Today is a big day for us. 25 years ago today I married my childhood sweetheart. That is what you call us I guess since we met when we were 14. Still, its not my favorite term. Ours is not the simplistic, fairy tale relationship implied there.
It is real.
It is powerful.
It is life giving.
It is sometimes very painful.
It has pushed us, pulled, us, and lifted us up.
We have soared high summits and slipped into deep valleys during this quarter century.
We have cried tears of joy and tears of sorrow.
We have hurt and we have healed.
Ours is not a fairy tale. It is better. It is real.
By the grace of God, we woke up together this morning to begin another day, another year. In many ways this morning feels newer and more full of promise than that morning so long ago.
There is no better gift and nowhere I would rather be.
We have seen a few of these very pretty phone booths so far. Two pics are from our walk and the third from Heidelberg. Both booths had pink phones which received high marks from the girls.
and here you can see my reflection clearly showing you the image Germany has of me – the camera lady : )
Outside my window… Sunny and hot. Getting used to the humidity again. I see the garbage man emptying the 'bio' can outside (the one for raw food peelings and such) The roses are starting to fade and the veggies popping up in the neighbors' gardens.
I am hearing… Lots of MLS from windows and cafe's. Truthfully, I have never watched a pro soccer game before this year. I watched my first at an Irish Pub the other night. Ok watching might be a stretch. It was on and I was present <g> Someone tell me what the buzzing noise is on telecast soccer games please. Is it audible in person too?
I am wearing… turquoise paisley skirt and top, new tan leather cork heeled sandals from the very good German variety store.
Considering these words:
"This is my dream. I make the path."
– Alice in Wonderland 2010
I am planning… A July 4th weekend. It is always a big deal on military bases overseas. I remember standing under the stars my first fourth here 24 yrs ago, heavy with my first child, hearing the Star Spangled Banner blaring out from the stage on an electric guitar. First time I had ever heard it played that way. First time I had ever seen a crowd jump to their feet in uproarious emotional applause. Never in my wildest dreams did I envision standing here again, nor all that would take place in between.
I am thankful for… new shoes. Two pairs! The $60 running shoes, a purchase which made me choke, brought me nearly to tears they hurt so badly. $15 German store brand tennies? Comfy. You can take the girl out of Walmart, but you can't take the Walmart out of the girl…
I am reading… Blue Ruin, a Grace Livingston Hill novel on loan from Jen.
from the learning room… Lots of books. New library, hence new material : ) Plus, the neighbors are avid readers so the boys have been borrowing books from both.
We read Summer Birds, a picture biography of Maria Sibylla Merian, 17th century German naturalist, which was quite a good read even for the olders. I have always been a life-cycle nut.
From the kitchen… I have never spent much on meat honestly. I have much to learn about which cuts to use for which dishes. Husband grilled ribeye steaks the first week we were here and its becoming a weekend standby. Also made some grainfree energy bar thingies. There are no health food store treats for me here. Not yet anyway. So I mixed up a batch of nut butter, flax seed, dried coconut, dry milk, raisins, cocoa, and sugar (though honey would have worked too). Rolled them in finely chopped nuts and coconut and froze them. They are perfect on the run.
Around the house… Thursday we move into the 'blonde house' as Tess is calling it. It is a large, butter yellow stucco house with the signature tile roof, on the edge of the next village backing up to a farm. Please pray for a smooth transition.
So named by the Jen in question and apt indeed. Any outing that begins like this:
is bound to be full of hijinx and general nuttiness. Even if we are a little old for both. <g>
I arrived at Jen's armed with a stack of store flyers to plug into her GPS. We hit the furniture store, the antique/thrift store, the department store, and the home store. We would have gotten to the nursery but it closed up shop before we did.
Some important facts learned today. American Express may be everywhere you want to be but VISA is outright offensive at Kaufland. They want cash. The local variety.
It's strictly BYOB here. As in bring your own bag because otherwise you will be juggling sandals and prosciutto and paring knives out the door. Just sayin.
If you want a fast snack you can visit Fred. We didn't visit Fred because we had coffee at the Mobel Martin cafe earlier. Things to know about that:
Don't leave a tip at the table. It's offensive. Am told the wait staff makes a regular hourly wage unlike American wait staff. If you wish to give a tip then 5% is apparently more appropriate than our 15%. You will hand it to the waitress when you pay, which you will do when you walk up to the waitress to settle up. You will be in that general area anyway when you bus your dishes yourself so it's all good.
