Underwear

Ha!  Bet that got your attention!!

But sexy it is not.  It's old-fashioned underwear, hand made of woven fabric, specifically slips.  I don't think form-fitting was part of the vocabulary when these were made.

There were several older ladies who came by our stand at the-not-successful-show and offered me their linen goodies they no longer wanted.  Frau S. left her name and number so we called and made a date to pick up the linens.


It was one of my early outings after the cast was removed. The weather was cold, but not unpleasant and it was such a treat to get into town and see something other than my four walls and the back deck!

We arrived at Frau S. about tea time so of course we had to accept their offer of tea.  Then came her son and family unexpectedly so we all sat around the table and talked and enjoyed the Christmas atmosphere in their small apartment. I congratulated myself a bit that finally, finally, I have mastered this difficult language enough to engage in small talk with total strangers.  I still make mistakes, and people are of course gracious, but it is such a relief to be able to just have a little chat.

After a bit she brought out the linens.  One doesn't reject gifts, and (in my mind) who would want to?

Some damsel with the initials "EP"  (Elsa?  Elke?  Elfriede?) did these up for her trousseau:  cotton, with cotton lace trims, all seams fully enclosed, for sure sewn on a treadle machine and each one with a hand-embroidered monogram.

I don't quite know what to do with these treasures.  They are in such good shape that it would be a shame to cut them up.  And I won't.  On the other hand, can you sell something you were gifted?

Weihnachtszeit - Christmas Time

It's not just a one day holiday here - there's Christmas Eve, First Christmas Day and Second Christmas Day.  No need to rush the season.

After our Christmas Eve with Mutti and Christoph, we had a late and leisurely Christmas morning breakfast, German style. Or German style à la Wichmanns:  sparkling wine, soft-boiled eggs, cured ham, home made jams. 

I have to have my egg warmer, and please notice the four candles lit for Advent.  Gemütlich we say in German: How cozy !

No newspaper to read.  It is Christmas after all and everyone deserves a holiday, even the journalists.  So no paper on the 25th or 26th.  Imagine that.

Then later, our girls came over from the university - Nickolet and Fiona from Zimbabwe, and Ranisha from Nepal.  It's too far and too expensive to go home for Christmas (we understand that!) so we made a little Christmas of our own.

It wasn't very traditional.  They all love fish,so fish it was - fried - with veggies and potatoes and salad.  And please don't forget the cake!  Nickolet loves cake!  This time it was apple cake with ice cream, another favorite.

We tried to get a scrabble game going, but with phone calls to home and skypeing to the US, it got too late for games.  But the girls had fun taking pictures of each other around the Christmas tree!

The next day, the Second Christmas Day (after all these years, I still can't get used to that) we finally had a chance to take a walk.  A little exercise was way way way past needed!! 

We were invited to share dinner with Ursel and friends :  roast goose. That is perhaps THE tradional Christmas dinner here.   The skin was crispy and tasty, the meat moist and flavorful.  Add red cabbage and potato dumplings.  Y U M.  Besides, there was a cat to pet!!!

   
We only had to contribute dessert:  Key lime pie.  I can certainly manage that. It's funny still that a thing we take for granted is such a wonderful treat here!  We offered to leave the half we didn't eat and there wasn't even the smallest of "oh, I couldn't possibly ...." before the "well, ok....."

The only thing missing was the snow.  It is sooooo warm!!  Last year there were inches of snow on the ground; this year, the geraniums are still blooming in the window boxes.  S T R A N G E.

But there is nothing strange or weird or off with our wishes to all of you for a wonderful and healthy and successful and happy, happy new year.  We hope to see all of you soon.

Christmas Eve

Our tree is decorated, the gifts are wrapped and it is time to celebrate.  Off to see the family.

Mutti said tonight, "They don't have Christmas Eve in America, do they?"  WHAT?!

Of course they do, but not like here.  Today is THE celebration.  The church bells ring.  Folks go to church services.  There's a family meal.  And most important for the children - the presents. Sometimes, a house visit from Santa.  But more on that later.

Since Mutti has been a bit on the weak side lately, we planned our celebration for their house. We prepared all that we could at home and took it all there to put together.  But not just dinner - first Claudia and Christoph served coffee and cake to Mutti, Claudia's mother and her husband and us.  Lord knows, we haven't had enough cake and cookies lately.

 
Afterwards Claudia modeled the neck warmer she'd just finished knitting.  It looks GREAT, but we wonder how warm it will be since it was knit on such large needles.  She'll have to find out later because it isn't really cold right now.  Really.

