Mittwoch, Dezember 21, 2011

History of a pre-X-mas Time

December 21/11....10:40 a.m.


July 21st/11...my birthday, thinking about X-mas, 5 more months to go - cheerful  memories!


November 30/11....starting to dig around for X-mas decorations, basement up to the attic, good excercise, especially if the gadgets you think are downstairs  are upstairs and vice versa.




December 2/11.... still looking for missing santa clauses for outdoor decoration, darn!


December 3/11...setting up outdoor "adventskranz" (wreath) one of the causes for walking on crutches around that time last year - bad memories!


December 6/11....given up looking for missing clauses, they can fry in hell! - baking first batch of X-mas cookies - hate it!


December 8/11...getting too often into jar of cookies to try if they are still good. they are, but dwindling away. Start to fatten myself up.


December 9/11 ...had to drive Herr H. to the eye doctor in shitville Krefeld, windy day, bought a cap while running around and getting lost as always. Husband pissed off because he had to wait for me, says my cap looks stupid. 


December 10/11....X-mas wishes from the family members so far...money,money,money. My goodness, do we have a big family!


December 12/11...bought another X-mas cake (Dresdner Stollen) by special order from Herr Husband.  


December 13/11....Herr Husband decides he does not like X-mas cake any more.  Want to stuff it down his throat!


December 14/11...drove downtown to look for some small presents, came home with no presents, but another cap. Getting on a roll for caps - nutty!


December 15/11...baked some more cookies to stuff myself.


December 16/11.....found missing santas - now they can rott in their box!


December 20/11 ....went for food shopping and developped a hate towards X-mas songs and X-mas decorations.While stowing stuff into the car watched a departing Lufthansa plane in the sky, whised I was on it, never mind where to.


December 21/11...eyeing my decorated X-mas tree and wishing it was July, so I could be looking forward to CHRISTMAS!


Anyway....HAVE A HAPPY ONE - EVERYONE!





Dienstag, Dezember 06, 2011

Pick one!

December 6/11......7:40 p.m.


....and preferably made of chocolate!
We exchange them within the family, the whites,the cafe au laits and the dark chocolates. As it turns out, we might as well keep the own ones since they always turn out "look -a-likes", makes no difference. This year WHITE  is in!
Also baked first cookies, what a drag, >I simply hate baking cookies. This way I suffer for my sins.

Dienstag, November 08, 2011

A Day in the Life of a Member of the Housewife Mafia

November 8/11....6:30 p.m.


our egg suppliers
Usually I suffer from the senile bedflight syndrome but not - like this morning - when I have an appointment, then I sleep in and blame my alarm clock, which claims"not guilty" because it hasn't been set.  So it had been a bit of a rush and a foggy drive on top to my massage appointment. Mind you,  it is a beautiful sight in our low Rhine region when the sun tries to battle the fog and finally manages to peek through, will take my camera and take some shots on one of my senile bedflight days- maybe!  My massage today had been somewhat funny, the lady soaked me in oil , made me feel like a snake and I had the feeling my clothes were kind of sticking to my oily body when I dressed.  This had been the last treatment from my birthday coupon which Herr H. had been gifting me with, from now on I will look for a different place, maybe after X-mas. 
 From the massage I drove to my favoured nursery, I needed some arrangement to take along to our weekend invitation. Well, then I could have thrown a temper fit, they had gone haywire with merry X-mas galore, so I had to assemble my own arrangement - not such an easy task, when even the plants yell jingle bells. 
Rushed home and since the Halloween decoration at our front door still grined at me I snatched up one pumpkin and threw together a delicious pumkin soup,  a fresh pear with icecream and hot chocolate sauce for dessert, very yummy.
Decided then that on such a sunnyday I should take the hui-bui (that's what I call our electro bike) for some smalltime shopping, discovered 2 adorable  ceramic icebears (for decorating) and broke one along with  - amazingly - only one egg from a dozen, when I knocked over my bike coming home in our driveway.  
From then on I had been quite busy doing the icebear puzzle and my consideration if I should safe the icebears as a gift, X-mas time coming up - had been solved by fate. 
And tonite I might switch on my sauna, but have not decided yet, maybe I am too oily today. 

Samstag, Oktober 15, 2011

Do I want to be home again?

October 15/11.......5:53 p.m.

