Florida! part 1

Vacation! We did so much that it will be hard to put it into a few posts.

• From Berlin to Miami, then a one day car rental (through Priceline) and a few hours drive north to where my family was staying (close to my brother and where my niece would be Bat Mitzvahed).
• Then a few hours south the next morning to visit a friend who I miss a lot. He's in prison and I am deeply sad that I don't live in the US and can't be a real support to him from out of the country. It took a lot of phone calls before I left to set up seeing him and the authorities were very kind to help me out and set up permission at relatively short notice.
• Up again for the rehearsal dinner before my niece's Bat Mitzvah. Got to chat with some folks I haven't seen since my brother's wedding and was happy to have the family down time.
  
• Bat Mitzvah and then the reception and then dinner/party. My niece did a wonderful job and I was completely impressed by her ability and maturity. I was terribly sorry to have missed my older niece's bat mitzvah and it was because we regretted that so deeply that we filed (six months ago!) for permission to take T1 out of school (not a thing lightly taken or easily allowed in Germany) so that we could be there for this. Beside the great work and care and study that V showed, it was really clear how well she and S are growing up and I was greatly moved by the depth of their affection for each other and their dad and by their dignity and maturity. It was a privilege to be able to share this moment and the other times we were able to spend with them while in Florida. I really hope to be able to spend some more time with them in the next year.
• Met up with V and S the next day to hang at the beach and chat and then drove down to meet my parents in the evening.
• Monday: Went down to visit B again. This time my parents and our friend L. watched the kids, which was a great relief as the visiting area at the prison was not kid/family friendly. We were not allowed to bring any games or books or toys or crayons or paper and pencil in for them to play with. I can understand that there are rules against contraband, but I spoke to the administration about whether it would be able to donate kids' books, toys or games for the visiting center (as shipments to inmates are allowed through Amazon and other on-line retailers) and was told: no. The multiple Bibles they had available were the only material they would allow. In a world where the goal is theoretically rehabilitation and that goal has been proven to be bettered when inmates retain family ties, when it takes so long to get to a prison (built in the backwoods) and so long to get through security to both enter and leave the prison (45 minutes to enter, 20+ to leave), how can making visiting untenable for families, children, mothers with small children (this was a man's prison, minimum security- what's it like at tougher prisons?) make any sense? I told the girls: no matter what, if you should ever be in a position where you might need to be imprisoned, take that term in Europe. Where the scale might be a bit to the light side, but the goal is not punitive, but what is best for society.
• And back to dinner at an interesting buffet with parents, friend and children: a super salad bar, with soups and pasta and desserts available as well. I spent my time at the salad bar, as I miss that so much here in Germany. Great prices for seniors and children.
• Tuesday was running about and doing chores, having a ring re-sized (arthritis took my wedding and engagement rings up a size and the price to enlarge them here- as well as the necessity of sending them away- made me instead just not wear them). A local store did the smything while I waited for one ring and I left the other- price was 1/3 what it was here. We also had our nails done (the kids started while I waited). The girls had their standard sparkling nail polish on fingers and toes and I tried out the new "gel" manicure: I wanted cobalt blue but the German recommended a sparkling white (to go with T1's sparkling pink and T2's sparkling purple). I was a bit hesitant, but it looked great in the Florida sunshine and in the sparkling pool water. Now that I'm back in grey, cold, drizzly Germany it looks a bit inappropriate. However, it's been 17 days and I still have a full manicure, without a crack or a chip. Since I usually chip them within 5 minutes, this is absolutely amazing. I'm not certain how I will be able to remove the lacquer, but I will look to see if I can find a place here in Berlin that does this (and use a more Berlin style dark and non-sparkly color). Though with my procrastinating ways, that could take a few more weeks.
  
• That evening we had an amazing dinner at a restaurant called Seasons 52. Charming seasonal menu, with no entree having a calorie count above 450. I certainly tasted noshort-cuts in the delicious meals: I had seared Ahi tuna and the German filet mignon (which we split between us). The children had mini-pizzas and my parents had trout and a chicken dish, all of which were wonderful.

