Quickly from Winter to Spring

This past weekend may have been the last hurrah for winter here in our neck of the woods.  It snowed nearly all day on both this past Saturday and Sunday which made for an interesting frozen-slush-on-the-road drive to work on Monday.  Ah, but how quickly things change.  Today temperatures reached the low 50's and there was a little hint of spring in the air.  Most of the snow on the ground is gone now, the grass finally reappearing after spending nearly four months tightly tucked under a cold, white blanket.  As we usher in a new season here in Germany, I'll fondly think back on this past winter, the first real winter I've experienced in four years.  Yes, I do realize that most people think I'm a bit off in my longing for cold and snow, but in a week or two, when the inevitable and nearly constant rains return, I'll inwardly chuckle at the fools who curse winter when their complaints begin regarding the dampness and 'bone-chilling' wetness that marks the German spring.  Ah, yes, it's springtime for Hitler in Germany, indeed.

A few pictures from last Saturday morning and one from this evening to illustrate the quick change in the weather.

Sunrise this past Saturday

   














Then the snows came and came hard

The front yard today (Wednesday).  Good bye snow!

A Little Fun from this Weekend

After the long trip to and from Switzerland last weekend, Dawn and I decided to stick around Parsberg this weekend.  We both needed to recover from our illnesses and we had a few things backlogged at home that needed taken care of.  Still, wed did manage to get out and have a little fun.  Here are a few pictures of Dawn standing in a field covered with snow and a couple of animations, something new I decided to try out for fun. 

Dawn in a Field

Animations

Another Weekend has Slipped on by.................

I've got to keep this semi short.  After a great, very early morning of shooting pictures with Dawn and Osu in the fog and the snow on Saturday, my back went out on me.  Sure, I had no problem breaking down boxes, packing up the recycling, helping dawn carry a 27" TV to the car.  However, just trying to move the already placed TV a bit further back in the RAV resulted in an extremely sharp pain and me crumpling over immediately.  After coming back home from dropping things off, I carefully laid on the couch in the most comfortable position I could find.  Later, I tried to get up.  It was nearly impossible and horribly painful.  We eventually did track down a doctor on duty (rare in Deutschland on a Saturday) in Velburg, driving there quickly so I could receive a shot of something and a prescription for some weak German meds that have done nothing to really alleviate the pain or help my back.  After a restless four hours of sleep last night, on the couch none-the-less because I can't walk upstairs, my back does feel a bit better today but not much.  I'm going to try to go in to the clinic on post tomorrow so I can maybe find out what's wrong.  The German doctor offered no exam and no diagnosis - just the shot and the prescription.  I know that the problem is not muscular and it's not nerves.  Been there, done that.  I'm afraid this is something worse.  I know pain, unfortunately all too well, and this is bad.  I'm pretty bummed about it.  The gout and arthritis has slowly been improving, my knee has felt better with rest the past few months - now this.  I'm falling apart.  I joked with Dawn that marriage has broken me :)

Anyway, we did have a lot of fun out in the snow in the early morning fog and we were able to take some nice, moody pictures.  After doing some chores after our jaunt down the road, we had planned to go back out so I could take some pictures of Dawn in some specific settings I had in mind.  The snow, the dark woods in the background, low hills off in the distance.  It would have been nice.  We may have to wait until next year now.  Dawn left on a work trip just a bit ago and won't be back until Friday.  Then, if I can walk, we leave on a trip for Switzerland with the ski club (I'm not skiing, obviously).  The snow is quickly melting away outside as the sun has made its first appearance in some time today and it's relatively warm.  It would be great to go out and take some pictures, even without Dawn here, but the three stairs leading down to the driveway look like Mt Everest right now.  There will be other days.

Anyway, here are a few of the pictures I shot yesterday.  The entire set can be seen HERE on my Flickr page.

Snow, Snow and more Snow...............

We woke up this morning to an unexpected six or seven inches of new, unforecasted snow.  It took me about an hour to clear the driveway and the street in front of the driveway before I left for work.  We did have a two hour delay this morning which means, me being a contractor who works for a company who could give a rat's ass about employee safety, could either take two hours of vacation and drive in after the roads were cleared or I could brave the country roads and idiotic German drivers in order to preserve what paltry amounts of time off I receive.  I chose option two and drove in at the prescribed starting time. 

Tonight, we are supposed to get hit with another round of snow and wind and what the Gemran forecasters are calling a blizzard.  I'll believe it when I see it.  I'm sure it will snow as I can see that on the RADAR.  Will it get as bad as the weather sites are saying?  Who knows.  I think all German meteorologists went to school in Los Angeles, learning from the best how to hype a tenth of an inch of rain and make the public believe the next Biblical flood was immenent.

