Panama City Pause

1. Drive to Tallahassee and visit Nancy.

It was too short. We both felt pretty rotten, two colds from two different origins. But it's always refreshing to spend some time there. Later treatments for sinusitus (me) and pneumonia (Nancy) aside.

2. Drive to Panama City. Settle in. Cough. Sleep poorly. Go to Doc. Get drugs. Feel better.

Before the doctor's visit, we visited the boat and the beach. It's almost as effective as going to the doctor but somehow the salt water doesn't kill viruses the way it used to. Regardless, it was a wonderful day with lots of sunshine and beach food and water and fun.

There's water close to home, too. One day at the pool is not enough, but we squeezed in a visit between the thunder and the lightening and the rain.

Hannah's been doing some modeling for a friend's website business. Cute clothes custom made. I think she's a great marketing asset, don't you?

Friday night Michelle arranged a visit to "How Great Your Art" - a place where local artists show a bunch of rank amateurs how to paint a picture. We'd seen earlier efforts by M+J and knew what to expect. Our teacher/artist was really artsy and fun and comfy and it was a nice group. The task was a bit challenging, though, but we did a great job! Agree, or don't tell us otherwise.

Now the US visit is done and we leave Sunday for Germany, Hunter and Hannah as excess baggage! We're looking forward to a great time. More posts to follow!!

Dylan and Hayden in Motion

Two little videos, so you can see what they look like moving, just a little bit. Of course, Dylan is mostly jumping in her jumper and rolling around on the floor, rocking back and forth and getting ready to crawl.

Here, she's eaten and happy. Of course all babies make these noises, but I think she's hilarious. (That's me in the background trying hard not to laugh.)

Hayen is almost constantly in motion. Here he is (in the red shorts, shirtless) running around the fountain in Celebration. Fun and wet!

Vacation Orlando

This is not really a vacation. Vacation is where you get away from work and renew and relax and recoup. You sit under a palm tree - or another sort if palm trees are not available - with your feet up, reading a not-too-challenging book, a chilled drink close at hand and people to serve them, blue water on the horizon. Don't forget the sunshine.

Now put aside the aforementioned image. Werner doesn't work at all (at least not for pay) and I don't work hard (though I get paid a little bit). So maybe we don't need a vacation. Perhaps a better heading would be "Orlando Pause" or "Orlando - Kids CatchUp" or "Giggle Break."

And this time we were a bit more welcome than usual since Crissy had had an unfortunate fall and had some really hard days getting around, much less picking up hefty kids. Good timing for our visit, though no one ever wants to need that kind of help!

Here's Dylan. She hasn't changed a bit except that she has four teeth, more heft, and a bigger smile. But the same attitude.

THE BEST BABY EVER.

She lights up when Hayden comes in the room, and reaches out to touch him when he's close enough.

He likes to laugh, too, especially when Dad puts him high, high up!

It's summer and hot, so when we went to Celebration, the Disney Suburb, there was the fountain for the children to splash about in. It's cool - lots of nozzles that spray in a random fashion, so the kids are constantly suprised. Hayden took just a little time to figure it out and then enjoyed it with all the other kids.

At home, there's the fantastic swing set that Lee set up, complete with climbing wall, play house and slide. Crissy wanted flowers for the box, so we found some artifical ones (too hot and too risky for real ones, what with a little kid wandering around!), and of course the names of the little ones on the house. Werner and I made that happen.

Getting wiggle worms to settle down for a photo op isn't easy; this was the best we could do. Not bad!

We're already looking forward to the next visit.

Finished - Almost

It's always a work in progress. Of course, this is NOT a work of art, but it is a work. And it has been work. There's always a bit of tweaking to do, but for the moment, I'm done.

So, walk into the room and - after you are awed by the wall painting - take a little look at the coordinated coverlets, pillows and curtains. Maybe too much? I hope not, because there won't be any major renovations anytime soon.

It's fun doing different pillow covers, but I tried to keep the number of pillows down this time.

