Life: Idiotropic

Carnival season is here. It starts officially, I think, on Rosenmontag (Rose Monday) which is this next Monday, the 19th. That's the day that the big parades happen in Cologne, Maastricht, and other cities in this region. This is the region of Germany where Carnival is celebrated the most.

Costume shops abound though most are open only seasonally. The biggest one in the area is Karnevalswierts in Heerlen, NL -- that's where you can get fabric, buttons, wigs, face paint, fake arms, bells, and a zillions other little things to go with their range of costumes from cows to genies, but there are little shops everywhere and it's a lot of fun just to go there and look.

This is the time when you look sillier if you don't dress up and the stranger, the better.

So, Kirk and I dressed up and went to a Carneval party at the Officer's Club on Friday night.

Kirk went at 6 and enjoyed a full dinner with venison, steak, chicken, fish, and a lot of other food. I had to pick Tiara up from a ballet rehearsal, so I didn't get there until 8:30 and missed all that. Still, I didn't miss dessert and that was pretty good. Later in the night, they served a really good Hungarian goulash soup in the bar and that was a great antidote to the wine I'd been drinking.

The costumes were fun - clowns, Robin Hood, princesses, cats, an African-American German Heidi, knights, Wonder Woman, the Queen of Hearts, and other people from all centuries and places.
Entertainment never ceased, with each act almost pushed off by the next before they'd really finished. A huge group from Aachen came all in intricate costumes with the full pomp and splendour of the royal carneval groups. The band played. The prinz sang. And the others played and laughed, and acted silly. It's really strange to see.

The last band played an Alp horn. Some Alp horns can be a lot bigger, but this one was big enough and it looked difficult to play.

My favorite was Elvis. Wow. And I'm not a huge fan, but this Elvis was amazing. He's French and actually worked with Kirk until a few months ago when he moved back to Paris. He came up though for this party and performed for us all, then left us wanting to hear more.

Anyway... it was nice to get a little glimpse of the culture here. At the end, they all switched to German, I think, thinking that the only people left were Germans. We didn't care. We all had a great time dancing until 1am and laughing at each other. There were a lot of Germans, Italians, Americans, and Canadians there, a couple French, and a lot of Norwegians. I'm not sure what other nationalities were represented, but it was a great mix of people all enjoying themselves, talking together, and having a nice time.

We'll definitely go next year - I'm already thinking up a costume.
Photos: 1)A nice pair of clowns - a very nice older couple I chatted with a bit. 2)A jester with the Aachen carneval singing group 3) Two friends - one, Tiara's teacher as a 50's girl and the other, Kirk's coworker as Heidi. 4) One of the dance troupes 5) The husband of one friend sitting on the lap of another - playfully - just as the husband walked by and they both saw him... a totally innocent, but humorous moment

Tonight, after spending all day cooped up in the house watching it snow and cuddling with two sick kids, I escaped to the Frisbee Club to enjoy a few hours out with friends at the International Women's Club Norwegian Evening.

The ladies had a nice table spread with beautiful brochures from Norway and we were not allowed to enter without being given a couple of them including some information about a cruise. A table on the left was filled with beautiful jewelry and the famous Norwegian sweaters for sale.

Front and center the gift table sat filled with things that the ladies made themselves. Most were knit and all were beautiful. In the center was a kransekake - also handmade. Another table had beautiful clothing hanging above it and beautiful handpainted antiques and dolls giving us a feel for the culture there. Every Norwegian lady there wore her traditional attire. Each region has a slightly different dress, but they still all own them and wear them for weddings and other important events - even now.

The food was wonderful!

Plates of Tjukklefse (a variation of the traditional Lefser) sat on the tables as appetizers. Lefse is a traditional flatbread made of potato, cream, and flour and cooked on a griddle, then filled and rolled up. It varies regionally. The "tjukklefse" that we had is a bit thicker. Ours was filled with butter, cinnamon, and sugar. Soon plates of another flatbread came out. This bread is wafer thin and crispy like a cracker. It's made with barley flour, salt, and water. It came with our soup called Sodd that was so delicious, I ended up getting seconds.

Sodd comes from the middle of Norway, the county of Tronderlag, where it is served for special occasions. The rich chicken broth is filled with carrots, leeks, mutton, tiny pork meatballs, and buljong. Ours was served with boiled potatoes also inside.

