It's a walk in the park

I wanted to share a few pictures of the park that is across the street from us.  I get the best of both worlds because I get awesome views of flowers but none of the sweaty, dirty work.  It's a wonderful life!

 

 

 

 

 

 

And of course, no post is complete unless it includes cute Clarice pictures. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Vacation Treasures

So I told ya about some of the places we went when Morgan and Donna were visiting but I forgot to show ya my treasures



Here's my latest German Beer/Water Crockery Bottles. The small orange one is the only one I have been able to find any info on and it's a bottle for Spring Water from the 1600's. The others are beer bottles but I'm still trying to find dates for them

 

The punched metal mold is was found in Strasbourg, France and I thought the lady said it was a foie gras mold but not too sure.  Right now it's sitting in my "fridge" window and it's looks great.

 

 

 

We went to a watch factory and I found this treasure in the trash pile. It's completely sturdy and the patina is so great which makes me wonder why it got trashed....oh well, it's got a new home where it is loved! This is so coming back to the US with us.

 

 

And last but not least is my German Repro Benickles which I just love, love, love!  Wish I could the actually find the antique ones but have had no luck at all in locating any!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nigerian Scam while riding the train

So Saturday was an unusual day while riding the city train, I was approached by a young man that made me uncomfortable.  Let's face it, I'm way past the age that 20something young men would be hitting on me so there had to be some other reason for what happened today.  Let me start from the beginning:

There was to be an antik/flomarkt  in my little town so I was excited and planning on finding lots of goodies.  I thought it was being held at the Festhalle because that was where it was held this winter.  It's about 5 blocks from our apartment so that would be a nice spring walk  but guess what,  it wasn't being held there.  Ok so now where could it be?  Oh, I bet it's being held at the fairgrounds so I'll just walk another 3 blocks to the train stop and go out there....no biggie, right?  The train arrives so I get on and in looking for a seat, I smile and say "hello" to the two young men sitting across the aisle from me.  I can't help it,  that's the polite, southern thing to do even if they don't do that here in Germany.  The train starts moving and suddenly one young guy has moved to the seats across but facing me and leaning over to speak to me.  I'm battling a bad sinus/allergy thing right now so my ears are really plugged up so I had to ask him to repeat what he just said to me several times.  Here's our exchange and you tell me what you think afterwards.....

Him:  I'm known as Sam.  What's your name?
Me:  Excuse me.....oh, my name is Donna
Him:  You are a very pretty lady
Me:  Excuse me....sorry I have a cold and can't hear really well
H: You are a very pretty lady so where are you going?
M:  Thank you and I'm not sure where exactly I am going.  I'm looking for the antik markt.
H:  You are nice
M: Oh thank you
H: Why are you here if you don't know where you are going?
M:  The fairgrounds area is where I'm going...I think
H:  How will I see you again?
M:  nervous laughter.....You won't
H:  Why not?  You are a very pretty lady and I want to see you
M:  Ummmm no, I'm married
H:  How old are you?
M:  nervous laughter again....You really shouldn't ask a lady how old she is but I'm sure I'm a lot older than you.
H: So how old and where do you live?
M: Ok 47 so see very much older than you and I live in Durlach
H:  Where in Durlach do you live?  Where is your husband? 
M: nervous laugh and looking around for someone to "save me"
H: Why are you living here and where is your husband?
M: My husband's job moved us here
H:  How many children do you have?  Does your husband allow you to see other men? How can I see you again?  I want to see you again.  Why is your husband not here with you now?  How long have you been married?  I want to ask your husband if I can see you again. 
M: Oh well, here's my stop now so goodbye. 
H: I want to see you again so how can we do that?  Hey Donna, I want to see you again.....Hey Donna, Donna????

I practically leaped off the train and into a crowd of people at the train stop which by the way wasn't the one where I intended to get off at but was the closest one.  I walked another 4 blocks to the fairgrounds but no markt.  What The Heck?  I give up so I walked back 4 blocks to catch the train to get back home and was just so creeped out replaying that conversation in my mind.  I get to my home train stop and realize that the markt was taking place in the park area across the street from our apartment.  Duh!!!!  I walked around but nothing caught my eye because the Nigerian bank scam just kept running through my mind.  I can't tell you how many times in my 25 plus years of banking that someone brought in a "fraud check" really believing they were going to collect on it.  Now I don't know if the train guy was Nigerian but his accent sounded like that and he didn't offer me riches to transact a check scam with him but he made me uncomfortable at the very least.  So what
do you guys think?

