Saxon Switzerland National Park Saturday @ TDD - C&C

[trissie]

Triple Dog Dare!

Pick 3 things
Do them
Post your TaDas!

»»—-Cheers! WTG! Ygg!—-««

Don't think about it. Just do it!
~~ I Triple Dog Dare ya! ~~
Good Morning!
»»————　✼　————««

[trissie]

Saxon Switzerland National Park is a breathtaking protected area located in southeastern Germany, right along the border with the Czech Republic. Established in 1990, it covers over 93 square kilometers of the spectacular Elbe Sandstone Mountains. The park is famous for its unique, deeply eroded rock formations that have been shaped by wind and water over millions of years. This dramatic landscape transitions seamlessly into Bohemian Switzerland National Park across the Czech border, creating a vast, contiguous wilderness that attracts nature lovers from all over Europe.

The park’s most defining feature is its surreal topography, characterized by towering sandstone pillars, deep forested gorges, and majestic mesas. Among its many geographical wonders, the Bastei rock formation stands out as the most iconic landmark, featuring a stunning stone bridge that spans a deep ravine and offers panoramic views of the Elbe River below. Visitors can also explore the imposing Königstein Fortress, a hilltop stronghold that sits just outside the park boundaries, providing a fascinating glimpse into the region's medieval history and military architecture.

Biodiversity thrives within the park's protected boundaries due to its varied microclimates. The deep, narrow canyons remain cool and damp year-round, creating ideal conditions for rare mosses, ferns, and fungi that resemble an environment from the ice age. Meanwhile, the exposed, sun-drenched clifftops support hardy pine forests. This diverse habitat provides a safe refuge for a wide array of wildlife, including peregrine falcons, black storks, wild boars, and the Eurasian lynx, which has gradually returned to the region thanks to strict conservation efforts.

For outdoor enthusiasts, Saxon Switzerland National Park serves as a premier destination for hiking and rock climbing. It boasts over 400 kilometers of well-marked hiking trails, including the famous Malerweg, or "Painter's Way," which historically inspired romantic artists like Caspar David Friedrich. Additionally, the park is recognized as the birthplace of free climbing in Europe, offering more than 1,000 distinct peaks for climbers. To protect the soft sandstone, strict traditional climbing rules are enforced, ensuring that this ancient landscape remains preserved for future generations to enjoy.

[Kittykatt]

Good morning, Trissie,. and thank you for another interesting start.

L.Ann, the marina museum sounded great fun!

Dogged, was the park looking at its best this time of year, or is it still early in the season ?

Gma, you're busy as ever! I'm sure your friend was very grateful.for the lift.

I never made it back here yesterday, but I spend nearly 6 hours in my garden. I'm feeling it today, but the front garden is now tidy and the ground cover has been trimmed back. I bagged as much as I could as I went, but I'm sure I'll be picking up "bits" for a couple of weeks. The little rose that was struggling is now just surrounded by compost and a bark mulch,.so no competition. I may have to keep an eye on it and pull.up any Campanula that's in the ground that I missed, but I'm hoping it will pick up now. Yesterday's weather was perfect for working outside, sunny but cool, and as I was moving about, the wind didn't bother me.

MJ messaged in the evening to say he would be here this morning (time as yet unspecified!) to change the glass on the patio door. He will message when he's leaving home. So long as one of us is showered and dressed by 8.30 am, I think we should be ok. I wasn't sure if that person would be me,.so I was running around outside at 10pm last night putting away the tub of bark and the bag of compost I had left on the path in case I needed it again today.

Today is grey and cloudy,.and another cool start. We may or may not get rain (hopefully not until the patio door is done!), but I'm glad I did the heavy work in the garden yesterday. (The annual trimming of the ground cover and tidying n the front garden is about the only big job I do in one go. I'm not sure why this is the case. Maybe it's a case of "I've started.so I'll finish"? I'm (mgrthhjjjilkppo9ool Matilda's contribution! ) feeling the consequences of all that hard physical work today in my shoulders , so I think it's going to be a more gentle day today. Maybe I can work on my list? Not sure what DH's plans are yet.

