Wedding Reception

Last weekend, Ulli Brandt and Ilsemarie Meyer -- now husband and wife after eloping to New York last spring and marrying after 25 years of dating -- had a reception for all the folks who would have been invited to the wedding if it had been here instead of there!

I didn't take enough pictures because I was too busy having a good time myself.

The party was at Ilsemarie's sister's house in a small village not far from Bremen. There they set up a tent with floor and tables and bar and DJ; outside was the hot buffet.

It started at 5PM with Kaffee und Kuchen. Man, cakes and more cakes! They were wonderful and beautiful - it was hard to choose what to eat since you didn't want to fill up on cake since more wonderful things were to follow!

Here's Ilsemarie with a bouquet that resembled the one she carried at her wedding and a picture of Ulli and Werner.



Here's Ulli's brother Jens. Doesn't he remind you just a little bit of Cary Grant??



And here we are, all dressed up.



After the dinner buffet, there was dancing and all these 50 and 60-somethings did themselves proud on the dance floor. At one point, I literally danced out of my shoes. Of course, the fact that I was wearing sling-back sandals might have had something to do with it.

So, 1 AM, we leave the place, and leave a lot of folks still partying and dancing. It was a great party!

Oh, a Tomatoe

No, I am not the potatoe man Dan Quayle but we do have a vegetable of note. Often, growing tomatoes here means either growing them in a greenhouse or building a plastic, heat-retaining shelter on three sides, leaving only the south (sun-facing) side open. That's because it isn't really warm enough here to grow good tomatoes, but of course, like all normal people, we in north Germany love tomoatoes too!! Werner and I don't have space for a greenhouse. Nevertheless, the deck is pretty sheltered and in the summer it gets a lot of good sun and heat - when there is any of either.

I am forever a southern girl at heart and I love a good tomato. And there's something special about growing your own. We're usually gone when the tomatoes would ripen, so this is the first year I've actually tried to grow one, and from seed at that.

And here it is: the first tomato. Isn't it pretty?

There will be a few more assuming a bit more warm weather, but the first one is aways special. It even tasted good!

Baby Quilt

(Spoiler warning for Lee and Crissy:
Don't look if you don't want to see the quilt before it arrives!)

It's never as straight forward as it first seems to be, doing these "little" projects like Christmas ornments, stockings, pillows and so on. Most projects have a certain element of learning-by-the-seat-of -my-pants to it even though I think when I begin that I know exactly what I'm doing.

Since new baby Loucks is going to be a girl, I wanted pink but not too pink, and not kitschy since that's not my usual style, and not too complicated since I didn't have a lot of time, and not too big (for the same reason) and not too small, but big enough. That didn't seem like too much to ask.

So I got out all the pink stash and started playing with colors and looking at patterns and had too much to choose from. Finally I ended up with "Puss in the Corner" and did the blocks before thinking of exactly how it would be arranged! I discovered that with a little extra planning, it could have been more "classic." Wouldn't you know - next time I'll correct that mistake.

But it's done and shipped and should arrive well before she does if she's on time!

Old Things in a New Light

My 62nd birthday is approaching, which means I can apply for Social Security. It almost sounds like I should be looking for a walking cane! Not yet, but what it does mean is searching for records and that of course brings things to light that haven't seen the light for a while.

This is Werner's first passport. It looks like it should be in a museum or something, it's so old and yellowed. But we recognize the handsome guy, don't we? Don't we ??

Still the Weekend ...

We decided on the spur of the moment to catch some of LaStrada, and I'm glad we did.

After Sunday breakfast and cleaning up and reading the paper and packing the bikes, we took the train to town to catch the fun. Well, the papers were right - THOUSANDS of people there, and actually maybe too many to really enjoy it fully. The performers were mostly on the street or on steps or on slightly raided stages or just walking around, so it was hard to see at times.

There was the magician we saw when Hunter and Hannah were here ..



... and some weird folks dressed like they were from the Wild West, but on stilts ...


... and the Café des Artistes that Julia and I remember so well from New York (but this was not there, it was here!)

It was a bit of an accident that I chose Pete Sweet's picture for yesterday's entry, but perhaps serindipity since he was the one we really got to see today. If you want to see more of him, click here. That's the professional site; below is my unprofessional take of his performance. It was fun and always a bit of a mind twister to look at these performers against the background of Renaissance buildings in town squares that are hundreds and hundreds of years old. We watch performers in the fall who are here for the Medieval fair, and they do much the same thing - without the electronic accompaniament.



After the show, after a snack, we biked back from town on the other side of the Weser. It's a more pleasant trip than through town, though a little wet. It didn't really RAIN, but there were more than a few drops that fell and we had to stop and put on our rain jackets. Thank goodness Werner is always prepared - and grateful too that it was over 70° today!!

More Weekends !

Well, it is still summer and still pretty much off-time as far as classes are concerned. So, yet another week / weekend adventure with the Wichmanns.


There was so much to choose from:


The 16th Annual Lemwerder International Kite Festival.

