Christmas in Edinburgh

Edinburgh we decided would be the perfect place to spend Christmas this year and so it happened on the shortest day of the year, my Mom, Terry and I boarded a flight headed North to Scotland, the land of our ancestors.

What a wonderful city, I have said it more than once and all of my traveling companions agree, "I could live in Edinburgh" I can't really put my finger on what it is that makes this place so special. Is it the castle that dominaties the skyline? Maybe the famous Royal Mile or the amazing number of literary giants that have called this home. Perhaps it is the sense of the savage history that makes it what it is today, it just is!

We had a great apartment right in the heart of old town with a view of the castle out our window. What fun to watch all the holiday shoppers from our second floor perch. We of course did the obligitory tour of the castle and journyed on a hop on hop off tour which educated us on various famous landmarks throughout the city. Another memorable day was spent getting our pounds worth while riding on an all day city bus pass. Who knew that paticular bus does not loop back around, just another adventure and a great way to see more the city. Our goal that day had been to purchase dinner for Christmas and we ended up touring the town and finding some wonderful cheese at a real cheesmongers shop!

We had scoped out St. Mary's Cathedral the first day we were here so we could attend Midnight Mass with His Emminence Cardinal O'Brien officiating. The bulletin indicated carols at 11:30, Mass at 12. Thank goodness we arrived early to get good seats because there were no carols; the choir, the Cardinal and countless others processed to the altar promptly at 11:30 to begin the service. The cathedral itself is magnificent - arches, statues, frescoes and carvings. This all lent itself well to the pomp of a Cardinal's Mass with thundering organ, angelic choir and enough incense to waft us all heavenwards. All in all it was a beautiful service. The Cardinal, in his opening remarks welcomed one and all, especially a group all the way from San Diego, Texas! And lo and behold, as we were leaving, there was the Cardinal right at our exit so we shook his hand and exchanged blessings of the season. Amazing!

Now it is time to leave this city behind and travel to Dublin to re-visit with the Rigney family, so I say ......."Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night"

love and miss you all

Birthday Blog!

Here we are again another Dezember upon us, which many of you know kicks off what we refer to in the Adams family as Birthday Week. That special time before the Christmas Holiday season kicks into high gear. This week sees more than a few fellow Sagittarian's turning another year older. They include: our friend Jim Long, the twins, Jim and Joan Adams, Annie Butcher, Charlotte Thompson, my neighbor Llorenz, the hunter, Steve Adams and OF COURSE yours truly, privelaged to spend this year with my Mom who is visiting from the states. Naturally, the evening was spent with a few friends and naturally we had a few laughs................


The guests included our German friends Hanni and Josef , Josef's sister Annie as well as Dutch Roy and Belgique Julie. The menu , one of my favorites- chilidogs! It was funny watching their faces especially the mozzarella cheese stringing from spoonfuls of chili,. For dessert I requested Mom's easy quaker cake with broiled coconut topping. She commented, " such a simple cake Lizzy, are you sure?"

This simple cake turned out to be the evenings entertainment......everyone loved dessert and insisted on the recipe, or as Josef called it, the reciept...SO Julie, being Julie the "translator" was writing down Mom's dictation.....Hanni and Annie with all their questions and gestures, discussing stirring versus beating......rapid German/English/Dutch flying back and forth- everyone commenting...to make things more complicated we had to convert cups to milliliters, fahrenheit to centigrade, inches to centimeters etc, etc........our Simple Quaker cake kept getting more and more complicated.....there would be a lull in the conversation then someone would ask a question and we were off and running again........how much coconut......just what is cream in German, can it be doubled...... etc. etc. just too funny~




The evening concluded with everyone taking home a copy of what is now referred to as Kuchen von Judy! It was one of those "YOU HAD TO BE THERE" stories, but for those of us who were there...........it was another evening spent sharing and laughing with friends.