[Kittykatt]

To do:
Cuddles and treats with Matilda, Freddie and Jude
QT
Update latest Waitrose order
Cup of tea
Get up!
Shower/wash hair/moisturiser and sunblock/ clean and floss teeth
S/S bathroom
Physio exercises
Get dressed in casual clothes
Make bed
Scoop cat trays and give everyone fresh water
Cat breakfast and meds /supplements
Breakfast and meds /vitamins for me
Quick kitchen clean up
Load DW
Quick PUPA downstairs
Quick dust and Hoover downstairs
Wind clock
Quick PUPA upstairs
Quick dust bedrooms
15 minutes in tiny front garden
15 minutes in back garden
Go for my walk
Walk Freddie
Lap time with Freddie, Jude and Matilda
Head rubs with Freddie, Jude and Matilda
Play with Freddie, Jude and Matilda
Run DW when full
Unload DW
Lunch
Cats' supper
Our supper
Sort out lunch for tomorrow
Bake something?
Text DF E re coffee tomorrow - she rang me yesterday, I'm going to see her and take her a block of butter
Towels in machine
Towels hung up to dry
Clothes laid out for tomorrow

Extras:
MJ here to change glass in patio door
Remember to take a block of butter for DF E tomorrow
Put the Girls in the bedroom while MJ is here
Put Fred in the kitchen (he often feels "threatened" by the presence of another male in the house, so he needs to be in a room.woth no soft furnishings, just in case!!!!
Kitty nails?
Map for email for.SR, cc relevant councillor


Garden extras:

[trissie]

Good morning, lovies!
I wish I had that much time for my garden, kittykatt, but it will have to do with a :30 here and there

DH came home last night from his mother's and we had a very difficult discussion, but it went surprisingly well. I still don't think he really gets how f***d he is - but he is beginning to see what kind of person his sister is and what kind of manipulations he will be standing against. Unfortunately, with his mom's healthcare being the bargaining chip, saying "you created the problem so you fix it" won't really work if she will have no intention to actually fix it, and he WILL be manipulated into stepping in, and that will mean I will have to deal with the fallout of being a single parent at a moment's notice, so it is MY problem too. It royally sucks to be the responsible one! I'm keeping my crisis intervention therapy meeting for Monday anyways, just maybe for a different reason than I originally planned.

Anyway, it's weekend! And the planting season starts big. I really need to check on the seeding plans - I purchased a 3 season rotation e-book which has you growing something and then replacing it with something else later on so I have absolutely no idea what is growing where

TaDas
- breakfast and coffee
- dressed to shoes
- internet time
- lunch and other stuff packed for DBD
- DBD off the door with another mom

ToDos
- morning routine
- 30 on laundry
- 30 outside

Braindump
routines
- midday routine
- afternoon routine
- evening routine
food
- lunch
- dinner
- bake something sweet
- feed breadstarter
organization
- homework and backpacks
- DBD's speech therapy
- update land contract
- 15 on filing
- plan for May
- ask for British ETA
cleaning
- strip and remake all beds
- clean out / reorganize attic
- spiff up DBD's room
- spiff up twins' room
- spiff up DS15's room
- spiff up master bedroom
- spiff up master bathroom
- spiff up kitchen
- spiff up living room
- spiff up downstairs bathroom and hallways
- spiff up office
laundry
- load of darks
- load of towels
- load of linens
- ironing
- folding
- mending
- laundry put away
garden and outside - weekend
- review seeding plan for veggie garden
- repot seedlings I bought
- weeding in veggie garden
- weeding in front garden
- work in raspberry patch - pruning, fertilizing, replanting
- prune fruit trees - blooming pit fruits
- prune bushes
- prune/tie/shape climbing roses
- pick up - front garden / porch
- pick up - backyard
- work on cleaning out the carpool
- work on cleaning out the garage
- fertilize fruit trees and bushes
- fertilize conifers
- oiling garden furniture
- fertilize vegetables
me time
- 15 of exercise
- Bible study
- reading

[Kittykatt]

Oh, Trissie, that sounds an impossibly difficult situation with DMIL. The therapy appointment for Monday sounds more important than ever now.

