Dinner for Two

September 10/09......12:07 p.m.

Last nite we had our wedding anniversary - dinner at a restaurant at the riverside in our neighbourhood. Amazingly, for a friday nite, the place had been almost empty, only two tables occupied and the couple from one of the tables left shortly after our arrival. Now there was only one table left taken by two women and two dogs. Too bad, they did not leave too, otherwise I could have bragged that Herr Husband had reserved the complete place for us on account of the occasion. But the food had been delicious and the anniversary couple enjoyed the twosomeness. Still - does not beat the time we flew to the US and had the complete first class section to ourselves. Had been like having won in a lottery!-
Well,well, those were the times, now we squeeze into tourist, like most of the travellers and the only advantage we have is, that Herr Husband gets pushed around in a wheelchair. Some other kind of privilege which we would rather not have.

Two Sides to a Medal

October 6/09....11:30 a.m.


Got a rose this morning from a neighbour -mind you, a yellow one. He stopped me, when I walked by with Herr Hund and said that he had decided to give a rose to attractive women passing by. Cute, Isn't it? Of course "attractive" made my day till I came home, tried to lift Herr Hund, who has not gotten the hang yet to jump into the new car, and kind of twisted my back. There! - Landfrau was shown that old age is really creeping up on her. -
Now I have a yellow rose and an aching back.

Again B.B. or my Time when I wanted to look like her

September 28/09.....7:46 p.m.

← ..wanted to look like her

Everybody, at least around here in Germany, is talking politics and is full of pro and contra about the outcome of the elections. I have been very tempted to put in my modest opinion, but in the long run it only would be "another smartass talking". So I stick to the lady of the day - Brigitte Bardot - it is her birthday, she is now 75 years old. I vividly remember the times when she had been so popular and we all - us girls - wanted to look like her. Golden times in my memory, we were modest and hilariously happy to drive around in our "Messerschmitt Kabinenroller" (should have held on to it, would be worth a fortune today) and our long saved for holiday trip took us into a little bit of Switzerland and to Southern Germany. We stayed in small bed & breakfast places and always had to take two rooms, since we were not married. And Herr H., who had not been Herr H. at that time, sneaked across the floor, being very careful that the boards did not creak. There never were traffic jams on the Autobahn and the places we visited had not been overrun with tourists.

Makes you think about how fast time goes by, today Brigitte Bardot is old and so is Landfrau.

Summer's End

September 19/09......4:34 p.m.

Puts me into a touch of melancholy, summer's end. In a way there is a sad sound to it , have not heard that sound so much in previous years but then, maybe I did not listen so intendly. Found an essay in today's paper about the two actresses, Sophia Loren and Brigitte Bardot,both turning 75 this year. Now Sophia Loren, she still looks great, no doubt. Claims it on the spaghetti she ate all her life. Well, maybe I did not eat enough spaghetti, too late, this train has passed. Brigitte Bardot, on the other hand, I always remember - in connection with age - that rather stupid joke about the two withered , wrinkly elderly women, lying at the beach and one said to the other "we wanted to look like Brigitte Bardot all our lifes, now we do". But do not think I look like Brigitte Bardot either, she is much thinner. Well, at a certain younger age I have been told by people that there had been a slight resemblance...bygones, my friends. -
Today I really savoured the warm sunshine, lying and napping for a bit in my lounge chair on our sundeck, no more fear of sunburn, a slight warm wind caressing my skin. Now, before I become too poetic I shall get down to the realities of life. Herr Hund, who is slightly limping (age also catching up on him) is ordering me to take him for his walk. Will take him down to the riverbanks and as a reward I then can try to untangle the burs out of his fur. Also a sign of fall, those nasty things.

WARNING!

September 9/09......10:11 a.m.