We've gone every year since we moved here - when little high school volunteers would walk around asking for donations. Now the whole area is fenced off and you pay to enter! It is a great outing for families and kids and lots of fun for us too WHEN THERE'S WIND so the kites are up. No wind. No kites. No go.

Then there was La Strada, the theatrical street festival in the city. Jugglers, acrobats, street theater and of course Brat und Bier. Tens of thousands of people show up to watch.

And then there was a Werder Bremen game - against our arch-rivals Bayern. Of course, tickets were not to be had for the event, and it's just as well since we were totally and completely out-classed and beat up 0-4. How embarrassing!

And then there was an avant garde exhibit in Delmenhorst, and another modern art exhibit in town. Like I said, lots to do.

What did we do? We took a bike ride. It seemed the right thing to do.

We were already on the other side of the river, so we just kept going and make a big circle to get back home. Along the way we passed a stone mason - they ususally set up shop near a cemetery and have a display of stones and other things they sculpt. This one had a good-sized Bremen Town Musicians ! I wonder if anyone wants it for a gravestone?

Along the way there were bushes heavy with Elderberry and it reminded me how much Hunter liked the Elderberry jelly when he was here. When they're really ripe, I'll go pick some and make some jam but I'll watch out for the stinging nettles there in the bottom of the picture!

The fall wild flowers were worth a stop - we picked some goldenrod, Queen Anne's Lace, wild grasss and some little yellow daisies. How pretty!

The Weekend
- Saturday


After returning Amina to Mama and Papa on Friday evening, we slept in on Saturday and wandered to the market a bit late, though there wasn't much we needed to buy. Regardless, ALL our regular folks asked (again) "Where are the Americans? Are they gone already?" They wanted to know how you liked Germany and that you all had a good time . Man, it took forever it seemed to get on friendly terms with these folks, but now they are like friends. Nice.

Saturday we were invited - along with Ilsemarie and Ulli - to Klaus and Johanna's for a "Grill Party." That's German, in case you didn't recognize it as such. How English is inserting itself into everyday German is a topic of its own, and I won't get into it here. But, it was a Grill Party.

And grilling does NOT mean hamburgers and hot dogs! It mans marinated pork chops, chicken, turkey and of course Bratwurst. But it is all put on the grill and it is - naturally - good. Johanna had made three salads to go along and we ate it all up. (I am always amazed when I look at these pictures at the white hair on our guys - us gals take care of that with a little color or henna, but their hair reminds me we're not as young as we used to be.)


And another little difference from grilling out in Florida - here it gets really cool! Before we gave up and went inside, we were all sitting outside (pretty as it was) with afgans and blankets on our laps.

- Sunday

Desperate to physically challenge myself a bit after sitting around so long - and curious to see the market - we went on a trip to Worpswede to look at the Artists' Markt. Worpswede has been an artists' colony for more than 100 years and there are still many active goldsmiths, potters, painters and sculptors who have a base there. And, there was a 0% chance of rain!! What more could you ask for!

We had a generous traditional German breakfast of boiled egg, smoked ham and good bread. Honey and jam. Then off we went. I think it was a bit much to undertake - a trip of 65K was more than I was conditioned for, but we made it there and back and it was just fine.

Here's Werner wandering through one of the sculpture exhibits.

One "exhibit" consisted of paper boats folded from doily paper and placed on the grass. It was pretty.

There were street performers as well - these from Berlin / Canada - she tap danced, he played the piano, and everyone was entertained.





We got home after wiggling our legs a lot and seeing and hearing some lovely things.

Amina's Vacation with Oma and Opa

We are Opa and Oma to Amina, though I wish now I had suggested MeeMaw - I get a bit confused sometimes with all these different names. As it turns out, too, Meema is an old German title for grandmothers, too. Isn't that weird? But of course, we grandparents don't get to choose our names - the children or the grandchildren do it.

This was a shorter visit than some have been - she arrived Monday and we took her back on Friday afternoon. I wonder if there's something about this house that makes kids sleep late in the morning - 9:30 was the earliest she got up! But, like Hannah said, "We're on vacation!"

Of course we go to the fresh market because we ALWAYS do that. There's the food of course, but there are stands that sell clothes and tablecloths, threads and zippers and such. Everyone thinks English is cool, but the folks who make these clothes don't always know English. We were tickled by this shirt: What is a MISS CONGONIELITY anyway? Someone who congons? Or someone who congoneils?



And weren't we lucky that the meat stand had samples of Leberwurst auf Schwarzbrot (liverwurst on black bread)! She ate that up in addition to the big chunk of bologna they gave her, too. All that after the little roll she got at the baker's. Who needs lunch when you can go to the market?

And we made chocolate cake - it was fun but wouldn't you now she didn't love the icing. We took the cupcakes over to the neighbors who have three boys. They LOVED it and said whenever we have extra stuff, just please bring it over !

We went back - again - to the zoo in Bremerhaven. There the big attration is the two polar bears, the penguins, and the playground. Amina LOVES going down any slide - the bigger the better.

