The Roche Motel

A nice quiet Sunday....

2011-02-06T15:14:00.000-08:00

I really like days like today. It was sunny out..but cold, so I was happy to be in the house and let the sunshine come in through the windows to me. I worked on my Christmas jigsaw puzzle, I read most of a book, I worked in my art journal and I cooked some lovely steaks on the grill for supper. Now I am browsing blogs and getting ready to force myself to stop and go to bed, there will always be more tomorrow!
Bill and Jeff tend to get cabin fever if they have to stay in the house all day, especially if it isnt raining or something, so today was a bit uncomfortable at times. Bill took a nice walk with his camera though, so he did get outside in the fresh air. Colin is having a cold trying to settle in so he was also content to spend the day in his room doing whatever it is teenage boys do in their dens....he is equipped with laptop, 3 video game systems, countless books...I'm sure he had no trouble entertaining himself.

It's not spring yet!

2011-01-17T04:23:00.000-08:00

But it sure feels like it is. Look what I found on my poor dianthus plant this afternoon. Yes I did take this picture today!

I dont know how long this little fellow will last without any blooming flowers to drink from and even though it is around 50 degrees in the daytime, I'm sure that it is still getting plenty chilly once the sun goes down. I guess he will have to enjoy it while it lasts...we should all do the same!

What wonderful people you meet!

2011-01-07T01:58:00.000-08:00

Since starting the Art Journal every day challenge I have been working my way through the list of people who are also participating (and it is growing every day!!). Today I came across this amazing generous lady who is creating an altered shadowbox (a project I'd love to do sometime, I already have the box) and she is giving away a ton of goodies that she won't be using. Here is the link to her blog so you can have a chance to win these yummy goodies!

Change of Heart Creations

Another new thing I have been working on is a monthly calendar that is kinda in the art journal style. Kathryn Wheel hosts this challenge and you really should bop over to her blog and see some of her calendars from last year, they are so cool! Maybe you'll want to play along too!

And here is my January calendar (in progress of course)....

Say it isnt so!

2011-01-06T11:20:00.000-08:00

Bill and I had eye appointments today and as I suspected we both left with new prescriptions. I have hit what my dad would call a "major milestone"...It is time for my first pair of bifocals! I sort of expected it because I was noticing and becoming very frustrated when trying to cut out tiny little pictures for my ATCs or read the small type on my iPod and also my regular vision isnt as clear as it used to be. *sigh* So in 2 weeks I should be able to see properly, I hope I can adjust to the no line bifocals!

If anyone was wondering about this art journal thing I am doing, here is an example of the kind of thing I create:

Remember me????

2011-01-04T14:37:00.000-08:00

Wow I cant believe it has been well over a year since I made an entry on this poor neglected blog! Everyone has probably forgotten all about lil ole me. So much has happened and changed. Jeff has graduated from high school and is attending the University of Nebraska Omaha. Colin will be graduating this year and is looking at several different colleges to apply to. I am on facebook now and it is probably the culprit for this languishing blog....not just facebook per se....but those games! Oh those games. I have cut it down to 2 farms and am fighting the urge to try out Cityville.
I have also discovered what fun it is to create ATCs and to work in an art journal. I got some fun art supplies for Christmas and can't wait to get messy and try them all out...first I gotta get something to protect my work surface (our dinner table!) from ink and paint...then watch out world here I come!! LOL

I will be posting most of my journal pages on the flickr group that has been set up for this, but will occasionally share one or two here. I want to keep the blog more about what we (the Roche's) are up to rather than just what I am doing. so without further ado........I am off to journal! See ya!

Apartment building = Cool? Interesting? This one is!!

2009-10-25T16:15:00.000-07:00

Today we made a little trip up to Darmstadt to check out the Waldspirale (wooded spiral) building. It was designed by famous Austrian artist and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser, supposedly on the back of a napkin! This very cool building is not a museum or other attraction, it is an apartment building. No two apartments, windows or doorknobs are alike. That's right...doorknobs!

This particular building features all of Hundertwasser's signature elements, most importantly the complete lack of straight lines, living trees as important parts of the building, and brightly colored ceramic tiles and columns appear at random throughout the structure. The Waldspirale is a U shaped building that slopes upwards like a ramp and the entire rooftop is planted with grass, trees and flowers.
His rationale for designing one of his buildings was so that nothing ugly would be built in that space.

I'm so glad that Bill discovered this very cool piece of architectural art so close to where we live.

I wanted to created a scrapbooking template freebie inspired by the Waldspirale, but as these projects usually do...it evolved into something else. Ah well...it is still a pretty cool template even though it does have straight lines and some right angles! Enjoy!

download here

There's a bit of Fall in the Air!

2009-09-21T15:27:00.000-07:00

This weekend Colin and I made a trip down to Stuttgart to see the big pumpkin display that they set up at the palace in nearby Ludwigsburg. This year was their 10th year celebration and their theme was fairy tales. They had Gullivers Travels, Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, Cinderella, Puss in Boots, the Bremen Town Musicians and several others that we didnt recognize since they were from German folk tales. Every display was made out of pumpkins and gourds! I dont know where they found some of the varieties of pumpkins that they used, but they sure were creative.

Here are just a few photos from the day....

Since it is pumpkin time that means that the leaves are going to really start changing soon also. I put together a word art freebie to share with everyone so you can go out and take some awesome fall photos and have your title all ready to go! I got it all zipped and uploaded to 4shared now.

click here to download

One more thing that I definately don't want to forget to share. Scrap Shanty is back online! If you like the sound of a cozy little group of scrappers who feel like family and share layouts, ideas and challenges then please join us! Paper, Digi, Hybrid, its all good!!!

A little nice goes a long way.

2009-09-05T15:07:00.000-07:00

Wow...here I am at the ole Roche motel blog again! I have been caught up in the wonderful world of Facebook and with the summer and all I just haven't written any blog posts for awhile. OOPS!

Anyway, yesterday I was scrolling down through my facebook reading all about everyone's status and one in particular caught my eye and I had to follow the links and find out more about this. It was about something called Operation Nice. Basically the idea behind it is that if everyone was just a little bit nicer how nice it would be.

I was reminded of a story I once read about an old woman who was all alone in the world and was going to take her own life, but someone sat by her on the bus and smiled and talked with her. It was the first person to talk to her in weeks. The old woman changed her mind about ending her life that day. The person on the bus had no idea what a profound impact her "just being nice" had on this woman's life.

I don't know how true the story is, but the point it makes is true. We have such power to make an impact on those around us and beyond. It's like the ripples you get when you toss a pebble in a pond...the just go and get bigger and bigger and spread farther out.

Some wonderful crafty ladies decided to share some of their kindnesses this weekend by having a Operation Nice Blog Hop. You start at this blog and follow the links to all the others who are participating. Why? Just because they are nice! Who knows, you may find some goodies along the way.

I am not an official part of this blog hop, but I wanted to join in because I think it is so cool that all these people are making a point to be nice. I put together this bit of freebie word art for anyone who wants to to download and hope that you would go check out the Blog Hop, the Operation Nice website and also the site my friend Anam is a part of Scrapbook Calls cuz she is who I heard about all of this from.

click here to download

Thanks Anam, for sharing this with all of us. You make a difference!!

What a BEAUTIFUL day!

2009-05-17T13:57:00.000-07:00

After so many days of rain and grey it was SO nice to wake up to sunshine and blue skies this morning. Bill has worked all 7 days of the week for awhile so he was very anxious to get out and enjoy the great outdoors. We hopped on the autobahn and headed towards Heilbronn. There is this big hill with a castle ruin on it right next to where two autobahns meet there and almost every time we go past it I say "I've got to go up there and see it sometime." Sometime was today!

The ruin is called "Die Burgruine Weibertreu" and is above the little town of Weinberg. There isn't any parking right up at the top so we had to hike up through the vineyards. I had been wanting to do some walking so it was perfect. The views are amazing, you can see out over the valley and the patchwork of fields and other vineyards. Colin had fun looking for (and trying unsuccessfully to catch) the little wall lizards that were also enjoying the sunshine. The ruin isn't extensive but there are several towers and many trees and benches and flowers are here and there making it a wonderful place to enjoy the day. One thing that was especially welcome was the kiosk selling cold drinks and ice cream!

I also put together another digital freebie. It is so cool seeing that people are downloading them! Don't be shy....send me an email if you use it, I'd love to see how it turns out.

download link

Jeffrey's big weekend

2009-05-03T15:18:00.000-07:00

Friday Jeffrey officially became the JROTC Battalion Commander at Boys Town. He will hold this position from now until he graduates next year. What an honor!!
He truly has excelled this year and risen to every challenge headed his way. Along with his work with JROTC he has been rocking the academic area and was inducted into National Honor Society last month.
Jeffrey was very excited to share this weekend with my mom and dad. They had already planned to spend this weekend in Nebraska but came a day early to be his special guests as he became the Commander. Dad said they had seats up front right behind the Generals. I wonder if they got hit by any flying buttons? LOL

I am so tickled to see that people are actually downloading my digital template freebies that I had to put up another one. Let me know what you think!

download link

How's about another template?

2009-05-02T15:09:00.000-07:00

I had so much fun putting together that template for yesterday that I decided to knock out another one. Lets make it National Scrapbooking WEEKEND! :)

Welcome to anyone who is dropping in from the Digital Freebie website.

download link

It's National Scrapbooking Day!!!

2009-05-01T08:41:00.001-07:00

I may even get to do some scrapbooking! Usually our weekends are reserved for 'get out of the house and see Germany' but Bill is working all weekend and it might rain so I might get to play.

Come join us at Scrapbook Shanty if you wanna get some ideas and play some games on NSD. I even tried my hand at making a digi template. Oooo...my first freebie! :)

download link

Hey isn't he supposed to be our baby??

2009-02-27T11:37:00.001-08:00

Where does the time go?

Winter Wonderland!

2009-01-05T15:28:00.000-08:00

finally we got some snow!!!

I have been waiting and waiting and hoping for snow and now finally on the first day back to school for the kids it snows! Colin came home from school excited and hoping that it continues to snow all night so he can get a snow day tomorrow. I don't think he will get his wish, it seems to have stopped. It is still pretty cold though, so I hope the snow we did get sticks around for awhile. It is beautiful!!!!

Looking back on 2008

2009-01-04T14:04:00.000-08:00

This is just a VERY condensed version of how we spent our time this past year. Some months we had so much going on that it was difficult to choose just one photo to sum it up, but I did my best.

January it was very cold and we must have spend most of our days holed up in the house trying to stay warm because there were very few things on our hard drive that we took pictures of that month. One day we did manage to take all 3 of our cameras to a big park in Mannheim to try some 'shooting off automatic' photos.

During February Bill and Colin went to Italy on two different weekends! What Jetsetters eh? It was only possible because of several long weekends and our favorite LOW fare airline RyanAir. I was busy visiting mom and dad and everyone else in Arkansas during that time.

The reason I was in the States was mostly to see Jeffrey during his week of Spring break. Mom and I went up to Omaha and saw him compete in his JROTC drill meet, then took him down to Arkansas with us for his holiday. I had hoped to see some of my high school buds but some nasty weather ruined that plan.

I got home in Germany just in time to see Colin perform in Godspell! It was very cool seeing him up on stage singing and dancing and doing such a great job at it. He has really become a theatre guy...he was in every play his school did this year, earning him a letter in drama.

Things finally warmed up in May and we all came out to watch Colin and his friends take over the paintball range. They played all morning and had a great time pelting each other with pink and yellow splats. Even a few of the parents got out there...not Bill or I though, we had to keep our cameras clean!

As soon as Jeffrey's school year ended in June he got on an airplane and came to see us for a bit. We spent most of that time in Berlin, making the most of every minute we had there seeing museums, monuments, churches and the zoo. None of us were ready for it to be time to go home.

We celebrated the 4th of July on the base where they had a huge event that lasted all day. Colin took part in the American Legion flag ceremony wearing his scout uniform. He also correctly answered a trivia question and won a free trip to EuroDisney! Poor Bill had to endure a 10 minute sentence in the MP 'jail' they had set up there due to a warrant that Colin put out for his 'arrest'. haha! The fireworks were awesome as usual, but we did miss being able to shoot off some of our own.

August is our month of parties! We have 3 birthdays and Bill and I have our wedding anniversary. We have been married TWENTY YEARS!! Bill had to go to a school in Washington DC for 3 months and wasn't home on the 27th, but he had it covered! I was surprised to have a GIGANTIC flower arrangement delivered here at our house. It was so pretty and he was so sweet to figure out how to get them here from over there.

September it was just me and Colin in Germany still. One weekend we spent at a big benefit for cancer survivors and cancer research that they had on base. One of Colin's Doctors is battling cancer and the whole office donated their laps (of walking around the track) to him. They had people on the track for 24 hours! I got some photos of some of the participants and walked some and so did Colin, then I made a photo display for everyone to sign and give to Colin's Dr.

October has Colin's favorite holiday in it. Even though he is too big to trick Or treat he still likes to dress up and get out and scare people. He spends a lot of time figuring out what he wants to be and how he wants to make it happen. This year he wanted to be a scarecrow and have it be as realistic as possible so he could sit and look like a decoration then pop up and surprise kids who don't know he is real. It was right up to the wire getting his costume finished up...but everyone agreed he had to best one at the Youth Center where he went for the party.

November wasn't the best of months for me. A few days before Thanksgiving I stepped off the porch wrong and sprained my ankle badly ending up on crutches for a few weeks and am still not walking around perfect yet! On Thanksgiving day Bill told me I was to stay on the couch with my ankle elevated and he would handle it all. He did GREAT! Turkey dinner with all the fixin's AND all the cleanup all by himself!! How many husbands do you know who could pull that one off??

And that brings us to December. We all look forward to that, not only because of the obvious Christmas and the goodies and all but because Jeffrey gets to come visit during the holidays. Since he hasn't been able to do much Europe travel since he moved to Nebraska we wanted to go someplace other than just our house during Christmas vacation. RyanAir helped us along once again....we spent the week at Camp Darby in Pisa Italy! We had all been there before so we took daytrips elsewhere in Tuscany and on Christmas night we had dinner right around the corner from the famous leaning tower. Now thats a Christmas to remember!

(if you want to see the pictures bigger just click on the image)

More photos from the Labyrinth

2008-10-12T04:51:00.000-07:00

There was so much going on at the corn maze that I had to do another page of them for ya'll. I wanted to be sure to get a shot of what Colin called "graphic beef" and also the accordian band. At one point we noticed some of the songs sounded familiar....was that Hard Day's Night by the Beatles? Yup! heeehee. Colin couldn't resist sampling a big glass of freshly pressed apple juice. You can't bottle that kind of flavor. YUM!

(if you click on the pictures you can view them a bit bigger so you can see them better...cool!)

Happy Fall Ya'll!

2008-10-06T21:03:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful time of year it is! All the trees are changing into their autumn outfits and pumpkins and apples are for sale all over the place, the smell of smoke is in the air, fields are being harvested and the evenings have that bit of bite that lets you know colder nights are right around the corner.

Colin and I spent Sunday afternoon exploring a corn labyrinth in nearby Ladenburg. Every year they plant this field into a huge themed maze and hide 6 or more signposts for visitors to find before they make their way to the center and climb a tower to get an overview before heading out. Before we tackled the maze we fortified ourselves with plates of "Texas Beef". Since this year's maze was on a Wild West theme they had a whole steer roasted on a spit as well as different seasonal cakes and treats. We enjoyed an accordion band while we ate our food and petted the dogs that were wandering around hoping for a scrap of meat to fall from a plate. After we finished the maze we picked out a few pumpkins to set aside to carve in a few weeks and Colin enjoyed a big mug of freshly pressed apple juice. WONDERFUL!

It's the Most Wonderful Time Of The Year...

2008-08-25T21:43:00.000-07:00

No I'm not talking about Christmas already....It's the first day of school!! I suppose Colin and all the other kids who are starting school today might disagree but I know the other moms will be singing the same song along with me. HaHa. Actually Colin was looking forward to school starting and seeing his friends again and finding out about his classes and all that. But it's not cool to act TOO excited now is it? I can't believe that he is already a sophmore. Didn't I just walk him to his kindergarten classroom a few weeks ago?? I better not blink or he will graduate before I know it!

Jeffrey has been in school a few weeks already but I don't have any back to school photos of him. He is a JUNIOR this year! One of his classes is called "employability skills". I guess he already put those skills to use because he called the other night to tell us that he got a job! For some time now he has been eligible to get a job off the Boys Town campus and he has been filling out applications all over the place. He is working at a restaurant called Johnny's Italian Steakhouse. It is a pretty upscale place that is "reminiscent of the traditional 40's style supper clubs". He has to wear a bow tie! One of his friends works there and he says that he gets great tips and it is a fun place to work. I hope he enjoys it. His first 'real' job!!! If you are near Omaha and get a chance to eat there maybe you will see him.

And for all my scrappin' friends out there....isn't that the coolest digi kit I used for Colin's sophomore layout?? It is a freebie from Laura at C.W. Picket & Company! I know lots of you have kiddos starting school about now too...so go click on the link and check out the goodies!

Rockin' Happy Birthday to Me!!

2008-08-21T13:32:00.000-07:00

My actual Birthday is the 12th of August, but I had to wait until a week later to enjoy my 'big gift' from Bill. He got me (and Colin) tickets to see R.E.M. in concert in Stuttgart! It was a cool concert because they didn't have it in a huge arena like most concerts these days, but they set up in the front of the palace right in the downtown. They had standing tickets and also tickets for numbered seats in the 2 sets of bleachers they set up. We had front row bleacher seats! WhoohoO!