love and miss you all

St. Martin of Tours

11/11 @ 11:11; November 11th at 11 minutes past the 11th hour marks the begining of Karneval or Fasching. German children celebrate with a tradition that has evolved over time and has been ongoing for hundreds of years, they remember a reluctant hero, St. Martin of Tours. Children aged 11 and under gather together at dusk carrying lanterns and sing special lanterns songs, songs of the harvest and songs of the land, they walk thru the town, sometimes St. Nicolas joins them and usually the procession involves a bonfire as well as treats for the children as they remember St. Martin, a 4th century Roman soldier who is best known for his compassion for the poor. Many legends surround his life, my favorite is the telling of how he cut his cloak in half to share with a beggar who was freezing in a snowstorm. Traditionally, goose is eaten on this day, St. Martin is said to have tried to hide in a barn full of geese to avoid being appointed Bishop, the geese gave his location away. It is no coincidence this is the time of year when donations are asked for, all in the name of St. Martin of Tours.

My 10 year old friend Fatima asked if I would accompany her as our village celebrated St. Martin's day last Sunday. We met at the edge of town and it seemed as if most of the village was there, including the local marching band as well as our escort, the local fire department. Usually , the children make their lanterns at school, they are so colorful, all shapes and sizes. The evening was crisp and clear as dusk descended the anticipation and excitement grew. The band started playing and off we went...up and down streets, singing songs handed down thru generations, we marched thru town to the sound of the band and the melody of many voices. We stopped at one point and watched as a bonfire was lit, after gazing for a while, we continued thru town and on to the Dorfehalle, where children were given treats and a Weckmänner, a traditional bread in the shape of a man holding a pipe, only baked this time of year.





All throughout Europe variations of this celebration take place. Fatima told me that Tuesday, I must attend the Waldfuecht version, she is excited because there is a real horse and rider depicting St. Martin and it promises to be much bigger and better. I explained to her that being (the only American) included in the Bruggelchen festivities was a wonderful experience for me, a special evening spent with the villagers as they gathered together in rememberence of this beloved Saint......below a verse from one of the many songs sung:

Ich geh' mit meiner Laterne
I go with my lantern
Und meine Laterne mit mir.
And my lantern goes with me.
Dort oben leuchten die Sterne,
Up above the stars are shining,
Hier unten, da leuchten wir.
Down here we're shining.
Der Martinsmann, der zieht voran.
St. Martin, he marches on.
Rabimmel, rabammel, rabum.
Rabimmel, rabammel, rabum.
Der Martinsmann, der zieht voran.
St. Martin, he marches on.
Rabimmel, rabammel, rabum.
Rabimmel, rabammel, rabum.


And now to post this blog at the official start of the Karneval season..............



love and miss you all

Slideshow at 6:00!

It was fun to review pictures at the end of the day, and that is how slide show at six became the theme for time spent with Kerry and Rit who came here on "Holiday” from Anderson Island, Washington. We began our adventures in Amsterdam, then moved to Germany where we visited various places using our house as a home base. We created memories in both Aachen and Köln, the Larsen's then hopped a train headed for Paris where they met up with another vacationing couple from the island, Co and Dale. That foursome then experienced Paris for a few days*. Four became six when all met in Spangdalem, Co’s son David is stationed at Spang, so the Osheims and Larsens headed home via Koblenz and an interesting tour of the Burg-Eltz castle*, Co and Dale joined us the next day.







Sunny crisp fall days followed us almost everywhere we went, fall has been an unbelievably gorgeous season and seems as if it was special ordered just for us, how lucky and of course appreciative we are!

Six became eight when we were joined by Connie and Jim and all headed out on a road trip to France to tour the famous Alsace wine country. We drove along the wine route and visited several picturesque cities.* Connie and Jim had spent time at a hotel called Emme Buckel, run by the Faller family; who also own the restaurant and winery on the property, all run by members of their very large family. We benefited from their friendship with a personal wine tour, that had Julian, a charming 17 year old touring us thru the whole wine process, then the family treated us to a wine tasting complete with snacks. They were wonderful hosts and made us so feel so welcome, it was another special memory and one we won’t soon forget.

Adventure, laughter and good times followed us the entire time and as I sit down and recall the visit, I realize how hard it is to summarize, so I will share just a few highlights:

Most embarrassing moment: "CLEAN UP ON AISLE FOUR”
That is what Dale announced after Jim dropped a bottle of red wine in the grocery store, shattering and splattering the contents all over he and Connie.