I have been leading a normal life. I had hobbies. I read , I painted, I did horsebackriding. Well, had to send my horse to horseheaven but that's no excuse for the things to come. I discovered the internet. So far, so good. Then I got curious and curiosity killed the cat ,tried myself at blogging. I had one blog, not enough, now I have two. Had been quite happy with that for quite a while.Then folks started to yap about twitter. Twitter, what's twitter? Try it, Landfrau, try it. Gee, what a gadget! That did it for a while. Began to loose my tan ,though. Never mind. Then that talk about facebook. Facebook?? Sure, have to find out about it, have to try it out. Gee, what a gadget, such a nice toy and what you can stuff into it, marrrvellous! - Now, the cream on top, FARM VILLE!!! - Getting real mad when I forget to harvest my strawberries. And mind you ,I own a horse again, creepers! -
Now it will be:
a fat ass, sitting in front of the (f...ing) computer too much,
slanty eyes (for squeezing at the screen)
time for painting - out
reading, ha, what's that
bicycle - will have flat tires,sitting in the garage
outdoors? Tell me, what season do we have?
sleep: - none
divorce: - pending
Did I have friends?
and Herr Hund starts to hate me for taking him out too late in the morning.

So,guys, do not tell me I did not warn you.

P.S- This is a post not to be taken too seriously, or?

Our big,fat COUNTRY WEDDING

September 7/09.....7:16 p.m.

What a lot of work and planing, but it had been worth it for the creation of a wonderful wedding day. Driving to Hessen we kept doubtfully looking at the sky, rain and more rain, but then I told the weathergod "don't you dare!" and some blue sky showed and the sun kept peeking out. What more do you want. -The wedding ceremony at the little church right across the bride's home where she grew up and the same church where she, her brother and last not least her little daughter had been babtized, turned out to be a very cheerful and nevertheless touching affair. The couple's little daugther stole the show ,so to say and managed to confuse even the reverend, but he coped very nicely. Our young bride looked lovely and both made a beautiful couple. The reception and dinner party following up were a big success, decorations, food and the band - everything matched and show me the one, who didn't enjoy himself. Daughter No. 2 slipped down the steps to the washroom and grandson,who happened to watch said, that it had been like a whale diving from a board. Naughty kid! Fortunately she got away with a few bruises and scratches. So I thought that I might join her and later on, when I took Herr Hund out after getting back to the hotel, it had been so pitchdark that I did not see some steps in the gravel path leading into the forrest and I fell plum on my face, like a kid. My knee still hurts. Normally I take a flashlight but I had forgotten to pack it. But I presume we were the only bruised ones, it stayed in the family.

Now we are back home and a bit beat!

P.S. above canvass had been done by the wedding guests. You could buy a little square and fill it out, Landfrau did the 3 faces, wanted to add the family's cat, but fooled it up, the brush had been too thick!- bummer!

That good old Feeling

September 1/09.....7:17 p.m.

Yes, there it is again, that feeling of fall, rain around the corner, wind and a dripping garden. Have been already afraid, that the climate change had moved us into southern regions during the last couple of weeks. - Honestly, I love autumn, the turning of leaves, the wild geese assembling screeching upon the surrounding fields, the fog in the morning and the cozy evenings with a nice glass of red wine in front of our little fire, listening to some nice music and being able to do indoor things without a bad concience and the feeling of missing something outside. - Some rays of sunshine would be appreciated though next weekend, it will be the big (fat) church wedding of our lovely granddaughter. So friends, keep your fingers crossed for us and I will bring you a piece of the wedding cake!

Everything comes to an End

August 25/09......9:44 a.m.

....good things, bad things and also my little report about our pleasure trip aboard the "Arosa "Stella" - river Rhone cruise. On the way back the boat speeds up and there had been only a small stop at Tournon. By then Landfrau was tempted to say "same procedure as every time, James" as far as those little provincial villages go. In a way they are interchangeable, one or two small cafes, a fort or castle, narrow little streets and oldfashioned little shops. Oh yes, this little village had a pretty pedestrian bridge, crossing over to the other shore. Well....-

The last day took us into Lyon again and there I had orders from son-in-law to hunt for "Florentiner", very tasty cookies, which he claimes he never tasted better ones than from Lyon. And imagine, I think I even found the confiserie he had pointed out. They are still sitting in my fridge now, nicely giftwraped and we will take them to Hessen when we meet end of next week. Good, that they are wrapped, they would be gone by now otherwise, I think, because Herr Husband is also a "Florentiner" lover! -

Then I took that sightseeing tour again atop that open bus, where you can get on and off at your liking. This ride is really great and it is a guided tour, where you can listen in your own language over headphones, which you get wrapped and sealed at the beginning of the tour. At night we had the last get together with our "boat friends", we had lots of laughs.-

The flight back next day had been o.k. and first time in our lives we took advantage of the invalid service, so Herr Husband had the pleasure of being pushed around in a wheelchair.Landfrau pushed the bags.

