Yes, today is my mom’s 91st birthday!! Unfortunately, like last year, I am unable to spend the day with her…… one of the real BIG disadvantages of living so far apart.

Mom is in a care home now, after needing a hip operation. She’s been in a home for over a year now anyway because her dement got so bad, my dad was no longer able to take care of her. He is also in the hospital…. he needed a by-pass and a new heart valve!! But, from what my brothers tell me, he’s doing quite well and is extremely BORED!

This is a picture of my mom as a baby with her mom. I’m so glad I have these old pictures still…..

Some years ago she started writing her memories…. if anyone is interested, you can read them here.

This picture from 1950 is of her with me, the future coca cola addict! lol

And this is my mom in 2009, during my last visit home.

I miss you mom!!

Dorrie

Well, BB managed to be first (why isn’t she sleeping? ) …. sorry, I’ve been procrastinating all morning.

We have come a looooong way, Sis! We may be 10 years apart in age and haven’t (yet) managed to meet live, but we seem to be real “soul sisters”.

Gosh it bugs me that I had to cancel my perfectly planned flight to visit you last September. Has it really been a YEAR since then already? Who knows if I’d be able to arrange it again (maybe next January/February????).

Now, go do what the above message says…… ENJOY and have fun on your big 50 birthday!!

Dorrie

Most of you know that my job is aviation related. I used to really enjoy it, but usually not so much anymore (2 more years and I can retired! yay!). But occssionally I have some good days with some nice “perks”…. yesterday was such a day.

I visited an air show at a local glider field. It was actually more of an “open house” then air show, but it did have one BIG attraction: a Junkers JU 52 aircraft was available for sight seeing tours. the flights were booked out in no time.

It just so happened, that the captain was an old time friend of mine, and when he asked if I wanted to come along on the reserve seat in the cockpit, I didn’t hesitate to say YES!

This picture should give you an impression of this bird’s size…..

Some old fashioned equipment….

as well as modern….

We had great weather and the German landscape is quite green after weeks of rain… (that’s the Rhine River by-the-way…)

The co-pilot took this picture of me and “Captain Uwe”..

And then it was time to land…

Today we have rain showers so they probably won’t be able to have any flights, and of course few people visit air shows when it rains. I feel sorry for the organzers (we have FIVE air shows in my immediate area this weekend).

So I had a fun and interesting day yesterday!

Dorrie

Some of you may already know that my mom has been suffering from demenz for some time now. It got so bad soon after my last visit home 2 years ago that she had to put in a care center. Well, a couple of weeks ago she fell and had to have her hip operated on. She’s now in a special care place before returning to the care center. She’ll be 91 on Sept. 1 and they didn’t expect her to walk too soon after the OP, but she is already practicing with her walker! Mom, you go, girl!

She’s lost a lot of weight but seems to be doing well enough. She actually recognised my dad at his last visit, too! He was really happy about that!

And now I got an email this morning that my dad is in the hospital! He’s been having problems for some time with walking because of a pinched nerve in his spine… or at least that was what we thought was the cause. He’s been generally not feeling so well lately, which is understandable with all the problems he has gone through with mom, and having his apartment flooded some months ago!

And now it looks like he has heart problems. There are 3 alternatives for him at his age… 1. continue just using his medication which hasn’t been helping much 2. put a wire up the femaral artery to see what’s wrong and if a balloon can open the flow or 3. open heart surgery! My dad: “You ain’t cutting my chest open!! I want nothing invasive. ” (stubborn ole geezer lol). Anyway, it seems that they have talked him into getting the wire put in so the doc can see what’s really wrong, and then perhaps open heart surgery after all! That decision will be made today….

So, to all those of you who pray… please add my folks! Thanks!

Today I finally got my land-line connected! I longer have to depend on the (slow) computer stick… and it seems to be fast enough (in this small villiage it almost didn’t have internet at all). I took the day off work today so the guy from Telecom could come and do his stuff…. and he got it connected with no problems at all.

The funniest thing is my new number. When I first read the letter with my number, I could hardly stop laughing! And everyone I told it too laughed as well.

Obviously I have a new prefix… no biggy. And the first 3 digits are nothing special: 740 (ok, my son was born in 1974 so that makes it easy to remember). Then the last 4 digits…..