Unfortunately the weather was rainy..but we took our jackets and umbrella and did fine. Just as they were setting up for R.E.M. the sun broke through the clouds and there was this awesome rainbow right over the stage! Beautiful!!

Colin continued the "Rockin Birthday" theme because he gave me the Aerosmith version of the Guitar Hero video game! I even have my own guitar controller...so we can play together at the same time. It's really fun, but I need to practice more. I have most of the songs beat on the medium level but so far can't win the guitar battle against Joe Perry. That's OK because I KNOW I am not ready to move up the the Hard level!!

I'm going to Disneyland!!

2008-08-11T09:44:00.000-07:00

Well actually Colin and I just got back from Disneyland! He won a free ticket at the 4th of July celebration and we went this past weekend. I was kind of worried we might have some rainy weather since it has been soggy here in Heidelberg but the skies were blue and sunshiney all day. Whoohoo! After waiting over an hour for the bus to show up (it is the middle of the big vacation time here and traffic is MURDER on certain autobahns) we finally got on our way. The bus wasn't full at all so talll Colin was able to stretch out across the back row of seats and sleep the whole way. (The buses pick you up around midnight and drive all night so you are there when the park opens) We were in the park right at opening time, actually earlier than that so that was cool. They let you into the main street part of Disneyland a half hour before they open the rest of the park and everyone clusters up by the ropes waiting for them to drop at 10 AM. We were right up against the rope that leads to Adventureland and were so surprised at how people TRAMPLED and ran when the ropes dropped! We headed for the Indiana Jones rollar coaster since Colin said he wanted to 'start small' and save Space Mountain Mission 2 for later. Once we were on the ride I noticed the loop! So much for starting small eh? I couldnt believe that coaster was big enough to include a loop but it did, and what a blast!!! After that we headed toward Pirates of the Caribbean, exploring the caves of Adventure Island along our way. After the Pirates we went into Fantasyland and hit all the rides that go with the classic Disney hits: Peter Pan's Flight, Alice's Curious Labyrinth, Snow White and the 7 Dwarves, and the Adventures of Pinoccio. (Don't worry...we stopped for lunch in the middle of all that! Next we went through the middle of Sleeping Beauty's castle and watched a glass blower and headed to Discoveryland (Disneyland Paris's version of Tomorrowland). We rode Space Mountain Mission 2 and whoa baby is it NUTHIN like the Space Mountain I am used to! You start out the ride being SHOT out of a cannon!! They use a system similar to what they use to launch airplanes from aircraft carriers. Then inside the building you go through all sorts of stuff including a corkscrew, a loop and a cobra roll...plus each seat has its own computerized sound system in synch with where your car is in the ride. VERY COOL!!! We walked through Captain Nemo's Nautilus, then rode the Star Tours similator ride, saw the Honey I Shrunk the Audience Show and saved the world from the Evil Emperor Zurg on Buzz Lightyears Lazer Blast. Of course we couldn't go to Disney without going on the Small World ride so we did that next, then practically ran over the Frontierland to try and ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and the Haunted Mansion before we had to get back to catch our bus. Alas...the ride wait for Big Thunder was 65 minutes, so we had to skip it. We did the Haunted Mansion hoping when we were finished things would have changed at the Mountain but they didn't. Ah well. Colin had fun in the Haunted Mansion. When you first go in there is a big room before the actual ride...it is dim and creepy as it should be and Colin does his best Boohoohahaha laugh in his deep voice and this girl about his age just SHRIEKED and literally RAN to the other side of the room!! Everyone was cracking up and he is still talking about it. We felt pretty good that we got to see all but one of the things on our 'list', especially since it was a very busy time to be in the park. And we even made it back to the bus on time....the other family wasn't so lucky. We had to wait and wait for them to show up. Colin and I had nicknamed them "The Lost Family" earlier in the day because they seemed kind of clueless....and well they lived up to their name! heehee!!

They say it's your birthday!

2008-08-05T07:59:00.000-07:00

Yup...today is Bill's birthday. It is one of those that ends in a zero and that's as much as I'm gonna reveal! We didn't have a big party or anything cuz Bill prefers to keep things lowkey so we just gave him some gifties and went out to a movie together on the last night before he went to the States. Colin got him a season 2 DVD collection of a TV show Bill likes called "My Name is Earl". I got him some new clothes to wear to work and school, a book to read on the plane and a special shaving mirror that he has been looking for. I have my eye out for one other thing but I'll keep that under my hat til I find it! :)

If you are wondering how I made that cool digital scrapbook page up there it is from Kim B's designs blog and is a super quick page you can download free! You should check it out if you dabble in digi!

Bill flew the coop today!

2008-08-03T14:24:00.000-07:00

Yup...this morning around 9AM we left for the airport to take Bill to his flight to Baltimore where he will be going to school until October for his work. He was hoping to sleep for most of his flight so it will pass quickly. After dropping him off Colin and I headed back to Heidelberg so he could go to a Boy Scout planning meeting only to find yet again that the meeting time had been changed without us knowing about it. So we went to the commissary instead. One lady there thought we were amusing...we were in the laundry detergent aisle trying to choose and I asked Colin the difference between these two kinds and he said they were different scents...I asked him 'well which one smells better'? and he said I dont know...they are just detergent what does it matter what it smells like?! I said because that is how your clothes will smell. I told him to open them up and smell and see and he laughed and said "your so weird" (in a joking way)...so we both smelled the 'flavors' and I chose the one I liked best...he said 'it smells like soap'! I said well of course it does, it IS soap! The lady said we should go on the road. Colin thought SHE was weird because he didn't see what was funny. LOL

Tonight he beat me soundly at a game of RISK. He got it from his friend Nicole for his birthday and has been wanting to play it for some time. Bill won't play it because he hates all the little peices and how long it takes and all that. I don't HATE it but it sure is easier to play it on the computer so you don't have to mess with all the guys. Ah well...Colin took great delight in dominating the game board. I had to forfeit to his superiority...but I did get to hold onto a shred of dignity first...I DID maintain at least ONE continent through the game!!

Here's some more pictures from my spring break trip to Omaha. (Yes I haven't forgotten I need to do LOTS Of updating!!) The first one is of me and Natalie...one of Jeff's 'family teachers' that he had for most of the first 2 years he was at Boys Town. During Christmas break both her and her husband Brett were offered other jobs and it seemed that God was telling them it was time to move on through those open doors. We felt bad for the boys at the house having to say goodbye to them, they were wonderful at what they did and had seen Jeffrey come so far. I was glad when I went to visit that Natalie still works on the Boys Town campus and we were able to go out to lunch with her and finally meet face to face his 'mom away from home' and give her a hug and say thanks. She and her husband have had such a huge part in the turning around and guidance of Jeffrey that there didn't seem to be enough words. Here we are together...

The next photo is of Jeffrey in his room. It is good to see 'his space' and see how he has made it his own. I think he was proud to show it off too.

Mom and I had a few days to shop and hang out in Omaha while we waited for Jeffrey's spring break to start. We had made a list of scrapbooking stores to check out and I was surprised and excited to learn that there is an Archivers store there! I usually get to shop in a tiny little portion of our local arts and crafts shop for my scrapbook supplies...I had seen Archivers in my magazines but had never seen one in real life. I got goose bumps I was so excited! Mom and I shopped there all morning..took a break for lunch and headed back to finish up afterwards...we didn't want to miss a thing! Only another scrapbooker would understand us I'm sure. Heehee

We're back!!

2008-08-01T13:21:00.001-07:00

We took a little mini-vacation for a few days before Bill has to leave for Washington DC Sunday. He is going to be going to a school for his work and will be there until October. I have been wanting to visit Dresden for a long time so this was our destination. We stayed near Bamberg Germany the first night after touring the city of Bamberg, then drove on towards Dresden the next day. We took a scenic route and stopped at a place called FelsenLabyrinth that is a big mountain covered in huge boulders that you can explore with paths going up and over and through and sometimes under the rocks. Near Dresden we stayed at a 400 year old blacksmith's shop that this nice couple has restored and turned into a bed/breakfast. The living part of the shop is furnished in period furnishings and is a small museum. We got to stay in some of those rooms. Very cooL! We toured Dresden the next day until we were all exhausted from the heat...summer is definately here! South of Dresden is this really neat National Park where there are all these valleys and gorges with sandstone rock formations rising up from them. We drove around there and stopped at one where they have constructed bridges and paths out amongst some of the formations and wandered around until it started to get dark. The next day it was time to go home...we drove through a few quaint walled villages about halfway home so it wouldn't seem like such a long drive.

Here are some pictures from our trip:

Jeffrey is enjoying a vacation this week too. All the boys in his house and several others get to go to Lake Okoboji in Iowa for the week. This will be the third time he has been there and he is looking forward to spending all the time he can out on the lake wakeboarding. He will probably also go fishing and swimming and just hanging out having a great week. I hope he remembers to take some photos for me!!!

Happy Birthday COLIN!!!

2008-07-23T04:23:00.000-07:00

Today is Colin's 15th birthday!! I can't believe our 'baby' is already fifteen...how did that happen? Seems like he was just a little guy a few days ago. Look how tiny he WAS:

And look at him now!!! Yup that is him on the left...towering over his brother AND his dad!! He is six foot one inch and probably still growing!

And isn't he the handsome feller??! (I'm not biased at all! HA!)

Update continued....

2008-07-22T15:49:00.001-07:00

Here's some more of what we have been up to since I was posting regularly. The first pictures were taken during Jeffrey's Spring Break. I had a great time spending time with him both in Omaha and in Arkansas. I wanted to be sure to go to the zoo with him because there are so many new attractions there since my last visit. One of the best additions is the Scott Aquarium with it's shark tunnel and also the penguin exhibit. It was so cool to see the penguins gliding along beside us, they looked like they were flying underwater. I even got to see a giant king penguin daddy sitting on an egg!

These next pictures were taken here in Germany a few weeks ago. Bill and I discovered this automobile museum when we were on a drive one day and made plans to go back and see it soon. They had an awesome collection of interesting cars, trucks and motorcycles. We stayed until they closed, looking at all the vehicles and taking pictures.

Testing testing 1,2,3.....

2008-07-13T13:41:00.000-07:00

Wanna play along with some fun scrapbooking challenges?? Come join us at Scrapbook Shanty for all sorts of challenges. One of them is a sketch/template challenge. I am learning my something new for the week and trying to convert the sketch we were given to a layered template to use with digi goodies. I THINK I got it! (Fingers crossed!!) I'm gonna see if I can attach it to this blog post and maybe someone can let me know if it works!!

Click Here

Calling all antique or farm stuff people!

2008-07-11T12:05:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we visited the Odenwald Open Air Museum in Gottersdorf, a picturesque German village. We had a great time wandering around inside and out of the old houses, barns and outbuildings. Colin got to meet an unfriendly goose and some VERY friendly sheep. It was really interesting seeing how people lived and worked in that part of the country. Usually we can look at things and figure out what the different farm tools and implements were used for...but this time we were stumped. Does anyone have a clue what these interesting ropes with wooden toggles purpose was???

WHOA talk about a poor neglected blog!

2008-07-10T04:06:00.000-07:00

Someone feel free to give me the required amount of lashes with a wet noodle! To get this thing up to date is going to take either an EPIC post or a bunch of smaller ones. I think for the sake of everyone involved (any my typing fingers) I will spread it out over some time.

Lets see.....when we last saw our hero (ahem...that's me! hahaha) she was on an airplane headed for a visit to the States. Yes I did arrive safely and had a WONDERFUL time!!! One of the highlights of my trip was getting to see Jeffrey take part in a drill meet with his JROTC group. I had never seen him in his uniform and it was real cool to see him out there strutting his stuff. Doesn't he look sharp!!?!

As far as what we are up to today...we are doing the typical summer thing. Colin is hanging out with his friends as much as possible and Dungeons and Dragons seems to be the thing to do right now. About 6 of them who live in biking distance get together for most of the afternoon and have their adventures. Bill and I are sharing the Jeep now since my little beater beamer gave up the ghost last month. We donated it to the auto crafts shop and they will probably part it out. We are looking hard for a 2nd car but so far no luck. Hopefully we can find something with A/C and with a back seat big enough for 6'1" Colin to sit in and not have his knees up under his chin!

We spent the 4th of July on the base at a big celebration. They had a band and food and prize giveaways and a big flag ceremony that Colin took part in and of course the fireworks. Colin and his friends even had Bill 'arrested' by the MPs and he had to be handcuffed and spend his 4 minutes of hard time in the mock jail.

Leavin' on a Jet Plane....

2008-02-15T13:57:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow morning bright and early we are heading to Frankfurt so I can go to the States for a whole MONTH! to visit Mom and Dad and my sister Jan and my Grandma and all my aunts and uncles and cousins and their babies....oh and I EVEN get to see Jeffrey for a whole week! Actually it was his request to have someone come and visit him between Christmas and the end of his school year that sparked the idea for this big trip. Bill said "you haven't seen your family in awhile...how 'bout we send you for a whole month since any shorter wouldn't be worth it" and how could I say no to that!?

Colin and Bill are going to head over to the little airport where RyanAir leaves from and take on of their special low fares to Pisa for the long weekend. They will stay at the Army base at Camp Darby and see what they can see. I hope that Bill is feeling well enough for them to enjoy themselves. He came down with a WICKED sore throat this past week and is in a lot of pain and discomfort. It is quite swollen so it is hard to swallow and nothing seems to help. He has been to the Dr. and they said it wasn't strep...but I'm not so sure. Colin is a very attentive 'nurse' though and has been waiting on him hand and foot every time he fusses so I know he is in good hands!

If you wanna have some scrapbooking fun this weekend then hop on over to the Scrap Shanty and join in the "Hearts On Fire" crop. There are all sorts of games and challenges and chats and fun. I'll be checking in and playing from mom's house!

Wow, where did January go????

2008-02-02T14:34:00.000-08:00

I think I must have entered a time warp or something because I woke up the other day and here it is February already! We really haven't done anything exciting or noteworthy...just living life, doing what we gotta do. Colin is in rehearsals for the Spring musical of Godspell. His part is "Herb" who he describes as a 'class clown kinda guy'. Sounds interesting! Bill took another one of those marathon class every day of the week and one complete weekend and you get another graduate level class under your belt thingies. We did go out a few times with our cameras to get some fresh air and see what photos we could take. I'll share a few......can you guess who took which one? I'll let you know in a few days. Heehee!

God Bless Us.....Everyone!

2008-01-01T07:54:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful holiday season we had this year. Of course the highlight and best gift for all of us this Christmas was having Jeffrey with us for Christmas!! But I'll get to that in a bit. I'll try to keep things all in order so I don't get confused! hahaha

Colin started out by performing in a one act play at his school called "A Hillbilly Christmas Carol". They put the show on a few times at school and at the elementary school and again one evening as part of the Christmas carnival. He got to be a ghost again! (remember he was a pirate ghost in Legend of Sleepy Hollow) The next play will be in the Spring and is the musical "Godspell" and I am pretty sure there are no ghosts in that one so we won't have to worry about him getting typecast.

Bill, Colin and I went downtown to the Heidelberg Christmas market one evening. The Christmas markets are one of my favorite parts of Christmas here in Germany. I love the sights, sounds and smells of the whole thing. All the booths filled with gifts and food and goodies, the people gathered drinking hot mugs of gluhwein, the lights, all the traditional Christmas decorations....I can never get enough of it.

Jeffrey arrived from Omaha on Friday morning. We let Colin take that last day off from school so he could be with us when we picked Jeffrey up from the airport. We waited and waited at the gate....saw the people from his flight come out the doors and the crowd of waiting people getting smaller and smaller and no Jeffrey. Then there was only a handful of us waiting and we all checked with each other to see that we were waiting for people from the same flight. Finally one girl came out...she had been working with the airline people because of lost luggage. We asked if there was a teenage boy back there also waiting and she said "with a skateboard?" and we knew it was Jeffrey! He finally appeared and yes indeed....his duffel bag didn't arrive along with him. We stopped at the PX on our way home and picked up some more Christmas gifts and also some jeans and a Tshirt for Jeffrey. He had some clothes here at the house also that still fit him so he was set for awhile. We started out our Christmas festivities by seeing a play of A Christmas Carol performed in the Knights Hall of Heidelberg Castle. We got there early enough that we were able to get great seats in the second row. The show was excellent and really put us all in the holiday spirit.

Saturday we spent most of the day doing more shopping, going to German stores since they are not open on Sundays. We had dinner at a great Chinese buffet, Mongolian Barbeque restaurant. They have all kinds of meats and veggies and sauces and seafoods that they cook for you...and also the regular buffet AND delicious sushi...all you can eat and we ate all we could! SO delicious. After dinner we had only been in the house a little while when the doorbell rang ..."Airport!"...Jeffrey's bag had arrived. WHEW! He was quite relieved since some of the gifts he wanted to give us were in his bag. Sunday we drove over the Kaiserslautern to shop at the 2 Air Forces bases that are there. Monday we woke up to a winter wonderland. It hadn't snowed...but the frost was SO heavy and thick that everything was covered in sort of like pine needles made of frost. BEAUTIFUL!

Since Monday was Christmas Eve we had our usual Christmas Eve junk food pigout! We had chips, dips, crackers, cheese, meat, BBQ lil smokies, cookies, and I don't remember what all. Delicious! We watched It's A Wonderful Life and also our tape filled with all our Christmas faves like Frosty the Snowman and Santa Claus is Coming to Town. The boys opened their traditional Christmas Eve jammies and read the Christmas story from the Bible before heading up to bed.

