Relaxen/Relaxing

What a perfectly splendid weekend. I don't recall what I did Friday evening, but I think it just consisted of typing up lab results and watching a few episodes of Numb3rs on my computer. Saturday morning I slept in, which was difficult to do after waking up early all week. I enjoyed a lovely brunch while reading, ate plenty of chocolate while typing up more lab results and writing a little report of what I did last week, then went for a jog to repent for the brunch and chocolate. It had been a rainy morning and early afternoon, but cleared up enough by late afternoon to make for a lovely jog.
When I got home I began knitting a winter hat. I had been contemplating for a while my need for a winter hat that sits snuggly on my head and has ear flaps to be tied tight under my chin. I already do own a winter hat with ear flaps, but it is too big for my head and ends up squashing over my eyes. So, last week I bought a couple skeins of yarn and needles with the idea of making my dream hat. I had made a winter hat last year, but it is too small for cold weather, so it can only be worn on chilly days. The head girth of this previous hat seemed right though, so I based my new hat girth on the old one. I also discovered last night through experimentation that I could knit the ear flaps right into the hat and not have to attach them after the body of the hat was complete.
To entertain myself while knitting, I watched a few more Numb3rs and NCIS shows. I am very surprised at how attached I am becoming to Numb3rs. I always thought it was a decently good show, but there's something about starting from the beginning of a series that gets me attached to characters. I want to see them and their relationships grow throughout the episodes.
The United States made me miss church this morning. I went to bed at a decent hour last night. I set my alarm to allow for plenty of time in the morning. And then I walked into the kitchen this morning and looked at the clock on the wall. It was an hour later than I thought the time should be. I returned to my room and checked my alarm to make sure those couple extra minutes I had laid in bed were really just a couple of minutes. Yup, they were. Then I checked my cell phone because cell phones are always correct to local time. Oh dear, it agreed with the clock in the kitchen. I pulled out my wrist watch just to make sure my entire clock collection disagreed, and sure enough it agreed with my alarm but not my phone. So, Sacsha to the rescue. He said that it is now SummerTime. I completely trusted him, but protested nonetheless that we had already had that a few weeks ago in the United States! Grrrrrr.
I didn't mind that the United States chose to have Daylight Savings Time early this year while I was in the United States, but when out of the United States it is a bit troublesome. At least these time changes are always done on Saturday nights so that people don't arrive late to jobs. I did want to try out this new church this morning, so that's a bummer. Next Sunday I want to go on a tour of the city's gardens and parks, so that leaves me to attend my first service at this church on Easter Sunday. This will give the congregation the wrong impression that I'm just there for the Easter Sunday service. Oh well, it's all the United States' fault.
With church out of the question, I prepared a little breakfast and observed my backyard.
My backyard and front yard really are quite lovely. There are lots of birds to adorn all the trees and they like to sing from dawn to sunset. Some of the birds are quite large for my standard of typical city birds. The sizes of the birds had such an impression on me that they played a leading role in my dream a few nights ago. I recall walking through a space with big birds sitting on railings and flying overhead. The ones sitting kept eying me and their beaks frightened me, but as I slipped by only inches from them, they didn't seem to be disturbed by my presence. A lot of the birds around here are black with yellow-orange beaks, others are brownish-gray with dark gray beaks, then there are the doves/pigeons (?), and finally the big bluish-gray and white bird that is perhaps a Blue-Jay. I just opened the curtain that typically covers the top half of the window so that I can have a full view of the backyard. I see a tiny little finch with a gray body, white underside, black head, and a white streak across his eye.
When I was in Jordan I had a field guide with me which I used to identify all sort of plants and a few animals. I had a lot of fun identifying everything. Perhaps I need a field guide of Bavaria, Germany so that I can identify all these birds. I never used to understand the joy of birdwatching, but I can see how it could be a fun, challenging game. Identification is especially difficult with the finches because it is all a matter of the presence or absence of such things as a white streak across the eye. I hope that the garden/park tour next Sunday will show me additional locations to view the birds and the bees in Erlangen.
I wanted to work hard on my winter hat today, but new that I needed some entertainment to keep me company. I decided to try out German television. Even though it was a Sunday, I found some entertaining, educational, and enjoyable programming. I first watched a program called “Frohliche Feierabend” which was like a modern Lawrence Welk show. Then I watched a hospital soap opera, which I must say was better than American daytime soap operas but worse than American evening dramas. And then there was a program visiting old mines in Germany. I began watching an American Western about an outlaw and his mute partner, but decided to check and see if there wasn't anything more entertaining on. I found a program in which a man was traveling around the Arctic with his dog. Then I found a kid movie which was quite fun. After the kid movie there was a Pink Panther short episode, and a fun educational show in which I learned about vision. Lastly, I watched a program called “Veterinarians in Africa”, which was about German veterinarians who have basically immigrated to African countries. I'm sure there were a few other shows mixed in there, but those are the ones that stand out in my mind.
If you're thinking, “wow, that's a lot of tv for one afternoon”, then I would agree, but it does take some time to knit a hat, sew it up with a hair pin (because I forgot to buy a knitting pin), and decorate it with chin strings and a fluff ball. I am very pleased with my result and consider it time well spent. After knitting all day, I was ready for some fresh air and exercise, so I went for a brisk walk along the Regnitz River floodplain. I found a lovely park where children were playing soccer and dogs were playing fetch. Along the river there were all sorts of fowl, including ducks, geese, pigeons/doves (?), among other birds I can't identify. Additionally, there was a muskrat enjoying the greenery of the river's island. I was very pleased with my walk, but wished I had a dog to join me. I watched so many tv shows today involving dogs and other animals, then I saw people playing with their dogs in yards and in the park, that I got really dogsick (it's like homesick).
When I got home I went to work sweeping, mopping, and vacuuming the house's communal floors because this is my week to clean. My experience at Potts Park was of great assistance to me today because I knew right off the bat how to mop with a German mop. I don't understand why the Germans and Austrians haven't moved into the 21st century and adopted the use of upright vacuums, but I managed with the annoying low lying with hose vacuum that it was. I was quite famished after all this walking and cleaning, so I cooked up a lovely little pre-packaged soup and added potatoes and bread for dinner and accompanied it with “Gong Radio” and “Anne of Green Gables”.
As always, I'm nervous to go back to the lab tomorrow and find out what I am to do next in the process of soil analysis. But, this wonderful weekend has put me in a happy mood and I am looking forward to learning Greek folk dancing tomorrow evening at the Erlanger Tanz Haus, so I will try my best to go confidently to work tomorrow.