EAT DRINK SWEAT

January 6/10.....7:31 p.m.

That transfers it in short words, how we have been "sliding" into the New Year. We had a terrific Sylvester dinner, after a few drinks at the bar we started dining at 8:30 p.m. and only stopped shortly before midnight. Of course the menu had been accompanied by great wines. And at midnight, everybody started kissing everybody, 3 times, the french way, even the waiters joined in, two of them reminded me strongly of butler James in "Dinner for One", they must have been hiding a bottle in the kitchen. Very funny. Landfrau sneaked out shortly after midnight, wanted to see some fireworks - big dissapointment, I heard some in the valley beneath the hotel but did not see a single one. Hope this is not a bad sign for the year to come, I am a bit superstitious. Otherwise our leasuretime had been like always, except that it was wintertime. I took my daily walks with Herr Hund, somehow the so inviting shadow spending forrest seemed sinister and dismissive, especially at night. A bit spooky. - I finished a whole book in a jiffy, here at home it takes ages, swam in the pool till I almost sank - outside, breathing that terrific clean air, there is nothing like a heated pool to swim in outside in winter, pure luxury. And I treated myself to a massage. I felt spoiled, round about. Besides that, we ate. The food at that place is out of this world. -

We had snow when we arrived, then, overnite, it had been gone and when we looked out of our window the last night, it had started to snow again. But driving home with our 4-wheel drive had been not a problem whatsoever.

Now Landfrau is back in the chaingang - such is life.

Gone with the Wind!

December 29/09

Christmasdog - Reloaded

December 28/09...7:03 p.m.

Now for all my friends,who have been wondering how Herr Hund coped with the "first time in his life outside X-mas tree", here is my story and it is true I did not make it up. On the day of X-mas eve I started decorating our living room, setting the table etc. and had been watched continiously by Herr Hund, he was following me like a shadow. He eyed me when I was climbing up a chair to get his plate out of the storage place and from then on he kept returning to the place in the living room, where we usually had been putting his goodies. I tried to sneak into the basement to fill up his plate, thought he did not notice since he kept Herr Husband company in the living room. No way! Herr Hund spied me, came rushing into the kitchen, trying to have a glimpse at his plate. I told him that he would have to be patient still for a little while but when we startet our Christmas ritual, putting our christmas choral on the record player (no, we do not sing ourselves, that would be the end of christmas) he went haywire and started running around the table, whining demanding his plate. When he got it, he gobbled up everything except for a big bone, with which he kept running around the house, looking for hiding places.
So folks, you can rest assured Herr Hund did not have a problem with the Christmas tree sitting outside, which by the way was much admired by the family and friends and everyone thought it a brilliant idea not to have it constricting the inside space.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

December 24/09

Landfrau wishes all her friends and faithful readers a great Christmastime!

Winter- and X-mas Childhood Memories without Jingle Bells

December 19/09.......2:28 p.m.

What a beautiful day it is today! Landfrau took a walk with Herr Hund in bright sunshine through a snow- powdered landscape in biting cold. But now- a- days, with the proper clothing it is enjoyable. It had been different during my childhood, I remember having to wear scratchy woolen garments and gloves never were able to keep our little fingers warm. Putting them against the heated tile stove to get them unstiffened again, sometimes made us cry with pain. But it had been fun when Mom wrapped us into thick blankets and pulled us in a sleigh, my jounger brother tucked between my legs. But we never froze when we took our sleighs for downhill runs in the nearby park where it had a few quite nice slopes and a pond for ice skating. Skates had to be put on with a skate key, you had to be quite skillfull. Then we came home wet from snow with red cheeks like apples. - And Christmas! It had that real magic to it, without sprouting Santas all over the place, Santa (Weihnachtsmann) was ever present but never to be seen. And on Christmas eve we heard him rumble behind closed doors but by the time we were allowed to enter the festive room he had left, a little bit to our relief, because to be honest, we were a bit afraid of him . But, oh , the presents he had left, everything had been set under the tree, no parcels to be unwrapped, like nowadays and I vividly remember a beautiful doll with long black braids sitting in a little carriage. Since I only have brothers, I knew right away that it had been left for me and my heart beat with joy up to my throat. And the tree, adorned with real candles and giving away that terrific smell of forrest. The decorations were much admired by us, all those tiny little figurines, some familiar from fairytales, only pity, we were never allowed to take them down and play with them. - The Christmas meal the next day always had been goose, till the war started and all the geese had vanished. Did they also fight for the country like my Dad? From then on memories have dwindled, they must have lost their magic.