The curtains were a challenge. I hadn't really planned on doing them when I bought the fabric, thinking I'd tackle that later. But there was just enough to make me think about it and getting it all done was a real incentive. I'd thought first about using the fabrics of the covers, but then I thought the patterns would be waaay too much, and so opted for a coordinating beige. After an unsuccessful trip to the fabric store here in the neighborhood - and unwilling to travel into Bremen to look further - I did the Scarlett O'Hara thing and used what I had. An old table cloth was perfect - wide and long enough, just the right color and weight, and best of all, on hand!

It wouldn't take so long to finish up these projects if I didn't try to re-create the wheel every time. Cuff tops had somehow captured my imagination, but contraints of fabric and lining (had to use what was already cut) put that out of reach. Besides that I didn't have a pattern. This was the compromise, and it turned out fine. If not entirely happy, I'm pleased with it all.

I hope our first guests - Hunter and Hannah - are suitably impressed!!!

Artificial and Natural
and vice versa

We've been really busy. There's so much to do before leaving for 2+ weeks and - AND - we don't want things waiting to be done when we get back here with two kids in tow! So, we've done some painting, I've (almost) finished the new stuff for the bedroom that Hunter and Hannah will occupy (a later blog post on that), we've again cleaned up the plants and linden trees and the deck and terrace and stuff. For such a small space, it seems to take a lot of time.

I've been nursing a boxwood since we moved here. It was a sprout that came up unexpectedly but for all that - because of that - welcome.

It grew and was happy but then we re-did the back. It was uprooted and moved and re-potted and moved and moved again. It's been in the same place now for a couple of years and seems to be really settling in. It's put out a lot of new growth and the topiary I had earlier envisioned is becoming .....

a PELICAN!

But that is the artificial stuff. There's the natural stuff as well. It's not unrelated - the boxwood started without any help from me. So did the foxglove.


It seeded itself between the rocks in the hard dry soil and just comes up and flowers all on its own. Wow. That's a wow.

New High

Here it is; we knew it would happen. And just in time for the holidays!

Let me translate for you: Diesel is 1.44 € a LITER , regular and super are 1.50 € per liter, super plus is 1.58 €.

So, to translate further: there are 3.8 liters in a gallon. Today, there are 1.32 dollars in one euro. That means that our gas, in dollars, costs:

$ 8.82 per gallon

Our bikes - and the train and bus - get used more and more. Imagine that!

Mother's Day

What a nice day. I talked to Lee and Michelle, and then to all the women in my family - Julia, Ginny, Mother. Besides that, the weather here was picure-perfect: lazy clouds in a deep blue sky, gentle warm breezes.

Today is Pentecost, too, which means that tomorrow is a holiday. I could explain that, but no one wants to read it. Suffice to say, we decided to "work" today. I sewed, Werner worked on our picnic for tomorrow, and I prepared dinner.

Dinner. I've already written about Bärlauch (ramps), and the season is coming to an end. We wanted to do another dish with Bärlauch and I had this recipe from last year: Bärlauch Gnocchi. It looked easy. And it was. Here's the finished uncooked gnocchi.








You could make it with other herbs as the main flavor, I think - parsley, cilantro, mint, lemon thyme, even rosemary - could be subsituted for the Bärlauch (ramp). Or, in keeping with the original recipe, fresh garlic or lots of chives.

Here's the recipe:

Make a batter of 3 egg yolks, 15 ounces ricotta, 2 ounces grated parmesan, 1 cup flour, a goodly amount of salt and pepper. It will be a gooey batter. On a floured surface, make four "sausage" rolls about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. I found it good to chill it for a while. Cut pieces from the roll about 2 inches in length and then boil in salted water for about 5 minutes. Drain. Then melt some butter in a frying pan and brown the gnocchi in the butter. Serve with slices of parmesan and a sprinkle of some additional herbs.








It was GOOD. We pan grilled chicken breasts with Italian herbs and olive oil. Bread. Fresh green salad. YUM.

Hope your Mother's Day was yummy, too.

Rhododendrons

The weather has stayed wonderful. I'll try not to complain about having to water since I know you can't even do that in Atlanta.

My usual Thursday meeting was cancelled since my teacher-participants were in Italy on a class trip. (Can you imagine - a class trip to Italy!) We checked with Ursel about an outing to the Rhododendron Park and she suggested lunch before. How could we say "no" ?

