A new church and antiques shopping

We finally found that church we were looking for last week. It's amazing how easily we found it with the correct directions. We felt very welcomed and really enjoyed the service. The people were so warm and friendly. We'll certainly go back next week.

We had a very relaxing day and didn't really do much. Sam did work on the window screens in the afternoon. He put screens into 3 windows, which is really going to help get air flowing through the house. We've only been able to tilt them until now because Gabby will get out any chance she has.

Saturday morning Sam had to get up at 4:00 to see the rest of the Camp A staff off at the airport. I'm sure he's happy to not do that for awhile. We had such a nice day Saturday. We didn't do anything at the house, but got some shopping done that we've been needing to do and just enjoyed our day.

I've been wanting to find some second hand stores to look for nice older furniture. I'm on the hunt for a buffet/hutch for my dining room. I don't want to get a cheap one. I want to invest in some good hard wood furniture while we're here. We drove into Stuttgart to see about an antiques store that Sam heard about. Of course, wouldn't you know it, it was closed just for that day. We'll have to go back next weekend because it looked like they had some really nice pieces.

We drove out to another antiques shop that we passed by the other day. I love all the old furniture you can find here in Germany. There seems to be an abundance of well made older furniture. I did find a nice buffet, but it didn't have the hutch so we didn't get it. I'm still contemplating it for the other wall in the dining room though. I bought a couple of wine/schnapps bottles. I love the size and shape of these and they're really great for keeping our spare US and Euro change in.

We went to a few other stores and just browsed around. I really enjoy shopping in the German stores. They have different products than we do in the states and I find it interesting.

Saturday evening there was a flea market at the Patch gym. It was supposed to open at 5:00, but Sam wanted to get there early. I didn't think we should because I usually abide by the rules and didn't think it was right to beat everyone else to the good deals. Well, I'm glad I have a husband who likes to breaks a few rules because we got there at about 4:40 and people were already shopping. Sam's so good for me in that he helps break me out of my mold. He certainly keeps our life interesting and fun. I'm still learning to just go with it.

Anyhow, we picked up a few things. I found this old wooden sewing box which I really like and it's just right for what I need. And I think the fact that it's showing some age gives it character. Sam spotted some Christmas themed Wilton cookie cutters for .50 cent. You can't go wrong there. And to top it off we bought an almost brand new Rival ice cream maker for $5. Ours broke some time ago and we hadn't replaced it yet, so that was a real find.

Earlier in the week we had planned to take a trip somewhere over the weekend, but it was nice to just stay home. Next weekend I think we're off to see the church in the rock in Idar-Oberstein or to Bad Kreuznach, where Sam lived when he was younger. Or maybe both. We'll see. Until then...

Lunch in Killesberg Park

We had a pretty lazy weekend despite how hard it is on Sam to go through a day and not finish at least one thing on his checklist. I've always told him that he doesn't know how to relax and do nothing. He just likes to get things done around the house and not have anything hang over him. I actually really appreciate that in him. He's so great about getting projects finished.

Saturday morning Sam had to be at the airport by 5:30 to see the Camp Adventure staff off. Good thing he was there because one of the staff missed their flight and the person issuing a new ticket did not speak English. I'm so thankful that Sam knows the language. I want to learn for myself, but I don't know that I'll ever be fluent and it's nice that he is. Yesterday we were driving and he was doing a German lesson with me. We went all through the days of the week, months of the year, 1-10, how to say my birth date and "I don't speak German". A few words at a time is better than nothing. I know a few phrases and words, but need to keep adding to my repertoire.

I had every intention of continuing to sleep after he left Saturday morning, but ever since our house was burglarized in Hawaii, I've not been comfortable alone in the house. Sam left lights on for me, but I couldn't sleep. Later on in the day we went to OBI. I found some plants that I've been wanting to get for the top of the entertainment center. All of the plants I had were too tall. Things are slowly coming together in the house. It just takes time to find what works. I'm still looking for curtains. The windows in this house have tracks built into the ceiling instead of curtain rods and I'm having a hard time finding curtains that work.

Yesterday we were going to try out a new church, but the address that the pastor wrote down for us was wrong, so we just went to the Patch chapel. We'll try again next Sunday. After church, we drove to Killesberg Park and ate lunch on the ground. Killesberg is a beautiful park with lots of flowers, animals, summer theater and a children's area. Right now, they're having a contest for the favorite Dahlia and there were some gorgeous varieties. I'll post some of the pictures below.





I don't exactly know what the structure behind Sam is called, but we walked to the top of it. There was a nice view of Stuttgart from there. My legs and calves are actually sore today from climbing those stairs. Here we are at the bottom after coming back down.