It is, as always, a win-win thing. I love to be someplace else, but also I love to be back home.  What I do not love is the amount of work shouting for me.  But hanging around being spoiled is not such a thrilling life either, after a while - anyways, not for me.  Our Luxembourg hangout, the Hotel Leweck, had been fun and mostly relaxation, massages, swimming, good food and wine . No walks,this time, and that's where I missed very much my faithful companion, Herr Hund . Lots of fun we had at dinnertime. Since we had not been visiting the place for quite a while,there had been a change of waiters in the restaurant. The headwaiter, whom we call Obama among ourselves, that very goodlooking black guy, still had been there, also another one, whom we call Sarkozy, a friendly guy who always gave you a wink and a smile. But the new crowd, we really had a giggle about every nite. One guy we baptized the food whisperer, he always kept talking to the food he was carrying around  but the top of the pops had been the one we called the shuffler, he scuffed around with his mouth open carrying the food till it had been cold and then he returned with his plates to the kitchen. We alway made bets if the plates would make it to the proper guests. And talking about guests, we had a real laugh. Got to be talking to a couple we had been meeting at another of our visits and I said to the lady that I thought  the food was delicious but always too much and she misunderstood and very anoyed asked me if I thought she was eating too much. Well, I could have told her, that now, as she mentions it, she does, but as a polite person I clarified the misunderstanding, not without laughing pretty hard.  So you see, we had been not bored whatsoever. -
Now the win-win back home gifted us with mad Max for the weekend, the family is busy hockeywise in Munich, where the German championships  - boy group (14 years) -take place, and the team, where grandson is the captain, is in the finals. We followed up the game in the internet  live ticker and this way learned, that the captain had been carried away on a strecher, not after he had been good for 2 goals.   Hopefully he will be allright tomorrow , it had been cramps in the leg, which can be very painfull. I can sing a song about that - happens to me sometimes during the night, then I take a run through the house. And now I have to take a run with mad Max, otherwise he might be running out.

Samstag, Oktober 08, 2011

New Bag - new Trip

October 8/11....8.50 a.m.

Yes , a new trolley asks for a trip, even if the weather does not play along. But who wants to be immodest? Not me!  As I always say, you can not have everything. Herr Husband gifted me with that very nice  BRIC'S   bag and I should make use of it, agreed? Tomorrow we will leave for our     Luxembourg hideout,    and never mind the weather, the place is just gorgeous even without sunshine. The only drop of bitterness - first time we will be going there without Herr Hund, somehow it had been "his place" too, Landfrau and him loved our walks in the isolated woods where I will not venture this time without my guardian. But I will take swims in that lovely pool, where you can swim from the inside into the outside pool, have myself treated to some massages , visit the turkish and sauna baths and enjoy that wonderful food and the drinks and talks in the bar in front of the fireplace. Gracious living!
So now I have the hard decision to make what not to pack - fortunately the bag is not THAT big.
And today is my father's birthday, happy birthday dad, wherever you are! Will always remember,when you burned a hole into my new lounge chair with your cigar on your birthday!  Today I think it was funny.

Montag, September 19, 2011

SEASIDE & TRAINRIDE

September 19/11......5:49 p.m.

Have been really looking forward to a little vaccation and change of scenery,  although had slight doubts about the trainride. Our tour in the beginning of our trip had been quite o.k., aside from the fact that they did not run a dining car and without breakfast till 2 p.m. it is a long way to go from getting up at 4:30 a.m. Never mind, we survived! Our trip back home did not go so smoothly, train, again without dining car, left at 2 p.m. and  dallied its way from the east to the west . Our first class car had been an old,beat up darling from 1962 and the grease spot at the glass separation from someone's head probably had been leftover from that time. Herr Husband went on an inspection tour, and told me coming back that the 2nd class coach was brandnew with more space,nice upholstery and - most of all  - much cleaner.  And 3 stations before we had to leave, drunken soccer fans boarded the train and you were lucky not to get puked on.   The final touch had been, that after we had - with the help of the handicap service - left the train , the elevator for taking down Herr Husband in his wheelchair was out of order and they took him down the flight of  steps in a device which I can not describe and which scared hell out of me. -
But aside from that we had a great little holiday and everything was up to our expectations, we had a beautiful room with a huge sundeck, equipped with rattan furniture and easy chairs with a roundabout view upon the sea, the beach and the forrest. A beautiful wellness area, great indoor pool, in short, all the facilities to train off the marvellous food, which I did like a hamster in a wheel, at least for the first days. Then I am aways greedy for everything!  For one day we rented a car to have a look at the surrounding area for a bit and we both agreed that our hide-away was the best choice ever.
appetit for more? go to the attached link
Now I am the hamster in the wheel back home and I hope our bags arrive in good shape wednesday, they come by courrier service, we could not drag them along on the train, too heavy and too many pieces - one bag alone is the famous luggie, with which Herr Husband had been the talk of the place.

