There is no water in Holland (Netherlands)

June 30/07 1:50 p.m. The Weather Pixie: Niederrhein

Another year, same place, same crew, except this time daughter No.2 and son in law will join us for the weekend. We will leave 4th of July (without fireworks) and are starting to plan the "treck". Man of my life came today with 3 cases of water (12 bottles each) to take along. Well, he has to drink 2 bottles a day, but mind you,there is a store which sells water in the vicinity of the hotel. Besides, all we only have to pack additionally is:

3 bikes
luggage for 3 persons
1 sunumbrella
1folding bench
1 folding chair
a stack of beach towels
1 cooler
1 picknic bag
1 bag of dogfood (no, there is not the special dogfood in Holland)
1 bag for dog
1 dog

and all that,what comes up in the run.
But,obviously, there is no water beeing sold in Holland.

What Landfrau wants to pack is sunshine, so....keep on dancing!!!

DANCE II

June 29/07 10:35 a.m. The Weather Pixie: Niederrhein

YEP..folks, keep on dancing, it starts workin'!!!

DANCE

June 26/07 10:10 a.m.

Dear friends worldwide, please join me in the anti-rain dance for our region,
here we go:

One, two, three :
boom, boom, boom,
NO rain - NO rain
boom, boom ,boom,
NO rain - NO rain
boom............

Thanks a lot!

Where is the Salt?

June 24/07 7:30 p.m.

HOUSEWIVES! Here is one for you.

Dinner finished, dishwasher stacked, kitchen tidied up, want to watch a special TV show, everything finished just in time,uff, all Landfrau has to do is switch on the machine, and there blinks the sign: REFILL SALT! Now ,first of all,the sign never blinks if one has ample time,no,by no means! and then the hunt starts. Kitchen is small, so salt has to be stacked somewhere else. Only remember,where I have not stored it, in the washroom with the detergents. Got wet. Wrecking brain, big cabinet in hallway?no, under the staircaise to the basement? no, in the (somewhat messy) basement room? BINGO! - But then, hunt continues,refiller gadget?? Wow, under the sink,where it should have been,only has been hiding in a corner,the little devil.
By then, show I wanted to watch,is half over and now it dimms on me, why housewifes are sometimes a little bit behind in knowledge,they miss the starts fooling around looking for things, and then they give up on doing what they really wanted to do.

Otherwise sunday has been uneventful.

Chaotic Start into Weekend

June 23/07 6:49 p.m.
The Weather Pixie: Niederrhein

And I thought it might be relaxing, but no, not even peace and quiet in the shower. Husband came running to show me his eye,which looked, as if someone had punched it in a boxing fight. And you could see the black stripe running under the skin,very scary. Turned out, a tinny vein had broken,but nothing serious. Next got phonecall from (pregnant)daughter - yes, our family is in a fertility phase - that she is suffering from a very bad cold and is not feeling well at all. So good mummy offered to do the weekend foodshopping, and since I was coming anyway, grandson said, might as well put a song for him onto a CD, which he had been yearning after since the previous day, but all we managed on our computer was, to cancel all the songs on his iPod, which turned him into Rumpelstilzchen

"in his rage drove his right foot so far into the ground that it sank in up to his waist; then in a passion he seized the left foot with both hands and tore himself in two."

Fortunately the songs could be reloaded back home. So, thought I owe him, even it it had not been my fault. Well, made someone happy today.

Previous weekend for sure had been more fun with our houseguest from Texas.

And the weather...my,my, I call it a no-weather. Hopefully we will now have all the rain you can get,so there might be none left starting from July 4th,when we leave for a week for Holland with our grandson, because beeing at the seaside with a kid in lousy rainy weather is a punishment for someone who has killed his mother and father. -
So, for now there is still hope for an"uneventful" sunday.

Oh,yes, and the dog had a cyst removed and mustbe treated with a liquid,which I had managed to spill, almost all of it, and it should have lasted for a week. Great?

SCENARIO

June 20/07 3:50 p.m.

