saturday

it was a cloudy and rainy day that stayed cloudy and rainy. consistent, which seems inconsistent with my idea about the weather here. it didn't stop us though from getting out. first, greg and the guys went on a 5k run, as they'd done last week. and this time with a stop at the bakery for some cinnamon bread (long gone by this point) and a pastry for william and i to share. the filling was the same as that first sugary treat i'd gotten along the pedestrian street in the center of roskilde. i still have no idea what it is. greg thought maybe marzipan. i don't know marzipan that well. it sounds like a good guess.

at some point this morning, greg went to remove the laundry that had been put in the dryer last night. it wasn't dry. later, i went to remove it. the dryer was stopped and the clothes still not dry. so, during henry's nap, i took the instruction manual, which is translated into about 4 languages, but not english, and typed much of it into google translate to get at least a rough idea about what we were doing wrong. (i was determined to end the madness!) the trouble seems to be that we may have turned the dial counterclockwise at some point. the manual very clearly, in bold letters, says NOT TO DO THAT. okay. lesson learned. i thought i would take my newfound knowledge and go down and try a timed dry on low heat, but of course, the dryer sat idly by, refusing to do anything when i tried. so for now, we are forced to dry on high heat, because the two automatic dryer settings (which do work) require high heat. that may also have been our mistake at times-- trying to dry on low heat using the automatic settings.

i took a picture of what we're dealing with:

trying to make the timed dry work. don't let that button in the top right corner fool you. it does nothing.

which is not nearly as complicated looking as the washing machine (in my opinion), and there is no manual for that:

would you like the star setting or the ball of yarn setting?

would you like the clock to run away from you or the line to go in the bucket?

but all of this pales in comparison to the laundry:

grumpy laundry.

in the afternoon, we took a burley-bike ride to trekroner, where all of the co-housing is, to visit a couple of ho-hum grocery stores. on the way back, both guys fell asleep. this always seems like a pleasant and unexpected break at the time, but of course we know we will pay for it later. by 8:30 i was wondering when the party would be over, and as i type this at 10:15, i can still here william whispering to greg as he's trying to fall asleep.

still paying for it.