Volume 18 - Day 111/254, 2026 - Tuesday

There are a few things that I cannot comprehend that are going through my little pea brain today. I went on another tour today, eight people on a bus designed for about 65. We headed to Belfast, and made a couple stops along the way. The high point of the tour was the stop at the Titanic Belfast Museum (not sure if it is museum). I think I was told it is the number one tourist destination in Ireland, but not sure, I might have just made that up. Another thing I can't wrap my head around; I apparently did not take a single photo today that I think is interesting enough to include with this post, so you get what you get. You can search names of passengers and crew that were on the Titanic, and there was a William (Thomas) Evans listed as a crewman. I looked him up online, some info shows him as a cabin steward, other information shows him as a 'stoker.' He was about 34 years old when he died, his body was recovered and then buried at sea. The personal effects when he was recovered included an envelope, addressed to his mother in Southampton. My imagination is guiding me, and I will see what other information about him I can find. We have early flights tomrrow, and the alarm is set for 3:45AM, so that means I am done for the day!

Volume 18 - Day 110/255, 2026 - Monday

We got up and out at about 7:15 this morning, as I remember, and had a small breakfast at the hotel. Paulina escorted me to the pick-up point for my ALL DAY tour, and then she headed to her office to get some work done. Here are a few pieces of trivia that I picked up along the way today: Many homes in Ireland have small windows, because when it was overseen by England, they charged a 'daylight tax,' so to overcome that, they made smaller windows or painted the windows so the daylight could not penetrate. Guinness Brewery wanted to purchase the land it is situated on, but the owners would not sell, but they agreed to a 9,000 year lease which is still in effect, at 45 pounds per year. The term 'raining cats and dogs' originated here, because animals (cats, dogs, rats, whatever), would seek warmth and shelter in the thatched roofs, and if it rained hard and long, the thatched roofs would collapse, along with the cats and dogs, so therefore... The tour took us to a few counties, we covered about 700 kilometers, and we did it all in only about 12 hours, not thirteen. Lots of castle ruins, one actual castle, the Cliffs of Moher, small villages, and this and that. Plenty of photos to look back upon in my old age. Paulina and I had dinner, and we are both tired, so it is time to call it a night. Tomorrow is a tour to Northern Ireland, which will include visiting the place (not sure what that means) where the Titanic was built. I smell even more t-shirts.

Volume 18 - Day 109/256, 2026 - Sunday

We were up early this morning, and left Berlin and flew to Dublin. It was not a long flight, a little more than a couple hours. We Ubered downtown and checked in to our hotel at about 3PM, then went for a little walk, bought some t-shirts and a rubber duck, among other things. I am apparently now collecting rubber ducks, although it is not something I was consciously aware of until this moment. We made it back to the hotel, and took a quick nap, and then we went for dinner, meeting with a friend of Paulina's; Angelique. Angelique used to work with Paulina, and she lives about 40 minutes from downtown Dublin. She took public transportation to dinner, which meant that she wore no jewelry. The things you learn to survive in a city. Dinner was in a Pub that looks to have been open longer than anything in the U.S. After dinner, we walked back to the hotel, about five minutes, and now I am done for the day. I am going on a tour tomorrow...13 hours! What in the hell was Paulina thinking when she booked that tour for me. She is blaming the whole thing on Marian in Georgetown, apparently Marian and Ronnie took the same tour at some point. The Cliffs of Moher Tour, returning to the city at approximately 8PM. Holey-Moley!

Volume 18 - Day 108/257, 2026 - Saturday

As a tourist in Berlin, I find it to be a sad and sort of depressing place. I really do understand that is an exaggeration, but as someone who will be here only a few nights, the most seen tourist destinations are about the Berlin Wall, and other spots about the cold war, communism, struggle and strife. Even though we visited many other lovely and interesting places, the unhappy bits are the ones that made the biggest impact on me. Don't get me wrong, there were t-shirts and other souvenirs involved, but I did not want to buy any t-shirts about the wall, I do not want to make a serious time in my life and the lives of others, into something you put on a t-shirt. We will all head to the airport tomorrow morning, Krisa will go back to Poland, and Paulina and I will fly to Dublin, Ireland. I think I will spend about three nights in Dublin, then head to Munich to visit Lisa and Hanna, and then I return the the U.S. on next Saturday. 

