Thursday, July 23, 2009

Again a lovely visit

As you all know, my friends "Golden Bough", aka Margie and Paul, came to visit again, this time with an overnight stay. I took so many pictures (again) that I hardly know which ones to share! lol

They arrived EARLY at the airport, but punctual as I am, I was waiting. While Wheelie drove their son and his bride to a nearby hotel (the newlyweds wanted one last night of their honeymoon on their own), I drove Margie and Paul to my son's home so they could meet him again.... the last time was when he was about 12 years old! Wheelie also joined us there. It was a lovely evening at his home and we ended up staying a lot longer then planned.



We then returned to my home and chatted, looked at photos, chatted. Soon it was time for bed. They slept in the next morning, as expected. My daughter arrived with her girls and they were still asleep (at 9:00 am)! But, soon they crawled out and joined us for a buffett breakfast I had set up.

The girls had been drawing pictures, but once Margie brought out the harp, their attention was guarantied.



Especially Tamara, of course....



This time Emely tried playing the harp as well.....



Then it was time to say goodbye... This time Regina helped with the drive to the airport.

After that, I followed Regina to HER home where I had my hair colored once again AND finally got it cut. Yes, I'll post a picture soon

Dorrie

Monday, July 20, 2009

Vanity Plates.... and cats

While driving home from shopping on Satureday I came across this plate....



All German plates begin with 1-3 letters representing the city/county your registered at... the bigger the town, the less letters, like Frankfurt is "F", Darmstadt is "DA", etc. The second set of 1-3 letters are free to combine, as are the 1-4 numbers at the end. Of course, people try to combine them into words, like pilots living in Frankfurt love trying to get "F"ly etc. This plate is from the town Segeberg, thus the "SE". My plate is DA WX 232, Wx being a short form of "Wixhausen", a part of Darmstadt I live in, and 232 is my birthday (23 Feb).

My Shila found a new favorite "nest". Instead of helping with the ironing, she decided to take a nap instead.



She also picked a plastic bad, left by Margie and Paul for them to pick up on their way home. Though the guest bed was completely free, she felt a need to be as close to the back as possible.... crazy cat! lol


Please ignore the other junk on the bed... I'm still doing some renovation.



This was a beautiful sunset that I caught the other day.... just thought I'd share it with all of you....



Dorrie

Monday, July 13, 2009

Time flies...

On this day, back in 1976, we greeted this little angle into the world....



and in 1978....



in 1989 a typical teenager....



then for a short time doing some modelling...



and today as a mom herself...



Happy Birthday Regina!!

Your Mom!

Friday, July 10, 2009

A lovely day, with lovely music

Last Wednesday a dear friend of mine, Margie, (we grew up together) had a 7 hour layover in Frankfurt. I picked her and her hubby up from the airport and we had a nice visit at my apartment. My daughter, Regina, came with her girls and it was a fantastic afternoon.

Margie and her husband have been playing Irish/Celtic music as the group known as "Golden Bough". They soon packed out their instruments and gave us a concert. I was able to record some of the finest moments. Especially Tamara.... she fell in love with the harp!

Considering Tamara had never even SEEN a harp before, I think she did pretty good *brag*

Oh, and here are some pictures of the fun day...

Margie with her new biggest fan, Tamara....



all the "ladies"...



Regina and Emely enjoying the music...



Singing "Black Jack Davy" (yes, that's Wheelie in the background)



Dorrie

P.S. more pictures and video clips found here

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Do you believe in fate?

Posted the other day at KCL:

So many things have happened in my life that seemed to just happen when it fit. That has often made me wonder whether it was just by chance, whether a higher power intended it that way, or whether it was just fate.

I could give you lots of examples but I just got back from dance class and I'm too tired. It's very hot and humid and we even cut dance class short because of it. Then a bunch of us went to a local ice cream parlor... that was nice!

Back to the questions of fate. It's sometimes spooky ... I'll give you one example. I once owned a Toyota 4Runner. I loved that car, but it was big and a gas guzzler. When I left my ex, I took it with me. I had a new boyfriend (a guy I'd known for 11 years, but it wasn't our time yet) and we moved in together. I put the car up for sale, but there were no takers. Then we went to buy a condominium and needed some down payment.... and the car got sold just when we needed it!

My present job appeared just when I was about to run out of getting alimony.

One of my dance classes started to fold.... and a gal suggested me to another group. They called, asked if I'd be interested and I went for a trial evening... and they are now my regular Wednesday night group!

Last September, after my last trip to the States, I was SERIOUSLY considering quitting my job and moving back there. In October the financial crash came, killing all thoughts about doing that. Maybe it was telling me I'm supposed to stay here?

Other things have happened like that... it does get scary some times.

Anywho...... I don't want to tempt fate here, but.... I have maybe an opportunity to purchase a condominium, at a price WAY below standard. AND... it's in the town my daughter lives in, the town I lived in for 13 years and know inside and out. I have already checked the place and it's a bit rundown, but nothing some renovation can't help. The price is so low, I fear there's a catch somewhere. But tomorrow I have an appointment with the owner and Wheelie will hopefully accompany me, maybe Regina as well. It just seems too good to be true.... there MUST be a catch.

So why am I thinking of moving when I love my present apartment? Well, I have only 5 years left to work (yep, I'll be 60 in February) and I must NOW start thinking about where I want to spent the rest of my life. Is this condominium it? Yes, I have looked around. Some places are nicer, but too expensive... no way I could finance them. This one is not perfect, but has great potential... is located in an ideal spot (near my daughter among other things).

So, we will give it a very critical once-over tomorrow and ask the owner a thousand questions (like WHY he's selling, etc.). I'm excited, but trying to not get too excited. If the bank won't finance this place for me, then I can bury ANY chance of ever buying a condo ever and will have to continue to pay rent. I don't mind that, but there's always the fear of the owner wanting the place for themselves, or selling it to new owners, and you get evicted (which is difficult to do over here, but still can happen). My appointment with the bank is on Monday. My home bank didn't even want to discuss possibilites.... yes, the banks have gotten VERY cautious over here, too.

As you see, I have lots on my mind at the moment.I'll keep you all informed how it goes... and perhaps post pictures.

Dorrie

P.S. As you all know, I don't care for facebook, but some of my favorite people leave short notes there, keeping us updated. One of our own favorites, Betty, left a message saying her hubby, Paul, had to be taken to the hospital! PLEASE pray for her and Paul!!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

KCL down?

My KCL addiction can't be satisfied... I wake up this morning and found KCL DOWN! Oh the horror!

I know that the admins are/were on vacation.... so maybe it was some spammers while they were away.

Come on folks.... we still have my forum for exchanging news.....

Otherwise, no big news from my world. I had a 10 hour work day yesterday.... tonight is dance class and we are having a heat wave (30° C/86°F) with high humidity.... dancing should be fun (not!)

OK, off to work I go....

Dorrie