Incoherent Scribblings

Well, I have been back in the States for almost a week now. I think that I have recovered from my jet lag, but unfortunately I don’t think that the cats have… either that or they have decided that the most effective way to get even with me for this latest trip is to wake me up every two hours between the hours of midnight and eight AM.

Yes, as you have probably guessed, the kitties and I managed to make it to Iowa safe and sound. And incredibly the whole experience went quite smoothly…

On Thursday I called to confirm the Logistics of F.A.T. and get directions to the area where we needed to go to pick them up. When I called, I gave my name and told the agent that I would be picking up the cats the next day and she responded, “Oh yeah. You’re the (crazy) cat lady.” (The “crazy” part was not vocalized, but I could tell from the tone of her voice that was what she was thinking.) Apparently everyone in Lufthansa’s Chicago office knew some crazy cat woman was going to be on their doorstep on Friday.

And I was too…

My dad and I left for Chicago Friday morning at ugly-thirty (aka 4:00 AM!) and made such remarkably great time to Chicago that we arrived at O’Hare’s cargo area almost three hours early. (My dad is one of those people who always has to be at least 15 minutes early for an appointment or he thinks he is late, so I wasn’t surprised that we were early… and for the first time in my life I didn’t mind being so early.)

Since we arrived so early at the office, I tried to expedite the process by offering to fill out the paperwork before the cats arrived. Unfortunately it couldn’t be done, so Dad and I went and had a long lunch while we waited for the cats’ plane to arrive in Chicago.

When I was in the office before lunch, I was told that after the plane landed it would be about an hour before I could actually see my kitties. However, a very nice man (I am not sure if he was the pilot or the animal handler) cleared the cats through customs for me right away and luckily I was able to see them less than an hour after they arrived.

I was allowed to go to the warehouse to check on them while I was waiting for the paperwork and as soon as they heard my voice they were at the doors of their kennels. It was pretty obvious that they were glad to see me and anxious to get out.

Not long afterwards I signed the paperwork and they were loaded into the car for the second part of their journey. We then headed back to Small Town Iowa and since we didn’t get stuck in Chicago traffic, everyone was more or less settled in by midnight.

And the best part of the story? Even though they were in their kennels for probably close to 24 hours, no one had any accidents en route… even though everyone did use the litter box within ten minutes of being released!

As the title suggests, this will be my last post from Germany. In about 18 hours I will be boarding a plane in Munich and then approximately 8 hours after that, I will be entering the U.S. in Philadelphia and after clearing customs, running across the airport to make my connecting flight. I will be sure to wave to all my Pennsylvania stitching buddies (Cathy, Jenna, and Lynn) as I fly over on my way to Kansas City.
I haven’t done too much stitching the last few days, but I did manage to stitch up my Crazy Cat Lady Exchange while watching Andre Agassi’s final match at the U.S. Open. I have been a huge fan of Agassi ever since he had hair and I was very sad to see him lose in the third round. I don’t cry very often, but when he made his farewell speech at Arthur Ashe tears were streaming down my face. He was quite a gift to the world of tennis and I have enjoyed watching him mature as an individual as much as I have loved watching him play tennis.

Today is the post day for the Needleroll Exchange and because I wanted to make sure that I had it out of the way before I left, I mailed mine last Friday. And what do you know? My partner received it yesterday! Well, it did only have to go to Sylvie in France after all.
Above is M Design’s “Sun Needleroll” stitched by me for Sylvie. The needleroll is a bit short and fat because I apparently miscalculated which resulted in my fabric being wider than and not as long as necessary, but I think it adds to the charm of the design.

As you may remember, a good part of this design (i.e., the sun) was stitched over one and though it took me longer than I had planned to stitch it, it was a wonderful experience. The rest of the design had tons of specialty stitches and I made a slight modification on the top and bottom bands: Instead of adding beads (I had already packed them up) I free stitched our names and added a few single cross stitches.

I am quite pleased with the results because I think this is a design that really allowed me to take my stitching to a higher level and I will definitely be stitching it for myself sometime soon!

See you all on the other side!

Here is my latest progress of Flo. Tonight’s photo is far superior to the one I took the other day and shows the true color of the fabric much better.

I just keep chugging along and have chosen to work some on the “flora” part of the design for a little while. I was getting sort of tired of all the pink in the dress and since there is a big blossom smack-dab in the middle of what is left of her skirt I decided to work my way towards it for now.

I am trying to stitch for at least an hour a day for stress-relief, but I must admit that with just “Fairy Flora” to work on I am starting to get kind of bored. However with only three more days left before I leave for the US I would like to try and get at least get one of the large flowers done before I go.