Wednesday we left for Disney and that will be a new post.

(11.15)

Honey Cake

I made this in a gugeltopf for Rosh Hashonah this year, but I wasn't satisfied: it came out too dense and thick. Perhaps, in an excess of joy with using my KitchenAid mixer, I overbeat it?

Honey Cake
1 3/4 c. honey
1 c. coffee 2x strength (made with 1/2 the water, that is)
4 eggs
2T vegetable oil
1 c sugar (225 g)
3 1/2 c. flour (1c= approx 120 g 3.5=420 g)
pinch salt
1 t. baking soda
2 t. baking powder
1 t. allspice, 1 t. cinnamon
juice of 1 orange

Preheat oven to 325F/160C.
Bring honey to a boil, cool and add coffee.
Beat eggs until light and then add oil. Beat and add sugar.
Add all dry ingredients together, then alernate dry and liquid.
Pour into greased bundt pan and bake for approximately 1 hour (check).
Invert to cool, remove from pan after 10 minutes (not immediately!).

For me, this tasted more like a dense honey bread, not very sweet, and held for days. I sent my friends off to Paris with a big hunk of it two days later and they had it for breakfast and still enjoyed it. But I don't remember it being this dense.

Visiting friends

Visiting friends in a small town in the west, not far from Münster. This is their villge square and their local Eis Cafe. We had an Eis Pizza (and it was very good) and the kids had Eis "characters". Sometimes it's hard to believe they are old enough to finish the whole thing!

Struggling

I was chatting with a friend yesterday about decluttering. She is a tremendously busy woman, with a tremendously busy family and they have been running at full pace for years, at a pace I can't even imagine keeping up with. She has a large house and three kids that keep getting bigger and busier, and she needs to declutter but can't find the time.

So I started to tell her what I do and a lot of what I do I take from Flylady. And it's a constant and ongoing struggle for me. When the kids stay home from school, it's like the whole apartment takes two steps backward. I can't keep up with all the water colors drying on top of flat surfaces, on top of the books that I have stacked on those surfaces, the toys that migrate to the living room and office/playroom. Most especially, I have a book problem and the recent shipment of 6 boxes of ARCs from BEA hasn't made it any easier.

Then, this week we made the decision that T2's adenoids really will need to come out and thus we needed to have this and this. And I read a review that made me think I needed this (can you imagine ll 10 books in one volume?). So, more books enter the house. I did pack up two boxes that will go into the Kellar and empty shelf space, so books can move from horizontal spaces to shelves.

The German was laughing,because all of the things I was talking about and suggesting were things that I struggle with. But the thing about clutter and housework is, one can't do it and be done. It repeats, grows and expands. The goal is to maintain and to increase the area of control and to, slowly, try to bring order out of chaos. Toward that goal, it helps to create borders and boundaries because the psychological benefit of expanding the cleared space is great. It also allows one to overcome the despair of believing that the chaos is insurmountable when one starts with the concept that 15 minutes a day is all we need to start with.

In my friend's honor, after hanging up, I did 30 minutes of the more fine decluttering, before sitting down with the German and watching the second episode of the fourth season of True Blood.

Wien and Corteo

I spent the weekend in Vienna with a friend. It was a quick trip: I had been able to get tickets to Cirque de Soleil for Corteo this weekend and the German could not join me: he needed to stay home and take care of the children.

