Our New House

It's much smaller, there's only one door, one room, no windows.  Who wouldn't want to live there?  We can't possibly, but I hope someone else can.

After bird dwellings for assorted other family and friends, I got mine!  And Werner made it personal:  it's a lot like our little house.  There's the front gable, the "timbers" and of course lots and lots of flowers.  I just love it!  And, as they say "location, location, location"  on an ivy-covered wall.  Really, who wouldn't move in???

Foraging

Of course, we don't have to forage - there's all kinds of upscale ways of getting food here - markets, supermarkets, restaurants, and et c.  But every once in a while, it's more fun to find your own!

Last weekend we were biking through Knoops Park, the lovely park along the River Lesum and one of our favorite places to be when we are out and about, when I spied some folks "picking" and made an immediate stop --- oooooh, what are they doing that I want to do, too?

Well, they were plucking and snipping and clipping fresh young Bärlauch (ramps, bear garlic, bear leeks) along a park path.  You've read about this special spring herb before in this blog, and it's become a spring ritual for us to include Bärlauch in spring dishes.  It's good for you!  It tastes good!  I made an immediate mental note of the location; yesterday that came in handy.

We'd planned dinner with friends, but because the "he" of the "they" got sick, our dinner date was cancelled.  Rework and replan.  I wouldn't usually plan risotto for guests since you have to stand at the stove for 20 minutes, but since there were no guests, I decided for Bärlauch risotto.  Good idea!

So off I went to forage some Bärlauch, and I wasn't alone, though people do tend to be a bit quiet about it since I'm not at all sure we're supposed to be harvesting this herb from the public parks!  But, we did.  And what a nice fresh bunch!

The other set of "greens" is nettles, as in stinging nettles.  That will be soup.

We're trying to be awfully healthy around here!

Tonight we had Bärlauch pesto with pasta (and the leftover chicken, since there was extra!).  Our house smells like a roasted garlic clove. 

A Shoe Tree

Maybe you have one, a place where the shoes are kept together in some organized way. We have two, sort of.  One you'd call a shoe bag - it's hanging on the wall in our bedroom and the shoes have little compartments.  And in the back room downstairs, where we often come into the house, there's a shoe rack where we keep the shoes we wear most often and the sandals or slippers that we wear around the house.  Handy, a shoe thingy.

Or maybe you have those devices you put in a shoe so it stays in shape.  That's a shoe tree, too, I'm told, but we don't have any.

And then there's a different sort of shoe tree I've seen here and I've seen more than just a few.  They're usually out in the countryside and often at a place where the locals would have a party.  Somewhere in my head, there was a connection to weddings, but I couldn't pull it out.  This is the one we saw last weekend when we were biking back from Sunday Brunch.

It does catch your eye!  Shoes nailed to a tree!

I got curious - again - about this custom.  Googling didn't find me the answer I was looking for, so I started calling around.

What? What? Shoes nailed to a tree? Why?
Well, that's what I'm asking you - you're the German!
I don't know, I've never have seen such a thing. Are you sure??
YES!!  I have pictures to prove it!

There's always an answer.  My answer lady was Claudia, Christoph's partner:

When a couple decides to get married, they set a date and then the night before the wedding there is a "Polterabend" - a wedding eve party - and friends come to a party and  when they arrive, they throw pottery or crockery against the wall. Then they eat and drink and play games.  Breaking the pottery is  supposed to bring good luck, but all the reasons I've read make no sense - that's tradition for you:  doing things that don't always make sense.

At midnight, the shoes of the bride-to-be are taken and nailed to a tree so that she knows she can't "wander" any more.  The corollary is that the bridegroom's pants are burned to assure the same.  I haven't seen any burned pants around.  Maybe they're buried in all the broken pottery!!

Self Indulgence

Werner started it all.  He found an article in the local paper about a woman, about my age, who'd just been awarded a PhD by the University of Bremen - in needlework!  What?  Well, it was of course a bit more complex than that.  Her dissertation had to do with the role of needlework in the lives of women in north Germany in the 19th century.  That in itself was interesting to me, but I also thought that - with her knowledge in the field - perhaps she'd know where I could take an embroidery course.  Not any embroidery of course, but monogram embroidery.

Fine stitches.  Fine detail.  Fascinating design. I want to be able to do this!

Because I love old linens, I've collected a few examples and I so admire the work of these artists (yes, they are!) and my few attempts at monogram embroidery have been less than satisfactory. 

But I hesitated to contact her directly - how gauche! - so I wrote to the curator of the Sampler Museum in Celle who we'd met several years ago.  Wouldn't you know - she told me to contact Frau Doktor Bärbel Ehrmann-Köpke, the author of the dissertation! 

OK, this is a sign, I thought.  I will write her.  And I did. And she wrote back. And before two mails had passed between us we found other things in common - she and her husband had spent half the year in Florida for the last forever; she'd done her masters' thesis on migrant workers with those in Florida playing a central role.  Cool.  Cooler still, she invited me (us) to visit and see her collection of linens.  Well, OK.  We made a date.  That was today.

It's a gamble, a toss of the dice, whether or not an apparent connection will take or not.  But it was so comfortable and so pleasant and so immediate.  I think it has to do with needles!

Bärbel (or Barbara) and her husband live in a lovingly and lovely restored house formerly used by a forester - a man who managed the local woods, both the trees and the wildlife.  The local wildlife have not abandoned the place and we saw a bevy of birds while there.  After coffee and a chat, Bärbel showed me some of her treasures.  It was so inspiring!

Patchwork of monograms.

Patchwork of crochet.

Flower petals painted and then pressed onto old linen.