Yes, this country has been getting on my nerves the last couple of days.  Germans freaking baffle me.  They portray an outer character of toughness and resilience and then whine and cry about going home early because a couple of white flakes are flittering down from the sky (seriously, worthelss lazy bastards).  Then, they get on the roads, tailgating, driving aggressively and overly aggorantly and generally acting like a sixteen year old American teen with a new license and a shiny new muscle car.  Hey, that's fine and dandy if the roads weren't covered with snow and ice and if I already weren't going the damn speed limit.  Back the F off, Fritz!  And, it's illegal to flip these A-holes off.  They actually are offended by a middle finger and will report you to the police for using it but are just fine with 80 year old Frau Schnitzel riding two centimeters from their back bumper while driving on a sheet of ice.  Makes sense to me!

Yeah, anyway............ her's a little photo montage of the snow today.  I'll add more if and when any new snow does fall.  At least I like the snow.  It keeps the Germans inside clapping along to their favorite TV shows of 1970s classic folk songs lead by some idiotic looking douche in lederhosen.

 
10:00PM Update.  Okay, a walk in the snow with Dawn and Osu helped calm me down a bit.  What a crappy start to the week.  I guess it can only get better.  Here's the latest update on the snow.  It's started out coming down pretty good and there is some bigger stuff headed our way.  Graf is on a two hour delay already for tomorrow.  Where I work is still saying things will run normally tomorrow.  If the past gives any indication of future actions, this means they'll institute a delay or close post AFTER eveyone has already shown up.  Working with the Army AND Germans sometimes is a bit too much even for the most patient among us..........

Here are two pictures I took tonight of the Parsberg Castle from a different vantage point in town.  They came out okay, but what you can't see is the blowing snow in these long exposures.  It made the pictures softer than I would have liked.  We'll have to give this a go again when the weather clears up.  I've never taken any good shots up there during the day.  With snow, it might look nice.  Bigger versions are on my Flickr page.

A Good Weekend in the Snow

I'm not really in a writing mood right now but thought I'd share some pictures from the past two days instead.  Dawn had a 'girl's night' Friday and a 'girl's day' most of Saturday with some friends.  I managed to sleep in a bit on Saturday, being awakened only by a whiney Osu who was itching to go outside.  Once I opened up the rolladen over the window, I could see why.  After a week plus of snowy and cloudy weather, the sun finally decided to show itself again making for a beautiful winter scene.  This gave me an idea.  Knowing that Germans rarely get out in inclement weather and definitely wouldn't be out post-holing through foot + deep snow, I and Osu loaded up in the car and headed down the hill towards the Schwarze Laaber creek valley.  In the Summer, this is a nice area to get out for short bike rides on warm and sunny evenings, a place where we can take Osu, let him off the leash to explore the nooks and crannies along the creek bank while following us as we pedal our bikes.  Knowing that the place rarely gets much traffic even during pleasant weather during the spring and summer, I figured this would be a great place to take Osu out to let him do some running in the newly fallen snow while I snapped some pictures in the unexpected morning sunlight.  It was a good morning while the sun lasted, both Osu and I enjoying the solitude and the snow.

More pictures can be found HERE

Today (Sunday), Dawn, Osu and I took a drive south of town in the Altmuehl River Valley.  Again, the morning dawned sunny making for some nice picture taking conditions and it allowed us to get back out and stretch our legs with the mutt. 

Okay, so the first one is from this morning at the house.  Not a bad thing to see first thing in the morning.

More pictures from this day can be found HERE

A Good, Snowy Day

Today didn't turn out too bad.  Dawn and I both did some work from home due to the weather conditions in our neck of the woods.  We ended up receiving approximately six inches of snow overnight and it has been snowing on and off, sometimes heavily, all day.  This was enough to close down the post I work on and it was also enough to warrant an okay from the boss for Dawn to stay at home.  Dawn got a good workout in shoveling the driveway and the sidewalk while I, of course, took pictures of her laboring.  I wonder what our nosey German neighbors think about that?  I'm sure these busy-bodies have all kinds of scenarios dancing through their thick skulls, probably thinking Dawn is my slave and that I make her do all of the heavy lifting.  This actually doesn't sound too bad to me, but truth be told, I'm just in no shape physically at this moment to be shoveling snow or clearing driveways.  I tried early this morning and my back, bad knee and other sore appendages screamed NO at me.  As I get older, I think it's about time I start listening when my body is telling me something.

Anyway, we just got back from dropping the Toyota off to get the new snow tires put on.  I look forward to actually having some traction tomorrow when I drive to work.  This will be a pleasant change from earlier in the week.

Below is Dawn trying to put a winter hat I bought in Seattle on Osu.  At first he would have none of it.  Eventually, he and his ears warmed up to the idea.  Click on the picture for a larger view.