We used points and cash for the hotel and I got a great flight through AirBerlin (although I find it crazy that, two months in advance, it was cheaper for me to fly to Vienna than it was to use my Bahn50 card and be willing to spend more than 8 hours in a train!
The start to the trip was a bit bumpy, as the AB plane had a bum engine and after an hour on the tarmac we wound up being rejected by maintenance, deplaning and waiting for another plane. Luckily, Wien is a major hub for AirBerlin and they simply flew another plane over, empty, to carry us back. So, although just under 2 hours late (therefore not requiring compensation), I had the same seat. A high point of the flight was chatting with the very interesting musician sitting next to me: a NYer who is working between Berlin and Wien and who lives in a part of Brooklyn that I know. It was the friendliest conversation I have had with a stranger since I was last in NY and he took the three news magazines I read off my hands, always a plus:-).

I got in, went in to Wien Mitte by Cityline (a direct train from the airport to Mitte), picked myself up a 48 hour metro card from the vending machine, and went on my way. Wien is a small city and it was only two more stops to my destination: Oper.

When I got out of the station, I found myself turned around and stopped to asked a woman at a kiosk which direction to get to the number of the hotel I was aiming at: when she said she had no idea, I had a bit of a flashback to the last time I was in Vienna, in 1997, when I found it and Frankfurt to be the unfriendliest cities in Europe. This time however, I spoke bad German rather than the bad French I spoke then and I shamed her into at least agreeing that I was on the correct street, after her having said she did not know what that street was! A lovely woman at the next shop pointed me one block down and I was there in a second.

The hotel was charming and unusually for a Le Meridien, filled with interesting and cutting edge art, which I found humorous after having just visited the Daimler Contemporary. They had a partnership with the Vienna School of Art and there were student exhibits as well as professional exhibits. One was performance art, with the artist dressed as famous individuals.

After getting in and resting a moment or two while enjoying the direct view of the Opera we had, we went to the Nashmarkt for dinner, where we wound up eating at a Thai/sushi place where we also ate the rest of our meals in Vienna (other than an in room snack and a cup of coffee in a coffee shop not far from the markt). It was a few short blocks from the hotel and on the way we passed some charming landmarks. The food was well spiced and I am always happy to eat Vietnamese: it's nice to have the request for spice responded to with chopped fresh hot peppers.

We ate there before the show as well, after walking through the attached flea market (where I picked up a very nice pashmina for 5€ and only wish I had picked up a few more).

Corteo was a charming show, as different from all the other Cirque de Soleils as I have come to expect. It's quiet and beautiful and a bit contemplative, very different than Varrekai, which we saw in Berlin last year which was loud and chaotic and a bit frightening with its mad scientist them. This had angels and wings and a very Venetian look to it. There were lots of children there, so I assume people had read the description and knew that it was child friendly. We were lucky enough to have seats in the 6th row and it was great: it's really true that these shows are even more fun the closer you are. We were also lucky in that our tickets included entrance to the Tapis Rouge tent. I would not have been decadent enough to pay for it, but I really got a chance to see how the elite side lives. Very nice indeed, with our own tent, extremely nice food, unlimited alcoholic beverages (unfortunately wasted on a light weight drinker such as myself), our own vending and goody bags, and meet and greet sessions with the star performers.

I persuaded my friend to take the U-bahn back to our hotel with me (rather than her preferred travel mode of taxi) and I was amazed at how empty the Viennese subway is: that's a town that rolls its sidewalks up early! We grabbed a drink and watched a movie.

The next day D had an earlier flight back home than I did, so I walked her to the Citytrain and put her on board (it's a personal goal to persuade her that trains are faster and more convenient than taxis) than went back to the room to decide what to do. I considered wandering through the palace grounds or looking around in a city I haven't visited since 1997, but instead I took a shower in the amazing detached shower area with the 5 head vertical shower tower, then made myself a pot of tea and luxuriated in a Victorian style footed tub with what appeared to be an unlimited supply of hot water (and I say that as someone who likes my water really hot). The tub was so big I could have actually taken a few strokes in it. I my have also lolled about on the extremely comfortable bed while enjoying the streaming sunlight through the window.

Then off to the U to the train to the plane and home again.

With a heavy heart.