We finally bought a rug for the living room. I've been wanting to get one, but wasn't sure if I wanted something plain or decorative. We decided on this one. I really like it. Over here you see a lot of these Turkish rugs in a red print, but I really liked this chocolate brown color. Today I've been working on moving the furniture around to make it fit. I love seeing areas of the house come together. It takes me awhile to get it the way I like, but it'll get there eventually. I'd like for most of it to be together before I leave for Alaska. We'll see how close I get.

I think that's about it from our weekend. I'll leave you with a few more pictures from Killesberg Park. Most of them are of the Dahlias. I can't resist taking pictures of beautiful flowers.

A goose by one of the ponds.

How beautiful is this?

Bosch mixer....

Let me start by apologizing in advance to anyone who may own (and like) their Bosch mixer. I'm not in that group, but to each her own. Kristy, I think you might have a Bosch and I'm really curious as to how you like it. I just had the worst experience ever of making cookies. I should have taken a picture of the mess.

A group of college age kids come from the states each summer and work with the CYS children at the Army installations. They are called Camp Adventure and they really do a great job with the kids. Their time here is drawing to a close and many are flying out on Saturday. Sam is taking a group of them to the airport and thought it might be nice if I baked some cookies to send along on the trip. No problem! I've made many batches of cookies and planned to mix them up quickly today.

It didn't turn out to be that easy.

This is only the second time I've used the Bosch we bought last week and the first time mixing cookie dough with it. My first frustration was that it didn't want to mix the butter and sugar. The butter kept getting stuck in the beater and wouldn't budge. This happened over and over again. I lost track of how many times I cleared the butter out.

Then it didn't seem to really mix the ingredients, it just piled at the sides of the bowl and started climbing over the edge even though there was plenty of room left in the bowl. When it came time to add the flour it didn't want to mix with the butter and sugar so I turned the speed up a little higher and was sprayed by cookie dough. The mixer did come with a splatter lid, but it wasn't very user friendly so I didn't want to use it. I finally had to, however, because it wasn't mixing the flour in at a lower speed and if I turned it up it flew out of the bowl. Finally I added the whole amount of flour, put the splatter lid on and turn it up high. Although it kept climbing out of the bowl (around the splatter lid) it finally mixed together, but the mixer was covered in cookie dough.

I did manage to get a batch of Snickerdoodles and Chocolate Chip cookies mixed, but I've never had a bigger mess doing something so simple. I'm seriously thinking about getting rid of it and just buying a regular hand held mixer with two beaters. I think it would save a lot of aggravation in the long run.

I just had to share my messy morning with someone. Maybe I'll learn to like the Bosch, but at this point I really miss my Kitchen Aid.

Trains, mixers and parties....

Here we are at the beginning of another week and I realize it's been awhile since I've updated the blog. So, here is a rundown of our last couple of weeks.

Two weekends ago we took a train to Schweinfurt to visit with a friend from Hawaii. She moved here in October, so we're all pretty new to the area. Some other friends of hers came over and we had a delicious cookout. It was very nice. She has a beautiful home. It's probably twice the size of ours. I picked some black raspberries that were in her back yard and she sent me home with a bundle of rhubarb. I haven't had rhubarb since I was back in Alaska, so that was nice to get. We really enjoy seeing other parts of Germany, but still prefer the Stuttgart area. When we finally made it home at midnight we had come to the decision that we'll probably stick with short trips on the train. The trip to Schweinfurt was 4 hours each way and got a little long and crowded at times.

We've been able to run most of our 110 appliances on a transformer and they work just fine. However, I used my Kitchen Aid mixer a couple of weeks ago and it just wasn't running right. The slow speed kept winding higher and higher. Not wanting to damage the motor, I emailed the company to see what they would say. I wasn't surprised when they suggested I buy a 220 model sold in Europe. If they didn't cost so much I probably would, but the Kitchen Aids here in Germany sell for about twice the price of those in America. I use my mixer a lot and didn't want to spend the next 3+ years doing without, so I packed mine away and we bought a Bosch at a local store. I bought a lower end Bosch, which doesn't compare to my Kitchen Aid, but it'll certainly work. (Mom, I knew you would want to see what it looks like so I attached a picture :)

I've been having a hard time baking here. I don't know if it's having to convert the temperature (Celsius vs. Fahrenheit) or just the different type of oven. I will say I'm not fond of German ovens. They are extremely small (I seriously don't think a turkey will fit for Thanksgiving) and the racks fall out much easier than ours back home. I've had to replace most of my dishes and baking sheets because they don't fit in the oven here. Also, the door gets VERY hot. If we had children I'd have to block it off so they wouldn't get burned. Last night I was baking some bread rolls for dinner and the rack wouldn't stay still for me to grip the muffin pan and they all ended up at the bottom of the oven. The sides got burned a bit from laying on the oven floor, but they were edible.