Link:

Sonntag, September 04, 2011

Graves and Noodles

September 4/11....9:11p.m.

A year ago my brother died - sad,sad ,sad. So today, equipped with a bunch of flowers (he loved flowers) I ventured out to visit his grave.  I had been under the stupid presumption that I would find the grave in no time. So,  after puffing uphill where I thought I would find the grave, no grave. Circling back was not of much help. And no people around, only the dead ones, which would not answer me. Well, new start from the beginning, and always uphill, darn! Pretty soon I had the feeling I could dig my own grave.  After inspecting graves for about an hour and already thinking about a donation of my flowers to some poor looking grave  - I found him! - Patted his stone and could imagine him sneering at me.  He had been a good one at that during his lifetime. -
Coming home I had been really bushed, also our stupid weather might have had something to do with it. Flopped onto my bed to read some and kept doozing off, having the weirdest dreams.  Did not really feel like cooking, talked Herr Husband into taking us out to our favoured Italian for dinner, I simply had to have noodles (noodles make you happy!) and were they ever good but too much, now I am sitting here, considering to puke. And that's the end of my gloomy sunday and my brother is probably laughing his head off.  

Samstag, September 03, 2011

This last Day of Summer

September 3/11....8:30 p.m.

bye bye summer, hello fall!
That has been it, I can feel it in my bones, this has been the last day of real summer this year. Fall is lurking around the corner!  So here I am, killed a bottle of Pouilly fume - not during cooking dinner, mind you, otherwise I might have ended up like the adorable cook from "My drunk kitchen"! No, no.no, me I want to enjoy my dinner and on days like this I strive for perfection. A meal for a hot day, wraps, filled with mixex peppers, green salad, corn, brown beans and of course  spicy meatcuts and sour cream. And that NICE bottle of Pouilly fume - actually everything goes with it, once you get into it, you might as well serve shit alongside, nobody would notice, it's simply sooo good! Ugh, I am getting off the subject - fall - which is climbing up on us in big steps, believe me. The migrating geese, passing our rooftop tell me so and they have never been wrong.  So , first step into fall clean up - I covered the big sunumbrella shading our little garden in summer. Since we had no real summer this year, the bugger had been real lazy.  Good for it, so it lasts maybe next season. Lucky us, we have a front garden with more sun and thats where we will hang around for the remaining days of this simply shitty summer. - So long! -

Dienstag, August 23, 2011

My Passport Story

August 23/11.....3:26 p.m.

Today the ghost of just deceased Loriot ,the great comedian, must have hovered over the first half of my day. You would say, that achieving a new passport is not such a big deal, well... let me tell you this -
I left the house pretty early , dealing with ministerial hierarchy you have to count on strict office hours and I wanted to have some leeway, just in case. Smart choice!  Took my old passport, a foto, which I had left over from the time I had to renew my ID card and enough money. Well equipped, one would think. The office for this kind of burocracy had moved since I had been there the last time and the somehow evasive directions given by Herr Husband took me on a little sightseeing trip with not a soul on the road to ask.  O.K.  I made it and the first question, the lady behind the desk asked me was  if I really wanted a passport, because, as she explained, moving around Europe an ID card is sufficient. Probably she did not trust me to be able to venture out of Europe. I had been a good girl and kept my mouth shut.  Next, I handed  her my foto and she almost fainted with shock "oh no, it has to be a biometric one" which means that you are not allowed to smile but produce a grim look, which one has travelling nowadays anyway, with all the rules and regulations which involve travelling. So off I went to the local fotoshop and believe me there were two families with among them about 10 kids having passport fotos made and one boy with glasses either made a stupid face, or the glasses had been reflecting or he had moved and there was a part of him missing on the shot. Standing there for about 10 min. tapping my foot I decided to leave, remembering another fotoshop which I then went looking for only to discover that it had vanished from the earth. So, back to the first shop and believe me, the same bespectacled kid still was trying to get his foto taken under the cheers of the remaining crowd. In the meantime my face must have turned purple, so the sales lady asked the 2 family crowd if she could look after me in between and they answered, yes, if it does not take too long!  That had been the second time I told myself: "Landfrau,keep your mouth shut!" So I had my ugly,grim foto taken and off I went to again battle with burocracy and I had been lucky to catch them before sacred lunch hour closing time.
Now I am awaiting my new passport in about 6 weeks and for the rest of my life I will  produce a document with an absolutely ugly me - have decided that there will not be another one.