Although the start of our vacation in the US was pretty terrible, we did have some decent times, that I hope to finish writing up soon, particularly with family in Upstate NY and friends downstate, as well as the week we came back and went to the German's family reunion and then Neuschwanstein.

But when I finally came back and sat down and started to look through my Google Reader, I noticed again that a blog I have been reading with great enjoyment had not updated in two weeks, and that Curtis hadn't been feeling well when he wrote his last post.

I had been reading his blog when he was on LiveSpaces because I had been reading his late wife Ellen's blog. I hadn't really started to blog in earnest when she passed away and I was sad because she was such a nice person. But I am even sadder now, to realize that Curtis passed away after his post and that I did not realize it until I got home and, worried, read the comments on that last post.

Curtis' next to last post, which includes
Have you ever noticed how quiet it seems to get after a nice blanket of snow covers everything? Well imagine you are out in the woods and there are no major highways nearby nor are there any houses close and here you are skuched (there's that word again) up under one of these spots. Can you hear the quiet? Most people say you can't hear quiet but that's because they have never really heard it. I have and it's so calming but to me back then it was just the way it was suppose to be. You are sitting quietly and occasionally you hear a plop as a big clump of snow falls from a nearby tree. You hear the beautiful singing of the cardinals in their bright red coats which are winter birds and the peeping like music of the smaller birds. Then all of a sudden you hear this whooshing sound as a great owl comes soaring by with it's masive wingspan cutting through the air and then it gets quiet again as it glides away. Listen closely and you might hear a crunching sound as a deer approaches and it's hoofs cut through the fresh snow. It can't see you hidden under the boughs of the tree but it catches your scent and alertly looks about with it's ears up and then makes this loud snorting sound as it prances away only to stop a short distance from you thinking the danger is past and starts once again rooting through the snow for morsels of food hidden beneath. You too have dug beneath the snow in places to find these red berries we always called Creek Berries and eat them the same as the deer. These are the times when you would more than likely find some critter hidden under these trees. I have found numerous birds, squirrels, rabbits and an occassional fox hiding there. Even with the protection you would start to feel the cold and then you would move on taking with you those videos in your mind of what you saw not thinking that they would be there some 50 years later just as vivid as that very day.

Yes just sitting here watching the rain on the monitor and thinking back. Back to that time I have treasured for all these years and sometimes I find myself wishing I'd had off spring to tell these stories to but I don't so all I can do is leave them out here for anyone interested. Funny how the mind has these things stored away just like a hard drive. It took man years to develope the electronics such as the hard drive to store information on probably not realizing he had one with him all along.

So for now I shut the memories down and get ready for bed so I can make my way to the office in the morning but it was a nice trip and I only hope you enjoyed it as well. I will still feel that cozy feeling as I nestle my head into the pillow and drift off to sleep pretending maybe that I'm under the boughs of one of those Hemlocks so long ago feeling safe and secure from the rest of the world.

Good Night.

is so lovely that I had wanted to wait until I had a chance to really think about it and to say something meanngful back. But now he's gone and I am so sad for him and for those who knew him and for we who knew him through his words.

It took me a long time to write this because I am sad every time I read that post. It seems that people I care about are dying. Dear friends I have known my whole life, loved family members, even more distant relatives who are part of the backdrop of my life and it makes me think that the time for life as a play rehearsal is over, that waiting and working and hoping that the work will produce a better future is sheer madness: what we have is now.

Now is the time to connect, to let people know that we love them, to enjoy life as is is, every day and not to work and work for a better future while not being happy in the present.

Dear Curtis, thanks so much for sharing yourself with us and for being the sweet person that you were.

http://www.passagesmb.com/obituary_details.cfm?ObitID=167325

No Tuesdays with Dorie this week... and what's coming up.

I'm just too tired and chaotic. Although strangely enough, I did make a TwD recipe today, it's not the chocolate, toffee and caramel bars that would be this week's recipe, so I will post it when its time comes.