My office: -6015 My home phone: -6015 !!

Honestly, I didn’t request it! And it means that, even after I retire, I’ll still have those digits to remind me of my job! I could probably change it if I wanted, but I think I’ll keep it…. those 4 digits were mine for that past 15 years anyway! lol

I LOVE my new apartment!! It’s coming along fine, still some boxes to unpack. Wheelie did a FANTASTIC job on installing my kitchen. Sorry, no decent pictures yet but I’ll get around to posting some soon, I promise!

I really live in the country now. The farmers are harvesting the fields all around my town. We’re still having a heat wave with temps between 90°-100° F… only one day of very heavy thunder storms in 3 weeks. This is so unusual. So the farmers are harvesting earlier then normal. After a very cold and wet spring, causing some crops to be lousy, it is now hot and dry and the wheat, corn, and other produce are not growing! Looks like price increases coming on…. *sigh*

Well anyway, that’s a “short” update of what’s been going on in my world. Yes, I’ve been reading blogs and even commenting (rarily though), but now I’m back in business…. maybe. The weeks of “abstinence” has kind of killed my motivation to blog….. I just don’t seem to enjoy it anymore. But, maybe it’s just a phase I’m going through. We’ll see….

Dorrie

Yep, I still don’t have a land-line phone and internet connection in my new apartment, but luckily t-com sent me an internet “stick” for free. But it’s not as fast I’m used to and makes surfing a pain. But at least it allows me to stop by and read… maybe even leave a comment.

My apartment is really starting to look great!

Here’s a pic of Regina’s car getting towed away… the day before the movers came!

This is how my kitchen looked the first days….

It’s now finished enough that I was able to cook in it yesterday! yoooohoooo I’ll post more pictures when I get them uploaded….

The heat wave we’ve been having doesn’t make working on things easier. It’s been almost 2 weeks of 30+°C (86°+F), at times near 100°F, weather plus high humidity is so unusual! Just a few weeks ago it was cold and rainy. Germany even had some tornados touching down today and heavy thunder storms here and there….none at my place, though. Air conditioning in some of Germany’s high speed trains broke down, causing temps up to 50°C (122°F) in the trains! Needless to say, there are lots of questions to be answered.

And there’s no air conditioning in my office building. Some people have set up ventilators.

Well, I’ve got more boxes to unpack… today Wheelie managed to get the rest of the kitchen cabinets installed, except for the oven! Yay for Wheelie!

Before I forget….

Wizardress!!

And tomorrow is Regina’s birthday…..

Dorrie

P.S. for some reason the photos aren’t loading….. and I did them the way I ALWAYS did them and tried to edit the post, too. Guess more internet issues… *sigh*

you can see some photos here:

http://www.dorrie.de/me/habitat/Langstadt/LangstadtMoving.htm

Just to keep you folks up-dated….

I still don’t have a land-line phone or proper internet connection. I’m online via a “stick”, one of those mobile USB gadgets you plug into your computer. The internet is slower and not everything loads well. So, I only stop by to check on posts and read here and there. If a site loads well, then I may also leave a comment… it also makes uploading pictures a problem so you’ll just have to be patient!

And I still don’t have a kitchen! LOL That’s a real pain!

I’m back to work since Monday. So far no major disasters in that area….

So, just a short note to let you know I’m still alive and kicking!

Dorrie

Well, hello everyone! I’m BACK! sort of…..

Theoretically the move went well. The movers (5 guys!) took the whole day to take furniture apart, pack things in the trucks, drive to the new place, unpack the truck, and put furniture back together. they did a good, professional job. Many boxes got left in the garage because there was no place to put them.

Luckily it didn’t rain like during the weeks before….. and it hasn’t rained since! In fact, we are now having a heat wave…. between 95°F and 100°F plus humid!! aaarrggghhh This is SO unusual for here. It may be record temps!

I still have so much to do, but my body decided I’ve done enough…. too much lifting, etc., I just don’t have any strength left…. and the heat on top of it all. And since most of my helpers work and have family responsibilities I’m pretty much left on my own, and there is a lot of heavy-duty stuff still needed to do…. like installing the kitchen! Yep, one week is over and I still don’t have a working kitchen! I wash dishes in the bathroom sink, and warm up meals with the microwave. We had to change some arranging of the cabinets because electric cables run through the kitchen wall were the hanging cabinets are supposed to go! What kind of stupid architech (sp) does that! duh… (must have been a man, lol). So that delayed things a bit.