Christmas day had everyone filled with excitement and joy. I think I was more excited to see the boys reactions to their Christmas gifts than I was to seeing what I would receive. Colin got the gift he wanted most of all...a game for his Playstation called Guitar Hero III. None of our PX's had had any in stock ever, and he was HOPING to get the game but not hopeful. I got lucky one day and found TWO of the game in the PX one day and snatched one up. It was the only time I ever saw them here. Jeffrey gave Colin the same game in version I and II so Colin should be jammin' for a LONG time. (me too actually....it is a REALLY fun game!) He also got a new student Bible from Grandma and Papa, some cool Tshirts, an autographed copy of the latest book from his favorite author, and another copy to read. His big gift was dad's old Panasonic FZ20 camera that he had been eyeing ever since Bill bought the next one up for himself.
Jeffrey was SO surprised to get the pinstriped suit that he has been wanting for a long time now. He also got some videos, books, movies and skateboard brand clothes. His BIG gift was our laptop computer. The wireless internet connector will stay here, but he can use it to watch movies and play games and do homework with. He was ecstatic! Most of his free time he spent loading it up with pictures of his friends and games and making it his own.
Bill's big gift was of course the new camera, but he also got some books, DVDs, clothes, candy, and even some computer games of his own. He spent most of HIS free time after that completing one of them. (He likes the mystery games that you have to interact with the characters and explore and solve puzzles to win.)

I got lots of nice clothes (which I really need), some great books, a 3D puzzle of the Eiffel Tower (I put it together the other night...very cool!), some awesome soft jammies, and a toasty polar fleece Nebraska pullover! ahhhhhhh. My big gift from Bill is going to be a helicopter flight over Heidelberg. I can't wait! I have never been up in a helicopter and I can't imagine how cool it will be to see Heidelberg from that point of view!

While we waited for our Christmas turkey to cook we all took turns playing Colin's guitar game and trying on clothes and tasting candy and stuff like that. We had been invited to come to dinner with some friends but I don't get very many chances to use my "fine china" so I was looking forward to that. We joined them for dessert and conversation at their house around 7 instead.

Our friends' daughter Rachel has been good friends with Jeffrey since she moved here several years ago and her parents bowl on my team on Tuesday nights. They were planning to go to Phantasialand (a theme park) the next day and invited Jeffrey to join them. How could we say no? He had a great day riding rollar coasters and hanging out with his friend. We hung out here playing with our new toys! :)

We were SO sad when Friday came. It didn't seem possible that our visit with Jeffrey was almost over! We went downtown Heidelberg to see the shops and have some cake and coffee in a cafe and just enjoy being together. For dinner we picked up Rachel and had dinner at this awesome German restaurant that makes some of the BEST schnitzel we have ever had. There was no room for dessert that night! After that we had to head home whether we liked it or not....it was time for Jeffrey to pack his bag and get some rest before heading back to Nebraska Saturday morning.

Saturday we were up way before the sun to get Jeffrey to the airport in time to catch his flight. We had a bit of time to have some coffee and chat a bit before he had to say goodbye and go to his gate. I can't believe how quickly this week flew by! It was so nice to have all 4 of us together again....and everyone getting along and behaving so nicely and just a real joy. One of those things money can't buy. We all can't wait until May when hopefully Jeffrey will be able to join us again for good. If he keeps doing as well as he is doing now we don't see any reason for that not to happen.

Poor Jeff had a rough flight back though. He called us when he got home....his flight from Germany left late and he missed his connecting flight in Detroit. Then he had to go to Minneapolis and then finally to Omaha. I think there was another mixup in there somewhere else too but I forget. AND to make things worse once AGAIN his baggage did not arrive when he did. He said that he wasn't worried or anything...just went to the desk and told them what happened and let them sort it out. I'm not sure I would be that levelheaded at 16 yrs old to deal with those kinds of hassles on my own.

Untraditional Thanksgiving

2007-12-10T10:56:00.000-08:00

Well actually it is kind of becoming 'traditional' for us the last few years. Since we had a nice big block of time free for work and school we hopped on an airplane and went to see someplace new. This time our destination was Madrid Spain. We actually stayed in a little village about a half hour south of Madrid called ChinChon in an apartment that has been there for over 500 years on what some of the guide books call the most beautiful square in the area.

A few times a year they even put up fencing and bleachers and hold bullfights here. Other times there are markets, outdoor restaurant seating and of course parking. On weekends the square is filled with people who come in from Madrid and elsewhere to enjoy the fine cuisine that the restaurants in the area are famous for. Some of what we tried included suckling pig, roast lamb, lamb stew, garlic soup (special to the area) and roasted partridge.

Our first day we drove to Toledo to explore that city. Toledo is perched on a hill with a river that curves around the bottom of the hill so you must cross bridges to enter the old part of the city. We wandered the medieval streets until we got to the cathedral, said to be among the greatest gothic structures in Europe. We easily spent over an hour exploring the building and its beautiful cloister. One treat that surprised us was that the church contained several masterpieces by Goya and El Greco.

We explored more of the city and Colin was pleased to find that some of the old gates showed some Moorish influence. He really liked this kind of architecture when we visited Spain before and hoped to find some. After stopping to get some photos of the city from the other side of the river we headed back to our apartment.

Our next day was the big city of Madrid! We found a town on the map that was on the subway line, but not too far into the city and left our car there and rode the train in rather than brave the traffic. Our first destination was the Royal Palace of the King of Spain. We have visited many palaces and castles and all agreed that this is way up there in our list of favorites. What amazing rooms and furnishings. When we went inside there were signs with a camera and flash crossed out so assumed it meant no flash photography. One of the tour guides stopped me from taking a picture but I thought it was just that room. A few rooms later a security guy came up to me and told me no photos and made sure my camera was turned off and said if he saw me again he would invite me to leave! I didn't want to see if he was serious or not so I behaved myself....he WAS moving from room to room and we saw him lots of times as we went through so I don't doubt he was watching me.

After we finished seeing all the parts of the palace, including the armory we headed towards the National Archeological museum to see the Altamira cave exhibit we read about in our guide book. It is a fullsize replica of the caves with the ancient paintings of animals on the ceiling. The museum is right next to a huge plaza called Plaza de Colon that is commemorating Christopher Columbus. We noticed many busses parking nearby and people walking around carrying Spanish flags and a big stage set up with a bunch of balloons that we figured they would release. Not knowing what the gathering would be or how peaceful it may or may not be we were pleased to head out to our next museum..the Reina Sofia museum. We had originally planned to visit the famous Prado, but in looking through our books learned that Picasso's famous "Guernica" is on display at the Sofia museum so chose to visit there instead.
Coming up out of the subway station we were kind of concerned to see groups of police in full riot gear all over the place. Nothing seems to be going on so we wondered if this is 'normal' for that area. After enjoying the museum for a bit it began to get dark outside and we decided to bring our Madrid experience to a close. The old Atocha railway station is right across the street from the Sofia museum so we went to the subway through there. This is the largest and the first train station in Madrid. The old part of the train station has been renovated and has a massive tropical botanical garden in the middle of it.

When we got back to our little apartment and had finished our dinner we saw on the news that there had been a HUGE demonstration that evening beginning in the Columbus Square, with 10s of thousands of people marching in the streets remembering victims of terror. I guess that explains all the riot police!

The next day was our last day and Bill didn't feel up to braving the big city again so we did some poking around and discovered that we weren't all that far from some of those cool Spanish windmills that are in the Don Quixote novel. Every time we have been to Spain Bill wonders if any of those windmills are nearby, and every time the answer has been no...until this time! How could we pass up this chance? So we hopped in the car and headed south to the village of Consuegra. We were not disappointed at all! The crest of the hill overlooking the town has 11 restored windmills as well as a castle. For most of the time we were there we were pretty much the only people out there and the views were amazing and it was a treat not to have to dodge tourists and keep them out of our pictures.

Come to a fun online crop!

2007-11-17T05:57:00.000-08:00

Scraphappy KT is having a weekend long online crop to celebrate the site's Grand ReOpening!! There are all sorts of games and challenges and surprises going on. And even better....some of the challenges aren't due until the end of the month!

Actually Jen from the site has summed it all up very well in this FAQ.
FAQ about the ScraphappyKT online crop

1) What is the online crop?

The online crop is a weekend-long event hosted by the Scraphappy KTDT members that will encompass scrapbooking, games, challenges, classes, PRIZES, chatting with other members and lots of FUN! The point of the online crop is to get active on the Scraphappy KT boards and in the gallery. The KTDT members encourage you to participate in our fabulous games and challenges.

2) What sort of activities will be featured at the Online Crop?

The main attractions to our online crop are the challenges, the games and the many chances to win prizes. You'll find regular challenges, featuring many different themes and techniques, and Quickie Challenges, which are small challenges intended to keep those juices flowing by creating a layout in under an hour. Most every challenge can be completed using basic supplies we have in our vast amount of supplies. If the challenge will require something unusual, it will be posted ahead of time in the WEEKEND CROP forum.
We will also feature a class, a tutorial and a Make & Take. Please check the supply lists in the WEEKEND CROP forum for more information. Games are another big feature during our online crop. You can join in the fun playing Bingo, guessing games, trivia games, layout hunts and MORE! Keep in mind that the more games and challenges you participate in the better your chances are of walking away with KT points, prizes and/or gift certificates!

3) How can I get ready for the Online Crop?

First, you want to check out the Weekend Crop Forum and print out or copy the schedule and check for any other announcements regarding classes, challenges or games.
Also, don't forget to sign up for Bingo and send in your Bingo cards early! We have two different Bingo games scheduled to keep the fun rocking all weekend long!
Next, you’ll need to gather all of your favorite supplies and clear a scrapping space. You may want to set your space up near your computer to make your crop experience more enjoyable!
Last thing, is to make sure you plan ahead and clear your schedule so you can spend as much time participating in our on-line crop as you possibly can! You won't want to miss any of the FUN!

5) What should I expect once the Online Crop starts?

You can expect Fun! Fun! Fun! You'll suddenly notice new threads popping up for games, challenges and friendly KT banter in the Weekend Crop forum. Keep an eye on this forum and hit that refresh button frequently so you don't miss a new challenge or game. The rules for each challenge and game will be posted clearly in each new thread. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to shout it out. Our KTDT members are there to make sure you have fun!

6) How do I find new challenges?

The best way to stay in the know is to keep refreshing the Weekend Crop Forum! You'll see new threads with the challenge title and #. In case you get lost in a sea of new threads... there will also be a Master Crop Schedule thread highlighted and stuck to the top of the Crop Forum with an up-to-date listing of current and past challenges.

7) How are winners selected?

Our KTDT Members will try their hardest to make sure everyone has a blast during our online crop. If you want to get KT Points and prizes, you need to participate, participate, participate! Most challenge and game winners are chosen by random drawing. Some games will be won by the "first person with the correct answer". This will be stated in the rules of each game. It's very important to read the rules in every new challenge or game. The KTDT members will also have points to distribute randomly to scrappers hanging around @ the On-line Crop with us!

The Headless Horseman Rides!

2007-10-26T07:46:00.001-07:00

Last night, tonight and tomorrow night at Heidelberg High School! Colin has been busy busy busy practicing and working on sets and getting ready for the show. He hasn't ever been in a play before and was SO excited when he found out he got a part in the first play of the year, and what a fun part it is too. He is a ghost pirate and gets to terrify poor Ichabod Crane demanding his lost gold.

I haven't ever been involved with theatre before either so it was interesting being a "Drama Mama" for the first time. (Yes...we even got buttons to wear proclaiming our Drama Mama and Papa status!) I went to one of the rehearsals about a week before opening night to take some photos and see how they were coming along. Wow there is a LOT that goes into one of these things! Lights, sound effects, lines....lines....please memorize those lines!...props, scenery, costumes and lots more. What a great show we were treated to last night! Everyone did an awesome job and should be very very proud of themselves. Applause!!!!

I'm a SHANTALICIOUS SISTER!!

2007-10-12T15:45:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah!!! If you refer back to the post before this one you might remember that the scrapbooking site I usually hang out at has made some administrative changes and now has new management, name and everything. Along with that they needed to add some designers to the team so they had a Design Team Call and imagine my surprise to find out the other day that I was among the finalists!!!!! I was on top of the world....but this evening I got boosted up another few clouds, I am one of the new Scrapbook Shanty design team members!!!! I love being a part of a design team and already know lots of the gals on the team and just know it will be a lot of fun to work with them. Watch for sponsor layouts in the weeks to come!!! There are all sorts of fun things going on at the Shanty so if you haven't stopped by yet be sure to do that. Especially next weekend....it is a big cyber crop weekend with all sorts of fun surprises! Whoohoo!!

Changes all over the place!!

2007-09-27T08:29:00.000-07:00

Wow it has been TOO long since I updated my poor blog! Sorry guys! I caught this icky cold or virus or something and have been coughing like a fool for just over a week now. Poor Colin caught it too and stayed home from school Monday and Tuesday. I think my friend Karen who USED to live around the corner from me shared HER cold with me and I am just sending it along as well. Mom always taught us to share right??! Now lets see how long it takes before Bill starts coughing.

The scrapbook site I usually hang on at...Scrapbook Chalet is in the process of a huge change. The owner has a brick and mortar store in Maine and is in the process of fostering to adopt some kiddos! All this means she has more than enough on her plate and has to let the website go. But all us Chalet gals NEEED a place to play so she handed things over to one of the DT members Kat and she is busy moving everything to our new place....The Scrap Shanty. So far it is just the opening page that is up...but I am sure that moving things is a HUGE task so I will be patient.

In the meantime I have been busy learning how to do some more scrapbooking things digitally. WOW there is a LOT out there! So far I have 'just' been downloading freebies and lemme tell ya...there are SO many available and new ones every day that you could do that only and be perfectly satisfied. I have 2 sites I check for goodies each day...Ikea Goddess and DigiFree. If you haven't dabbled with digi...you should give it a try, it's fun! Look I made this layout the other day...it was my first try with a template and both the site that offered the template Designs by Amy and Theresa and the site I got the background paper from Scrappin Digi Creations put it up on their site or newsletter for all to see. Ooooo ahhhhhh!

And don't worry about me going into message board withdrawal either! My friend Tammy sent me a link to a fun site ScrapHappy KT that has been going through changes of its own. I guess they lost ALL their stuff and are having to start over from scratch. OUCH! There is an AMAZING store too with tons of goodies and lots of nice gals to talk with and share photos. I can't WAIT til they get the gallery up and running too. Come say hi if you get a chance!

Colin experiences Global Warming

2007-09-09T06:17:00.000-07:00

Before we headed home Monday we decided to go over to Grindelwald and take a little hike up to the glacier caves. We had visited there when we lived in Germany 12 years ago and remembered how amazing it was to walk right up into the foot of a glacier and wanted to let Colin experience this. The first part of the hike was much as we remembered it, but then we came upon a huge cliff of rock with wooden stairs leading straight up it. Bill and I wondered how we could have possible done that with a stroller back in 1994 and figured we must have taken a different path to the glacier. Bill's love of heights (NOT!) made him decide to wait for Colin and me with his feet firmly on the ground while we climbed the over 800 stairs to the top. WHEW!

At the top of the stairs we walked across the rock to a newly built rope bridge spanning a chasm with rushing glacial runoff many feet below us. There was a corral of safety fences at the other side of the gorge and that was the 'end of the line'. We weren't at the foot of the glacier, in fact we couldn't even see the foot of it, it was way above us and around the corner. Disappointed Colin and I walked back to the little hut on the rocks by the stairs that served drinks and snacks. While I drank my Coke I looked at some postcards sitting on the counter and talked to the lady who worked there. Here are scans of the postcards:

I wanted to know where we could go to see this and she told us that the last year they had caves like this was the year 2000. The photo on the left with the planks going across was where the bridge we crossed is today. The foot of the glacier is nowhere near this spot only 7 years later. We talked more and figured out that the reason we didn't remember climbing all those stairs when Jeffrey was little was because we didn't need to! The glacier was way down there and we could stroll up the the foot of it. Colin kept shaking his head and saying that he had heard about global warming but THIS is experiencing it! Sad.

A Day of Trains

2007-09-07T06:38:00.000-07:00

After we left the Open Air Museum we had some daylight time left so we drove over to see the place that Colin and Jeffrey have gone several times with their Boy Scout troop. Usually it is winter when they come, but Colin camped there this summer also and was eager to give us a tour.

Sunday we spent the day riding the Brienz Rothorn Bahn. It is Switzerland's last remaining steam cog-railway. The train took us from the level of the lake all the way up to the top of the Rothorn mountain, 7500 feet above sea level! Again we had wonderful weather and enjoyed the sunny skies and green grass and trees as we rode up the mountain, through tunnels and past cows. A few times the train conductor had to hop off the train and shoo cows off the tracks! When we got near the top we noticed that we were above the clouds. We walked around at the top of the mountain for awhile, taking lots of photos, looking at the snow capped mountains across the valley and watching the clouds roll in, surround us and then blow past. After some souvenoir shopping and a snack lunch we headed down the mountain (again by train of course...some people did hike but we did enough of that the day before!)

On our way back to our cottage we passed another steam train stopped at a station. There is a historic steam train that only runs a few times a year that happened to be going this weekend! We whipped into a parking place and ran over to get a few pictures of it before it pulled out of the station.

Why have we waited so long to revisit Switzerland???