We had friends visit!!!!

Oh things have been busy here lately and I have loved every minute of it.  Mark came home on a Thursday and Donna and Morgan arrived on Friday so the fun and games began after that.  We went so many places that I'm sure I'll forget something/some place but here's a brief list.

Frankfort to a watch factory and Mark added to his collection with a Sinn

We traveled to Alpirsbach to the convent site, brewery and monastery that Mark and I went to last fall. There are no pictures because I left my camera memory stick at home last week.  Yep remembered the camera, charged the battery but forgot the memory...duh!

 

Then Sunday we drove up the Rhine River and stayed overnight in a castle.  Yep a castle!  It was an amazing adventure and a total surprise for them.  We just told them to pack an overnight bag that morning and didn't tell where we were going until we drove into the town.  It was hard for me to keep it secret but I did and it was so worth it to see their faces.   Here is the website so take a look at those amazing rooms.

 http://www.hotel-schoenburg.com/

 

Here's a picture of us enjoying our evening.

 

 

We drove into up to The Black Forest a couple of days and Donna bought an really cool cuckoo clock.  It's being shipped to them and they'll get it in a few weeks.  We hit several antik stores and would have shopped a lot more if they had been open.  Remember that stores in Germany don't keep "normal" business hours or even regular ones in a lot of cases. 

 

We also went to Strasbourg, France

 

 

And on the way, we stopped in Soufflenheim, France which is a quaint little town that is known for it's pottery.  I was just in 7th heaven!  Here's a link to a story about the town and it's pottery history. I got a roasting pan and lid that look very much like redware.  I'm already plotting my next trip there

 

http://www.stripes.com/military-life/travel/in-soufflenheim-france-making-pottery-of-the-alsace-is-an-age-old-art-1.15869

 

And the final day was spent in Lucerne, Switzerland just enjoying the views of the Alps

 

 

Plus we spent one entire day napping and in jammies all day long.  I think we did that on Wednesday or Thursday which was much needed for all of us.  It was just crazy the miles we covered but what wonderful memories we made!  I couldn't have asked for a better vacation or guests!

 

We put them on a airplane on Sunday and Mark left Wednesday so Clarice and I have been busy catching up on laundry and sleep. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blessed

I have been extremely blessed in my life by being surround with wonderful women in my family.  They have shown me what real love is all about and that family stands with and behind you at all times.  I had the most amazing grandmothers, mother and aunts that loved me, supported me, laughed with me and most importantly, kicked my butt when it was needed.  I was also blessed to get a great mother in law when I married her son some 26 years ago.

But this post is actually about my Aunt, Brenda Fay Gay Holland.   Brenda was 13 years old when I was born so we basically grew up together.  She used to take me everywhere with her including dates.  She took me to my first concert to see Donny Osmond....no Bon Jovi I know but he was my first love.  She always took time to play with us and she could play a mean game of hide and seek.  She and her friends would come up with weird places to hide us in like on top of doors, linen hampers, ect.....  Even after she got married, we would go stay with her for weeks in the summer.  She would plan hayrides, mud wrestling games, adventure hikes and more to keep us out of trouble.  She was terrified of locust shells and one year we hid them all over her house so she's find them after we were gone....good thing she lived several hours from us because I think she'd have kicked our butts after she started finding them all.  My brothers and I were her starter kids and we broke her in right.  She had my cousin, Gayla when I was 11 years old and we moved away to Arkansas shortly afterwards so I didn't get to spoil her like Brenda did me.  She went on to have 2 more beautiful daughters, Erica and Tamara and now has 3 grandkids.  I was lucky enough to move to Atlanta a few years ago and that's where they were also living at the time so I got to get reacquainted with my family.  When my Mamma got sick,  my aunt moved back to Louisiana to care for her and that was such a huge blessing for my entire family.  I will be forever in her debt for allowing my grandmother to continue living at home for as long as possible.  My aunt loves with her whole heart and I'm grateful for that!  I stitched this to honor her and how appropriate  that I finished it this week in time for Mother's Day.  Thank you Bimbo for loving me!

Moonlight Visitor by Blackbird Designs