Before our dessert we were treated to a nice slideshow with beautiful photos from Norway including some of Norwegian faces smiling from behind a layer of snow covering their red faces, and photos of couples sitting around candles lit inside ice caves. It all looked beautiful, but cold and much like photos of Canada and Alaska.

Dessert and coffee time came and we were told to try every dessert. Ok, twist my arm! We had Kransekake, Kvaefjord kake, Chocolate cake, and cheesecake.

Kransekake, or wreath cake, is a traditional Norwegian dessert usually eaten on special occasions like during weddings or at Christmas. It's formed by making concentric circles of cake and layering them on top of each other to form a steep pyramid. The recipe is below.

The cheesecake was delicious and lighter than the American ones. It was more of a sour cream cheesecake, not as sweet or as heavy as the cream cheese ones. On top was a nice thin layer of strawberry gelatin.

The absolute favorite dessert of the night and the thing that all the ladies raved about was the "Verdens Beste," meaning, the best in the world. This cake is similar to the German bienenstich and is excellent! I got the recipe for this one too! Enjoy!

I had to leave early since the kids had been sick, but it was still a fabulous night. The Norwegian ladies did a beautiful job putting the evening together.

The recipes: These were translated from Norwegian to English and then I've changed a few things to make it more readable, but it's late and I'm tired, so it's still a bit oddly worded. Still, be patient. The cake is excellent and worth the effort and a bit of trial and error.

Mix 100 grams butter and 100 grams sugar, then stir in 4 egg yolks. Sift 100 grams flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar together with 4 tablespoons milk into the sugar/butter mixture.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the dough onto it.

Whisk 4 egg whites until stiff and then stir in 200 grams sugar. Lay the meringue on top of the dough and sprinkle 100 grams sliced almonds on top. Bake in the oven at 175Celcius for about 30-35 minutes. Cool on rack.

For the cream, whisk 2 egg yolks, 1 T. sugar, 1.5 T. cornflour, and 2 dl (oops... deciliters? I'd better start looking for some conversions!) milk in a large bowl on the stove. Boil it carefully while stirring all the time. Cool down. Mix this with slightly sugared whipped cream (2.5 dl cream plus 1 T sugar).

Assembly: Cut the cake in two similar pieces horizontally (to fill it). Spread the cream on the bottom layer, then place the meringued half on top with the meringue face up.


(I'm writing this recipe down as is... it obviously will need some clarification... I'll try to get that soon.)

Mix:
250g almonds with
250g almonds without
500g powder sugar
3 egg whites

Mix the above until a fest dough. Spray the forms well and put some flavour in them. (I think that means grease and flour the forms) Roll the dough as a 1cm thick sausage and fill the forms. (Or make concentric circle printouts with your computer. Bake on oven at 180C until the rings are golden (approx. 15 minutes).

Mix 100g powdered sugar and 1 egg white. Spray the icing between each ring to stick them together. Decorate with more frosting and candies as desired.

Today I woke up to a beautiful blanket of snow over everything that just made the day magical and gorgeous as I drove with 6 other ladies in the van up to Dusseldorf to attend a coffee at the American Consular General's house.

This was a follow up to the tea that I attended in December with the Consular General's wife at the club here at the base.

Our morning was beautiful, so I was sorry that I didn't have time to take pictures of the snow covering everything. The drive was easy though and in just over an hour, we arrived at the modest white house right next to a restaurant and at the edge of a forest. It looked like anyone's house - behind a little gate, but nothing overly dramatic.

Still, there was a little hut in the restaurant parking lot across the street with a large police van parked next to it and two police men standing around watching. A nicely dressed man opened the gate for us. Another staff member opened the door. The gardens are simple, but beautiful as is the house and it's insides as well.

The house was beautiful inside and filled with interesting art and small antiques. It was warm and comfortable without any hint of ostentationsness. It could have been my mother's home or the home of a friend. The details stood out though... painted panels from Russia, a nice grouping of photos on the grand piano, an interesting lamp...

Mrs. Boyse welcomed us in very warmly and a nearby maid held a tray with orange juice and water. There were probably 35 women there representing American Women's Clubs all over the area.