2007-09-06T08:43:00.000-07:00

What a BEAUTIFUL country!!!!!!!!!! I think we must have had the best weekend to see it too....we had sunshine and not a bit of rain to worry about the entire time we were there. It wasn't until we drove out of the mountains on our way home that we hit the rain...but we were so happy to not have any during our trip that we didn't mind. We started out on Friday and stopped in Bern before we headed to where we were staying in Lauterbrunnen. We had visited Bern before when Jeffrey was around 2ish and I know we saw the bears and walked around but I barely remembered any of it, I guess I was too busy herding Jeffrey around to let it all sink in. WOW...Bern was so nice! It is built up on a bluff where the river curves around it and the buildings in the main part of town are quite tall so the streets are like valleys cut into it. The street level parts of the buildings are open arcades and they also have cellars below them in some places that are thrown open with cute little shops to go down in and explore. All along the street there are pretty fountains with figures on them....the buildings are all waving flags and have flowers in the windows and morning glories snaking up from the street level. The river is this amazing color of blue...it almost looks like that 'fake water' you see on water rides at theme parks ya know? That is because is it glacial runoff.

Of course we HAD to stop and see the famous Bern bears! We parked our Jeep right across from the bear pits so we visited them before and after we explored the town. They sure know how to look cute for the people! One kept rolling onto its back and holding its feet with its paws. They have food you can buy and toss down to them (I didn't notice this until we already tried to feed them some fruit we had brought along for US to snack on) Do you know those silly bears don't know that bananas are good!? They both turned their noses up at the bites we tossed to them but eagerly caught the bear chow stuff in the air when people threw it to them. Silly ole bears!

After we tore ourselves away from the bears we headed into the Alps on our way to our cottage apartment in Lauterbrunnen. It is a village near Interlaken which may or may not sound more familiar to you. The village is at the floor of the valley and there are sheer cliffs rising up on either side of it with waterfalls coming down all over the place. It said in the guidebook that there are 72 of them. We didn't count but it is possible. Here is a photo of the 'main' one that is right by the town. We hiked up to it one evening and get misted on. Can you see it just to the right of the red Swiss flag?

Here is another one...this one we took from right in front of our cottage door. What a view!! That yellow thing is a train that you must take if you want to visit the town that is up on the mountain. There are no cars there, so if you don't take the train you better have good hiking boots!

Saturday we spent most of the day at a fabulous open air museum in the town of Brienz on the edge of one of the lakes that Interlaken is in between. There were hundreds of houses and farm buildings brought in and reconstructed from all over the country that we could go inside and learn about how the people lived and adapted things to the unique challenges of the different terrains. There were also lots of farm animals around to look at and people baking bread, weaving on looms, making lace and lots of other cool exhibits. It was a very extensive place and they did very well with the landscaping and all so each section was distinct and seperate from the others. We stayed there until they started closing up the buildings and we still didn't get to go inside every one of them.

Here is one of the bigger homes that was there:

Here are a couple more pictures we took at the museum. I just couldn't get enough of that amazing valley view!

Of course I had to get some pictures of the animals too. Here is a wonderful Brown Swiss cow...complete with bell! They all wear them...not just museum cows either...you hear the bells ringing when you go past the pastures. I worried that the constant clanging every time they moved their head would make them nuts and Bill said "Only you would be concerned about hearing damage in Swiss cows!" And look Mom....goats with bells! Yup...the goats and sheep get to wear little bells too. But not the pigs....heehee...I had to get a picture of this one for Dad...he had just been fed a big bucket of whey or something...they farmer said it was what came out of the cheese they made earlier. It looked icky but the pig sure was enjoying it!

Doesn't this big black cow look intimidating? Actually she was a sweetie! I got her to come up to the fence and eat some grass from my hand and then she started licking my hand for the longest time. I guess she liked the salt on it or something. Silly cow!

Heading for the Hills!!!

2007-08-30T21:23:00.001-07:00

The Mystery is Solved!!

2007-08-28T13:43:00.000-07:00

I was just getting ready to put the bucket in the garage and give away the wine or something, it can't 'live' on my stool in the kitchen forever! Then this afternoon our next door neighbor guy came to the door with a lady that I had never seen before. They were smiling and laughing and said there was some kind of problem (they were speaking only German but I figured that out) and then she pointed to where the bucket had been left and said the word for bucket and the light bulb went off in my head. I was so excited to figure out what the deal was with it, I had just told my friend around the corner about it and she was baffled too. I pantomimed that I was confused about it and gave both the bucket and the wine to the lady. Apparently her husband was supposed to have dropped it off with our neighbor but left it on the wrong porch! I don't know if our neighbor was expecting it or not, I assume this lady came by and asked about it and he was clueless. They were laughing and teasing each other...he put the bucket on her head at one point! They insisted on my keeping the wine but they took the bucket with them. Whatever!

Walk quietly....don't scare the frogs!

2007-08-25T15:56:00.000-07:00

I just love that funky paper with the circles on it, it is made by Fancy Pants. I hadn't planned to use it with this layout...originally I thought it was going to be fairly straightforward...several different kinds of green patterned papers...but I grabbed this new paper I got a few weeks ago cuz when I saw it in the store I NEEEDED it even though I didn't know what for! Anyway....it is printed on both sides and I thought I was going to use the plainer other side...but then had an AHA moment when I saw the circles and thought about those frogs hopping into the water and ripples and I just HADDA use it! The layout is a Scraplift of a good cyberpal Lam who hangs out at Scrapbook Chalet with me and all the other cool chalet girls. We are still playing fun August games and one of them was to scraplift this layout of Lam's since she is the guest designer this month. I love how she does lots of layouts with lotsa photos..cuz I LOVE to take lotsa photos and wanna use them all on my pages.

And ya know....speaking of Lam (her name is really Lisette btw)....she gave me a very cool award on her blog. Check it out!

She says it is for folks who comment on blogs a lot and help make people's days brighter. I think I would like to pass this award on to:

Brooke cuz she we have had so much fun this summer at the Chalet and I know she is getting ready to start school again...yup, she is a teacher...and that earns a reward for sure in my book!
and
Tammy because she just gives and gives and gives each day and has such a wonderful outlook even when things are less than wonderful in her own circumstances. Post this proudly my friend...you deserve it!

What's this all about?

2007-08-15T06:25:00.000-07:00

Isn't that weird? Yesterday Colin and I came home from our errands to find a bucket with a bottle of wine in it sitting on our porch! No note with it, nothing to hint at who it is from or for what reason.... I don't know what we are even going to do with it. I guess for now I will keep it and see if the answers becomes apparent in the next few days. ????????????

Kid at heart

2007-08-12T15:10:00.000-07:00

Yup that would be me! I love to watch kids because then I get a good excuse to play with their toys! Alas...my boys are too big to really have a lot of toys around, but I didn't let that stop me this week. I bought a bottle of bubbles and a set of wands. Colin was sure hoping I wasn't going to open them up on the train platform! It's probably a good thing I didn't....I was surprised to learn that bubbles now don't come with a wand in each bottle. What a rip off! Good thing we bought the other set to go with them. Today was my birthday so I decided to prove that I'm NOT old inside! Colin and I did bubbles in the backyard and it was so fun! Even Colin had to admit that he still likes to make bubbles, as long as I don't tell any of his friends! Heehee..

I've been Tagged!!!!!!!!!

2007-08-08T14:26:00.001-07:00

Too fun! I always get a kick when someone tags me. I know, I'm weird! LOL

So this one is Seven Things You Don't Know About Me.
Hmmmmmmmmm...

1. I have an internal compass in my head that I can FEEL which way is North almost all the time. It is very weird.

2. I can't walk in high heels so I wore ballet slippers in my wedding.

3. I never wear makeup and my husband prefers it that way. (WHEW!)

4. I live in Germany but have never had a German beer.

5. I have 3 different first names depending on which form of ID you look at. My passport says "Danette", my military ID says "Dana" and my drivers license says "Danae". But everyone calls me Didi! Confused yet? LOL

6. I hate onions but love onion rings.

7. I can go to Disney or Universal Studios in Florida for free.

WOW that was harder than I thought it would be!
Now.....which 7 people should I tag next???? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Tammy, Suzanne, Diana, Kat, Shawna, "G" aka Bahama 97, and Lisette

Round and Round and Up and Down!!!

2007-08-08T08:37:00.001-07:00

Yes....that blur of color going by in that photo is me and Colin riding a REALLY fun ride at a festival. I LOVE to ride the rides, and it is definately more fun if you have someone to ride them with. Colin used to not like many of the faster rides, but he is getting braver now and will ride them IF I will go with him. How can I say no?? Well earlier in the day I could....my tummy was full and just watching the ride made me feel odd...but once that wore off we were ready to spin! Even when the boys were small I loved taking them to carnivals and fests. Experiencing their joy with them is one of the best things about being a parent I think.

The Nectar of the gods.......

2007-08-06T11:13:00.001-07:00

aka Mountain Dew! If you live at our house or have spent any time around me then you know that is the drink I speak of when I refer to the "Nectar of the gods". I just gotta have my Dew! I know it has the most caffeine and probably the most sugar than other soft drinks. I know you can get it in Diet or Caffeine Free versions. But...YUK! I have tried...really I have tried and I just can't switch. In a pinch I will drink a Mellow Yello but I know the difference....and they now have it available here in Germany too in some places, but I can taste the difference between a German Mountain Dew and the "real deal". Just not the same. It has been my favorite drink probably since I was in 4th or 5th grade. I even remember the first time I had one! I was a member of a church kids group and we had gone on a picnic or hike or something in the city park and I found this unopened can of Mountain Dew and brought it home with me. (Yeah...I know...gross...but I was a kid and you know how kids are, always dragging who knows what home!) I guess mom and dad looked at it and decided it hadn't been messed with or whatever and they let me have it. It must have been a 'big deal' for it to stick in my memory like that. I don't think I had ever heard of it before then. Once I got older and my friends and I started to have regular sleepovers with the accompaniment snacks and beverages we always made sure to have Mountain Dew. I think that is when it became "my" drink. When I was pregnant I did watch my caffeine so I drank the unleaded kind, but it was such a treat that first day after giving birth to have Bill surprise me with a 2 liter bottle of the good stuff! Ahhhhhhh! And our refrigerator has always had it in it ever since. Believe me we NEVER run out! I am however trying to cut back...I am a bit (well more than a bit) thicker around the middle than I like to be and I know if I drank even ONE less a day it would make a difference. So now I allow myself 2 cans of that glorious sweet beverage a day and drink water the rest of the time. Cmon pounds....start dropping off!!!!!! LOL

How exciting!!

2007-08-03T12:50:00.000-07:00

The Design Team at Scrapbook Chalet is going to have a party all month long! All sorts of challenges,chats and events going on, some ongoing, others short term. No matter how long they are happening for they are all definately going to be FUN! Yesterday I spent most of the day working on a page for Kat's Scrap Scurry game. One of the ways we could earn points was to make a page using all Basic Grey products. Being someone who LOVES Basic Grey I had no trouble with that part of it. Since it was all Basic Grey I decided to send it to the gallery at the Basic Grey website and see what would happen. I haven't submitted anything in years! Imagine my surprise AND excitement to find an email from Basic Grey in my email ALREADY today!!! YUP...my layout is featured in their online gallery. Hmm....maybe I should start keeping track of what supplies I use in the future and start submitting again?

By the way...this blog entry is even good for points in Jozzie's Blog Challenge! See how easy it is to get points?! You gotta come play too!!!

Railroad Crossing....look out for the cars!

2007-08-01T05:07:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we visited a train museum in Heilbronn. They had a huge collection of over 80 steam engines in different states of repair and renovation all displayed in and around a working roundhouse. We were among about 4 or 5 people visiting that day and pretty much had the run of the place. It is just amazing how HUGE those steam locomotives are! We took loads of pictures and did our best to see everything there was to see....clearly more trains than Colin cared to see...he was getting a bit bored by Bill and I taking so long, but it was a photographer's paradise! I was practicing different ways to frame things and also closeups and Bill was just taking great photos. Here are a few (well more than a few) of our faves....

I thought these three reminded me of the 3 bears...Papa train on the right, Mama train in the middle and Baby train on the left!

Here are a few pictures of the roundhouse area....

Here's some closeups.......

At one end of the railyard were a few seemingly forgotten locomotives and cars rusting in the weeds and berry vines.

Colin did get to try his hand at switching the tracks. Pretty strong guy to move a set of tracks like that! WHEW!

Our last morning in Rome

2007-07-29T13:35:00.000-07:00

We only had a few hours before we had to head for the airport for our flight home. We decided to explore the neighborhood near our B&B for awhile and happened upon the most interesting outdoor market. It was several blocks long and was on both sides of the street. The different vendors had little buildings that were all side by side on the sidewalk and they extended awnings from each one so it was like we were inside the whole time. It was so cool seeing all the different colors and smelling the different aromas and also watching the people doing their daily shopping. There was every variety of things for sale, you could get everything you needed right there on the street and not just food items either, there were clothing stalls, toys, fabric, household items, purses and bags. It was hard to pull ourselves away when it was time to leave, so many things to take pictures of.

Our 3rd Day in Rome!

2007-07-27T08:10:00.000-07:00

By our third day our feet where really putting up a protest to all that walking so we decided to take advantage of one of those hop on/hop off bus tour things. The ticket was good for 24 hours so we rode the bus the entire circuit first and saw all the sights and listened to the commentary, then we used it as transportation to get us close to the places we wanted to go inside. It was fun people watching from the top of the doubledecker bus. And it was VERY nice being a passenger and not having to deal with driving in that traffic. I think it is the worst place for driving I have ever seen.

The first place we headed off to see was the Basilica of St. John Lateran. We were surprised that many people don't know of this place...it is the Cathedral of Rome! I guess so many people think of St. Peter's and the Vatican that they don't realize that Rome has its own cathedral. The scale of this place is amazing...the columns that hold up the ceiling just go up and up and up. There are wonderful frescos on many of the walls, and immense sculptures of the 12 apostles in between the pillars. Off to one side is the door leading to a peaceful cloister that dates from the 13C. I was fascinated by the unique columns and how many are decorated with fragments of antique marble.

Across the street from the cathedral was another church that we saw a lot of people going into. It was starting to rain a bit so we decided to step inside and let that one grey cloud blow over and see what we could see. Turns out it was the Chapel of the Sancta Sanctorum and was built to house the Scala Santa or Holy Steps. It is a staircase that supposedly came from Pilate's house and that Jesus went down after his condemnation. Pilgrims and other worshippers come to ascend the steps...and this is done only on their knees.

The next place we made sure not to miss was the famed "Mouth of Truth". It is a tradition to put your hand into the mouth of the huge marble face and anyone with a guilty conscience will have the mouth snap shut on them. There was a line of people waiting for their turn but we didn't mind. In front of us was a delightful family from Scotland. Apparently the younger son (around 3?) really really wanted to see this most of all. The older son told us "my brother says he never lied!" We asked him if he ever did and he paused and then said "well...I have but I always told the truth later!" As the line moved closer and closer the little guy watched everyone very carefully and serously. Of course there were a few who pretended to be caught in the mouth as a joke. When it was the little boy's turn I guess he had second thoughts because NO WAY was he going to let his father take him up there! He pulled back and tried to get away...he almost fell on the ground and even started to kick at his dad. Poor little fellow...he was so scared! I wish I had my camera ready...it would have been a very funny picture.

The next place we wanted to see was a neighborhood located on the other side of the river called Trastevere. Since the middle ages this was the 'popular' district of Rome and is full of artisans houses, shops and restaurants. Today it is still 'the' place to be in the evening hours and is also a quaint place to walk and take photos. I had been taking pictures of windows all day long and added quite a few to my collection there. We could have spent a long time exploring for sure!

Rome.....(Day 2, part 2)

2007-07-26T04:39:00.000-07:00

After we finished at the Vatican we took the subway to a church we had heard about that has an interesting crypt. It is called the Crypt of the Capuchins and is um..."decorated" with the bones of thousands of friars who died between 1528 and 1870. Apparently the monks left their former friary and disinterred the remains from the old cemetery and moved them as well. No one is sure who was the actual "artist" here, or what moved him to create this. One story is that it is the work of 3 French friars (no....not those kind of french fries!) who were taking refuge in Rome from the Reign of Terror in their home country. Others have to do with single criminals or persons hidden in the crypt. It is said that the monks would gather in the crypt at the end of each day and pray and reflect before going to bed. The bones are arranged into chandeliers, archways, a coat of arms (I couldn't resist!) and several scenes with hourglasses, flowers, clocks and in the last room a skeleton holding a scythe and scales. The pamphlet we got there says the message of all this is that "death closes the gates of time, and opens those of eternity". I don't know....it was definately interesting and rather spooky when it really sinks in that all those bones are REAL bones from REAL people!

Once we came out into the sunlight we set out on our search for another church. This one is called "San Pietro in Vincoli" or St. Peter in Chains. This church is said to contain the actual chains that held Peter when he was imprisoned. Another reason this church was on our list was because Michelangelo's Moses sculpture can be found here. The sculpture was to be a part of an elaborate tomb for Pope Julius II. Julius original design called for 40 different figures. When he passed away the next Pope became impatient for Michelangelo to finish work on this project as he wanted him to begin work on the Sistine Chapel. He went to watch him work and declared the unfinished tomb finished. What a thing....to see in person the great work of the Sistine Chapel in the morning, and this amazing sculpture by the same master artist in the afternoon!

We decided to finish our day at the Castel St. Angelo. This impressive building began as an immense mausoleum for Hadrian's ashes. It has also served as fortress, a castle, a residence for Popes, and even a prison! There is a legend that the archangel Michael appeared on the top of the mausoleum sheathing his sword to signify the end of the plague of 590 and this is how the castle got its name. The castle is located right on the Tiber river just a short walk from St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican. I remembered visiting there with Colin in the evening and taking in the amazing view of St. Peter's from the top and knew that we could not miss this sight. It was not yet dark when we got there, and the castle was closed for a few hours before opening for the evening (they had some kind of festival going on) so we wandered around taking pictures. There is no shortage of things to take photos of! I was taken with the bridge that approaches the castle...it has 10 angels on it which were sculpted by the artist Bernini and his pupils.

