Germany Part I

Typical Army quarters, we had a 2 bedroom apartment.

As I mentioned yesterday we lived in Germany when Mac was in the Army.  Our first assignment was to Bad Kreuznach, a beautiful little town on the Nahe River.  It was a small town west of Frankfurt.   It's roots were deep, there was a Celtish settlement there as early as the 500's.  It became a walled city as early as the 13th century.  We thought it was beautiful
We were so young, I was just 21 and about 2 months pregnant with our daughter.  I had never flown before, had never been out of the country and spoke not a word of German. But the people were friendly, many spoke excellent English and most were kind about our poor Deutsch.   Our next door neighbor was a German (Friede) married to an American.  She had a daughter about 2 years younger than me and a son.  She took me in hand and saw to it that I didn't miss my Mother too much.
We spent 3 happy years there traveling to many parts of Europe --France, Paris, Nancy, Spain, Holland, Luxembourg.
It was the experience of a life time.  We fell in love with Germany and with Europe.  They played a big part in why Mac stayed in the Army, we loved living in Europe.

Alte Brücke, the Old Bridge House on the Nahe River, the houses dating from the 1400's.

New Blog I've Found

Last week one of my favorite bloggers, Marianne at Let's Read, posted a list of her 10 favorite non- book blogs.  I checked out the ones I wasn't familiar with and found Duolingo a free site for learning a new language.
Ah ha, what a good idea.  We're planning a trip for next year that includes Berlin, so what a good way to brush up on my German.
We lived in Germany off and on for 10 years while Mac was in the Army and at one time I could get around in Deutsch, but those days are long gone.  So I've been working at the Duolingo site and having fun rediscovering my German.
The one thing slowing me down, among many others, is that when I don't remember a word in
German I remember it in Spanish.  Too funny.
Maybe tomorrow I'll write about some of the places we lived in Germany.
Bis Morgen!

Liebster Award

Jo at Through the Keyhole gave me a Liebster (no auto-correct it's not a lobster award) Award and I want to thank her for thinking of me. I will try to answer the 10 questions she has given me.

The Liebster Award is a great way of discovering new blogs and to take part you should:-

1. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to his/her blog.
2 Copy and paste the Liebster Award badge to your post.
3. Answer the ten questions you've been asked.
4. Create ten new questions for the bloggers you are nominating.
5.Notify the bloggers that you have nominated.


1.  What was the last film you saw at the cinema?

We don't go to the movies much, usually wait for them to come out  on Netflix, but we did go see Jurassic World.  You have to see dinosaurs life-sized.

2.  Where would be your ideal place to live, town, country or coast?

I think I'd like to live in the country near the coast and that's pretty much where we live.  It's a small settlement  8 miles from town and it's near the coast.


3.  Do you have any pets?

Well of course we do, Miss Kitty owns this place and allows us to live here and take care of her.  Through the years we've had many cats, some dogs, a parrot named Paco con Carne and an iguana named Zilla Mae.

4.  What is your favorite area of the UK?

Love the Cotswolds and have stayed there many times, but Devon and Somerset are also big favorites of ours.

5.  What song annoys you?

Many songs do, particularly those full of hate and vulgarity.  My favorite music is from the 80's.

6.  What three things would you take to a desert island?

You mean besides a boat and Mac who'd row me home of course.  I'd take a solar powered laptop (is there such a thing), toilet paper and a Swiss Army knife.

7.  If you were given a million pounds, what would spend in on?

Some to our daughter, buy a place in England and some to charity, probably one of those that support Veterans.

8.  What would be your last meal?

Providing I still had teeth, a large Porterhouse steak, baked potato, broccoli and a mixed green salad.  No dessert.

9.  Have you ever met anyone famous?

I don't think so, though we once saw the late actor George C. Scott (think Patton) picking up his bags at the airport and we had Michael Palin autograph a book at Harrod's.

10.  What's your favorite take away?

We don't do take-away much, but when we do it's Col. Sanders Kentucky Fried Chicken, original recipe with mashed potatoes, coleslaw, rolls and gravy.


My 10 questions are:

1.  What was the last book you read?
2.  Favorite country to travel to  or place within your own country?
3.  What talent(s) do you have?
4.  Who does the cooking at your house?
5.  Would you rather travel by airplane, train, boat or car?
6.  Do you speak more than one language?
7.  Do you have a favorite tv show?
8.  What jobs have you had?
9.  Favorite flower?
10. Would you rather be a cat or a dog?