It's been an interesting week

I've been up since 4:15AM. It's now 5:43AM. Sleeping when your toe, ankle, knee and finger are experiencing swelling, redness and a dull pounding sensation due to gout is tough. I also have a knot in my back that just won't go away. I hope it's just strained and not a disc. Seeing as how it's getting worse and not better over the past few days is a bit troublesome, though. Oh, and yesterday? I somehow managed to twist my ankle at work when I took an awkward step and my ankle completely rolled over. I was able to save most of the lunch that I was carrying back to my desk at least. Sometimes you have to celebrate the small victories (yay...).

So, most of the above is status quo for me. I'm used to it. Yes, it sucks, but after living with pain for so long you create ways to deal with it and move on. I mean, my ankle literally rolled over at a 90 degree angle, I heard and felt two tendons pop and I really wasn't too concerned. Yes, it hurt. A lot. I'll live.

These injuries and physical setbacks are not what has made the week interesting, however. No, it's been the weather and the daily task of getting to and from work. It seems that we are finally getting a real winter here in Germany, something I've been looking forward to since I moved here. I love the snow. Love skiing in it, walking in it, playing in it, taking pictures of it..... Driving in it, however, especially on bad tires, is not something I enjoy too much. At first glance it seems that my Toyota would be fairly snow-worthy. It's got front wheel drive, axle differential locker thingies and just looks like it should be good in the snow. I've driven it on ski trips and on some sketchy roads in the past and really had no concerns driving it in winter conditions this year - that is, until this past Monday. I had one of the scariest on-snow drives of my life on this morning. I knew things would be bad when I attempted to make a turn at the stoplight down from our house on to the main drag. Instead of turning like it was supposed to, the RAV kept going straight, the turning of the steering wheel having no discernible affect on my direction of travel. I wanted to turn left, but the car had other ideas. A couple pumps of the brakes and some nifty over steering finally got me somewhat going in the direction I needed to go, which could be seen as good or bad. After negotiating the turn, I found myself pointing downhill, sitting on a a very slippery and glimmering piece of asphalt heading straight for a new roundabout that had just been completed the month before.

I generally like roundabouts, but not when they are covered in ice. I was able to get through both traffic circles - barely - and ended pulling over in a grocery store parking lot to catch my breath and settle my nerves. I was hoping that the salt truck or plow would happen by to clean up the roads a bit, but to no avail. I finally mustered up the courage to continue on with my journey and wish I hadn't. I've never white-knuckled a steering wheel more than I did while heading down from the Netto to the newly constructed bridge at the bottom of the hill. I was all over the place. If I touched my brake peal, the back end would start to slide. If I tried to steer a certain direction, the car would go exactly opposite of where I intended it to go. I was fairly positive that I would end up in the Schwarze Laaber (creek) since there were no guardrails to pinball between on the road.

Somehow, someway, I did make it down to the bridge (only realizing this when I finally opened my eyes). I now had to negotiate the uphill that would take me out of the creek valley. I barely, and I mean barely made it to the top of the hill. I was a wreck at this point. I pulled over in to the Penny Mart parking lot to once again catch my breath and to let the shaking in my body abate. I waited a good 20 minutes there, just hoping that the damn salt truck would come by. Nope. I finally did make it to work, me leading 40 other cars, being that slow guy that everyone hates. If anything at all has stuck with me through my years working with the military, it is the commercial that repeats 'Drive to Arrive Alive'. I was in full survival mode at that point, believing anything over 40kmh would ensure instant death for me.

Tuesday - a repeat of Monday.

With two horrible days of driving under my belt, I had to take some action. I never thought that my tires would be the culprit, but it turns out my 'all weather, all season radials' were in bad shape. Usually a set of tires is good for at least 50,000 miles or a couple of years of driving. Something I never considered about living in Germany, however, is the fact that doing a lot of Autobahn driving, often at speeds exceeding 95mph, will quickly wear your tires down. After a quick inspection of my tires with my manager (she being curious since she was having no trouble driving in the conditions), I found that I had absolutely no side tread left on the tires. I was essentially like a fawn walking on a frozen lake for the first time.

One of the first things I did this morning after going downstairs was to turn on the porch light, open the front door and take a look outside to see if the predicted snow storm had indeed materialized overnight. For once, the forecasters may have actually underestimated just how much snow would fall. It looks like there is a good six to eight inches of new snow out there, something I will confirm shortly after a little light starts showing on the horizon. The post I work on has posted a two hour work delay in order to plow the streets and parking lots and to let people slowly trickle in safely. I don't think I'll be going in at all, though. I'm getting brand new snow tires put on the RAV at 2PM today. There is no way in hell I am driving in to post in the worst winter conditions I've seen in four years on the tires I have now. Luckily, the place where I bought the tires and where I'm having them installed is just down the road from the house.  I just hope I can drive the 500 meters to the dealership without doing too much damage to my car, fences, stray dogs, parked cars, curbs, fire hydrants, the mean old lady who lives around the corner, etc....  I won't guarantee anything at this point, though.

