NoNo trip turned around

November 9/ 2015  3:05 p.m.

Fast decision made....to replace our no-river Rhein-Amsterdam tour we went to our old hideout Sporthotel Leweck http://www.sporthotel.lu/ at Lipperscheid /Luxembourg. I never thought that at my ripe age I would turn into the driver, but what must must.  Navi kept telling me via Cologne, hubby kept yelling Aachen,Aachen...so in the end instead of taking the  autobahn lane leading to Belgium I took the turnoff to Aachen and told aggavated Herr H to pipe down "you wanted to go to Aachen,there you are". No big deal, one takes the next opportunity to turn,so what! Gee..might have lost 5 min!!! - I want to get there, later maybe..but there, right?

Since we had made such a short decision the hotel had been completely booked ou except for the royal suite, but according to " last shirt has no pockets " we booked it and so we had,among other amenities the luxury of 2 bedrooms...nice treat!  Our stay as usual, had been very pleasant and we had nice,for November, beautiful warm weather, once the morning fog had lifted. Food had been great and again we borrowed the hotel golf cart and went "offroad" hubby trying in vain to overturn us. I had been the waiters darling which pissed off Herr H...lol...o.tone: if you are handicapped they think that you are soft in the head too! :(.....

We took , like for the Hunsrück trip, the scooter which can be taken apart (w.o.tools) and is so much more easily handled and loaded. Our  Mini countryman is fun to drive and it is amazing what you can stow in this not soo big car.

Driving home I decided to listen to the navi which took us via a very picturesque route through the Ardennen (Eifel) fog in the valleys and blue sky and sun on the higher levels. We reentered Germany in a tiny village and out of a hidden corner were stopped by a red light waved by customs. I had to open the trunk and they asked if we had money or papers worth more than € 10 000,--.  My answer...I wish we had! ...so we were allowed to drive on.

Back home we foud out that the St. Martin's parade was to pass our house, I had goofed that up and no  deco  ready to put up, so shamefaced we hid behind the curtains . But we got a sweet man anyway today, you know, around here,we eat men!

Another NoNo-trip

October 22/15.....7:30 pm

For a change it has not been our doing. The shipping company cancelled our trip on account of not enough demand.  My ,my...a cruise from Düsseldorf on a foggy river to Amsterdam could really have been something special. But apparently people nowadays are sissies, they want sunshine and warmth or they travel to Alaska, nothing in between. I feel sorry for Herr H., he really had been looking forward to this little cruise, it would have been so convinient, travelling from and to Düsseldorf.

Well, at least we had a couple of days at a hideway former cloister (now a very nice wellness hotel) in the Hunsrück region, Landfrau drove all the way and back....I am bragging! ..lol

Summer almost over

Sitting in my little garden with a cup of coffee thinking about autumn. actually a season I love,all those colours, red,yellow,orange annd the misty mornings. ...and this touch of melancholy , another year almost gone!

Could have been such a good day!

June 15..5:50 p.m.

Matjes ( pickled herring) and jazz at Haus Meer for lunch yesterday,sunday, seemed such a good idea. We enjoyed the music, our food and a glass of beer resp. white wine. Since the weather had been nice,we took scooter -hubby - and e-bike - me and on the way home we separated since I wanted to take a little detour. Towards our home the bike path is a touch downhill , so I had been a little bit " speedy Gonzales" and wanting to make a left turn into our streed I overestimated the speed of a lady coming from the opposite direction. Now she in turn had been at snailpace, so I had only the choice to run into her or take a bigger turn. unfortunately I  hit a decorock..stupid idea to put such a thing there..and ran into a pole which would not go away. result..sommersault,bruised collarbone,breast and a finger really cut open on some iron sign. Had a crowd of people right away,some nice ones helping me to assemble myself and bike and giving me paperhanky to press on my wildly bleeding finger, 

others just standing there gapping.And all that in sight of my own place. what a bummer!  

Had a somewhat painful night but managed with the help of Paracetamol. and no..I did not see an emergency ward. That would have spoiled my day completely.

oh boy, it's good to be awake!

may 20/15

I had a dream...being in some strange forrest running across a grizzly with two cubs. Now everyone had told me they were quite harmless...only the mother bear rose and approached me. In panic I tried to reach the police on my cell phone to ask what I should do... and then a truck with some forrest labourers approached and they let me hop in..then I woke up. 

Still asking myself what would have happened if the truck would not have come.

And also asking myself what this crazy dream stands for!

Again..again...

