More This's and That's

Talk about FRESHNESS! This is how we buy our lettuce, guaranteed fresh! It comes wrapped in a bit of plastic to keep the dirt from straying, and, as you can see, we get a variety of three different types of lettuce with each square of soil. I think it's really quite inventive and remarkable. We love it!
Here's a close-up, just in case you didn't believe me the first time

Here is one of the dearest women you could ever meet. (Sorry the ornament is right above her head--that wasn't planned!) This is Sis. Dulinsky, and I love her to pieces. She has been a widow for nearly 35 years. Her husband died of cancer two months before her third child was born, and she has just had the grit and determination to make life good for her kids and others. In fact, she is the one who helped us get our "registration" for Bad Homburg completed when the Area Office dropped the ball. We got our first ride at 120 kph, except we weren't on the autobahn. She was driving us to her house in a frenzy to pick up a piece of paper she had forgotten that was needed at the Rathaus (city hall). Just a good ol' ride down a country lane! Anyhow, she was wonderful and saved us boo-koo bucks, cause we would have had to pay a penalty in addition to the $75 bucks we each had to pay just to register. Besides, she knew the ropes and spoke German! Hooray!! It took a tremendous burden off our shoulders.

She is a Church Service Missionary right now. Before she retired, she worked for 12 years at the Area Office, where she served under Pres. Uchtdorf when he was Area President. She also comes into the office two afternoons a week to help out. She's a whiz at FamilySearch and also helps at the temple two nights a week to help people get names prepared for ordinance work. She is so energetic and positive! She invited the three couples to her home for cookies and tea, and it was a really spiritual experience for me. Her home is filled with the Spirit, and she shared some special experiences she has had working under Pres. Uchtdorf and others. Anyhow, she had spent three full days baking at least six or seven different kinds of cookies (maybe more), and we each brought some, so we really had our sugar fix for the day!

As usual, I had to take a picture of her table. The people here are such great hosts--it made me wonder how all of you put up with my serving food from the bar straight from the kettles and then sitting at a bare table! Good grief! Anyhow, she served an orange-flavored-ish tea that I drank just enough of to be polite, but gratefully the others liked it and had seconds and thirds! Just haven't learned to handle that yet!

Her window typifies all German windows at Christmas. I can't wait to find the little "candle holder" (which is really electric). They come in all colors with decorations ranging from nothing to elaborate. The one I hope to find is not just the ladder-type but an ornately carved one of the manger scene. Really fun.

Since she retired, she decided to see if she could learn to play the piano. She's played for nearly a year now, only taking lessons every other week 'cause she can't afford every week. She does really well, and here she is playing Jingle Bells for us, as she wanted to learn it for her grandkids for Christmas! Her faith and testimony are just incredible, and I learn from her every time I'm with her. Just love her!

Guess what's going on here?!?! Yup, Dad's giving me a haircut! Pretty scary, huh? Well, we just stuck to around the ears and the back, so we're still married and speaking! He's a brave man, I'd say!

Or, am I a brave woman?

While Dad was so sick, I worked with the Howletts at the MOC (situated in the Europe Distribution Center up the street from where we work). MOC stands for microfilm ordering center. Anyhow, the whole computer system that deals with the ordering of films in Europe went down, and things got really hairy. Orders were horribly backed up; people hadn't received refunds from films they failed to receive, etc., etc. It was giving the Church a bad name, 'cause about 80% of the people who order films are nonmembers. And on top of that, the Calls brought back another 10,000 rolls of microfilm from Sweden when they shut down one of the family history centers up there that needed to be scanned, labeled, and re-filed. Lots of work to do.

Here's our cutest of cute bosses! Her name is Maggy (for Magnolia), and she's about 20-ish. She was so fun. We just laughed the whole time. Of course, she speaks perfect English, as does everyone else who works for the Church here. Anyhow, she was only hired temporarily to help get this overload taken care of, and she was the right one to hire. She worked like a trojan and was so fast and good. She could run the whole system, I think! She wants to serve a mission (as did her two older sisters and two older brothers)!

This doesn't begin to show how large the MOC is, but it's filled with innumerable drawers and cabinets and files. I just can't imagine what the Granite Vault must look like with it's millions of films. The 10,000 we put away didn't even make a dent in the system here! Sis. Howlett is sitting in the top left of the picture, Bro. Howlett in the center and me on the right.

Bro. Howlett filing away in one of the drawers.

