More old stuff

Yeah, we have too much stuff, but I do try to trade out when we get something new.  Or new to us anyway.

Some time ago, we gave away the old triple dresser that we'd brought over from the US after we got a hand-me-down from Ursel - an antique pine dresser that was much more to my liking and much more in tune with our little house.

And it was pretty big, but not quite big enough to hold everything that had been in the old dresser.  So, we went on a hunt.

And we found something!  But of course it needed a little work.  Werner to the rescue, yet again.

He replaced runners, cleaned the pulls, and filled in more than a few holes the wood worms had left.

He sanded and waxed and now the old wood looks like honey, is as smooth as velvet and has a wonderful sheen.  I hope I don't fill it up too soon.
 

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!

The Garden Shed

It's been a year ago or more that I asked Werner if he could build a little garden shed for us. As you who have seen our "yard" can imagine, he said WHAT? ARE YOU KIDDING? WHERE? 

Of course I wasn't kidding, since I am a serious person and as is well known, have no sense of humor.  The pots and bags of soil and the few odd implements sat out in the way and weather and irritated my view.  Smaller tools and aids clogged up the storage room. Irritation is not one of my favorite things.  Besides, there was this idea in my head of a charming little shed with a window box and I knew we could do it.

Last summer our neighbors had their house re-roofed; the old charming (key word, here, charming) slate roof tiles were unceremoniously dumped into a container to be hauled to the dump.  Wait, wait!  The roof for my unrealized garden shed!  Werner dutifully salvaged tiles and they were stacked outside.

During the winter we chatted and sketched and Werner was gradually lured into the idea of a shed.  Then a friend started some home renovations and there was a lot of old floor boards that I thought were simply ideal for the shed.  Werner of course went to salvage the wood.

OK! We had a real start!  Just one more little push.  Werner does love a challenge and he scratched his head and did the calculations and got started.  It was really great, and as the shed developed, I introduced the idea of decorations.  GEEZE, he sort of said, do we have to?  He was quite skeptical, but I found some pictures of what I wanted and naturally he did an incredible interpretation.  And when my artist got into it, he had to be restrained.  The "glass" of the window "reflects" the back of the house.The "flower box" on the door looks so good that bees have been coming to visit!!

I love it! Thanks, Werner.  Don't we make a team!

Twas the Day After Christmas ...

and all through the house, not much was stirring.  Thank goodness.

And we will have a couple of days more of quiet.  Stores closed on Thursday, Christmas Day, in the early afternoon.  Of course, they were all closed Friday on Christmas as well.  Here, December 26 is "Second Christmas Day" and a federal holiday.  Tomorrow is Sunday, and of course the shops are closed.  Nothing to do but take walks, read, relax, listen to music and catch up.

Christmas Eve we cooked our goose and though it's a fairly big bird, they're pretty sparse on the meat side.  The four of us - Mutti, Christoph, Werner and me - put away the major portion of it, along with beet/carrot soup, red cabbage, potato Knödel, and the becoming-famous ginger cake with lemon curd.  After a visit and after opening our gifts to each other, Christoph took Mutti home and then went out again with friends - another tradition here.

We'd originally planned a Christmas Day alone, but that changed when we discovered that Mutti had no plans - can't sit alone on Christmas !! So Werner picked up Mutti and her friend Frau Finke, also alone, and brought them here for brunch and The Opening Of The Christmas Bounty.  They were amazed at the number of gifts (we do have to talk about this, folks, and scale back a bit ...) and at the same time had lots of fun looking at everything.  Frau Finke was so surprised to find that Santa had left something under the tree for her!  She lifted her little 95-year-old self off the couch faster than you can imagine to give us a hug!  That was sweet.

We took the little old ladies back to their homes and then took a walk in the Bürgerpark near the Park Hotel.  Cold, gray, slushy, melting snow was the offer, so we made it a short one. 

Though we planned a fancy dinner for ourselves, that got iced.  We were still stuffed from dinner and breakfast, so Werner fixed Häpchen, little bites.  What a relief! A bit of TV a bit of winding down. 

Tonight we'll go to one of the local churches for a concert and enjoy the walk and the music.

Here's wishing you a quiet and refreshing after-Christmas time.

Almost Christmas

Fourth Advent came and went. It came with snow!!  Really, I know most of you folks think it is a burden and a horror, but frankly, I am still (said it last year, year before and etc.) a bit enchanted by it.  Since we are lucky enough to NOT have to get in the car and go to work every day (just some days), we can look at it, wistfully remember childhood snow adventures, snuggle, read a book, go crunchy-snow-walking and simply enjoy it.  Tomorrow they're predicting a bit more snow but perhaps a bit of rain (now, that's a horror!) but maybe it will stay cold enough to just snow. 

Here's a little film, a little snow stuff, a little Christmas Market stuff, a little walking around Vegesack stuff.  The really dark pictures are of the lighted masts in the old harbor.

Merry Christmas to you all.  We miss you.

Headboard

When we bought the fabric for the covers and curtains in the front bedroom, we looked at upholstered headboards at the shop. Heck, we thought, we can do that!
Werner bought the plywood last spring so I could stretch the needlepoint for the nursing chair (waiting for winter to be refurbished). A couple of months ago we serendipitously found the ideal fabric on the remnant table. On the last visit, I bought the cording. Finally to work.

Here's the foam padding on the raw board.




Tools we use. I want an electric powered stapler for Christmas! This hand-operated one has been through a lot and it takes a lot sometimes to make it do what we want!

Half done

And - VOILA ! - finished!

You might notice that the pillows are actually from the other bedroom. The lovely new headboard fabric does not go with what we have, but since I made those over 20 YEARS AGO, I think it's time for new bed covers. On the next trip to the USA, it's back to the fabric store!

Notes from Florida, Part 2

As much fun as it was with Hunter and Hannah (and Mom and Dad), they were not the major reason for this trip -- the smallest and newest of the bunch was the one I had to see: Dylan Rose. Here she is. Absolutely worth the trip!! Is she a cutie or what ??

It really was Halloween in Orlando - decorated houses and more kids in costumes. Dylan Rose dressed down a bit - the pumpkin was way to warm ! Hayden was a bit warm in his dragon costume, but he still impressed a few folks walking around the neighborhood.

Here's a sort of family portrait - getting everyone togther at the same time and awake proved impossible! As Lee said, sleep deprivation is a fact of life at their house right now.

Don't look too closely at this picture of me with Hayden and Dylan - neither was particularly happy at that moment - so I had to be happy enough for all of us.

And here's Hayden in motion; Dylan doesn't do all that much moving around, so I'll get her next time!

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!