Spargel

Right now it is peak season for spargel or white aspagargus, locally known as "white gold" As a matter of fact it just so happens the best quality to be found in the area is in Waldfuecht, the village next to ours. Terry and I went to a market an hour away from home a few weeks ago and laughed when we saw spargel for sale from our village! The picture below was taken from our house, you can see the asparagus is covered for protection from the sun.



The first pick of the season is much sought after and we heard excitement as the locals spoke of an early harvest this year. White asparagus is grown in deep mounds of soil to protect it from the sun, this keeps the vegetable pale. The spears are cut by hand with a special knife to avoid stalk damage, and in high season, with warm weather, farms will often harvest twice a day as growth is so fast. It is a very serious industry in Europe worth an estimated €250 million a year!

All the markets have spargel for sale and just about all the restaurants in the area currently feature a side dish, usually topped with a hollandaise sauce......... just simply delish! A mellow flavor different from the nuttier green version of asparagus we are more familiar with.

The season is kept deliberately short, weather depending (of course) normally mid-April to mid-June, this also gives the plants plenty of time to regenerate for the following year. Terry came home the other day all excited and exclaimed, " only in Europe..........would you see a guy in a speedo bathing suit picking asparagus." We grabbed our camera, but they were gone by the time we got to the fields, darn! Now that would have been a picture for the blog archives!




love and miss you all

Mai Baum

I was thrilled to hear sounds of the band once again marching up and down the streets in our village as they made their way to the Dorffe Halle for another celebration. As they passed by, the Maibaumchef or Maypole leader invited me to join in the festivities...........

Mai Baum translated means May Tree and on May Day a celebration takes place in most villages large and small throughout the area and Brüggelchen is no exception. The earliest illustration of a maypole was done in 1590! Now the customs and traditons vary throughout the countryside. There are very specific rituals that take place preparing the tree that will eventually set high upon a pole in the town centre. I won't bore you with too many details, but one of the long standing traditions include the fact that young unmarried men and women select then prepare the tree and garlands for the transport and feast that takes place on May 1st.









All the while the maybaum is being readied, it is essential to guard it from theft. Young people from other villages would like to steal it. After such a theft, there are either negotiations for the return of/or the stolen goods become an addition to another village-a trophy so to speak.



Again, there are long standing "rules of engagement" that apply but the spirit in which the tree is adorned and accompanied thru the town is festive and light. Here you can see our village Mai-baum safe and sound erected nice and high to discourage and late night raids!










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Of Course!

1. Of course-Terry, aka "MY HERO" is in Jacksonville, Florida playing games with the Navy for two weeks.


2. Of course- Jen had started a new job that week and I couldn't remember her phone number.


3. Of course-Tom, who's phone number was the only one I could remember was not at his office.


4. Of course-Jim and Connie are on Holiday somewhere in South Italy or Rome or points in between, on a trip that we were supposed to be on with them.
   


5. Of course-Because it was Thursday afternoon, the medical clinic on base was closed.

It was another gorgeous spring day in Germany and I told Fatima I would watch her tennis lesson. Fatima is the 10 year old daughter of the Bosnian couple who own the restaurant just up the strasse........which is another blog for another day. So, there I was watching Vinnie the tennis pro finish up with Fatima and Tim's lesson, Vinnie asked would I like to play a quick game-boys against girls? Of course

I ran on to the tennis court to help pick up balls thinking I might look like one of those "ball girls" from Wimbelton.......UM NO! I was moving too fast and tripped landing right on my face. Mr. tennis pro had a first aid kit, he had me wash the sand off my face and said, I think you need a Doctor. I assured him I was fine, just a flesh wound. A band aid and I was good to go..... on with the game. Fatima and I won, Of course, then headed back to the restaurant where I aksed for ice for my then aching head. One look confirmed that yes, I really did need to go to the Dr, I had split my forehead open quite nicely.

Now you must realize Fatima understands English, but doens't really speak it, her parents were not there and my cell phone is new and limited with the numbers programmed on it. It was almost comical, no one seemed to be available, fianlly Fatima called Elmer in Dusseldorf who called Julie who was racing to come take me to the hospital based on Fatima's decription of my head wound.

Once Julie realized it wasn't an "emergency" she drove me home where I was able to call my "GO TO GIRL" for just such situations Jen, who instructed me on what to bring, what to ask and what to get copies when were done. Off to the emergency room where the nice German Doctor glued my cut and administered a tetnas shot. Thank goodness for Julie and her fluency with German/English, we managed to make the best of our afternoon at the Heinsburg Krankenhaus! I now have everyone I know work/home/cell programmed into my cell phone- OF COURSE!

love and miss you all

A Whirlwind

That is the best word to describe Lee and Nelly's visit......a whirlwind. Time went too quickly, seems like they just got here and it was time to say good bye. I somehow managed to unintentionally invite a few friends over, still having issues with the whole language barrier thing. Terry was working so Nelly and I scrambled a bit to stretch dinner but ended up having quite the party. I think you could have looked around the table and think of it as an opening line for a joke...............