When it was late enough we went inside the castle and headed for the roof. We were not disappointed at all...the view is just amazing!!! We had some ice cream in a little cafe they had up in the castle and then headed back towards our B&B to find some dinner and to rest up for another busy day!

Another day in Rome.......(Day 2, part 1)

2007-07-22T02:31:00.000-07:00

We had our breakfast early on our second day so we could be sure to hop in the line for the Vatican Museums before it got too long. The museum opens at 10:00 and we got in line around 9 and the line was already down the block and around the corner! We were lucky we got in line when we did or we would have been waiting in the sun for over an hour, we were VERY grateful for the shade trees where we were. There are two lines for the museum and ours did not begin moving until 45 minutes after the museum opened, it seems that they let all the people in the 'guided tours' line go in first. There were many people trying to take advantage of the situation offering 'special guided tours' for sale, bottled water, umbrellas and fans to help with the heat, and shawls or scarves for women whose shoulders were exposed. We were very glad to finally get through the doors.

The museums are immense, there is no way you could possibly see everything, and even if you wanted to the way they structure things I don't think you could. You are guided through the museums by signs directing to different areas and velvet cords and doors forcing you to follow the route they have set out. Most people are there to see the Sistine Chapel and are unaware that there are many other important works of art to see as well. As we followed the flow of people we were pleasantly surprised to find paintings by Van Gogh, Dali, and even entire rooms decorated by Raphael. There was gallery after gallery with ceilings and walls exquisitely painted just as spectactularly as the Sistine chapel, but not as well known. If it weren't for the heat and the constant crowds we could have spent the entire day enjoying it all.

After climbing up and down stairs, wandering back and forth through different galleries and even outside and back inside we finally arrived at the Sistine Chapel. Words and photos can't capture how amazing it is to actually see it in person. There are benches along the sides where you can sit and take it all in, but you are not supposed to take photos of the ceiling. There are many uniformed guards wandering around in there admonishing people with "No photos"! And every 10 minutes or so over the intercom in several different languages we are reminded of this policy as well. Bill commented that the LOUD messages were probably more damaging to the art than a digital photo without flash would be. Like many people we saw, we could not resist snapping a few pictures...even a group of priests had their cameras pointed to the ceiling until the guard said "Padre...no photos!" I could have sat there for much longer just looking at the detail, imagining Michelangelo on his back painting in that very room, just being amazed that I was really seeing the real thing, but we had to move on.

We had a nice lunch before we decided what else we wanted to see and set out to do that. Little did we know that the rooms we wanted to see would take us back through the same way as if we were going to the Sistine Chapel! They had rearranged the ropes and changed the route so we did see other rooms and courtyards on our way, but the crowds were unbearable and Bill and I were both more than ready to get out in the fresh air and get some people free space around us. We had one more treat before we left though....the stairways (ramps actually) leading to the exit are a beautiful double spiral that we both enjoyed taking photos of. So cooL!

I've been tagged!!! Will you be next???

2007-07-21T13:35:00.001-07:00

Check it out! My rockin' friend Tammy has tagged ME with this cool banner!!!
Let's see......who else will be honored with this awesome title???
How about Sollie, Lam, Kat, Suzanne, and Charlee! Come on down! (Oh wait...this isn't the Price is Right) LOL Copy and paste this banner into your blog so everyone knows how cool YOU are....and don't forget to nominate 5 more bloggers!!!

The Eternal City.....(Day1, Part 3)

2007-07-20T07:09:00.000-07:00

After we finished up at the Piazza Navona we started heading back to the subway so we could go towards our B&B. One our way we made sure to stop at the famous Trevi fountain so we could throw a coin in. I knew Colin would ask us if we did and sure enough, it was the first thing he asked when we got back! Apparently we were far from the only tourists who knew the tradition of throwing in a coin to ensure your return to Rome....it was wall to wall people! Amazing.

Once we got back to our B&B it was starting to get dark so we decided to stop for dinner and rest our tired feet. I think every time we eat at an Italian restaurant from now on we will have to have Bruschetta...it is SO good!!! After dinner we walked the few blocks over to St. Peter's again so we could see it at night. Magical! It was hard to stop taking photos and call it a night. But it was a long day and lots of walking so we finally gave in so we could get up and make the most of the next day.

The Eternal City.....(Day 1, part 3)

2007-07-18T06:02:00.001-07:00

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Our next destination was the Pantheon. Bill had visited Rome once before with a tour group and it was dark by the time they got to the Pantheon and he was only able to see it from the outside. Yes the outside is interesting and all but it is the INSIDE that can't be missed. The immense dome with the hole or "oculus" in the middle captures they eye and the imagination. There are no visible supports and the ceiling seems to float above the room. It is still the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the history of architecture....amazing considering it was built in 125 AD! I love the effect of the sun rays coming down through through center. Another reason that we wanted to be sure to visit was to see the tomb of the famous painter Raphael. We looked forward to seeing his work in the Vatican museums.

In front of the Pantheon is a big fountain with an obelisk on top of it. I am a big fan of fountains and all the different forms they take and the details and of course the cool water. Rome has NO shortage of fountains so I was very happy with my camera!

Our next stop was also high on my 'must see' list. It is a group of ruins that is called Area Sacra Largo Argentina or "Largo Argentina Sacred Precinct". These are some of the oldest ruins found in Rome and is situated below street level so you must look down on them from above. In 44 BC Julius Caesar was assasinated by his rival Brutus in this place. The ruins were first excavated in 1929 and the remains of 4 temples as well as other structures were found. These ruins are a perfect place for stray cats to live and feel safe from people and cars etc. since it is below ground level and has lots of hiding places and is not packed full of tourists. The homeless felines started moving in almost as soon as the area was excavated and ladies called "gattare" (cat ladies) would feed them as they could. This went on informally until 1994 when a group of cat lovers began to solicit money from people to help the cats and started giving them medical care, spaying and neutering and feeding them. They began what is now called "the Roman Cat sanctuary" which is home to around 250 cats. If you know me you know I could not pass up a place where I KNOW I can see kitties! Unfortunately it was SOO hot that most of the cats we saw were sleeping in what shade they could find so my pictures probably look like ruins with dead cats all over! Heehee

After we had our fill of the cats we walked a few blocks over to see the Piazza Navona. It is a huge square that has been a center of activity since ancient times. In the 1st century it was the city of a great 'circus' or stadium where festivals, jousts and other sports may have taken place. It was also used as a market place until 1869 when they moved the market elsewhere. I would have liked to be a noblewoman between the years of 1652 to 1866 because every weekend in August they would flood the piazza and stage mock naval games for their entertainment! Today the piazza has 3 large fountains, many restaurants and cafes, is filled with artists and their work and is one of the most famous and lovely places to see in Rome. I was looking forward to seeing the 3 fountains but unfortunately the big one in the middle was completely encased in scaffolding and undergoing serious restoration. Ah well...it was still a LOVELY place to wander. Really FEELS like what you think of when you think of Italy.

The Eternal City....Rome!.(day 1, part 2)

2007-07-16T08:16:00.000-07:00

We walked out of the subway station to find the ruins of the famous Colosseum looming directly in front of us. Even having seen it before doesn't take away from the awe that this immense structure evokes. It is simply HUGE (50 meters high and 527 meters all around) and it boggles the mind imagining the ancient Romans constructing this place without the cranes and other modern machines and tools we would use today to build something similar.

Bill and I have both toured the inside of it before so were content to get photos of the outside and move towards the Roman Forum. The forum was the heart of ancient Rome and contains the all sorts of ruins from various buildings, monuments and walls that made up the political, religious and commercial center of the city beginning as early as 5C BC! Of course between then and now were many fires, wars, new religions, new rulers and other things that helped the forum evolve into its present state. It is hard to imagine how it must have been in its heyday.

It was VERY VERY hot all day and we were quite thirsty and tired by the time we walked across the forum. It was so dry that every little breeze created dust devils all over the place. Everyone was clustered in little pockets of shade. When we climbed the stairs that lead up to the Capital Square and the Piazza del Campidoglio we were almost at the end of our endurance. Bill said he was alarmed at how red my face was. There was a little spigot coming out of the wall with water coming out of it, we didn't know if it was safe to drink or not, but saw no signs saying that it wasn't (being used to seeing "Kein Trinkwasser" signs in Germany) and people drinking from it and filling their waterbottles. We were so thirsty we decided to take the risk. I heard someone say "We will find out in about 20 minutes if it is OK or not!" The lady who ran our Bed and Breakfast told us that these are called "nose fountains" or "il nasone" and the water that flows from them comes through aquaducts and channels out of the mountain springs outside the city. Thank you ancient Romans!!

The Eternal City....ROME! (day 1, part 1)

2007-07-15T13:52:00.000-07:00

This past week Colin had his week of Boy Scout camp so Bill and I decided to take a little vacation of our own. RyanAir flights to Rome were too low to pass up so we found a nice Bed & Breakfast near the Vatican City and packed our comfortable shoes and some clothes, our cameras and BIG memory cards and hit the road! The first thing we did once we dropped off our bag at the B&B was stroll over to see St. Peter's and hopefully get in to see the Vatican museum and Sistine Chapel. (When Colin and I visited Rome a few years ago it was only a few days and the museum was closed...we were SO disappointed!) When we walked up to the walls of the Vatican City we were dismayed to see the LONG line of people leading all the way to the next street corner, then around it and down the block...and on and on until almost the gates that lead into the Piazza of St. Peters! It was very hot and we decided to skip the museums for now and plan to get their early early the next day and hopefully not have to wait as long. The Piazza is SO big and the effect of all the columns, fountains and statues and of course St. Peter's Basilica is just overwhelming. Pictures really do not do it justice....I actually didn't take very many because I wanted to get one to really capture the feeling I had but couldn't figure out how to do it.

The Vatican City is policed by the elite Swiss Guard, the worlds smallest army. And they aren't just stage dressing. They are sworn to protect the Pope even if it means putting their lives on the line. Each one is trained in hand to hand combat as well as how to fight with halberds (those big spear/axe things some of them hold) and swords and other more modern weapons that we usually associate with the military. They wear colorful uniforms that are said to have been designed by Michelangelo. I guess they must be brave if they are willing to go around wearing blue and orange striped knickers and jacket with a huge ostrich plumed hat.

Before we could go inside St. Peter's basilica we had to go through a couple of different checkpoints while we stood in line. The first was a metal detector and the second was kind of a dress code check. They are very strict about people dressing properly inside the churches in Rome and do not allow bare shoulders or skirts or shorts that are over the knee. Some people slipped through since it was very crowded and those who were turned away were NOT happy about this. Ah well...there were plenty of signs to let them know what was allowed.The interior of St. Peter's is IMMENSE! It is so large that it can handle 20,000 worshipers, I am glad there were not that many the day we were there, but there were a lot of people visiting.

The first thing I wanted to see inside was Michelangelo's Pieta. It is a beautiful marble work that depicts Mary cradling Jesus's body after the crucifixion. One thing that makes this sculpture unique is that it is the only work that Michelangelo signed. He overheard someone say that it was not his work and that of another sculptor, so he carved his name and that he made it in Florence into the sash that Mary wears.

After we viewed the Pieta we wandered around in the rest of the church, craning our necks to the ceiling, taking in every detail we could. There is SO much to see! I was fascinated to learn that there are very few frescos or canvases in the basilica but many extremely intricate mosaics instead. Looking up at Michaelangelo's dome from below it is hard to imagine that the beautiful figures that decorate it are formed out of hundreds of different colored tiles. I made sure to take a picture of one of the mosaics and also a closeup shot so you can see the individual tiles. Amazing!

After we were finished at St. Peter's we headed to the subway to make our way towards the center of Rome. I will pick up the travelogue there tomorrow. Caio!

How does your garden grow?

2007-07-07T12:23:00.000-07:00

With all the rain we have been having over the past weeks my garden (and the weeds!) have been growing nicely. We finally had a sunshiney day this week and I wasted no time getting out into the garden to clean out as many weeds as I could before the clouds rolled in again. Weeds wait for no man! Since things were looking all ship shape I took a few pictures. Hopefully I can update in a bit and have MUCH bigger plants and tons more blossoms on the flowers to show off. Most of the flowers I have are either perennial or 'volunteer' flowers from the ones I planted from seed last year. I love how many come up AND not having to buy plants, but it is SO hard to be patient and wait for them to grow big and bloom.

Happy Birthday America!!!

2007-07-05T07:48:00.000-07:00

With all the rain we have been having I wondered if we would be able to do anything yesterday but the weather cooperated for the most part so we headed out. In Mannheim (about 1/2 hr away) the base there is having a big "fest" that is open to the public as well as the Americans. There were rides and games and food..you know, all that you know and love in a carnival! Colin had been wanting to go all week so we went there in the afternoon. We were lucky because it wasn't very crowded at all, I guess they were waiting until later on closer to dark. It was really fun...we all rode some rides (Yes even Bill!) and played some games and won some prizes and ate some good food. Whoohoo!

Colin had to be back in Heidelberg by 7PM to take part in a flag ceremony put on by the American Legion. In the field behind the library they had a huge party kinda thing set up with food booths, a dunking tank, a jail you could pay to lock people up in (it was funny watching the MPs chasing people all over the place to "arrest" them!), stuff to buy and lots of people set up with BBQs and lawn chairs waiting for the fireworks show at sundown. The flag ceremony had a 50 cannon salute, one for each State and they had Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and other youth carrying the flags from the States and then posting them. Colin carried the Connecticut flag. Go Colin!

It was getting close to dark when we were finished with the flag ceremony so we picked up some dinner (Gyros sandwiches and fries) and then drove off the base and through the country roads around the back of the base so we could watch the fireworks from there and not have to fight with traffic when they were finished! We do that every year and it is SO nice! It rained just a little bit, but we opened up the back of the Jeep and stood under it and were just fine. The fireworks were great, we saw some kinds that we hadn't seen before..oooooh....ahhhhhhh!

Johannisburg Palace in Aschaffenburg

2007-07-02T11:47:00.000-07:00

Sunday we woke up to something amazing...blue skies and no rain! We grabbed our cameras and headed out to find something to see and ended up deciding to visit Aschaffenburg and tour the castle there. The town sits right on the Main river and the castle is in the middle of town on a bluff overlooking the river, a perfect vantage point for sure. In medieval times the castle was a fortress but fires destroyed most of the original construction except for the keep which is still a part of the building today. It is a MASSIVE structure constructed to be the second residence of the electoral archbishops from Mainz. The archbishops of Mainz were VERY important in political and religious affairs. Wikipedia says that he would be the substitute of the Pope north of the Alps. This changed in 1803 when many parts of Germany became increasingly secularized. Unfortunately the Palace was severely damaged in WWII and had to be almost completely rebuilt. It is always very sobering when we visit these beautiful buildings here and discover photographs of their destruction in the war. It is hard to imagine the amount of money and work it took to rebuild so much history. Fortunately the people had the forsight to safely hide away the art and other treasures so they were not destroyed.

Inside the palace we were able to see some of the Princely Apartments furnished as they would have been in the last 18th century. Other exhibits were the worlds largest collection of cork architectural models. They were interesting in both their scale and in the amount of detail. Most of the models were of Roman structures..and all out of cork!

Other parts of the museum had all sorts of porcelain and china articles, furniture, exhibits about industries in the town, weapons and this unusual carved sled that we were all fascinated with.

After we visited the palace we took a short walk through the gardens to a unique building called "the Pompeiinam" which was commissioned by King Ludwig I. It was to have been inspired by excavations in Pompeii and have the feel of a mediterranean villa for art lovers to come and see the masterpieces within. We weren't able to go inside because it had already closed...another day!

Favorite Castle

2007-06-25T07:56:00.000-07:00

You probably are thinking that we visited our favorite castle this weekend. Actually it would be TOO hard to choose one favorite...but this castle is named "Schloss Favorite" or "Castle Favorite". It was built as a summer residence by the Duchess Augusta in 1710 near the town of Rastatt where their principal residence was located. Schloss Favorite is often called a "porcelain palace" because many of the walls, fireplaces and different places in the palace are covered with over 5,000 handpainted porcelain tiles, each one unique. They reminded me of the blue and white tiles we usually associate with Delft Holland but our guide told us that these tiles were from Nuremburg and were blue because at that time that was the only color they could fire.

Another thing that makes this castle a treat to visit is that it was never bombed or otherwise destroyed so the decorations, floors and ceilings are 70% original. Each room was different than the others, and just when you thought you found the one you liked the best we would go into another. One had hundreds of mirrors decorating the walls and ceilings of the room and painted portions and little shelves with porcelain and china vases and things. Another was a 'game cabinet' and was all done up in black laquer. The floors throughout the castle were either made of wood polished smooth by years of slippered feet or a unique kind of faux marble called scagliola decorated floor that we were not allowed to walk on because of it's delicate condition. We were only allowed to take pictures in the great hall in the center of the castle where they would entertain guests. It is 3 stories tall and is awe inspiring.

Once we finished our tour we took a nice stroll through the wonderfully landscaped gardens and enjoyed looking at all the different kinds of trees and waterways. Bill and Colin found someone's cork and toothpick boat stuck in some reeds and rescued it. Boys will be boys! I came upon a mother swan resting with her adolescent 'ugly duckling' babies and one started to come over to me but got startled and they all headed for the water. Phooey..I thought I was going to get to pet a swan! Ah well.

