January 9 - A quiet day in Baden-Baden

We gathered in Mike and Pat's apartment (#9) for breakfast at 9 AM. Pat had toted 5-pounds of grits with her from the US, and this was the first day we had been able to enjoy them - along with shredded cheese, of course. We also had crispy rolls, as Mike had been out to the local Penny grocery market.

It was a lazy day overall, as both Pat and I did  laundry, and I sat down to work on some accounting projects. The laundry room was a few steps down the hall from our Apartment #8, and was a locked room. There are many individually-owned machines there, and Frau Luthardt had pointed out the washer and dryer we were to use. We always have to re-learn how to use the European washing machines. Some cycles actually take up to 2-1/2 hours, and the shortest we could manage seemed to be 40-minutes, but that cycle had a slower final spin, leaving the clothes wet enough to require longer in the dryer. Nevertheless, we were happy to have laundry facilities!

Ron made up some tuna salad around 1:30 PM (had carried five cans of tuna from US), and Pat and Mike came to our apartment, and we had toasted sandwiches. 

Around 2:30 PM, Ron and Mike set out for the grocery store and telephone store, and Pat decided to walk with them.

When they came back, we reorganized, and that evening had an evening of Ron's cooking. We started with lentil soup, followed by salad with Ranch dressing (which I had tried to throw together without measuring implements). The main course was "Kathie's chicken casserole". It was nice to have some home-cooking.

Jazz from the IPOD and $20 Speaker - Sounds Good

This was followed by our usual Hearts and a game of 31. It was a quiet day, but we needed some down-time and a day to catch up.