Home, sweet Home...

a mouthwatering sample
view of the castle from hotel
view of hotel from castle
the crazy moon (my dream giver)
Part of Bourscheid castle


May 05/07 8:48 p.m. The Weather Pixie: Niederrhein





.....ain't so sweet, when you start turning like a cotton pickin` hamster in a wheel as soon as you have closed the door behind you. Unpack bags first, or water the lawn? Water the flower pots, run with the dog, check the answering machine, and yes, check E-mail (ugh,spams,spams). - Well, folks, kind'o settled now,so are you ready for a bit of Luxembourg tales?


Had been staying at our Sporthotel Leweck again,lovely place!


Weather has been great and Landfrau really pulled through the whole program, swimming, massage, sauna, turkish bath,relaxing, reading, taking endless walks with Herr Hund,us two had a ball in the "wilderness" of the Ardennen forests, and getting out of breath climbing steep hills, well,me, not the dog, he is a bundle of power. Sometimes thought, we had gotten lost, but fortunately our hotel perched on one of the higher hills and could be spotted from far away,well - almost.


And at night we had those delicious 5 course dinners and a bottle of good wine. Not to forget the nightcap in the bar. Sounds good? Naturally!


Man of my life had to pull a special stunt again (always good for a holiday surprise,that sweetheart) - he slipped at the poolside and fortunately there had been a soccerteam around, needed three of them to pull him up. He hurt his already damaged shoulder again and had to be halfways dressed by Landfrau-nurse for the rest of the stay. He did not have to be fed,though.


And then one day we had lunch visitors from Luxembourg town,our very good friends,who live there and British friends,who just have moved back from France to L. We had not seen each other for about 12 years and decided,that we all had not changed a bit, if we left the spare parts under the table. We had a great time,talking about old times. Next day, our friend phoned to surprise us with the news,that he had developed shingles, it should not be contagious if you have had chicken pocks as a kid, I know I have had them, been scratching myself since nevertheless. Man of my life is sratching too, only he does not know,if he has had chicken pocks!


Life is never boring,you see. Next weekend we will be in Hamburg for harbour day, looking forward to brandnew surprises. Will keep the world posted!

Annie Lennox

Annie Lennox

April 28/07 9:04 a.m.

Nice to listen to,for the weekend and all non-travellers, LANDFRAU IS ROAMING AGAIN and the weather is great! Meet you in a week,friends.

Snow from Yesterday

Skyline Frankfurt from Eschborn-hotel

Restaurant "Klostermühle" Arnsburg
Old Protestant Church at Nonnenroth

(17th.Century)

April 23/07 The Weather Pixie: Niederrhein

That's our first trip of several. Are you anxious to hear about my Bob Dylan concert? Well...let's say: it has been an experience. First of all we had the tough luck to be stuck in a terrific traffic jam,caused by Kroatiens, arriving per busloads from all over Europe to watch a basket ball game in an indoor arena next to the "Jahrhunderthalle" where Bob Dylan had his performance. So we had been too late to have a bit of a chance to get in any way close to the stage. And coming into the theatre, I thought I had gone blind on top of that, pitch dark the whole place, you could only feel your way around and on the stage (invisible to only 1,64 m small Landfrau anyway) like the black theatre in Prague - only black dressed guys with black hats, well, the one with the white one was Bob Dylan, and he had been favoured with a little bit of spotlight. But..as we had been told by an expert, we were there for the music,otherwise we could have gone to the movies. Son in law finally spotted a kind of a beam at the side of the emergency exits, a little more room was there and after I had kind of catapulted myself up on that beam ,on which people were dwelling like chickens in a pen, I finally caught a glimpse of the stage. O.k., like we were told, we were there to hear,not to see. And the music has been great,no doubt, that old guy Zimmerman really kept going and he even played two of my favoureds. Aside from that I had lots of fun, one young woman asking me to hold on to her beer while trying to jump up onto the beam and going right away down backwards with a summersault. Good I held the beer! Had my laughing fit after it turned out,that she had not hurt herself. And then there was that awfully fat medic, passing by in intervals with a strecher and coming back with a person tied to it. Don't know,where he collected them. Time went in a jiffy, we decided to leave before the encore,to have the chance for a cab. Wise choice!

Sunday morning we had a great breakfast in the little garden at my daughter's and son in law's place, the weather had been pure sunshine. Later on we drove to Hungen (near Giessen) to visit with our granddaughter,the little happy mother to be, and her living companion. Had to have a look at their cute place, which is not quite finished yet,but very representable even with the missing last touches. We stayed at a little country inn we always favour, when we are in this region and had dinner together at an old cloister mill ,where our "big" grandson joined us. The oldies had fun with the young crowd !

This morning we left for home with a car with out-of order airbags, shuck Mercedes! So we had to run it to the repair shop, hopefully to have it function again for our next- week trip to Luxembourg.

Till then,there is lots to do!

Robert Allen Zimmerman...

April 19/07 9:54 a.m. The Weather Pixie: Niederrhein

....here I come! Yes, sleeping two more nights, then it is not X-mas,but Bob Dylan concert in Frankfurt! Never been to an event like that, Landfrau is quite excited. Son-in-law is nice enough to take old mother i.l. along. It is an indoor concert, so we do not have to worry about the weather, but it looks promising,little bit on the cold side though. Hope it will get a bit warmer, then we will have Bar-B-Q at our( little mother-to- be) grand daughter's and living companion's place in Hungen (near Giessen) on Sunday. So, tomorrow,bags will be packed,and "Herr Hund" comes along, so he can fight with cats at my daughter's and granddaughter's places. I am afraid, he would not win.