2nd most embarrassing moment: “What for me?”
Kerry’s response when Edo gave a bottle of wine to “The American”

Best line: "You have problems, no HE has problems"
The line used by the train conductor when he realized both Terry and Rit were not actually holding valid tickets for our ride between Amsterdam and Sittard.

2nd Best line: "Dead guy in the floor"
Seems as if they were even buried four deep in some churches, we saw lots and lots of tombs and relics, several displays with just pieces and parts of "dead guys" so this became a fun line to use.

Those are just a few of the many "moments" and one more that I need to share, and that of course is the saddest moment and that was saying good-bye.

Love and miss you all

* denotes information that could possibly mean material for a future blog! including but not limited to the mosastary built into the rock cliffs , the clock at Strassbourg where an astrological clock at solar noon.....etc.etc. etc......

My First Half

Naturally we had a bit of excitement on the way to Köln where we signed up to run the 1/2 marathon........

A group of us decided to ride the train and it was in the city of Rheydt that the entertainment started. Our connecting train just happened to coincide with a fußball game and Rheydt, it turns out is the hub where fans are bussed to the game. The moment we got off the train we were surrounded by what I like to call the Red and Green fans......actually it was Möchengladbach vs. Köln. We quickly found our platform for the outbound train and stopped to gape at the scene in front of us.

There were riot police everywhere, mostly they were busy keeping the two sets of fans separated as they streamed towards their busses. There was a lot of beer drinking and the fans were very loud singing their teams theme song. We saw a bus loaded with "red houligans" who were shouting and singing and rocking the bus, it is amazing that the bus didn't tip over! The police were also busy video taping all the action, WOW! are the Germans serious about soccer or what! We were able to relax once we put all the chaos behind us and got on our connecting train headed for Köln.

Here we are on the first part of the journey, Connie and Jim dropped us at the train station in Geilenkirchen. What a wonderful experience it was to run in the in the beautiful cathedral city of Köln. I had the benefit of a two time marathoner as a trainer, okay my personal trainer is also my husband...but what better motivater could I ask for than Terry! I completed a 16 week training program and had a goal to run 10 minute miles. I was pretty much on pace at the halfway point with a 01:03:13 time, but ran out of steam at about mile 10, then struggled to keep up, still all in all I finished not too far off my goal time. And if I understand the results correctly I finished 340 out of 2234 in my age group, not too bad! Terry had the option of running his own race or pacing for me and he chose to run with me, and our/my final time............02:19:54!

Love and miss you all

Keep to the left!

What a wonderful holiday in Ireland, the on going phrase.......keep to the left. No easy task driving the car, steering wheel on the right, shifting gears with the left hand, driving on the left, plus listening to "the girls" echoing........keep to the left. Also one must consider the narrow and mostly bramble edged roads! Here is a picture of a typical road:

We zigged and zagged across Ireland in ten days. Begining with day one where we shared a wonderful meal and excellent hospitality from cousin Michael Rigney and family and ended with day ten, a coast to coast drive across the Emerald Isle. Each day had its own rhythm filled with laughter and adventures plenty........

Terry had work obligations and couldn't make the first part of the vacation, I set off to Dublin to meet with my cousins Annie, her husband Doug, my cousin Bridget and her husband Paul. We met up at the airport all according to plan. Off to rent cars......mind you now, keep to the left.... first destination Bray, a seaside village south of Dublin. We settled in our hotels and hopped the DART train to be met by our smiling Irish cousin Michael Rigney. He and his family, his wife, two sons, one soon to be daughter in law and Michaels Mother, they all made us feel so welcome. We shared a delicious dinner and countless bottles of wine. There were many stories and enough laughter to make my ribs ache the next day. After dinner, out came the guitars and the musical festivities began. We could have sang all night, but the hour was getting late and the Rigney's had a busy day plus a funeral to attend the next day, so two taxi's were called and transported us away, I was dropped at my hotel at and I do believe that Annie & Company had a nightcap along the esplande............ (I will beg Doug for a picture to insert here, check back later)

The next day our tour guide du jour, Annie, had us heading for Newgrange, a 5,000 year old site where, on the winter solstice a beam of sunlight penetrates thru a special opening and the suns rays are captured into a special chamber, truly a remarkable astronomical event, given the age of the sight. What a treat to be able to witness this firsthand, perhaps next years solstice?