Happened Yesterday.... (Landfrau,daughter No.2,grandson (main cast) )

Daughter No. 2 (on phone): Could you please pick up grandson and take him to church for the final school service at 3:30 p.m., have meeting, can not make it. And then he has to go to the barber.
Landfrau: sure, no problem.
Landfrau looks at clock,gee,3:20 p.m. already, heats across Interstate to not have poor waiting grandson in need. Arrives in time, grandson plays tennis on the street with friend and is very astonished at grandmas appearance.
Grandson: what do you want, omala (thats what he calls me)
Landfrau:your mom said should take you to church service.
Grandson: No, my friend is here,we go by bike.
Landfrau: No, your mom said....
Grandson: but I cant let my friend go by himself.
Landfrau: then I take you both in the car.
Friend: no, need my bike later on.
Landfrau: I give up,then we meet at the church,where is it?
Lenghty explanations of grandson,how to get to the church,very confusing.
Friend: but the service is at the catholic church, not the protestant one.
Grandson:but I am protestant,what should I go to the wrong church for?
Landfrau(exasperated): if the service is there...and now ,are you both sure??
Grandson:we meet there,and if the service is not in that church, then I will drive in front of you with my bike to the other church.
Well,fortunately first church had been the right one.
So,arriving there,grandson and other kids rushed in and Landfrau was left cold by herself. Sat through a boring service with cranky (sibling) kids and parents,done by a timid parson woman and another fat woman in a white long kind of nightgown,could not figure out her role,but had been badly played,anyway. Sneaked out before the end and waited for grandson in front of the church. When he came out, asked him about the haircutting business and how we should go about it.
Grandson: you do NOT know,where the barber is?
Landfrau: No,how should I and besides,what is the whole thing now about,why should I come along anyway,you go by bike and you know the way.
Grandson (turns around) and calls his mother on his cell phone.
Landfrau: let me talk to her.
Grandson:there was the answering machine.
Landfrau: but you have been talking.
Grandson:wanted to know name of my haircut.(liar - had been complaining about mean grandma)
Landfrau ,voice rising: The barber knows,my goodness!
Grandson: I really do not know what you are cranky about.
Landfrau: Here,my friend, is your money and your housekey,

and I left.
Came home and got the evil eye from "grandpa" having left the poor boy alone. Told him the poor boy could very well fend for himself.
Got a phonecall later that nite from "poor boy",who claimed that certainly some things had gone wrong that afternoon. His way of apologies!

We parted friends!

A Present

September 1966

June 15/07

....for a very good friend far away at the westcoast of Canada. Happy Birthday! And have a drink on us!

International Week

June 14/07 7:54 p.m. The Weather Pixie: Niederrhein

We are definitely going international this week. Daughter No.2 has two French boys as exchange students (grandson had been in France last month) for a week. They are very well behaved 10 years olds,except they do not eat and do not talk. We took them to an icecream parlor yesterday afternoon and really wrecked our old brains for our somewhat rusty knowledge of French language. But it worked out. -

Tomorrow we will have our Texas friend as a houseguest till Sunday, well actually he is a Montana boy,who now lives in Houston. With him we wont have difficulties regarding eating and talking! And we do not have to wreck our old brains! - Unfortunately the weather pixie does not behave too well at the moment,so..no enjoying of outdoor meals. Shame on the pixie!

Please,please....

June 12/07 8:49 a.m. The Weather Pixie: Niederrhein

Landfrau wants a polar bear! And €5 million!

(read complete article)

Meanwhile, Wirtschaftswoche magazine reported that Knut is likely to boost the zoo's revenues by €5 million by the end of the year.

Paris Hilton and the G8

Foto: ddp/Republikanischer Anwaltsverein

June 9/07 9:49 a.m.

Wish I could take bets about the percentage of people interested in G8 versus Paris Hilton (in jail or not) in the U.S. 80% for Paris, my bet. - And talking about jail, an outrage, peaceful ,mind you - peaceful (not the black rioters) prostesters locked up in cages. - But our Mrs. Merkel has been beaming in competition with the sun: Agreements are wonderful and there will be a start looking into the damages of CO² abuse in 2050. And Africa will get all the help it does not want. Will our(my) grandkids be wiser, once they take over?

NorahJones.com

NorahJones.com

This great gal', let her brighten up your day (nice new website)!