Friday I ended up baking two Angel Food cakes and neither one turned out as good as they do back home. I was making Peach Trifle to take with us to Sam's cousin, Iris', birthday party on Saturday and needed the cake for that. The first one ended up getting too dark, but still wasn't done in the middle and the second one fell out of the pan when I turned it upside down to cool. By the time I found it, it was all of 2 1/2 inches thick. I was able to make the trifle, but it just took a bit more work than usual.

Saturday evening we drove to Ulm (about an hour's drive) to attend Iris' birthday party. We went a little early to visit with Sam's aunt, Margarete. Attending a German gathering is always a bit intimidating to me since I don't speak the language. I think I know what the people at the Tower of Babel must have felt like. Everyone was very nice though. The party was held at a grain mill. The owners have a room that is rented out for parties and such. It was really a beautiful property. Here are a few more pictures from that evening.

Sam and Margarete on the bridge

The creek that runs by the mill

We bought some flour and noodles from the mill.

On the topic of not speaking German - I've been having a time getting into a language class. I missed the start date for the class in June, so I was determined to get into the next one offered. Well, when I called they said they didn't have another one scheduled, but it would probably be in September or October. That would be great if we hadn't already planned a trip back home to Alaska for around that time. Our landlord suggested that I learn 10 words a day. I guess I should get Sam to help do that. Ten a day would eventually add up to quite a bit and could only help in the long run.

Well, that's about all I have for the time being. Until next time...

Garmisch and touring the Linderhof Palace

Well, let me see if I can get the rest of our trip to Garmisch posted without having any problems.

Let me just say that we LOVED Garmisch! It's such a beautiful town, surrounded on all sides by the Bavarian Alps. It was wonderful. I can't wait to go back and spend about a week there. Edelweiss is run by the military and is such a nice place to get away to.

This picture was taken on our balcony, so you can see how it's nestled into the mountains. There are lots of ski resorts in this area. We're making plans to go back sometime in the winter. It must be even more beautiful covered in snow.

Before heading home on Monday, we decided to tour Linderhof Palace, which was another home of King Ludwig II. He had the majority of the walls covered in gold plating. Certainly not my style, but it was very interesting. We weren't allowed to take pictures indoors, so unfortunately I can't show what it was like. The grounds were really beautiful too, so here are a few pictures from our time there.

Us in front of the Linderhof Palace

This is an Asian tea house on the property and Sam poking his head through the curtain.

In Stuttgart, we live in the Swabian area of Germany, but this area around Garmisch is called Bavarian. It's interesting to see the differences between areas as we travel through the country. One thing I noticed that was different in Bavaria is the murals on the walls of houses. They are really beautiful. On some houses there is even painting around the windows, like in this picture.

Well, that was our trip. I think this weekend we're going to head to Schweinfurt to visit a friend from Hawaii. We'll see how that goes. Thankfully, we're planning to take the train, so we shouldn't get too lost.

Dachau Concentration Camp

We returned from our trip to Garmisch Monday evening, but I've been having complications with my blog and was unable to post. I believe the bugs have been worked out, so here we go again.

We planned on visiting Eagle's Nest with the USO tour, but on Friday they called saying the trip had been canceled because enough people had not signed up for it. So, instead of staying at home we decided to do the trip on our own. The funny thing is - we never made it to Eagle's Nest, but had a lot of fun other places.

We planned on leaving very early Sunday morning and driving to Dachau to tour the concentration camp when it opened, then driving on down to Garmisch to spend the night at Edelweiss Resort. We didn't get out quite as early as we wanted because we were woke up at 2:00am by Sam's bother, Stefan, calling from Japan. They never remember the time difference, so it ended up being the middle of the night for us. After such calls, Sam always says he's going to return the favor some day :)

We were on the road around 9:00am and drove to Dachau. Amazingly, we didn't get too lost, so we were parked and walking in around 11:15. It's really odd to be in a place, like Dachau, where there is so much negative history associated with it. We found it really strange that there were houses built just feet from the concentration camp walls (see picture at left). I can't imagine living that close to a place where such atrocities happened. The prison area was very large, but I read it was built for about 10,000 and ended up housing 63,000, so I can only imagine how crowded it must have been. It's not easy looking at all the pictures displayed and reading about the prisoners, but I feel it's important to see that part of history. Visiting a place such as Dachau is not really a fun trip, but more informative and historic.