Donnerstag, August 11, 2011

I am living with Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

August 11/11 ...12:11 p.m.


Yes, and  they  have 4 legs.  By now you might know whom I am talking about, mad Max, our guest dog. As Dr. Jekyll he is very good and nice to have around the house (well, lets be generous and forget about food stolen from the table and a hole bitten into the linnen "horse" bread bag hanging at the radiator, and gobbling up the dried bread) but put him on a leash and leave the house with him, he turns into Mr. Hyde in a jiffy. First he loses his ears, as soon as he spots another dog about half a km away he is off like a thunderbolt, no yelling or whistling is of any use. He wont do any harm , but tell that the other dog and most of all the owner! Same thing happens with people with kids. He produces a kickstart before he realizes that it is a toddler,not a dog. Up to now with have been lucky with nice parents but I could not blame them if they would be upset.

looks like an angel
  Now, why don't I  keep him on the leash? There I have a problem , since my stupid accident in the fall last year my knee is not so stable any more and he is too fast pulling me  all over the places.


So we are always happy when we are back home without incidents and then Dr. Jekyll and me are friends again.

Mittwoch, August 03, 2011

GLASSES or - where the fuck are they?

August 3/11......2:51 p.m.

You need them or you don't. - No, friends, it is not as simple as that, at least not for this here Landfrau. Aside from the fact, that I keep losing them all over the house ( although I have my favoured spots where I put them - like on top of the guest towel stack in the guest bathroom, the staircase steps leading up to the attic room , behind the the window sill curtain in the upper floor )  certain tasks are done much better without glasses. Cleaning the house, for instance is so much more fun if  you do not have to hunt every crumb and tiny dustball. Also mowing the lawn is a good one, looks so much neater without glasses when I am finished. And believe me, that morning glance into the mirror shows an immaculate,wrinkleless Landfrau, it is a simple joy. -

stupid dog - even with glases he could not find his toy!


Although certain tasks I think I better leave them sitting on my nose, for one thing driving my car and also eating a trout. And for looking for mad Max's (labrador guest dog) lost toy, a bright blue plastic bone  about the size of a kitten I left them on and the bone nevertheless is a goner.

Montag, Juli 04, 2011

Rollator Kamikaze

July 4/11......6:02 p.m.

With the help of Landfrau Herr Husband managed a slapstickripe plunge sitting on his rollator. It happened as follows: Herr H. wanted to take a walk with his rollator around the block, Landfrau decided to come along. That was a mistake. Herr H. after a while said he needed a rest and sat on the rollator seat, Landfrau told him I will push you, Herr H. said, no, looks silly, Landfrau said yes, never mind. So I pushed him along the sidewalk, but suddenly the thing, and don't ask me how and why, stopped and started to turnover forward. I tried to hold onto it and sitting husband, fat chance, down he went and me ontop of him. There we were, lying on the sidewalk, Herr H. had lost his cap and glasses and kept yelling at me " are you insane, are you insane" , poor me, lying there, trying to figure out how to get off and up. In the meantime some passers-by had assembled and everyone tried to help. A lady and me managed to pick up Herr H.  who did not want to sit on the rollator anymore being pushed. Fortunately he had only hurt his butt a little and I put the cap back on his head and had a laughing fit, claiming that we never had been holding that position, me on top of husband,  in open public.
Actually I am husband's official attendant and helper, but this act did not gain me any laurels. But I think I might improve.

Donnerstag, Juni 30, 2011

Cussedness of the Inanimate

June 30/11.......12:22 p.m.

It simply is always the same, when I still used to smoke and we had been in a restaurant waiting for our maincourse to be served all I had to do light a cigarette, and bingo, the meal was coming up. Watering the garden flowers for sure draws rain within the next hours and buying essentials for barbecue during a heatwave brings on below zero temperatures. Not that I am so keen on barbecue. It might have something to do with Herr Husband who never does a stich around the household and hardly is able to boil an egg suddenly considers himself a gourmet cook, who is the grillmaster galore. Burnt sausages and halfraw or overcooked steaks are not exactly something to look forward to.  So now my steaks will be pancooked and it is the turn of  Herr Husband to complain that they are overcooked or tough. Must admit that cooking steaks is not quite my piece of pie either.

Montag, Juni 20, 2011

IMPLANTS

June 20/11.....3:15 p.m.