A Very Busy Weekend

April 16/07 10:08 p.m. The Weather Pixie: Niederrhein

Started friday nite with dinner party at a restaurant located in an old railway station building, but trains still pass by, almost across your plate. It had been birthday dinner for daugther no. 2 and we were a "small" crowd. Food was good and landfrau took a souvenir home in form of two olive oil spots,sitting right in the middle of breasts,very keen!

Then on Saturday I took the opportunity to get front- and back garden water pressure cleaned, including furniture and what have you.Had to take advantage of our great weather with temperatures in the high twenties. Have been running in between to my former riding stables, to watch a bit of the big competitions going on and to chat with former riding friends,only found hardly anyone I knew, lots of strangers though, well, never mind, had no one special to cheer on.

Then, in the evening, we had been invited by my brother and sister i.l. to a very nice place close to their home for dinner. The food had been excellent, although eating out two nites in a row is a sin! By the time we came home, I had been so bushed, that I dived into bed head over heels and fell asleep over the first two pages of my night reading. Nice man of the house took off my glasses and put away my book.

So, today, wanted to take it a little bit easy and enjoy spick and span gardens in my lounge chair and then we had drop in visitors, and there I could kiss my leasure time goodbye. After another run to the stables, with bike and dog, we had our first dinner outside, candle light chicken , and here I am, bushed again, but nevertheless the little eager beaver blogger,so the world can participate in my life (big deal, eh?).

Again A Birthday

April 13/07

See the bandaged hand, birthday-child? You had to ride that pony without saddle the first day you got it against parents orders, and - whack - into the barbed wire. Which would not keep you from artistic performances. But, Blacky had really the character of a midget, nasty! - Anyway,you had your fun, which your mom wishes you to have today. Cake is coming up!

Till then.... A HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY and a good year to come!

AAADD

April 12/07 10:14 p.m. (sorry ,folks, not my brainstorm, but good nevertheless!)

Subject: AAADD
Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.This is how it manifests:I decide to water my garden.As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decidemy car needs washing.As I start toward the garage, I notice that there is mail on the patio table that I brought up from the mail box earlier.I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car. I lay my car keys down on the table, put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full.So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first.But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mail box when I take outthe garbage anyway, I may as well pay he bills first.I take my check book off the table, and see that there is only one checkleft.My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house tomy desk where I find the can of Coke that I had been drinking.I'm going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke asideso that I don't accidentally knock it over.I realize the Coke is getting warm , and I decide I should put it in therefrigerator to keep it cold.As I head toward the kitchen with the coke, a vase of flowers on thecounter catches my eye--they need to be watered.I set the Coke down on the counter, and I discover my reading glassesthat I've been searching for all morning.I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers.I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with waterand suddenly I spot the TV
Remote Control . Someone left it on the kitchen table.I realize that tonight when I go to watch TV , I will be looking for the
remote control , but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decideto put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I'll water theflowers.I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on thefloor.So, I set the
Remote Control back down on the table, get some towels and wipeup the spill.Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.At the end of the day:the driveway is floodedthe car isn't washed,the bills aren't paid,there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter,there is still only one check in my check book, I can't find the
remote control ,
I can't find my glasses, and I don't remember what I did with the carkeys.Then when I try to figure out why nothing got done today,I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I'mreally tired.I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get somehelp for it, but first I'll check my e-mail. Do me a favor, will you? Forward this message because I can't remember to whom it was sent.

Happy Easter - Almost Over

April 9/07 The Weather Pixie: Niederrhein

We really have been spoiled, great weather and good food. Had been for brunch at Daughter No.2's home, at my brother's place for coffee on Saturday and the rest of the time just taking it easy, which also included some biking with" Herr Hund", somehow must at least have the feeling to be getting rid of (too much ) good food, chocolate easter eggs, and Landfraus' favourite, the cholesterin bombs - hard boiled eggs. Scale will tell (but only tomorrow). We are so favoured, to have our own gardens with lots of sunshine, to venture out along the riverside is a pain in the neck on weekends and holiday weekends above all. People are milling around like lemmings, only they do not jump into the river, they accumulate.

So,now in for some more cheesecake (homemade) and tonite I will bed my bad concience and dig out my good intentions (loose weight,loose weight) tomorrow.

HAPPY EASTER

April 7/07

To all of you,reading this - and not reading this......

Spring - Bigstepping

April 5/07 4:55 p.m.

Our own blossoms of spring! Nice? Think so.

Have been adjusted today and got a shot - uff,painful- into the inside of my hand, now my snapping finger hopefully will keep itself covered for another year or so. So, folks, I'm as good as new and can roll up the sleeves for hard work to come. -

Promised dog a bike ride, had him along for shopping at the weekly market,he is definitely a country dog, with other words ,an embarressment. Spare me the details. O.K., Landfrau loves him nevertheless.

So.now I'm off, see you later, alligator!

No Easter this Year!

April 4/07 10:14 a.m.

My,my, who ate the Easterbunny? (Not my dog!!!)

