Yes, I had a Happy Easter!

Yesterday morning I drove off to my daughter's place, picking up breakfast rolls on the way. We then all had breakfast together before Frank hid stuff in the backyard for the girls to search.... and they went crazy running around the yard, finding MUCH too much chocolate eggs and bunny's and such....

Did I mention they got much too much? lol

The weather was fantastic.... spring has been skipped, we are already having summer! So, after dinner (which is at noon here), we remained the rest of the day in the yard. Frank and I set up some portable tents, which the girls claimed as their playhouse while it was half built...

As you can see, they had already removed their "dress" clothes and decided to conquer a dirt mountain... with the expected dirty results...

Later on, my son Carsten arrived with his family, including his MIL and Karen's nephew from India, who had just arrived the day before...

and I got to "play" grandma again!

My bunny cake turned out a big hit and the whole day turned out to be fun.

Today, which is also a holiday (Easter Monday), I spent perparing my guest room for installing a new closet... remember, you buy and install them yourself, they are NOT built in! That has the advantage, that you can re-arrange the furniture, including closets, as you wish. I also did some music recording for my dance class AND read a book! Multi-tasking at it's finest!

I've read that a number of my readers had a really lousy Easter weekend.

I wish you all could have joined us.....

Dorrie

oooops and THE CAKE!

In case you are unable to see any photos in the previous entries, it seems that my server, where I store my photos, is down. Well, actually, it's Wheelie's server and I have space on it for my homepage.

The address is www.dorrie.de and it's full of pictures and information about me and my family. Since Wheelie is off on a biker tour with some buddies, it may be a while until he checks it out. Yeh, he's off on his Harley, without me! And with PERFECT weather!!

It's summer here and that is sooooo unusual for April! Crazy! But I like it! LOL

I went downtown today and ended up buying new shoes.... I need shoes like a hole in my head! geeez but they were marked down 20%! hah!

Tomorrow morning I'll drive to Regina's and in the afternoon Carsten will join us with his family. And the weather is supposed to stay nice! (sorry, no smilies... they are also on the server).

Well, I better get my Easter Bunny cake finished. It's already baked, but not yet decorated. I'll do it while watching our version of American Idle......

Happy Easter everyone!!

Dorrie

The CAKE!

I uploaded it to photobucket since my server is definitely down... broken hard drive... hmmm, sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Promised baby pictures....

Sure, some of you aren't big baby picture fans... tough! I'm posting them anyway!

Yes, Justfly, Shiana did turn TWO! I know it's hard to believe. It seems "Spunge Bob", or whatever it's called, is the big hit at the moment, so a cake was decorated to fit...

Of course Regina was there with her girls... here she's holding Priyasha while her Emely comes to give love...

and Tamara changing shoes for going outside....

Yep, even Priyasha is getting to be a big girl... she's "only" 2 months old, but already wide awake and curious!

Today was a beautiful day, weather wise. I spent quite some time just sitting on the balcony. I also got some of my recording done.

This evening Regina stopped by and we sat outside, having some nice mother-daughter chatting. She also came to pick up my bicycle, which I haven't ridden in years, because her girls are starting to ride and she needs one to keep up. I've been wanting to ride again, but......

Tomorrow I'll try to bake my traditional bunny cake, and on Sunday I'll be visiting Regina and her gang for Easter.

Once again, wishing all my faithful readers a Happy Easter!

Dorrie

Spring has exploded!

Yes, spring has arrived and the plant world has exploded in a mass of color! No, I haven't taken many pictures, but I did want to share with you the following...

This was taken last winter from my car on my way to work. It's a collection of bushes within the traffic circle and, what you can't really tell in the picture, they were white with frost....

And yesterday it looked like this....

In the past days I was pretty busy, though that's nothing new. My office was renovated and all the furniture piled up in the corridor. Tuesday I could finally move it in.