And then very fast I had not been a child any more.

X-mas Shopping with Herr Husband

December 16/09......7:52 p.m.
Driving downtown at this time of the year is a pain in the neck but driving downtown with Herr Husband is a challenge. Since he is having difficulties walking long distances Landfrau always is looking for ways to park him which most of the time results in loosing each other. And Herr Husband's mobile phone is happily sitting in the parked car. Our story for today is a cute one again. Since we usually have lunch during our downtown excursions , I told Herr H. to walk to te restaurant, while I went for some fast errands. When I arrived at the packed place, I told the headwaiter, who wanted to place me, that I planed to join my husband and that I would scan the place if he had already arrived. Well, done - no husband, so the very friendly man offered to place me at a table to wait for my companion. Landfrau told him,if an elderly gentleman with a cane, looking a bit helplessly around, would show up (he never finds me, I could be right in front of his nose) , he should point me out to him. Well, sat there for about 15 minutes, studied the menu, called Herr H.'s mobile, which, as usual, sat in the car, when suddenly the headwaiter approached me. Smart guy had recognized Herr H. by my description, he had been sitting behind a pillar at a table across from mine already when I had looked for him in the beginning. So this time it had been Landfrau playing blind mouse. Thanks to the waiter we could have our meal together, not seperately.
I am thinking of ways we will not loose each other almost every time we go places, quite a task!

Our Christmas Dog

December 10/09.....6:44 p.m.

We will have a big problem this year and Landfrau is chewing her nails. Herr Hund starts to get very nervous around Christmas season as soon as we carry our X-mas tree home. He is watching us very closely, does not want to miss out when we take it into the living room for trimming. And from then on he is waiting for the big night, when it will be time to open the presents. His present is always a plate full of dog goodies and he gobbles it all up and what he can not manage anymore, he hides in corners around the house. But this year, we confuse him. We have brought the tree home and, having decided to leave it outside in front of the big picture window so we have more room inside, when the family shows up December 25th, he does not know what to make of that. He has that big question mark look on his face, like...where will Santa put my plate? I am having a hard time reassuring him, that Santa will find a solution. But Herr Hund is not so sure if he can believe me.

Same Procedure as every Year

November 29/09....9:16 a.m.

I am talking about decorating the home for 1. Advent. Aside from the fact, that I seem to need more time every year there is the problem of finding all my little gadgets. Now, mind you, not the boxes, I have neatly stashed away the previous year, I still remmeber those, it involves a little running from basement up to the attic, never mind, keeps Landfrau agile, so to say. No, my friends, it's the last year's forgotten things, like a little santa still sitting in some corner or a decoration hanging somewhere. Now those things, once discovered a while after Christmas, they go someplace and if I say someplace it could be anyplace in the house. Now since I do not draw a map, I do not find them the following year. This year my laquered bows for decorating the little cyprus tree next to our home front door are the winner and the every year missing fat golden angel. Have been looking like a madwoman all over the place, well, almost, otherwise I would have found them, right? and I know that I will find them, when I will be searching for my easter decorations next year. -

Such is life.

Riverside and Rubberboots

November 21/09.....2:48 p.m.

How nice, time for a long, leisurely walk with Herr Hund along the riverside. Nothing urgent to do, nowhere to rush to, no demands, great...