May 9/15  ...2:32 pm

While I was on the road today on my bike to pick up my fresh aspargus from the farmer's market I noticed the lilac bushes in full bloom. Now this automaticalliy makes me think of mother's day. Us kids used to "harvest" armfulls for mom for her special day . Usually those flowers were accompanied by the most atrocious gifts which only could melt the heart of a kid. Of course allowance had been quite meager and the gifts met the wealth of the donnor. I vividly remember a very ugly glass bowl which as a kid thought to be an eyecatcher. Years later, already an adult, I found it hidden away in a cabinet corner. My mother had been a keeper of things and I suppose she could not part with it out of sentiment. I can not remember though that the thing ever decorated the place.

The link   http://rixa.net/41392/2c166c  I dedicate to all forgotten mothers of this world!

...and he did not wear the shirt!

May 6/15...3:05 p.m.

The nice,crisp shirt still sits, or I should say again , in the wardrobe's drawer. Only in the meantime it has taken a trip to France and back. Boy! ...so much rain on the coast of the Atlantic !. I am back with a fat cold which I inherited from one of the guests, we had been celebrating the 50th wedding anniversary of brother and sister-in -law. So they had full house and a sick lady who,when she showed up, always somehow had been next to me. We flew and had handicapped service for hubby ,otherwise we could not manage airtravel anymore. Still..it is a strenious undertaking, especially for me who has to follow those chairwheel pushers who all seem to be training for the Olympics speedwise. Now I am sitting here and besides looking after my cold I pamper my foot which developped  a tendon infection from overstrain

One of those days...

April 22/15...11.06 p.m.

Alll I can say,thank heavens it is over. Morning has been wasted waiting for a guy who was supposed to come and measure our staircase for a lift for hubby, only he did not show up and then hubby found out he had mixed up the date, so now the same game tomorrow. Then I drove Herr H. to ugly Krefeld,my hate town, I had spotted an interesting shirt in the internet and since the shop is about half an hours drive from here we decided that he might as well try it on for size. Only when he wanted to pay he had no wallet which he had chased me upstairs for to get for him and then left it at home. So I drove him home,oicked up money and returned to the shop. In the meantime there was a nice rush hour traffic. Well, as a small reward I treated myself to a poloshirt. And then ,back home, the rail in my closet collapsed and all the stuff fell out and it was a big mixture of garments and entwined hangers...beautiful! After I had sorted everything out and hung up the effn thing collapsed again twice and I could have rolled on the floor and bit the carpet. Hubby mentioned that there will be shooting stars during the nite..I could not care less!

My Nightmare

5.february /15

This can also be filed under embarrassing moments . 2 weeks ago ,when Herr husband still had been hospitalized, Me..of course on a weekend..night from saturday to sunday...developped a high bloodpressure 200/100 at 11 p.m.  Now that scared the hell out of me, all by myself, nevertheless I tried going back to sleep. By 3 p.m. I woke up to an even rising measurement so I called the emergency unit and they took me to the hospital. There they really looked nicely after me, it had been one of the smaller regional hospitals, so everything seemed at least not so anonymous. They did bloodtests, gave me some medication and then they sent me home by taxi. By 5 p.m. I had been back in my own bed considering that next time I rather die than make a fool of myself...somehow!

A Wintertale

january 18/2015....3.00 p.m.

So we are having the first snow this winter, time for a winter tale. Around Xmas time I had been looking like mad for a book, in my possession since ages, it is "Breakfast at Tiffany's ", but why I wanted to find it so badly was because of that little tale "a Christmas Memory" , that little story which can move me almost to tears every time I read it. It is in this little book of stories by Truman Capote . I just love to read it around Xmas time! To make a long story short, I did not find it. 

Now today I suddenly remembered a long ago stowed away box of old books, hunted for it and bingo...the very last book I took out has been IT ! 

For me like a late Xmas and the snow is like the icing on the cake for this event.

Hard Times

January 17/2015..6 am

The start of the new year has not been so good for us. On December 29/14 Herr Husband had colon cancer surgery, which fortunately was sucessful, but then he had to top it with a heart attack and it had been a time of worries and in and out of intensive care. Now he is slowly recovering and has been moved to another hospital for a pre rehab. There is still a long way to go but at least he is making a little progress.

Yesterday I drove the first time to visiting him at his new place and on the way back my navi took me ways I never expected to drive in my life..a horror!  Duisburg will be added to my list of hated places, up to now Krefeld had been the winner. 

Today I will take a day off from hospital visits, to top it off,weather predictions are awful. 

Everything only can get better!