Construction Sites

April 3/07 7:39 p.m. The Weather Pixie: Niederrhein

Wish, weather-pixie could make up it's mind, what kind of weather to present, crowding summer yesterday and crowding winter today, anyway feels like it! - The stupid statement,if you wake up in the morning and nothing hurts, then you are dead, I can top with my nightly construction sites. Wake up in the morning and a new one has opened up. Had an appointment yesterday with my "beloved" osteopath (spelling?) you know, the one who bends you around, only to hear from the nurse at the reception that he was not in, mind you, after taking my card and my money. I stayed amazingly calm,somehow my blood pressure pills must be working! -

So, for one day at Easter we are invited for brunch at younger daughter's home, nice not to have to feed the bunch for a change. Landfrau gets old and lazy!

I'm so smart!

March 31 /07 3:40 p.m. The Weather Pixie: Niederrhein

Brother, is Landfrau ever the little super brain! Managed to get the clustr "spy" map onto my blog, now I can see who is NOT reading me and then I will fall into a deep valley of depression. Just blogging away into outer space and no one soaking up my brainstorms,sob,sob!

A real good laugh!

just touch the text for enlargement!

Latecomers

March 24/07 2:21 p.m. The Weather Pixie: Niederrhein

...are punished by life - an old German proverb. and, how true, how true. Got an e-mail yesterday from our wintersport place in Sauerland, stating: snow in abundance and rooms available. So, thinking back and forth for an hour, we decided to treat ourselves to a nice weekend in snow,we phoned, just single rooms left. We declined,not yet ready for single rooms, time enough 20 years from now, or so.

Birthday Blog!

March 22/07

Blog has birthday today!

...so friends, one year you have shared my stories and thoughts. And blog and me have a wish list at Amazon.de and Amazon.com (USA) under Landfrau's real name. Make your choice (just kidding,ofcse),but have a look anyway!

A Bear Problem

March 19/07 8:07 p.m. The Weather Pixie: Niederrhein

We Germans seem to have a bear problem. Remember Bruno? Killed by the vicious Bavarians? Now Knut is a danger, but in my opinion rather "in danger"!

IS BERLIN'S POLAR BEAR BABY TOO HUMAN?
Knut Should Be Killed, Say Some Animal Activists
Berlin's polar bear cub Knut is more famous than ever. Even star photographer Annie Leibovitz has been to take his picture. But not everyone loves the little bear. Animal rights activists want him put to sleep because he has been raised on a bottle. more... [

This is nice!

berlitz_ Just touch the link ! - This is great!

Dissapointing Democrats

The Landstuhl hospital is just one of the stops on the way back to the United States for an injured soldier. Here, Mary Robles, aged 5, stands with her father Master Sgt. Daniel Robles as he receives a Purple Heart in San Antonio, Texas in January.
(SPIEGEL-online 3/14/07)

March 18/07 3:40 p.m.





48 senators for and 50 against settlement for a date of retirement of troops from the Iraq. Necessary voices would have been 60. So, Baby Bush could leave without regrets for Camp David. -
And we shall see more pictures like the above and the USA will have to stock up on more body bags.

2 Blind Eyes and 2 Deaf Ears

March 16/07 3:07 p.m.

Landfrau usually tries not to indulge into longer stories of relatives and/or friends, but this one is such a bummer, I just cannot resist. From our eye-doctor lady we got for our tearing eyes (dryness) a recommandation of spray drops ,which you spray upon your eyelids (closed) and the problem is solved for a while. So, to have them in easy reach I put them on the shelf of the downstairs bathroom. Told so to the man of my life. Then, yesterday coming home from an errand, I found a terribly upset man with swollen,almost closed watering eyes and a red face sitting in the livingroom and yelling at me that I had told him the drops were sitting in the bathroom. As it happens, he had grabbed a can of moskito spray (4 times the size of the little eyedrops container) and had given himself a full dose right into the face. My flabbergasted question,why he did not read the label and checked anyway,that the can was far too big, got the reply that he could not see,because he had been out too, and ,coming home,wanted to apply the drops,since his eyes were watering like hell. Now, first, using the stuff when its too late,does not help, second, if he would have listened (and that`s where the deaf ears come in) he would have followed my precise instructions -on the shelf, not the window sill - but of course would have missed the chance of almost blinding himself and...yelling at Landfrau.
Had a nasty laugh,after it turned out, that no damage had been done!

FourOld Eyes

March 13/07 The Weather Pixie: Niederrhein

.....and some old teeth Landfrau is writing a post about today. So, for the eyes we had a unison check up, and both of us, man of my life and myself wo`n't go blind for another year! Our eye-doctor lady is really taking good care of us, thanks, dear! -
Dentistwise it has not been unison, partner chickened out. But he joined me later on for lunch, the pleasant side of life! - We had delicious fish, yummy. Then Landfrau parked companion for a (two hour long - poor guy) coffee at our Italian coffee shop and dug head over heels into the big department store for "spring shopping", which is a real drag if you are not favoured with barbie doll measurements any more. In and out of booths and getting in and out of clothing wanted to make me shout :" there is no toilet paper in here" just for the sake of seeing what happens. But was not brave enough after all, well, finally found what I wanted and I am still happy with my prey even here at home. That will have to do for a while.

Birthday - and a Quiz

March 10/07

This charming little boy has his birthday today (has grown a bit in the meantime) - so, all the best and hopefully you will be a good uncle later on this year, and - here comes the quiz- what does that make Landfrau then same time??? (relatives excluded from the drawing for the winner).