Long Weekend

Three day weekends are a welcome respite from the regular grind, especially when you don't earn a lot of vacation.  Usually, Dawn and I would be off on a ski trip this weekend, but thanks to my faulty knee, we're staying at home and trying to relax.  We aren't really people who can sit around for long, though.  'Cabin Fever' seems to set in for us a lot quicker than most people.  We like to get out and experience what we can and try to take advantage of these longer weekends.  We did plan to go for a drive today, but the weather has halted that for now.  Instead of getting out to take some pictures in the snow, freezing rain has started to fall, coating everything in a glassy sheen of ice.  It looks cool, but venturing out when it is like this can be hazardous.  The last thing I need is to slip and fall and break a hip. 

So, we'll sit here inside, maybe find something constructive to do and hope and wish that it gets just a little bit colder so that the snow will begin to fall again.

A New Year - and a new attempt at updating this thing more often

I know it's been a while since we've been consistently updating this blog.  The end of 2009 was a busy one for us.  Things are still busy, but hopefully we'll be able to find more spare time to keep everyone updated on our going-ons a little bit better.

Dawn has settled in to her new job well.  It's a much more enjoyable office environment and the work, yes, there actually is work, is a helluva lot more interesting.  The managers are also much more accomodating to her driving situation.  When the weather and roads are bad, she's been able to work from home which has helped alleviate a lot of stress for her.  This has been a good thing, too.  Although the weather here never gets too nasty (at least not yet), the country roads do get slick and are usually low on the priority list of the snow plows.  There haven't been any big snowfalls so far this year, but even a couple of centimeters can make driving conditions hazardous over here.  The roads with no shoulders, the lack of maintenance, the agressive and self-centered German drivers.....it can be a bit much.  Accidents are common over here in the winter for the factors I've listed.  I feel bad that Dawn has to deal with this on a daily basis, but with me working where I do and her where she does and with our future timeline uncertain, it's just not worth it to make a move right now.

Speaking of snow and winter weather, it feels a bit like Christmas Eve for me this evening.  I love snow.  Love it.  For four years now, however, the winters here have been pretty disappointing for me.  The first two years barely saw any snow fall, last year we had a short stretch of wintery weather and this year has been so-so.  People seem to get excited when there are a few centimeters on the ground, but I want to see meter-deep drifts.  I want to see cars burried.  I want to be able to cross-country ski from my front door to the grocery store.  I want a blizzard to hit, immobilizing the town we live in for three days.  I'm weird, but I enjoy these types of events.  Finally, it looks like we may be getting hit with a storm tomorrow that could deposit six to ten inches of snow in the initial blast with a couple more inches expected the following days.  Yeah, it's not Buffalo type snow, but it will do.  The most snow I've seen on the ground in Parserg or Weiden is only two or three inches.  If we can get a foot built up, I'll be happy.  I've been watching this thing all week and it looks like it probably is going to happen.  I'll keep my fingers crossed!

As for me, I'm back at work now after being off all last month.  I was recovering from various physical ailments and just trying to get somewhat healthy again.  While at home, I worked on some photo stuff and wrote a manuscript.  The 55,000 word manuscript deals with my injuries and my suffering from arthritis and gout over the past 15 years.  I've told about dealing with these ailments from the perspective of my traveling and outdoor activities.  I've finished the final draft and now I'm trying to figure out what to do with it next.  If anyone knows a literary agent......

Because of me being all beaten up and broken, there won't be any skiing this year.  I was a bit bummed by this at first, but have come to grips with it now.  I'll deal, get healthy and go from there.  I may be facing another knee surgery, but that still hasn't been decided.  As long as I'm able to do some light hiking and biking this summer, I'll be content.  If not, I'll figure that out when I get there.  Dawn and I will be traveling with the ski club next month for a trip to Switzerland.  Although I won't be hitting the slopes, Dawn will get up there to slide around for a day or two.  I'll just be playing with my new camera and checking the town out.  We're looking forward to it!

Not much else I can think of right now.  I've got some stuff I need, well, not 'need', but stuff I'd like to get done tonight.  Playing more with the new camera, installing a new 2 TB hard drive I just got, doing some research on the literary world and some other things.  We're planning a trip to Regensburg this weekend if the trains are running to do a bit of shopping and to get some sushi.  Sunday, I'm sure we'll be out walking in the snow for a few hours.  This means I should get this stuff done tonight.  It is nice, though, to actually have some plans for the weekend.  With me laid up for the past month or so, things have been fairly quiet.  It will be good to get back out in the world again.

