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Monday, July 27, 2020
More hot weather, Mindy cat and more
Yup, still hot. But I guess it's summer so is what it is. It's been in the high 80ies and low to mid 90ies (29-34C) with varying humidity. Yesterday was actually very hot but we did manage to spend a decent amount of time outside in the shade. We had lunch at Notch 8 (delicious pizza) and then headed over to Centrico where we hung out for a while, catching up with our friend Cait. Our friend John also joined us later so we ended up staying for a while, just hanging out.
Saturday we had another vet appointment with our cat Mindy. They did a bladder xray and the good news is that she doesn't have any stones. She does have a lot of crystals though so they want her on a strict urinary diet for 30 days plus she has to take a med once per day that is supposed to help break up those crystals. It's a really gooey consistency so I have to squeeze it into her mouth with a syringe. And of course she doesn't like the urinary diet food. It's gonna be a long 30 days. But is what it is right? Just want her to get better and clear this up so it doesn't turn into more of an issue down the road. She is 10 years old so not crazy old yet but also not a spring chicken anymore.
Anyway that's been about all the excitement here with us. After the vet on Saturday we had lunch at Broken Symmetry which was fun. Watched some more of the Umbrella Academy. We have just 1 episode left now to finish the season. Then season 2 comes out next week I think. So that's good timing. We are also talking about watching a show called "Dark" It's on Netflix. And there are also some movies I want to watch. I miss going to the movies by the way.
I don't know when I'll actually be able to get to Austria. I was hoping for September but now I am thinking that probably won't happen. Austria has become quite strict again with their entry restrictions as well as quarantine rules. So I don't think it would be an enjoyable trip. I'll just have to see how it goes and develops. My parents still have their Croatia trip booked for September and originally I was supposed to join them. That's the trip that was booked for April/May and got cancelled and they rebooked for September in hopes they could go then. But it's not really looking too good. The case numbers are going up again in Croatia and the Balkan countries. So we will see.
For now Mike and I have 2 nights booked at the North Fork in Long Island the weekend after Labor Day. Just to hang out at some wineries and have some low key days off. We may do another trip for my birthday for a couple of days. Somewhere local, maybe Maine or Vermont. Will all depend on what the situation is like in October. Planning anything long term right now is kind of hard to do. So wait and see. All we can do.
Mail Update: Received a letter from/owe a response to: Nina/WA, Celia/MA and Kimber/Canada.
Posted by Hanna at 07:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday, July 20, 2020
Scorching heat weekend
Last week was pretty decent weather wise but then it started to get hot on Friday. Friday wasn't too bad yet but Saturday and Sunday were in the mid 90ies (35C) with high humidity as well. Today isn't supposed to be much better. I think it does go back down into the 80ies after that. Don't get me wrong, I like summer and summer weather but when it's that hot, that is just too hot for me. I know, I know. I am a weather complainer. I'd only truly be happy with the temps around 70-75 with a nice breeze. But alas, we can't always get what we want, right? So I'll just deal with another day of heat.
The weekend was pretty low key. Saturday we brought Mindy to the vet. We had been to the emergency vet with her over the 4th of July weekend and she had gotten better since then but was still having issues. They think she has an UTI and gave her an antibiotic shot. They also tested her urine and blood for a senior wellness check (kidneys, thyroid, etc) We should get the results back today so hopefully nothing further shows up -- fingers crossed!!
After our vet visit Saturday morning we went down to Westport to have lunch at Rizzuto's. Always nice going there although sitting outside (at least we were in the shade) in this weather can get a bit much after a while. Picked up a fitbit charger at Best Buy in Norwalk afterwards and then headed back up to Danbury to stop at Rosy's for another drink in the AC. Continued watching "Umbrella Academy" which we also binged some more on Sunday night. Mike already saw season 1 but he wanted me to see it so we can watch season 2 together when it comes out at the end of this month. Such a funky show but I am kind of intrigued.
