Frohe Ostern / Happy Easter

Good Friday marks the beginning of the four day Easter Holiday. Most businesses close and families gather together to celebrate many Ostern events such as walks, egg hunts, special meals as well as Easter bonfires. Eggs are readily available and can be purchased painted and hard boiled ready for the Easter basket.

This time of year it's ALL about the egg. Look at the difference in these eggs. The Germans put an extra something something in the chicken feed to make the yolks a darker orange, they want their eggs to look like eggs!

Here in this window is an egg wreath complete with little tiny feathers!

Easter Sunday we feasted with the Nadeau family, which included Jen's Mother, who made awesome fresh rolls, I think the picture here tells the story! And yes ....... of course Jen made sure that Bailey and Terry had plenty of peeps!

Easter Monday we woke up to SNOW!!!! There is a small Chapel not far from the house, we ran out first thing to get this picture. It is an interesting little chapel surrounded by farm fields and dedicated to Heilige Gemma Galgani, not sure what that is all about, but we picked up a brochure to translate...................

What a way to welcome Spring!

love and miss you all

Stop by for pastries

It took a little bit of peeking out the window to figure out what was going on, but of course I had to know why this truck was stopping at Trudi and Lorenz's house next door. Basically every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday a bread truck comes thru and delivers fresh bread and patries throughout the village. The next door neighbors have it all arranged, how handy is that!

The Tuesday delivery lady doesn't speak a word of English but we manage to somehow discuss the cold or wind, a popular subject these days. Friday's delivery lady speaks good at English and she is interested in how we are getting along and always has helpful local shopping advice. On Saturday the truck is very early and the two women teach me how to say whatever I am ordering in German-they delight in my pronunciations! Sometimes they have a young man with them he is very good at English and likes to "practice" his numbers, very specific when he tells me my total and then counts back the change.

Each delivery has the basics: rolls, pies , donuts as well as a variety of breads but on Saturday there is the best selection of desserts, it looks like a window in an upscale bakery. I try and pick something special for Terry and I to split. Because we are one of the first stops the brochen is always fresh and warm. Can I just say.............delicious!

love and miss you all

Brüggelchen

Our small village of Brüggelchen has had a bit of excitement, actually two events that would make one wonder WHAT THE...............


We could hear the bullhorn before we could see where it was coming from or what was being "announced". A small white car was slowly going up and down all the streets in our village. In the passenger seat was a man with a bullhorn repeating the same phrase over and over. The only words Terry and I could catch or understand were "Attencion.....Attencion" as the car neared our house we could see it was some kind of red cross vehicle. Of course all I could think of was the nuclear plant up the road! We did a quick check of the neighbors to make sure no one was loading up their cars and heading for the hills. We asked around at the next village connection dinner and found out it was a blood drive. Who knew!


The next incident happened in the middle of the night, I was deep in the land of dreams when I heard sirens start up. OMG, Terry and I both jumped strait out of bed, sirens wailing, no announcements, no PA system, just the loud repeating sound of the town siren. Again, the nuclear plant image flashed thru my mind. The sirens stopped by the time we fumbled around and got dressed. A quick check to see if the neighbors were packing their cars and heading for the hills.............all was quiet the streets were empty and not even a light on in any of the houses. Our inquiries the next day revealed it was a call for all of the volunteer fireman to report to the hall for some type of emergency/disaster-anything from a car accident to a fire. I gotta tell you it is a teensy bit scary not knowing what was going on....... What next?


Terry is now on a rotating shift, alternating first and second shift weekly. It has thrown our "routine" off a little off which is the reason my blog has been a bit quiet lately. One bonus though is that we are able to explore more of the surrounding area during the mornings-every other week! Here are a few pictures from our last outing. Check out the the chairs below, they have lap blankets to keep you toasty warm as you sit in the square and enjoy a meal or a beverage, now I ask you, how wonderful is that!

















love and miss you all