Volume 18 - Day 107/258, 2026 - Friday

Today was KIND OF a less hectic day. We got up and went for breakfast croissants and coffee (American for me), and then back to the hotel for a little bit of a rest. We checked out of the hotel at 10AM, and took an Uber to the airport, and our flight left at about 1:15 for Berlin. I tried my very best to sleep during the flight, but that was not to be. Once we got to Berlin, we retrieved Paulina's luggage and met Krisa outside the baggage claim. Krisa and Paulina have been friends for many years, and I met her a few years ago, and have visited with her in Georgetown and Poland, so it is always very nice to hang out with her. We checked in to the Berlin hotel, and after a bit of a rest, we walked to the Brandenburg Gate (also, maybe, referred to as 'Pariser Platz'). Of course, on the way to dinner, there was a souvenir shop, so now I have TWO MORE t-shirts. I had schnitzel for dinner, and there was a lot of it, and then we walked back to the hotel. I think tomorrow will be a jam-packed day, so I am going to sign off for now. Mas manana!

Volume 18 - Day 106/259, 2026 - Thursday

And so, another day is coming to an end, and it has been a fun day for sure. We got up this morning and I had some sort of chocolate croissant and coffee for breakfast. We then headed for the ferry dock, and took the ferry from Naples to Capri. In the movies, I have always heard of it as 'The Isle of Capri,' and I had no preconceived notions at all about the island. I had no idea that people actually lived on the island, I thought it was just a bunch of resort hotels; but that just reinforces that I really never thought of it. As I have found out, it is a very nice island, catering to very nice people, most of whom are some of the luckiest people on the planet. I'm not going to go very far down that rabbit hole, but it was much more than I had expected. The ferry took about an hour each way, and we both took short naps, both ways. We took cabs to various sides of the island, since we only had about three hours before the ferry headed back. When we got back, we had a late lunch (early dinner?), and went back to the hotel for more naps. At 7:30, we headed out because Paulina was on a mission to buy refrigerator magnets, and I was on a mission to just spend some money. That has not been a challenge in the last 8 days, and I expect there will be many more opportunities. Tomorrow, we will have some breakfast, check out of the hotel at 10, and head to the airport. This time tomorrow, we will be in Berlin for a couple days.

Volume 18 - Day 105/260, 2026 - Wednesday

I knocked on Paulina's door this morning at about 7AM (as I recall), and we walked to the tour pickup point, which was close to the train station. We had breakfast there, and the tour guide met us, and we went and made two other stops to pick up participants. I think this bus carried twenty folks, not including the tour guide and the driver, so it was a much more manageable group, and no one was particularly obnioxious. There were people from Paris, Dallas, Canada and some Asian countries, so it was a good group. On the way to Sorrento, we passed Mt. Vesuvius and were close to Pompeii, which is interesting that we were that close to Pompeii but did not stop. I am pretty sure we bought t-shirts at every stop we made today; Sorrento, Positano and Amalfi. I have no idea how many photos I took, but I am sure I could have taken photos until the battery in my phone died, there are just so many beautiful sites to be seen. Somewhere between Positano and Amalfi we stopped for lunch, and then when we got to Amalfi, there was suddenly an option to take a boat ride off the coast. I am 100% sure that, if that boat and that body of water were anywhere in the U.S., we would not have left shore. But, we did, and we all made it back and nobody vomited. We did see Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren's home while we were touring by boat, and lots of interesting 'blue caves.' Overall, a good day. We got back to the hotel, rested for a while, then went for dinner at a seafood restaurant. I cannot tell you how many decades it has been since I had a fish dinner, the WHOLE fish, and I had to work around the fish bones. I have to admit, I did pretty well. Tomorrow, I will knock on Paulina's door at 9, and we will take a Ferry to Capri. So far, and very interesting and fun visit to places I have NEVER been before, and will likely never be again.