Hmm… Come to think of it, I do have everything to start my Crazy Cat Lady Exchange piece. It will be a fairly quick stitch, so maybe I will start it tomorrow and alleviate what is becoming the monotony of Flo.

You know, that in and of itself is sort of funny: For the longest time I was convinced that I was a OAAT stitcher, but when I began rotating two years ago I realized that one of the things that was holding me back in my early days was the fact that I got bored so quickly with one project. Now that I have multiple projects going at the same time I seldom get bored. Boy, I can barely wait for the chance to get back to my rotation!

Dear Germany,

It’s been nice getting to know you, but I am afraid that the time has come for me to say goodbye.

I had very few preconceptions about you when I first came here because truthfully, when it came to Europe, you never really interested me all that much. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that I would spend four years of my adult life amongst your people learning your language and culture!

I have to admit that there are still lots of things that I don’t quite understand about your way of life, but I guess it is those little quirks that make us all unique. And though I don’t fault you for being the way that you are, I still sometimes question these things. However, if a suitable explanation is nowhere to be found, I just shrug it off and say, “Well, that’s Germany for you!”

Although your language presented me with challenges from time to time, overall it was a pleasure for me to learn. And yes, I still think a lot of your people sound like they are going to cough up a hairball when they say certain things, but the beauty is that I can understand them now!

I was surprised by your scenic variety and was especially fond of your lush river valleys in the west and your snowy mountain peaks in the south. Unfortunately, I never made it to your seashores, but I am sure they are delightful. I was sobered by the brief trip that I made to the former communist areas in the east and hope that one day your people and government are able to bring back life to the area like it deserves.

I won’t delude you or myself into thinking that in the four years that I was here I integrated like I originally hoped that I would. However, I believe that my time with you as an extended visitor was worth every moment, whether the particular moment was good or not.

Thank you for allowing me to have an experience that will benefit me for the rest of my life.

Leb Wohl!

Renée, the blondelibrarian

Tomorrow morning the kitties are making their last trip to the German vet to get their health exams/certificates so that they can repatriate back to America with me.

Then, a week from today, less than 48 hours after I arrive in the United States and still suffering from jet lag, I will be barreling my way across the state of Iowa to the vastness that is otherwise known as Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport to pick up my three furbabies from their second (and hopefully last) international flight.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, traveling with cats is not necessarily an experience for the faint of heart. It was nerve-racking enough the first time around when there were two humans and the cats flew on the same plane as we did. This time around though, one human and no large international airport within 400 miles of Small Town Iowa combined with a separate cargo flight and a seven hour drive each way makes the whole thing just short of a logistical nightmare.

I know that most of my readers (even those cat lovers) probably think I am completely insane for going to all this trouble to ship three mutt-cats thousands of miles over the ocean and then driving all that way to pick them up and bring them home. And in all honesty, I think I would probably agree with you… But they are my babies and there is no way in hell that anyone could ever convince me to leave them behind!

And so, just to show you how totally crazy that I am here is a snippet of the plan:

Saturday, September 2:

• Appointment at the German vet for three Health Exams/Certificates.
• Also need to get a copy of Mouse’s blood work and a written prescription for her thyroid medication.

Friday, September 8: (All times are approximate.)

• 8:00 am Munich time: A. takes the cats to Munich’s cargo terminal.
• 11:00 am Munich time: The cats leave Munich.
• 1:00 pm Chicago time: The cats arrive in Chicago.
• 2:00 pm Chicago time: The cats go through customs and will be available for pickup.

If you do the math, you can easily see that if I am to be at O’Hare by 2:00 pm on Friday, I will either have to leave Small Town Iowa sometime on Thursday and spend the night in Chicago or leave Small Town Iowa really, really early on Friday. (Hmm… I just realized that my jet lag could perhaps work in my favor in this whole ordeal.) Getting to Chicago is really the least of my concerns though because I am planning on recruiting some assistance in the form of my dad, step-dad, or uncle.

However, what does concern me is that once the cats are picked up and loaded into our vehicle, my co-pilot and I will face the likelihood of getting caught in Chicago’s rush-hour traffic. (*Shudder*)

The other thing to keep in mind is that even though the kennels will be lined with absorbent material in case of accidents and the cats will have water available during their flight, I know from experience that after they travel the kitties always appreciate a litter box and bowl of water. Therefore I am sure that after their plane ride the cats will want some food, water, and a potty break.

And on top of all of that, I would like to make it back to Small Town Iowa on Friday! However, depending on who makes the trip with me I am not sure if that is a realistic possibility. I actually think that it might be prudent if we spend the night at a hotel in Chicago and go back to Iowa on Saturday morning.

So what do you think? Have I officially earned the title of “Crazy Cat Lady” yet?!

* F.A.T. = Feline Air Travel