We continued our journey thru the beautiful countryside and ended up in Athlone, the heart of Ireland on the banks of the river Shannon. We strolled through this picturesque town and enjoyed a late dinner, once again filled with laughte. The next morning we parted company the cousins continued west and I hopped an eastbound train headed to Dublin. I felt like quite the traveler having to navigate the train as well as a double decker bus to the airport, just in time to meet up with Terry and pick up our car, now mind you now Terry, I said...............keep to the left!

Terry actually did a great job driving, he got on the highway before he asked so where are we going? To be honest, the directions were a teensy bit vague. I knew we had to drive to the opposite coast, 3+ hours to Kilshanny from there things got a bit foggy something about a pub, take the fork then past the horses about 2 km bear left................We had a GPS but houses don't have numbers in rural towns, so we headed in the general direction. I think Terry was a little nervous, the roads were narrowing and some unpaved and slick with mud, but the GPS kept pointing us towards our destination. We saw a coffee shop/pub and decided to stop and get our bearings, perhaps make a phone call..........the place looked deserted but when we opened the door who do you suppose was inside? Annie, Doug, Bridget and Paul! We were we ever so glad to see them! After quenching our thirst on a pint we headed for our home for the next seven days!

It was nice to have a home base, with peat to burn in the fireplace. Annie and Bridget have a second cousin Patrick O'Leary, who Annie and Doug connected with on a previous visit. Patrick and his wife Una came a callin the day after we arrived. What a charming couple they are, my cousins cousins. They both spoke with a heavy brouge and Una had a sing song voice that demanded full attention to understand. They invited us to meet up with them at a pub (imagine) where they are known to dance the night away, mind you now, Una said don't get there much before 10:00, that is when the fun starts! Another memorable evening was spent with the O'Learys over an "American" dinner of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and apple pie! They also had us to their place for lunch and then their son toured us through three houses that he built, what a treat, I really felt like we got to see a side of Ireland that most folks don't get to see.

Every day took us on another adventure, destinations included the costal town of Doolin, the beautiful cliffs of Moher, the Burren, an unbelievable 300 km area of limestone and legends. We toured Aillwee caves, we visited Lisdoonvarna where a month long matchmaking ceremony and festivities were taking place. We visited Bunraty Castle and it almost goes without saying............Blarney Castle. Of course Terry and I kissed the stone! Each one of these places has a story and even though I have kissed the stone, I fear this blog is lengthy enough so I shall leave these stories for another time........

love and miss you all

Weekend Get-away

The agenda for the Osheim/Long weekend get-away was planned by Connie and began with a guided tour thru the famous castle in Cochem. This castle is situated high atop a hill over looking the Mosel river, the view from top is incredible. We knew ahead of time the tour would be conducted in German and decided it made the evenings entertainment more adventurous, yes?

There was a nice gentelmen on the tour who, every so often would translate something or the other for our benefit. Of course we four, being the only Americans, were singled out at the begining and given a written program to "follow along" actually we did a pretty good job of understanding the guide on our own, she spoke slowly and her body language conveyed much of what she was articulating. A few interesting items from the tour: The castle construction began in 1000 AD, there is a balcony that juts out from the building over 300 feet in with nothing underneath it, Connie commented "this is the where I would have my morning cofffee!"

The tour concluded and we were directed to the dining hall where a feast was served Medieval style......basically that meant-no silverware, lots of toasting, drinking, dancing, even an offering of snuff to all guests, the whole affair was a theatrical perfomance, and dinner included the biggest, and I might add, delicious turkey legs you have ever seen!