Volume 18 - Day 104/261, 2026 - Tuesday

Today was not quite as busy as yesterday, but we still got a lot of things done. We were up and had breakfast, then chilled out in our rooms until the noon checkout time. We took a cab to the train station, and the train was delayed 20 minutes (I didn't think that was supposed to happen in Italy), so we hung out in the First Class Lounge for a little while. We got on the train, and made it to Naples with no problems. Looking out the train windows at little communities and villages, I wondered if the residents worried every day about their own challenges, as I worry regularly about my challenges. Don't get me wrong, I am a very lucky man and I know it, I just have challenges, sometimes. Not nearly as many now as I have had in the past. Whatever! The hotel we are staying at is definitely not a budget hotel, but it is interesting that it costs a dime (10 cents in Euros) to use the elevator before 6PM. I cannot think of a single time that I have had to pay to use an elevator. We got checked in, and shortly after we went into the old part of the city, did some sight seeing, and had pizza. Back now at the hotel, and so we are going to meet tomorrow at 7AM for our next adventure. 

Volume 18 - Day 103/262, 2026 - Monday

This was certainly a busy day! I woke up this morning in Florence, had breakfast at the hotel, and took an Uber to the train station, and we left for Rome at about 9 o'clock. I think. We didn't waste any time once we got to Rome. We checked in to the hotel, and then took off to visit the following: The Vatican, Piazza Novona, Trevi Fountain, The Pantheon, Neptune's Fountain, The Roman Forum, the Colosseum, the Spanish Stairs, and the monument to Victor Emanuel. Victor Emanuel III was the King of Italy from 1900 until he abdictated in 1946. He was also the Emperor of Ethiopia from 1936 until 1941, and King of the Albanians from 1939 until 1943. He was a busy guy. I have hundreds of photos, so if you want to see them, make an appointment when I get back to Texas, and we can look together. Tomorrow will be much less hectic, we will meet in the lobby about 9, have breakfast, and take the train to Naples in the early afternoon. We will be in Naples for three nights, so maybe I will unpack, but probably not.

Volume 18 - Day 102/263, 2026 - Sunday

It has been a really long day today, and I am ready to crawl in to the bed and go to sleep. We left the hotel this morning at about 6:45 (I think), and walked to the train station which is where we caught the bus for our 12 hour tour. AND...it was almost exactly 12 hours! We went to Siena, had lunch at a winery (kind of the Walmart of wineries), then to San Gimignano (where we had what is known as the 'World's Most Famous Gelato' in 2024. It really was good. Then, we went to Pisa, and you know what we did there. After Pisa, we got back on the bus and headed back to Florence. We stopped for dinner after getting back to Florence, and got back to the hotel at about 9 o'clock. We will be up early again tomorrow, meeting in the lobby for breakfast and check-out at 7:15, catching the train to Rome at about 8:30, and then a busy day of seeing the sights and buying even more crap. Having a wonderful time, wish you all were here!

Volume 18 - Day 101/264, 2026 - Saturday

We got up this morning and had breakfast in the hotel, and then we walked around for a while. We met Holly and her sister Lisa for a few minutes, before we headed for the train to Firenze. If you're an Aggie, that is Italian for Florence. Lisa is teaching an art class in Venice, so that is pretty interesting. Oh, and Holly lives in Oregon, not in Washington state as I previously reported. The train to Florence was fun, I think it was about three hours, and I took a nap or two on the way. The sights from a train in Italy are very much the same as in the U.S., it just happens to be a different country. Small cities along the way, towns and villages where ordinary people live, I just enjoy it. We got to Florence around 4 or 4:30, checked in to the hotel, and then wandered around, bought crap, had dinner, and now back in the hotel for the evening. We are going on a 12 hour tour tomorrow, leaving at 7:30, to Pisa, Siena, and San Gimignano. We meet at the train station, so we will be leaving the hotel around 6:30 to get there on time. Good night! Oh yeah, I probably took about 250 photos today, so...

