Deanna has made it home to California. Her 90 days were up at the beginning of February, breaking my heart. It was crazy getting her home, with the constantly shifting coronavirus restrictions around the world. Plan A - leave Bergen at 6 am on 6 Feb, after getting a COVID test within 72 hours of that takeoff.
Plan B - Amsterdam airport (AMS) now requires TWO COVID tests - the 72 hour one and one fast test within 4 hours of takeoff. Found a private clinic that would be at the airport before every KLM flight to give that test.
Plan C - KLM cancels the 6 am flight. How can Deanna get to her flight from AMS to the US, which leaves at 10 am on 6 February? We found a flight at 5:30 pm the 5th, and got her switched to that one. We reserved her a room at a hotel near the airport.
Plan D - There is no way she is going to be able to leave the AMS airport to go to that hotel, due to border restrictions. Hallelujah! AMS has a hotel inside the airport behind customs. We got her 12 hours in a tiny room for the night. She canceled the first hotel reservation.
Day of departure - Penny very generously gave us a ride to the airport. I stayed with Deanna while she took the fast test. I was watching some people get turned away from the ticket counter for lack of the right paperwork. Travel these days requires an OCD attitude! Deanna passed. The ticket counter guy approved of all her paperwork. Deep sigh!
She made it home to San Francisco, got a ride home from a friend, and settled into another quarantine. New COVID test on day 5.
January flew by for us. I turned 70! No family cruise. But the kids set up a cruise-themed Zoom party for family and some friends. I baked myself a cake. It was an awesome party!
January was the coldest for Bergen since 2010. Snow! And February has started on a "coldest ever" rate.
Creative fail - my prosthetic 'Penguin from Batman' face. The nose was too pointy, and fell apart. Plus, I had a glass artist friend grind a monocle for me from an old pair of glasses, but it broke.
We finished a booknook that I started one year ago. I had 3D-printed 17 big pieces and a bunch of little ones, and primed them all. Almost finished painting them all stone-grey before getting bored with it and putting it away in my DIY workshop. We spread it out and painted everything. Deanna's really good at model painting! I created book bindings. Then we glued and taped it all together. Next, I figured out how to make LED lights behind windows and outside doors. It looks wonderful, if I do say so myself!
Deanna left Friday night, and Sunday, Bergen locked down again. Basically, just grocery stores, pet supply stores, and pharmacies are open. During January, Norway closed the loophole that allowed Deanna across the border into Norway from the US. The border is closed now. I hope it opens again soon. Fingers crossed that the vaccination rollouts go well around the world and we can all travel again. I hear that 65+ year olds are getting vaccinated in the US. I'm envious! March, for me, I think.
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