The weekend continued with sightseeing along the Mosel river thru wine country in and out of picturesque villages as well as a trip to the famous wine festival at Bernkastel-Kues. We planned our day so that we arrived late afternoon on Saturday, that way we could enjoy the fireworks display that would conclude the festival. First order of business when we arrived was to purchase wine tasting glasses that hung around our necks by a leather strap. Then we were off sample some wine and join the thousands of people wandering through the village. We quickly discovered that wine by the glass was the not the most economical way to enjoy the wines being offered. A sample averaged 2 Euro and a bottle cost anywhere from 5 Euro on up. This would also exlplain the empty bottles all over and also why we saw so many people walking around drinking out of full wine bottles. Judging by their behaviour they had started quite early in the day! We were also a little surprised/disappointed to see so many Americans there but there are quite a few bases within a short distance and they offered coach tours to and from this event.

The crowds gathered for the much anticipated fireworks display, everyone went to high ground and we found a spot on a bridge to watch. The display was timed to mostly American Broadway musicals, we heard only one German song and after about 40 minutes constant fireworks, the show concluded to Frank Sinatra's New York New York.............Now it was time for another adventure...........trying to leave. Everyone it seemed tried to exit at the same time, we were single file trying to get to out and we were crushed in between people, only able to move where the crowd moved, I was holding on to Terry like a life line, it was a little scary and it was a relief to get out into open air and then back to our cozy room in Koblenz.

The next day we headed back towards home with a stop here and there along the way, most notable was a qucik side trip to the castle Burg-Eltz, this castle is also open for touring thru November so we have added it onto the must see list for Kerry and Rit........The weekend was packed with lots of fun and we look forward to our next adventure.

love and miss you all

Mr. September!

"I know JUST the guy," said Jen when she found out the NATEX was looking for a "mature, distinguished, outdoorsy kind of guy" to model clothing for the Timberland line for an upcoming sale. She called to ask if Terry would be interested and I told her of course he would! Between the two of us he really didn't have much of a choice. And that my family and friends is how Terry Osheim ended up on page 3 of the September Event Flyer.


So a special thanks goes out to Jen for Mr. Terry's opportunity for a try at a modeling career! That is certainly one way to get your face out there and be recognized around the base. Julie also works for the NATEX in the retail store and she informed me that she made sure to save enough copies for anyone wanting an autographed souvenir!

http://www.natex.de/flyers.html

Once again look at the September Event Flyer page 3




love and miss you all

Sommerkirmes

We have been watching the neighborhood prepare for the sommerkirmes. All thru the village homes are sparkly clean, sidewalks swept, yards mowed and edged, all the flowerbeds bursting with color. Everyone who owns a village flag has displayed it proudly atop a pole in their front yard. This years festival is scheduled to run for three days. Just up the street at the dorfhalle there are carnival rides and of course food and beer !

We heard the band coming towards our house and around the block they went, evidently gearing up for the next go round because about an hour later we heard them again. I grabbed the camera as I hollered at Terry "show me how to take a video"......WHEW just in time! This time as they marched by all the neighbors were lined up in front of their homes, as the entourage marched by...... the villagers fell in behind and the party grew as they marched on. You can see the King and Queen of the Kirmes as well as other dignitaries as they parade past us. I must apologize to my faithful readers for not doing any research on the traditions and history that accompanies this festival, I think the celebration marks the founding of the town, or it could just be yet another reason for the community to have a party!

As I type this blog I can hear music coming from the dorfehall, you just have to love the festive atmosphere on a warm summer evening.....life is so very interesting here.

love and miss you all

Bier Here

Beer is one of the worlds oldest beverages dating back as far as ancient Egypt and by the 7th century Monastaries in Europe began producing and selling beer and as they say........the rest is history.

Beer is an important part of European life, trust me on this.

Over here there are long standing mostly unspoken "rules" to follow. For instance, one must know how to pour, what size glass to use, and how much foam is topped on the beer. You won't see beer served in a pitcher, why? Because then there wouldn't be FOAM............

The Germans treat the beer like the Pacific Northwest treat their coffee, by that I mean if a beer is poured and sits too long............it gets dumped and fresh beer added......mit foam! There is a glass for just about every brand and size of beer and you should use the proper glass for the proper beer........ALSO there is a line located at the top of the glass, beer gets poured to that line and then the rest is foam......once the beer reaches that mark, the bottle is rolled or shaken and then the foam is poured on top to make a "hat". This techniique is a little bit different in the Netherlands.