Little footprints from hundreds of sheep in the sand, seagulls -or are they called rivergulls? - galore but no sign of my screeching friends, the wild geese. But they are still around, I can hear them passing across the roof of our house in the morning and sometimes during the day. Amazingly few other dogwalkers around, so it has been a bit boring for Herr Hund, he loves encounters, even if not all the encounters love him. But he is wise, then he walks away, no fighter! There he is a bit different from Landfrau, who can run a temper occasionally. -
Airplanes starting from the nearby airport at the other riverside, looking at them makes me sigh, up, up and away, what a nice thought once a while. But there I am, stuck in my rubberboots and its about time to turn back home. -
Walks like that beat running around downtown anytime, for Landfrau for sure.

I am in Love...

November 20/09.....7:40 a.m.

...yes, madly in love with my outfit I found downtown. Thanks to the dentist appointment of Herr Husband Landfrau decided to come along to the city . Also there has been the promise of a lunch invitation, not bad, not bad. So all in all the action had been a success, since I also ran across some nice (I hope so) Christmas presents. But aside from that I do not like downtown so much anymore, with all those construction sites for me it has lost its flair and the chaos never stops, always some new corner ripped open and fenced up. And the - already opened - Christmas markets are sitting in between. Unattractive, if you ask me.

But my new outfit takes a load of my chest, now I am really looking forward to our New Year's celebration in Luxembourg. Voila!

Am I pretty ?

November 14/09.......3:00 p.m.

I do not expect an answer, the headline just came to my mind, there had been a movie once by that name, a German one - BIN ICH SCHÖN ?- anyway, have the feeling I am getting prettier by the day. First I got orthopedic soles for my feet, which grin at me out of their bag, second, last week I had been to a dermatologist on accout of my peeling hands, felt like a snake and had the suspicion that is was self infecting, like a snowball system. Now I got some lotion, of course with cortison and I should wear gloves for every,mind you, every kind of housework, fat chance! - My outfit for festivities, which still had been fitting perfectly last winter, is on the tight side. Landfrau asked Herr Husband if she should maybe put a band aid across her mouth at least till X-mas,to keep me from eating but he did not think that this was such a brilliant idea. I am still pondering, though. - But maybe till dress up time I am lucky enough to run across a very flattering potato sack, preferably black!

So , do not tell me about the advantages of getting older, they are playing hide and seek for me.

Good Things close by

November 2/09....7:57 p.m.





What a day! First my vaccuum cleaner broke down in the middle of working, would not make the tiniest sound anymore. Good thing I still have the "predecessor" stashed away - and if I say away It is for sure good away - in the basement. Unimaginable, what treasures I found looking for it, a toddler's pottie, the holder for the X-mas tree (good thing) , a Black & Decker collection, wow! etc, etc. I still had the broken cleaner hooked up to the electricity, would not give up hope and tried again and again, no sound. Well, started cleaning with the replacement, which by far does not do such a good job, but all of a sudden the replacement had an echo, and believe it or not, the broken one had started making noise again. Probably did not like being replaced. Result - a messed up basement! -


By then I had to drop everything anway, doctor's appointment to pick up my orthopaedic soles for my heel spur, which is'nt a heelspur, which is a heelspur and on top of that a stupid different story. Had been lucky to find a parking place pretty close by, which turned out to be a blessing for the tale I will now tell you and I also tell you that I felt pretty stupid too. so I walked those about 50 meters from my car to the doctors' place, anyway, I tried to when suddenly I had the feeling of something sticking to the sole of my shoe, I thought it was a leaf, tried to wipe it off but it had not been a leaf but the sole of my shoe, flapping and after a few paces the sole of my other shoe came off too and I had a terrible giggling fit and so had the mother with a little kid, watching my dilema. Only solution was to rip off both soles and walk on the remains, odd feeling I tell you and I had been very happy to have my car close by, like I said, a good thing. - Only explanation I have is, that I had not worn those shoes for a long time and then had worn them yesterday in pouring rain, also hitting some puddles. Maybe the glue fixing the soles had turned dry, who knows.