A clue, little boy is a relative of mine!

And the winner gets, as usual ,choice of a personally addressed picture -post card. Take your choice, there are enough pics in my blog. GOOD LUCK!

Happy Birthday!

BIRTHDAY

March 7/07 2:45 p.m.

Two birthdays coming up, one of it starts with B - like blog - so, friends, family,fans and otherwise, start your collection, Landfrau wants a biig present! - little joke -
More about the birthdays in due time and also some very good news! So, stay put! - Vetured out today to see my dentist in the city, demonstration , so big traffic jam,two bridges closed, one I was about to cross, just one car left in front of me,when a nasty cop blocked the road. Had to circle back into unknown "fields", how I love that, feel like Hänsel and Gretel without breadcrumbs. Found my way home,sitting in several traffic jams,was not the only one,standing up the dentist. So, for another try tomorrow. -Right now on the verge to buy a vacuum cleaner called "cats and dogs" and hopefully that it might help to serve my "hairy" problems, if it sucks up cats and dogs, I don't want it.

Rising RHEIN

March 06/07 2:12 p.m. The Weather Pixie: Niederrhein

...and more rain to come. And you can see,where we usually walk,you really can get your feet wet.

Mean,mean moon!

March 04/07 5:05 p.m.

...or should I rather say: mean clouds. Anyway, we have not been lucky in this neck of the woods,should have looked like above,but...

let's try again next year! At least we did see some sun today, and father Rhine is testing it's limits, old rascal! Should have taken my camera, but there will be more,predictions are: rain,rain, so - no sunshine.

Moon

March 3/07 3:12 p.m. The Weather Pixie: Niederrhein

Will we see the NO MOON tonite? Or will this lousy rain kill it?

Honest boy

February 27/07 4:33 p.m. The Weather Pixie: Niederrhein

Overheard a lady scolding her little boy for calling a woman "alte Hexe" (old bitch comes close). You can not call a lady "alte Hexe" she said, and the honest anwer: why not? - By then eavesdropping Landfrau started to giggle and was promptly told by the aggravated mother to stop laughing. Well, asked her,if she would call me "alte Hexe" otherwise, which in turn made her start to laugh. Authority gone by then. Such is life.-

We are busy, arranging our various,little vaccations. You have to be an eager beaver about that, otherwise...zilch, or as we Germans say " Du guckst in die Röhre". -Right now weather pixies predictions are no asset!

Weekend,on the go

February 24/07 3:03 p.m.

Looking out of the window at :
white clouds,blue sky, our capped pine tree,bare neighbourhood trees and a fat pigeon.Saw the first "crocusse" today,taking my daily walks with Herr dog. -

Read in the blog diary of Nikolaus Piper,correspondent for "Süddeutsche Zeitung"in New York about a guide, called WICKED GERMAN FOR THE TRAVELLER. So, take notice, my English speaking friends:
Chapter SURVIVING THE AUTOBAHN:
Penalties for insulting other drivers,calling them: Damischer Bulle $ 2760
Knolle $ 425
Rchtfrtzlkraut, whatever this? is $ 100
For 99 cent you can say WICHTIGTUER twice.

And,as a weekend treat, some music samples from Sophie Auster , listen in, I think we will hear more of her in the near future!

Sliding Neighbour

February 23/07 650 p.m. The Weather Pixie: Niederrhein

Had been thinking only yesterday that nothing much is happening around here right now,well... this morning had been awakened by a phone call from our neighbours warning us, that it might get a little noisy. Turned out, their cat had gotten onto the roof and he (our neighbour) wanted to pick it up. But his wife also told me that she - in vain - tried to convince her husband not to climb onto the roof, too dangerous, but he would not listen. So she begged me to give it a try too. Since we have a big window out of our attic room, I could watch him climbing up onto the landing above the balcony,which is flat and actually the roof of the bedrooms up front. But kitty was sitting on the highest point on the sliding roof. Told our neighbour he should wait,since incidently the chimney sweeper had anounced himself to come in about 1/2 hour.But - he had deaf ears. So ,fascinated, I watched him lean the ladder onto the roof and start to climb up. He reached the cat allright, but when he picked it up, it started to wiggle, which in turn started to upset the ladder, which had no real support on the flat landing. And so both, cat and neighbour,started to slide down the roof on his belly, and boy, were they picking up speed! The last few meters he started rolling, still holding on to the cat and fortunately stopped inches before the final chute of about 5 meters.

And the only witness, Landfrau, almost died of a heart attack!
Later on neighbour phoned and said that his act would have made a nice movie. Chimney sweeper said the final fall might have made him a goner.

No more excitement today!

One more Goodie...

February 19/06 1:50 p.m.

...and then its finito with mardi gras - reports. Could not resist this duck! (Not a relative!)

And some more pictures

February 18/07 3:52 p.m. The Weather Pixie: Niederrhein

.....and..some are family!

The Big Parade!

February 18/07

Too bad, think the event is on the verge of getting out of hand,too many people, "giving" the drinks away is attracting the masses. Landfrau took flight, after strangers started to take over the bar,and cleaning the cups they might as well do by themselves then too. I hope that with those crowds milling around,no one walkes away with the "piggy bank". Well, not my concern.

Anyway, the pics give a picture!

Valentine's Day

February 14/07 4:45 p.m. The Weather Pixie: Niederrhein

To whom does this concern??