We have just gotten back from NRW where we visited in-laws and friends. We had expected to go to either Koeln or Muenster for Rosenmontag (it was actually the impetus for the trip) but the weather was so cold and actively raining that we gave up and revisted our friends by Muenster for lunch before we just drove back to Berlin.

The next few weeks are just crazy: the German was out of town today (and the girls are being rebellious about staying in bed), my friend went into the hospital (but still no baby), tomorrow I have a book group at my house and have no idea how many people will show (which is why I was baking today), although the author will be there. Thursday is either a Mom's night out or I drop exhausted to the ground and just go to sleep.

Then only 1 weekend to get an apa out, pack and get some paperwork together before a friend visits us for a long weekend. That Sunday she leaves and we have a Purim party.

Tuesday is another Purim party and we leave Wednesday morning for JFK. We haven't booked our cars yet, but we stay with friends in Westchester, do some shopping, perhaps the German hits Century 21 for a few suits? Then to Western Mass with our friends, where we meet some family to spend the weekend swimming and relaxing with the kids.

Back either Sunday or Monday then JFK to Orlando (a continuation, so international luggage regulations apply...) and drive down to Boca to meet my mom and other brother. Dad is supposed to fly in and after 3 days we head up to Orlando, where we have rented a house that we will be sharing with my oldest childhood friend, who is flying up from Houston with her family. We stay there through Tuesday morning, swimming, grilling, with a day or two at Disney, and then fly back to Berlin on Tuesday, arriving Wednesday.

I hope it winds up being relaxing. I do know our next family vacation will not involve airplanes but rather Europe, trailers and campgrounds.

Because Alice asked.

The snow effect is gone until next year (or until I am so depressed that I need it back:)).

What a day it was.

Monday started with a bang.... actually, a crackle.

Thing2 had come upstairs to awaken us and ask for milk and when the German went downstairs to get some, he found our (new, although immaterial at this point) coffeepot melting in a smear of toxic smoke on the stove. Seems Thing2 had taken advantage of my relaxed state of caution (due to her not going near the stove for the last 8 months) and decided to turn it on.

That produced a flurry of activity. While we were airing the toxic smoke out of the apartment, dousing the flames on the towel and the cofeepot (and melted plate), Thing2 then decided we were being too active and she should go upstairs again, just carrying some bears and other toys. Then she fell down the stairs. Our stairs are steep and hard (terra cotta) and this is something that I had been worried about. It's why we gate them when we put them upstairs.

Man. Then a bugbite on the cheek and we were all set for the day.

After I dropped the girls at school, I stopped and got (another) a replacement coffee pot and came home, cleaned it, and had a great big mug. Man. I was ready for that. I can't understand why I waited so long to replace the silly little Mr. Coffee 4 cup I brought along (by mistake- leaving the 12 cup Braun in storage) with a regular, plug into the wall compatible machine. I also bought a new battery for my little Sony camera and a charger with adaptor (which I was grateful for, as the first seller said I would need to wait three weeks after ordering a replacement!). I blew the original in the Westin in Denver in some unknown manner (it was an American charger!).

Mnday evening we went for home-made pizza to Yelli's place, with the Things all excited about going to b's house. The food was wonderful- it was the best pizza that we have had in the 12 months since we got here. And home-made crepes for dessert! I'm afraid we can't match the food quality at our house, although we strive to dull the senses with alcohol to hide that fact.

Yelli showed me her Wii and I am overcome with envy. Maybe I will put off my freezer purchase and get a Wii instead? Does anyone know whether I can use a US-Wii in Germany and what I would need (if anything) to do so?

Then, as we were packing up the girls so B could go to sleep, Thing2 took a header directly into the lovely, altbau, extremely hard door. What a day she had. No vomitting, so we guessed no concussion and home we went.

Tuesday has to be better!

I'm back in Berlin. Catching up, part 1.

And I really need to fill in some of the blank spaces in my blogging, but I'm a bit afraid that if I wait until I start uploading pictures and getting ready to blog chronologically, I will be totally out of the habit and never start again.

