Birthdays and half-timbered houses

Sorry, but I haven't felt like posting much recently... well actually, not for some time. I guess I've lost that blogging feeling!

Yes, once I was well known for my smilies... ah, those were the days!

Since my last post, my granddaughter, Shiana, celebrated her 4th birthday. Of course we had a party and, amazingly for April, great summer weather!

 

Shiana (4), Priyasha (2), and Emely (5)

Where does the time go? The kids are growing like weeds and getting cuter all the time.

As my facebook followers know, I'm now a tour guide in the town I now live in. I was one already back in the 80's so I just have to up-date myself. It's fun learning about the history. The town has quite a number of half-timbered houses which have been lovingly renovated. We have a church with a wood-carved altar shrine and a castle. Unfortunately we cannot at the moment enter the castle... it has been sold to some RUSSIANS who are renovating it for a hotel!! Needless to say, we are all curious about what they are up to and hope it will be good. They do have lots of regulations to observe so let's hope for the best. In the summer you can hardly see the castle because of all the trees around it.... this pic I took recently...

And here's an example of one of the houses...

Any of you interested in more pictures, just follow THIS LINK.

This weekend is the Easter Market in town and maybe I'll have more pictures to share.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Dorrie

Spring is here!

For the past weeks we've been having marvelous weather.... and now, after some rain one day last week, nature is exploding!

This tree is outside my office....

and this one at a local airfield...

 

I often write about the fact that I have no time to do this, or that, or another thing. I work full time, teach dance twice a week, and just seem to be TOO busy! So, now.... what have I gotten myself into??

I joined a local women's group which is partly affiliated with the local government. They do lots of projects, workshops, etc. for women and family. Hmmmm, I "voluntarily" got myself voted into the board.

And.... once upon a time (between 1984 and 1992) I was a tour guide in the quaint town I live in. And now I'm one again! Originally I thought I'd do only the few English language once that get arranged... nope, I'm now on their regular schedule!

Oh, well.... it could be worse.... I could spend my days bored stiff!  

If you want to get some impressions of this littlem mediaval town.... just follow this link!

Enjoy the pictures..... I'm off now to celebrate Shiana's fourth birthday!! (time flies.... geeeez).

Dorrie

Beautiful Germany

Yesterday I once again taught a job-related class with over 30 pilots in attendance.... and received lots of applaus at the end! (amazing, considering I'm one of those feared "Feds" lol). This coming season will be my last before I retire, and next winter the last for classes, and it does feel a bit odd. Will I miss teaching these classes? maybe....

The weather was marvelous and on the drive home I made a stop to see a monument I didn't even knew existed... I drove to the spot to catch a nice view over the Rhine River and found the monument with a small, rebuilt temple. There is still so much to see in my "home" country.... and believe me, I really do appreciate being able to live here.

This is a view of the Rhine and the rebuilt "temple"...

These are some of the original pillar stones. The original temple got destroyed in WW II.

And this is a picture of the monument itself. It's in the process of being renovated but is quite impressive....

Dorrie

Fasching / Carnival 2011

I know, it's been a while since I've written here (or anywhere for that matter). I just don't seem to have the blogging bug that I used to (I still miss JS!).

It's now Ash Wednesday and carnival season is once again over. This year I didn't participate much... one evening event and the parade yesterday. For a change we had PERFECT weather for the parade... blue skies, comfortable temperatures, no wind! Normally it snows and we freeze to death while standing around, but this year Ash Wednesday is later in the year then usual, March instead of February, and that helps. Unfortunately I had a slight cold (*snif* *hatchee*) which spoiled some of the fun. Anyway, here are a few pictures for your entertainment! lol

This is little Tamara with me (in the blue as an Egyptian) and my daughter, Regina....

and with Emely...

The fun part is seeing all the fantastic costumes, like these walking ice cream cones..

or these "fire birds"...

I have vacation all this week and I'm using it to relax, load up my battery, and get some stuff done like doc appointments setup, etc. I've been doing some reading plus lots of this 'n' that. I really needed this time off... *sigh*

Dorrie

time for an update?