There was a welcome break between coffee and dinner since Christoph had to go play Santa.  Lots of parents here (of very small kids) often hire a "Santa" to come deliver the presents IN PERSON.  Wow.  Christoph did it for years for his godson, and now occasionally for friends.  He's got a great costume but honestly, Christoph is so tall and big, I'd be a bit intimidated by him if I were a 4 year old!

And you don't just ring the door bell and your hand bell (forget dropping down a chimney if you're a real Santa!) and leave the gifts.  You have to have a conversation with the kid and talk about the naughty and nice!  So Santa gets a letter beforehand with notes.
  

Oh Paula, you have been very nice to your friends, but sometimes you don't really share your toys like you should.  And you did really well in reading at school this year, but you still get up too early on Saturday and don't let Mama and Papa sleep in!  Besides, you keep sneaking into their bed at night and don't stay in your own bed.  Didn't we talk about this last year??

I think I'd be glad not to be getting switches and coal!

Dinner was tasty - pumpkin soup, lambs' leaf salad, Argentine filet, mushroom sauce, baked potatoes with Werner's famous green dressing, and to end, lemon curd pie with whipped cream.  It was all delicious.
 
On a final note, though, never forget this is Germany. So there's beer. Christmas beer.  Who'da thunk it?  Seems we used to leave beer now and again for Santa when Michelle and Lee were little.  Who needs milk at every stop along the present-dellivery way?

Have a Merry, Merry.

Pre-Christmas Doings

Between busy-ness and my unforgivable lazy-ness, entries on the blog have suffered.  Here, an offering that might suffice.

Rima, René and Amina were here overnight for the ritual Weihnachtsmarkt visit.  Since Amina's first ride on the "Snow Train" several years ago, she thinks the Christmas season is incomplete without it.  OK, we can do that!  (Actually, Werner and René can do that;  Rima and I enjoy watching.)

The little family arrived late afternoon and after a quick tea and cookie we were on the train to the city!  This year was quite different from the last - NO snow!  Thankfully, also no rain.  The days before had been just awful - cold and lots of rain with some snow mixed in;  the right clothes for that kind of weather do not exist in my universe.

The Bremen Weihnachtsmarkt is a real draw for not only the towns all around but the countries all around.  Busloads come from The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, as well as lots of towns in Germany.  Since Bremen is so poor, we don't complain, except of course when it's so full you can hardly walk around, much less get a mug of mulled wine.

But once again we were lucky and hit it at just the right time - enough folks to make it lively but not so many that we felt squeezed.

The Nativity scene was set up.

There were Bratwurst to eat, of course. Ketchup for the little kid.

Lots to look at.

And - finally - the Snow Train.

We went back home to feast on coq au vin and then drag ourselves to bed.  All in all, a quite satisfying day!!

Love Bird

See the pigeon?  He's there on the lower step. Not an ordinary pigeon, mind you, but fancy, with long feathers on his feet and a tail that other pigeons would envy.

I noticed him from the bedroom window when I got up - something out of the ordinary always catches your eye, it seems.  Some years ago, a racing pigeon got disoriented and lighted on the back wall and wouldn't leave.  I though this might be such a pigeon too.  

Werner, go take care of it!  He did.  He shooed the bird away but it just waited on the roof for a bit.  Seems it had a thing for the concrete pelican!  Werner had to bring the pelican inside to make the pigeon leave!

Talk about a bird brain!

Second Advent

All alone this morning, Werner and I.  It is quiet, except of course for the joyous ringing of the church bells.  It is Advent, after all!  At 8AM it was rather normal but the 10AM ringing was clearly more celebratory.  If it isn't as grey and rainy next week as this morning, I'll try and capture that.  We're between the older Lutheran church and the newer Catholic church and sometimes we hear them both.  It's a confusion of sound that is nevertheless pleasing to the ear.
 
After breakfast and the lighting of the second Advent candle, we headed off to Schloß Hagen, located between here and Bremerhaven.  There was a Christmas market and since I've been out so little these last weeks, it seemed ideal for a little walk and a little look at a small town market.  Ah, but our timing was off!!  They were still setting up when we arrived.  But we checked out some of the stalls and walked around the Schloß.  It's even more rustic than ours here in Schönebeck, but still nice and certainly in its time infinitely more elegant than the surrounding village homes.
 

There was a life-sized Nativity scene; next to it, bleating sheep.  Boy were they bleating!
 

 
At the Scholß entrance, the door holder caught my eye.  It must be pretty old, though I have no idea if it's original. But isn't it fun!?  Not just a clip for the door, but a dragon to hold it fast.  Or maybe dragons are in the eye of the beholder.

They had set up a carousel, first in service in 1868 with curious wooden animals figures and chariots for the little ones.  It was so cold!! We wondered how many little customers they'd have.  But all the Christmas markets are really set up for the children so you just have to be prepared.
  

