The week in review

Saturday (March 11th) – Mini me had a sleepover with friends and Junior asked us to vacate the house so he could have a group of 6 friends come over to go out on the town with and then have them stay the night. Mr E and I packed ourselves off to Utrecht, which really was a delight. I’ve been sick again and was just recovering and Mr E had been busy, so we didn’t make any huge plans. Just walked around for bit, had a very nice Greek dinner, walked around some more and ended up in a lovely arthouse filmtheater bar. No movies, just a few drinks and then back to the hotel.

Sunday (March 12th) – Slept in at the hotel, then checked out, went for a lovely lunch, walked around town some more and hit a large bookstore. We don’t have them that large in the town I live in, so much choice! Bought two easy reading books and a book on the history of libraries. Then home again late in the afternoon. Hats off to Junior, the house was looking good, like no one had been around and partied/slept there. Sunday evening my friend came around to stay up with me and watch the Oscars.

Monday (March 13th)– Watched the Oscars which started an hour earlier (so 1 am and not 2 am) than we had anticipated due to daylight savings having just happened in California. It was a bit boring (didn’t think Jimmy Kimmel did so great), but I was stoked for the Everything, Everywhere All At Once wins, i.e. Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis! Would have loved to see Angela Bassett win but I was also very pleased for Jamie. The Brendan Fraser win was also well-deserved. Got to bed at around 5 am and slept. I slept a lot, actually, also after my friend left again, as I was still recovering from being sick.

Tuesday (March 14h)– Back to work again and although I am better, I am definitely not ALL better. Had two new student-assistants that started working at the library last week and needed to first join the one and explain all sorts of things to her and then in the afternoon did the same with the other who was at another location. I was exhausted when I got home and went to bed early, to read and sleep.

Wednesday (March 15th) – Another busy day. I had two very long appointments with two refugees at my refugee council volunteer work. Hoped to be done early but didn’t leave till 3 pm. Was already pooped but needed to go by my mom’s as promised so drove on, helped her with some stuff, chatted and then back home again. That evening, I actually finished a book again for the first time in ages, one of the books I had bought on Sunday. It was an easy romantic book read called Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood about two NASA scientists falling in love and it was fun.

Thursday (March 16th) – Really, really busy day at work with lots of meetings and then at the end of the day even a presentation to give. It was all good, but yeah, pooped again! Spent the evening mindlessly scrolling though social media and catching up on some YouTubers I occasionally follow. Came across this, which I loved and as a cat owner feels so relatable!

What would you say to YOUR cat? pic.twitter.com/EaEdmir4r4

— The Dodo (@dodo) March 16, 2023

Friday (today) – Had the chance to work from home today which is lovely for a change and now that work is done I am typing this. Mr E has traveled to Bruges in Belgium today by train and bus for a Heraldry day there tomorrow and will meet up with people from his “nerd club” as mini me calls them (a Dutch heraldry society that he is a board member of). He’ll be coming home again on Sunday. I need to go get groceries for dinner now.

Tomorrow (Saturday) – we celebrate my younger sister’s 50th birthday. Man, seeing her turn 50 makes me feel even older. It emphasizes how long ago these were taken…

Let the weekend begin!

Quick update

Been busy with work.

And volunteer work.

And supporting Junior in his new study plans.

And supporting Junior in looking for a small place of his own.

And sending Junior off on a two and a half week holiday to Israel (with my brother) and from there on to Malta on his own next weekend.

And supporting Mr E, who’s dealing with close-to-burnout issues.

And daily almost endless cat combing because she had some fleas we couldn’t get rid of. They seem gone now.

And taking my mother to the doctor tomorrow for what I hope is a minor issue. She’s 87, so you can never be too careful.

Also been keeping up with some news and this following clip is pretty much me on the whole Prince Harry revealing all issue. I’m a little more interested in the royal family than this guy below, but otherwise the sentiment is pretty much the same.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jarlath Regan (@jarlathregan_irishmanabroad)

And I totally get it when Harry says this on setting stories straight…

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Late Show (@colbertlateshow)

And why do we have to be “Team Harry” or “Team William”? Why does everything have to be so black and white? Anyway, keeping comments open for now but, despite posting this, I am in no mood to discuss and debate this whole Harry issue, it’s being discussed to death as it is.