My nominees for the Liebster Award are:

Jennifer at Thistlebear
Mrs. Tiggywinkle at A Shropshire Patch
Rosie at Corners of My Mind
Justine at Down to Earth With a Bump
Kay at Georgia Girl With An English Heart

Please don't feel you have to answer the questions, but it'd be fun if you did.

Lantana

When I put a picture of my lantana tree on my blog several people said they'd never heard of a lantana tree and they're correct.  Lantana, which is a member of the Verbena family, is actually a shrub.  Shortly after moving here we were in a garden center and saw one that had been cultivated into appearing to be  a tree.  I loved it, looked at Mac and asked if he thought he could do it.  He looked at the plant closely and said he could.
So working with a lantana we'd rescued from the garden, it was dying, and putting it  by the driveway, he went to work.  He selected the largest stem, attached it to a pole and lopped off lower branches.  Each year it grew, he removed lower branches  and it looked more like a tree, so that's what I called it. Now it hardly grows any lower branches. We also have lantanas on each side of the driveway that he's also growing into trees.
Lantanas are interesting plants, we bought a couple when we first moved here and then found that they grow wild here have moved from people's yards. They've become naturalized to the southeastern United States, they don't need to be planted, they just move in on their own.
They're actually a tropical plant and usually found in tropical regions of the Americas and Africa.  It's also found in the South Pacific and is considered a problem in Australia.  They can take over and you sometimes have to be severe with them.  But I do appreciate a plant that can take care of itself.
Their leaves are poisonous to animals, but butterflies LOVE the flowers.  Sometime we'll go out in the summer and there'll be a dozen butterflies nipping around them.
So that's the story of my Lantana Tree.

Just started being trained

Notice the stem, that's how he trains them.

Wild Lantana

Butterflies love them!!!

This is one he started out by his garden, he hasn't trimmed the bottom yet, but he will.

Vacuum Suggestions

Nearly everyone suggested that I get a Dyson Animal Stick.  I think you all must have missed the line where I said the price must be cheap enough to not make me cry.  The Dyson is $499.00---that would make me cry and Mac sick!  I already hate the stairs and if I spent $500 to clean them I'd burn them down.  I have a vacuum that does the little area rugs downstairs and I Swiffer all the hardwood floors and tile.  Upstairs I have a good canister vac that does the rugs nicely.  What I need is a relatively inexpensive handvac that will only be used to do the stairs.

Mac, bless his heart vacuumed the stairs today.  Maybe I can get Miss Kitty to do them next time.

In the meantime I'm still looking for a relatively INEXPENSIVE  handvac.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the women in my life and 2 special ladies who live in my heart:  my Mother Lorraine and my Mother-in-law Pattie.  Two special ladies who left much too early.
We Skpyed with our daughter this morning.  It's not as good as having her here, but it's so much better than just a phone call.  I get to see her sweet face and know that where she is makes her so happy--that makes me happy.
I opened my gifts from her while we Skyped, loads of goodies, her Japanese baseball teams's mascot--so cute, a little critter holding roses---it's Mother's Day in Japan too, little candies, bath fizzles and the most gorgeous tea towel, I'm not sure I can stand to use it.
Can't wait till our trip to Japan to see her!!!
Mac got me something I'd seen on E-bay and I fell in love with it.  It's a Villeroy and Boch Mother and Child cup---just gorgeous.
Plus I woke up to find a vase of flowers on my nightstand!!!
The weather is gorgeous, he's cooking lunch and I couldn't be happier.

Hope all of you have a wonderful Mother's Day/Sunday too.

The Gardenia is so sweet I'm surprised it didn't wake me up.

All the little goodies including my stand-up kitty card

My cup, isn't it gorgeous!!!

Need Some Suggestions

I'm tired of lugging the canister vacuum up the stairs to clean them.  It's heavy, it falls over and then you have to turn it off and restart it.  Cleans well, but it's a pain to use on stairs and there are about 17 stairs.  I have a lightweight upright, but it  doesn't suck hard enough to clean them.  So I'm going to bite the bullet and buy a handvac, but I want one strong enough to clean the stairs, light enough for me to handle and cheap enough that I don't cry.  I don't mind a corded one because I've always found that the ones you charge never hold the charge for long.  So, any suggestions?

Five on Friday

What a beautiful week it's been.  The temperatures have moderated and it's only in the 70's and it's wonderful.  Woke up way too early this morning, we've turned into such slug-a-beds since we retired.
When we were out and about Wednesday we went to Home Depot and bought a load of plants for the garden and yesterday we got them in,
So it's Friday and it's time to join in with Amy at Love Made My Home and all the other Friday bloggers for Five on Friday.

First let's take a look at the new plants in the garden.