Don't complain, this is not nice
in the bathtub of my life
you will remain as hero of retiring
always my favourd duckling!

and,for all you Germans. the translation:

Jammer nicht,es ist vergebens,
in der Wanne meines Lebens
bleibst Du auch als Held der Rente

immer meine liebste Ente!

Look, our Midget!

February 12/07 The Weather Pixie: Niederrhein

Now, is'nt it cute? And what a relief, it will not outgrow us during our lifetime and no hurricane will take hold of it. Have considered today to give it some company later on in spring.But right now looking forward to the world's smallest and most famous mardi -gras parade in Schweinheim and you will meet Landfrau there as the most famous bar -tendress, come have a look, I am my best own customer, provided the weather is cold enough that I want to dig into hot spiced wine. -
Was a hard day today,not only housecleaning,the monday score,but cooking lunch for our "boss" (grandson),whom granddad picked up at school, since mummy still had been on the road back home from a skiing holiday,where she had her skies pinched. Alas,shit happens. And then my help was needed in mathematics,boy, I am out of practice! get the result of 13,by using only the number 4 for calculation ,you are allowed ( ) calculation,like (4+4+4-4) etc. ,so lets see if you are smart, good luck!

Carpe Diem

February 06/07 The Weather Pixie: Niederrhein

Landfrau must use the nice weather, worked my little (gloved) fingers off, to get the front garden spick and span. We BOUGHT a new tree,a change to taking them down and having them blown away.Well ,actually it's a kind of a shrub, pine, very attractive, and the gardener will plant it ,hopefully, Saturday. Till then it sits in the nursery with our name tag! -
Yes, our garden really looked a mess,after the storm and the tree actions, would have been shamefaced to let a strange gardener in. He might have decided we are not worth such a nice new tree-shrub. Of course it will have to pose for me and my camera!
And it is not for friend dog to pee on!!

It works.....

February 04/07 1:58 p.m. The Weather Pixie: Niederrhein

..and even tells the truth, the weather pixie. Amazing,those little gadgets. Dog and me had enjoyed a long walk along the riverside, passed by the riding stables on our way back, this nice smell of horses, hmmm,I'm still addicted to . It is enjoyable to chat with former riding friends and to "meet" my horse's former friends. But,such is life,past times are past times and lost friends are lost friends. Always looking ahead, right now to cooking a leg of turkey with vegetables(mangold) and boiled potatoes,yummy!-

8:11 p.m. - food has been verry good!! Full tummy! -
And there has been a terrific sunset tonite, next time I shall try to think about taking the camera.
And Germany beat Poland in the Handball-worldchampionships 29:24, had been out with the dog and met not a soul, a whole nation glued to the televison - We are definetely adorable,us Germans,eh?

To keep you up to date!

The Weather Pixie: Niederrhein

February 03/07 - so you can check our lousy, or nice, weather!

Still no winter arround here.Now I do not want it anymore.

Are you an ELVIS- Fan?

SoloSong's Elvis Jukebox - There you go, Elvis the Pelvis - it's great!

....and,while you listen, here something to look at , a little promotion, it
is a fun piece,right for folks who like to travel

Chain(Saw)-Gang

January 30/07 4:31 p.m.

You hear them all over our little village, the chain saws,cutting down trees in danger to fall,cutting fallen trees and trees into pieces for firewood. We have been lucky, that our daughter took most of our wood, would have been a shame to leave it for robber gardener,who would have charged us on top to get rid of it. There is also quite some wood lying around at the riverbanks, the next flooding might take care of that,although we might be lucky this year, not so much snow in the mountains and therefore not so much water from melting. It has turned quite warm again for this time of the year, above zero (C°) ,but grey skies, no sunshine. That has to come from the heart, which is not always so easy.
Dog and me had been taking a walk to the ferry landing this morning, the ferry is not running, yearly maintanance,so it had been peaceful and quiet and we could enjoy our view. Pic is promised for one of those days,when the sun decides to peek out! -

And now I will havwe to venture out again, dog is pestering me and right he is,otherwise we will walk by the moonriver (always again a terrific song, and such a sweet voice!).

Mad,mad,mad...

January 26/07 9:33 p.m.

...at the computer system, musicload worked fine for downloading(paid for - mind you) music,suddenly - zilch - . Talked to two hotlines, brother, I love that, and got an e-mail full of instructions I'm lost at. All I managed is to deinstall ourMedia Player, latest version,and then I had none.Took me quite a while to figure out how to re-install,uff!!! -Well, what the heck, it's a machine after all, might scream for help tomorrow ,our neighbour is good with computers. - Weatherwise we got some snowflakes, imagine, but by now the stuff has turned into rain. We might have icy roads tomorrow,but we don't have to venture out far. And...
getting used to "naked gardens". There had been a loss of 28 Million trees by the storm in Germany ,don't think they counted ours.

Go for Gold!

HillaryClinton.com - Video

January 22/07 8:00 p.m.
It is time for a change and why not a lady with experience in the White House! Landfrau keeps her fingers crossed for Hillary.

NorahJones.com

NorahJones.com

January 22/07 5:04 p.m.
A very nice link to enjoy, have not "gifted" you with music for a while.
Norah Jones is one of my favourite singers.

Oops, there goes another One!

January 21/07 3:47 p.m.

