Archives for June 2026

After the high-school reunion I went to bed past 1 am, and woke up six hours later not feeling refreshed at all.

I still did yoga and got dressed and packed my stuff up (that is another bonus of packing light, both the packing and unpacking go rather fast).

I ate a hotel breakfast that was exceptionally blah and then set off to walk through town for an hour or so.

There was a flea market going on, there was also rain and wind and cold, two things that don*t go well together.

I walked by the bus station where I spent many, many hours of my teenage years waiting for the bus:

After school was out there was one at 2.39, one at 4.39, 5.39 and the last one each day went at 6.39 and took ages to get you home because that one went a sort of combined route all the way through all the little villages. And you had to take care to remind the driver that you wanted to that one bus stop further north that they don’t liked because they went there and back and nobody ever got on the bus there. Well, I wouldn’t have either, not at that time, because you wouldn’t be able to get back the same day.

So, if you wanted to go to the movies or something you were on your own and perfectly free to use your bike or walk. Which I sometimes did when I missed the bus.

The town does have nice spots as well, here is my life saver, the library:

Well, that’s where the library used to be, looks like they put it somewhere else since then.

My sister and I spent so much time there and borrowed so many books that the librarians didn’t even ask for our library cards anymore.

Then I went back to the train station and stood in the wind and rain for half an hour waiting for the train. I almost got nostalgic but I have to say I am very, very grateful that these days I have music and all the books in my pocket with my phone.

The train was on time and the woman who I had to ask to free my reserved seat complimented my shoes. I went to Hannover where I was a little worried if there would be enough time to get myself the lunch I wanted.

But, not only was there enough time, I also could get some more licorice and mint chocolate. I even had to wait long enough that I started eating standing on yet another train platform:

That is fried noodles with teriyaki chicken, and yes, I am aware you’re not supposed to stick the chopsticks into your food but I didn’t think the Germans around me would mind.

I got on another train for a few more hours, wrote my morning pages, went online (very slowly), watched an episode of C-drama and read a lot, I am now two thirds through „Father Material“ by Alexis Hall and it is extremely good.

The whole trip went very well, I only got very bored towards the end. Even the whole, take a train from the main station to this other station, then walk around the corner for this bus because there is construction on the train lines and then take the train again-bit. Thought I didn’t take the train at the end, I just walked the twenty minutes.

And then I was home and could talk with my husband and son, the boy and I did bodyweight training, then the boy made grilled cheese sandwiches:

I ate more chocolate, started writing this post, made a list for today, and the usual.

And now back to normal. Or some approximation of it.

Again with the going to bed at a reasonable time and getting eight hours of sleep.

I still had a little less energy than the rest of the week, I’d say that’s the cumulative effect of a full week of work.

I did most of my morning routine again, all the while thinking about packing and going so far as to get up in the middle of morning pages and adding deodorant to my toiletry bag.

Husband and I talked a little more while I knitted and then I did the rest of my morning things, including writing for 15 minutes. I then did the dishes, sorted the recycling, emptied all the wastepapare baskets in the house and cleaned washbasins and toilets. With that my weekly housecleaning list was officially done for the week. And then I went out side in the rain to walk/run for half an hour:

I only did half an hour because I wanted to do other things as well.

Came back, took a shower, put some more things on the packing pile and had lunch:

That was the first cucumber from our garden this year, by the way. It was delicious.

After that I had a short break that I used to read and play my video game and then it was time to teach.

I had a short break between students were I tried shaving my favorite handspun cardigan but I lost patience and gave up after twenty minutes. I’ll just take it fuzzy as it is.

Then I taught my last student, played the piano for a while, folded a load of wool socks, did bodyweight training with the boy (my thighs were not keen on doing more exercise at this point), ate dinner, talked with the boy while he made himself dinner and scrolled through social media until I realized what I was doing, then went to the living room to spend 15 more minutes on my novel, started writing this post, made a list for today, finally actually packed everything for today, played a little more and quickly planned out next week.

I’d say that’s enough.

Blogging will be spotty tomorrow, I guess because I’ll be out and about all day and I don’t know how much time I’ll have in a place with decent wifi, so we’ll see.

Anyway, I’m hopping on a train next, will report back later.

But not by much.

I was starting to get that very familiar feeling of total exhaustion the night before, complete with feeling cold and a little shaky but then I just went to bed early, allowing myself to skip spinning and my second session of Chinese for the day.