A Midsummer Nights Dream

2007-06-19T06:46:00.000-07:00

Last night we attended a special presentation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Nights Dream performed by the American Theatre Troupe in the courtyard of Heidelberg Castle. We got some great seats front and center since we got there early and enjoyed the atmostphere of the castle as the actors set up the stage and the rest of the audience arrived. I had never seen a Shakespeare play and wasn't sure what to expect, but we had read a synopsis of the story online before we went so we would have some background. The way they interpreted the play was so fun and interesting, we were not the least bit confused OR bored. Bill and I got some great pictures of the performence and we all agreed that we would love to see another play like this again. Colin said "I can't wait to find out about MORE Shakespeare plays!"

850 years!

2007-06-18T04:32:00.000-07:00

This year marks the 850th year that the town we live in, St. Leon, has been in existance. Yes, 850...that is NOT a typo! That means that the town we are living in is 619 years older than our country! It is hard to even get my head around that. There was a street fest all weekend long, and on Sunday afternoon was the big event, the historical parade. The first entries in the parade were honored guests who were either walking or riding in coaches.

After all the dignitaries rode past we were treated to a trip through time beginning with the Stone age.
Once all the cavemen and women (and kids) went by we moved into Roman times with soldiers and others wearing tunics and other Roman garb, isn't this little one a cutie??

The next event in the history of St. Leon was when the Bishop of Speyer turned over the land (I'm not sure to whom, it is hard to translate the history). They had a float depicting this.

This was followed by several different walking groups showing traditional clothing from the 15th and 16th century. Mostly women who are going to the markets.

There were a few different bands with colorful uniforms and flags interspersed throughout the parade. I loved watching them twirl them around with one hand above and around their heads. I am sure their arms must have been VERY tired!

Our friends the Nichol's family lives right on the parade route so they invited us to watch the parade from their home. Their son Jack shared a window with me.

The next people in the parade were the children who attend the town Kindergarden. Their banner said they were celebrating the 125th anniversary of the school. The kids were so cute carrying their brightly decorated pretzel sticks and some on their bikes.

Following the cute little kids was a group of people dressed up in the clothing and wigs from the Baroque age. I bet they were glad to return to our time at the end of the parade and get out of those hot costumes!

The next group was a lively bunch of men who were depicting some of the events in the Peasant's war. They carried rifles and shouted "Revolution!!!" as they went by.

The next part of the parade that I have pictures of was a tractor pulling a wagon with a mock asparagus (or spargel as it is called here) field. Our next door neighbor until last year was a spargel farmer and he was driving the tractor. Hallo Herr Gromlisch!!!

Following this was a lot of old tractors and machinery showing the beginnings of the age of Industry. I love looking at all the old farm stuff.

The next group of people in the parade were the construction workers who built the New Catholic Church. The outfits these men are wearing are still often worn today, usually by young people who are doing their apprentice work and travel around the country looking for places to learn their trade.

The builders were followed by a group of men who were depicting some of the last ones to return home from the War and also some women who I assume represented wives looking for their lost husbands.

The last entries in the parade were showing what kinds of clubs and activities you can be a part of in St. Leon today. There were soccer and volleyball clubs, other sports clubs, a dog club, horseback riding club....many many different ways to join in with people who like the same things you do. I thought the whole thing was very exciting, it was fun to see everyone dressed up waving their little flags. The people along the parade route decorated the front of their houses with tree branches and flags and bunting and streamers too. And look....even Colin got into it...that's him with 2 flags stuck in his hat! (and shhh....there is Bill with HIS camera too!)

The frogs are marching one by one hurrah..hurrah...

2007-03-27T04:36:00.000-07:00

Well actually they are marching two by two! During this time of year the frogs and toads and other amphibians are making their way to lakes and ponds to mate and lay their eggs. Here in Germany the people are very concerned about making sure the little critters make it there alive, and since many need to cross busy highways to get to the water there are all sorts of fences and speed zones and even tunnels built to accomplish this. The website for our area says that there are 21 different kinds of amphibians here and 14 are on the list of threatened species. They say that if there are 60 cars going by every hour they are likely to kill 90 percent of the frogs trying to make it across the road. There is a group called NABU that organizes groups of volunteers all over the country to walk along the fences and collect up the frogs in buckets and help them across the road. I haven't been able to get a photo of any frogs this year, but I read on another website that the weird weather we have had this year has caused the numbers of frogs collected by the workers to be way down. Here is a photo of the frog fence just outside our town though.

3rd Place!!!

2007-03-16T05:20:00.000-07:00

I so can't believe that I made it that far in the Survivor Challenge at Scrapbook Chalet. The voting this week was SOO close! Because of the time difference it would have been 2AM for me when the polls closed so I didn't wait up to watch exactly how it went but when I was still up it was neck and neck constantly. I would get a vote and then next thing I knew there would be a tie and then someone else would be ahead by one etc. I honestly don't know HOW people chose who to vote for because all 3 of the layouts were top notch, but someone had to go and this time it was me. But remember...the last 3 of us are all winners! I will be recieving a prize too! This is the first time I have tried any contest like this and I had a great time meeting new people and stretching myself and trying some new techniques. I really think I did some of my best work during this time. WhoohooO!

For this last week we were given a sketch from Pencil Lines to work from. It was a TOUGH one with lots of photos! Click HERE to see it. I decided to do mine on the theme of My Favorite Things. It just popped into my head as I was falling asleep the night after we were given the sketch. It took me awhile to find the pictures I wanted and figure out how to fit them in and not look too crowded or busy. Letting a few of them sit at random angles and leaving a white border (on some it looks like a polaroid) helped a lot I think. The part that took the longest was the sewing. I REALLY liked how it added to my layout last week so I knew I wanted to include it on this one as well. I created a kind of 'crazy quilt' design and did a lot of zigzag looking stitching to make that happen. And since I hardly ever get to do flowers with all the boys in our house I HAD to take the chance to add in some 3D ones like Jeanne makes! I used my new Stampin Up stamps on patterned paper and cut them out and played with them til they looked right. FUn! Anyway...enough talk....let's see that layout!!

I want to wish Hard Core Scrapper and Shawna17 the best of luck in this final round!! Laura gave them a TOUGH ad challenge and I can't wait to see how they interpret it! Come see and be sure to vote next Wednesday and see who wins the Cricut!

If you thought this looked like fun....Laura is gearing up for ANOTHER awesome contest this Saturday! I know I will be playing...what about YOU?!!

No WAY!!!!

2007-03-08T12:50:00.000-08:00

I am SO tickled! I made it through to the last week of the Survivor Contest at Scrapbook Chalet!! I still can't believe it. Thank you thank you I can't say it enough to all the ladies who voted for my layouts. I am still pinching myself! Next week 3 of us, Me, "HardCoreScrapper", and "Shawna17" will be working with the same sketch to see who is the winner. The 1st place prize is a CRICUT! 2nd place winner will receive a 50 dollar gift basket from Scrapbook Chalet and the 3rd place winner a 25 dollar basket. We are all winners!!! This is so exciting, I certainly didn't expect to get this far.

For our Challenge last week Laura paired up the remaining 8 contestants and had us scraplift a layout from the other person's gallery. Margo and I got to scraplift each other. I chose to use a layout she did of her dad because I liked the layering and stitching and doodles on her layout.

Here is Margo's layout:

Here is my layout:

and yes....just like Margo I don't have a sewing machine....so all that sewing you see on both our pages, yup...hand done! My fingers are still fussing at me for that but I think it was worth it! Whoohoooo!!!

Still Surviving!

2007-03-06T04:11:00.000-08:00

I have been lazy in sharing my work in the Survivor Contest I am playing at Scrapbook Chalet. Sorry! Yup, I am still in it. Every week the list gets shorter and shorter...5 gals at a time. Wednesdays are real nailbiters!

The challenge for Week 6 was for us to create a layout using:
3 patterned papers, plus the cardstock
Atleast 2 photos
1 jounaling block
Atleast 10 embellishments (flowers, brads, buttons, metal, etc.)

I usually use at least 3 papers so that wasn't too tricky...but making sure I had at least 10 embellishments was the real tough part for me! I ended up doing my layout using the photos and story about 3 Kings Day. There was plenty of stuff to journal about and I made a crown with 'bling' on it to count as some of the embellishments. I really like how the whole thing came together. I guess everyone else did too cuz I wasn't voted off!

The challenge for last week was a scraplift challenge. Laura gave us 2 layouts done by Leslie Ashe and let us choose one to scraplift. I loved this one she did of her son, it was bright and fun and had a lot of energy. I used a picture of Jeffrey right after we let him get his hair dyed blue. He was so happy and proud of himself and everyone was commenting that they couldn't believe we let him do that. My reply was always "its Just Hair!" (and that really proved to be true...unfortunately for Jeffrey the dye they used wasn't as permanent and he would have liked and in a few weeks he was blonde again.)

This last week Laura opened up the last bit of the voting to everyone on the site because there was a HUGE tie. She said that everyone will get a chance to vote this week too!

It's off to France for the day!

2007-03-02T12:57:00.000-08:00

Wednesday Bill took the day from work to join me on a USO trip to the Potter's Village of Soufflenheim just across the border in France. This was part of my Valentine's Day gift from him and was a rare treat for me to have him all to myself for the day. Soufflenheim is famous for its pottery and has been populated with potters since the Emperor Barberrouse granted the guild the exclusive rights to the clay in the neighboring forest. The streets are lined with halftimbered houses and little signs directing people to the various pottery shops and workshops throughout the town. The type of pottery that they make in Soufflenheim is a glazed type of pottery with hand painted flowers or other designs. It is made to be used 'everyday' as one of the potters told us. It can be used in the oven, in the microwave and even on top of a gas stove. I bought a few smaller pieces to go with the larger lidded casserole dish that I already have.

My Celebrity Look-alikes

2007-03-01T07:21:00.000-08:00

My cool celebrity look-alike collage from MyHeritage.com. Get one for yourself.

Narri! Narro!

2007-02-20T12:47:00.000-08:00

You are probably wondering what kind of nonsense I am using for my title this time! Don't worry...it really does make sense..in a fun nonsensical kinda way! It is the funfilled time before Lent (depending on where you live you may call it Carnival, Mardis Gras, Fasching, Fastnacht...) and that is what you hear the people in and around the parade shouting to one another. It is different in different places, when we went to parades in Mannheim we would all shout "Ahoi!" at the floats and clowns, and in Heidelberg most people yell "Hellau", but in the Black Forest where we went for Fasching this year they yell "Narri! Narro!" back and forth. We drove down into the Black Forest Sunday morning and came upon 3 or 4 different parades in the villages that we went through. Each town or village has it's own traditional "Fools" or "Narren" as they call them. The costumes and masks that they wear are specific and never vary. We saw witches, animals, and other folk characters of all sorts. The towns were decorated with streamers with colorful strips of cloth tied to them and crisscrossing the streets and many of the businesses and homes had flags with a picture of the local "Narren" depicted on it. Before we checked into our guest house we stopped in the town of Villigen and noticed a group of people gathering around the town hall (Rathaus) and waited to see what would happen. As it started to get dark a band carrying torches came and chanted for the mayor to bring the key out. He finally came out onto the balcony and turned the key to the city over to the Narren so the celebrations could begin.

Monday we went to the town of Schramberg to join the thousands of other visitors to watch the "Da-Bach-Na-Fahrt" where 40 groups float their decorated, themed rafts down the river that flows through the town. We were a few hours early and got a good spot on one of the bridges spanning the river so we could get some photos. What a fun spectacle it was! Not all the participants made it through without falling in the water, and lots more came close to capsizing or getting stuck on the banks.

Once the boats had all gone by everyone walked over a block to the main street where we assembled to watch the big parade. Groups of Narren from villages all around march through the streets and throw candy, confetti, straw, oranges, and just have a great time playing with the spectators. They don't stay in the middle of the street either, we had several of them sneaking around behind the crowd and startling people back there. I even watched one climb up a makeshift ladder that his cohorts were carrying and climb in a window to tease the people watching from what they THOUGHT was a safe vantage point! We had a wonderful time and if you are anywhere near the Black Forest during this time of year I would DEFINATELY make it a must see event.

Design Team on Parade!

2007-02-07T06:05:00.000-08:00

All of us on the Scrap That Moment Design Team (except those directly involved with CHA) have been working hard all month on our projects using products from the SEI "such a boy" collection and this week is our week to shine! If you haven't already visited That Gallery you are really missing out on some great work. Every day this week a few designers will upload their goodies into the gallery, so be sure to come back and see what's new!

My first project was an altered CD case that I made for our son Jeffrey who is living at Boys Town in Nebraska this year. He has made so many amazing changes and his attitude is so different it is just miraculous. When he was here this past Christmas Bill got a photo of Jeffrey and me together that is one of my favorites. He looks so genuinely happy in it and we are so close to each other. This photo just would not have been possible even 7 months ago. I wanted to express this to Jeffrey and let him know how proud I am of him and how much we love him and always have, inside the little envelope is a gushy note saying this to him.

My next project features our son COLIN! He is a drummer in the band at his school and loves to play the tympani. Every concert they have given this year he has played the tympani and nobody else. He sometimes plays other percussion instruments, but if there is a tympani part that is where he is. He told me that is because he "is a tympani specialist". His band teacher told me she doesn't let any of the others play them because Colin knows what he is doing and does it well. I love how the paper matches the color of the drums and also how the circle paper mimics the top of the tympani.

Not to leave anyone out...for my third project I used a photo of Bill! Remember that big wind storm we had a few weeks ago? The wind continued to blow for a few days after that so when the weekend came we all took Colin's kites out to the fields near our house to see if we could get them off the ground. (We had tried once before with his stunt kite and had no success) It was PERFECT! Both kites seemed to take off on their own. We all took turns flying each one but it is clear we all enjoyed the double line stunt kite the most. Yep...we are all kids at heart!

Out of my comfort zone!

2007-02-05T16:26:00.000-08:00

Remember the Survivor Contest I am participating in on the Scrapbook Chalet web site? I am still in! Whoohooo! The challenge for us this week was a DOOZIE! We had to create not one, not two, but THREE items. Two of them were to be valentine cards and the third one is to do a canvas creation. I have made a few cards before but they are just not my thing...I guess I am just used to working on a larger scale and with photos or something. The canvas was something I have been wanting to experiment with, but also...a new medium for me, I wasn't even sure where to find one. Luckily it was a lot easier to find a canvas then I thought it was going to be. The subject of my canvas creation is a poem that my husband Bill had on a card that we had displayed. He asked me a few weeks ago to do something with it....this was perfect! I pulled out all sorts of goodies and just let myself go. It is a real collage of stuff. I like it!

The cards were a bigger challenge than the canvas really. I actually made one Sunday night but it just didn't 'click' with my when it was finished, so I went to bed and tried again today. MUCH better! I made one for Colin and one for Bill. (I made a special valentine gift for Jeffrey that I can show you tomorrow.) Colin told me today that boy's valentines should not have too much pink on them...and if they do have pink there should be more red and also a dark 'boy color' too. So I made sure to follow the 'rules' for his card. I think he will like the bottle cap embellishment...he is always picking them up!

For Bill's card I went with a simple bold design since that is what he likes best. It is weird how something so 'simple' can take as long as a complicated layout sometimes!! Ah well....I am happy with them both so lets keep our fingers crossed that the ladies who vote will like them too!

Snow snow..we have snow!!

2007-01-27T15:10:00.000-08:00

Yes Winter has finally graced us with its presence here in Heidelberg! Whoohoo! I wish I had photos to share with you, but the snow is actually very light and patchy and it is weird...it will fall for awhile, big fluffy flakes...then the sun will come out and melt it all and then an hour later it will snow somemore. Ah well... Today we pretty much spent the entire day inside because it just wasn't a very nice day outside. I made a pot of chili and scrapbooked the day away. I worked on some altered projects this time. The 3rd week of Scrapbook Chalet Survivor is here and I am still in it! Whoohoo! Our challenge this week is to do an altered item. Yesterday I went to IKEA and browsed til I found something that caught my eye. SO many cool things it was tough to choose, but I eventually narrowed it down to a kitchen timer and a cool little box with a lid. The kitchen timer I thought would be a unique idea...and it did turn out different, but I'm not sure if it is a winner and I wanted to do something not so brown this time. We will still use our timer though...for all sorts of things!

I spent the afternoon working on the little box. THIS I love! I will use it to hold my scissors and tape runner and Xacto knife and all the little scrapbooking essentials that I am having to drag out every time I want to work on a project. It is COLD in my scrapbook room, and I just like being out here where the TV and computer and everyone is, so I scrapbook on the dining room table. Works for me!

This next week is the big CHA convention and Lynette our fearless leader from Scrap That Moment is going to be there debuting some new goodies for Scrappy Chick. If you are there be sure to check out booth #543 and say hello! The rest of us who won't be in California are holding down the fort back at the website and having all sorts of fun challenges and games cuz you know when the cat is away the mice will play! Come and join us, you could win something fun! We are getting the whole family involved in this party...husbands and kiddos are invited to create too. It's the Design Team vs. everyone else (well we DT gals get to claim our family member's creations)...who will scrapbook the most??? Colin did his part last night...he did a scrapbook page about our trip to Dublin and even did some great journaling. Whoohoo!

Batten down the hatches!