And this is now

THE END

of my little travel report. Hope you enjoyed it.

And what is next?

August 22/09.....3:06 p.m.

It's Marseille, such a grand city, have been told that you either love it or hate it, there is no inbetween. Landfrau fell in love with it right away and if I could have, I would have sneaked away from the bus crowd and might be still roaming the streets of Marseille. We went there by bus from Arles and after the sightseeing tour were driven to Port St. Louis, where our ship had arrived in the meantime.

But Marseille overwhelmed me and I did not regret having taken part in the excursion, inspite of my dislike of bus tours. Unfortunately there was a shortage of time, so we did get off the bus only 3 times, once up on the hill of the Basilika, where you had a terrific view all around all over the city. Then I walked around for a bit at the old harbour side where the fisherwomen sell the fish caught fresh in the morning and we had a stop at a place where you had a good view upon the Île d'If , where the legendary Count of Monte Christo had been imprisoned. Only the truth is, that he is just a fictionary person , invented by Alexandre Dumas, he never excisted. - We did see a lot by bus, we were lucky, our guide had been a French woman who had lived in Marseille for quite a while.

We then had quite a long drive back to the boat and there a shuttle bus had been organized, that you could drive to a nature beach and have a dip in the Mediterranean Sea. Herr Husband wanted to try his luck and come along, but when he saw the distance you had to walk through hot sand he drove back with the bus right away. Good choice for him but a shame as such, that he could not take that refreshing swim in the sea. But boy, it had been very hot and no shade and just sitting on the little beach towel was not such a comfort, so I went in for a swim, let myselft dry off ,went in again and then walked back to the busstop. The French people of course drove with their cars as far as it had been possible and then unloaded complete households of picnic baskets,cool bags,sunumbrellas, beach towels and what have you. Only thing I did not spy were portable toilets . -

At night our boat left Port St. Louis (not much to see there) for the trip back home and there had been only one more minor stop, before we reached Lyon again.

To be continued...

Creepers, I can smell the Camargue!

August 21/09......7:06 p.m.

....and I start singing: memories are made of this! We are in Arles, very old and very picturesque and close to the Camargue, where we have spent two times our vaccation. Did a lot of horsebackriding, one day -ride took us to the seaside and we galopped in the surf. Since we always have to produce our small catastrophy, daughter No. 2, who at this time must have been around 10 years old, got something into her eye at the beginning of the ride and it got worse and worse, of course rubbing did not help. So we had to cope with a bawling kid, and since it had been a group ride, we could not run back and daughter and myself would never have found the way back. The horses, maybe. At that time it still had been the cell phone less aera (good old times), so we had to live through the dilema. At the beach the guide organized some water from a picnic jeep group, but it did not help a bit to rinse the eye. When we finally came to our hotel we were lucky, one of the guests had been an eye doctor who looked at her and had the proper medication and equipment along. There was fortunately nothing seriously wrong, only an irritation. But the ride as such had been spoiled for both of us. But the little hotel we stayed at had been a gem, it was called Mangio Fango, which means "turning winds" and the owner cooked the most delicious meals at night. On one of our frequent sightseeing tours I bought a most adorable long,very comfortable dress, made out of that wonderful provencal fabric. Have been wearing it for ages till it was so threadworn that it fell apart. Well, memories...