Volume 18 - Day 100/265, 2026 - Friday

Against considerable odds, we made it to Venice this morning at about noon. It was not as dramatic as I am making it sound, but before takeoff last night, the Captain reported that they had determined there was ice on the wings, and we needed to de-ice the plane. It was, according to my watch, 46 degrees Fahrenheit, so the probability of ice on the wings was relatively small. Whatever. I probably got more sleep overnight than I really think I did, but it was fitful at best. We landed, and all the new entry rules went into effect today, and all the systems were 'down,' so everything had to be done manually. That all took a while. We finally got through, got on a boat to the hotel, checked in, had about an hour of quiet time, and then we started sight seeing. We are only here overnight, we are taking a train to Florence tomorrow. On the plane, I met a very nice woman from Washington state, as I recall. You all know I am not much for details. But it was nice, she is here with her parents and sister, and hopefully we will meet up again. Paulina and I had dinner at the hotel, and now it is time to go to sleep. Venice is a beautiful place, and there will be lots of pictures to share later. I am attaching a photo of me and Paulina (my travel agent) on the Rialto Bridge. Good night.

Volume 18 - Day 99/266, 2026 - Thursday

It's days like this that I wish I were more technologically competent. Or maybe I just need to invent a pocket-sized IT guy. Right now, I am at JFK waiting for our (me and Paulina) flight to Venice. I was up at 4:30 this morning, Arjun picked us up a little before 8AM, we made it to the airport with no issues, got through TSA with no issues, and had some breakfast. My friend Terry joined us and sat with us for a while, and then we headed for JFK. Even though my phone says I have WIFI on the plane, I cannot figure out how to make it work, which is why I am doing this journal entery now, instead of doing it 'somewhere over the Atlantic' which is what I had meant to do. I am also TOTALLY aware that these are first world problems, and I will suffer through, since air travel is so much more practical than taking a boat to Europe. True dat! SO...we will get on the plane at about 9 o'clock Eastern Time, and get to Venice about noon tomorrow. To be honest, I really have no idea, but I will be in a plane, and whenever the plane lands, that will be fine with me. On the way in, I THINK we flew past Manhattan and Central Park. If the photo with this entry IS NOT Manhattan and Central Park, feel free to keep it to yourself, just leave it be. Otherwise, life is good, Val and Evan and Albert and Amber are taking care of the girls, and I will go places in the next couple of weeks that I have never been before. I always wanted to go to Austria! 

Volume 18 - Day 98/267, 2026 - Wednesday

So...tax extension has been filed and check for 2025 and first quarter of 2026 are in the mail. I went to Target this morning and bought a pair of pants, and I have already taken them back and got a credit on my credit card. I had not really looked at them when I bought them, I was just paying attention to the color. When I got them home, they had some 'bleached lines' on them, that is the only way I know how to describe them. The lady at customer service said that was 'the style,' and I explained to her that it was not 'my style.' Then I bought some socks, and now I am just about ready for my trip. I have a load of clothes in the dryer, and I will get finished packing tomorrow morning. That will be the absolute last thing I do before I leave. It was a nice day today, in the lower 80s, and it is expected to get warmer and wetter as the week goes by. You never know about rain, so I will let the sprinkler run this evening, and turn the system off before I leave. I am expecting tomorrow to be a pretty long day of travel, but I also expect that I will survive the whole thing. I am looking forward to seeing things I have never seen, making new friends, and meeting up with friends from other adventures. It will be good! I got gas in the little white car today, I have no complaints about the price of things, there is no real reason to complain (which is really unlike me), but I just need to remind myself and everyone else, that I am a very lucky man!

