(Sunday, 26 April 2020)
We noticed in the last day or so that Jack’s side effects to the medication have subsided substantially and there was far less urgency attached to getting up in the morning and rushing downstairs. Yay! 😁
I therefore had a much lazier start to the day, writing the last couple of days updates in the sunshine on our balcony with a couple of cups of coffee. It all felt very luxurious. We have decided on a largely rest day today, as it’s Sunday and as the sodding balcony is completed for now and also as it is scheduled to be the last nice day for a while. Mark worked it out that over the next 7 days we are expecting over 100mm rain! 😱 That should fill the pool up nicely! 😂
We realised in the last couple of days that with all this activity outside, we have been finding ourselves having to increasingly ignore the state of the indoors of the house. With two boxers, us, a cloud of pollen in the air and a complete disinterest in cleaning whilst the sun is shining, it’s not looking it’s absolute best, it has to be said. OK, I may not have been quite accurate with that… it’s not much short of a complete shit pit! 😳
In the war of ‘make the most of the last sunny day’ Vs. ‘The achievement of mental peace’, there was officially a draw declared and a furious half hour was spent cursorily throwing a hoover and duster over the worst of it and declaring a rematch at some point when the rain comes.
I’ve talked about it a lot (sorry) but the changing colours on the mountains around us are really quite fascinating. During the long months of winter, there is a lot of the rock face in the mountains exposed that you don’t see with the leaves on the trees. It’s especially noticeable when there is snow on the ground. This year was a very light winter but the last few years, the snow has remained on the ground and covered everything with shades of white for over 4 months.
It is extremely beautiful in its own right and let’s face it, we do love the snow! But the one thing you don’t realise is that over a period of a few months, you are exposed to a largely monochromatic landscape. When the spring comes, the sudden exposure to so many different colours is extremely heart lifting and exciting. It’s like having a brand new view!
From our house, the sun rises above one mountain and sets over another and so the play of light on the two aspects makes the mountain sides look completely different at various times of the day and again, at different times of the year. Nearly 4 years in and we still keep saying to each other ‘Look at that, isn’t it beautiful!’ – sometimes several times in one day.
I’ll try not to bore you all to death with endless photos of the same view, but I’ve included a couple today to illustrate what I’m talking about.
Having done as close to ‘next to nothing’ on the domestic chore front as possible, it was time to fetch some cushions, reading material (and a bag of yarn for me, of course 😉) and move ourselves up into the sunshine in the garden for a bit of R&R. It was an utterly perfect afternoon for lazing around and soaking up a few rays, hot but not too hot and a clear, still day. Being a Sunday, it was peaceful and quiet with no sounds of activity anywhere.. not even from the farmers.
Late afternoon we were treated to the sounds of trumpet music playing from one of our neighbours. They were practicing as they often do, being a very musical family and we quite often have the treat of hearing it. On the video I posted on Facebook, Mark described it far better than I can:
“The recording doesn’t do justice to the echoing sound around the valley. It really is quite amazing.
One of the players plays the trumpet, and we’re quite regularly treated to him practicing. One of my favourite sounds, whilst sitting in the sunshine, relaxing.
I really do love these moments. So evocative of some of the life and culture here.”
We pretty much stayed there all afternoon, only moving when the inevitable shade from the sun disappearing behind the mountain, forced us down to our terrace to soak up the extra 15 minutes of sunshine we gain by doing so.
Most of the meat that’s consumed here in Austria, is pork, beef and chicken. Lamb is not terribly popular and therefore not readily available. There is a stall on the weekly farmers market which features lamb from a specialist farm in Mondsee and it is outstanding lamb, but a little on the pricey side for anything but special occasions for us and so consequently not something we had very often and really did miss.
Courtesy of contacts via Mark’s choir, we now have a source of reasonably priced and locally sourced lamb. We have the opportunity, usually only once a year, when we can buy a half or whole lamb. It just so happened that our order of half a lamb arrived on Friday. We put most of it in the freezer, but kept a couple of chops back to eat in the more immediate future. It was my turn to cook, so dinner tonight was lovely lamb chops, mash and veg, with homemade mint sauce… with home grown mint! First time I’ve tried to make my own mint sauce and if I do say so myself, I pretty much nailed it, the end result was a very tasty dinner! 😁
Stay safe everyone xx