So, I went to bed on time and slept for a little over eight hours. For the third night in a row. Cazy.

In the morning I was rather slow and I did not open the manuscript first thing but I knew I’d be writing in the evening so it was all good.

It was super cold and my husband made fire in the wood stove while I was finishing my morning pages and yoga and then we had a rather leisurely breakfast together. We talked at length, which was nice, then I did the dishes while listening to a beautiful Richard Strauss song, read my chapter of „War & Peace“ and did my two minutes of Chinese.

The weather was a bit weird, super cold and it was raining like crazy one minute and nice and sunny the next.

I got lucky and got only dry bits while biking to the supermarket. I had a very, very long list but went through it in record time. The supermarket wasn’t very full and there were lots of open checkout lanes. My cart was so full that The cashier was almost halfway through my stuff before I had even finished putting everything on. The woman behind me just started putting her groceries on the belt without leaving enough space for me. That was stressing me. I was already in a bit of panic mode because I had visions of all my frozen good falling off at the other end before I could even finish putting everything on. So I pushed the other person’s groceries back to make space for mine and said something. And then again. Still super stressed and then she said, „Are you stupid? Politeness, eh?“ And she used the informal form of address which in and of itself is rather impolite when you’re speaking with another adult.

Anyway, I did not let that bug me. Much.

I also had forgotten to weigh my bananas, so the cashier had to go and do it for me. Which at least gave me time to dump all my stuff back in my cart. Then it took ages for me to fish out all my bills and coins, and after I was finished and had put my wallet away he was still sitting there expectantly. Well, I had given him 50 fewer Euros than I needed. Oops. So I had to get my wallet out yet again and get another bill.

I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have made that mistake if the person behind me hadn’t rattled me, so in the end it was her who had to wait longer because she was impatient.

Then I drove back home on my bike, a full backpack, two full panniers and a pack of toilet paper in the basket in the front. I timed it so that there were only a few stragglers getting out of the high school this time. No navigating through throngs of teenagers this time.

At home my husband was a little late with lunch again and the boy was just getting home. I unpacked and then there was a delicious lunch:

By then it was too late to do the dishes right away, or if I had done them I wouldn’t have had a break. So I talked with the boy for a bit, then played my video game briefly and started teaching.

I had planned to use my one-hour break between students for packing but in the end I ran the vacuum through the annex, folded two loads of laundry and hung up another one. Now I only need to fold a load of wool socks and such and I’ll be done with laundry for now.

I did manage to fetch cables and my bluetooth keyboard and water bottle and such for tomorrow’s trip but did not put everything together just yet. I also decided to move de-pilling the sweater to today because after teaching, a quick dinner, a one-hour writing session with my friend and the dishes I was just not feeling up to it.

I did start writing this post, made a list for today, did my foot exercises, played some more Genshin and went to bed.

And – today will be busy again, no surprise there. And I will have to get my packing together because I need all that stuff tomorrow.

I went to bed a little later yet but still got a little over eight hours of sleep. Then I was a little slower with my morning things which led to only ten minutes of manuscript time, this time doing research on something. Which is always very frustrating because writing actual new words is more fun. As much as I like doin research normally.

My husband was very patient waiting for me with breakfast. I mean, he did eat before me while reading (best breakfast ever in my opinion but not in his). We did get to talk, I was mostly about the „Big Time“-book and about how much better I fell now that school break is over and I have less time.

The day was very productive again, I cut my husband’s hair and did the breakfast dishes while listening to „Isolde’s Liebestod“ which was actually nicer than I remembered. I found a version with Waltraud Meier and was reminded about the fact that a friend’s friend in uni worked as Ms. Meier’s assistant which meant that sometimes my friend would take over. I found the idea of having an assistant very strange. They had to do things like clean her flat, do phone calls for her, run errands, and all kinds of things. From time to time they also would get a card to the opera, if she had an extra, and so I got to see most of a Wagner opera that I unfortunately don’t remember. Ms. Meier played a role that was only in the first act, and her boyfriend watched her. The two of them both left after that to go on vacation or something, and so my friend got to sit in the boyfriend’s good seat while I got to see the rest of the opera from the gallery, standing in a place where you can’t see part of the stage but can look right into the orchestra.

Anyway, after that I got the vacuum upstairs and ran it through the apartment which was sorely needed before going on my walk/run. I was a little late at this point but that was okay because I had thought my run would be 68 minutes when in fact it was 58.

