katy maria is 18! - part 2

Today was the day for Katy's birthday party. She passed out invitations and even had this great "birthday princess" ensemble happening.

Her lovely guests arrived one by one...

..."happy birthday" sung...
...and of course the candles had to be blown out again.
Lots of fun - lots of laughs - lot of JOY!
Amanda is a veteran to Katy's parties so she was looking for the money in the cake and she got lucky!

Katy and Kara are both taking guitar this semester so the last few minutes of the party were spent serenading the guests. It was all just such a lovely time. Our daughter has such wonderful friends and what a pleasure it was to have a few of them in our home this afternoon to help her enjoy a real birthday party!

katy maria is 18!

This was birthday #1. It was Katy's first birthday and the only birthday she has ever celebrated in Canada.

This morning, the morning of her 18th birthday, we had the traditional birthday gift opening before Katy went off to school (with lots of pictures that are reserved for the family alone!). Little did she know that a surprise party was brewing at school for her. The kids in her afternoon study hall were preparing to celebrate with her with TWO cakes and lots of hugs and laughs.

I also came with a cake to surprise her so there was a lot of surprising going on!

What a great bunch of friends she has and Katy said she felt so blessed and humbled today by the love she was shown by these friends and so many more. Happy Birthday our lovely daughter! We love you!

my mittens have arrived!!! (and howard's home too..!)

The most coveted 2010 Olympic souvenir has arrived in our home and I am thrilled! I wore them today when I watched Joannie Rochette skate for Canada. What an emotional moment that was. Howard graciously carried my mittens home with him yesterday. I am very pleased - about both things - the mittens and the fact that my husband is home again!

The Olympic coverage here has been somewhat discouraging for a Canadian but I have to admit I'm getting really good at calling the cross country skiers and the ski jumpers by name as those are the sports that dominate the coverage here in this part of the world. Of course I could get up at the break of dawn to watch hockey, which I haven't done yet and was very pleased about when Canada lost to the USA. But we won't talk about that one anymore will we.....? Go Canada! :)

look and weep

For those of you who have lived in our beautiful little town of Kandern this will be a hard thing to see. This was a picture that Katy took last September...

...this is what it looks like in the same spot now.
The town needs to widen the river here due to potential flooding (not sure what that's about) and so all the beautiful trees have come down. It is almost painful to look at.
This is across the street. It's just so sad.

mr. sun.....

I took this picture just to prove to myself that the sun is actually still up there in the blue yonder and sometimes, just sometimes, it shows up and delights us all. Thursday was actually the second day this week that it came out but it was still a rather big moment. This has been the coldest and grayest winter that I can remember here in Germany. And we've had so much snow and ice that salt supplies have run out in places. You may have heard that on the news. It's actually quite a serious concern because in other years we have often gotten our big snow dumps in March. Oh dear. The funniest thing about this lack of salt is that one supermarket in town has set out big supplies of the salt that one puts in the dishwashers, hoping that people will buy that to salt their sidewalks! I had to smile when I saw that, even though the sun wasn't shining that day either. :) (It did shine a bit today, but now it's snowing again and the ground is once again white! Will this ever end?).

painting ponderings....

I've spent most of my week painting. Before we leave our house it has to be painted inside from top to bottom. It's German law that every 7 years you have to paint a house or an apartment that you are renting and most rental contracts have a "paint before you leave" clause included in them. It's a pretty serious thing. I've been dreading this task looming before me but once I got at it, it has actually gone very quickly. I've now painted at least 2/3 of the house and it sure does look nice! (Not to mention that I feel considerably relieved!)