So, a quick run through.

• A 27 hour (in total) journey from Duesseldorf to upstate NY, left at 5 am German time, arrived at our final airport at 22:45, got there pretty whipped and late,Friday night but was up by 6 am Saturday morning to visit a close friend.
  
• Discovered that a friend's storage unit had not been cleaned out, as had been promised to the both of us, and therefore we would need to take care of it for him, as he couldn't rely on anyone else.
• Did a bit of shopping, picked up: 2 small coffee grinders, 2 microplanes, a small mandolin, a goodly amount of coffee (from Dunkin' Donuts. For some strange reason, the Berlin outlets have not been receiving their bean shipments over the last several months and I'm not fond of either Starbucks beans or German brands. We have Jamaica Blue for special, but I like DD for regular and decaf.) 
• Mom gave us a great dinner of chicken, corn on the cob, and berry pie (we made two crusts together as I needed practice on my pie crust). I complain all the time about the miniature chickens in Germany: I don't understand how anyone can serve chicken to a family here as they are so small. And gosh, do I miss real corn on the cob, fresh and juicy and still sweet as the sugar has not yet converted to starch.
• Spent some time visiting with the parents and a brother and his wife and kids, whom we miss dearly. Picked up wine boxes and started re-packing the piles of books that had been accumulating for months in my room, as the orders from Amazon came rolling in. These books and the others that I accumulated (as well as the magazines I purchased) were all packed into three wine boxes in preparation for the packing into M-bags and then being shipped to us in Berlin. I know it seems crazy, but it is far more cost effective (and swifter) for me to get my books this way than to bring them into Germany from the UK. While we were getting wine boxes, we saw my mom's car and 
• We also visited the Apple Store: finally decided on what laptop would be the replacement for the German's US work computer, that I have been using for the last year:  I chose the MacBook. I was tempted by the Air--- it's just so cute. But no internal DVD/CR-Rom drive made it a non-starter for me. Also, it's slow. I stared at the MacBook and the MacBook Pro for a while, and then I decided on the MacBook. Why, you ask? I really wanted a small laptop. I have a Dell with a 21" screen and that's the reason that I have been using it as a TV transmitter and carrying the German's lenovo around instead. I craved the lightness and ease of handling. I did get the faster processor, upgrade the memory and buy it in black, though, and it feels sleek and sophisticated. Great key action. I am having a real learning curve on it, though, as my last MacOS was 7.5 and this is Leopard. I have really gotten used to a right mouse button and I need to start understanding how to access those actions with a single button. I got an extended AppleCare warranty and Office (though it's not installed yet) and I will be playing with this more in the future.
• On Sunday up at 6 am gain,visited my friend again. Spent more time with brother and family, did a bit more shopping. Went to Barnes and Nobles and bought scrapping mags, digital photograpy mags, and some scrapping materials. Went out to dinner at a really great Thai-Sushi place where the Thai spiciness gave me tingles and the tuna te-taki melted in my mouth. I have a photo of my dad's sashimi appetizer I will need to add later: it was amazing. How can such a tiny town as that have such great sushi, Indian, Vietnamese and Thai where here in Berlin I can find only one decent Tibetan place (in terms of ethnic restaurants?)