Grandson has been picked up by daughter No. 2 and has been on the phone already, forgot his softball, always leaving something behind, that kid. The James Bond last nite had been a dissapointment for both of us and since our satelite - dish has also suffered from the storm we had a big choice of "snowy" channels. But we have been rewarded with a life show today, the next one of our big trees, a cypress tree in the kitchen garden, started to move in a very funny way. So we decided to call the diligent helpers,the local fire brigade. They decided,that 12 meter- tree had to go and so we had front row seats from our "tower" (attic) windows to watch the action. They left about 4 meters and now it looks like a funny kind of bush sitting in the corner. By now I think, the squirrells will put a jynx (or whatever its called) on us, this has been their main residence. Places in the two previous trees taken down had been like vacation homes. We might decide to cover our gardens with concrete and paint them green, then all we need is a scrubbing broom,lots of detergent and an occasional paint job.
That's the way the (soft)ball bounces!

I -do-not-like-it

January 20/07 6:58 p.m.

....if other dogowners pester me with stories about the "brightness" of their dogs. Met a lady during my walk tonite, now, since we took the same direction and, Landfrau beeing a polite person, I could not avoid listening to her endlesss recitation about her dog catching mice. Even my ironic "that it must be cat's genes" could not stop her. O.K.,did not punch her nose (would have loved to) but said that I had to turn around. So on our way back, dog and me, could enjoy the sight of a red gleaming dark sky,with the flashing lights from the airport across the river Rhein and the brightly lit starting planes. B e a u t i f u l! - River is carrying quite some water, some of the shoreline has been flooded already. But that hapens every year,so there is nothing to worry about yet.
Man of the house is sitting in starter position to pick up grandson No. 2 (the smaller one) for overnite room and board. Me, I already got orders to watch a "James Bond" movie with him later on, am I ever looking forward to that! Never mind, grandma's duties. And - as long as I am not matching the above lady, when he asks me for a bedtime - story, I shall count my blessings!

Kyrill - The Big One

January 19/07 3:49 p.m.

Boy, that has been some bugger of a storm last night and it is not quite over yet,if I look out of my window,trees are moving in occasional gusts again. But last night had been hellish and we were mighty glad,that we had made the decision to take the fir tree down lately,it would have been a goner for sure. Our neighbours from across the street called the fire brigade to take one of their trees down, which might have landed plum upon the street. There were lots of damages in our village as to trees,roofs and houses, fortunately no casualties. But around Germany there had been ten and more in other European countries. One little girl, two years old, had been slain by a door. A little life, phhf, extinguished just like that, on account of a stupid storm. -
I have the bad feeling, that there will be more super- gaus of nature, since our weather really has gone haywire,next there will be floodings again, on account of the heavy rainfalls. And if you take into consideration that it is partly homemade by mankind and that there are still governments without insight and unwilling to workout plans against such catastrophies,one could throw a tantrum fit.

Poor Planet Earth!

Look,Girls, that`s what happens!

Beim Zeitungslesen gestört: Bei www.one4video.de - die kostenlose Video-Community - Videos einfach uploaden, kommentieren, bewerten, durchsuchen und mit Freunden teilen. - Crazy

January 17/07 10:30 a.m.

No further comment from Landfrau!

Good Guy with white Hat

BUSH'S IRAQ STRATEGY
More Blood, More Money, More Doubts

130,000 US soldiers haven't been able to bring peace to Iraq. Now George W. Bush has admitted his error -- and is sending in a further 21,000 troops. The US President is thus almost completely ignoring the recommendations of the Baker Commission. By Georg Mascolo in Washington (Spiegel Online - International / Jan.11/07)

January 11/07
There he goes again, Baby Bush, on with his personal venegance. 21.000 troops are not people playing in his league, where they are coming from, sacrifice is an honour and never mind, what comes later in regard to families and so on. Him and his likes are safe and sound and he can continue the game of the good marshal sent by God.

Second Life

January 10/07

This is weird.......got hold of an article in our daily paper (computer site) about a program called "second life". Of course curious Landfrau wanted to know more and got into investigating matter and, if you ask me, this is like Mokitown for grownups. You get a doll and dress it(and this is you now) up (let's call them Ken and Barbie from now on) and then you roam around and meet other Kens and Barbies and, according to the report, have an abudance of fun together. You even can have sex, if you push a key, you get an erection. Mind you, you are now Barbie and you meet Ken, prime body,full of mucles,young, spirited - and whats hiding behind? An old fat leech with no hair. Same goes for Barbie,could be an ugly hangdog hiding behind that beautiful creature. - Of course this also could open doors for cunning people. Imagine Ken and Barbie know each other in real life and are, lets presume, secret lovers, then of course they could have a lot of fun together, all it takes is to tell each other the fake names .But then,making love, might be a bit frustrating,having to push keys.
And - so is said - you can make real money, now thats an intriguing subject, walk out of a game a millionaire, for that, I would turn into Barbie too!

So, have I gotten you interested? Just push the hyperlink and see for yourselves.

Year without Horse

January 06/07

Since 1976 this will be the first horseless year for the family. Some of you already know, some might have asked themselves why there has been no more mentioning of the oldie-horse. Sad story, oldie has been sent to horse heaven in October 06. Really had not the nerve to talk about it for quite a while, and dog and me still miss the old rascal, while roaming the river banks, thats what we loved most, the three of us. Somehow picturing he might still be gallopping along with us, up there in horse heaven. He has been a good horse,brave and honest, he has been with us for almost 19 years.-
Don't miss the stables,not my world anymore.