Happy New Year!

My first picture with the new camera:

   

The worst looking Christmas Cookies - ever

I got a bit crazy today and made some sugar cookie dough. It was the first time I've ever done this. I searched a bunch of sites for a recipe. I ended up picking the one that only needed ingredients that we already had at the house. I took a few liberties when putting the ingredients together such as adding a bit more milk than was asked for and putting a splash ov vanilla extract that wasn't in the recipe in the mix. I was actually quite surprised that they turned out okay.

For the icing, we used some Betty Crocker frosting that I think is mainly used for cakes. I always loved the sugar cookies my mom baked around this time of year and wanted to try to make some as close as possible to her recipe. The cookies came out good, but the frosting we used to paint the cookies was totally different than the icing I so fondly remember.

For a first effort, I don't think they turned out too bad. They look a lot worst than the taste, at least.

Dawn and I have been quite busy recently and apologize for the lack of posts on this blog. After the new year starts we'll hopefully be a bit more consitent.

I hope everyone has a great Christmas and a happy New Year!

Down time or laziness?

Well, I'm sure many of you have noticed that there haven't been many posts lately. I'd like to say it has been due to lots of traveling or some crazy new project, however, the answer is no.

Since we've returned from our honeymoon we've been so busy with stuff. The stuff we like to avoid and put off. The stuff that's not exciting, but has to be done. Well, not all of it is not fun, it just takes time.

We’ve been working on all those pictures from Chamonix, the wedding and trips and the honeymoon. I know there are random ones in there too, but I’m still trying to finish the honeymoon to move onto those. Nate, on the other hand, has far surpassed my photos and been working on more posters for the wall.

I think many of you know that our wedding pictures came back from our photographer, so we’re trying to pick out which ones to print there too. There are so many good ones to choose from and then we must pick sizes and all that good stuff.

Another big thing we’re trying to do is take a break. We’ve done so much traveling up until the wedding and then afterwards that we’re tired. It’s nice to be in your own house or not far from home for a few weekends. We’re trying to do that cleaning thing, whatever that is too :) So much stuff. And for those of you who have seen our little house, it’s full, and much of it needs to go. Thanks to my brother who slept in the gear/wedding/junk room while he was here, and Jef who slept on the couch. It was a lot of fun though. We do wish you could have stayed longer.

We’re also working on Nate’s stuff. Need to keep on those doctors for notes to the insurance that doesn’t believe you need to be in the hospital. That’s a whole different can crap we don’t need to start here.

Anywho, we’re hoping to get back out soon. We have Rome coming up for us over Thanksgiving and then the Hinterbrand Lodge we head to in December.

As for now, Halloween is coming up. We’re heading to a party and haven’t decided on costumes yet. Maybe a white trash pirate, something scary with a big wig, or whatever we can find to throw together in the house. I did carve a Jack O’ Pirate.

What a Great Time...

Wow! What a trip this has all been. Last night was had dinner with most people for the last time before we all venture to our next stop on the trip. Many will be heading to the airport and home, while a few are headed for another week or so of adventure, and we'll be going on our honeymoon. The week of hopefully fun filled excitement and travel are over and I think we've all made the most of every minute we've had.

It all started last week, as everyone came to Germany on Thursday. With and interesting adventure of travel for everyone, they all arrived. Thirteen people came by train, lead by Nate's brother Jef, and the others got rides from Nate and I. You'd think I could fit more people in my little Golf... :)

After what you'd think would be an early night and some cake construction, many traveled to Regensburg for a quick tour around town, then back for a BBQ. It was great getting to talk to everyone and have everyone meet each other and just blend together like a bunch of Midwesterners. Oh wait, I guess we did all come from the Midwest, so we seemed as one big family.

The wedding came and went off without a hitch. I tried to hide from Nate all morning, since he hadn't seen the dress or knew that I had a veil. We got everyone packed into the castle and dressed, que the music and here we go. We walked into the room and I thought we were followed by the paparazzi. This has got to be the most photographed wedding since any in Hollywood. A wall of cameras met us as we walked down the aisle, with at least 2 video cameras in there too.

By the end of the ceremony, we'd asked to remain standing instead of sit for the vows, Kyle had flicked an ant off of me, Jef looked for the ring, my ring got stuck, and the officiant had asked the photographer to come from where he was to get a picture of us kissing. It really was a great ceremony and we laughed as Nate and I understood some of the German that was being translated, which literally stated we would now be "infected with rings."

