Monday miscellany - 12Nov2018

Forgive me, reader - it's been 5 weeks since my last update.

Life has been busy, although mostly in good ways. Since my last update, DH and I have been on a lovely two-week vacation to Europe. One week of that was a Rhine river cruise on Uniworld (highly recommended), followed by a few days knocking about the Netherlands and Belgium. I may write more about it later, but right now I'm still fighting an unplanned and unwanted souvenir in the form of a head cold. Fortunately I was able to get some good medicine overseas and other than keeping DH awake with my congested snoring, it didn't slow me down much. Now that we're back home, it's taken more of a toll on me but I hope that I'm on the mend.

Anyway, on to the update!

What I've been reading.... Travel is usually good for a reading binge, and this time was no exception. I finished _Straight Outta Tombstone_, and have also read Shirley Jackson's classic _The Haunting of Hill House_, Brandon Sanderson's _Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds_, and a short story collection edited by Ellen Datlow called _Haunted Nights_.
My current read is Evangeline Walton's _Mabinogion Tetralogy_, and I'm about 40% through. I've had it for years and somehow it had never bubbled its way to the top of my TBR pile despite my love of mythology. I'm familiar with many of the stories, but Walton's treatment really does bring them to life.

What I've been stitching... I've made some progress on Fantasy Triptych over the past 5 weeks, but nothing significant. I don't usually travel with larger stitching projects, so it's been several weeks since I've picked up a needle. I did finish a small crocheted throw for DD, but that's about it.

Fumbling toward fitness There have been some good weeks and some stumbles. I did clock about 42 miles of walking while we were in Europe, for an average of 3 miles a day, so that's a positive development. Hopefully I can keep up the increased activity level, once I've recuperated from this cold.
On the mental fitness front, my Duolingo streak is still going strong, but losing track of time one night cost me a 285-day Lumosity streak, and I haven't yet managed to get back on track with that.

One Little Victory We had gotten a call the week before our trip that there was a chance the ship might not be able to sail the entire path due to the Rhine being at record lows. We went anyway, and saw enough rain on the trip to be able to make the entire voyage. And it was spectacular.