Volume 18 - Day 97/268, 2026 - Tuesday

This is a pretty exciting day! It is not everyday that you have a crater named after you, the Carroll Crater on the dark side of the moon! I've been humming Pink Floyd for the last several days, too. Okay, not named after me, exactly, but my middle name is Carroll, so I'll take it. I also share that middle name with my friend Melody, so lots of cool people share that name! It is easy enough to see the exact Carroll that it was named after if you have access to the internet. Carroll Crater is a lunar impact crater located on the surface of the moon. It was officially named yesterday, April 6, 2026, by the crew of the Artemis II mission. Other than finding that out, today was a relatively normal day in the life. Breakfast with the ROMEOs, a stop at the UPS Store, an appointment with the CPA so I now know how much I owe the IRS, then home to take a nap with the girls. I am in the process of gathering stuff up to take with me on my trip with Paulina. We will meet Krisa in Berlin, and I will visit with Lisa and Hanna in Munich. In the meantime, it will be making new friends in Ireland and other points, and seeing how many family photos (ussies) I can photo bomb. It's what I do!

Volume 18 - Day 96/269, 2026 - Monday

I didn't have a lot of chores on my list today, but I did get a few tings done. I trimmed back one of the peach trees in the back yard that was a victim of a late frost, and hopefully that will help the pieces of that tree that are still alive. I also got all the prep done for my appointment with the CPA tomorrow, so I am pretty confident with that. Today was a platelet day, and all the staff at the blood center were wondering where Paulina and Marian were, but they were happy to see me. It is kind of odd to donate solo, but Marian and Paulina will be back to donating soon. Before I got home, I stopped to see how long the wait was for a haircut, and decided I would need to go back, since I was meeting a service man at Val and Paulina's, to see about getting their garage door repaired. I met with that guy, and shortly after that, Val was home, and he took over talking with the repair man. I took off and made a visit to the bank, and then went to get my haircut. The lady that cut my hair was a talker, and I was not particularly in the mood to talk, but it all worked out. I stopped at Cane's on the way back to the Curious House, and I just finished a three finger combo meal. Excellent! Now, I am in for the evening, and I expect I will be in the big chair with a couple girl dogs before long.

Volume 18 - Day 95/270, 2026 - Easter Sunday

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter, it was a lovely day in central Texas, the temperature never got out of the middle 60s, and it was jacket weather this morning! The photo is of the beautiful sunrise this morning, and it was well worth documenting. I met Reuben and Alisha for brunch, and that was fun, I haven't seen them in a couple months, I think. I got home, did a few little things around the Curious House, and went down for naps with the girls. Oliver, Val and Paulina came over for a few minutes, Oliver is headed back to Galveston after being home for the weekend. Val went to Home Depot and got a post to keep my plum tree upright. I think it is a plum tree, I am not sure, but it is something with some small fruits on it. I've had to windows open, but closed in the bedroom, it is too chilly for napping in there with the windows open. Tomorrow will be a platelets day, and Tuesday I have an appointment with the CPA. I am in good shape for the CPA, but there will be a few pieces of information I still have to collect.

Volume 18 - Day 94/271, 2026 - Saturday

One of my favorite things about the Curious House are the windows in my bedroom. I spend a lot of time back there with the girls in the big chair, watching television. I open the blinds all the way up when I get out of bed in the morning, and lower them about two-thirds of the way about 2 or 3 o'clock in the afternoon. The windows are west-facing, so there is a lot of sun in the afternoon, which is why I bring the blinds down in the afternoon. I planned to NOT go to estate sales today, and then the rain caused me to coward out and not go to Holly's for Migas and Mimosas. We only got a little over a half-inch of rain, but it rained pretty hard for a while, and I understand it rained much heavier south of Georgetown. So...basically, I did nothing all day but watch tv. I went out a little while ago and did the best I could raking and sweeping and blowing the oak tassels (or catkins) off the front patio and driveway. They have dyed the concrete in many places, but I expect the summer will bleach the concrete back to white during the heat of the summer. The good news is, the sprinklers are off for the near-term, and the bad news is there is not more rain expected in the near term (or the long-tern as far as that goes).