" An American, two Bosnians, One Belgiuqe, two Dutch and a German were all sitting at a table.................."

Here you see Lee and I getting ready to take a bicycle ride up to the store, he was duly impressed with the total miles I have put on my bike, Nelly just shrugged and said "of course Leeland-it's how you get around here!"

Spoken like a true Hollander!

Terry missed out on most of the festivities , but did get home in time to witness Elmer and the flaming brandy-there is a ritual to the way the brandy is ignited, then swirled, then rolled up his arm, if done properly the concoction "gently breathes fire"........ Nelly was facinated but neglected to let the brandy cool before it hit her throat!

As I said, time went fast. the Barlow's were here then gone , it was wonderful to be able to spend time with such great friends.

love and miss you all

WAY BEHIND!!

Seems like now that the days are getting longer and warmer and we are more settled in..... life has gotten busy. I need to remind myself to stop and take the time to put words to a blog- lest I forget, for instance .......

Terry and I met Elmer and Gabby, a German couple who live around the corner from us. She is a flight attendant and speaks great English and turns out quite the shopper, she LOVES to go "thrifting", she decided that I needed to experience shopping like the poor people. She told me to be ready by 7:00 am Saturday morning. Somehow I don't think the poor Germans shop quite like Gabby...........this is what she drives:

We went, and I mean....... SCREAMIN down the Autobahn. I can honestly say that is the fastest I have ever been in an car, at one point I saw the speedometer reach 240 kph......... who knew Dusseldorf is "just around the corner". We were parked and walking around the market before the vendors were even finished setting up. Gabby most definitely knew her way around , she greeted many of the vendors by name and after spending the day with her I think she could give Joan a run for her money!

The market we went to is called a Trödel Market, we spent about 5 hours shopping. Trust me this market is huge! There was an amazing variety of items for sale, anything from antiques to absolute junk! New clothing with designer labels, which are a Gabby specialty, or if you prefer vintage items..... no problem. I am certain you could find whatever you might think you need. I ended up finding a wonderful European style trenchcoat (new) for €20 and a few very nice shirts. Also had a delicious curry wurst and the best machiatto at a coffee stand. We stood in a long line to use the "toilette" and as was typical, paid € .50 to the attendant or we could have purchased a €4 punch card to use the facilities all day which normally would have been a good deal for me!

The weather was warm and the mood was very festive, all in all it was a wonderful day. The next market Gabby said Terry and Elmer should come and I agreed and told her Terry would be happy to drive!

love and miss you all

Yellow Green Yellow Red

Yellow - green- yellow- red- is how the traffic lights change here. After I finished the blog about some differences living in Germany, I realized a few items were left out, traffic lights being just one. Also, most all of the houses have a single kitchen sink. And when you move into a vacant home, you will need to buy all your light fixtures because there are none, just bare wires!

Windows can be tilted out from the top to circulate air and the majority of homes do not have screens. Because we live in "farmland" there are lots of flies, my friends daughter Brookelyn told us when we first got here, " there are fly's here.......get used to them!"

Now onto the washer and dryer-the European style machines have very different settings-the washer is like a dishwasher in that it heats up the water internally and the wash cycles are MUCH longer than typical American cycles, if you click on the picture you can see that the white load would take 2:39 and the dryer 2:00 hours!-------also the dryer is a condensor type so it's not vented to the outside, water is collected in a "bin" that is empited after each use.

Oh dear, seems as if I have misplaced the list about the differences I guess I will start a new one. In the meantime......I will leave you with this little tidbit and picture .......... Jim and Connie paid 18 Swiss francs for two lattes at this Starbucks in Switzerland, the exchange rate at the time was basically one for one .......

love and miss you all

Hogwarts

Just down the road less than 5 kilometers from our house is what Terry and I refer to as Hogwarts. For those of you that don't know, surely everyone does ...... Hogwarts is the school of wizardry that Harry Potter attended. Can't you just imagine seeing all the young wizards running amok in this now abandoned building?

After a bit of research into the township of Koningsbosch where the building is located, I found that it's original purpose was a Monastery. The town was named in the 16th century, Koningsbosch directly translated means Kings forest named after Charles V, the then King of Spain. The website where I found this information is in Dutch and something gets lost in translation. For instance here is a sentence directly from website:

The monastery had a farm - garden - bakery - laundry and ziekenzaal. Veel Koningsbosschenaren hebben in het klooster hun brood verdiend. Many in the monastery Koningsbosschenaren have earned their bread.

Huh? Perhaps my good friend Nelly whose native language is Dutch will be able to help out with what is the meant here, no? AND guess what? It just so happens that Lee and Nelly Barlow will be visitng us! We are so excited to welcome them into our home this April/May. I think a trip to Hogwarts with Nelly would be a step in the right direction in understanding the history surrounding this wonderful landmark.

love and miss you all