The day I had been dreading had come and this morning at 8:30 p.m. I showed up at my dentist's place to be fixed with two implants. Since he had not been quite sure about the leftover bonestructure, he had to cut the gums open on top to have a look before the drilling. I had been frightened stiff - so to say  and a fast trip to the bathroom had been an absolute must. I got a couple of anesthesia shots and when my mouth felt numb enough he got to work, cutting and drilling . I did not feel a thing, surprisingly, but the noise in my head had been that of a black & decker machine. The whole procedure took less time than anticipated and now I am home cooling with a cool pack and very proud of myself that I did not have to take painkillers yet, but I had 1 antibiotica pill, thats a must. -
so, friends keep your fingers crossed that my mouth will heal fast without complications -I am greedy after a coffee, but that I can only  have tomorrow - shame!

Samstag, Mai 28, 2011

It still can be topped (a post, not to be taken too seriously)

May 28/11.....2:34 p.m.


heavenly slumber

Yesterday we decided to cash in our X-mas present, a voucher for slumbering and feasting , given to us by our daughters . The place treating us had been the "Molzmühle" , a romantic little place at the Schwalm-Nettetal.  And mind you, we had the place all to ourselves, for the dinner, the slumbering and the breakfast this morning.  We thought that it had been great, having the restaurant to ourselves during our last trip to The Sport Schloss Velen,  and once, while flying to Vancouver B.C. we had been lucky to be the only passengers in the first class, aboard a Lufthansa - flight, but we are still missing out on having a yacht for our use only,  preferably in the Mediterranian!  - Well, once in Dubai, we had been guests aboard a private yacht for an evening cruise, but since there had been some business friends along too, that does not count.

So, come on fate or whatever, give! We deserve it!

Montag, Mai 16, 2011

A Sentence a Day

May 16/11.....3:25 p.m.

Day one
Arrival - welcomed  in the room by a bottle of Champagne - courtesy of Herr Husband  - nice!
Day two
A nice try to see the "Dülmener Wildpferde"  - only the hotel receptionist sent us into the middle of the town Dülmen. Where we had to go to had been the Merfelder Bruch and the compound showed a sign " open only at sun- & holidays" - tough luck but a nice drive around countryside. Almost hit a deer.
Day three
Landfrau rented a bike and Herr Husband touched freshly painted wall in the lobby.
Day four
2 hour horse carriage ride , sightseeing a lot of lush green countryside - very pleasant
Day five
Little trip by car into the town of Borken,where they also turn up the sidewalks between noon and 3 p.m. - but we found a place to serve us a nice lunch
Day six - breakfast and drive home - pity! ---
Aside from that we enjoyed the parc surrounding the castle, Herr Husband using his luggie, swimming, wellness , steambath and Landfrau treated herself  to two marvellous massages and a facial, which had been dissapointing, Herr Husband still recognized me! And we had wonderful food and drinks at Pia's bar.
and here are some pics - enjoy!

Freitag, Mai 06, 2011

Funniest Dream!

May 6/11....10:30 a.m.

Today Landfrau is a real early bird - had to give my  physician a sample of my valuable blood and since I have to be there by latest 8:00 a.m. and considering the about 15 min. drive , which takes 45 min. in the morning - I had to get up in the middle of the night (so it seemed to me).  Now, since there is also that donation of morning pee, I am a real nut about that. Always afraid, that I would have no result, in case I had been visiting the loo during the night. So I woke up early enough this morning and had to visit the bathroom very urgently, scolding myself, because I had "bottled" my sample already about around 4 a.m.  But, surprise,surprise, what grinned at me in the bathroom? an empty container ! I really had been flabbergasted, I could have sworn, that I had finished my task during the night, but it must have been a "reality dream" - As I mentioned before, I think, I am a natural nut.

Mittwoch, April 27, 2011

I'm still around!

April 27/11.....5:10 p.m.

I know, I know, I have been neglecting you, my dear blog. But, hanging around, not feeling so super duper on account of my persistant coughing does not make me feel imaginative to tell little tales. At least, after my final visit to a specialist, I aquired a coughing licence, i.e. I know now what I am suffering from - a stupid bronchitis - and now I have to suck powder out of a box once in the morning and once in the evening. Sounds stupid and it is stupid, somehow I always have the tendency to blow into the thing. Let's hope it helps. -
We had a leisurely easter time, the weather had been so great and we enjoyed hanging around on our sundeck , having nice food and drinks and once a while Herr Husband took a drive with  what I baptized his "cripple quad" (a bit mean, I know, but with a wink)  and to give you an impression, here is a little video.
He really turns into"speedy gonzales"!

Sonntag, April 10, 2011

He did it!

April 10/11......12:18  p.m.