Dachau was the first regular concentration camp established by the Nazi government. I believe most of the Jewish prisoners were transported to the other concentration camps, however, about one third of the Dachau prisoners were Jewish. Many of the others were political or religious prisoners. They also used the prisoners here in medical experiments.

This is the entrance to the prison. You can see the phrase that was on the prison gates meaning "Work brings freedom".

The rooms above the prison doors were used as administrative offices

The electric fence that surrounds the concentration camp and a guard tower.

Dachau guard tower

The first building we toured was made up of 137 individual cells. I believe this is where some of the political prisoners and even some German soldier prisoners were housed. There were also some cells that held imprisoned religious figures.

Looking down the hallway with prison cells on each side.

Standing by one of the cell doors

Inside one of the prison cells

This is the roll call area where the prisoners would have to gather each morning to be counted.

There are only a couple of bunkhouses that are still standing and only one of them was open for viewing. Inside we saw the bunk beds that the prisoners slept on (I'm sure not the original beds), the lockers, tables and bathrooms. It had to have been incredibly cramped with about 1,600 people in each of these bunkhouses. The foundations of the other bunkhouses were left in place, so you can see how many there actually were.

The lockers used by the prisoners

The bathroom sinks

The foundations for the bunkhouses that were torn down. They are all numbered.

At the backside of the prison was the crematorium and gas chambers. Set up in a way to make the prisoners think they were going in for a shower only to be killed. From what I read, it doesn't sound like they used the gas chambers at Dachau for mass killings though. I'm not sure if they were ever used for that purpose at this concentration camp.

The crematorium ovens

Well, that was our tour of Dachau. The computer is acting up and not wanting to post pictures, so I'll blog about the rest of our trip in another post. Until then...

Our weekend

It's amazing to me how many fruit trees we see in people's yards. And they have LOTS of fruit on them. Let me see...so far I've seen cherry, pear, apple, plum, white plum, orange, lemon and I'm sure others that I didn't know what they were. Of course, there are also red and black raspberries, blueberries and Johannes berries. We're really behind in that area. Of course it wouldn't benefit us long term, but we want to get some different fruit trees planted in the back yard. We were out back with Gabby the other evening and our neighbor came out and wanted to know if we would like to have some white plums. Of course we did, so he gave us this container full. I'd never seen white plums before. They weren't too bad, but not quite as sweet as what we usually have from the store. I just love the idea of getting fruit from your own trees.

Friday morning Sam dropped the truck off at the garage for some work and he didn't get home early enough to get it that evening. So...Saturday morning we walked down the hill to the garage. On the way we stopped in at the farmer's market. The produce at the market is so fresh looking. It seems a bit more expensive than the store though. At least compared to commissary prices. I love going out early here in Germany. You may not be able to see it real clear, but the picture to the right is going down our street toward town and every morning people hang their bedding out the windows to air out. I love the long standing rituals that you see here in Europe. I don't think I've ever seen bedding hanging out of windows back in the states.


I'm not real sure about this, but I think almost every town has one of these fresh water spigots. This one is dated back several hundred years. I can't help but think at one time they were the water troughs for the horses. I could be wrong though. Sometimes you see people drinking the water, so I'm sure it's pretty fresh.


We found this sign very interesting. Don't take my word for it, but from what we got from Sam's translation is that Plattenhardt claims to be the home of the father of U.S. Aviation. Hmmmm. I learn something new every day. I didn't realize U.S. Aviation started in Germany. It seems like almost all German towns have a claim to fame. I guess that's ours.

This was just a beautiful rose that I saw outside of the bakery we stopped at for breakfast.

The Farmer's Market we visited

One of the many things I love about living here is the abundance of historic places to visit. Sunday evening Sam and I went out for a drive. We wanted to see what was on down the road past our exit. We went through a few small villages and saw some really neat antique stores that we want to go visit sometime. We ended up on a road that we'd been on before and knew there was an old monastery there. We had the nicest time walking through the grounds. It was built in the 1100's. We don't know the history of it for sure, but from what Sam read it sounds like it was originally built as a monastery, then was taken over by a king for awhile who built up the castle walls. I'm not real sure what it's used for now. There is a church on the grounds. We happened to show up just in time for a musical concert. It was a choir accompanied by a string ensemble. It sounded beautiful in that old stone building. We didn't stay for the whole concert, but could hear the singing as we walked around the grounds looking at the other buildings. It was just a beautiful evening that we really enjoyed together. Here are a few more pictures from last night.

