my longest trip

Crushed

I'm leaving today for a month in England and Germany. Lectures and colleagues.    DW is well cared for and both daughters  and my semi adopted sister are near at hand.  She is a DNR and A "do not transport"

 
She has had no idea who I am for four years and she no longer recognizes her care taker. 
The rest of her body works fine and is in good shape.  She was snoozing when I went in Friday and I thought of "Sleeping Beauty"   
 
I left a copy of one of my favorite poems 

And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth.

“Late Fragment” by Raymond Carver

 From A New Path to the Waterfall, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1989

  

White Crane

I hope your trip goes well, Crushed.  You carry your lovely wife in your heart.

Battlebuddie

   Oh Crushed, I’m so happy to hear this news! 

 For some reason I was researching a topic on this site yesterday and came across a post of when you had just put your wife in MC. I believe it was 2017? Anyway I was thinking about you yesterday and wishing you got out a little more. It’s been a long 4 years. 

   I truly hope this trip is stimulating to your mind and refreshing to your heart. Your wife is in very capable hands. Go off and enjoy the change of location and scenery. 

   Wishing you Bon Voyage  

Quilting brings calm

Enjoy your trip.   You’ve put everything in place for your wife.  As you’ve noted, she won’t know you are gone and you need this.

jfkoc

Hope you will still be checking in...

Crushed

Just face timed from London and all was fine.  Just good to know that communication work

All the news here is the stunning heat wave .  worst in 30 years  Hit 86 degrees today  

jfkoc

While 86 degrees would be welcome relief here it must be stunning there Hopefully it cools off  at night. I remember wearing a wool suit and knee socks in the Cotswolds in August.

Please do continue to sharebits of your trip with us...

loveskitties

Wishing you safe travels and only good news from the USA.

French

Have a nice trip Crushed.

England should be fresh even with an heat wave, but Germany should be hot.

Here it was 42°C yesterday (108° F)... something never seen in the north-west of France. Hot, hot, hot. When I came back from my office on my bicycle, the air on the ground, on the asphalt was burning my legs.

The heatwave will continue its way toward the east of Europe. I hope you won't experience it in Germany.

Crushed

I'm in Cologne . and it is HOT.  In London I saw a banker in jacket and tie and shorts!  Maybe he was working behind a desk all day

I went on a canal boat cruise in london of an hour.  that was great. 

Talk went fine but everyone is having travel problems

I facetime DW most days she is fine  

toolbeltexpert

Good to hear your able to be able to communicate with your dw. Stay safe and enjoy. I laughed at the Banker I could visualize that.

Ed1937

Sounds like you're doing mostly OK. I hope you didn't leave your shorts at home.

French

I was in Cologne 3 weeks ago, and I confirm, traveling is very complicated for the moment, and everywhere in Europe.

 When I came back from Cologne, it was so complicated because of delays that at the end I decided to go to Bruxelles (Belguim) instead of going directly to Paris... without any ticket, just getting in the train I wanted to be in.

All my last travels have been delays and missed transfers.

Enjoy, it will become hotter !

Quilting brings calm

Good to hear from you Crushed.   Too bad it’s so hot there,   Sorry about the travel issues. I hope you are enjoying your respite though.

abc123

Wishing you safe travels! Sorry it’s so blasted hot.

Crushed

one Surprise is how well Face Time works.  I usually watch her being fed which is a good test of her mood,  It was 102 degrees here yesterday. 

Im in a little walk up hotel by the Rhine. I wear a mask and avoid crowds

I was first here with DW in 1977.  It was her medical school graduation trip.   Nice lady on a train asked me in German  what university study she wanted to make !  I said she was already  Ärztin (lady doctor)  "unbelievable" she said

 
Memories
 

  

jfkoc

Too hot for lederhosen. 

One time we were staying in Paris during a heat wave. Small hotel, tiny elevator for first floors then walk up. Being near the river we had to shut the windows at dusk which being summertime was late in the day. We would then take 2 Benedryls, hop in the shower, not dry off and hope to fall asleep before we heated up again.

The funny part? The Louvre had one section that was air contitioned. It also had huge ottomens in the galleries. My husband was one of those who had to read every label so I sat down on one of them to wait for him and drifted off. My snoring woke me...lol. I decided then and there to not stay in a 2 star hotel again regardless of its'  charm.

Oh how I miss traveling with him!

Crushed

Had lunch today with my longest time German friend and found out his Parkinson's disease is confirmed.  We have published together, taught together and he was one of DW's closest friends in the world . 

it just hit me very hard