That was also the day she had a total and complete meltdown - to the core! After hysterically screaming I want my Mama ! for about thirty minutes (or forever, depending on whether you had to be there or not) we settled down, watched the animals, rented a movie (Madagascar, which got pronouced in all kinds of combinations) and oh-so-gradually she got back her usual self.

Thursday we made a new dress. Of course, her favorite color is pink and she has lots of it. While at the fabric shop to get the batting for the new baby's quilt, we saw some perfect stuff for a dress. Here she is: a model in the making!



And Friday we could finally go home! But first, a visit to the Walsrode Bird Park again - we had more luck this time than with Hunter Hannah and Mom and Dad - no rain (though not soooo sunny) and a good bit warmer. We got to see the bird show outside, slide down assorted slides and in general have a more pleasant visit. Next time H+H are here, we'll visit again on a sunny day for sure!

Now, we're looking forward to a little stretch of time to unwind and relax and relive all these special visits in our heads.

Summer Returns

That was the headline in the paper earlier this week, and news it is. The last 5 weeks have NOT been very summery - we've had the heat on at least twice - so a return to seasonable temperatures was more than welcome and just in time for yet another festival here in Vegesack.



This event is one of our favorites - Festival Maritim - though we haven't been able to go the last few years because we've been visiting in the U.S. when it was being held. Performing groups come from all over the world to sing and play and of course there are the usual beer, Bratwurst, fish, pretzel and other stands to cater to the public. And only steps from our door! This is the old harbor and one of the posters that hung on the railing there, done by Kindergarten groups in the area. Cute!

The music is all related to the sea and sailors, but that's not just "a pirate's life for me" but some great Cajun music, Scottish ditties, Dutch dancing tunes. It's better every time we go.



And this time Werner got to meet Capt'n Säblezahn (Capt'n Sabertooth) who's always around at these events to entertain us oldsters - little kids, too. Wouldn't Hunter have liked to meet him! And don't you think Werner could make a good pirate, too ?? (That's Fisch Meyer just behind them.)



And if you were here, we could have all had a Brat - here's mine with decorative mustard.

All around the park area there are decorations in the trees, lit with color, and at night they are a little magical.



Saturday we (should I say "I" ?) wanted to go to Oldenburg, a town nearby, where there was the annual Töpfermarkt - Ceramic Market.



Over 200 stands, artists from all over Europe, and - again - the weather made it even nicer. I thought it was a great excuse to get out and bike. Werner didn't disagree, so after the weekend marketing we boarded the train with our bikes and headed into Bremen to get the train to Oldenburg. Dumb. We didn't consider the fact that our football team was playing a preseason game and it was Saturday and holiday for the schools --- it was PACKED and we couldn't even get on the train we planned to take!

Not a disaster. The next train we could take was just 20 minutes later.

It was definitely worth the wait. There were lovely things to look at and covet and wish to have - and we did get a couple of small things for gifts, but of course they had to be small because we were biking back the 40+ kilometers to Bremen.

On the way back, we had to go under the Autobahn - a much higher overpass than the one we have in Bremen that we went under going to our picnic with Hunter and Hannah. In Bremen we could whistle and whoop because it was like a tunnel - not here!



It's awfully flat here and the landscape isn't always that varied, but there were some lovely allees we biked through and, since the weather was so nice, we just meandered and enjoyed.



But one does get hungry, biking so ... hard. So at Kaffee und Kuchen time we just happened onto a little place that had tables outside and a wonderful selection of cakes -- Werner had already eaten the tip of his wild berry cream cheese cake before I could get the camera out - my piece of raspberry cake was even bigger! The dear server asked Wasn't the cake good ? when she came to take our unfinished plates!!! It was delisch - simply too much.



The added attraction was in the side yard - talking mules. What a hee-haw.


And then on Sunday one more visit to the music festival and a look at the fireworks over the Weser. What a great weekend. Hope you all had a great one, too.

Our Visitors - Part Two



The time flew by, as holiday time always does, so here are the memories.



It was great fun with Hunter and Hannah and we got to see lots of the usual tourist sites in Bremen, not the least of which is the statue of the Bremen Town Musicians - a must-see for all our guests! They slept late every morning (Hannah : Well, it's vacation!), we biked a lot, enjoyed riding the train, and learned a bit of German.

Sunday, Mom and Dad arrived. We had signs, balloons and flowers.



The weather the second week wasn't quite as nice as the first week; there was more rain and it was A LOT cooler. Michelle froze, but we pushed on.

There was the Vogelpark (bird park) in Walsrode where we got to see the pelicans and feed the noisy curious parrots :




Hunter and Hannah got to catch up on the local news while riding the street car:



And what's vacation without a picnic and wild blackberries ?



... or Bratwurst at the market ...



... or driving FAST on the Autobahn ?



Then there's blue tongue and white foamy mouth that the circus gives you ...



And please don't forget the birthday - # 8 for Miss Hannah !



All gone way too fast and way too soon. Here are our four on their way home. Come back soon.