There was Spargel, of course (it's that time of year!). This time, it was steamed, then wrapped in Black Forest ham, sprinked with a good helping of parmesan cheese and almonds, dotted with butter and then baked. It was wonderful.

Then we took a walk in the Rhododendron Park. They're not really in full bloom yet though the azeleas are wonderful and the botanic garden is always interesting to me.

Here's a sample of early blooms.

May Day

It is soooooo spring here - finally! We had a glorious long weekend with more activities on the calendar than we could possibly do. So we didn't. We took a little bike ride, took in the warm, took in the sunshine.

May Day is of two minds here: International Workers' Day (leftovers of the more Socialist era) and the more basic May Day celebrating springtime. In Hamburg they rioted about social issues, in Vegesack they socialized around the May Pole. All the communties ln our area have a May Pole. Unfortunately, a bit too tall for dancing around but no riots.

Sunday Outing

We've wanted to get together with Renate and Gerd, our friends and neighbors, but schedules have made it difficult lately. Sunday was good; the question was dinner or biking. The weather was so nice that biking got the nod, and we decided to go to Delmenhorst, about 15K from here, to see an exhibit at a small art gallery that was showing student work from the local art college.

We've biked to Delmenhorst a few times, but Gerd bikes a lot and knows hundreds of back roads and trails, so we enjoyed an entirely different route than our usual way.

One of the early sights was this church in a miniscule villlage where a christening was about to take place. The church was founded in about 1360 (!) and I couldn't help but think: In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue..... There's some OLD stuff here.

The cemetery surrounding the church has been expanded more than once, but after 700 years even a small village has a few folks who need cemetery plots.

The exhibit was small but interesting. Here's one piece that appealed to me on several levels: it was American in bent, impressive in size, sewn by machine, and - a little off. See what's wrong with this flag? *

But this was really clever. The artist has to have a brain that looks at things a bit sideways.










The bench is painted to look like wood; from any other angle, it looks like a bench painted to look like wood, but from this angle it tries to disappear into the floor. We even sat on it not knowing it was one of the exhibits !!

* There are too many stars - 65. Certainly not an oversight, but we couldn't decide what the extra 15 were intended to represtent. Any suggestions?

Rhubarb (and strawberries and asparagus and tulips)

You know it's spring when all these lovelies appear at the same time. The Spargelsaison (asparagus season) can begin anytime after the first of April depending a bit on how warm it is. Warm it has not been this spring, so we're a bit late getting started.











But the rhubarb is perfectly happy with coolish dampish weather and all it needs to grow and be happy is an undisturbed corner, and a rather large corner. It gets big. That's why we buy it instead of growing it.

How red! How green! How sour !! Werner constantly tells me to put enough sugar in it, but I skimp a bit because the sour gives such a nice little shiver.

Werner allowed as how it was sweet enough. Ice cream doesn't hurt. I wonder how it would taste with a touch of mint??

New Art

Ever since we repainted the front bedroom last summer to spruce it up for Hunter and Hannah, the area over the windows has bothered me. Too much space. Too much white. Too much empty.

I'd requested relief from the Artist in Residence, and he worked up a sketch months and months ago but somehow couldn't get started. Finally, I gave a hard enough shove and he did start - and finish. Maybe I should push harder more often. Hmmm.

It's a bit kitschy but at least there's some color now, not just white space!

20 Years Ago Today

Yeah, you guys there have taxes due today. I hope you've done them and already got your returns back. I can wait until July; somehow it's harder to meet the deadline when you aren't in the country, though in these days, you should be able to do it from just about anywhere.

Twenty? Well, yes, 20 Years Ago On This Day, Werner and I had our first date. Wow. Here's a picture from about that time. Somehow, I didn't manage to take a picture of us on our first date. Who'da thunk it would be memorialized in the future?

I think we look a bit younger, thinner and less gray. We DEFINITELY look like we're in love. Or at least I do. Werner seems to be hiding behind those really big sunglasses.

Congratulations to us.

And congratulations to Steve and Gina. It's 19 today, isn't it? All the best!

Another Weekend -- Another Concert

It's the weekend. Friday we had guests here for dinner and served our ever popular Italian chicken and appropriate side dishes: roasted rosemary potatoes, green beans tossed in olive oil, a salad of thin-sliced fennel with orange wedges and vinaigrette.