Applying the newly scanned and printed labels for the boxes, which then get filed.

And here we have the Three Amigos! I asked them to all put on their hats one day for me so I could take a picture, and they thought I was out of my mind, but it was worth it!! Dad was made for a "beret"--don't you agree?

They're the real thing!

And, last but not least...We have discovered the answer to the age-old question of "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" It was proven scientifically in our last box of eggs that they came together, and here's the proof! The feather was literally stuck to the egg, so I think it is indisputable!

Love to you all!

CHRISTMAS WEEK

We've had a fun Christmas season, and the following pictures will just give you a small flavor. Hank is back on his feet and feeling almost up to par, so we've been out and about quite a bit. Every time I say that, though, I fear you'll think we're never at the office working, and I promise that's not true! The Germans really know how to vacation, though. Most people take many days off. We were warned to have enough groceries for a week, 'cause the markets close for several days--nothing open on the 24th, 25th, or 26th, and never on a Sunday. We could learn a good lesson from that! All the church employees (our bosses, staff, etc.) take a whole two-plus weeks off, from the week before Christmas until the 5th of January, so the office gets pretty quiet with just the three couples tip-toeing around. I thoroughly enjoy it, though!

This first picture was taken on the 14th of December, the night we got to go back to the church for the delayed broadcast of the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. It's too bad that their talks were all so good, 'cause I had wanted to sneak out in the middle to take a picture of the moon. It was just coming over the mountain (I'm using the term "mountain" loosely) as we drove to the church, and I wanted to catch it just as it got to Moroni, but it had risen too high when the meeting ended. So, here we have Moroni blowing his horn at the moon on a beautiful Sunday night. Our church shares the same block that the temple is on, so we get to see Moroni lots. Feels good.

Then, on a lighter note, here's our little Christmas tree that waited so patiently to be decorated. We finally got to him on Christmas Eve day, and he is truly beautiful--creative, but beautiful! The Calls loaned us a string of lights, Sis. Dulinsky gave us some old ornaments (some of which her kids had made 30 years ago!), and then we used some Christmas ribbon to drape down for some color. We like him!

This little nativity has become a favorite of mine. It was carved by the man who carved our bigger set, and I just love it. I'm going to keep it up all year.

And this little guy became our candlelight dinner tree. We bought it at a ward bazaar in Darmstaadt. It was made by someone there. We were going to paint it when we got home, but the paint may not stick anymore 'cause the wax has dripped down. Oh, well... I hope I can at least get the wax off the table!

Dad gave me a surprise Christmas present. I found an envelope under my pillow one night, and inside I found two tickets to the Nutcracker, to be performed by the Russian Ballet Company right here in Bad Homburg!! This is the Kur Theater where it was held.

Anyhow, the ballet was delightful, the Sugar Plum Fairy a true ballerina, and the prince truly charming. Here the Fairy dances for a few of the toys and dolls. A perfect start to the season!!

Here are your ducks, Andy!! If you have perfect eyesight, you can see them as they walk down the front little berm. I took a close-up of them, but thought maybe you're tired of my animal friends! Kind of a gray day, but we took a walk to check on the times of the Christmas midnight mass at the Catholic and Lutheran churches. This is the Lutheran church (the Erloerser Kirche), and you'll see a smidge of its interior two pictures down from here.

This is the inside of the Catholic church on Christmas Eve. We arrived early (about 9 p.m.) and watched the man light all of the candles in the building and various other preparations. The mass started at 9:30 p.m. The inside of this church isn't as "outstanding" as the Lutheran church in the evening, but it has some incredibly beautiful and huge stained glass windows that can't be beat in the daylight.

The Catholic mass had a little more pomp and ceremony than the Lutheran mass, but it was very lovely. They had some candle-bearing altar boys and a small girl who portrayed some part in the Nativity story, as they accompanied her down the aisle and she put baby Jesus in his Krippe (crib or manger) at the back of the church. My favorite part was the "cantor" (I don't know what the Catholics call him, but the Jews would have called him the cantor). He would go to the pulpit throughout the evening and "sing" some scriptures, and his voice was just beautiful. I could have listened to him all night. They also had some other music consisting of a viola, organ, and a woman singing. Of course, the audience would stand and recite some scriptures and sing occasionally, and I was amazed at the endurance some of those older people had to be able to stand for so long and so often. Very reverent and impressive. We could learn a lot about reverence from them!!