The reception was great. We had 50 people come to eat, drink and be merry. Lucille found Bailey's, we took shots, Nate couldn't resist taking pictures anymore and I made Chris dance to another embarrassing song -which is what I must do at every wedding, it's tradition. I think mom drank 5 entire bottles of wine, but she was having a good time. She not only danced till the bus came at the end of the night, but was dancing again in the morning and ready to go.

Next morning we had everyone head to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. What a beautiful city. This time we were there earlier and sent people in a few directions for views and shops. This was another day of train riding, but everyone seemed to be getting the hang of it, and it's a deal for 19 people traveling together. Osu even liked it, although some jerk made us buy him a train ticket, even though we were told he didn't need one. So, after Osu paid, we let him sit on the seat and he watched out the window. Of course he thinks he's one of us.

Monday we planned to go to Munich, but trains were running late due to Oktoberfest. We decided that Passau or Nurnberg would be best and the Passau train came as we were deciding, so we all got on the train to Passau. This was a longer ride, so some took naps, as travel was starting to wear on us. Many walked through town and bought more gifts, while others sat in beer gardens and watched the boats go by. Another train ride back home and Tuesday was a break day.

Tuesday I drove Kyle, Chris, Andy and Jef to the airport and got them headed home. It was strange to have our house empty after the few days we all spent together. We had a good time drinking on a Sunday night, breakfasts and goofiness at night as we are all tired. Nate opened the Atwood Travel Agency that day and I began the changing of my documents.

Wednesday we got everyone sent off to Nurnberg on the Diane and Dale Tours. The double 'F' Jeff had gone the day before and scoped it out for the day. It sounded like everyone had a good time. Nate and I ran errands and did a little more paperwork and packed for our honeymoon. We had one last dinner together and said our goodbyes. It was a great night!

We're so happy that you could all come to our wedding. It meant so much to us and we had a blast with you all. Before we all left it was if we were all one big family. We shared breakfasts, jokes, walks, dinners, and all our treats with each other. We couldn't have asked fore better family and friends!

So now, we head to Ireland. In just an hour we'll be leaving our house to drop off Osu and head to the airport. Maybe we'll even run into a couple people in the group. We look forward to seeing you all again soon, and hopefully get home to see everyone else too :D We Love You!!

Cherry Pickin'

I’m sure a few of you have seen the pictures of our house on our Flickr sites. Our back yard is full of fruit trees and bushes. We have apples, pears, figs, blackberries, raspberries, grapes, currants, black currants, strawberries, sweet and sour cherries. That is a LOT of fruit. Most aren’t ready until late June into July and some a little later.

We’ve excitedly been waiting for cherries since last summer. We have a huge tree that grows behind the garage, and it’s a perfect boost into the tree for prime picking. There were so many cherries last year that we were giving them away, because they would go bad before we could eat that many. Since German refrigerators have small freezers, if any, there was little we could do to save them for later.

This year we are ready. We bought a freezer with enough space to save a few cherries for late fall or winter, our mouths salivating at the thought of yummy cherries. With the weather not being so nice and sunny, July has crept up on us and the cherries are ready.

We went out picking Monday night. We could see all those shiny deep red ornaments hanging from the tree. To the top of the garage with our bowls, we began picking. It didn’t take long to find that most of the cherries have either become too ripe and split, or been attacked by bugs. After we finished picking for the night, we came in with one almost full bowl.

It was late and I didn’t really want to clean cherries, but if I let the cherries sit, they might get bugs through the day. With my new cherry pitter in hand (Thanks Jef!), I got started. It’s awesome! I love it! I really wish I had it last year with all the good cherries. Definitely beats cutting them in half and digging the pit out with my fingers.

Last night I baked a cherry cobbler or crisp, whatever you want to call it. It was good, but cherries not as sweet as remembered. Next time we’ll try a pie or just eat them from the tree, although Osu likes them all.

Wedding Plans

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to write a quick note and let everyone know about the wedding plans. All of the detailed information can be found on our wedding website that Dawn has put together. The wedding is to be held on September 19th, 2009 in Parsberg, Germany. We realize that this is way too far for many of you to travel and we apologize for that. Because of our jobs, vacation time and other factors, having the wedding in the US at this time was just out of the question. But, we will be getting married in a castle - how cool is that?

If anyone needs any further details or information, please feel free to email either Dawn or Nate and we'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Busy, Busy, Busy the last week!

A quick update - we had a great trip to Dublin last weekend and one of us will be making a post in the near future on our excursion to Ireland.

We also do have some big news to announce - Dawn and I are now engaged and are looking at having a wedding here in Germany in early September! More details to be posted soon!

