It's Friday... and nothing planned!

Do you like the flowers? They were given to me by Wheelie on my birthday. Oddly enough, Pastor Larry mentioned yellow roses as a thank you to me for doing his layouts. He used to send me lots of JS candy hearts, etc.... that was fun, and another thing I miss about JS being gone.

Another (former) JS'er is so sweet to me! There was this game going around about six people. The first 6 people who commented in your journal were to receive a gift from you, which could be something you bought, made, or written.... whatever. Anyway, I was one of Xanadu's six... and today I recieved a package from her! THANK YOU!! It's something she made herself and VERY hard to explain or photgraph! lol

Nothing much going on in my world now at the moment. Is that good? lol Work is quiet at the moment, too, but the season is just beginning. But I have enough other things to keep me busy.....

I wish all of you a great weekend!!

Dorrie

Those Crazy Germans!

Finally, carnival, or Fasching as it's called here, is over! Yesterday, as planned, I joined my daughter and her kids to watch their local parade. It was colorful as always with lots of clever costumes. Also, this made me think of Summerwind ....

These were my favorite costumes and I believe they won first prize...

Here's Regina and our gang...

Tamara was dressed as an Indian...

and Emely, together with a friend, wore marching girl costumes which I made about 25 years ago!

and I was dressed as a Chinese gal, here I'm dancing with Regina's hubby, Frank.

Speaking of dancing.... the Germans go CRAZY on carnival, with lots of dancing and drinking, as mentioned in my previous entry. To give you an impression.... here's a small film I made showing a typical way they party. Btw., one of those green "frogs" is Frank's mom!

ooops, video isn't loading. You can watch it and see more pictures here.

Dorrie

Surrounded!

Yesterday I was surrounded by all my family! My son, Carsten, had invited us all over to his home for coffee, cake, and just a chance to be all together. This is just one of many photos taken...

All 4 grandkids together.... nice! But you can imagine the noise? LOL Happy noise, but still loud. I guess I'm getting old.... *sigh* *wink*

Today I'm off to join my daughter, Regina, and her clan to watch another carnival parade. The weather seems to be holding but we still have to dress warm. More pictures perhaps tomorrow....

Some of you may be wondering why you are not getting any comments... Bobby, Silentwisper, Junaderlust... just to name a few (darn who else did I try?)..... the captcha thingies aren't loading!! Turn off the captcha option and we can start commenting again!

Thank you ALL for the lovely birthday wishes!!

Well, I better get going... see ya all later!

Dorrie

Sharing this day with you...

Once upon a time a little baby was born in the State of Maryland, USA. It was documented with a little footprint....

and also a picture....

Fifty-Nine years later (that's 59!) that little baby is now a grandma of four little girls, the newest addition just a week old....

I wish to thank all of you who have sent birthday wishes to me either here, in emails, in Facebook, or REAL cards! Amoung the cards received....

from Xanadu

from Cheri, with lots of glitter lol

from my ex-sister-in-law and good friend, Petra

I also received my Secret Santa present from Summerwind...

I'm sure to have more pictures to share of the kids after the "party" this afternoon.

Thanks again for all the friendships I've made in this cyber world!!

Dorrie

Carnival in Germany

Most of you have heard of carnival in Rio, or even the carnival in Venice, and of course Mardi Gras. What do these have in common? They all mean party time and fun.... before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and fasting begins until Easter! During Lent, you are not supposed to have fun anymore, so during carnival people "let it all hang out", in every form of the term.

Different areas of Germany "celebrate" carnival in different ways, but it's generally a time of masquerade balls and other events, finishing off with parades, parties, and LOTS of drinking up until the Tuesday night before Ash Wednesday. In some cities, like Cologne, the people get really crazy. Germans have a reputation of being very stiff and having very little humor. Carnival season is the one time they can "be not themselves"!

But also, being German, the celebrations are quite "regulated". In Cologne they have what they call the "Dreigestirn" to reign over the festivities. They are 3 quite well-to-do men who have to pay quite a bit of money for the priviledge. One is the designated as prince, the other the farmer, and the third is the "virgin" (a man dressed as a woman). Here is a picture of this years Dreigestirn to give you an idea...

"Virgin", Prince, Farmer (Bauer)

In the town I once lived in, a "normal" Prince and Princess are pronounced. In some towns they were not to be a married couple (making the wives of some married princes get VERY jealous of the pretty princess at his side), yet in my town the couple could be married to each other. In 1982, my ex and I were the town's prince and princess!

Yep, that's me! Ah, those were the days..... it was a fun time. My birthday was on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, the same day as the big parade. What a birthday celebration that was! It snowed terribly and can you believe it? We have NO pictures of the float we rode on or anything!

Here we received the key to the city from the town mayor.

Today I watched the parade go past my window. It was drizzly and cold, but the streets were still lined with people, all dressed in fun costumes. Yes, I took pictures, but they're not uploaded yet. But I wanted to share a bit about Carnival in Germany, or "Fasching" as it's called in some parts, is all about. This coming Tuesday I'll probably be going to my former town, the same town my daughter lives in, to once again watch their parade. And, in spite of the many years that have gone by, I'm still greeted there as Princess Dorrie I.!

Dorrie

Multi-Tasking

Yep, that's what I've been doing to day... multi-tasking!

I actually managed to sleep in a bit later today, then I got up, turned on the computer, got the coffee going, did some blog reading while the coffee perked, then went to wash my hair.

I sipped my coffee while reading some more blogs and while letting my hair dry, then stripped the bed, put the sheets in the washing machine , and finally started on the layout for Pastor Larry's digging journal.

After that, I went off shopping, then fixed my lunch, then went and put fresh sheets on the bed. I then read today's newspaper and did some surfing on the internet.

It's carnival season in German, well all over the world actually, and tomorrow there will be a parade passing below my window. I may write a long entry all about carnival over here. I've written about it in past years on our dear JS, but I'm sure most of you don't remember.

I'm going to call my son now and see about stopping over for a visit.

See ya all later!

Dorrie

It has snowed again!

This is one of the weirdest winters! After weeks of dry, but cold, weather, it is finally snowing again. Last Monday it snowed, then melted by Tuesday. Yesterday we had clear blue skies. And now it has snowed again. I think I'll take the train. Sure, it could get stuck, too, but at least I don't risk getting fender benders in my car.

Today is Friday and I'll stay at work only half-day... I have about 12 hours of overtime so no problem with that. I then have off for 5 days.

Originally I thought of traveling somewhere, but it was difficult deciding and now it's too short notice, especially since arrangements would have to be made for Shila.

My ideas: a wellness weekend; a trip to Disney Paris; visit England (I thought of the days off too late to contact Susananne or Tris or Lone-Groover so I killed that idea pretty early... same as the idea of visiting Wizardress in Holland); and so on, and so on......

So, I plan to just be a bit lazy, do things I WANT to do like read a book, work on some layouts (go check my practice blog to see the one I've been working on for Pastor Larry), and maybe record some of my dance music finally. Sounds like a good plan... and maybe I'll stick to it.

Well, I'm still in my night gown, so I guess I better get ready.

Have a great Friday everyone!!

Dorrie