And here is the inside of the Lutheran church (The Erloerser Kirche, or Church of our Redeemer). The whole inside of the building is covered in small mosaic tiles, most gold-leafed. It just shines, and many things are depicted on both the walls and the ceiling, including angels, the Savior, and others. The pastor in this church was a woman. She seemed very sincere, but she seemed to lack much fervor. They had a wonderful choir, accompanied by an organ that comes a close second to the Tabernacle Organ (just kidding, but it was beautiful).

So, the Catholic mass was two hours. It started at 9:30 and went to 11:30 p.m. We left the Catholic mass at 10:45 so we could go to the Lutheran mass (just a block away), which started at 11:00. It only lasted till midnight, so it was an hour shorter than the Catholic mass.

One of the highlights for me was the ringing of the bells before each mass. They would ring for at least 10 minutes. So, we heard the bells from both churches--fun!

And here's Hank doing a little tap dance down the "walking" street in Bad Homburg. Many of the cities have these walking streets, where cars aren't allowed and people just meander up and down. They're fun. Of course, there's a car in the picture to blow what I just said, but an occasional car is allowed for one reason or another, especially at night after the stores close.

Here's one more of our Christmas trees. Every night when we would leave work, we could see this tree out over the fields in the direction of Bad Homburg, but we couldn't for the life of us figure out where it was. It could be seen for miles, and we were really curious. Well, Dad finally figured that it was at the edge of the northeast side of BH, and it faces one of our favorite walking areas (where the farmers leave paths between their fields for people to walk through). This picture was taken from our office road, and ...

this one from a path up a little closer...

You can finally meet the Calls now. They are such hardworking people that you'll always find them in the kitchen preparing, cleaning up, or wherever there's a job to do. They were originally called to be Outreach missionaries (meaning they were in charge of activities for young adults of institute age). They were serving in Darmstaadt under the Frankfurt Mission President. Then the need arose to have more family history missionaries, and they were "switched" to the Europe Area Presidency instead of the mission president, and they were trained (as we were) in family history. Their area of training, though, was in newFamilySearch, not indexing. So, we and the Howletts do the indexing, the Calls newFamilySearch. Elder Call also is in charge of installing new computers in family history centers throughout the area, so they do lots of traveling. Anyhow, meet the Calls:

And this was Christmas dinner with a few of the sister missionaries and some couples. We certainly ate well! The first couple on the right are temple missionaries, then the Howletts, then two sister missionaries who work in finance for the Area, Sister Call, and HMHII himself!! The elders were also there, as well as another couple and one more sister missionary.

So, dear people, too many words and not enough pictures. I'll try to do better! We just wanted to share a bit of our Christmas, which was totally relaxed and enjoyable. Our lives are very blessed and rich, mostly due to loved ones like you.

Odds 'n Ends

Well, here we are again. We just have to share some of our "most interesting" and "most wonderful" people with you, as well as some odds and ends. We met this gentleman at our stake conference clear back in September. I was fascinated with him as he played the organ. He "performed" like he was on stage at a musical, and at the end of every song, he would play a very loud and sort of long interlude, sometimes 30 seconds to a minute after we quit singing. I suppose he just couldn't help himself! (Although, in fairness, it is kind of the norm for the organist to play a little ending after each song, but usually just a few measures and very softly!)

Anyhow, this is Karl-Gottfried Brun-Otte, and we learned he's actually a member of our ward. He's a professor of music at one of our universities; he's at least 6 feet 5 inches and has a voice that resounds as loud as his organ. It's amazing. When he bears his testimony, he puts the microphone clear down 'cause he would break the windows if he spoke into it! And, he's every bit the profesor!

I must clarify that this is definitely NOT his only tie! He has worn a gray shirt with a gray and blue polka-dot tie (and, as you can see, they are at least 8 inches wide), and he has an equally large red satin tie and pocket handkerchief as well. We first met him in yellow satin.

I didn't know him from Adam at conference, but I hustled up after the meeting and just asked him if I could take his picture, and as you can see, he was delighted!!

This fun little centerpiece was sitting outside our grocery store last Saturday among some other flowers, and Dad let me have it! Isn't it fun??? It is the ultimate German creation, and the totally crazy thing is that flowers still live out in our cold, snowy temperatures. You can't walk down the street without seeing bouquets of roses, and every other kind of flower imaginable, just wrapped in paper and waiting to be sold. They must raise some pretty hardy varieties is all I can say!