More Zinnias, they're doubles

Tickseed

A

Tickseed

And even more Tickseeds, they're perennials

Our Lantana tree, butterflies love it!

Plumbago, the one that always reminds me of my lumbago

Another type of lily, not an Arrun, but similar

Gladiolas about 2 months early

Gardenias and they smell heavenly

Second are the books I'm reading this week:  The Sittaford Affair by Agatha Christie.  This is a reread because we saw the tv movie and I wanted to see how different it was from the book.  Very, in ways, definitely no Miss Marple in the book.  Next Some Luck by Jane Smiley, the first in a trilogy about a farm family in Iowa that begins in 1920.  And The Bookseller by Cynthia Swanson which is about a woman who has a life she's dreaming and a life when she's awake.  Just started that one.  I just finished The Secred Chord by Geraldine Brooks and award winning author.  It was the story of King David from the bible.  It was good, but not as good as some of her other books: March, The People of the Book.

Next, heard on my MP3 player this morning while I was exercising:

Love Shack by the B-52's

It's 3 AM by Matchbox 20

Better Dig 2  by The Band Perry

Thank God I'm A Country Boy   by John Denver

Fourth is our lunch today, it's going to be light and easy.  A Spanish tortilla for me and grilled salmon for Mac and a small mixed salad for both of us.  We always have a salad.  When we don't have one, as happens sometimes when we're eating out,  I feel like I haven't really eaten.

Fifth is a sheepdog Mac gave me years ago and a few of the sheep he takes care of.

Hope you're going to have a beautiful weekend!

Learning New Words

I learned a new word yesterday at John Edward's blog Rambles From My Chair where he had written a list of words that were new to him.  Well most of them were new to me too, but the very first one struck a chord with me:

Consecotaleohobia  (n)

Fear of using chopsticks..

I had never thought about it, but I probably do have a fear of chopsticks, because I certainly have a fear of eating strange or even just new foods. I'm such a food phobe that I wouldn't even eat rice for years.  The list of things I won't eat would fill a book.

What's the connection with chopstick fear?  Well we're going to Japan later this year and finding food I'll be willing to even taste worries me.  Our daughter, who will pretty much eat anything, including whale tongue--and I told her she'd better not do that again--says that there will be lots for me to eat, with a fork. She frequently goes to a cafe named Brooklyn for hamburgers, with her  they might be made of Kangaroo for all I know, though she says they do have beef.

I don't want you to think I'm a big sissy, I  will try new experiences, it's just food I'm not willing to compromise on.

Early Mother's Day

Salad

Mother's Day is Sunday, but I hate crowds and even more I hate crowds full of "energetic" (boy aren't I polite) children--I taught school for too many years to enjoy the company of those drastically younger than me.  So I asked Mac to take me out to lunch today instead.  Not a big fan of chain restaurants, but Italian restaurants are few and far between in our neck of the woods, so Olive Garden it was.
It was nice, empty and only one squealing child in the distance--in the bar area no less.
We started with their never ending salad bowl, which was quite nice, good unobtrusive Italian dressing.

Appetizers

Next a trio of appetizers to begin with: Calamari, Stuffed Mushrooms and Deep-fried Beef Raviolis.  The best that could be said was that they were ok.  The calamari were all breading, the mushrooms were drowning in cheese and why the heck would you deep fry a ravioli?

Spaghetti

Shrimp Scampi

Then came our main courses, Mac had spaghetti with marinara sauce and Italian sausage.  I had Shrimp Scampi cooked in a garlic sauce with tomatoes, asparagus and angel hair pasta.  Both were quite good, but huge portions, we brought about 3 lbs. of them home.  There was no room for dessert.



When we got home Mac gave me part of my Mother's Day gift, a beautiful asparagus dish made by Royal Winton.

I told Mac that the food was good, but the company was better.  All in all a nice day.

Breakfast in America,

This was the first song on my MP3 this morning, nice bouncy one to get me going.  Made me think about what we do have for breakfast, Mummy dear, Mummy dear.  

Around here it's rather a light breakfast.  We have coffee, black for me with no sugar (hate the taste of sweet coffee) and a little dab of Irish Cream for Mac.  Then it's toast made with my homemade honey wheat bread.  I have butter on  mine, no jam, hate the taste of anything sweet in the morning.  Mac has butter, peach preserves and cinnamon.  That's about the only time of day he likes sweet stuff.  Then it's a small glass of low calorie orange juice.

That changes when we travel.  There is nothing like getting in a car to make me hungry.  Then I want eggs, potatoes, toast, maybe even some pancakes, Mac likes sausage.  But that's not an every day event, we'd look like blimps if we ate like that everyday.

What's for breakfast at your house?