Did I Ever Mention That I Love Spring?

We had a really nice and uneventful weekend.

We went to the farmer's market this Saturday. I found some lovely cheese, some really nice strawberries (that have been turned into really yummy freezer jam), fresh cilantro plants for my garden, and the famous white asparagus.

After the farmer's market, Spousal Unit made the mistake of wanting to go to the base to shop for a replacement printer cartridge. He didn't realise it would be a mistake. Poor man. The store is a Hodgepodge of everything. Toys, electrical equipment, electronics, fitness, and GARDEN. Guess which department I am interested in? Toys??

Bleeeep. Wrong answer.

The GARDEN Department. Flowers. Tomato Cages. Pots. Bamboo Poles. Fertilizer. Compost Activator. Hoes. Cultivators. Veggie Plants. Weed Whackers. Yup, we bought them all.

Well, the weed whacker is for the Spousal Unit. I declared that I wasn't getting on my hands and knees to do the trimming and our current weed whacker is very intermittent.

So Saturday afternoon, I spent many hours getting the plants into the ground and into pots. They look great and are also adjusting to their new environment.

Did I ever mention that I love Spring?

Move over Jack Bauer

I have yet another conversation with myself while IMing a friend.

What's up?
7:40 AM

Me
TabbyCat is Available
(7:54 AM)
OK I really like talking to myself, actually I like typing to myself. Ho hum now I am boring myself.
8:06 AM
OK I'm leaving for a moment. I need to refresh the Underground site to see if anyone is on yet. Not that anyone has been on. Just need to check.
8:08 AM
Nope not really any activity yet. Just a rant about the BX and fat lady clothes.
8:09 AM
I am getting rather good chatting with myself. Don't ya think?
8:09 AM
Yes, you are.
8:10 AM
So what do you want to do today?
8:10 AM
Oh I don't know. I should go to the commi and get some lunchmeat and salad fixins.
8:10 AM
And I need a new hose so I could go to Prakiter. Also look at the flowers while I was there.
8:11 AM
Oh the Euro store. I could check that out. Hadn't heard about that before.
8:12 AM
If I go to the commi, don't forget to put the cooler bag into the van, in case ya want to stop somewhere on the way home.
8:12 AM
Must not have had enough coffee this morning. Starting to get hungry. Way too early.
8:13 AM
Hmm. If I can hold off for a while maybe I can go out to lunch.
8:13 AM
Nah. Don't like to go out to lunch alone.
8:14 AM
Maybe someone might like to go out to lunch with me. I am really hungry for some soup and salad. And I heard of a really good restaurant up near Vogelweh. Nah. I still need someone to go to lunch with to enjoy it.
8:15 AM

I feel like I have my own version of 24. Move over Jack Bauer.

We Are The Ancients

One of the things I do to pass my time is to monitor a local chat room populated, for the most part, by local SAHMs. These are people that don't get out too much for various reasons. I have met some of the people on the site and they are nice gals. But.... they are soooooo young, with young children. As I said very nice, but I am at a different place in my life now. I do not have young children. I enjoy time with them, but they are not able to get out for adult time often.

Well the young gals schedule play groups at different parks and places for their children to get out and for them to have some grownup talk. I think this is great for them. It is not for me. So when one of the ladies mentioned that she is so Old I jumped on the bandwagon and mentioned that we need a play group for grown ups. Hence the Ancients. We scheduled a date and it was held this morning.

We got together for coffee a Laja's (Pronounced Lia -with a long I) house this morning. TabbyCat was riding with me and got a little behind on time because of traffic, construction, and that her GPS tried to send her down several cow paths. (Being from Georgia, TabbyCat thought that any path that is paved is a true road. Where she's from none of the roads are paved. So she was a little disoriented getting here.) Well she finally made it but was just a tad late.

I was ready for her when she got here and we just hopped into the van and took off for the coffee. I wanted to stop to pick up some flowers to give to Laja as a thank you for inviting us; we really appreciate the chance to finally get together; and it's just a nice thing to do, so I stopped at the gas station on the way and found a really pretty bouquet. It was a little disconcerting at first because it seemed that every bouquet had some red roses in it. Red roses are a no no. Red roses are for lovers. While I had met Laja the day before and think she is a hoot, and really like her, we are not lovers. Ah, then I found a perfect bouquet. Pinks and yellows. Just right for a Spring day. I purchased them and off we went again.