I could not believe my eyes, Herr Husband had made efforts to fabricate a teddy (with a little help, but never mind) and here we have the result: TEDDY FREDDIE
isn't he a cutie?

Sonntag, April 03, 2011

Curing the Heart

April 3rd/11........3:26 p.m.

too bad,Herr H. does not want to be creative and fabricate a teddy bear!
Yesterday, saturday, daughter 2 and myself took a drive to Waldliesborn, to visit Herr Husband at his clinic- hangout - Klinik Eichholz - an about 2hrs. drive. We took my Mini, but daughter did the driving, Landfrau is not such a great driver on unknown terrain. At least my car had a ball, km 160/h it never had been driven. It did fine, although you have a bit of a go-cart feeling, but not bad alltogether. The weather had been really great, summer temperatures of 25° C and we found our patient at very good shape. He is the hit of the place, envied by many as owner of his  electric luggie. He zooms around like speedy gonzales all over the compound.  - So we had lunch together and later on coffee and cake at one of the outside terraces, very relaxing. And since the place has a big in-outdoor pool (which Herr.H. unfortunately is not allowed to use - it is rather strong sole - ) it also has a little boutique, offering bathing suits. So daugther found a real cute one at a bargain , I fould a nice one too, unfortunately bargains are not to be had in my size, too many heftier customers around! - Late afternoon we decided to drive back home, we wanted to pass by Dortmund before a real important soccer game ended just about the time we were at the spot. We had been lucky, we just made it before being caught up in the fan traffic jam.
Back home Landfrau invited daughter for a drink and a delicious salad at a nearby bistro, our first time sitting outside in the evening.
By then we both had been bushed and my bed saw me pretty early. - It had been a nice day!

Sonntag, März 27, 2011

No "Blinky Palermo " the 2nd

March 27th/11.....3:52 p.m.

Oh yes, Blinky Palermo! - Faithful readers might remember my post, dripping with envy, about the deal my relatives got. Now, this Landfrau here still has not given up hope to run across her own Blinky Palermo, and yesterday, bingo, thought I had discovered a tiny one. From my childhood, somehow this book of fairytales, made up of collected pictures which you got buying cigarettes of a certain brand, had survived in a miracolous way, considering our migration since the late thirties. A bit beat up, but nevertheless.  So I googled the "Märchen der Völker" and to my surprise got a lot of feedback and among others an ebay page offering said edition for about € 300 . Great -! but when I further dug into the informations I found the edition also offered by antique book sellers for about € 30. So again, there goes my Blinky Palermo,  but I do not give up hope yet.
Thought I owe you something funny to read about, after all the gloomy stuff I have been pushing out lately.

Montag, März 14, 2011

Call me Cassandra

March 14/11.....6:24 p.m.

I suppose you are familiar with that character out of the Greek mythology, the lady who used to predict bad tidings. Well, to tell you, I start feeling like her. Sliding into the year of 2011 I told Herr Husband that I had a weird feeling about the oncoming year in a way that it would not have much good in stock. Up to now, unfortunately I have been right. Herr Husband had been in hospital twice, 2nd time with a heart attack.  The day he had his shunt-OP I had the looniest car accident on the final way home at nite. A guy bumped my car from behind, approaching me while honking his horn wildly, claiming that I had been coming from the right, while I had been driving in the left lane for already at least for 500 meters. The amazing thing,no scratch whatsoever on my car, but his car pretty beat up,which I took pics of right away, they all seemed pretty old marks to me. And the craziest thing, the police which he called and who arrived pretty darn fast, came up to me without even listening to my part of the story,telling me that I had caused the accident. But on the phone had ordered the cars to be moved to the curb.Gave me a fine,which I did not pay and  handed the thing over to my lawer. I have not heard a stich since, neither has my insurance company. The guy phoned me 2 days after the accident and wanted to kow if I had paid. Told him he can talk to my lawer, thats it. The matter stinks!-
By now I am down with a pretty bad cold, started out with no voice for 2 days (could not even fight with Herr H ) and an enoying cough which keeps me waking up about 20 times during the night. Daughter No. 1 caught the same thing, fortunately we had not been in touch. For her it is even worse, since she is normally already suffering from breathing problems.  And then my nephew had a  skiing accident in Austria, with having been unconcious with bad head injuries. Fortunately he is recovering but it will take time.

And the situation in Japan is nothing to rejoice about either - These reactor breakdowns are not finished yet.
Last sunday I met a former riding friend and by telling him my stories he backed away and tod me he was getting depressions. He should have asked me what I had been getting lately.