Volume 18 - Day 93/272, 2026 - Friday

No more rain since my entry yesterday, but with any luck, there will be more over the weekend. My phone says we will have some light showers pretty soon, but it doesn't look like anything will fall from the sky any time soon. I took another virtual class today, and it was an elective. There are still two required classes I need to take, and I will hopefully be able to find them offered virtually in the near future. After the class, I went down for a nap with the girls, and Oliver came over for a few minutes. He is home for the Easter weekend, and yesterday when he arrived, it was the first time he had been home since Val and Paulina moved in. After a while Paulina, Oliver and I went in to Georgetown, we intended to go to the Georgetown Welcome Center to get Texas (or Georgetown) magnets to take with us next week. I am not sure if they will be open tomorrow, but they closed at 3PM today. After that, it was salad and pizza for dinner, and it was really good. We are all glad that we discovered the place on Leander Road. I am planning to go visit Holly, Gavin and Mace tomorrow for their spring time open house, hopefully with no rain. We shall see... Georgetown is officially recognized as the "Red Poppy Capital of Texas," designated that by the Texas Legislature in 1990. The recent rain was pretty heavy at times, and kind of beat these poppies down, but they are still pretty, especially en masse!

Volume 18 - Day 92/273, 2026 - Thursday

There was no walk this morning, because it was raining. This is not a usual comment about walking, so it is not straying from my vow yesterday to quit talking about walking. Since this time yesterday, we have received 2.28" of rain, and honestly, that amount was quite unexpected. Thankfully, the rain, pretty strong at times, cleaned the pollen off the solar panels for which I am very appreciative. The sun is out right now, and we will not be expecting any more rain until Saturday, which will be nice if that really happens. Whatever happens, I will try my best to turn off the sprinkler before it is scheduled to run on Saturday. While it was raining this morning, Gina came and picked me up and we went to Trader Joe's. You know, Trader Joe's, the place that I am really not cool enough to visit. I finished shopping quicker than Gina, so I went and sat in the car. While I was checking out, there was quite a commotion in the parking lot. Apparently someone was backing out of a parking place and hit a pedestrian (female). There was more commotion when several emergency vehicles arrived 'on the scene'. By the time we headed home, the rain had ended, and the rest of the day was dry and comfortable, I think the temperature only got up to the low 80s. I am not sure what is going on, but Callie is not feeling well...she might have pulled a muscle or something, she is not jumping up on the chair or the bed, but she is eating just fine. I will watch her overnight and maybe take her to the vet tomorrow, after my virtual class.

Volume 18 - Day 91/274, 2026 - Wednesday

The score is now 3-0, I have been in Austin for three days in a row now, but I will not be driving in tomorrow, in fact, I have nothing t all on my calendar for the next two days. Actually, that's a lie; I am taking a virtual class on Friday, but at least I don't need to go anywhere to take the class, and I don't have to wear pants. Yes, there was a nice walk this morning, I think I might quit remarking about that, and as of tomorrow I will only be reporting if I DO NOT take a walk, or if something extraordinary happens on the walk. You're welcome! Let's all work toward keeping Austin weird; on the way in to Austin this morning, I passed this truck, and was a little bit startled until I figured out it was a dummy in the back seat. Not sure if there was a dummy in the front seat or not, but I did manage to get a few photos during the next several miles. Interesting! I did make it to two meetings, and I was on time for both of them. This afternoon, I had an appointment to get 'cracked,' and I am on a monthly rotation for 'cracking.' If everything works out overnight, we MIGHT get a bit of rain, and I hope this forecast is not an April Fool's joke. I am reading a new book (for the last couple days), called The Secret Lives of Murderers Wives', by Elizabeth Arnott. It is very interesting, and I am going through it pretty quickly. It is about women who were married to serial killers, what they had/have in common and similar characteristics the men they were married to shared. Fiction (I think), but interesting.