We arrived a little after 10:30 am. I called to let her know we were going to be a few minutes late. Laja is German and in Germany it is considered rude to arrive late. And, I do not like to appear as rude. She said, no problem since one of the other gals was lost. She would be outside to guide us all in.

We all arrived at the same time and introduced ourselves around.

Allison, Laja, She Who, and TabbyCat.

It turns out that I had met Allison several months ago at another friends house. I didn't remember at first and then the memory flooded back. Us old people have that problem from time to time, so forgive me.

TabbyCat took this picture before she figured out how to take a delayed photo. Its my camera, but she had to figure out the function. I just wish she showed me how to do it too.

I can't remember a time I had so much fun. We laughed and told stories for hours. Its like we collectively looked at the time and gasped..... had four hours passed so quickly????? Well yes it had. That's how much fun we had.

We plan on doing this again. Soon. I also hope that the other gals that wanted to join us this morning can make it next time. But for now:

We are the "Ancients."

After Dinner Schnapps

Spousal Unit made it back safely. Yeah I already told you about that trauma I went through getting him back home. Well, we went out to dinner the other night. At Da Toni's. Our current favorite restaurant. It also helps that we have a really good restaurant just up the street.

Both Spousal Unit and I were in the mood for pasta. The schnitzels are awesome, but sometimes we want something a little less. The schnitzels are huge, so we thought we were ordering something less. WRONG. The pasta is also huge.

Spousal Unit ordered the spaghetti Ala Forno. Not really sure what that is, but it sounded good. It is a tomato based sauce with lots of cheese and baked in the oven. Also a hard boiled egg is in there somewhere. Ya gotta eat it to appreciate it. I had the green, spinach noodles Ala Forno but I stirred them up before I thought to take a picture. Bad me, it looked a little funky when I took the picture, but tasted to die for.

The pasta was OMG, enough for three people.

Being Spousal Unit, he was up for the challenge. He finished his plate. Yeah, a new member of the clean plate club. He needs to walk a couple of more miles every day. Tee Hee.

Oh, the salads are also to die for. This is what our salad plates always look like after we eat them. He did slurp the sauce up again. I may need to chastise him. That is not public behavior!

Da Toni came by after we asked for the bill and sat down with us. He extolled us with the story that his parents were visiting from Italy and his Mother in law was giving him grief about having a couple of beers after the restaurant closed for the night. He said that he doesn't drink during working hours and can't a man have some down time? I think he's right.

Ya gotta love him. Oh, he also makes sure we always have an after dinner schnapps to send us home. A digestive, to make sure that the dinner settles correctly.

What Am I Supposed To Be Now?

I had a "fun" time picking up the Spousal Unit from the airport yesterday. NOT! I woke up a little late. I forgot to set the alarm. He was supposed to arrive at 7:00 am and I didn't wake up till a little after 6:00 am. It is an hour and a half to the airport. So I quickly got dressed. Put together a cooler with water and a soda for him and off I went. Did I mention that it has been raining recently? It rained hard most of the way up there.

Driving on the Autobahn is fun normally. Not fun with cars zooming past you going more than the 80 MPH speed limit in the pouring rain. The mist/splash from the tires is blinding.

Since it was so early in the morning, luckily traffic was very light. Until the exit for the airport. Five lanes of traffic needed to merge into 2 lanes of traffic. So traffic was a virtual stand still. Finally I made it through the traffic and into the airport. I went to the terminal that I "thought" I should be going to and YO, everything looked different than it did on Tuesday when I dropped Spousal Unit off. I parked anyway and went to the Arrivals area. No Spousal Unit. I checked the board and found out that his plane was arriving an hour late. Good, he won't have to wait so long for me to pick him up.

Bad, I am in the wrong Arrival area. I am also in the wrong terminal. OK, start to panic a little. I start walking to try to find how to get to the correct terminal. I find the Sky Train to take me to the correct terminal and board the train.

I finally find the correct Arrival area and there is no Spousal Unit there. The board doesn't even list his plane's arrival. More panic. I go back upstairs to the Departure area and wait in line to ask if his plane arrived. Am questioned about why did I want to know. I hand over my ID to show I am the spouse of Spousal Unit and am then curtly told "Yes, the plane arrived at the Arrival area listed on the board." Now a full blown panic attack. Where is Spousal Unit? This is a really, really large airport.