Oldies for my Oldie

Bretignolles sur mer

June 5/07

...and a nice birthday trip to LA FRANCE. Have fun!

Sun shining on us and riots in Rostock

my corner provencale

June 2/07 6:24 p.m. The Weather Pixie: Niederrhein

It is always the same,the autonome scene is making it hard for peaceloving demonstrants to voice their demands. Considering all the aspects, the G 8 summit is as un- necessary as a hole in the head, of those there will be enough in the near future anyway till the whole thing is over and done with, without satisfying results, mark my words.-

More pleasant topics - our weather, see my pixie, has decided to be more friendly,which in turn triggers a fierce outside activity with Landfrau. And Landfrau also is proudly presenting a sporadic rush,comes like a jiffy but till now vanishes overnite. Strawberries are the culprits, I have found out. Gobble them up anyway, to hell with looking kind of "measely". Will be bad, if the rush wont vanish any more, will have to think of something then, like an astronauts' outfit. or so -

Those were the Times

May 31/07 7:40 p.m.

Had to dig out old photos to prepare a page for a friend's 70th birthday. Ran across pictures of that gorgeous looking woman all the time,looked twice, looked again..it had been me! - Gee whizz, one should skip looking at old snaps of oneself, unless you have been a hangdog all your life, then it's alright.

Coast Guard

Just a "fast one" - above link got lost on the former post. So..upon request! my friends..

HERE IT IS AGAIN!

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Black Forrest Snow

dpa

May 28/07 4:04 p.m. Weather pixie Düsseldorf

Where is the global warning regarding global warming? Or, is it the other way around, that with global warming we are into a new ice age? - Somehow I have something like that in the back of my mind. - Anyway, our bar-b-que last nite had been outside,but we ate our food inside, cozy behind picture window. We had fun together with our "little mother to be" granddaughter, who later on left to roam around Düsseldorf with some friends. Now she left for home via Frankfurt, where she drops off a friend who had joined her carpooling.

And granny and grandpa are having dinner tonite at our favoured Italian, also behind picture windows.

Have to take it as it comes, my mother used to say and right she is!

Dear Mr. Putin

May 25/07 7:32 p.m.



...pay attention.The ever so perfect Germans are really on the verge of outdoing you in screening global opponents. But then on the other hand you might listen to Mrs. Merkel, she promises a peaceful,friendly event, probably something like a great vernissage. -Let's wait and see what is going to happen inside and outside the barbed wire fence.

Like onVacation

May 23/07 11:03 .m.

We are really lucky to live at a location other people would travel to for vacation. Had a beer tonite at our favoured little restaurant (Langster Fährhaus) at the riverside. Watched the Rhine traffic and the ferry going back and forth. We can go there by bike,so it's an excercise to boot. All under the condition,that the weather plays along, which at the moment it does and we hope for a nice weekend. Little mother to be - our granddaughter - is coming for an overnite visit, so we hope to enjoy "outdoor" living. -
Landfrau had been an eager beaver today, painting new wooden garden pannels, I am developing into a jack of all trades! (and that at my ripe age). Better late than never.

Garden - growing...

May 22/07 6:54 p.m. Weather pixie Düsseldorf

Gee, Landfrau is going haywire, bought two rose bushes today and another plant, will turn into the little gardener - woman of the year, wait and see!

Mixing with People...

May 20/07 3:12 p.m.

..is something Landfrau must have detested already as a kid. I remember that birthday party of a classmate, must have been about 8 years old, hosted by the daugther of the owner of the local pharmacy (really something,if you live in a small village) I just decided for myself I just did not want to go. Few days later my very upset mother had found out and I had been in for some nice talking to. I' m old enough now to cope and by the time I have joined the vanitiy fair I am fairly o.k. and it sometimes happens, like today, that I discover a companion in spirit. My tolerance level rises with my wine consumption, but before I start to love everyone, man of my live drags me usually home (fortunately!).

Our friend's place (it had been a housewarming), really is a showpiece, very nice, attractive roofgarden, if there were would not be the passengers leaning out of the airplanes to peek, passing over every 10 minuntes or so - or so.