After about 10 minutes, she got our attention, showed us the room filled with coffee, tea, and an array of desserts as delicious as they were beautiful, then set us loose to relax and mingle as she quietly moved about the room and brought women together to make connections between sister groups. Maids scurried around refilling our cups of coffee and tea. We sat properly and soaked up the ambiance while chatting together.

I met a lot of amazing people and it showed me a bit of a world that I didn't know existed to this extent. The American Women of Cologne have over 300 members. The American Women of Dusseldorf, have, I think, around 150. Until now, I had no idea that there were quite to many Americans living here. Some have husbands who work here with international companies. Some are "lifers," married to German men.

But, we were all ladies, so we talked about kids, and family, and how much we miss good Chinese food, Boy Scouts, and where to find pumpkin puree outside of a military base.

By the end, we'd made a lot of connections. I'm getting information on our 4th of July celebration as that's something that they've missed and we're inviting them all to the anniversary celebration of our AWACS unit. They invited us to the Rosenmontag celebration in Cologne at the Hard Rock Cafe. I'm sorry to be missing that one.

Now we're going to meet quarterly which is exciting. I'm glad to be a part of this group. It really was an honor to be included and it feels good to meet people and make some connections for the other women here. It's going to be a good thing for all of us.

I really don't feel like anything has "gone back to normal" since the holidays and our trip to Paris. Since school started back up, it's all been a blur and a blurry blur at that.

Still, I try to find a little quiet here and there. These photos are from a nice cold evening that we decided to get out of the house and play a bit. Arianna climbed a tree - quite high and sat there for a while smiling casually like climbing a tree was the most natural thing in the world until she almost fell out of it trying to get down. Her little feet slipped swaying back and forth as she clung tightly to the branch above with both arms. She was hollering that she was scared and I was running back and forth hollering at Kirk to rescue her while he dashed here and there trying to get through the bushes and get to her. It's easier for a little girl to climb a tree than a big man. I've yet to see if she'll chance that again the next time we go to the playground. My guess is that she will - she's pretty determined.

This morning was the precursor to the BIG spaghetti fest that we've been building up to this last month with the yearbook staff. I had to pick up some face paint at the Karnevalwierts, so I grabbed a couple ladies that are new to the area and we made a morning of it exploring the T'Loon shopping mall in Heerlen. Before a mid-shopping coffee break, I went out to my car. An older couple flirted with Elise. I understood them a little and answered back in my limited Dutch. Then I saw them looking at my car as I walked to it. A minute later I turned around to see the lady standing right behind me. We talked for a while - they were so nice. She's Greek, but has been married to her Dutch husband living in The Netherlands for over 50 years. She speaks Greek, Dutch, and German. Her husband spoke a little English, so we talked a bit. They were curious where we were from. Something about this mall. Every time I go there, I meet a very nice older person who is drawn to Elise and communicates with us in some way. It's nice. And every time I end up leaving smiling and feeling happy that I've had one of those moments again when the kindness of the people here shines through.

The afternoon was filled with errands, running here and there, then we assembled at the school to set up for a potential 400 hungry spaghetti eaters. The kitchen staff was busy. I'd never seen such a huge pot of spaghetti noddles in all my life - it was really kind of fun to watch.

My student staff of 12 6th graders made us all proud as they set up, cleaned up after people, helped people carry drinks, smiled, and just pitched in whenever they were needed.

We'd been collecting monetary votes to elect two people for a spaghetti eating face off and those cans sat out until the last minute. Donated baked goods were sold. Face painting and fun place mats with crayons made it fun for the younger kids.

Starting at 5 and finishing up at 7, we finished off our evening with a skit by the yearbook staff (Tiara's on my staff, of course and she did great), a handless spaghetti eating pre-event by 4 yearbook staffers who challenged 4 eager audience members. Then, the Rocky music played while the General and 4 other base leaders came up to the stage to hear the final count. The General and one of the squadron commanders ended up demolishing a HUGE plate of spaghetti with meatballs in front of a excitedly cheering crowd. I circled carefully with my camera. The yearbook staffers stood on the back of the stage ready with warm towels for clean up. Then the General started flinging saucy pasta at the kids with his mouth. Our other contender was so focused, he didn't look up from his plate once - not even when the general finished and threw his empty plate at him.