Other than that we didn't do too much Sunday. Some errands and had lunch at Marketplace where they also had some live music which was nice. Because of the live music they had to have their front doors open though which turned the whole place into a furnace as it got hotter in the afternoon.
Alright enough complaining about the heat, better start my Monday and see where this week leads us.
Mail Update: Received a letter from/owe a response to: Nina/WA, Celia/MA and Kimber/Canada.
Posted by Hanna at 07:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday, July 13, 2020
Wedding Anniversary Weekend
Happy Monday. ugh. Haha. Just never been a fan of Mondays. The weekends always seem to go by way too fast. But hey what can you do? We did have a good weekend. Yesterday, July 12th, was our wedding anniversary. Well our American wedding anniversary anyway. We have a weird situation where we have two. We technically got married on February 10th, 2001 in Austria. But that was a smaller ceremony at the local courthouse with mostly Austrian family. We then had a bigger wedding in the US with the whole shebang (white dress, big cake, dancing, DJ, cocktail hour, first dance, speeches, you know all that stuff) and that one was on July 12, 2002. So now we have two wedding anniversaries to celebrate. Hey, worse problems to have, right? :)
So as it fell on a Sunday this year we went to the Hopkins Inn at Lake Waramaug. We tend to go there once a year during the summer, usually around our anniversary, if possible. Always fun to sit outside overlooking the lake, enjoying some delicious Austrian food and wine. This year was a bit more surreal with less tables on the terrace/patio and everyone wearing masks due to COVID. But we still managed to go and enjoy a lovely leisurely lunch so it's fine. All worked out.
Last night we also watched "Hamilton" on Disney +. Of course we enjoyed it. I really hope we can see it on Broadway one of these days. We have been wanting to but the tickets were still so expensive and hard to come by for decent weekend seats. Well, maybe one day. Once this COVID mess blows over. Whenever that may be.
I really am worried about this country. Connecticut has been doing very well, thankfully. But it does worry me, because everywhere else it seems to be spiking. And there are a lot of people in Florida who have second homes in the Northeast and also crazy people in the Northeast who think nothing of going on a beach vacation or to Disney (WTH is Disney open again by the way?!?) during a pandemic. So it worries me that it may start to spike again in CT too, because of that. But I guess we just have to wait and see how it plays out. Nothing else to be done. We do our part, wear our masks when out in public, wash our hands frequently, carry hand sanitizer in my purse, avoid crowds. All we can do.
Well anyway, that's about all I suppose. Saturday we slept in and then went to brunch at J. Lawrence which was delicious of course. And then stopped at Centrico for a bit to see our friend Cait. Always nice to catch up a bit. Rest of the week was fairly uneventful.
Oh, Mindy. I haven't written about our cat Mindy. That has been one thing that has been troubling me. It all started when we came back from our Finger Lakes trip last week Sunday. Well it started while we were away really. She was acting strange according to my sis-in-law Kristina who was watching her. We thought she hurt her leg cause she was limping and having trouble jumping. But then it became more obvious it was something else. I ended up bringing her to the emergency vet a few towns over on Sunday night and they had to express her anal glands which were both super full apparently. They weren't really worried about her otherwise and said that should put her back to normal. It's been a week now and to be fair she definitely is acting more herself again, is playing a bit, being affectionate, eating, drinking but she is still not back a 100%. She is still having litter box issues, licking her butt a lot, peeing on herself occasionally, going outside the litter box, etc. So something is still not really right. I was hoping this would solve itself over time so I could avoid taking her back to the vet but I am guessing we probably will need to take her this week. Ugh. But what can you do?
Mail Update: Received a letter from/owe a response to: Celia/MA and Kimber/Canada.