Knitted Log Cabin - my favorite pattern!

And - new - a patchwork top of silk tie pieces!  I can't wait to see this one finished - and it reminds me to tell Lee to save his old ties for me.

What a treat. 

Next week, Bärbel and her husband leave for another Florida vacation, and for the 15th time, will return to Europe by ship.  Wow.  We found out that these twice-yearly crossings of cruise ships are a really inexpensive way to go - you just need time.  Time we have.  Now we have lots of info about the when and with whom and we will definitely look into it! 

In the meantime, I have a new friend. 

Afterwards we surprised Susanne, Werner's niece in Affinghausen, with a Birthday visit. That was lots of fun too. In the village, they just expect folks to drop by on birthdays, but not so much the uncles and aunts from Bremen.  It was fun to catch up with all the goings on with the kids and eat some of her mom Sigrid's wonderful cakes.   I suggested in fact that Hunter would love them too.  Maybe we can plan that for a summer visit.

What a pleasant day!  One for the memory books. 

Anticipation

Tomorrow. Isn't that what anticipation is all about?  What is to come?  What does one expect?  What will I find?

The word seems to hold something sensual and, in fact, this does.  But the sensuality in this instance has to do with sight and texture and color and touch.  I am going to visit a woman who has written a doctoral thesis on "Handarbeit" - handwork, specifically embroidery. I am so looking forward to this - and I'll let you know how it goes.

A Visit to Ohlendorf

Last Monday was Rosenmontag - Rose Monday or Shrove Monday - and if you can believe it, a big holiday here in Germany.  The kids have costume parties, there are parades with lots of satirical political floats and tons of candies thrown to the onlookers (no beads, can you imagine??!)  In general, I'd say 90% of the floats would not past muster in the US -waaaay too suggestive or more.  Here's a pic of a very mild one that gives a poke to all those folks who objected to having their homes on Google Street View:

 

I mention Rosenmontag at all  because Amina called to let us know she'd have a party at school and when were we coming to visit again??  So we said How about Sunday?  OK.

Werner and I had a slight misunderstanding because I understood, that since we'd be there about 11:00, we'd have a late breakfast, but he said Nooooo, that's too late, we need to have breakfast before we go.  So we had scrambled eggs with good bacon bits and chives and toast and coffee and a bit of jam on the other piece of toast and drove and drove and arrived to a lovely table set for ---- brunch! So we had eggs and sliced hams and toast and rolls and jams.  It was lovely.

The rest of the day was hanging around - Werner and René assembled the new grill René got for his birthday last year, and then Amina - with help from Oma and Opa - configured a little house from the package.  Kids can make fun of anything!  

A walk around the village and then return for dinner.  Lex was like a kid in a candy shop when we gave him the goodies we brought back;  he looked at all the parts he'd ordered for his cycle and was already planning when he'd install them -- and slightly bemoaning that the most recent purchase was still sitting in Florida!  

And dinner --- well, we know René can cook!  Wild mushroom sauce, grilled steaks (hot off the new grill), crunchy fresh salad and bread.  And company.  All in all, another nifty day.

U.S. of A.           Version 2011.2

We left Michelle & Co. reluctantly, but not before the summer plans were settled.  In German - meine Gute! - goodness gracious! can you believe these kids are willing to spend yet another couple of summer weeks with us?   I am totally flattered and loved that Hannah pulled out a postcard fan of Bremen sites so she could show me what we have to do again when they are here.  Of course we will do it again, and new stuff, too. 

Michelle and Riley waved us bye-bye and we headed to Tallahassee. 

Normally, it's a 1+ hour drive, but we are not normal.  Wander through St. Joe, stop in Apalachicola.  Mother had mentioned that a great-uncle of hers settled in Apalach and was buried in the local cemetery, so we took a look to see if there was a Shropshire to find on a headstone.  No, but there were of course other headstones to admire, some not even of stone.

Naturally, at the coast one eats seafood and where we landed we ate wonderful oysters and fried shrimp.  That in itself makes a Florida vacation.  Afterwards, we enjoyed wandering around the downtown and browsing the funky shops.

Our Tallahassee stop is often a one-nighter, but since our total trip was longer than usual, we got more time there.  Good idea - Nancy's in a "new" house!  Of course, the best houses are not new, but have patina.  So with this one:  a late-30's bungalow with an ample yard for Minnie, the wild dog, and indoor spaces that are warm and welcoming. 

Nancy got a bird house, hand made and painted by Werner with a little help from his muse.  Mother and Michelle were happy recipients, too.

I also got to have a nice morning with Paul, my former boss and forever friend, and Nancy invited Kevin, the master renovater, for dinner one evening.  All around, a welcome visit.

Then we headed back to Orlando, to finish up our time with Lee, Crissy, Hayden and Dylan.  There's always some project on tap with them - this time it's the lawn.  Or what is left of it.  Or what will be removed.  An infestation has devastated lawns all over the neighborhood, and Lee had the idea to dig it up with a mini-bulldozer.  Alas, didn't work so well, but nevertheless there were photo ops.  And Farmer Lee did get the tomatoes planted. Can't wait to see how they turn out!!

(Another) Nancy, Crissy's mom, came to babysit one night so we dressed up for an adult dinner - and what else, but fondue.  The whole shebang from cheese to chocolate.  It was wonderful.  Thanks, Nancy!

On our last day there, we gave Hayden his birthday present, a week early.  He certainly didn't mind!  The airplane couldn't get out of the package quickly enough and we left him buzzing happily.

And happily did we buzz to home, arriving in good shape on time without hassles, though as always a bit sleepy but with lots of warm fuzzies to hold us over till the next visit.