Dienstag, März 01, 2011

Good for a Laugh!

March 1/11.....11:00 a.m.

Believe me, in these times, where we have not  so much to laugh about, sometimes something refreshing crosses our path! - (freely translated it says - tip or shut up)

Sonntag, Februar 20, 2011

Sunday, Sunday

February 20/11........9:20 a.m.

To put it straight, sunday is not my favoured day of the week. It might have something to do with childhood memories, somehow sunday had been such a day of boredom on one side and  obligations on the other side.  Only thing, one could stay in bed a little longer, but then it started, had to help mother to prepare breakfast, had to help do the dishes, had to go to church during my formative years and then, after a long lunchtime meal, where usually my brothers got to fight over desert who had gotten the bigger portion, had to help with the dishes again. Then, after the afternoon sunday coffee- cake time , the whole family took a long boring walk. Anyway, till my father got his first car. Then it had been long drives into the countryside, sometimes surprising my aunt, who lived about 100 kms away and usually broke out in tears when we showed up, because she hated surprise visits.  I do not blame her. So I got to know the radius of about 100 kms around my parent's home pretty well and by the time we got home from our drive , my parents were in the no talking state, because my mother, who had no driver's license, always knew better and had been giving my father instructions till he blew his top and then my mother sulked.  Well, after sandwich time in the evening, there came the worst part, the whole family assembled around the radio,  later on it had been television, to listen to resp. watch a show and my mother presented a basket of socks full of holes, belonging to my dad and brothers and mom and daughter had to mend the holes. This had been the moment when I wished I had been one of my brothers!  Mind you, dad produced holes big as potatoes and I could have broken out into a screaming fit having to mend them. 
I never repair a sock now-a-days, off into the garbage they go. This is my revenge.

Later on, when I had my own life, sundays could be very pleasant days, only bad thing had been,that the next day had to be monday. But somehow memory of those childhood sundays sticks and they do not brighten up with time.                                                                     

Montag, Februar 14, 2011

A Touch of Creativity

February 14/11....7:27 p.m.


little Miss Sunshine


a friend



horse of an American friend
  I just love to paint but lately Landfrau has been a bit lame in exercising her creativity. Maybe it is just that our house is too small, all walls are plastered with pictures and paintings somehow and I have taken myself out of the "selling" business. I am just too lazy to paint on comission. But once a while I am intrigued and then I get going and my room is a mess, with all the painting material scattered everywhere.  I hate cleaning up afterwards but sometimes I think the result has been worth it and before I explode in selfpraise, here are some of my latest accomplishments.

Freitag, Februar 04, 2011

Timmendorfer Strand

February 4/11.....11:45 p.m.

Once upon a time...well this is no fairy tale, so let me begin again - a very long time ago we spent a vacation at eastertime with a crowd of riding friends at the kind of "vacation home stable" located at Timmendorfer Strand belonging to the owners of our riding club. What makes me suddenly think of this time? I watched a tv-movie and the setting had been Timmendorfer Strand. So this brought back memories and hilarious ones at such!  We really had been such a great bunch of riding buddies and we outdid ourselves in creating mischief much to the dismay of our hosts. One night we visited a local bar, a pretty funny place, from the bar you could slide into a pool if you had enough to drink and wanted to "sober up" . The mother of one of our friends spent a holiday in Florida at that time and from the bar he called her and she agreed to foot the bill. So you can imagine, we all ended up in the pool. A couple of days before easter we coloured eggs at night and since Herr Husband, having had a few drinks too much , had fallen asleep on a bench in the community room, we decided to paint his face green. The problem had been, that he had a business appointment (at that time he still had been a hard working guy) in the morning in Hamburg and he had a hard time to get the paint of his face and had been very much in panic, that he would not get it off completely -he did not!  - But in the morning, hangover or not, we showed up in time at the stables for cleaning and saddling the horses and we had those great gallopes along the beach to sober up.  One morning I got kicked in the ass by the horse next to mine , fortunately it had no shoes, but for the rest of the time I had been limping around, which however did not keep me from riding. I have been a tough cookie all my life, it helps me now-a-days.

And by the way, the tough cookie is the knight on the white horse!

Vanity contra Stinginess

February 4/11......4:15 p.m.

Here I sit, chewing my nails. - Landfrau discovered an application which enables you to have your blog printed as a book. Of course first I tried in several ways to have the preview saved, but of course they outsmart the "smarties" who want to do that. so PDF is out. Now there I am and I have two souls in my breast. The vanity-soul whispers have it printed but the stinginess-soul shouts: ARE YOU INSANE SPENDING SO MUCH MONEY FOR YOUR SCRIBBLINGS! - Hard decision - what do you think?

