Sunday Outing

I have a cold. Scratchy throat, cough, sneezing, drippy nose. It's been quite a while since I've had one of these. What to do?
 
Starve a cold and bike a fever.

The weather is somewhat better - less chance of rain and a teeny bit warmer during the day. We're still not quite celebrating SUMMER, but it's closer.

Since it's Sunday and in Germany you're not allowed to do anything outside that looks like work (gardening, hanging the wash, etc.) we looked for something to do. And there is always, always, something to do around here.  This weekend, among many other choices, was the Osterholz-Scharmbeck Familien Fest .

It's about 40k round trip, so not very challenging.

And there was some blue in the sky out there!  Really, it was such a welcome sight. 

Along the way we came across a farmer sheering his sheep on the dike.  Really, one at a time, by hand.

I had wondered why all the sheep were huddled at the far end of the pasture - now we knew - avoiding the shears!!

This small city was the site of one of the former US Army installations in north Germany.  The first time we went there - 1994 - there was still a little restaurant on the town square where you could get Buffalo wings or Bagels. That has since disappeared, but that's ok.

We had Brat and Beer. And ice cream.  Yum.

And best of all, a day rain-less.  What a treat.

I feel better already.

 

Craft shows are a lesson in pride and humility.  You put your best effort into creating a product that is pleasing.  You set up a stand that is welcoming and attractive.  And you wait for the public to show.

And they come. And they look and they react. Here are the reactions in order of frequency:

1. They glance and walk by.
2. They glance and make negative comments.  (I can do that myself. I can do that better myself.  Can you believe she's asking money for that?)
3. They stop and look and say something nice.
4. They stop and look and ask what it costs.
5. They stop and look and actually BUY something!

Since I'm new at this, this order of things is just becoming clear.  And I'm getting to be OK with that.  The question is, how long I'm willing to be OK with that!  I don't have the answer yet.

Today the show was at the Ökologiestation - the place here in an urban forest in Bremen where kind folks show school children what is going on around them in nature.  They do a craft show twice a year and have only 10 stands.  It's friendly and intimate and low pressure.  Perfect!

And Werner is of course the perfect helpmate and the best partner for getting it all set up. 

But I was nervous!  Have I made enough?  Will the first ten people buy all the irresistible egg warmers and then none will be left for the next 5 hours?  Will I have to stand there with few offerings for most of the show?

Am I crazy?  (Don't answer that :) )

Well, I made enough, that's the truth.  I was happy with the number of pillow covers that I sold and so disappointed that my sweet and cute and irresistible egg warmers were so resistible. Wouldn't you want these on your table??

If you do, just let me know.  They're available.

Re-Purposed Ties

Barbara, my dear fellow-sewer and lover of old linens, had asked if we might bring back a few silk ties from the US.  She's working on a quilt, from old ties that she has been collecting over the years.  But she cautioned, If you go to the Goodwill, watch out!  Don't pay more than $2.00!!  OK.  I can do that.

You can imagine, I'm sure, that it takes a lot of ties to make a quilt.  And you may be thinking at the same time, who wants to do that anyway?  But creative people just see things differently. (I seldom put myself in that category of persons, sigh...)

But back to the ties. I had a hunch that between my various male in-laws, there would probably be a little stash of no-longer-used, no-longer-wanted, slightly out-of-date or soiled ties in Barbara's color - primarily red.  And I was not wrong!  Larry and Barry, seldom needing ties in their retirement, had some lovely ones to donate.  Joey, since he's trying to get rid of the banker-as-a-guy-always-in-a-tie image, also had a few he was more than willing to part with. So we had quite a collection to donate.

And so we went to visit.  Back to the site of my accident!  Barbara and Charlie were forever saying Watch your step!   I do. I did. I will. After the obligatory Kaffee + Kuchen (yummy homemade treats from last summer's fruit) we looked a the quilt-in-progress. 

It's basically a log cabin pattern, but done with strips in the stripes and continuing on and on - it's one huge log cabin block.

She opens the ties and presses them and adds iron-on backing to stabilize the silk and then sews them together to make the longer strips.  There are a few ties with some history of course.  And interestingly, she's saved all the labels which will become the binding for the finished quilt. 

Then we had a painting lesson.  I had already done some fabric "printing" after our first visit, but having a lesson was useful.  She gathered some flowers and leaves and then we helped make a "sampler" to take home for reference.  Even the sampler is pretty!

Now to make some of my own for the craft show at the end of March.  I'd better get busy - there's not much time!

The Parade to the Fair

Every year, for over 200 years now, traders and entertainers have gathered in Vegesack, our little corner of Bremen, for a fall market.  That in itself is amazing to me, a not-quite 20-year resident of Vegesack.  That's even older than our house, and that is pretty old by my standards.

The fair has evolved into more of a fun fair than a trading fair, just like the Oktoberfest in Munich and all the other less well-known outdoor festivals around Germany.  Here it began as a cattle selling fair. Just last weekend was the Heirratsmarkt Bruchhausen-Vilsen (the Bruchausen-Vilsen Marriage Market) a fair that was known in former times for introducing young women to potential husbands (or vice versa!), mostly farmers.  I think they still do this in Iowa.  Or Montana. Or someplace like that.

But this weekend, the  203rd Vegesack Fall Market (Vegesacker Herbstmarkt) opened with a parade, as usual. I love it!  It is so small-town and friendly and intimate and just a lot of fun.

It starts with the Honorary Grand Marshals in their top hats and tails.

They're followed by the Chimney Sweeps in their traditional costumes, handing out lucky pennies.  What's funny is, it isn't a euro penny but a brand new "old" Pfennig.  Lucky me, I got a Pfennig.

What's a parade without horses with riders in dragon hats?

Or the local Werder Bremen fans?  (We're the 12th man - so says the sign.)

Or kids on unicycles?

Or an Eiffel Tower made of wheat stalks?  Really, don't you have one of those in your parades??

And then of course there's the odd one out.

Naturally, there's a marching band or two.  Here the bands are not sponsored by schools but by clubs, so the membership ranges from kids to retirees, men and women.  Not the Marching Chiefs of FSU, but fun just the same.

Bikes and Kites

It's a special day today - SUN !  WARM !

I know I have said that before and it might lead you to believe we have actually had a lot of sun and warm, but we have not.  Therefore, the exclamation marks and the big letters.

And coincidentally, the sun and warm coincides with the 20th annual Drachenfest über Lemwerder - the Kite Festival over Lemwerder.  We've gone for years now and it just keeps growing.  And happily so.  This year it is competing with La Strada - the Street Circus - in Bremen.  If the weather holds, we'll check that out tomorrow.

But today it was bikes and kites.  We were not the only ones who arrived by bike, and there were more by car.  We saw kites big and small, lots of kids (big and small) and the would-be performers. The Samba bands are always a big draw and remind me of the FSU drummers who go around after home games and entertain the crowds just for fun.

And instead of kicking the soccer ball into a random hole, this time, you could try to kick it into a washing machine. What a hoot! The Washing Machine Shoot!

Yet another lovely afternoon.  And Werner says:  Never forget how lucky we are.  And we are.