Mobel Martin is like Crate and Barrel on steroids with prices about half. Maybe less than half. Crate and Barrel, however, does not have lighted words chasing you down the hallway. Fortunately I did not have children in tow. Why do I know at least one of them who would have run screeching to safety should "wohnen" come racing past….
Some gorgeous stuff at any rate. If you can picture that despite the fuzzy camera phone shots. I am trying to be more discreet vs whipping out my camera papparazzi style so the iphone is getting a lot of use, which has caused my daughters to declare me a major creeper…)
This caught my eye:
Course now I am Very Old in this regard and may never have need for such a piece of furniture again : / But hey, it is encouraging to see that it is considered a standard addition to a double bed here.
Baby beds are low to the ground followed by sweet twins resting at ground level. I so should have bought new bedroom furniture for the kids here. I do need to buy master bedroom furniture finally so shopping is not without some direction. Jury is out as to whether it will be a contemporary high storage capacity suite or an antique set.
Course that question may be settled by my ongoing purchases in the antique camp. I could not leave these two vintage religious art prints which came in carved frames under glass. They called to me from the corner of the antique shop. That happens sometimes. What can you do? HUGE they were. Like 2 -1/2ft by 5ft. For TWENTY Euros a piece! Hello?? That is like $25 bucks for ginormous antique wall art. I could not buy a plastic poster frame at Walmart for that price. I will be back for sure.
Next time I better take a bigger vehicle. The very nice man (who liked my Visa just fine) helping us load them tried the trunk (no go) and the backseat and finally got them wedged into the car with me hugging the dashboard riding shotgun. Where there is a will there is a way. : )
I hope your weekend is likewise full of excellent adventures and at least a little bit of hijinx-ery. : )
We had a girls' dinner and movie night this week with my friend Jen and her daughters. Neither dinner nor movies nor girls' nights in general have factored very heavily into my schedule in the past but all three were a delight. Alannah roasted two chickens to perfection in the convection oven sent from heaven and we had a huge salad and french bread, followed by sundaes. We watched Julie and Julia which completely captivated me.
Julia Child's life story parallels mine in some ways at this moment – living as an ex-pat, learning a new culture, finding oneself in the fifth decade of life discerning where your energy will be channeled and what excites you now. (The Julie part was endearing but apparently not true to life which was discouraging to discover.)
I have never been a foodie per se as you know if you have visited here before. I was completely in charge of meal prep from the age of nine and what a 9yo can swing is less than amazing. Later, food became the enemy as my health declined steadily, rapidly. I am just now discovering gourmet cuisine and am thrilled to find that the older the cookbook, the more likely I can eat the recipes. Plain cream, eggs, meat, sugar, vegetables. No mixes nor corn syrup. Very exciting!
2.
Miracle of miracles, while she was here Jen helped me solve the riddle of the dishwasher and clothes dryer.
I am now in possession of an array of fully functional household appliances once again. What WILL I do with all my newfound free time?? I shall retire to a life of leisure at once. A life filled with sterilized dishes and fabric softened tee shirts.
Happy sigh!
3.
We attended our first homeschool park day here.
I am pleased to say we found the Seewoog nature area without benefit of the gps which apparently is unaware there is a lake in the midst of us.
The moms in the group were a wealth of crucial information such as where the health food stores are located. Wonderful ladies. Looking forward to going back.
4.
Alannah is babysitting for the neighbors this evening. First job here. She will be making ten dollars an hour. TEN. I have not fully processed that yet. When I was her age I made ONE dollar per hour for families of up to five children and had to change cloth diapers to boot. I think this means I am very old.
5.
Another number I am stunned over: two. The number of inches off my backside lost since we arrived. Unreal. Yes you can walk your way fit. Though I am thinking these have helped too. I fly up and down four flights all day long.
It occurred to me the other day that the picture I have of myself is not accurate and likely has not been so for many years. When I think of myself, I think 'chubby', because I was always a little that until I had children. My first babies are in their twenties now however and my shape changed long ago.
Funny how our mental images are so persistent. Seems it is a good thing to step back and reassess our opinions of ourselves now and then and see if they are reflecting reality.
6.
Unfortunately two is also the number of migraines I have had since the last week in May. Prior to this I had not had a migraine since Brendan was born. Whether it is change in diet, change in routine, or my ever changing age is hard to say. My skin is changing too. Really there isn't much about myself, my family, or my life in general that has not changed. So, it's hard to say.
I can say that the blinding (literally) aura which used to scare the bejeebers out of me no longer strikes fear into my heart. I don't enjoy it, but I don't hyperventilate either. We will call that progress.
7.
Been thinking over these lyrics. Over and over. It is better. And crying is ok here, too.
Starry Sky Journal 