The Weekend - a short summary of events

Yes, I do realize that most people really could care less about the mundane and boring details of our lives. So, if you are one of these people, please stop reading now because this post isn't going to be all that exciting. I just thought I'd put something new up while Dawn is in the kitchen doing her cooking thing. It's not like I have much of anything to do anyway, so without further ado, here's what we did this weekend. Yippee!

Friday evening: Dawn and I drove up to our friend Judy's house about an hour north of us for a wine tasting party. I had reservations about this since I really don't drink nor enjoy wine, but, I was pleasantly surprised and actually had a great time. It isn't often that we get to hang out with our ski buddies outside of the ski season and it was great seeing everyone again. The party was actually a lot more organized than I originally thought it would be. Judy actually had a guy come over with a number of different wines and everyone got to sample each one. The guy was a German and he was kind of an arrogant douchebag but we had a good time messing with him, taking advantage of his lack of full understanding of the English language. We did get to sample some tasty wines, however, and even ended up buying a couple of cases. We bought one crate of your basic every day table wine and then a case of red ice wine which is extremely rare and can cost upwards of 1000 dollars a bottle in the US. So, after spending 300 Euros on wine, eating some wonderful food and hanging out with some good friends, we headed home, happy we made the trip up.

Saturday: We didn't do much this day. We did drive to Regensburg to explore the Donau Shopping Mall which was a good waste of time. The weather wasn't particularly nice so it was a day best spent indoors. I bought a new camera bag at the Saturn Store and Dawn bought three bottles of wine at some little snobby coffee/wine/sweets shop. We drank one of the bottles that evening and it turned out to be pretty decent. I think I even liked it more than Dawn. On the way in to Regensburg, we noticed that a festival was going on. We stopped and took a short walk along the river where I snapped the picture on the right. The picture on the left was taken from the upper level of the parking garage at the mall. The fuzziness of the picture is from the metal barrier put up to prevent people from jumping from the garage - I'm sure something that happens often due to the crap weather Germany has 97% of the time.

Sunday: We woke up fairly early on Sunday morning and were pleasantly surprised to find that the weather had cleared leaving a deep blue, cloudless sky. A nice change from the dreariness of the previous day. I usually try to get up early on Sunday's anyway. The only TV show that I really make an effort to watch is on at 8am; Anthony Bourdaine's "No Reservations". Basically, it's a cooking and travel show and I can't get enough of it. After watching this, Dawn left to do some grocery shopping on post while I lounged around and did......nothing. It was nice. Dawn got home around noon and had a particularly strong desire to eat some ice cream. Hey, it was gorgeous out so why not take a walk and get some ice cream, even if the morning had only ended 10 minutes earlier? It turned out that a lot of others had the same idea and the new ice cream parlor in downtown Parsberg was quite hopping. After Dawn got her ice cream, we continued on and found ourselves down at the train station (left). I then asked Dawn if she wanted to walk down to the Hammermuhle Valley where a picturesque creek can be found, something that would make Osu very happy. I'd actually never been down to the area before but Dawn and Osu had run through there on a few occasions. I was pleasantly surprised at what I found and definitely plan on returning very soon, probably by bike. So, our short walk to the ice cream parlor ended up turning in to a 2.5 hour walk and hike which was very enjoyable. I needed something like this to get my walking legs back as it had been some time since I'd done anything strenuous due to the broken jaw. A nice warm up for some hikes we plan on doing very soon in the Bavarian Alps. (For some reason, the blog software won't put the darn space in here. Must keep reminding myself, it's free, it's free, it's free.....)

I took a few pictures today and have posted them to my Flickr site if you'd like to check them out. Anyway, the weekend was nice and relaxing, something we all needed. We plan on being away for at least the next three weekends so some time spent at home was welcome. This coming Friday we leave for Dublin and are very excited about that! I'll have a trip report soon after we come back...... Cheers!

Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich........Parsberg??

I still remember a certain T-shirt from my youth that I would see from time to time in my home town of Roseburg, Oregon. The shirt was a knock-off of a popular shirt found in most tourist destinations around the world. The T-shirt simply said "Paris", with a picture of the Eiffel Tower, "London", with a picture of the London Bridge, and "Roseburg", with a picture of the world-famous Mt. Nebo weather goats that occasionally wandered off of the hillside to block traffic on Harvard Avenue and Interstate 5 when inclement weather was imminent. With this T-shirt in mind, I would like to introduce you to the town I've lived in for the past year, Parsberg. It's no Munich. Heck, it's not even an Ingolstadt or even a Weiden (not that you would know the latter two - that's my point). It's Parsberg, a small hamlet with 6,000 residents lying smack dab between Regensburg and Nurnberg just off of the A3 Autobahn. As small as it is, it still is the king of the kuhdorfs (cowtowns) for this area and the center of the universe for many people that call this small chunk of the Oberpfalz (a district in Bavaria) home. A lot like Roseburg, actually. But even more redneck (Bavarian-style) and in many cases, more backwards.