Decided to go back to the Arrival area and hope for the best. I couldn't go back home without the Spousal Unit. Luckily my pocket began to ring. I answered the phone and it was he. "She Who, where are you?" I told him and he asked me to go to a different Arrival area. Of course, he didn't tell me which specific Arrival area.

I go back down the escalator and start to look for him. This time I decide to go to an area and plant myself in a place where I could see both areas. A gazillion people in this area but hopefully he is findable.

Way off in the distance I see someone wave. Could it be? Yes, it was. My Spousal Unit. No where near where I was supposed to pick him up. But at least I found him.

What am I supposed to be now? A mind reader?

We Are Called The Ancients

I am still blown away by Susan Boyle. Yes, I have too much time on my hands. I must have listened to her audition 100 times. Her voice is awesome. I am so jealous. I have many gifts, but music is not one of them. I need to get over it.

Spousal Unit comes home tomorrow. I need to get up early to go to the airport. He arrives at 7:00 am in the morning. Dear me. That means I need to leave at 5:30 am. Not sure I can pull that off. I don't drive in the dark. I'll figure something out.

It's been really rainy the past few days. Really feeling down and yucky. I'll get past it, just having a hard time with it right now.

I have been on the groups a lot recently. We have a coffee klatch set up for Thursday. It is called the "Ancients" cause we are the old ones in the online groups. More to come on how it goes.

Susan Boyle - Cry Me A River - 1999 Recording (From The Scottish Daily Record Newspaper)

More Susan Boyle. I am still so OMG. I love her. I want to hear more.

Susan Boyle - Singer - Britains Got Talent 2009 (With Lyrics)

OMG, I am blown away. I may be getting on the bandwagon late with this, but I wanted to put it out there. I listened to it four times. Tears streaming down my cheeks, from the sheer beauty of her voice. Enjoy

Things I Miss

I am rather melancholy this evening. Spousal Unit is back in the States again and I am here by myself for the next few days. I was looking through a few of my photos and came up with these. A few things I really miss.

OMG were we ever so young? I miss my youth sometimes. I was a crazy teenager and gave my parent a lot of grief. They were young, I was young. We both grew up. I miss my parents.

Me, Dad, Reenie, Mom, and Chellie.

Mom and Mr. Steve. Mr. Steve is my step dad. I really like him and still keep in touch even though Mom has been gone for over 5 years now.

My Dirty Rotten Aunt Joyce. A pet name. She calls me a Dirty Rotten Kid and loving her the way I do, its right back at her. She is holding her great grandson. My cousin's grandson. I have been away too long. I forget his name. He is adorable and a handful. That is a family tradition. We are all handfuls.

I miss my boys. Yes, they are also handfuls. But, I still miss them.

Charlie.


Alex. In birth order. Not to confuse who I love more.


And, on a couple of lighter notes. I really miss my friends. Tammy and Timmie. I spend a lot of time with them this past Summer. How they put up with me, I don't know. But, I now have a Nellie bedroom when I come back home. I think. And.... I can look forward to their hot tub.

I also miss Destin. I love walking in the surf and falling asleep to the sound of the waves.

They Think Of Everything

Easter Sunday prior to dinner I wanted to go for my Sunday walk around the Ohmbachsee. I have come to value the walk, along with the time I get to spend with the Spousal Unit. I am enjoying my enhanced activities more and more. While I am not as fit as I would like, I am working on reaching my goal. It also helps when I get to look at views such as this.

The past week the landscape has just popped into Spring. Everything is blooming. I sooooo love Spring. It is a true rebirth.

The Germans, like the Dutch love flowers. Ever where I look Spring bulbs are in bloom. This is a field of daffodils. Spousal Unit wanted me to get a picture of the rogue daffodils that didn't stay within their color areas. I didn't want to trample the flowers to get a good picture of the rogues. If you look close you can see some of the yellow flowers mixed in with the white flowers. I say that's the way life is. A good mixture is best.

A closer look at the blooms.

And here they are just in your face. Did I mention I love Spring?

Oh, and because Spousal Unit loves me so much, he let me buy him a beer, halfway through our walk. Just to cool me down, of course. Ya gotta love the Germans. They think of everything. Putting a beer garden next to a lake, to let you appreciate all the good things in life.

Happy Easter Everyone

I hope everyone had a joyous and wonderful Easter. Kiss everyone you love and then go back and kiss them again, just because. Love you all and Peace out. Nell

Friday Randomness

I have been having a really big writer's block recently. Not much has been going on in my life at the moment and so I haven't felt the need to blog. The weather has been so glorious that this may be a contributing factor. I am outside for several hours just glorying in the warmth and sunshine. I like to watch the neighbor children play in the nearby yards.