Yesterday was Shiana's SECOND birthday! Of course I took photos and will share them soon... I haven't had time to upload them yet (see, I said I was busy! lol)

Today is the usual long office day, then 4 days off for Easter! Tomorrow, Good Friday, is a holiday as well as Monday, which is called Easter Monday and is also an official holiday.

Well, I better get ready for my busy day. No news yet about my job application *sigh*. The "Jerk" is now retired and gone, but the other co-worker is an arrogant idjit and he'll be around awhile, unless he gets transfered. Sometimes I wonder if the reason he came to us in the first place was because in his former position they wanted to get rid of him LOL... anything is possible!

*think positive, think positive.... *

OK, off I go... and

Dorrie

Frankfurt Impressions

After my meeting yesterday I wanted to take advantage of the fantastic spring weather so, with camera ready, I walked toward the main downtown area. On the way I ran into a few "dubious" characters like this guy....

The contrast of old and new is always fascinating...

But my main aim was the new shopping mall called "My Zeil". Yes, more and more English is being adopted, much to the disgruntlement of many Germans and I must admit, I have to agree with them. "Zeil", pronounced "sile" (think for German, "when 2 vowels go walking, the SECOND does the talking"), is the name of the walking street where the mall is located.

The architecture is VERY futuristic. The shops inside didn't interest me at all... nothing special there. I don't expect the place to be a hit in the long run. Anyway, while going up and down the escalators, I had to think of Doug and how he'd go crazy finding photo motives there. Inspired from his style, I attempted a few myself and I think they turned out pretty well... if I do say so myself.

Notice the spire of the cathedral showing through the lower right corner of the window?

Another view...

Looking down the middle ....

I then hopped on the train for home... I had started rearranging my bedroom and I needed to finish before leaving for dance class.

Today the weather is again fantastic and I think I'll give my balcony a much needed wash down!

Dorrie

Vacation? well.....

As I've mentioned in an earlier entry, my office is being renovated. The past couple of days were spent clearing stuff out, between doing work. The guys in the room next door also had to remove their stuff. Yesterday the janitor came by and removed the desks into the hall way, blocking it! There better not be an emergency evacuation or anything in the next days..... (side note: I work in a government authority that, among other things, makes sure that companies abide by security and rescue regs... )

Yesterday I set up my computer in an empty office across the hall... it is only empty because the gal who is supposed to use it, can't. During her renovation they used some kind of chemical that makes her choke up and get a scratchy throat. Well, for the one day I offered to be a guniea pig and see how it affects me. It does smell odd in there, but I survived... I think. My slight head ache and moodiness was more due to the stress that went on and not the chemicals. The room is going to be tested soon since she must move in there soon! We don't have extra rooms available and SHE is using the desk of a gal who happens to be sick at the moment. Crazy, right?

Anyway, because of the situation, I put in for two days of vacation, today and tomorrow. I had hoped to visit that big avaiation convention in southern Germany, but that won't happen...all hotels are booked solid!

But it turns out, I have to go to a meet in Frankfurt today. Yep, I HAVE to go! It's a safety issue involving a helicopter that is planning to heave some heavy air conditioning units to the top of a skyscraper soon and was a short-notice meeting with all involved. Anyway, I'll take the train into Frankfurt, and my boss will make sure I get the time compensated for. But it sure spoils all my plans. I'll catch the train around 09:00 a.m. and be in town until around 1:00 p.m., breaking up the whole day. Then later this afternoon the usual dance class...

Well, this is surely not getting anything constructive done. At least the weather is great... SPRING IS HERE! The sun is shining and the temps are getting up to almost 20°C (68°F).

MAYBE I'll manage to get some nice pictures to share.....

Dorrie

No Fool! and NO JOKE!

This time a birthday wish is right on time!!

Happy Birthday DAD!

He may have been born on April Fool's Day, but this guy is no fool and you don't joke around with him!

Take Care!

Dorrie

P.S. in the former JS site he was known as "Boatswain3" and thrilled us with some great stories of his life at sea. Anyone wishing to read them, just go here. One of these days I'll re-organise them and make them easier to find.