It was drizzling a bit but not raining very hard. My legs felt very heavy, I think the combination of a harder walk/run on Monday followed by pushing myself a little in strength training the night before was quite a bit. Good thing I won’t be exercising today. Much.

I was a little late for lunch but so was the food so I got my shower in before eating. Husband had to downgrade the meal because we were out of red lentils and he didn’t have time to make the saffron rice he wanted. It was still delicious:

Since my first lesson started a little later than the days before I had time to do the dishes before playing my video game for twenty minutes before dashing off to teach.

Then it was one student after the other until the evening, I had a 20-minute dinner break and then I met my writer friend for a writing session over Zoom.

I wrote many words. Which was extremely surprising, I would have thought I was too tired for that at that point.

Afterwards I started this post, wrote my list for today and brushed my teeth, then played some more video game, read a bit and went to bed.

Today I think I’ll start packing in earnest. Though I added the rest of the clothes that I want to take yesterday. I should maybe charge my ebook reader and the power bank. And I need to figure out where I put the notebook I want to take. And watch the makeup tutorial again, you know how it is.

And without stressing myself out, I have to say.

I can’t praise „Big Time“ by Laura Vanderkam enough, by the way, she has a way of making me feel much better about my time. Looks like there is enough time after all.

So, I went to bed only 15 minutes late and slept for more than eight hours, woohoo!

I woke up and felt – tired and blah. My smartwatch was convinced I needed to rest for the rest of the day. Um, no.

I did my morning routine a little slower than I would have liked but still made the time to work on the manuscript for 15 minutes. I also wrote morning pages, did yoga and meditated.

Just as I was about to get out of bed my „wake the boy up“-timer went off. I didn’t have to, though, because he had woken up on his own. I saw him very briefly as he was getting his water bottle and then I heard him leave the house in a hurry. There are train shenanigans going on this week, again, and so he decided to instead take the bus to the subway.

Well. The bus to the subway was overflowing and he couldn’t squeeze himself in. Since he thought the next one would be equally full he just turned around and went back home.

He got himself breakfast while I was still doing morning routine stuff and I didn’t see him after he told me what happened.

I was very determined to have another good day. And I had, only I also had a morning where everything takes longer than expected. But I did listen to my piece of classical music, and did my internet rounds, and looked at my list, and wrote messages right and left and did some admin stuff.

And then I went out to buy yogurt and go to the health food store.

The weather had been dreary and cold all morning with intermittent rain. I had looked outside before leaving and thought it a good idea to pack an umbrella but there was only a little rain, so I made do with my rain jacket. I wanted to do a trial run for the weekend and see how the jacket would be doing in the rain. I was also wearing the new pair of shoes I want to take with me on my trip to see if I’ll could walk in those for a while.

And then it started pouring down like crazy. I still didn’t want to get the umbrella out and then carry it around the rest of the way and I’m happy to report that the raincoat was sufficient and the shoes were only mildly uncomfortable.

I got everything I wanted apart from radicchio or any kind of salad, and made my way back home in time for lunch.

Lunch was a little late, though, so I had time to unpack groceries and fold two loads of laundry. Well, the parts of the laundry that were still on the drying racks, because the clothes had been hanging there for a while and had been picked off in part.

And then we ate lunch. Not outside this time:

I had a little over half an hour after that, that I used to read a bit and play my video game for twenty minutes.

Then there were many, many students. The student who often doesn’t show didn’t show up again (sick this time, poor thing), I did some more admin while I waited and after 15 minutes of that I decided to play the piano until it was time for the next student. That was fun.

Then more teaching until 6.30. I knew I still had a little time until the boy and I were supposed to do bodyweight training, so I refilled a fountain pen, cleaned the mirrors, touched everything with the feather duster and then I saw that my husband had started the dishes and had to stop right in the middle, so I finished those as well.

The boy was a little late but I didn’t mind. We did our exercise and then I could finally eat dinner.

After dinner I opened the manuscript for another 15 minutes, started writing this post, made a list for today, brushed my teeth, played some more video game and then went to bed with a book, well, ebook reader.

Oh, and at some point in the day I also filled some shampoo in a small travel container and packed my makeup into the toiletry bag.

Why yes, I was pretty tired last night but I felt soo good.

And now we just do it all again. Minus the grocery shopping and strength training plus cardio and writing sprints.