Mittwoch, Januar 26, 2011

I knew it!

January 26/11......1:30 p.m.

I had a hunch what was in store for me when I made that dentist's appointment for inspection and cleaning and bingo, my problem tooth has to go and since I am a person of fast decisions I told my dentist lady lets do it then right away.  So out it went, but unfortunately had to leave a root part in - nasty- which had to be dug out and then I was sitting in that chair bleeding like a slaughtered pig and it would not stop. So finally the hole had to be filled up and mended with a thread and now I am sitting here and dreading the wear off of the anesthetic shots. Up to now I have half a numb face, my nose feels like a snout from a pig and my eye twitches.
I shall be running around for 3 months with a gap in my mouth, so no more smiling let alone laughing before some proper work can be done.
Sob,sob sob.....I FEEL SORRY FOR MYSELF!

Sonntag, Januar 23, 2011

Lazy Sunday...

January 23/11.....5:22 p.m.

...is forever better than GLOOMY SUNDAY.  - Herr Husband is home from hospital and is getting adjusted to his nurse (Landfrau) without uniform. Up to now the patient behaves!
Daughter No. 2 dropped in for a short visit and we had latte macchiato and tea for the patient, his favoured, Earl Grey. And Landfrau must admit that she had a sip of champagne, believe me, she deserves it.

Donnerstag, Januar 13, 2011

I could have gone Places

January 13/11.......4:50 p.m.

The amount of driven kms today could have taken me away to some better places, that's for sure. Started out this morning before 9 a.m. to drive to the doctors place to pick up the papers which one needs to be admitted to hospital. Yeah, it has been time for "beloved" Krefeld again, actually Herr Husband had an appointment tomorrow for a  kidney check-up as day patient, but during the last weeks his lack of breath had been immensely increasing, so we decided to check in already today, to have his lungs and heart taken care off in advance. I loathe the clinic compound, no parking facilities and today pouring rain to boot. So I dropped off the patient at the main entrance including his bag, which he could drag on wheels and the second piece, his heavy breathing machine, I hauled from the far off parking space - and a tow away one at that - which considering my still nasty leg in it's goal keeper wrap had been no piece of cake. I found the patient pantiently waiting in a hallway, aside from having no beds available, the were no sheets etc, the delivery truck got stuck in traffic. Well, we were assured that there would be a bed for him and with that knowledge I rushed off, already about an hour late for my own doctor's appointment at the other side of the river Rhine - needed desperately some shots for my lumbago, which I had supplied myself with last weekend thinking I could clean up our messy gardens and driveway. Not so happy for additional pain in my already damaged leg!
 The whole damn drive around action took me about 5 hours and now I am home, trying to simmer down.  I hope they put Herr Husband insofar into shape again, that he can have some joy out of life. The last few weeks have not been so bright. 
This is where the fun starts with 2011!

While searching for old"Krefeld" posts I got stuck memorizing a lot about Herr Hund, which makes nicer reading matter anyway.

Sonntag, Januar 09, 2011

I love Lazy Mornings

January 9/11 ....9:20 a.m.

Above all I love sunday mornings, waking  up, peeking at the weather, listening to the radio for a while , slowly separating myself from my beloved bed  and then it starts to be unpleasant, because my scale is eying me and I know that as soon as I have stepped onto it, I am not so cheerful any more. Did garden work like a maniac yesterday, the grounds really looked poor after the snow had melted and today muscles ache where I did not know I had them. But I can not trick my scale so I will punish it by having a delicious breakfast and that first cup of nespresso is just bliss! - so is blogging about nothing.

Sonntag, Januar 02, 2011

No New Years's Resolutions

January 2/11...1:43 p.m.

......None whatsoever. After having limped into 2011 Landfrau can only hope for the better.  Right now I  start to ask myself if  my leg will ever get back to  into shape and painless again and will I ever be able to wear normal shoes  except rubber boots. Otherwise the beginning of a new year only makes me contemplate about things I will never have and do again. There is quite a list. Anyways - useless to cry over spilled milk.
Today for once there is a little bit of sunshine and some blue sky - nice day for a walk - or bike ride, which I hope is one of the things I will be able to do again in the near future. My muscles are turning into fat, slowly but surely.  Aside from hating myself I hate doctors, hospitals, graveyards and people who do not treat their dogs nicely.
So this has been my New Years's speech - I think it beats Angela Merkel's.