Last pics of Little Lander - Hannoveranian Gelding

Breakfast - not at Tiffany's

January 05/07 2:59 p.m.

Now, this morning, Landfrau had prepared breakfast (actually like each and every morning EVEN ON MOTHER'S DAY!) and had, like every morning, her solitairy meal - waiting for the companion would upset day's schedule too much - but, miracles happen,companion joined me at the table. Then I cleared and cleaned away all the things, and then companion complained, that breakfast was gone and only a spick and span table left. Turned out, that he did not have a bite to eat yet. Well, told him, that even in first class hotels, breakfast matters are cleared away at 11:00 a.m. Now someone will wither away for sure.
Had to be on the run then, first with the dog and then to pick up my Durangos (cowboy boots) at the shoemakers. Shops around here close for lunchtime, anyway, most of them, you think we would be living in the deepest South of Spain and it was siesta time. Now, for my poor boots, they for sure are falling apart, bought them at a Santa Fe, N.M. - store 6 years ago, think I will have to return soon to my dream place. Any reason is a good reason!

One More Tree - Story

January 03/07 5:50 p.m.

So, yesterday, Landfrau had been de-treeing the living room and all the deco things, like angels and santas ,had to hit their boxes for another 11 months. But now, look for yourselves,friends, is'nt that still a great tree? Now, I'm considering

1st. : selling it to Russia with love ( still 3 days left, since the Russians celebrate after the Georgian Calendar, Jan.7 and little Father Frost, who brings the presents in Russia,might still be short of a tree)

2nd.: putting it into the empty corner,left by the fir tree. - Only, how to preserve it? Must stay green and keep its needles! Spray? Paint? whatever.-

Well,just a little joke, but I am happy to hear, that I had a leaning tree companion in far away Houston! But knocking over the tree with ornaments - That has been overdoing it, my friend! Mutual agreement,never listen to the tree critics , next X-mas,we do it our ways!

And remember, only 11 months and 21 days left till X-mas! (Now -cross my heart, I won't go on with that).

January - Progressing

January 03/07 10:55 a.m.

In a hurry, in a hurry but....You like bad blogs? ( in the way of mean!)
Then,have fun!

First Day of more to come in 2007

January 01/07

....and New Year's resolutions:
1. loose weight
2. loose weight
3. loose weight
4. don't forget to put out garbage cans!

Ugh, nothing harder to cope with than a succession of good days! -
Last day of last year has been spent eating a marvellous buffet at our country hotel at the ferry landing and then taking in a play (comedy) in a little theatre downtown Düsseldorf. Have not really been taken by the play (after a movie with Dustin Hoffmann), outdated plot for our time and the actors have not been so great either.-Well, man of my life liked it better than me, which was good, since I had given him the tickets for a Christmas present.
And at 3:30 a.m. we had a phone call from some kids, trying to sell us 5 kos. of pudding and, after our inquiry,where they were calling from, telling us first Hungary and then Irak. Since their number showed on the display, I called this morning a very surprised mother and we had a laugh together. Told her though, things like that can fire back, if you reach the wrong address.
So, this morning, dog and me had a very wet and windy walk, not nice for the beginning of the year.
But all those good wishes from family, friends and fans for the New Year had been nice,a big T H A N K S to all of you and so long for today!

HAPPY NEW YEAR -- 2007!

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!!!!!

from ..........L A N D F R A U

......and enjoy the cute link, just touch the HAPPY NEW YEAR.

DECEMBER 24 2006

It's Christmas......

so, to everyone out there:


Merry C H R I S T M A S!
Frohe Weihnachten!

Wishes...wünscht the...die LANDFRAU

Santa - reborn / X-mas tree - kicked over

December 22/06 4:22 p.m.

See for yourselves,the Santa - puzzle has been solved, but...Landfrau, just to stay in mischief, knocked over the X-mas tree. Started to trimm it last nite and my critic claimed, that it was not sitting straight in its holder. So Mrs. Perfect tried to adjust it and ,well, pushed "the wrong button", over it went, against the lamp, the window and drapes. Fortunately only two sets of strings had been put on and some bows, nothing breakable yet. One string however snapped and I fixed it with isolation tape, having made the wires blank first (suppose a hair- riser for every engineer!). - Anyway,light is on again. Tree looked a bit beat up ,however. But now, that is has been adorned up to its teeth, think that it does not show any more. Judge for yourselves and remember....only 2 days till X-mas!

Brainstorm-Housecleaning

December 18/06 9:08 p.m.

Why did I have to run across the German expression"innerer Schweinehund" in another blog, and wrecking my brain ever since for the proper translation? - Owner of blog also had been very helpful, but no satisfying solution found. - Now today, hateful
Monday - cleaning (no brains needed for that- so can be used otherwise), ran across "Nasty inner self",which of course is still a little tame for the "pigdog" but will have to do and I hope both of them, the "innere Schweinehund" and the Nasty Inner Self" will keep their mouths shut at least till after Christmas.

...and, since I'm into the breaking loosing spell, I broke my little Santa last nite. Was about to kick the about one hundred peaces into the garbage can, but the still intact head looked at me with such sad eyes,that since then I'm running around with sticky glue on my fingertips and am trying to puzzle him together every free minute, and my "nasty inner self" is giving the garbage can more and more the eye.