Still busy.... lol

As I mentioned in my other entry, my daughter's best friend, Carina, and her 2 1/2 yr. old son, Samuel, stayed with me for a few days. It went quite well... both were easy care. Samuel is such a sweety!! This is Carina and Samuel....

As expected, Carina needed a substitute mom to talk to. We had some very long talks while Samuel was in bed and I hope it helps her. Her life is pretty upside-down at the moment.

My class on Saturday went quite well.... and the next class is this coming Saturday at a town located 1 1/2 hours from home. THAT will be a loooooong day! And after that I have a ticket for a Fasching/Carnival/Mardi Gras event. *sigh* Yep, it's that time of year again.

Last Sunday we celebrated Priyasha's second birthday. Carina and Samuel came along, since Carina and my son grew up together so they are not strangers. It was a fun afternoon with ALL my grandkids around me!

The birthday girl... isn't she SWEET??

Tamara and Shiana are turning into real little ladies!

And Emely's a clown...

OK, that's an bit of an update since I've been neglecting this place (and all my other blogging sites).

Dorrie

Busy days....

And as if I don't have enough going on...... yesterday the best girl friend of my daughter came to stay with me, together with her 3-year old little boy! I know, I know... it's hard for me to say no! lol

I've known Carina forever... she grew up with Regina, they went to school together, and she was a member of my children's dance class. She is now married with 3 kids, but the marriage is shakey and has been on and off for some time. She has lost soooo much weight (she was never heavy to begin with) and needs to get away from home for a couple of days. Since Regina has no room to put her up, she asked if I would. And, as I said, I can't say no!

I had to work in the morning. Her hubby brought them to Regina's place during her lunch break (she had to work all day as well), then I picked them up there. Her hubby is all for the visit. I had the guest room all set up so that's no problem.

I had to be gone all day Saturday, but she visited with Regina and other girl friends from her home town (she actually doesn't live far from here, but has no car ... her hubby doesn't earn much and needs the car himself).

Carina may also need a good "neutral" girl talk with someone who's been almost a mom to her (me). Her own mom died when she was young of complications with MS. I knew her mom and was a witness to her decay.... and I can only imagine how hard it was for Carina. Her dad and older brother brought her up. Now her dad also has MS! Anyway, I'll see how it goes.

Those who know me know that I'm always willing to help if asked and if I can, whether it's in real life, like in this situation, or in internet (ah, the JS for Dummies days, layouts, etc. ... and later KCL).

Saturday, as mentioned, I was gone most of the day. I had a class of over 40 people to teach. It's a class for airfield traffic advisors. It was fun (*sigh* all those guys! lol) and went quite well. I had planned to visit a lady pilot's event at a town in the complete opposite direction, but I was too tired so I came home instead.

On Sunday I'll be visiting my son, together with Regina and family, possibly bringing Carina and her boy along, to celebrate Priyasha's second birthday! I visited them the other day....

 

little chocolate face heehee

Her mom arrived back from Mumbai with Shiana on Thursday.


Did I mention I'm busy??

Dorrie

Flying around...

Last Saturday, after dropping Tamara off, I decided to stop by the local flying club. It's the same club that I'm a member of since 1983 and where I first learned to fly. One of my buddies, Michael, was there and invited me along for a local roundtrip together with one of his friends. Since the weather was fantastic, I jumped at the opportunity.

This is a view just after take-off of the now empty American army base... it has been deserted for around 2 years now.

More and more wind farms are being set up everywhere, destroying the looks of our beautiful landscapes...(can you catch that I don't like them? lol)

We flew over the Main and Neckar rivers, wanting to see how the flooding was. In the mean time the rivers are pretty much back to normal, as you can tell (this is the Main River near Miltenberg).

A view of one of the many castles/fortresses that are found all over the place....

The balloonists were taking advantage of the weather as well...

Today I won't go to work until noon because I have a job thing to do during night time, which includes a flight (checking the night lighting at an airfield). The past days the weather was cloudy with some now melted snow, today looks promising.

On the weekend I think I finally get some much needed housework done...

Dorrie