Had to skip my remaining errands , but imagine it would have happened with my car parked far away, I would have been in a jam for sure.

An Autumn Day

October 31/o9 ....8:14 p.m.

Did I ever mention that I just love autumn? bet I did. Today had been one of those lovely days, not too cold and after spending almost all afternoon in the kitchen - sometimes I get into those crazy spells of baking and cooking like I was running a restaurant - Herr Hund decided to take me out for a long early evening walk. We went down to the riverside, there was an almost full moon at the not yet dark sky, then the word crepuscule always creeps into my mind, I like the sound of it, rolls around on the tongue - hmmm, crepuscule (french for twilight) . The moon has been reflecting in the water and the wild geese passed our heads, screeching in flight looking for their place for the night. Right now we have hundreds of them around the region, not so very much liked by the local farmers. But soon they will leave on their way south and then we will have winter. - We both, Herr Hund and Landfrau, love those late walks, there are hardly any people around anymore, no dogs either, which is something Herr Hund regrets, he is very sociable but only for a short while.
Coming home we had dinner, a delicious chicken with veggies and rice, very much to the liking of Herr Hund, he goes haywire as soon as he smells the chicken in the oven, there are always leftovers for him and he knows it.
O.K., then I cleaned up the kitchen, which by now I will avoid for sure for the rest of the day and here I am, telling you all about it . Next weekend the family will come for our annual goose feast (not a wild one!) it is St. Martin's again and from then on Christmas is approaching in big steps..... H e l p !

Red Sky at Morning

October 22/09.....6:21 p.m.

Pic had been my new header for the time being. You might have noticed, Landfrau changes them according to season and they always picture our surroundings. Makes me also think of one of my favoured books, have been reading it already several times and it won't be the last time, I have looked into it. You just will love the protagonists, every one of them. Get yourselves a copy, it is worth it! -

The author's name:

Richard Bradford

and the title: Red Sky at Morning

New Car, old Dog and Herr Husband

October 13/09....6:30 p.m.

Herr Hund just loves car rides, he can sit in his compartment and does not breathe a wuff, even for longer distances. But with our new car, a SUV again, he fell flat on his stomach when he tried to jump in. Since he is such a cry baby from then on the new car was bad and he would not go near it any more. Landfrau tried to lift him in, he wiggled and screamed like a pig being slaughtered and Landfrau twisted her back short of a lumbago and is now sitting in front of infrared light every spare minute. Fortunately I got a new book, sitting in front of that lamp is so darn boring! Then Herr Husband went and got a board for walking up, Herr Hund simply refused to go near it and again, screamed like a pig, when Herr Husband tried to push him on. On top of that tried to bite Herr Husband, or let's say, pretended to. Herr Husband claimed, Landfrau made the wrong approach, I said, it was his fault, always being too excited, hey, that transfers, right? - From then on it has been each of us sneaking out seperately together with Herr Hund, to somehow convince him to mount the car. Herr Hund would not even go near the car with Herr Husband, but Landfrau had the brilliant idea to try from the side door, first into the foot compartment and from there onto the seat, and bingo, Herr Hund went in and proudly sat on the backseat. Me too, I had been very proud of myself, but Herr Husband discovered a doggie footprint on the leather seat and Landfrau was short of being sent to deathrow. Then Landfrau called Herr Husband a car fetichist and muttered something about an extended penis under her breath, which Herr Husband, who normally is stone deaf, heard nevertheless and from then on played sorehead for the next two hours. Well, terrible paw print came off and now the sun is shining again and Herr Husband got a device like a hammock, it is fixed between front and rear seat and Herr Hund decided that he feels comfy in it. -
All three of us are talking to each other again!

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?