One way to give a tour of a place via the internet is through pictures. This blog does limit what I can show you, but I will do my best to introduce you to the sights and highlights of Parsberg in a digital format. You can click on the pictures for a larger view of what I see every day. To begin, I must inform you that Dawn, Osu and I did go for a walk this morning and I had this blog entry in mind when I took my camera. I didn't get all of the pictures I wanted, but enough to give you an idea of the hell we live in (just kidding!). On the left is Dawn and Osu in front of our house ready to embark on our one hour journey. As you can see, they carried none of the supplies. That was left to me - the man. Typical. Osu has gotten so lazy in his old age. Dawn - well, she has no excuse. Except she did have to manage Osu. On most days, that can be enough.

The sign pictured to the left is just up the street from our house. In German, "Stadtmitte" simply means 'city center'. I guess it must also mean town or village center because it’s quite a stretch to call Parsberg a city (see picture to the right – that is downtown). Lupburg is an even smaller town approximately two kilometers to the east of Parsberg. It’s a quaint little dorf (village) but nothing to really write home about. It does have a castle ruin which makes for a good destination on a bike ride, a grocery store and lots of old people. That’s about it. Dietfurt is a town that is actually larger than Parsberg about 20 minutes south in the Altmuhl Valley. This town, although larger, doesn’t really offer much either. It is set in a nice location but there just really is no reason to ever go there. In fact, the town is so boring and bland that there is actually a bypass built around it which is quite rare in Germany. In most instances, driving through any small town here can be a chore. Thankfully, even the German road engineers recognized the pain caused by driving through Dietfurt. Kudos, German road dudes!

Parsberg actually is a very nice place to live and has most of the amenities to meet your basic needs. The town proper contains four grocery stores, four or five pharmacies, three eye glass places, a smattering of decent restaurants and a few stores that are worth poking your head in to every now and then. The main hospital and the main schools for the area are also located here along with a small train station which is conveniently on the main line between Nurnberg and Regensburg. It also contains a lot of very, very old people. This would explain the abundance of pharmacies and eye glass shops. If you were to combine mine and Dawn’s ages, we would still be 30 years younger than most people in town. I’m talking these people are OLD. The funny thing is, they probably walk more each day going through their normal routine than the average American walks in a week. But, that is one of the great things about this town – you literally can walk anywhere within the city limits in 15 minutes or less and really don’t need a car at all. This is truly one of the things I love about living here.

The crowning jewel of Parsberg has to be the Parsberg Castle. Really, there is nothing else in town that can compete with it. It sits on the highest and most prominent spot in town and is visible from virtually anywhere you might find yourself in Parsberg. To call the thing a castle, however, is overstating matters a bit. I like to refer to it as the ‘big pretentious poorly-designed non-castle looking residence perched on the hill’. For some reason, every time we go for a walk up to the castle grounds, I get all worked up thinking about the people who used to live in the place, sanctimoniously peering down on the paupers living and working at their feet, casting a leering eye at the merchants and farmers whose back-breaking work made their lifestyle possible. But then, as if on cue, Osu takes a wee on the castle wall and all is right with the world again.

Okay, so maybe I went a little overboard when describing the denizens of the town and their ages. Parsberg does have a lot of very old residents, but there are also some younger ones - enough in fact that there are actually two small bars/clubs in the town. Dawn and I have yet to visit either establishment other than to order a couple of very crappy pizzas during a lazy afternoon last summer. We once did try to go up to watch a soccer game one evening, but both places were so packed full of fans cheering on Germany that we just went home and watched ‘Old School’ for the 50th time. Besides, we’d know the outcome of the game easily enough. If after the game we heard screaming and yelling, car horns honking and fans singing their favorite football songs, we’d know that Germany had won and had moved on in the EuroCup. I think on this night they did win and the noise kept us up quite late. But, since it does seem most Germans in this town don’t work, it didn’t matter that it was a Sunday night and the start of the workweek was only hours away. Football uber alles, I guess…….

There isn’t a lot more I have to say about Parsberg. Well, actually, there is but I don’t want to bore anyone to death. Parsberg, although a very nice and enjoyable place to live, definitely is not a place anyone plans to visit for an extended vacation. I do see the occasional tour bus rolling through town, but usually it is on its way to somewhere a bit more vibrant and exciting. I kind of like it that way, though. I can do calm. I can do quiet. This is the type of place Norman Rockwell would have painted. You know, if he were German. Not a bad place at all.

If you’d like to see some more pictures from Parsberg, be sure to visit my Flickr site. The link is up there on your right…….