Laowai

So right after Brian recovered from Covid he rode the Triple Bypass. It's just a 107 mile ride over three big mountain passes in Colorado! He rode it with no trouble after not even setting eyes on a hill for the last year. How does he do it? And his brother did it too! Here a few photos they took.

And one photo of Brian at the Triple Biypass – he did it after all!

Since my last post the girls and I tested negative for covid and then we went to a hotel so Brian could stay home while he was contagious.

Now Brian's Covid quarantine is done and thankfully he is feeling fine. The girls and I are back home. I'm grateful for the vaccine – I'm sure he would have been much more sick without it (yay science!). What a strange time. I'm also thankful my girls can start school on time. To keep my hands busy while we stayed at the hotel for six nights I got out my hexagon quilt project.

I started this quilt in March of 2020.

I added 100 hexagons this week and I'm wondering if I should be done. It's a good lap size quilt and I like the proportions now. I think I will make a row of white hexagons around the edge and then when I make the edges straight I won't have to cut into the prints. We'll see… I will probably put it away until I have a stretch of quiet time again.

We've been cruising along, enjoying our last bits of summer. I was enjoying my garden – picking lots of tomatoes and beans.

Brian and Bea and I went to a concert at Ravinia.

On that same night Claire went to a fun birthday party.

I was feeling very satisfied with my window project. My infrared paint stripper arrived and it does a great job removing all the layers of paint.

We had some friends over for a game night.

And Bea and I took a tour of her school. Here she is in her biology room.

We were finishing up some school shopping and getting ready to go to Colorado for a much needed vacation. And on Tuesday, which was one of the hottest days of this summer, Brian asked Claire to get a sweater for him while he was working. He had a fever! So we went to get him a Covid test on Wednesday and it was positive – a breakthrough case. I think we were shocked because we are all vaccinated (except Claire because she is too young) and we've been wearing our masks indoors. And then we felt angry. All the consequences running through my head were overwhelming. We canceled our vacation, canceled the girls' doctor appointments, canceled piano class and a birthday party for Claire. And now we are staying separate in our house and wearing masks. If by some miracle the girls and I don't already have Covid we are trying to keep from getting it. The doctor recommended we wait a couple days before we get tested. If the girls test positive I don't know if they will be able to attend the first day of school. Brian seems to being doing OK. He is feeling feverish and has a headache. I'm frustrated that it's hard to keep an eye on him because we are trying to keep him locked away in the bedroom. I Facetime him and I deliver trays of food outside his door. But I wish I could go in and put my hand on his forehead and really see how he is looking. In the meantime, Claire is really scared and she will barely come out of her room. It could be much worse – like the poor people dying on the streets in India – but really it is very frustrating and very scary. It feels like even though our family and the people around us have worked hard to do the right things this thing is going to go on without end. Sigh.

We're well into August and I have back to school things in my head. We have this week and next week at home and then we will have a trip to Colorado and then school starts. It's been a quiet summer but a good summer.

This week I made a start restoring these storm windows. I'm waiting for my new paint stripper to arrive but I've removed the windows and I have my work area all set up and ready to go.

I have some storm windows just like these on the front of my house but those are installed on the inside. They are all (inside and oustide) installed in a shabby way – like using nails right through the window frame. Arg – I'm angry at the person who did that. So part of this project is figuring out how and where these windows are supposed to be installed.

Here's what I'm dealing with – it looks bad but the wood is still in good shape underneath the peeling paint.

In other news IT'S TOMATO SEASON!!! I made some roasted tomato sauce to freeze – yum. Tonight I'm making BLTs for dinner (I'm the only one who is excited but I don't care).

My morning glory vine is finally starting to bloom.

I discovered this on a walk near my house. How did I miss it and what is it? I don't know but it's interesting to look at.

I pickled some vegetables – aren't they pretty!

I went to an estate sale and found a few treasures. Two wool blankets only five dollars each. A concrete squirrel – had to have him. And a Spode plate to hang in my dining room – someday it will go with the green theme in there.

And now I must get back to soaking up this last month of summer – time for some reading in the hammock.

Took a walk to the Chicago Botanic Garden. The prairie plants seem to be at their tallest and most exuberant.

I'm delighted to be picking zinnias, beans and tomatoes. 

It's been a year since we moved from Switzerland. I miss so much about our life there and I think I always will because you can't go back. It's like when I went away to college and lived in a dorm, it was great and I felt so independent. And then after a couple years I got an apartment where I had even more personal space and independence and I had the feeling that I could never go back to living in a tiny dorm room. You move forward and you experience something better and then it's hard to go back. I will always consider the US a downgrade when it comes to quality of life. I want to be in the US. I feel more at home in the US. I appreciate the good parts of the US. I'm closer to family here in the US. But I'm also often mad at the US. 

Here are a few photos taken in the last few days that we lived in Switzerland. It hurts my heart to think of all the beauty that surrounded us. And thinking about how Brian would really prefer to be living there is a tender subject.

I guess the only solution, for the time being, is to spend time back in Switzerland whenever we can. I'm scheming a long summer vacation next year.

While I was in Tawas I took lots of morning walks while the girls slept in. And I made a photo survey of all the charming, kitschy, pretty or interesting things I saw. 

We just got home from about a week spent in Tawas, Michigan. We had so much fun!

We hung out at Jennifer's yacht club a lot (it's not her yacht club – but you know what I mean). We swam and used our paddle boards and took walks to the nearby state park. We also got to use the wooden kayak that Jennifer made (yes! she made it!).

After we'd had enough sun and wind we went back to Tawas where we had a little rental house. 

We just hung out and relaxed and played some games. Jenna and Claire walked to the coffee shop or the bubble tea shop for treats. And we watched the Olympics.

Must have Easy Cheese when vacationing up north in MIchigan:

This is what vacation with lots of kids and devices looks like:

Our other important occupation was eating ice cream:

On our last day it was very rainy up until we were scheduled to go for an evening boat ride and then it cleared up. Perfect timing! Jenna has been learning to sail the Appledore – a reproduction tall ship schooner that offers tours and charters and does lots of educational programs. Jennifer treated us to a ride so we could enjoy a sunset cruise and also see Jenna hard at work. It was lovely!

Here are a few shots of Jenna and her fellow friend and green crew member working on the boat.

Look at all those googly eyes!

And that is the end.