The event was fun and ended up being a huge success. We are all happy and very relieved that it was over. Now I can focus on the book itself.

So, we profited over $2300 making each yearbook go from $20 each to $7.

Tiara is participating in Odyssey of the Mind this year. OM is an international educational program that encourages students to creatively solve problems and then bring those solutions to competitions on local, state, and world levels.

This is the first year she's done it, but it's been fun. On Mondays they do quick work on their own and in groups given certain tasks and materials to accomplish something specific. On Wednesdays and Sundays she meets with her team to work on their big project for the competition in Heidelberg in a couple weeks. The teams are chosen according to birthdays, so Tiara, being the youngest 6th grader, is grouped with a fourth grader and two fifth graders on her team. It's been a challenge for her just to negotiate those personalities and to assert herself a bit, but it's a good experience. Here she is trying to build a structure using two golf balls and 10 index cards.

This morning I took a couple of ladies who have just moved here recently to Sittard. They are both in that new stage, getting moved into their houses and not quite comfortable driving around the area yet, so I showed them a few things. We parked near the market where I park three days a week for ballet and walked down Putstraat directly to Bagels and Beans for a nice visit with coffee, bagels, and date pie. It was fabulous as always. Every one that I take there goes back and Lillian, the owner, is very nice.

After that we walked around the market. I needed to get cheese, so we found my favorite cheese guy and stood in line. The pesto gouda I get is absolutely amazing. I love it. Elise kept eating the samples of Gaas Kaas - the cheese made from the first milking of last summer - in June of 2006. It was a bit oranger than most Gouda's and very good. We also picked up a regular Oude Gouda and a wheel of Camembert - my new favorite since Paris. My friends wanted to look at purses, so we stopped and the purse seller gave Elise and her friend marshmallow sticks. Marshmallows are very popular in the Netherlands. They are not white and squared off like ours, but in a rainbow of pastel colors and in different shapes and sizes. Some are dipped in colored sugars. Some are twisted together. Some are strung on sticks like kabobs. These were pink and yellow twists and the girls ate them up very quickly. Candy is passed out a lot more here than in the States. People are always giving candy and chocolates to children.

As we were leaving passing by the back of the fabric vendors, we saw a sweet Basset Hound. And, as soon as we saw her, she saw us, stopped in her tracks, then ambled to the very edge of the platform and leaned her nose so far out that I worried she was going to fall down. We pet her for a few minutes. Elise wasn't scared a bit even when the dog sniffed her face.

Next on our tour was the Rousseau chocolate shop in Sittard on Langs De Heij. Once again I took my tourists through the factory, talked to the man who owns and runs it, watched the people make the Easter chocolates and write on large tablets with white chocolate. The lady writing asked if we'd like a taste and squirted out a generous ribbon of creamy white chocolate onto each of our fingers. Elise got her usual chocolate "lolly," and my friends shopped and sampled their goodies in the car on the way home Mmmmm-ing all the way.

From there we did the BisBis - the Dutch junk store/Goodwill type place. I found an antique iron for 5 Euros that is full of personality and an old sled. What a deal! Today both ladies called wanting directions both to the chocolate shop and the thrift shop so they can go back.

So, that was our morning. Just as we were leaving the market, the first, tiniest flakes of almost imperceptible snow came floating down. When we got home, a light white dusting lay all over the fields. It was our first snow.

That afternoon we had our first swim lessons - ever for two.

Arianna and Luci started for the first time ever and both did very well. Arianna, with no fear or trepidation, went right in and swam with Chris. Luci played in the little pool for ten minutes refusing to swim, but slowly, she warmed up to Stephanie, and once Stephanie allowed her to dump a bucket of water over her head, she was in. Luci swam well also and both girls played afterwards in the little pool. Elise played the entire time. She is very happy in the water. Tiara swam too. I think she's happy to be back in the water again.

Since Storm Kyrill sadly cancelled our International Women's Club USA 50's Night last Thursday, we quickly rescheduled for the only date this week that was available - Wednesday. I got the word out quickly and made sure all our volunteers could be there and our party was on!

Photo: My team! I'm the one in the middle with the pink glasses! Tiara wasn't there for the photo, but she was a great help too!