2007-01-22T16:35:00.000-08:00

Actually this is old news...from last week, but I didn't have any pictures to go with it then so I didn't blog about it. Thursday we had a HUGE windstorm called Storm Kyrill. Click here to read more about it. Colin usually comes home from school in the evening when Bill picks him up from the youth activity center on base but that day he surprised me by coming home on the bus. He said that he felt safer coming straight home and that they had announced over the intercom at school for everyone to go right home and stay inside and not to linger near the buildings. I knew it was windy but had no idea it was THAT windy. I read that some gusts were up to over 125 miles per hour! We didn't see much damage around our area, but Saturday we drove north about an hour to pick up an Ebay win and saw a bunch of huge pine trees that had been literally snapped off like matchsticks and others that were uprooted. Scary stuff! I am so glad that we don't have any trees near our home to worry about and that no roof tiles came loose. Here are some pictures I took of the fallen trees and also a house on the edge of our town that DID get some roof tiles loosened. Yikes! I wouldn't want one of those to fall on my head!

I LOVE my town!

2007-01-21T13:03:00.000-08:00

Well here I am in the second week of Scrapbook Chalet Survivor...still playing, still creating, still survivin'! Cool! This week's challenge is to scrapbook about Your Town. The page must have 3 photos, 2 or more metal embellishments and 2 or more designer papers. How cool is that?! I was really excited because we are lucky enough to live in such an awesome town....Heidelberg Germany! Anyone who visits my blog is familiar with one of the photos I used on my layout, it is the same one as in my header up there with the bridge and castle on it. I decided to use a sketch to help me place my pictures and elements and I found this sketch on my friend Robin's sketch site Project Sketch. If you like sketches and haven't been there you really should cuz hers are great!

If you are interested in reading the stuff I wrote about Heidelberg on the scrapbook page here it is "Ahh Heidelberg, what's not to love? The beautiful Neckar River coursing through the narrow valley spanned by the Alte Brucke (the old bridge) and overlooked by the romantic ruins of the Heidelberg Castle. Strolling down cobblestone streets in the main pedestrian area, exploring narrow lanes and quaint shops, looking up at the architectural details that adorn almost every building, I hope I never get used the this."

Wish me luck!!!

2007-01-10T15:25:00.000-08:00

My online friend Jeanne invited me to come over to Scrapbook Chalet and take part in the big contest they are having right now that promises to "get your creative juices flowing and challenges to set your mind free". I have never tried anything like this before....but I am game! So wish me luck in Chalet Survivor!! There are some nice prizes being offered to the winners, but even if I don't win I will have fun and make some new scrappin' friends and best of all get some great pages done!

Our first challenge is coming from another cool site that a friend of mine has a hand in...Pencil Lines sketches (they are linked over there in the sidebar). We are all going to use the same sketch to create a layout from. Time to go looking through my photos and get some inspiration! What fun!!!

Here is the page I made for the first challenge. I am happy with how it turned out. The challenge for this week is to scrap where we live. Cool!

We Three Kings.......and also....on the 12th Day of Christmas....

2007-01-06T16:28:00.000-08:00

You might be saying "Wait a minute....she CAN'T still be singing Christmas Carols can she? Enough already!" Today is a holiday here in our region of Germany (and several others)..it is the twelfth day of Christmas, or Drei Konige Tag (3 Kings Day), the day of Epiphany. If you have visited here you may have noticed on most doorframes some chalked letters and numbers and wondered what they are. They are the initials of the 3 Kings C+M+B (Casper, Melchoir, and Balthasar) followed by the year which are written in chalk on this day every January. It is meant to be a blessing on your home. The star singers, usually a group of 4 girls dressed up as the 3 kings and another one who carries the star that they follow go around the town singing their 3 kings song and putting the blessing on the house. The homeowners usually give them some coins which are taken back to the church and sent to a charity organization and also some candy for the singers to share. The past few years we have not been home when the star singers visited our street, but this year we were lucky and we were home and I got some pictures of them. What an interesting and fun tradition!

Ahoy Matey!!

2007-01-05T15:53:00.000-08:00

Lookout ye landlubbers, here there be pirates!

The Speyer Museum of Palatinate History is hosting a special interactive exhibit for kids all about pirates. We visited the museum last month and saw lots of signs and things advertising that this exhibit was on its way and Colin was really looking forward to checking it out. He goes back to school Monday and I figured during his school break would be a good time to go see. I offered him a deal....if he would get his room clean before Friday then we could go see the pirates. (I am sure I am the ONLY mom in the world who has to resort to these kind of tactics RIIIGHT??? LOL) It wasn't an easy task...but I guess the prize was worth it to him because he rose to the challenge and did a great job cleaning his room.

The exhibit was almost all hands on stuff. Lots of mock ships and ship interiors and ropes and things to pull and push and all that. There were also plenty of chests of pirate garb around so the kids could get into character and have a great time. Some of the things Colin was a bit big for, but others he really enjoyed. It was interesting to try and figure out how the sextant was used, how to balance the old fashioned scales in the port office, imagine what it was like to be the captain or a lowly sailor below decks. There were also lots of different famous pirate ship models to look at and sails to hoist, wheels to turn and cannons to fire. What fun!!

Christmas Round 2!

2007-01-04T04:23:00.000-08:00

Yes I know that it is now January and 2007 and all that, but we had another Christmas last night at our house...whoooohoooo! Since Bill took time off from work from the 22nd until yesterday we haven't been in to the base where the mail room is since then and there were GOODIES waiting for us! The first box was for Colin from us, a pair of Heely shoes!! He has been asking for them for some time now and Colin doesn't often ask for much specifically so we worked extra hard to find them for him. (They are shoes with wheels in the heels that you can glide around on) It wasn't easy....Colin has grown SO much and his feet have grown too (of course!) They say that the Heely shoes run small so to order a size larger...Colin wears mens size 11 1/2 shoes and the biggest size Heelys come in is a mens 12. We couldn't find any one eBay in his size and a lot of the sites that sell them didn't have them in larger sizes and even then we weren't sure if the 12 would be big enough. He tried them on yesterday and they fit! Yeah! He will be trying them out today.

The next box was for me....it was the one thing that I asked specifically for, the 2007 Autumn Leaves scrapbooking calender! It has a different card for every day of the year with a project on each one and instructions and everything. Bill had to look high and low for it, and scrapbooking isn't his 'thing' so it wasn't easy but he found it!! I think that is so sweet of him!

I also got a box from Lynette Daniel...my 'boss' and friend and owner of Scrap That Moment, the site I am a senior designer for. I can't believe it but I have been working with Lynette for almost 3 years! One of the extra special ways she recognizes those of us who have been around awhile is to give us a month vacation each year from our project requirements. I opted to take mine this month since I knew Jeffrey would be here and I would want to use my time with him. What a surprise to get a box of products this month too. It is the sponser goodies that I would have gotten if I hadn't taken the month off....I didn't realize it was a PAID vacation!!!! Thank you Lynette!!! I can't show you pictures of the goodies because the sponsor hasn't been revealed yet, but come to Scrap That Moment and check out That Gallery next week and you will see all the wonderful creations the others have done.

The next box we got was for the whole family. It was gifts from Billie and her family in Florida. Billie is Bill's oldest niece and it was such a nice surprise to get a package from her. She sent a radio for Colin, a nice framed photo of your boys (WOW they have grown SOO much and are SOO cute!!!), and a special gift of 3 water jugs given in our honor to needy families in one of 26 different countries. It is a special program called America Unwrapped, check it out! Thank you Billie!!!!

Our last box was from my parents in Arkansas. It was FULL of snowmen for me (and a check!), a gift for Colin (and a check!), a gift (and check!) for Bill, and more goodies for all of us. Mom and Dad...you spoil us!!! I took a picture of my new snowmen before I introduce them to their new friends in the entryway, I think they will fit in just fine don't you?

Happy New Year!!!

2007-01-01T15:20:00.000-08:00

Wow I can't believe it is 2007! I gotta get a new calender on the wall here....right now I have a printout from the internet tacked up there. LOL
I haven't kept things here in blogland up to date during the Christmas holiday because I wanted to use the time to do things with my family and not hang out on the computer and miss out on them. Jeffrey had to go back to Nebraska on Saturday and Bill goes back to work on Wednesday (he thought it was tomorrow but they made Tuesday a holiday for Federal employees so he got a freebie!) I think I will bring this up to date but posted a ton of pictures with short captions instead of typing a ton of words and a few pictures. (I think I just heard some big sighs of relief!) So...here goes!

The first thing Jeffrey wanted to do when he got here was grab his skateboard and see if he still remembered how to do stuff. I guess it is like riding a bicyle cuz he had no problem at all at the skate park.

Here are the boys on Christmas Eve all curled up on the couch reading the Christmas Story from Luke 2 before heading off to bed. Couldn't you just hug 'em?

We all enjoyed some warm mugs of cocoa or coffee or gingerbread tea while the boys dug into their stockings. Colin opted for cocoa..with marshmallows of course!

Jeffrey always likes to help read the tags and hand out the gifts to everyone as we take turns opening our goodies. Hmmm...I wonder who that BIG one is for????

Once we convinced Colin that we would not be reusing the paper even if he did open carefully he started REALLY tearing into his gifts!

Jeffrey checking out one of his presents. It is a cool basketball video game that hooks up to the TV and you use the special ball it comes with to shoot and stuff and it 'sees' how you move to make the game work. I couldn't pass it up!

Most years Bill likes to make the boys work a bit to get their 'big' gift and this year was no exception. Here Bill and Jeffrey are trying to help Colin decipher his first clue.

Jeffrey's clue took him out to the kitchen where he and Colin figured out where to go next.

We always have a big Christmas dinner. I made a turkey this year with MOST of the trimmings. Of course we had to eat on the good dishes and have candles and drink sparkling cider from the crystal! The boys each proposed a toast...such gentlemen!

This year the town of Speyer extended their Christmas Market into a Christmas and New Years market so we made sure to go there since Jeffrey got here too late to go to most of them in the other towns. We all had lots of good things to eat and had fun looking at all the goodies in the stalls. And yes...Colin IS really that much taller than Jeffrey!

Since Jeffrey got a video camera for his 'big gift' he wanted to go downtown Heidelberg and video the castle and bridge and all. It is one of our favorite places to go so it didn't take much to convince us to do that.

We stayed downtown til after dark and I am SO glad I took my camera along too. Look at this great shot I got from the bridge! Who wouldn't love this view????

We wanted to be sure to do something special while Jeffrey was here so we got a room down in Bavaria and drove down to tour the castles Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau. We were all excited to find snow on the ground (not much but SO pretty).

Our first day we toured the yellow castle at the bottom of the hill. This is called Hohenschwangau and was where King Ludwig and also his parents lived. There was a telescope set up in his bedroom where he watched the progress of Neuschwanstein castle as it was built.

This is the view of the lake and Hohenschwangau from Neuschwanstein. Just magical!

This is the view of Neuschwanstein from the courtyard just before you go in for the tour. What a beautiful fanciful place...no wonder Disney modeled his castles after it!

Here is Jeffrey in front of the castle. I sometimes forget to get these 'touristy' kinda pictures but we need proof that WE were there right?

We walked up to the castle and back down instead of taking the horse carts they have. The lines were so long to get on one and we all felt sorry for the horses working so hard. We had to take a few breaks as we hiked. Here is Colin taking a breather.

Here are all 3 boys (men?) walking near the castles. Colin loves his big hat, I like it too...you can't miss him in a crowd!

There are not many pictures of me cuz usually I am the one behind the camera...Bill got this one of me and Jeffrey after dinner out one night.

Sooo....that's pretty much it. I think I covered everything that I missed blogging about over the past days. We had a wonderful visit with Jeffrey...he was such a pleasure to be around, it was hard to say goodbye at the airport. We talked to him on the phone today and he said there is snow in Nebraska and he is going to be trying out his snowboard skills. I hope he gets some video of it!

Arriving at Gate C, Terminal 1....

2006-12-22T07:15:00.000-08:00

...it's Jeffrey!!!! This was his first time flying all by himself and he doesn't mess around taking little hops...no way, he is flying ALL the way across the world alone! He arrived safe and sound from his flight from Omaha to Dallas to Frankfurt. We were all wondering how switching planes in Dallas would be but he handled it like the travel pro he is. Luckily the bad weather skipped over any of the places affecting his flights....lots of people are still sitting around in Denver wondering if they will get home for Christmas. We don't have any firm plans for our time together..just lots of hanging out and enjoying each others company for starters. Now let me get off of here and spend some time with my boy!

(not so) Little Drummer Boy

2006-12-20T12:12:00.000-08:00

Last night was the intermediate band Christmas Concert at Colin's school. We were treated to several Christmas songs played by the band, sung by the chorus and also a number of solos by members of the band. Colin is a percussionist in the band and usually plays the tympani. He calls himself "a specialist". He is definately easy to spot amongst the others! After the band concert we all went to the bowling alley for dinner (our usual Tuesday routine) since I bowl on my league and Colin has Boy Scouts at 7:00. I think tonight was the first night we all ate at home since last Thursday!

God Bless Us...Everyone!

2006-12-19T06:16:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful day we had yesterday! I picked up Colin from school and we mailed our Christmas packages to our family and friends in the States...lots of other people were in the Post Office doing the same thing so we stood there awhile, but the line kept moving and soon we were on our way. We headed to downtown Heidelberg to visit the Christmas Market. This is probably my FAVORITE thing about Christmas in Germany. All the lights, the people, the smells of the good food and drinks, the booths selling all sorts of gifts and decorations. It is a truly special and unique thing to behold. Colin enjoyed petting and feeding the donkeys and sheep that were there in a stall. He was a bit concerned about their big teeth reaching out for the carrots we were feeding them though! After we fed the donkeys he enjoyed a mug of warm milk and honey. We had never tried this before and it was DELICIOUS! One of the stalls we stopped at had all sorts of mechanical puzzles for sale. They let you try to figure them out and Colin amazed the salespeople and customers as he got the first one solved like it was nothing and then proceeded to show them how to do another one. The saleslady finally found one that stumped him, but I am sure if we had stood there long enough he would have mastered it as well. Fun!

Soon it was time to go pick up Bill from work and continue on to the main event of the evening....we had tickets to see a special production of The American Drama Group Europe performing A Christmas Carol in the Kings Hall of the Castle in Heidelberg. What a treat! It was very interesting how they managed to do the play with only 8 players depicting 32 different characters and a minimal amount of staging and props. They did a great job and we all enjoyed ourselves. I only wish Jeffrey had been able to join us for this. He will be here in only 2 days!! We can hardly wait to see him.

Another dream come true....

2006-12-14T14:28:00.000-08:00

You know how there are certain things you always dreamed of having but never really thought that you would actually get? Well for Bill one of them has been a Grandfather clock. Lots of people who live in Germany through the military buy new ones while they are here, but none of them really appealed to us..in the price AND the style department. Since we moved here this time Bill has become quite the eBay Germany shopper. He likes to browse through the antiques and furniture auctions and has won some very nice pieces for our home, including our bedroom set, several large cabinets and a secretary. This past week he won an old Grandfather clock! He has a friend who has a little pickup and helped us to pick it up tonight. The people who had it were very nice and we saw it running in their living room...what a beautiful chime it has! They said it had been in that particular spot for 20 years and they are selling it because they bought all new furniture and it was a much darker wood than their new things. We carefully removed the weights and pendulum and the door and drove slowly home with it. It is set up in our dining room now. We will level it tomorrow (it is late and Bill has to go to work tomorrow!) and soon we will be enjoying those lovely chimes!

In the meadow we can build a snowman....

2006-12-13T08:34:00.000-08:00

I just love snowmen! They are so round and happy and bright! I finally brought my collection out of hiding today. I have all sorts of them, soft, ceramic, wooden, metal and even a "Florida Snowman" (he is a nose,eyes and hat in a snowglobe). They are now in their winter home sitting on or around my bench in the entryway. I let them stay out until Spring comes because we all know snowmen aren't just for Christmas...they are WINTER decorations!

A little something for the teachers...

2006-12-12T06:30:00.000-08:00

I almost decided to be cheesy and get Colin's teachers storebought gifts this year. (The horror!) But Colin was set on us making something together for each one and I couldn't say no to that so we stuck with our original plan and put together sets of Marble Magnets for them. I had bought the supplies a while ago and let him use some of the marbles to make game pieces for a project he had so he was all set to do that. We ended up making 5 sets of 6 magnets and I altered some mint tins to put them in. We found those at a flea market...a huge case of empty mint tins, if Bill hadn't been there to keep me in line I might have bought the whole lot! It was a fun project and Colin and I like how they turned out. Hope the teachers like them too!!

We've come a long way baby!

2006-12-09T12:48:00.000-08:00

It doesn't seem possible...but we hit a major milestone with our Jeep today. We knew it would probably be this weekend so we had our camera ready to capture the moment....we turned it over. No....we didn't roll it, but the odometer turned over past 100,000 miles! It doesn't seem possible that our 'new' Jeep has been driven that far, but I suppose it has. We bought it, our first brand new vehicle ever right after Bill retired from the Army back in 2000. Since then it has been all over Germany, into France, Switzerland, Belgium, Lichtenstein, Holland and Luxemburg. It just seems odd to me...it is still very much our 'new' car!

Catching up with friends

2006-12-08T12:55:00.000-08:00

It is so nice to keep in touch with friends who don't live nearby...and even more fun when you get a chance to catch up in person once in awhile. We met our friends Andrew and Wendy several years ago when we were planning a trip to England. Bill searched Ebay for people renting vacation flats and found one that Wendy and Andrew had available nearby where we were going. In communicating with them about the rental we just hit it off and continued to correspond back and forth through email. We have since stayed in their home once, they have visited our home once, we have stayed in their vacation flat twice and met for dinner a number of times. Last night we had dinner together and it was such a nice time. They are in Germany for a short trip and we drove down to the Gasthaus they are staying in to share dinner. We exchanged Christmas gifts, hugs and laughter and then it was time to head back to Heidelberg since Colin has school today and Bill had work. I wonder when the next time we will get together will be??