And this is how we enjoy it at night! We eat by candlelight almost every night. It's so fun!

These dear people live in Michelstadt, about 1-1/2 hours from Bad Homburg, Bro. and Sis. Frost by name. Bro. Frost is officially our German script teacher. He's incredibly knowledgeable. It's amazing how he can make sense out of the scribbles and is a wonderful teacher. We meet at their church in their family history center. We usually work from about 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and then go to their home for lunch. What a treat! Then we return for another couple hours or so of work.

This is their home, with Sis. Frost standing on their porch. She's the most gentle, soft spoken, sweet lady. They are originally from Poland (different cities), and both their fathers were killed in the war. During the war, both their mothers decided to leave Poland and hope for better things in Germany, and since there was no transportation available, they walked with their children all the way to Germany. So, the Frosts know all there is to know about fear, starvation, courage, hardship, etc., etc. Their families lived in different cities in Poland, didn't know each other, but it just happened that both families left Poland at different times and went to Germany; one family to Bonn and the other somewhere south. They both joined the church later in their lives (the only ones of their families to join), and they ended up finding each other at the university, I think, many years later. They are the stalwarts of their ward, from what we gather from those who know them, and they very humbly talk of knowing and loving President Uchtdorf when he was their stake president, and Sis. Frost worked with him when she was stake RS president for many years. So humble, so brilliant. Good people.

Sis. Frost is an artist when it comes to cooking. It makes me think of what Pres. Uchtdorf said about his wife. This picture just sort of shows how she presents our meals, and they are a delight to see as well as eat. She always has candles lit on the table, and she begins with lovely salads, topped with edible flowers! You can't quite see it, but on the right of the plate is a small silver "stand" that holds the knife and fork while she takes the dishes from one course and brings out another. Anyhow, they are wonderful friends and teachers. (And those pastries are as flaky as anything I've ever eaten, filled with a wonderful turkey and onion combination and served with the yummy sauce. The carrots are mixed with a yummy coconut-kind-of topping, with, of course, the sprig of parsley, home grown.)

Sacrament meetings generally have a rather special decoration at the front. Someone just seems to bring something from home, and these are two examples: One a Christmas-y arrangement, and...

the other some rather beautiful live orchids. Orchids are as common here as our dandelions! Not really, but everyone seems to grow them in their homes, and the flower shops abound in them!

And now you can meet Sis. Seidenadder, one of the ladies Dad and his companion baptized all those 40 years ago. We went down to Buhl (about 2-1/2 to 3 hours south of us), and we had a lovely visit for about 4 hours. Dad asked her all about her genealogy, who her parents were, birth dates, etc., husband, family. And they both got out some pictures and talked and talked. Her younger daughter, Ruth, came and visited as well. Sis. Seidenadder then sent us off to a restaurant to eat (with a 50 euro bill in our hands), while she rested. Then we came back for more visiting.

Picture out of order, as usual, but this is her gracious hosting after we got back from lunch--we had kuchen and a drink with Sis. Seidenadder's daughter and Udo. We're not sure whether Udo is a boyfriend or a husband, but he's sure fun. He's very good to Sis. S. Ruth has her own "traveling" pedicure and manicure business, where she goes to the home and gives people the treatment! Pretty good way to do things, I think! I ought to mention it to Tami Vernon, huh??
Sis. Seidenadder and Ruth.

And this is Udo!

The foursome!

This is for you, Erick. Udo was so proud of his Harley, and when we told him you had a bike, he immediately asked all about it. That led to a trip down to the garage for a picture! We promised we'd send him a picture, and I'm sure it'll be framed!

Just a quickie stop on our way out of town for another picture of a church. You'll stop reading the blog if I put too many more of those in, huh?!?

And last but not least.....LAUNDRY DAY! Sorry it's not more colorful, but this was mostly whites day! And, I'd like to mention that underneath that sheet hanging in front of the window, we really do have a lace curtain that really hangs at the window. Between the window and the smaller rack on the front right, we get one set of sheets washed a day!

So, dear people, we love you all! Friends and family make life so rich, and we are truly blessed because of you. Here's a little thought that came from SOMEWHERE, can't remember where...."If you don't find happiness along the way, you won't find it at the end of the road." I'm learning that's so true. Thanks for the happiness you bring to us.

MERRY, MERRY CHRISTMAS!