• Monday up at 6 am again to get ourselves down to Westchester county to visit my other brother and his wife and kids, and to visit our dear friends and their daughter, Thing1's best friend. We ran into serious traffic on the Thruway and wound up taking the scenic route through the mountains: lovely, but longer. We were driving my dad's car, so at least we had a navi to help us out. 
•  When we got to P's house, she had an enormous pile of great clothes and shoes to hand down to the girls. That's been such a life saver for us, reducing the amount of clothes we really need to buy for the girls to almost nothing.  I chatted books with the girls for a while (V was reading Breaking Dawn and my copy was in the car;)). We packed them up, and then headed out to have a late breakfast/ early lunch with my brother A, his ex, P and their two girls. I'm sorry that we weren't able to see more of them, they are really growing so quickly.
• Then on to Costco, where we grabbed more wet wipes (those things are da bomb), ink and toner cartridges, some CF and SD cards, some cherries (Rainier and Bing) for my Dad and thence to J's. We drove by our house and saw the kids and the tenant by the fence playing, but with our limited time we drove by: more important to spend time with J and A and E. We spent a lovely evening with them and wound up not leaving until 22:00, leaving poor A exhausted behind us. We took away the fresh and beautiful gingerbread cookies that J made for us, as well as enjoying a wonderful grilled steak dinner. Home around 2 am.
• Up late on Tuesday, at 8 am today! We reserved a U-haul and then had breakfast with the parents and friend L. Dealt with the paperwork at the storage facility, cut the lock and then the German dropped me off for my long awaited ( a year now) hair cut and hi-lites. Mmm. I fell asleep in the chair for a minute. Then I picked up some shoes for the girls at Stride-Rite (black with sparkly sequins for the family wedding when we get back to Germany, pink with flowers and lights for school play shoes), got passport photos taken (for the replacement permanent passport that I need to get as soon as I'm back in Berlin) and then the German picked me up with a full U-Haul. We then headed to our own storage unit and spent several hours going through B's things. Things we felt that he might want or had sentimental meaning we put in our own unit, then we repacked items for the dump and the salvation army. That took us until dark and we met the parents and L again for dinner at the same Thai-sushi place: it was so good that we wanted to eat there again. fter dinner we moved the truck back to the unit, finihed sorting, then left it there and went back to my parents again and chatted late into the evening with dad while we packed and weighed our suitcases and packed and sorted the books and hand me downs and other materials. All the clothing more than 2 years out for the girls was re-sorted and re-packed to stay in our storage unit and be shipped in a year or two.
• Up bright and early on Wednesday morning. Raced to get the truck and dump the dumpables. then we headed to my brother's to give him the donatables and to kiss everyone good-bye. Then dropped the truck off (what kind of vacation would it be if we didn't rent U-Haul and tote that bale on it?) and back to my parent's to get the boxes (three of books, another, 45 lb box of hand me downs) and head to the Post Office. I must say that, considering the mailing prices even when using M-Bags we might, next time, be better off just shipping a partial pallet to ourselves and adding a few boxes of consumables to the lot. We will certainly think about it before then.
• After the post office went back to have a cup of coffee and chat and hang with the folks before my dad went in for a cataract operation (went very well) and we needed to be dropped for our flight to Denver (with a short lay-over in Cincinnati/North Kentucky).