Oh Christmas Tree

2006-12-06T05:54:00.000-08:00

Colin and I set up the Christmas tree Monday evening. We usually do that on the weekend after Thanksgiving but we were so busy running around that it had to wait until Monday. Bill had to work Monday evening since some soldiers were returning from the desert so it was just Colin and I. One of our traditions is that the first ornament to go on the tree, and that last to come off it when it comes down is the ornament named "Pierre" that Bill made when he was 5 or 6. Colin was worried about "breaking tradition" since it is Bill who places Pierre on the tree, but Bill entrusted him with this important job and assured him that it would be OK to do it this way so Colin finally accepted this.

Colin also suggested we try putting the tree in front of the window, we didn't think we had room for it to be there but we gave it a try and surprisingly it is workable. Whoever sits on the far end of the couch won't be able to see the TV but Colin pointed out that people sitting there are usually reading or doing something else so it doesn't matter. True!

It's Parade Week at STM!

2006-12-05T06:37:00.000-08:00

If you haven't visited the gallery at Scrap That Moment the first week of the month is ALWAYS the best time to pop in. The designers all parade their creations showcasing the sponsor of the month and this month we have all had the pleasure of working with SAKURA pens and markers! What fun! Instead of having all the design team share their work on one day we spread it out all week long...so don't forget to check back each day and see what has been added. Here's a peek at some of the projects I have been working on this month...if you wanna see the whole thing you gotta come see them in the gallery!

Our Last Day in Spain

2006-11-30T08:12:00.000-08:00

It was so hard to decide what to do with our last day, there was SO much we still wanted to see and we knew there was no way we could even begin to do that. We woke up to rain, but couldn't really complain because the forecast for our entire trip called for thunderstorms and we only got the one day of drizzle. We started out in El Puerto de Santa Maria and visited the city church briefly. There was a service of some kind going on so we didn't want to disturb things. It is a beautiful church inside and out.

Our next stop was a really cool Moorish Castle where Christopher Columbus is said to have stayed while getting ready for his trip to America. The guide said the next english speaking tour wasn't until 1:30PM and we just couldn't wait around for that so had to satisfy ourselves with walking around the outside of the walls and peering through the open front door.

We spent the next big part of our day walking around the white village of Arcos de la Frontera. It is a very dramatic village perched on the top of a limestone ridge. There are many tiny lanes of whitewashed houses and several stone churches and a castle poking up through the houses. We remembered driving through the buttresses of the church on one of the incredibly narrow roads the last time we were there, but now the traffic rules have that part of the village closed to outside traffic. Probably not a bad idea because we had to step up into doorways several times to avoid cars and even a bus so it is scary to imagine tourists driving there too!

We stopped at a grocery store for some sandwich fixings and headed down the road to Seville again. One of our guide books had some pictures of the inside of the Royal Palace called the Real Alcazar and we knew we had to try to see it. We REALLY wanted to get to Granada to see the Alhambra but there was just no way, so this would be our moorish architecture stop instead. We were NOT disappointed at all. What an incredible building. The rooms just seemed to go on and on and were full of amazing ornamentation and tilework. If they hadn't closed and shooed us out the exit doors I don't think we would have had enough of it.

The Dreamed City

2006-11-29T07:12:00.000-08:00

Friday we set out towards Ronda...a wonderful picturesque ancient city perched high on the mountaintops that was and is a favorite destination for all sorts of people including Ernest Hemingway who said "the whole city and its surroundings form a perfect romantic setting." The focal point of the city is it's "New Bridge" that was built in 1793 and is 98 meters high above the river and the gorge below. It is a beautiful and amazing structure that connects the two sides of the city. We started out tour of the city at the famous bullring. It is said to be the oldest and most beautiful stone bullrings in Spain. Unlike most bullrings it has a double roofed gallery so there are no seats open to the sun.

After we toured the bullring we started down the main street to marvel at the bridge and then went down past the palace of the Arabian King (in sad disrepair) to see the other bridges and the valley below. Every corner you go around is another photo waiting to be taken. I think I read in a tour book that every view is said to be the "best view" in the city...there just isn't a bad one! As we came back up the hill Colin and I decided to tour the Mine and Gardens of the Arab king. The mine is actually a water mine. They had a staircase dug out of the rock down to the river below so when the town was under seige they could still have access to their water supply. We read that they would have a line of slaves bringing the water up in skin bags. There were a few rooms cut out of the stone too, and the one Colin most wanted to see was the Room of Secrets, an oval room that if you stand at opposite ends and whisper you can hear perfectly what the other is saying...but a person standing in the middle can hear nothing. We tried it out and it is true!

After we rested a bit from our climb back up to the street level we wandered through more streets of the town and went in a couple of pretty churches...took LOTS of pictures and started to think about dinner. We ended up eating in this cute place right off the square and once we were finished with that it was dark out and we couldn't resist going back to the bridge to try to get some night shots. We hated to leave...but knew we had a long drive back ahead of us and another busy day coming up so off we went!

Get a piece of the Rock!

2006-11-28T05:53:00.000-08:00

At the top of Colin's list of things to be sure to see on this trip was the Rock of Gibraltar so we headed that way on Thursday. Part of our drive took us along the coast where we could see Africa just on the other side of the water. We stopped at an overlook to get some pictures and use the coin operated telescope. When Bill and I had visited there a few years ago it was so windy we could barely hold our cameras still enough to get a photo. It was much nicer this time. There was a couple of stray dogs and cats around the gift shop and one of the cats looked just like our Chaemi kitty did when he was younger. Of course I had to pet him and get a picture!

When we got to Gibraltar it took us quite a while to get onto the island. Gibraltar belongs to Great Britain so we had to go through a border crossing and there was a long long line of traffic going there also. Another thing that held us up was an airplane! The road into Gibraltar crosses the runway of the airport and a British Airways flight was taking off so we all had to wait for it to be on its way. We spent most of our day on what is called "the Upper Rock". This is a nature reserve that is home to about 250 wild Barbary Macaques who roam freely. I read that there is a superstition that if the monkeys ever leave the British will also (reminds me of the ravens at the Tower of London!) There is a wonderful natural cave that we visited and had lunch afterwards in the little cafe that is in the gift shop just outside the cave exit. The monkeys are all over the place up there and are very brave. While we were eating one came inside and was running across the tables next to us until the owner chased him out! You aren't supposed to feed them but the taxi drivers do and I am sure a lot of others do as well so they were sitting on cars and busses and watching everyone very carefully. The next place we visited up there was the Great Seige Tunnels that were dug out of the rock with picks and chisels and gunpowder in 1782. It was incredible to see how far they got through the rock using such primitive methods. There is a huge 30+ mile network of tunnels through the Rock that is still in use by the military today, most of them were dug during the time of the second world war. After we finished with the tunnels we drove down into the city of Gibraltar for a stroll. It feels just as British as it is, with Bobbies in their distincive caps on patrol, little red phone booths and post boxes and fish and chips shops. We hated to leave, but it was starting to get dark and getting a bit drizzly so we headed back towards our apartment.

On our way back we passed a GORGEOUS village perched on a mountaintop that we couldn't resist stopping in just for a bit. It is called Vejer de la Frontera and is one of the famous "pueblos blancos" or White Villages of Andalucia. We parked near the square in the center of the village and took a walk through some of the narrow streets. It was so quiet and beautiful and just whetted our appetites for our trip the next day when we planned to spend the whole day in one of the villages.

Ole' Spain!

2006-11-27T14:15:00.000-08:00

We are back safe and sound from our trip to Spain. It was a wonderful few days, but definately TOO few. It is SO beautiful and interesting and there just wasn't enough days or daylight hours in the days to see all we wanted to see. We flew into Jerez early Wednesday morning and drove straight to our rental apartment in El Puerto de Santa Maria, a village right on the beach on the western coast of Spain where Christopher Columbus prepared for his journey to the Americas in 1492. Our apartment was perfect for us and had a great view of the beach and harbor. There were orange trees all over the place covered in ripe oranges but the lady who manages the apartments told us they are all marmalade oranges and not tasty. Too bad!

After we got dropped off our luggage and picked up a few snacks we headed up the road to Seville, the capital city of Andalucia (the region of Spain we visited). The first place we toured was the bullring or "Plaza de Toros". Our guide told us all about how the bullfights take place and pointed out where the bulls and the matadors enter the arena and also the royal box where the Spanish royal family sits to watch the spectacle. We also toured the museum and learned about how bullfighting evolved and also about some of the famous and favored matadors who fought in Seville.

The next place we visited was the Cathedral. The Cathedral in Seville has the distinction of being the largest cathedral in the world and is a very beautiful and fascinating structure inside and out. Like many churches in Spain, the cathedral began its life as a Moslem Mosque in 1198. In 1248 the Christians regained control of Spain and the mosque was converted into the cathedral. The only parts of it that you can see this are in the courtyard with the oranges and in the belltower which was the former minaret. The cathedral is SO immense! I loved looking up and up at the ceilings and marveled at the huge organ. The many alters had an amazing amount of gold and silver decorating them and there were gorgeous paintings too. We were surprised to discover that Christopher Columbus's tomb is located in the cathedral. Try as we might...our pictures just don't do any of it justice.

After we came out of the cathedral we drove to the Plaza de Espana, a huge semi-circle building built for the Spanish American exhibition in 1929. There is a big fountain in the center of the square with a canal surrounding it. Beautiful bridges go over the water in several places and the bottom of the building has benches built into it decorated with ceramic tiles, one stall for each province in Spain. It was a wonderful picturesque place to finish up our day in Seville.

Gotta let me do a mommy brag!

2006-11-21T08:02:00.000-08:00

This morning they had the awards assembly for the first quarter grading period at Colin's school. They have the advanced band play a bit before the awards are given out and while everyone gets there. Colin is a percussionist in band and got to show off his tympani skills. He also got to go up on stage and get his honor roll certificate. Of course I had to be in the front row with camera in hand like a good 'mamarazzi'! Great work Colin!!!

I haven't had a chance to brag about Jeffrey yet. I have been waiting for pictures to go along with my words but I don't have any yet. He is doing EXTREMELY well at Boys Town! This first quarter in school he got all A's except for one B. Fabulous!!! He has also been active in band and was a part of the varsity marching band, playing the baritone. He has never done marching band before but really threw himself into it and had a great time playing during the halftime of the football games. He also is taking part in JROTC for the first time. He is on the drill team and has been promoted several times. His rank right now is Corporal and he is also acting as platoon sergeant! Go Jeffrey!!!!!! My parents will be visiting him over the Thanksgiving weekend and he will get to go to the zoo and the SAC museum. Mom will take lots of pictures and email them my way so next week I can show off with pictures as well as words!!

In keeping with our Thanksgiving tradition since we have been living in Germany, we will be going out of town this week. Gotta take advantage of these long holiday breaks and get out and see Europe! Our destination this time is SPAIN!! We will be leaving bright and early (well early...it won't be bright for a few hours yet) and we will return Sunday. Hope everyone has a happy, healthy and safe holiday!!! See you when we get back!!!!!!!!

The most fun job I ever had....

2006-11-20T08:24:00.000-08:00

Oh that is so Easy! Jozzie asked us to blog about the most fun job we ever had. I had every kid's dream job....I worked at ! Yup...I was a Toys R Us kid! I wore a silly orange smock with Geoffrey the giraffe on the back of it and did all sorts of things. A lot of the time I ran a cash register and that is OK, but I really liked working on the floor cuz you get to see all the toys up close and see the kids all excited and happy. I was in college then so it has been awhile, let see...the hot items then were the Fisher Price tape recorder, Teddy Ruxpin, Pound Puppies, Nintendo was new, Star Wars action figures, Transformers.... One of the best things about working on the floor was when someone came in wanting something specific and you helped them find it and they would be SO happy! The store I worked in was on the Chicago's North Shore...and I was ASTOUNDED at how much people spent on their kids there!!! The carts that came through loaded before Christmas...amazing! My kids think it is cool that I used to work there. It comes in handy sometimes too...cuz they used to want to mess with stuff in the stores (ride the bikes and stuff) and I would say it is against the rules and "I know cuz I used to work here!"

What kind of music do you like to listen to?

2006-11-18T12:53:00.000-08:00

What is you favorite band? Why? Tough question isn't it? Well a group of musicians and their techie pals got together several years ago and decided to try to figure it out. They figured they could break down any song into 400 different specific attributes or 'genes'. Over the past 6 years they have been analyzing the music of over 10,000 artists one song at a time. This has been and is the work of The Music Genome Project. Isn't that interesting? "Yeah, in a geeky sort of way I suppose it is, but so what?" you probably are saying to yourself. Because the Music Genome guys have crossreferenced all this data and using broadband technology they now provide a free streaming radio service to anyone who is interested. What you do is tell it the name of a song or a group you like and it uses the data it has on this song to bring up other songs that have similar attributes and let you listen to them too. You can set up to 100 different "stations" that start from different songs or artists. Once it starts playing a song it will tell you about some of its attributes, and later on you can ask it why it chose to play a certain song. If you don't like a song it is playing you can skip it, if you don't agree that a song "fits" you can give it a thumbs down and never hear it again. The more you do this the more you customize your stations. Don't expect to be able to put in requests or listen to the same song over and over again, that has to do with the licensing requirements and how they can let you listen to music free and all that. Sound like fun? I think it is...and they are categorizing new music all the time. So what are you waiting for...come check out Pandora Internet Radio.

What scrapbook item are you?

2006-11-13T14:57:00.000-08:00

Today's blog challenge on Scrap That Moment was for us to consider if we were a scrapbook item what would we be and why. Several of the gals were very creative in their responses but my creativity seems to be on vacation right now so I am going to cheat on this one and avail myself of a few cool internet quizzes to help me figure this out!

What scrapbooking item are you?

You are Fibers!Fun and crazy at times. You are a warm fuzzy kind of person. You run around getting things done but still find time for fun! You have so many diverse interests that it is often hard to pin you down to any one thing. People love your friendly attitude and carefree ways. You often brighten other people's days. But Fibers Beware - Sometimes people don't take you seriously because of your happy-go-lucky ways. Sometimes you find yourself feeling left out from decision making that could directly affect you. Even though you like to be happy and cheerful, make sure others know that you can also be serious and in tune with reality.
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Or perhaps we are wondering what Paper Collection I am?

Which Scrapbooking Paper Collection Are You?

You are 7 GYPSIES paper!Oh la la...you are sophisticated and enjoy fine wine and a candlelight dinner. You envision travelling the world someday. Your scrapbook pages are elegant and well thought out.
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Falling Water

2006-11-13T13:22:00.000-08:00

We decided to take a daytrip into the Black Forest in search of waterfalls. There is one that we have been planning to find but when Bill looked on the internet to get directions he came across another one that is closer to us and has the ruins of a 13th century monastery nearby so we decided to head there instead. The waterfalls are called the Büttenstein waterfalls and are the largest natural waterfalls in the northern Black Forest. They are actually 7 different falls that zigzag through the ravine down 270 feet. The forestry department developed the area in 1840 with stairs and walkways along the water so you can hike all the way up through the gorge. Mark Twain even wrote about this waterfall in his book "A Tramp Abroad" where he said "It is beautiful--a mixture of sylvan loveliness and craggy wildness. A limpid torrent goes whistling down the glen, and toward the foot of it winds through a narrow cleft between lofty precipices and hurls itself over a succession of falls. After one passes the last of these he has a backward glimpse at the falls which is very pleasing--they rise in a seven-stepped stairway of foamy and glittering cascades, and make a picture which is as charming as it is unusual." If it is good enough for Mark Twain then it certainly is worth a trip for us!

It has been raining here for the past few days so it was very wet in the gorge. There was water coming down from all different places besides the main waterfall and the trees were covered in moss and there were ferns and all sorts of green things growing on the rocks and trees. I was fascinated watching the water dripping and made it my goal for the day to get a picture of a drop of water stopped in mid-air. I am still learning how to use the different features of my camera and it was pretty overcast so this might have not been the easiest goal...but imagine my excitement when we got home and I uploaded my pictures to find THIS:

After we finished walking up and down the waterfall we drove up the road to visit the Allerheiligen monastery ruins. How fascinating! They were first built in 1297 and were used in different capacities, surviving fires and lightning strike until 1816 when it was auctioned off for demolition and was even used as a quarry until 1840 when the Ministry of the Interior forbid further exploitation of the ruins. It is cool to walk around a place like this and try to imagine how it was when it was bustling with activity and in all its glory.

After that we headed towards home via the Black Forest High Road. We had to take a short detour and drove through a small village called Ottenhofen where we passed a brown sign for another waterfall. We had time so of course we had to check it out! This waterfall is called the
Edelfrauengrab Wasserfälle which means "the grave of the noble lady". Apparently it is like the other one and is a series of falls and we were kind of tired from our earlier climb so we only went to the bottom cascade. It turns out this is the one that the falls gets its name from because there is a little cave carved out of the rock with a sign next to it telling the story of the noble woman. Apparently the lady was unfaithful to her crusading Lord Wolf von Bosenstein. She ordered her maid to murder the resulting sons (septuplets!), but her husband returned just in time and secretly prevented it. Later she was punished by being walled up in the cave to starve, but then to give her a merciful death the stream was diverted into the cave. Delightful story huh? Well anyway...it was worth the hike up to there and we may have to return another time to see the rest of the gorge. I played with my camera some more and got an intersting shot of the waterfall going past the cave. Cool eh?