I don't usually spend that long in my garden either! But the spring tidying in the front is about the only job that I like to do in one go if possible, especially as it involves tools I only use once or twice a year, so the idea is I get them out from their storage space,.use them, clean them and then put them back! Also, the stars were in alignment for me yesterday. I had a combination of a dry day, pleasant temperatures for working outside, an empty garden bin and nothing on my calendar, so I decided to devote the morning to the back garden and then the afternoon / early evening to the front. And I managed to sweep both my path and D's path yesterday so it all looks tidy. I e been out this morning and picked up half a bag of "bits" that I missed yesterday, and there's probably still more to come, but that's the main work done in the front garden for this season now.

Your 3 season planting book sounds very interesting - I'm guessing its aims are to maximise productivity and take over the decision making? I'm very interested to hear how you get on with it.

MJ has messaged to say he'll be here around 11 am, so I've taken Fred out, run the hoover and a quick duster round downstairs and had breakfast.

[Kittykatt]

To do:
Cuddles and treats with Matilda, Freddie and Jude
QT
Update latest Waitrose order
Cup of tea
Get up!
Shower/wash hair/moisturiser and sunblock/ clean and floss teeth
S/S bathroom
Physio exercises
Get dressed in casual clothes
Make bed
Scoop cat trays and give everyone fresh water
Cat breakfast and meds /supplements
Breakfast and meds /vitamins for me
Quick kitchen clean up
Load DW
Quick PUPA downstairs
Quick dust and Hoover downstairs
Wind clock
Quick PUPA upstairs
Quick dust bedrooms
15 minutes in tiny front garden
15 minutes in back garden
Go for my walk
Walk Freddie
Lap time with Freddie, Jude and Matilda
Head rubs with Freddie, Jude and Matilda
Play with Freddie, Jude and Matilda
Run DW when full
Unload DW
Lunch
Cats' supper
Our supper
Sort out lunch for tomorrow
Bake something?
Text DF E re coffee tomorrow - she rang me yesterday, I'm going to see her and take her a block of butter
Towels in machine
Towels hung up to dry
Clothes laid out for tomorrow

Extras:
MJ here to change glass in patio door
Remember to take a block of butter for DF E tomorrow
Put the Girls in the bedroom while MJ is here
Put Fred in the kitchen (he often feels "threatened" by the presence of another male in the house, so he needs to be in a room with no soft furnishings, just in case!!!!
Kitty nails?
Map for email for.SR, cc relevant councillor


Garden extras:
[/quote]

[FrenchFlybebe]

◕‿◕ * * * Good Morning! * * * ◕‿◕

Thanks for the start, trissie, I'm really sorry that your DH's family challenges are becoming yours. Manipulation is clearly unacceptable, I would say especially when one realises afterwards that there has been manipulation, or an attempt at it. I hope you can think about other things and enjoy at least parts of your weekend. Planting season is here too !

Kittykatt, six hours in your garden, you must have achieved a lot ! Even if sometimes it's not as visible as we would want. I hope your repair-man-guy will do a great job. I'm curious about the block of butter but maybe it's because I'm not CUOP.

Grey morning. We had a nice time with my DSisYounger and family, they arrived on Thursday for lunch and left yesterday mid-morning. We had some time to talk her and me, the kids enjoyed the visit, DS7 and DNephew6 had a great time and enjoyed sharing a bedroom for the night. I think the house was more or less decent, and we managed to feed everyone - although I didn't have time for all the food preparations I intended so we had fruit instead of dessert at one meal, never mind.
Yesterday afternoon there were a few sunny spells, we drove near the sea shore and the kids had fun -I was cold because the wind was strong and cold - then went to a nearby village to buy a secondhand walking-running mill. Then back and took some time in the evening to try it. DS10 who is a good runner enjoyed it a lot. MrNG intends to make some kind of shelf to use the walked while working : staying on a seat for hours had been causing him pain in the hip / upper thigh those last week, it was kind of "urgent" to find some walking mill. This one seems to tick many boxes.