Posted by Hanna at 07:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Wednesday, July 08, 2020
4th of July Weekend Recap - First Mini Vacation
It's already Wednesday morning, taking me longer than I had intended to get our weekend recap together but hey better late than never right? Hope
everyone in the US had a nice 4th of July weekend. :)
I had Friday (3rd) off due to the holiday falling on a weekend so that made for a nice extended weekend. And we actually managed to go away - our first mini vacation this year (after cancelling three trips already) Believe me, I am not taking COVID lightly and we thought about this quite a bit. But in the end we determined that the Finger Lakes region in upstate NY actually has super low case numbers/infection rates. And Connecticut is also in good shape. I definitely would not have been ok with a vacation in the South somewhere, Florida, Arizona or even California. Not ready to get on a plane just yet and also don't want to go to one of the places where this is really spiking.
Anyway, we decided to go and made sure to use as much precaution as possible. Brought disinfectant wipes to wipe down surfaces in the hotel room, mostly spent time outside even though it was crazy hot and definitely social distanced. All the wineries were being very good with their protocols as well. Just a little frustrating because everybody was doing something different (some tastings by reservation only, some wine by glass/bottle, some outside only) so we were just winging it with what wineries to go to.
Our 1st stop was for lunch (it was a 4 hr 45 min drive) at Stonecutter's Tavern at Bellhurst Castle in Geneva, NY. We had a 30 min wait for a table but the view was very nice, food delicious and drinks good. The service was super slow though but I try not to let that bother me when we are away. We weren't in any huge hurry. After lunch we headed to 2 wineries - Zugibe and Three Brothers. Zugibe had really nice views overlooking the lake and we did a tasting outside (basically a wine flight) and then shared a bottle of wine. Three Brothers was nice too but a much bigger complex with a brewery and different tasting rooms. But it was nice to hang out for a bit.
After we were done there we headed to the hotel (Holiday Inn Express in Geneva) and then to the restaurant next door for dinner (Kindred Fare) When we got to the restaurant they told us there was a hour and a half wait (holy hell) but luckily they then determined that they actually had a cancelled reservation and we were able to get a table. Did have some yummy food (bolognese and poutine)
Saturday was the 4th and we pretty much spent the day winery hopping. :) Let's see, I will do my best to figure out all the places we went (mainly for my own record keeping so I can look back at this at a later time) First stop was a bagel place for breakfast (Bagel and Cakes in Geneva) Was pretty good and did the trick of having something in my stomach before heading to the first winery. First up was Boundary Breaks which was really nice. They did a really good job with the socially distancing and had a bunch of little tables with umbrellas sat up, facing the vines and the lake. We had 2 glasses of wine there, hanging out (they were also really good about offering up water and replenishing it which helped with the heat) Next was Idol Ridge which was an unplanned stop. We saw the building and neat deck driving by and decided to stop. Then we stopped at Bagley's which I am pretty sure we had been to before but still couldn't quite remember. They had a nice deck in the back so we sat there and enjoyed a glass. After that we went to Chateau Lafayette Renau where we had lunch. They had a variety of snacks and we got a cheese spread, crackers, potato salad and a pasta salad and of course some wine. Last was Atwater which was also really beautiful. I had a neat bellini there that looked really fancy. :)
After that we headed back to Geneva and had dinner at the Rusty Pig. Pretty much a dive bar but they had good bar food, perfect after a long day of day drinking in the sun. Had some cheese fries and pierogi. Yum. After that we decided to have a night cap at the hotel bar of the Ramada since our own hotel didn't have a bar. Hung out there for a bit before finally calling it a night. :)
Sunday we slept in and then headed straight for lunch at Dano's. Always happy to be able to go there and have some delicious Austrian food. We had a leisurely lunch there and eventually made our way back to CT. And well now it's already Wednesday and the weekend seems like distant memory. Haha. But we definitely had a nice mini holiday. Was the perfect way to ease into vacations post Covid. Not sure when we will be able to do something else but at least we had this mini trip to keep me from going way too stir crazy!
Mail Update: Received a letter from/owe a response to: Celia/MA and Kimber/Canada.
Posted by Hanna at 07:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)