The fun part is the soup: radish greens soup with radishes and chorizo. Yum. I get asked for the recipe every time I make it. I'd post the recipe for all of you but the only time I have seen the greens from radishes in the US is when I grew them myself. So if you're growing your own and want the recipe, let me know. It tastes great.

Since Werner was suffering with a cold, we decided he needed some exercise and took a bike ride yesterday - first on the train to the end station north of here and then by bike to home. The wind was uncooperative and we were challenged a bit more than expected, but it's always nice be outside. The reward was (fortunately or unfortunately, depending on my waistline) a little coffee and cake at home with Käsesahnetorte (a whipped cream cheese cake with cake layers). Yeah, like me and my thighs needed that.

Today we went to a concert at the Schönebecker Schloß. I think you all know that Schloß means "castle" in English. But "castle" has a range of meanings. In these northern parts, a castle is more like a manor house - just a lot bigger than what the serfs had. This is what it looked like today -early spring so no leaves on the trees but bright light. The pond in front is home to lots of ducks.

The concert was wonderful, almost intimate. There were only about 50 guests and the String Quartet of the Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra played three works. My favorite was Schubert's Emperor Quartet which includes the music that is now used for the German national anthem. It's the same that many know as "Oh, how lovely is the evening ...".

Walking to the Schloß and back (about 30 minutes each way) was good exercise and a pleasant end to a quiet weekend.

Hope yours was the same.

Christmas in April

Our Christmas gift from Renè and Rima was dinner and a concert. So last weekend we were in Hamburg with Rima, René, Monika, Lex, Sepp and Maya (friends of R+R) to cash in the Christmas coupon.

Being in Hamburg reminds me that we DON'T live in a big city! We met in Ohlendorf, the village where R+R live and took a taxi to the East Restaurant in Hamburg. Wow.

It's a converted cast iron factory; this shows the dining area below and the theme bars on the upper floors. The columns are molded plaster, organic in form and impressive in size! There's nothing in Bremen that looks like this.

The food matched the surroundings and the service was wonderful - not a small compliment here in Germany sometimes!

After that, we all went to a concert sponsored by Classic Radio, a classic pops station that's popular here. The program was film music, and it was really good - fun too. I was somewhat distracted by a mini-drama in front of us. A man, a bit Eastern in appearance, was sitting with a woman who looked German. He kept looking at her during the first half, rather longingly, but she never looked back that I saw. They were certainly together - empty seats on either side. When intermission was over, she was late, and later, and he looked and looked, but she never appeared. I wondered what the end of the story was .......

Saturday morning we came back to Bremen with Amina in tow. She kept asking for a "vacation in Bremen with Oma and Opa", so we complied. The weather was pretty rotten so there was coloring to do.

On Sunday, there was the Circus to visit! It was the same one we saw with Michelle, Joey, Hunter and Hannah last summer with a few changes. But there was still the clowns and the camels and the cats and the dogs and the alligators, one of which almost got into the audience!

After it was over, there was a pony ride. I think the smile was mostly on the inside!

Easter

Easter is a major holiday here - not quite a four-day weekend, but almost. Good Friday is a holiday as is Sunday and Monday (Easter Monday, though I don't think you'll find in on any Ecclesiastical calendar). And holiday here means the stores are closed, so there's negligible traffic on the street and in general it's just quiet.

We planned a relaxed weekend: a visit to a gallery in Worpswede, marketing and cooking and a movie or two. Inside was the operative word, since the weather gurus had predicted cold and wet.

Turns out they were only half right. Easter was glorious. We went for a bike ride, though it was only about 40°, but the sunshine demanded it. Here were a couple of sights:



our blooming camellia (I bought it two years ago and it's really grown well, though sometimes when it's FREEZING I bring it in for the night...)



an egg-decorated tree






and eggs on a flag pole.






And here's the other half of the weather prediction. We did get some cold and wet after all.

Project Time

Werner has too much time on his hands (of course, that's MY opinion), so we've started a new / old project. You remember the Victorian nursing chair? We bought it at auction last year - a rare little piece that needed someone to make it pretty again. Besides, the needlepoint cover really sucked me in. This is what it looked like when we bought it.