After a leisurely ride back to town and a dinner of leftovers (yummy, since we'd made too much the night before of coated and fried pork filet, broccoli and potatoes) we went to see a performance of the African Choir of Jacobs University.

You'd think they'd be black, all these members of the African Choir, but not.  First of all, not all the African students at Jacobs want to sing and all those who want to be a part of the choir aren't African.  They're Asian and Dutch and German and American and Indian among others.  But most important to us, was Nickolet was a part of the choir.

Isn't she pretty!  Friends at home had sent this native costume to her. 

And we were really impressed with their performance.  Later I'll add a snippet, so come back.

Advent, Advent

It is here, again -- Advent and all the events leading to Christmas.

And it is all about traditions.  The Advent wreath.  The candles.  And of course, the annual first Advent family dinner at René and Rima's.  It begins with breakfast at home with the Advent wreath and of course seasonal egg warmers!

Sadly, Mutti had to opt out this year.  She's been feeling poorly of late, so the gathering was smaller than in some years.

But it's tradition, so we do it!  We started with soup: a wonderful base with duck, noodles, vegetables and custard royale as reported last year.

Naturally, Amina takes lessons from her mom and dad and wants to help with the cooking.  Of course.

The main event was roasted goose, actually two of them!! A goose, though it looks big, doesn't really have all that much meat on it.  For all of us adults anticipating this meal, two was the minimum!  Mashed potatoes, the apple filling, brussels sprouts, and red cabbage were wonderful sides.  I especially like the Brussels sprouts with browned butter.  I have to remember that - and browned butter for my favorite - green beans - as well.

  
Oh my.  It was good!  The "filet" is the crispy skin of the roasted goose and there were a few minor confrontations about who got the crispy bits!!

 
The food is always wonderful, but it is basically about family and spending time together.  Since Mutti wasn't able to be with us this year, we took some special leftovers to her and sat with her while she enjoyed what we had enjoyed earlier.  A connection.  It's what holidays are about.

Cleaning Up

Between the foot and the sewing, but mostly the sewing, the upstairs has been in perpetual disarray for the last two months.  Actually, it's a wonder there wasn't another broken something with all the stuff to step over and around.  But now it is finally time to clean up and re-organize the space. 

And with cleaning up, I get distracted.  This time in was my old pincushion.  I have no idea how old it is but I think it might be the second one since 1966.

I know I replaced it once because I took it apart and found a trove a needles.  Naturally, I had to look again.  And there it was again - a trove of needles!  All sizes and sorts, including three sewing machine needles and two tapestry needles.  Total:  51.  Amazing.  I think in earlier times the woman of the house kept better track of her needles.

Next time, I think I'll use one of my own pin cushions.  I seem to have some left over!

The Show

Ursel and I got to show our stuff last weekend at the "Quality of Life" show at the SwissHotel in downtown Bremen.

Friday night, we set up the stand that my neighbor lent us - how great is that!  He sets up huge sets for congresses, so this was small potatoes for him but a huge help for Ursel and me.

Herr Zoellner's son was a helper, too, so obviously, set up is child's play!

Saturday morning at 9 we got busy filling the shelves and the table with all our wares.  Looking good!  Ursel and I..

and with her nieces Ilke and Christina who made all the felted bags.

Pretty necklaces,

  and lovely linens.

Yeah, well, it obviously looked a lot better to us than it did to the folks who came to the show because we didn't sell much at all - at all !!  It was the wrong venue for us; everyone else there was a professional with shops of their own and commercial goods for sale.

But it was an experience and we'll consider a different venue in the future.  Meanwhile, I have a pile of pillow covers and assorted stockings.  Thursday I'm off to a shop in the little artists' village of Fischerhude to see if the Christmas things at least could be sold there on commission.

Getting started in selling is not so easy, we've found.

Giving Thanks

Saturday was supposed to be our annual Thanksgiving dinner with friends, but - you know - it became a victim of the foot fall.  But we all thought that we should at least keep the date and so we decided on a get-together at a local restaurant.  Can I help?  No, they said, we'll take care of it.  You just come.

Fine with me.  I had/still have enough to do.

Werner had had a few whispered conversations on the phone during the past couple of weeks, so I was a bit suspicious but perfectly willing to go along.  I'm the one - you know - who has NO interest in discovering what the Christmas presents are before hand.  Let me be surprised!

Klaus and Johanna picked us up and off we went.  I had no idea where, but it took a while, all the way to Verden, 35 miles south of here. Then I knew where we would eat - Pades.  OOOOHHHH.  Pades used to have a Michelin star, but the chef decided to give it up a couple of years ago and concentrate on serving his clientele instead of making himself crazy.  But as you can imagine, he still has a great kitchen.