What’s been far more important and has been occupying us most for the last few days is this: this past weekend a possibility popped up for a big penthouse apartment in another city that I’ve wanted to live in for years at an affordable price! We’ve been dreaming, calculating, talking and driving around the city and the area to assess it and this Thursday we have a viewing scheduled. Should this happen, it would mean a major shift in our lives. Eek!

So, that’s my update: just too busy to post and lots going on! I wonder when things will finally settle down a bit more. If this house thing really is happening, it’ll be a while… Yikes…

I miss you

When I wake in the morning and come downstairs, you’re not there to greet me and ask for breakfast…

When I leave the house, you’re not there to walk me out…

When I come home, you’re not there to meet me outside…

When I look out the window, there are no people stopping anymore to pet you… you were very popular and loved the attention anyone was willing to give you…

When I walk into the front garden, I still look for you lying in your hidden spot underneath the big tree and the shrubbery (even though it’s too cold for that now)…

When I sit in the front garden, I’ll never see you sit at the end of the path again, watching the world go by and arching your back when a dog passes you by…

When I look at the back garden, I’ll never see you curled up on the garden furniture anymore or lying beside our neighbour’s red cat who was your best buddy outside…

When we snap our fingers, you don’t come up to us anymore…

When a package arrives, you don’t claim the cardboard box anymore…

When it’s dinner time, there is only one bowl left and I only have one cat left to feed…

When it’s snack time, you’re not there to impatienly and happily lap up your special cat milk…

When I walk to the kitchen, you don’t follow me anymore and almost trip me up…

When I fold laundry and make piles on my bed, I’ll never have to pile up the clothes around you anymore because you insist on lying down right in the middle of the action…

When my son gets up, he doesn’t pick you up for your cuddles anymore and then does an ‘attention round’ with you so that we can all pet you too while you’re in his arms…

When I sit in my armchair, you don’t walk up to me and paw my trouserleg for attention…

When I relax in the evening, you don’t come to sit next to me, then twist and turn and take your good old time to settle down against me…

When I reach out, you’re not lying beside me anymore for belly rubs and head scratches and I can’t rub that little bit of fur just above your nose and I can’t feel your softness anymore…

When I look over at my husband on the couch, I’ll never see you lying cuddled up against him anymore…

When I look at the red pouf I placed next to our couch, I realize you’ll never use it anymore as the step up to the couch like you did in your final year or two…

When it’s quiet, I can’t hear you purr anymore and I’ll never hear you murp anymore…

When I look around, I miss the worrying over you in your final months…

When I think about having had you for 17.5 years, it still doesn’t feel like it was enough time…

There’s a hole in my daily life and I miss you dearly…

Now rest, darling Effoh

Today our darling cat, Effoh Chatoel (Hebrew for “Where is the cat”) had to be put to sleep forever. We were able to arrange a vet to come to our home, so that he could literally fall asleep in the arms of my son. He was 17.5 years old and we loved him intensely.

Rest in peace our very dear and faithful friend. We will love you forever.

In sickness and in health

My younger brother and my mother both have Covid. They both have symptoms (mostly coughs and extreme tiredness) but aren’t too sick, so that’s good (yay for vaccinations!), we’re hoping for quick recoveries. I too have been felled by Covid like symptoms but four home tests in the past five days reveal that I don’t seem to have Covid, so I guess it’s just regular flu for me.

My aunt has been dealing with some very rough health issues since this past summer and has now been taken into hospital since yesterday. I’ve been feeling helpless with that, not much I (or my brother and mother) can do while we too are sick. My older brother is away for business, my older sister has just left for Seville for a week long holiday, my two other older brothers live abroad, so it was left to my younger sitster to deal with it all on her own yesterday when everything came to a crisis. I hope light can be found at the end of this long dark tunnel for my aunt. We’re all very worried for her.

In better news, our old cat has been slowly recovering from his little adventure when he went missing. For the past three days he has pretty much only eaten and then crawled into his preferred resting place, the cat carrier, to sleep.

Yesterday I saw a glimmer of his previous energy emerge again, he was walking around a bit more. We have blocked off our back garden, so he can’t wander out of there and today he just sat in our back garden like this for half an hour, looking a little more like his old self:

For now our little old man seems to be here to stay. I hope the rest of my family will also be able to make a slow but steady recovery like that.