Here's what it looks like now.

Getting all the stuff and stuffing out was hard and disgusting! The springs are copper and we can re-use them, and we're hanging onto the original horsehair stuffing, though we'll have to supplement it.

After seeing all the dirt that just fell loose when undoing it all, I wanted to take a bath just thinking about having sat on it.

Yuck !!

But of course it's an even bigger job than we thought. Isn't it always. There seem to be wood worms it in which will have to be treated. There's one really weak joint, one damaged foot, and why in the world did I think I could repair this needlepoint and re-place it on the chair. I was in never-never land.

And nails!! Werner has removed - or partially removed - at least a bajillion nails. I'm not sure where we can tack in the new upholstery.

Here's the original cover drying after its multiple washings which left such dirty water behind -- you didn't want to see it. More yuck!

The thread seems to be cotton rather than wool, which could make it a bit easier to repair, but the canvas around the edge just seemed to fall apart in the water. And you can see there are lots of broken and worn threads.

Maybe it would be better to repair and stabilize the old needlepoint and make pillows out of it and do a whole new one.

I think there may be more updates on this little job.

Harbingers of Spring

· Days are obviously lighter longer every day. You notice it and it lifts the spirit.
· There are daffodils, crocuses, and teeny green buds on the trees. You notice it and it lifts the spirit.
· It’s Bärlauch time. It’s green and tasty and lifts the spirits.

Bärlauch? Yeah, well, Bärlauch.

It’s a German word and literally translated is Bear Onion. In English it’s ramp or wild leeks. In the northern climes (Germany, or West Virginia or Maryland), green things are so welcome after winter and therefore, celebrated even though the taste may be garlicky and sharp – then again, it really wakes you up after the long winter slumber. It's one of the earliest green things to come up.

It was new to me when the ladies at the vegetable stand at the green market introduced it to me as a specialty some years ago. Now it is a favorite of ours and this time of year I ask for it every week till it appears. Of course, it’s become one of those “in” things in the meantime and you can find it on all kinds of menus and used by all the fancy chefs. OK by me, so long as I get my share.

If you go to gather it yourself in the wild, be careful. It looks a lot like lily of the valley. Bärlauch you can eat. Lily of the Valley is poisonous. Oops.

The flavor is a cross between onion and garlic (more garlic than onion) and the leaf is on the tough side; it never gets the texture of spinach when cooked. But after so many months of gray and wet and cold, the green and fresh is so welcome. They say bears looked for it after their winter hibernation, hence the name.

That said, lily of the valley was for me the more welcome sign of spring as a child - white and pure, overpoweringly sweet when you are close to it but at the same time modestly clothed. Then again, I grew up in Baltimore where the Lily of the Valley grew in our yard. Bärlauch was foreign.

Tonight we had roasted chicken with Bärlauch sauce. Here’s the recipe, if you can get some ramps:

1 shallot, chopped
1 tablespoon butter
1 bunch ramps
1/4 cup
vermouth
1 cup chicken stock
3 tablespoons cold butter in pieces

Sauté the chopped shallots in butter. Add the vermouth and stock and reduce by half. Add the butter bits at a time till the sauce binds. Season with salt and pepper and add the ramps. Mix with an immersion blender. Serve. Yum.

Green is good.

America Trip

Can you stand to read what you already (partly) lived through yourself ? If you don't want to, don't. But I have to have a little summary; I'm always surprised when I go back and read old entries - things I'd surely have forgotten if I hadn't written them down.

These rememberings aren't nearly as charming or funny as the little gems our (grand-) children spout, but .... I need help with my memory these days. Even the mundane stuff is nice.

When we take trips from home here in Bremen, we always keep a journal - it starts with the time, weather, odometer reading, where to, date - I guess that's about it - and we probably don't look at old entries more than once every two years. But when we do ! What fun ! There's always a surprise or four.

So, this entry. Enjoy.

BEGIN - Lynn Haven

Hunter and Hannah still find it a bit of an adventure to walk home from school and we're glad to oblige, especially since we need the exercise. Friday, Hunter's friend Cameron came along with us and we stopped by the park by the bay and then wandered home. There's always a little surprise - like this. First the kids gasped and then offered prayers! How funny!