Now Arles, on our this years tour, I took the little sightseeing train again, they are so nice, you get sights to see without having to walk around too much in the heat. Found out that the train passed the place where our ship had its mooring place and organized, that the guide would stop there on one of the next runs, so Herr Husband could get aboard ,take the tour around and then get off at the same place. The French people are so easygoing in this respect, in Germany you could never have done a thing like that, rules and regulations. So Herr Husband was quite happy again to have seen some sights not only in the display of my camera.

To be continued..

I killed my Housemouse

August 21/09....4:30 p.m.

For three evenings Landfrau had been laying in her lounge chair on our porch, on and off watching a tiny mouse running back and forth, very busy and very fast. It had been a little field mouse, brown, about the size of a big prune. When I came home from shopping today, Herr Husband claimed I was a murderess. He found my little mouse in the driveway, all flat and there even was a tiny puddle of blood. Apparently I had run over it with my car. He gave it a garbage can funeral. Now I only hope, that there isn't a nest of even tinier little mice, waiting desperatey for their mouse mom. If I discover them, I will have to find very tiny bottles, to feed them, would be like snow white with the seven dwarfs.-
So, no more mouse show at night, what a pity.

Sur le Pont d'Avignon....

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August 19/09....3:15 p.m.





l'on y danse, l'on y danse, sur le pont d'Avignon l'on y danse tout en rond.....


is an old childrens ' song and playing the music our ship approached the bridge and the passengers toasted it from the deck with a glass of champagne, very stylish. The bridge had been destroyed by a flood in the year of 1669. A chapel is sitting on it and you can visit the remaining part. Since Herr Husband can not walk such long distances, like from the ship to the town, I had the brilliant idea to order a taxi and we drove right up to the Palais of the Pope, a gothic building dating back to the 14th century. From the square in front of the palais runs a tourist train and this way Herr Husband could also see some of the sights without having to walk. After the ride he went back to the ship by taxi and Landfrau took delight in roaming the little streets in the old part of town, buying some cute gifts and was passed by a taxi in which Herr Husband sat in the fond like royalty, not taking notice of pedestrian Landfrau. Getting back aboard on a hot day always had been a pleasure. Having a dip into the little pool and a cool drink at the poolside has been quite delightful. - Starting from Avignon Herr H. managed to slip from the pool ladder every time he tried to climb in and by the end of the trip we just counted the bruises, funny kind of record keeping how often he had tried his luck. If I saw some other passenger run, it was for sure to save Herr H., who did his slipping number again. We called it his daily performance by then.





To be continued

Cobbled Streets and 3 old Men

August 18/09.....1:43 p.m.

That is what had to be seen at Viviers/Ardeche. Besides the street were pretty steep, some of them and the 3 old men were sitting on a bench looking at the tourists and the tourists looked at them, both having nothing better to do. Quite a contrast, after having been in bustling Lyon for almost two days. O yes, there had been a castle sitting on top of the hill, which I decided not to visit,too steep- too hot. After all, I was on holiday,or?

To be continued.

He deserves a post for sure

August 17/09 ....9:27 p.m.

Wo does? Monsieur Bocuse of course, although I do not think he cooked for us personally, but he has a welltrained crew. Look at the menu, it speaks for itself, what is left to say is that we really were unable to taste all the goodies offered to us. Landfrau even got a birthday cake with a candle,which I blew out with all the waiters applauding and a boy in livree playing happy birthday on a street organ, to my regret there had been no monkey sitting on top of the organ. We dined for hours and it had been a great birthday present from my daugthers. Girls, you are gems!

To be continued..

The Day I almost drowned myself and lost my Ticket

August 16/09...10:37 p.m.