So here we were - the usual crew of Ursel, Klaus and Johanna, Ulli and Ilsemarie plus Ilsemarie's sister Meckie.  Can you tell they're sisters?

After a glass of Prosecco, the server asked "Are you ready?" and then she came in with - unbelievable !! - a whole roasted turkey on a platter!

I am overwhelmed!

Here's the menu that our friends sent to the chef to prepare.  You can imagine, several of these items were new to the chef - chief among them black-eyed peas!

Pumpkin-carrot soup with fresh chili and cream cheese
Roast Turkey
Cranberry Sauce
Green Beans
Mashed Potatoes
Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Black-eyed Peas!!

How incredible. And how delicious.  I was not quite speechless, but I hardly knew how to say how wonderful this all was. Still don't.

But it wasn't over yet.   Since we always have dessert at our house, we had dessert at Pades, too: a little lemon meringue tart quite reminiscent of Key lime pie.  Wow.

And it was STILL not over - one more item on the menu, just for me.  Turkey to take home for a cold turkey sandwich on toast.  They thought of EVERYTHING!

Thanksgiving is always a memorable event, but this one will be right up there with the best and most memorable of them.  Thank you.

Daily Rituals

My broken and healing foot, what it can and cannot do, defines my life for now.  Get up.  Strap on the boot.  Where are the crutches?  Ok.  Slow.  Slooowly maneuver down the stairs.

It takes multiple umpty many steps to do what was once automatic and easy and most of all, a lot faster (all the time reminding myself :  It could have been worse. And many others do have it it worse.).

And honestly, now that I can hump around at home without a crutch in my Storm Rangers Boot, I have so many more options!  Carry a cup of coffee to the table!  Clean up a bit!  Sort of make the bed!

But what has not changed is -- ta da -- thrombosis prevention.  Huh?  That began as soon as they put on the first cast and continues every day.  A shot!  Not really fun.

And I need alcohol of the "rubbing" variety to swab the skin.  It is not on the shelves at the store.  You have to go to the pharmacy to get  it and tell them what you want it for and then they mix it up for you - by the tablespoonful it seems!

So every night after dinner, I go and open the little bottle of alcohol, rub my tummy and stab myself so I won't get clots.

Then I climb the stairs and unstrap the boot. And it starts all over again.

Another Birthday, come and gone

I started this blog right after my birthday in 2006 recounting our bike trip along the Weser from Porta Wesfalica to Verden.  And here it is another birthday, one we intended to spend biking as well.  Oh well.

But birthdays come regardless of broken bones or altered plans.  And it was just fine.

The day was filled with phone calls from family and friends, visits from a few folks close by and one not so close by - Amina!  That was a treat.  Her gift was a paint-by-number work of a horse.  I do think Michelle did the very same one a long time ago.  Where is it now??

And though we couldn't go out, Werner made a dinner that of course rivaled any we could get at a fine restaurant:  oxen filet (tenderly mouth watering), baked potato with home-made green sauce (wonderfully savory), salad (crisp and moist).  And wine.  A special one.

Werner splurged.  An Italian red from Tuscany.  Lovely bottle.  Pretty label.  Served with style.

Totally forgettable wine!!  How is it that our vintner can bring his own wine to our door for one quarter the price and beat this one under the table? 

Who knows? But it didn't mess up my day.

Still Looking for the Silver Lining---

-- but it's a bit better.

Surgery was accomplished, two nights in the hospital survived, home again and now in a boot. A BIG boot.

It reminds me of the Storm Troopers garb in Star Wars and I do believe that a light sabre and a helmet would make a more than passable Halloween costume. But I'd have to walk, and that's tricky.

So I cocoon.  The weather has been mostly lovely, sunny cool days with glorious blue skies. Werner sets up a chair in front where I can sit and air out and take in some sunshine. And he found a bunch of fall flowers to brighten our space. What wonderful colors!

And there are still apples from the fateful day, here arranged with walnuts from friends' trees.  Nice friends!!  The walnuts (many, many more in the living room) are still drying out so they'll be in perfect shape  for Christmas baking.  I'm thinking of doing a walnut pie with the pecan pie recipe.  Might be good ......

And the apples - so unbelievably crisp!  We just eat them fresh of course, but we've made baked apples, too.  Tomorrow we'll have Tarte Tatin.  And earlier in the week we had Beutlewurst mit Apfelmuß - Blood sausage with applesauce.  Don't knock it till you've tried it.  The "sausage" is made up and pressed - lots of grain in it gives it a rich flavor - fat helps too.  Sliced thick and fried it the pan, served with warm home-made applesauce, it's a cool weather treat. Ohhhh!