On my walks around the lake everyone seem to have a spring in their step that I hadn't noticed in the past months. Germany in the Spring, Summer, and Fall is just too beautiful. Winter is
just too, too, too grey and gloomy.

Spousal Unit is working. I had hoped that he would be home early, but I guess not today.

Today is Friday. Yeah. Today is the last Friday of Lent. Really big YEAH!!! I'm not that much of a meat eater, but I am not a fish eater. So... Lenten Fridays leave me scrambling to figure out what to fix for dinner. Macaroni and cheese is not an option and there are only so many times I can serve grilled cheese and tomato soup, and get away with it. Spousal Unit doesn't grumble too often, but he has been known to grumble about that dinner choice.

Tomorrow I am looking forward to going to the Easter Market in a local town. The announcement for the market said that the town square fountain will be turned into a giant Easter basket. That will be interesting to see. Also, three life sized Easter bunnies will be handing out 1000 eggs.

I'll be back with pics.

Ya Gotta Live And Learn

I love bedeviling the Spousal Unit. I finished up the laundry and went outside to watch him finish the garden for me. (Gratuitous bun shot.)

As I mentioned to you a little while back, he tilled the soil and then, unfortunately, it rained. I really didn't want him to play in the mud, to finish off the garden, so we had to wait several days for the soil to dry out.
Our neighbor, Frank, gave me the idea to brick the outside of the garden. It creates a boundary for the grass, and with the brick at grass/soil level, it will be easy enough to mow and keep trimmed. Spousal Unit likes this idea, even though it cost a little more. Frank also has the "cinder" blocks at the back of the garden. That's where I am going to put my herbs.

Spousal Unit is getting rather good at household chores. When I first married him he thought a screwdriver was vodka and orange juice. He has learned a whole new vocabulary since he married me. 30 years ago. Woo hoo.

This is a picture of me watching Spousal Unit working. That's my knee. I am taking high speed photos of the man while he toils for me. I love it when he toils for me.

Curses. Foiled again. He spotted me taking his picture numerous times. He has the start of a grin and is threatening to either break my new camera or throw a brick at me. I know he won't do either, but I play along and take more pictures while laughing.

The man should have been an engineer. I throw projects at him and he finds a way to make them work. We both decided that when we come back to the states, we will brick around my garden there. We also determined that a bed of sand would have made the brick laying easier. Ya gotta live and learn.

So Claudia, My Whole Life Friend

A gal pal commented on my Facebook page, in a very sarcastic manner, that poor me was having the time of my life.  Yeah, yeah.  Living in Europe is a laugh a minute.  Actually many times and most of the time it is really awesome. I do love living in Europe.

But the reality of living here is blurred by other people's ideas.  I live here just like I would live at home in the states.  The week goes by and then the weekend arrives.  But in the states a job is a lot easier to come by.  So my reality is that I do not work at the moment.  I do not have any children to care for.  I am bored with my life most days. 

Since I do not have the boys here there is little for me to do during the day.  I no longer have the mountains of laundry to do.  There is only so much I am able to clean.  I could probably dust a little more often, but I have always felt that dust is a protective covering for the furniture.  I am not going to change that feeling anytime soon.

Yes, I play Suzy Homemaker for the Spousal Unit, but he is starting to gain some weight so I need to back off the cooking a little bit.  Though some banana bread sounds pretty good at the moment.

The weekends are great.  Spousal Unit and I try to do something every weekend.  It may only be a walk around the lake in town or a drive around the area.    We get out and we are together.

So Claudia, my whole life friend, yes, I am enjoying my life living in Europe.  But... I am ready for the Sabbatical from work to end.  

Suzy Moments

My veggies are all now repotted and life is good.  

Spousal Unit just got home so I need to get all Suzy Homemaker on him and go running down the stairs and exclaim, "Oh Sweetness, you got home so late, I was worried.  You obviously had a really hard and long day, let me get you a beer, (which I will pour perfectly to have the correct amount of head/foam) and you can relax and put your feet up.  Just relax dear while I finish dinner."

I Love Spring Time

The sun is shining and I don't feel like sitting here and try to figure out what to write for the night.  

So... I am going to go outside and repot my veggies.  The little babies are getting really big and need more "elbow" room.

I love Spring time.