As I was standing on the counter in the kitchen and painting the wall above the cupboards, I was reminded of the time that my mother was painting the kitchen in our old house in town. My dad was away at summer school and my mom took on this painting project. I remember "helping" her a bit along with a friend of mine and then we must have gotten tired or hot or bored and no doubt went off to the swimming pool. Sometime after we left my mom fell off the stool on which she was standing and broke her arm. She changed her clothes and drove herself to the hospital. She drove herself back home with a cast on her right arm and I clearly remember her finishing the painting project in terrible pain with tears running down her cheeks! When she talked to my dad on the phone shortly after the accident she didn't even tell him that she'd broken her arm! He was studying and she didn't want to worry him. When I was standing on the kitchen counter the other day this whole incident came back to me. Falling from that height would not have been funny and Howard was more than a 5 hour drive away! At any rate here I am to say that I didn't fall and haven't fallen and the entire painting episode has left me with only a small blister on my hand and a small bruise on the top of my foot. Weird. I have grown to love the thick German paint and this great little "grate" that one puts in these ungainly buckets of paint (that I cannot even lift when they're full!).

kindertag

Yesterday was "Red Monday" here in Germany and it was also the day for Janz Team Germany's annual "Kindertag" outreach. It is a day provided mostly for German kids in our town to have an alternative to the silly "Carnival" parties that usually fill this day.

The day is filled with singing, games, food and lots of good fun.

Here's what one worker said about the day: "We had a great day. There were lot of difficulties coming up to the event but God came through. There were over 250 kids there and when the invitation was given there were 50 who came for counseling. Thank the good Lord!".

happy valentine's day

Grow old along with me

the best is yet to be.

My Valentine is away. The last time we were apart on Valentine's Day was the year we were engaged - 25 years ago. The drugstore in the small town where I was teaching made good money off of me that year. I sent Howard a Valentine's card every day for 2 weeks. We were newly engaged and the separation was almost unbearable.

This time it's not so bad. There's a long history of Valentine's Days between us and a bond, a trust and a love that has held firm and only grown stronger and deeper over these 25 years. And there's just a lot of good fun and enjoyment too!
He is still my most favourite Valentine of all time and if I could, I would buy him a big bag of candies like this, and then I'd likely eat them all myself!
This sweet poem was in my "inbox" this morning. A sweet poem from a sweet man - the man I love and cherish and thank God for every day. He has blessed me with more than I deserve, and I am thankful....

A Valentine to My Wife Accept, dear girl, this little token, And if between the lines you seek, You'll find the love I've often spoken— The love my dying lips shall speak. Our little ones are making merry O'er am'rous ditties rhymed in jest, But in these words (though awkward—very) The genuine article's expressed. You are as fair and sweet and tender, Dear brown-eyed little sweetheart mine, As when, a callow youth and slender, I asked to be your Valentine. What though these years of ours be fleeting? What though the years of youth be flown? I'll mock old Tempus with repeating, "I love my love and her alone!" And when I fall before his reaping, And when my stuttering speech is dumb, Think not my love is dead or sleeping, But that it waits for you to come. So take, dear love, this little token, And if there speaks in any line The sentiment I'd fain have spoken, Say, will you kiss your Valentine? Eugene Field

last stop in istanbul

The Church of St. Savior in Chora is considered to be one of the most beautiful examples of a Byzantine church. The church is situated in the western district of Istanbul. In the 16th century, the church was converted into a mosque by the Ottoman rulers, and it became a secularised museum in 1948. The interior of the building is covered with fine mosaics and frescoes.

By the time we left the church I was sure that the kink I had in my neck from taking so many pictures of the ceiling would be permanent! What an amazingly beautiful church.

getting to the root of the problem...

Howard has had a rather "uncomfortable" tooth for the last few days. Yesterday it reached the point of having to call the dentist and he was very fortunate to be able to get right in. The dentist discovered that a root canal that Howard had had in Brazil was causing him the distress. So the dentist proceeded to work on the tooth, without the aid of any freezing (except for the open window which provided natural, full-body freezing!). Is not uncommon in this country to have dental work without freezing, in fact, it seems that it's only the "Ausländer" (foreigners) who actually request it. Howard said that he gripped the arms of the chair as tightly as he dared, fearing the worst. It went a lot better than he thought, but the final work still needs to be finished tomorrow.......

tulips and turkey

We discovered when we were in Turkey that the tulip actually originated in Turkey before it was sent on to Holland and made "famous" there. The tulip can been seen everywhere but is especially beautiful in the pottery - I think.

This is a part of a large ceramic panel in one of the subway stations.
I bought a few small bowls and a tile when we were there. The pottery, which is all handmade, is incredibly inexpensive.