Leo ...the X-mas dog

X-mas day Landfrau had full house, so to say. Above all the huzz an buzz of laughing and talking the doorbell rang. I counted heads..no did not expect any one any more. As I opened the door I was confronted with a rather desperate lady who asked if I had an idea about the whereabouts  of our neighbours. Now I must mention the neighbours run a small pension for dogs. The  desperate lady wanted to board her dog Leo with them but no one answered the door and she and her family would be off by plane very early next morning for Xmas  

holidays to Spain. Well, asked her in and then we tried to reach neighbours by phone, no such luck! so after those fruitless efforts we offered the lady a coffee and to "board" doggie Leo till...hopefully...neighbours returned home. Lady was very thankful and we got all of Leo' s  stuff and instructions about feeding and medication. She then left and of course our crowd now went into wild speculations what to do, if maybe neighbours had also left for a trip. Daughter no.2 then said that it might be a wise idea to at least stick a note to their door and doing so, left our front door ajar and Leo, who by then had adopted her as foster mother, followed her, unnoticed by the rest of us.Daughter came back laughing her head off, she had picked up Leo in our driveway! Imagine, we had him for 20 min. and almost lost him. By the time we all had gotten used to Leo and him to us, the neighbours returned and we lost our Xmas dog the second time. He was so cute!

A ghost in the House

November 17/14

Last night we had a spooky phenomen. We were in bed and it had been round about midnight when a phone started ringing. So hubby asked me why I did not go and answer since it must be my cell phone (for our house line we have a phone right beside the bed so this was out ) but I told him that it probably must be a wrong number since no one hardly ever calls my phone. It rang for quite a while. Now this morning I wanted to check who had called me, but my phone had been switched off and showed no incomming missed calls, neither did all the other devices in our home,fax ,hubby's phone, iPad.  Hubby told me that it had happened once before, which I can not verify..I had been asleep at that time. Now our speculations run wild..burglar in front of the house is an option, hubby thinks he smelled cigarette smoke. But which burglar would be so stupid as to stand there smoking and letting his phone ring no end?..you tell me!

Oh...Stupidity! ...makes me cry

October 13/14....5:30 p.m.

Landfrau had to ship a parcel today.  Small conversation at the postoffice.......

Me...too bad that parcels can not be followed up.

Lady behind counter (from now on L. for short)....no, unfortunately just big parcels starting from etc.etc., but don't worry, parcels seldom get lost.

Me.....well, I expected a letter shipment the other day, a disc, it never arrived.

L. ...mind you, discs, they can be felt in the enveloppe and therefore they get stolen more often. ( nice statement from a post office official......lol)

Me....whoever took it probably had not been very happy, it had been country music and the thief for sure had been counting on pop or rock.

L. ....oh, do not worry, that has not been your fault!

Now! Is this a beauty?

Last Sunday has been better

Being spoiled in Luxembourg by far beats hanging around at home, writing posts which then vanish miracolously. Miracle up to now for me has been a spaghetti meal! Notice? I am sarcastic.

So Now I will give it another try to write a post about our nice time in Luxembourg. 2 years it has been...time runs so fast...since we last visited one of our favoured hangouts and it is almost like coming home,same nice suite, this time thanks to our family, who gave us the WE as a birthday present. Have been wellcomed by somewhat snubnosed "Obama"  (i call him so, he looks like him) the headwaiter, only this time,after we called him by his name..Huges...he even became talkative. He is a soccer fan and has been to Dortmund. Of all places!  And Cody, the dog of the house, Herrn Hunds former playmate, is still around, getting old and stiff too, just like us! 

There are a couple of hotelowned golfcarts now available which we could borrow ( and Herr Husband almost tilted us over with) , so I could show hubby all the paths up in the forrest where Herr Hund and myself had been roaming around.

Otherwise it has been great food, swimming in the inOut pool ,massasges and steambath and sauna.wellness pur!

Our little new car, the Mini Countryman, did a good job. It rides comfortably and is roomy enough for our luggage and the luggie (el.foldable wheelchair).

So now you know why this sunday today can not compete!

I can drive

Herr Husband

The Kamikaze

Senior Moments

September 29/2014... 8:07 a.m.

After an absence of 2 years we are here again for a few days in Luxembourg. And the food is so excellent as ever! There goes my diet. And last night at dinner the lady of the house came up to our table and we chatted. But when I incidently looked at my wrists I was so embarrassed...I was wearing a watch on each! sneaked off one and only hoped no one had noticed, only then I had to fight a giggling fit very hard!

Trowback Thursday

September 12/14....8:25 a.m.


Yes, love to dig up old pics which then bring back memories of times  - often long- past!
Oh, those times I so love to remember...riding full gallop across the riverbanks with my beloved Herr Hund  trailing, cuddling my kids in the evening, having great meals with friends, taking journeys to far away places, walking barefoot on the beach of a mediterranian island, watching the moon rise in New Mexico.
New Mexico, my love..this clear air, the colours, the light! - Somehow sad to never walk on those grounds again. 
Glad to have those memories to cherish...life goes on.