This is all about our pleasure cruise aboard a vessel on the river Rhone in France. - Since we did not want to be under pressure to reach the ship for boarding at 3:00 p.m. we decided to fly into Lyon the previous day. Also there had been that Bocuse birthday dinner the night before our departure. But that is another story. So we arrived pretty early in the morning at Lyon. We had an amazing small plane, and it had been occupied about 1/3rd, gave you the feeling "daddy is going to take you flying" very relaxing. - We had booked for a night into a hotel "Cour des Loges" situated right in the old part of town, very charming and unique - but that is another story. We were lucky to have our room right away, had a leisurely breakfast and then Herr Husband decideded to take a nap and curious Landfrau decided to roam the old part of the town of Lyon. We had been in Lyon before, so I knew a bit about the whereabouts. Decided to take the "furniculaire" (rack railway) up to the hill, where the Basilica" is situated. You have a marvellous view from up there all over Lyon. Tickets you buy at the bottom and you only can enter after having devaluated your ticket. After having visited the Basilica, enjoyed the view and walked around for a bit, I decided to take the trip back down. Looked into my purse - no ticket - . Looked again and again, no ticket. Decided then that I must have lost it while taking out my camera. Started to look around on the ground where I had been walking around, found a lot of tickets, none looked familiar. By then people must have thougt there was a nut walking around collecting cast away tickets. Problem is, you can not buy a new ticket at the upper station and you can not enter without a ticket. Had a last checkup into my handbag, and what grinned at my..my ticket. Had been hiding in a side pocket. So I had been quite happy that I did not have to decend on foot in the mid day heat. - by the time I arrived back at the hotel I decided to hava a swim in the tiny pool at the roof. A nice, little wellness center, but not a soul around. Dipped into the pool, which had been extremely tiny, and found out it was equipped with a device, which you could adjust to swim against. It gave a warning that one should put it to lowest level afer usage. Well, the idiot having used it before me had left it on the highest level and idiot me pushed the button and was thrown around like in a terrific surf, thought I really would not get out . Finally managed to reach the button and adjust it. From then on it had been great and I made a mess using lot of towels and walking dripping all over the place. Punishment! And at night we dined at Bocuse, but that is another story, as I said before.

To be continued.

VIVE LA FRANCE!

August 6/09....8:16 a.m.

About Life and Death

August 2/09 ....6:30 a.m.



Now we are into the month of August already, the vacation of daughter No.2 and family is over and it is the last day for mad Max as our houseguest. Have been awakened by a horrendous flash and thunder and outside we have one of those "green winter" days again. The smell of fall is in the air. Found a death anouncement in the daily paper, my teenage crush, who so long ago broke my heart, has died. It is always sad, to find the obituary of people one has known, even in the far away past. Carpe diem, that's what Landfrau sighs very often nowadays.

Apple of our Eyes!

July 29/09.......2:00 p.m.

And this had been my youngest visitor and she got the most attention for sure!

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A Promise...

Juli 28/09....7:57 a.m.



...is a promise, so I might as well post about my birthday. Everyone has them, as a kid they are great and up to a certain age the birthday child mostly cries at his or her party. Starting from a certain age one has the tendency to sing the song: It's my party and I cry when I want to...well, getting older is not such a piece of cake any more and it really builds up your moral when you get a birthday card from a friend telling you, so now you too are a year older.Thank you, nut, has Landfrau bought the eternal youth, am I Dorian Gray? - But also I have been greatly amused, getting a book from another friend, which "she could not resist reading" first, after leafing through. Only the way it looked, about 3 other people could not resist beforehand either. Never mind , have the book in my collection already anyway. So, when you get in the future a book as a gift from Landfrau,which she could not have resisted reading you are "in the picture" so to say. - Aside from that (now we come to the good part of the story) Landfrau got spoiled galore by the man of her life and her family . I am like a kid, I just love presents. And we had lovely dinners, eating out, only my brunch party on sunday morning at the lovely Canoo I could not enjoy so much , somehow I had grown an addional head overnite and both heads hurt. Could have kicked my ass, should have learned by now that a hangover is a hangover. For sure Landfrau is old enough! - Also by now *laugh*!

Who is stealing my Time?

Juli 23/09.......11:13 p.m.

Actually I had a very good post made up in my mind, about the phenomena of mama-mom-whatever bloggers, very strange to us Europeans, but now I am too darn tired. So you will have to wait for my brainstorm tomorrow or whenever. Guys, you will survive it! But being in "the blog" now I might as well take the opportunity to thank all my real and my virtual friends for their good wishes to my birthday! From now on Landfrau counts backwards.
Hope that does the trick!