Sam standing at the entrance to the Kloster Bebenhausen

Me standing in front of one of the old buildings

Me in front of a tower that in the late 1800's was used as a restaurant then later a guest house.

A section of Kloster Bebenhausen

Today I booked us on a USO tour for next weekend. We're going to tour Eagle's Nest (which was built for Adolf Hitler's 50th birthday) and visit the salt mines. Should be interesting. We haven't gone on a USO tour yet, so we wanted to see what that's like. It does cost money, but would if we drove too and this way we're pretty sure we won't spend several hours lost. We're pretty good at getting ourselves lost. We're thinking about investing in a GPS navigator for the car.

The cool weather has returned and I'm loving it! It's very windy and rainy out today, but it really feels nice. Well, I better get busy. Have some things that need to get done today. Until next time....

It's hot!! I want the rain back!

We have a lot of different trees in our back yard. Several huge evergreens and a some smaller trees and bushes. This picture is of one of those trees that has blossomed beautifully. It just looked like a small tree until these beautiful blooms started popping out. It's absolutely gorgeous and thought you all might enjoy it too. The blooms remind of a hibiscus. I don't know what it is though. The steps and the door you see lead into the garage.

A close look at the flowers.

This is a Johannes Berry bush. We have several in the back yard with lots of bright red berries on them. I would love to make some jelly out of the berries so they don't go to waste, but haven't been able to find canning jars or pectin. I need to look in some German stores I suppose. I don't think they're the tastiest berries, but would probably do alright in a jelly.

It has been HOT, HOT, HOT in Germany the last few days. Sunday (in the sun) it was 104º. We've been doing our best to keep the sun out of the house by keeping the rolladens down during the day, but even so, these houses just heat up like a brick oven. It'll take a few days to cool off once we get cooler weather again. We have been sleeping in the guest room downstairs because it's about 80º upstairs and that's just not comfortable to sleep in. I'm thankful we have a basement to go to when it gets this hot.

Saturday evening we went to a birthday party for one of the girls that works with Sam in CYS. Those of you who really know me, know that I was not at all excited about spending the whole evening with a large group of people that I don't know. I knew it was important to Sam though, so we went. He absolutely loves going to parties and interacting with everyone. It did end up being a really nice evening. Sam had a lot of fun playing volleyball. It was an interesting group of people. About half American and half German. It was a beautiful place and I should have taken pictures. It was on a farm, way out in the country. They had a cookout and we sat at tables in the shade of a huge walnut tree. It's a place my Mom would absolutely love. Chicken coop, barn, farm house and all.

On the way to the birthday party, Sam wanted to run the truck through the car wash. There was one on the way that he had been wanting to try. He bought a ticket for the car wash at the gas station across the road. I think where we went wrong was putting the ticket in before driving in. It was not a drive through and the brushes started going before we got in there. At one point Sam didn't think it was reaching the back of the truck so he backed up and the wash just stopped. He moved the truck forward....nothing. We were stuck. There was a concrete wall in front of us and the brush rollers were sitting on the back of the truck. Finally, about 45 minutes later the gas station attendant was able to get someone to come help. I'm sure he was thinking "Stupid Americans...." He said that we shouldn't have taken the truck in, but there were no signs saying not to.

Today I went to the doctor. I've been having a lot of pain in my right shoulder. It's hurt on and off for a couple of years. I just assumed it was strain from working at a computer and reaching for a mouse all day. Then it got much worse once we moved to Germany. Maybe I strained it during packing or toting a heavy duffel bag of groceries to and from the Romerhof when we were staying there. Whatever it is......it hasn't gotten better in 3 months. The doctor didn't see anything unusual, so just put me on heavy anti-inflammatory medicine. She's also sending me to a physical therapist for further help. I'm really hoping that this helps because the pain has been keeping me up at night.

Sam and I have finally gotten ourselves back to the gym. It's so hard to get back into it, but we've been going steady now for about a month. At first we were going to the gym at Patch Barracks, but since it's further away Sam wasn't able to come home and shower before work. He would just take clothes with him. It's wasn't very convenient for long term. We tried the Kelley Barracks gym, which is much closer and it has worked out great. It's not very busy and Sam is able to come home before heading to work. I've been a little frustrated with being unable to do any upper body exercises. I'm hoping my shoulder starts feeling better real soon.

Well, that's about it for now. Here's one more parting shot of our baby. Gabby lives for food and going outside. Sam takes her out usually every morning and evening. She complains every time we bring her in.