At the airport, we gave L a kiss good-bye and went to deal with the lovely Delta check in process. They really want you to use the computer kiosks to ckeck in, but since we hadn't been able to check in on-line (a consistent problem based, I think, on our mied passports and our travels ending in Germany. We passed through some experimental security equipment and had a relaxing wait for our plane. We volunteered to be bumped, but weren't taken up on the offer (boo).

I'll pick up on the 2nd and 3rd parts of vacation tomorrow.

Things I haven't been blogging about...

Wow, it's been a lot. I'll probably add photos when I can find the card reader, which is buried in one of the 2 boxes of jumbled cables and wires. Here are some miscellaneous things that have happened in the past three weeks:

• We had the closing party and open house at the children's school. We enjoyed being there, picnicking and seeing some of the parents of the other children (the few we know). We saw a CD loop of the school year and (for a very nominal fee) bought one for each grandparent as well as picking up the school photos that were available. Somehow (hey, my German is not that good) I had missed the notice for the day that they were made, but I'm glad to see the girls look presentable.


• I met another ex-pat blogger, D, who has a son Thing2's age and I've gotten together with her several times. Thing1 just loves B and made him a picture this evening. I think she loves having another little one to boss around. And he's just 10 days younger than Thing2 so she plays well with him as well. It's so great to meet another parent: even the nicest of non-parental ex-pats can't quite understand the circumscription that having young children put's on one's activities and it's wonderful to have someone to chat with while the children play. Because, sometimes, I just don't want to play.


• I met F for lunch in Kreuzberg, where she introduced me to her (wonderful) Pennymarkt, which is chockfull of great fruits, bio products and the dangling carrot that had brought me there: unsweetened applesauce. I bought their entire supply of 14 jars and topped it off with 2 inexpensive carton of Johannesberren(sp?) (I love red currants). We then went to lunch at Mt Everest, after she walked me past herr new Kaiesrs and Liedle, both open til midnight (oh, the envy) where the food was as wonderful as ever but the service was uncharacteristically lacking. My momo balls were served after F had finished her entire meal. I know that it takes a while to prepare those, but the acceptable method would have been to prepare both our meals to be finished at the same time, so that I didn't spend 30 minutes watching her eat so that she could then spend time watching me eat. New (and bad) server.


• The German and I, and D and her husband C, with the children, all went together to a "International Festival" which, strangely, turned out to be just another street fest. But it also had several kiosks which were handing out information on the Wilmersdorf-Charlottenberg section which have already turned out to be useful: one was a compendium of all the spielplatz' in the area and there turns out to be one that I missed just on the other side of my block (there are 5 in my area, 1 quite large and the others varying). I also got a listing of all the Vereins (or sports/fraternal/sororal groups) and will be looking at these soon. Thing1 also got the opportunity to bungee jump again (she did it at the Embassy Opening Street fair) and she loved it. Then we all went to Nollendorf platz and took food from Habibi to the spielplatz til the kids were exhausted. A really nice day.

Dear Friends...

What a day we had, leaving Florida.

First, we set out really early, because we know what it
is like to travel with both lots of stuff and children.

In this case it was extremely lucky that we did, because after we dropped the rental off and were ferried by van to the airport, we discovered (after curb checking our bags) that we were missing a bag. It was the laptop, so that was bad. It was in the new backpack we had gotten at the outlets, and apparently it had missed our bag count.

(Things were a bit hectic: 6 suitcases, two backpacks, two carseats, a purse, a diaper bag, two children with their backpacks and bottles and sippycups and snacks, a double stroller and a (swim)noodle- which kept wapping people as we went by, but which Thing1 didn't want to give up.) So we had a bit of stress going, looked around, asked around, talked to security and then called the rental place. That wasn't easy because, of course, our cell phones did not work in the US and we were using pre-paid calling cards. Luckily, it was still in the van and the driver was able to circle back and meet the German at the gate. And luckily we had given ourselves enough time that we could actually get the bag and still make our way through security without missing our plane.

When we flew into the local airport in NY it took us quite a while to diembark and then even longer until our minivan was pulled up. At least the service rep was courteous and apologetic (something I found soothing and extremely strange after my time in Germany, where customer service is relatively non-existent).


After we finally got our Toyota Sienna (and boy, did it make us miss our old one- this was even better with two automatic sliding doors) we loaded up and set out to visit our dear friends (and Thing1's best friend). J greeted us with, as you can see above, themed treats;-), as well as a smorgasbord of food and warm wished. She is so unbelievably talented! Thing1 was overjoyed to see everyone and most especially Princess and her daddy A. This family is what we miss most about the States: our other friends are further away and we can always talk to them by phone or e-mail, but we miss walking over to their house just to say 'hi'.

And, of course, the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of J's labors: she is the most talented baker (amongst other skills) that I have ever known. Just look at those cookies- aren't they amazing? And better yet, my favorite: Gingerbread! They fed us and played with us and then sent us on our way with all these goodies. I spent the next several days watching my stash dwindle as first my parents, then my husband, and then my in-laws ate my luscious gingerbread: I'll be needing to figure out how to do them myself with the molasses and vanilla that I brought back from the States with me.