That weekend was the Super Bowl game and, naturally, a party. Lots of food, a jumpy thing for the kids, money to be won (or in our case, lost) and of course fun. Wow.

The next weekend Joey and Michelle left us in charge while they headed off to Jekyll Island with friends for a Murder Mystery Weekend. That meant we had to take Hunter to a soccer tournament in North Nowhere, Alabama. We managed it all even though Werner drove through a red light and Hannah remarked, "MeeMaw, you said a bad word!" Actually, more than one!

CONTINUE TRIP Part 1 - Orlando

Off to Orlando and the littlest of the four Grandkids. Oh my, has Miss Dylan grown!

Besides that, she is without question the absolute bestest ever baby ever. Do not argue with me because I'm right. She smiles even when you wake her up because she needs to be up so she will sleep longer through the night! Whoever heard of that? She eats and squeals and sighs and sleeps on your arm or in the swinger. What a gem. Lee and Crissy should patent this kid.

Hayden is all over the place. He runs and laughs and has a lot of fun until you tell him to go a different direction than he wants to go. Well, he is still 2. That happens.

Here he is playing with something old - a hand-made felt toy that MaryEtta had made for Lee when he was about the same age.

CONTINUE TRIP Part 2 - Atlanta

Off to the grown ups. Before leaving Orlando, we asked Mother if she'd like anything and she requested fresh oranges or grapefruit. Easy, wouldn't you think? But, nooooooo. Buying oranges in Florida is NOT easy. We drove miles out of the way and looked all over. When we finally found the elusive fruit, it was paired with a German bakery of all things! Brötchen! Berliner! Bauernbrot! Apfelkuchen! Germans are everywhere. And, the stuff was good. What can I say.

Mother invited us to lunch at the Senior Center. Not bad - home cooking, by and large. We met several of her friends, one who quipped, "If I wasn't this old, I wouldn't be here." 'Nuff said.

The tentative plan to spend a couple of nights in the mountains with the three sisters and their respective husbands was vetoed by the weather which was cold and nasty. So instead we ate good food and played games and ate good food and went to a movie and ate popcorn and then got ALL the Atlanta folks together and ate MORE food and had a wonderful get-together.

CONTINUE TRIP Part 3 Tallahassee

Nancy is a hostess plus; are you surprised that she was the Rush Chairman for her sorority at FSU? No?

We had food (what else?) and went to Havana one day where we saw lots of Model-T Fords and other old cars from all over the US. We visited a shop too that sells canvas and threads for needlepoint, more and more rare these days. The owner of the shop was a hoot; when she learned that I lived in Germany, she said "Oh, you can get wondeful threads in Paris. You know Montparnasse, don't you? Well, when you look at the square, just go to the right ....... ". Amazing - a shopkeeper in Havana FL telling me where to buy threads in Paris. I love it.

Other highlights - a visit with John Simons, the best man at our wedding, and two other faculty from FSU. And for me, a nice long lunch with Paul, my friend and former "boss" at the AIDS program. How wonderful to catch up and be in touch again. Werner spent that time at the car museum which he swears is worth a stop!

CONTINUE TRIP Part 4 Lynn Haven

Yow. Should have gone to visit Aunt Mary and Harry but we were really, really, tired of driving and unfortunately that got scrapped. We had a nice long chat on the phone, but that is not exactly like a face-to-face. We'll try again.

There was a retrospective for Paul Brent, a local artist who's quite well known, so we all got dressed up and went to dinner and the reception. Is this the first time we've had a baby sitter for Hunter and Hannah so the adults could go out together? Could be.

Saturday we took a trip to the beach and the new Pier Park where we visited the local branch of the Munich Hofbräuhaus. No joke. All the logos are the same but of course the building is a bit more beachy than the one in Munich. But MJHH will see the REAL thing this summer! I hope they aren't disappointed with the original!

FINISH - Five weeks and 5 pounds later

I'm not kidding. I have to stop bringing this extra weight back from our trips there. That said, all the food was great, all the company was wonderful. What else should a visit be??

Now back to the ordinary; posts to follow.