TADAs
woke up after decent night
MrNG did online grocery order while I stayed in bed
bfast
procrastinated reading Princess Sara (A little Princess) comic books
had coffee while DS10 had bfast
DS10 walked - ran for 5 kms
I walked a "mile" (1.5 km)

TODO
MrNG is preparing lunch (he wrote the menus for the week, no idea what he will prepare)
convince DS7 to get dressed and brush his teeth - but Mario Kart is way more fun than that
harvest strawberries, before the slugs or the birds enjoy them

many more to-dos after that, I hope to BBL

[trissie]

I'll delete this later, but just so you understand what we are dealing with: SIL believes that DMIL's dementia and other health issues can be handled by DMIL herself, indefinitely, and that DMIL must be allowed to remain home till her death because she wishes so. That of course means that SIL has no plans of moving her mother with her, and also does not plan to provide daily care once her medical leave ends (she has a broken leg) - even now, she only goes there like 2-3 day per week because DH insists on it. She's OK with the fact that DMIL may die of heart problems (she has a history and had to be rushed to ER several time in the last year), and it's basically her only plan and strategy.

While I grudgingly can accept that basically dying of a broken heart at home, avoding inevitable mental and physical decline associated with Alzheimer, and avoiding the dreaded move to a care home, is not necessarily a bad way to go, I (and DH) believe that plans must be made for:
1. immediate yet temporary decline of health needing intense daily care (because illnesses happen, falls resulting in a fracture happen, and generally life just does happen)
2. the time when all day presence of a caretaker will be needed
3. the time when not even that will be enough

SIL is adamant that these plans do not need to and therefore will not be made, and is rather loud about it.

DH believes that when the above situations inevitably happen (unless DMIL dies quickly enough), he will say that SIL was the one who insisted on no plans, and so should now deal with the fallout. SIL will NOT deal with the fallout and will claim she can't because her job doesn't allow that, and that both DH and I can work remotely so we can do it. DH then will be stuck with either not giving in to manipulation, and leaving his mother without needed care, or giving in to the manipulation and making his and my life very, very difficult.

[L.Ann]

Elder care is super complicated and it is even worse when siblings disagree…. And your sil is definitely unrealistic about what could happen, Trissie. I got lucky in that my parents had planned for 3 levels of care and could afford the astronomical cost. My mom had congestive heart failure in addition to her dementia but lived bed bound needing a hoyer lift to get in and out of bed for 4 years. The last two years she couldn’t read even short messages on a white board or hear well so communication was difficult. Any planning or at least information gathering you can do about support services can’t hurt.
It sounds like you had a lovely visit, FFB and got a great purchase too! I am hoping to get my bushes trimmed this weekend, kittykatt, before the weather gets super hot.

1-breakfast for me
2-stretching and knee exercises
3-diet sites

4- dress and pick up bedroom
5- walk a mile


Menus
Saturday-kale chicken Caesar
Sunday-left overs
Monday-middle Eastern chickpea bowls
Tuesday-turkey burgers with salad or roasted veggies
Wednesday-DD33 out/me leftovers
Thursday-blackened salmon with veggies
Friday-za’atar crusted grilling cheese with rice and zucchini
Saturday-sweet turkey chili lettuce wraps

Events
Saturday-
Sunday-
Monday-Little Bit 7:40-5, Little Bit school 9:15-3, lunch with college roommate@11
Tuesday-Little Bit 7:40-5, Little Bit school 9:15-3, breakfast out @8:30 (Little Bit haircut@5:30)
Wednesday-Little Bit graduation @10(no Little Bit), DD33 PS 3-8(cheerleading)
Thursday-Little Bit7:40-6:30, bocce DD33@4:30 (library storytime or museum craft time)
Friday-Hopkins


Weekly House Blessing-mop dining room, bathroom, kitchen, dust, swish and swipe
Detailed cleaning of dining room-quick declutter of game cabinet, polish furniture, wash woodwork, scrub floor, wash door, wash window, wash window screen
Death book-update DD33’s pages
Phone calls-
Extra stuff-


Accomplishments
-Little Bit dressed, breakfasted, packed to go and ready for soccer
-Little Bit’s doll dressed in her cheer outfit for soccer
-breakfast for dog and coffee for me
-chat with Little Bit’s parents