Before - After

December 17/06 2:00 p.m.










....and inbetween.
Or, how to "ugly" up a garden. Just contact us ,we are experts now. After the Pine had to go,(had given reasons before), folks have been pestering about the Fir tree ,like - it will go with the next storm -its without support now - man of the house had been glued to the window,as soon as a little wind was blowing, so, to make a long story short, robber gardener struck again (told him though, to be more moderate this time - Mengenrabatt (deduction for frequency),well,we shall see.

Now, good ideas about new plants to be put into the empty corner are highly appreciated. No Saguaros,though!

And remember - only 7 days till X-MAS!!!

CARAVAGGIO

December 12/06 8:20 p.m.

This really exclusive exhibition had opened in Düsseldorf- Kunstpalast Sept.09/06 and ever since we have been telling ourselves, that we have to see it ,for sure! - Dateline January 07 - so, today Landfrau said: no more excuses! And imagine: we did it, and..it really has been worth it, its breathtaking to look at those brilliant oevres, hundreds of years old, and painted by a very dubious character who on top of that died a mysterious death. -

Coming home, our new coffee/espresso machine had been delivered, and I am not so sure yet, if I am really
happy with it. Still kind of miss my good old coffee maker.

And tomorrow the fir tree will have to go, then I will put some before - after pics in my blog and you can judge for yourselves, how boring our garden looks. Really have to think of something attractive - and big enough - to plant in spring. Now we live with so much more light in our living room and you see every damn speck of dust, a housewife's nightmare!

A Christmas-Miracle!

December 11/06 12:32 p.m.

Never give up, this morning I found my so painfully missed childrens book (and the story I will supply in my next post) at a place I had been looking first and at least a dozen times! - So, this up to now not so nice day is saved and maybe my little (X-mas) guardian angel did some work for me.- Thank you! -

My Dentist and my X-mas Panic

December 06/06 6:30 p.m.

I have mentioned her before,it is a lady and lately she has been coming across with the most funny things. Will not go into the story, when I got the caps for my implants (a fortune in my mouth) and she wanted to show them to me before putting them in for good and dropping them,stating very dryly "hope they are not broken" - they were not,fortunately, anyway, think she is increasing in her actions. - Must tell you first, that Landfrau has terrible difficulties, not to gag during treatment, just to look at the cotton pads to be put into my mouth, gets me going. So,my friendly lady has a dozen tricks or so to stop me, like I should turn my feet, first the one,then the other, to one side and the other side,etc. - Now today she suddenly yelled," grab between your legs, grab between your legs", which really startled me, never had heard of that trick. As it turned out, she had dropped a "red stick" (think it has beeen a Q-tip with desinfection) between my legs and did not want to retrieve it but, I presume, was afraid,my pants might get ruined. After that I started to have such giggle fits, that I heaved from laughing, not from gagging and after I could talk again, told her why and she was very embarrased,but her nurse laughed her head off. So much for my dentistLADY,and now you know, why I put such emphasis on transferring that it is not a guy. -

Well, after that pleasant session I did some Christmas-shopping and slowly but surely am feeling better, some cookies baked and some presents bought.-

And then doggie got a raincoat, fed up with wet, smelly dog in the house, he is very proud of it!

So, hope you did not meet any Krampusse today, even if you deserved them!

Grandson,Antlers and X-mas-Cookies!

December 05 /06 9:10 p.m.

Last weekend our grandson showed up with an antler headdress, complete with jingle bells,looked like Rudolf, the rednosed reindeer, the red nose missing ,though. Told him that there still was a tag attached to the device,and got the reply, that it did not belong to him. When I asked, whom it belonged to, he said,its yours and you have to wear it next time walking the dog. I will come along with the camera and then I will take shots - no not of grandma wearing antlers,- but of the stupid faces of the people looking at me, so he said. - Great kid?
To please him , I baked some X-mas cookies,tried a first time in my life a readymade dough (had my doubts though,when I tasted a piece), well , they looked great when they came out of the oven, but the smell and the taste,completely horror-ugh. Even the dog, who is "human food- crazy",refused them. So the goodlooking patch landed in the garbage can and the belief of my grandson in my cookies is destroyed. Up to then he had claimed,that mine tasted so much better than his mom's. - But today I baked the real McKoy, after my Mom's recipe,very time consuming and difficult task, but worth it.

So, folks and fans, have a nice Nicolaus Day tomorrow, don't let the Krampusse get you!

Not X-mas,E A S T E R!!(egg hunt)

December 03/06 00:14 a.m.

Too upsept to sleep, think I'm going bonkers. The past day has been one of the missing things. First I could not find part of my X-mas decorations, o.k. no special value, replacable. Then daughter No. 1, who hade been visiting and staying overnight, asked for a special Children's book, belonged to Landfrau ,when she was still a kid, kept in high value, vanished... had been looking in the house from attic to basement, no book, other of getting all dusty and disgusted,no success. Then, beeing invited for dinner at friends place, a bracelet, I wanted to wear, a goner. Great, in for another midnight hunt.There at least, found it, had slipped behind the couch in my room. so.. I hope the spell is broken and I am not yet in for the Alzheimer league, at least, there you meet new people every day.

Bad Santa

December 01/06 7:50 p.m.

X-mas panic setting in! Only 23 days left till Christmas - help!!!!