Good Bye, Elsa

August 23/2014 7:49 p.m

For years I have been driving by a pasture, occupied by a fat,little Haflinger horse.
She was dirty and ungroomed,but seemed rather happy on her lonely pasture. How do I know it was a girl? Well there has been a sign " do not feed Elsa, she will get sick". Now Elsa seems to have changed to horse heaven,some goats are taking up her place,
I miss the sight of her!

Our Seavoyage to St.Petersburg - Russia

Our seavoyage to St. Petersburg,Russia

To start off with must say, that it has been very interesting but did by far not beat the charm of our Virgin Islands trip last year. Going up north you must think that you end up with forrest ,lakes, sea and elks...no way! True, passing the baltic coast you see hundreds of little and big islands, lined with charming country homes, some of them have their own little harbour with sail and motorboats..still,the big harbours we visited on our trip are bustling cities with crowds of people milling around and traffic jams. St. Petersburg for example has a population of about 5 million people which almost equals the population of Estland.The capital City of Tallinn ,btw, has been the only place i could imagine myself to live..and there comes the big if....the summer would not only be 3 months and the rest long,dark very cold winter.

Now lets bring a little sequence in my report. As you might have noticed the trip started out with 2 days of Amsterdam, very nice, lively place! We stayed 2 days awaiting the ship and I started out with my mostly solo tours,which had been one of the problems of this journey. Herr H. simply could not cope with the strain of sightseeing any more ,so sharing so often was out. Once aboard it did not change much, what he loved most has been the bed. But I made the best of it, only in St.P., which I had been sooo looking forward to I was hit by dizzy spells and had to see the ship's hospital for an infusion. Tried to visit the Hermitage but had to leave after 3 rooms, the whole place started to turn summersaults around me.Besides ....being weekend,it had been very hot and crowded. But I had a marvellous river- and canal trip including the fortress of St.Peter & Paul with the great (former- museum now) cathedral( where almost all the zars have been burried) the next day. The weather played along, nice and warm...lovely! - So next it had been Estonia with Tallin and then Helsinki ,Finnland, where we had some discrepancies with our booked tour and ended up taking an hop-on-and off leaving from the harbour,which was in the end maybe the better idea, since the weather being very nice we sat on the open deck. Had some worries about being back in time on account of the traffic...ship does not wait for selfarranged tours! but we made it. Helsinki a very bustly city too with nice sights to see and very crowded. But I think up north people enjoy being out once the sun is shining. The weather had been great for sightseeing most of the time during our trip, Twenties C / sixties F.
Dissapointed I had been from Copenhagen/Denmark. First with hundreds of people we glared at the little meermaid (sits quite close to the passenger terminal) then we had a boring tour in the middle of traffic jams looking mostly at road constructions - they build a subway- and the bus was too cold on top, which did not help hubby's severe cough he had develop and still battles with.

Just notice I skipped our first harbour..Warnemünde in Germany, There we took a taxi to Rosock, a pretty,friendly little university town . We enjoyed it!

Now about our life aboard. They put us on a german table, not what we really wanted, Germans we meet plenty around here..they were ok though . Notice my black friends, there had been quite a big table of black people, but did not get to meet any of them. Matter of fact we met not many folks, one night we got stuck at the martini bar, the most highlife place aboard, hangover had been programmed next morning, all I needed with my already swirling head! At the end of the journey Mr. H. got seasick, so there I was again with my lonely meals and ventures.

So, friends, thats about it in short, the little things would take too long 

The Sequence of our NO journeys

May 914.....11:48 a.m.

The jinx about our vacation trips started several years ago with our trip or rather cancelled trip to Vacouver BC. We wanted to see our good friends Bill and Norma and they had planed such a great time with terrific side excursions..instead herr husband took an outtime in the hospital with kidney failure. 
Next cancellation river cruise to Vienna,Budapest etc...hubby took outtime in the hospital with heart failure. We took the trip later on and were rewarded with a Danube in continious rain and high floods so we had to leave the ship in Vienna on the way back.
Next No vacation had been Jersey Islands, my brother died.
And last not least our Xmas river trip to Amsterdam ,cancelled on account of the serious car accident our son-i.l. had before Xmas on the way to Austria.
Whoever is turning that screw must have missed out on our Carribean Cruise, we might have been too fast in our decision to go. 
Now we are in waiting position about Mr. Putin's ideas about spoiling our cruise to St. Petersburg.

Our oldest daughter refuses to consider to take a vacation with us . She claims this would be a bank for a NO-TRIP!