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:

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.  

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! -

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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!

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.

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"!

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?

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!

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.

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.

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)

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.                                                                     

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.