by live music being performed loudly and close by.  Bob and Hayley have slept through it all.  Justin correctly points out that it would have been easier to tune out if the band was lousy, but it wasn't.  The female vocalist had a nice sound. 

At this point, we have packed our bags in preparation for the heavy-handed treatment from the Condor agents at Frankfurt airport, eaten breakfast and head to the car.  Lucky me, there is a yarn shop on the street that we stop at on the way to the car park and the kids each pick out a ball of sock yarn to be knit up for them.   This is probably the most shopping I have done on the whole trip.  6 balls of sock yarn.  Harumph.

Onto the Autobahn for the last time with a stop to fill the gas tank of the rental car before dropping it off.  We get to the Condor counter where there must be about 15-20 stations in a row.  There is one agent on duty, with someone watching over her shoulder.  The same family has been standing there for over 10 minutes as the line begins to grow and some official person begins to run the line back and forth like a ride at Disneyland.  Eventually 3 more people show up and begin to check people in.  Entire process took maybe 20 minutes which wasn't too bad.  Unlike in Seattle on our outbound flight, no one has any interest in weighing our carry on to ensure that they weigh less than 6 kilo.  Mystified, we check our luggage and head for the gate.  

Oddly, we don't go through a central Security Checkpoint, but instead they have all the scanning equipment at the gate.  We are informed by a fellow passenger that they cannot let us into the gate because the plane has not yet arrived.  The flight was scheduled to leave at 2:30p, and they didn't begin scanning us until 1:30.   This is the first time in all the flights I have taken with Bob and the kids that they get additional attention and I sail through.  Works for me.   We're now sitting in the gate area where they have a little shop where you can buy snack type foods, magazines and beer.  As we sit there we have some fellow Seattleites surprisedly and loudly greeting acquaintances from back home while drinking beer standing in the boarding lounge.  

Having a seat at the back of the plane, we are boarded first.  As we sit there with our 6 kilo of carry-on, on come passengers with luggage bigger than the bags we checked and proceed to shove them into the overhead.  We are baffled as to why the flight out of Seattle was so horrendously handled by making everyone check in their carry-on AND make everyone adjust their luggage to ensure nothing over 6 kilo was carried on.  Go figure.  The experience with this airline on the way home was almost as if we had flown a different airline on the outward bound portion.  I think we'll avoid this airline in the future.

We arrived on time in Seattle.  The kid's mother had offered to pick us up so I called from my phone to let her know we were at the curb and ready to be picked up.  The calls kept going to "this subscriber is not available".  After a worried hour wait, we decide to catch the bus home which took another hour.  Once home, Bob gets his cell phone and calls the correct number (she had a new cell phone and I didn't have the new number).  Turns out that she'd been circling the airport, calling the airline and worrying about us for the last few hours.   She quit circling the airport and came by and got the kids on her way home.  Bob started a load of laundry and we crashed early.  

We're now all back in our old routines, none the worse for wear.  We have a lot of outstanding memories to reflect upon or as Marcel says "we can eat from our memories for a long time".  It was a fun trip, we saw a lot of cool things, took some great pictures, ate some very nice food and shared a lot of laughs.  Can't say anything against all that!   I wonder where we'll go next?