AND, I still don’t have my telephone and/or internet! The company (telecom) sent me a stick for internet usage for 3 months… for free! You see, the company that had the line connected here for the previous recident (aol, ahem) didn’t disconnect when they were supposed to so telecom can’t put my line in yet. So, I’m now using the stick and can finally do some catching up… especially my emails!

Anyway, I thought I’d use this opportunity to let you all know I’ve survived so far. I have to go back to work on Monday (puke). Of course, my office, like my apartment, has NO air conditioning! It’s a luxury that only banks and grocery stores usually enjoy having. So you can imagine how stressful living here is at the moment due to the heat (I still prefer this heat to cold any day!).

The air conditioning in my car decided to stop working as well. And speaking of cars….. I was using my daughter’s car most of the time since it has a huge trunk when the back seats are removed. The day before the movers came, the ignition quit! I was at a local home depot type store and had to get towed to the shop! What timing! aaarrggghhhhh again! It’s repaired now but sure through my schedule off.

Today is the big soccer match between Argentina and Germany at the world championships in South Africa. It’s just now starting on TV. I’m not a fan, but this game is important! Actually, this would be the best time to go to the stores since the streets and shops will be completely EMPTY! LOL

See ya all around…..

Dorrie

P.S. pictures of the move may get posted later…..

It’s this littel “angel’s” 5th birthday today…..

As to other news….. my move is coming along, and once again my living room as a build-in Chinese Wall, just like the picture in the last entry. No matter how many boxes I transport to the new place, they are soon replaced.

But my days are (too) busy in other ways as well.

Last Wednesday after work I drove to Regina’s, picked up the kids and drove with them to my dance class, which they seemed to enjoy. After that I treated them to ice cream for being so good (Regina thought they’d be monsters, but they weren’t!). Then we drove back to Regina’s place (40 min. one way). Regina was taking part on a marathon. Anyway, it wasn’t until midnight before she got home…. and it was POURING rain outside! I got home around 1:00 a.m., after driving through the extreme rain fall which was accompanied by the most beautiful lighting flashes. At times it was as light as day!

After only two hours of sleep, I got up to wash my hair and finally pack my suitcase for the 5 hour train ride to Bremen, located in northern Germany. There I attended a 2-day business meeting. It was nice to re-meet collegues from other authorities around Germany who I’ve met before. We had a great tour of the lovely city after the first day’s meeting…. pictures aren’t uploaded yet but will try to share them soon.

On Friday afternoon, the long train ride back. Thunderstorms had caused so much damage that the train I was on had to make a detour, but one that cut out some stops making the ride shorter then planned.

Yesterday I got some shopping done, then back to packing boxes, in between that relaxind by continueing to ride volumn 4 of the highland sage by Diana Gabledon.

In the evening, Karen had a Bollywood dance performance which I attended. I tried to film her show…. you can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhGrxsFGVjg

And now I’m off to Emely’s birthday party…….. see ya later!

Dorrie

My entries aren’t as often as they used to be, but as most of you know, I’m in the process of moving. Official date when the movers come is June 26, but I’m packing stuff myself into boxes which they will then take. That way I can do some sorting first, besides being a bit cheaper. Since I already have access to my new garage I’m able to bring boxes over there already…. I was getting buried here and had no room for more boxes! This is what my living room looked like until Wheelie and I drove some stuff off this morning….

The weather has finally turned fantastic! The beginning of the week we had low temps around 15°C (59°F) with strong wind and heavy rain (lots of flooding in Eastern Germany and Europe). And today…. 29°C (84°F), dry and almost no wind! Really crazy!

This picture I took on Thursday during a business trip. Sometimes my job has nice perks to it…

The water is not a lake but left over from the heavy rains.

Last weekend Tamara and Emely’s Kindergarten had a fest. I didn’t take many pictures but I just had to share this one of Emely….

Tomorrw afternoon my son has invited us all over to bbq… and asked me to bake an apple pie (his fav desert!). It’s supposed to be hot again tomorrow, but I’ll still bake it. After all, he has to stand next to the hot grill! LOL

Maybe more pics tomorrow….

Dorrie