love this town

One of the first things I saw when we walked into Rothenburg was this window grate with MY initial on it! You've gotta love a town that has personalized window grates!

cats

There are a lot of cats that roam our neighbourhood. I have to confess I am not thrilled about them or about what they leave behind in my flower beds. I chased one out of our yard one day and as he leaped over the chain-link fence his foot caught, causing him to do a complete flip in the air before he hit the ground at a full gallop! I enjoyed a very good laugh!

Katy saw this one perched on the roof of the house across the street from us. What do cats think about when they get themselves into these kind of situations? I actually don't really care. At any rate, if they have to be somewhere other than at home I prefer them up high to down below!

back to rothenburg

We had a lovely day trip to Rothenburg ob der Tauber while we were at the conference. The day was perfect and the town amazing - more beautiful than we had remembered. The signs were the first thing that caught my eye so I took lots of pictures of them. Just so you know... this is only a small sampling of what was there. I actually managed to restrain myself.

more than historic

A few days before we left for our conference we spent the afternoon in a lovely little town in the Black Forest. One church there is over 1000 years old. We wandered in and were treated to a trumpet and organ rehearsal for the concert that was to be held that night. Too bad we couldn't stay!

the tree

We came upon this tree on a drive through the Black Forest on Sunday. The detail of the carvings is amazing.

We are leaving tomorrow and will be gone for a few days. Our mission is having its conference/retreat a few hours north of here and I may or may not be posting while we are away. We will see......

happy easter

In this country people are not afraid or nervous about wishing you a "Happy Easter" or a "Merry Christmas". You hear it all over - in every store or business. I like that.

And people aren't afraid of showing their "agreement" with these special days.
In different ways.....

This is a culture that still stops on important days like Sunday, Christmas and Boxing Day, and all other religious holidays (and there are a lot of them). No stores are open those days. At all. You'll never hear the buzz of a lawnmower or see any laundry blowing in the wind.
Time is given and taken to go to church and just stop. Time is taken to walk or hike. It's a culture we've grown to love and appreciate for the importance given to rest and for stepping away from the busy pace of life - at least for a time. I hope we can take this important lesson with us when we leave.....