The Dutchies want their beer served with the foam strait acrooss the top, a knife removes the excesss neat and clean. Probably the most famous of Dutch beers is the Amstel. The Amstel glass has the logo on the front, half of the logo is red the this is the "line" where the beer stops and foam begins.

Belgium beer could be a whole blog all on it's own, in Belgium there are over 600 count em 600 brands of beer. Our friends Kevin and Melissa visited a city called Bruges, here they saw a bar on wheels. You needed four or five guys on both sides of the bar to peddle and keep it moving. Fun or what? I think perhaps Kerry and Rit might want to add this to their list of must see er must drink list for their trip to visit us this October.

Terry and I like just order a "bier" when we visit a new town, that we get to taste the popular beer for that region. At our hotel in Trier we were served an URPILS, the waiter brought us our foaming beer glasses along with a coaster underneath the beer........I was studying the motto of the beer printed on the bottom of the coaster, I asked the bartender, hey what does this say, he replied very slowy U-R-P-I-L-S. I said I can read THAT, I mean this saying on the bottom.....DAS HAT WAS......OH! he said that means "just have one"

love and miss you all

Road Trip

"No picture, no proof"- that is what Terry said about the lightpole incident in Koblenz! ...... There we we were, riding our bikes along the Mosel river on a beautiful summer day, Terry was pointing out something on the river.......when WHAM! he smacked into a lightpole. Fortunately we had the first aid kit and fortunately we didn't need it. Two elderly gentlemen sitting on a nearby bench were more than amused! I still don't know how Terry escaped injury, just a few bike battle scars!





We planned a five day excursion, first destination Koblenz, a beautiful city where the Mosel and Rhine river converge. Koblenz was established in 8 BC and the city celebrated it's 2,000th anniversary in 1998. We enjoyed touring by bike, for us it seems easier to navigate the narrow and sometimes one way streets while riding instead of driving.

We continued our journey up the the Mosel river, winding our way through miles and miles of wine country. We stopped in Cochem and wandered around the market mostly dodging tourists who were there to see the famous castle on the hillside. That day was paticularly hot it was a relief to leave the city behind and head up into the hill country towards Trier.

The temperature dropped a good 15 degrees when we entered our hotel nestled in the woods on the hillside overlooking Trier in an area known as Kockelsburg. We ate a late relaxing dinner on the terrace with an amazing view of the city, we couldn't wait to start exploring Germany's oldest city.

We began our day at the Porta Negra, the largest surviving Roman city gate. Trier itself stood 1300 years before Rome and had settlements as early as the 3rd century BC. We decided to stay an extra day and still only managed to see half of the historical destinations listed in the brochure.

The Trier Dom was impressive, within the walls of this church are numerous shrines and crypts, you could spend a whole day studying the artwork alone. There is a chapel within called The Holy Robe Chapel. Here you will find the seamless robe that Constantines's Mother Helena carried from the holy land, this robe was said to be worn by Jesus. Trier is currently a Bishops seat and according to tradition the catherdral was founded by a bishop who was sent by the apostle Peter.

St Paulin was another beautiful church, it didn't look like much from the outside, but once inside we were awed by the amount of light pouring in, and nothing can duplicate the sounds and smells that permiated this awesome baroque church.

Everything we saw in Trier was amazing, the Imperial Throne Room, the Electoral Palace, The House of the Three Magi, the statues, the monuments, the fountains....and on and on. The Amphitheater was one of Terry's favorite sites but I was a little spooked roaming underneath the venue where above, as many as 20,000 Romans could gather to watch gladiatior contests and executions.

We were sad to say good-bye to Trier but Ramstein AFB was our next destination , it was delightful to have a stopping point with a washer and drier in the room as well as screened windows plus a full kitchen. I must say, however that we were both overwhelmed by the number of Americans! This base is known as "Little America" and after a good nights sleep, clean laundry, dinner at Chili's and of course Starbucks, we were ready go.

Once more stop at the Frankfurt airport to collect Jim Long and a total of 5 days, 280 pictures and lots of memories later, we headed for home.

love and miss you all