The decorations were amazing! Dani bought old 45 records and painted the centers light pink, then hung them from the ceiling. She also hand painted a doorway and hung a retro screen for people to walk through. One of our members brought old photographs from her dad's high school years and old high school letters to put up. Twisted pink and black streamers lined the dance floor and went up from the center of the tables to the ceiling.

Andrea's husband used to be a DJ, so he put together an amazing collection of music from the 50's, brought his own stereo equipment and set up the entire sound system complete with Grease playing on the screen in the background muted.

We found retro candy online and had Beeman's gum, Bit-o Honeys, candy cigarettes, tootsie rolls, and a ton of other candies on the tables along with a song list from our DJ, a Diner Menu card, and a Good Housekeeping article from 1955 on how to be a good wife.

Kim Rex was supposed to sing the National Anthem acapella last Thursday, but didn't think she'd still be here. She had tickets to fly back to the US today. And then her son's passport got lost, so she was able to come and sing for us. The Anthem was beautiful. Some of the ladies there had never heard our National Anthem sung. One woman told me she thought it was just music and had never heard the words.

A very nice group of American ladies did all the serving. We brought out pickles in bowls, then trays of lettuce and cheese to the tables. Each tables had a bottle of ketsup and mustard just like a restaurant would. Then we brought plates with burgers and onion rings. When everyone was served, I explained what a root beer float is and Kim did a demo so that we didn't have root beer all over the tables. Then ladies came out with a bottle of root beer for each person and glasses of ice cream.

Jeff played music during dinner. At 8, we had the hula-hoop contest - something that I'd previously thought would go quickly, but there were some VERY good hula-hoopers in our group and it wasn't until I made them hula two hoops at a time that we finally got a winner. Then Kim Lynch and her daughter got up and taught us all the Stroll and the Hand Jive and we all danced for a while.

All in all the night was a success with a lot of great feedback. The only glitch (and quite a big one) was that the club inadequately cooked some of the burgers. We were able to get those quickly switched out thanks to my great help and the club manager was alerted to an unknown end as of this posting.

1. Put one scoop of vanilla ice cream in a tall glass
2. Slowly pour root beer over the ice cream until the glass is full
3. Enjoy with a straw or a spoon

In my naivety I foolishly thought that having more children in school would increase my amount of free time. HA.

Today my girls and I, for one hour of the day, were spread out in 4 different places... Luci at ballet, Arianna at Daisy's, Tiara taking sewing lessons, and Elise with me at a yearbook adult-staff meeting.

I'm about to paint my van yellow and black and put a brightly lit sign on top, but then I might get mistaken for a mail truck... they're yellow here. Come to think of it, the taxi's don't stand out as much. The one I've taken since I've lived here was a very normal looking blue BMW.

Still, I can certainly put taxi-driver on my resume now.

Well, Kyrill came and went on Thursday night creating quite a racket through the night and some strong wind the following day, but in our area, it was pretty uneventful. Tinny reported that Monschau didn't fare as well with most of the basements completely flooded, but that stands to reason given it's valley location near a stream.

On Friday night I had the pleasure of attending wine club. I'm not a member as of yet, but a friend was hosting it, so I went and brought a couple goodies to help out. We were spoiled with a wonderful selections of Bordeaux reds and whites and some very good foods. My favorite was the coffee served with a champagne liqueur from Monschau that was absolutely delicious. I don't drink wine much although I do enjoy it and it's better here. Though I still have a fondness for Oregon wines, the wines here are a lot less expensive and very good.

On Saturday we made a movie. Arianna, for two weeks now, has been begging to make a real movie. NOW. She was so heart broken the first time she asked to make her movie and the answer was "not now". We had to make a script, we had to find costumes, and we had to charge the video camera. The next week, she wasn't getting any further with her play idea although convinced that "she knew how to do it." So, on Saturday, she asked to play dress up. Then she got into costume and asked Tiara to do her makeup. So, completely ready, she came to Kirk and I again. "Is the battery charged, Kirk?" "Yes." "Bring it down in five minutes... it's time to make a movie."
Arianna told us what we would do. I was assured a short scene with one line. We all got into costume. Luci was going to be the mean lady, but when it came time for the mean lady to carry off Marie Kitty, Luci realized that she couldn't pick up Arianna and didn't think that dragging her by the collar was convincing enough. So, all of the sudden, Luci got the one line, and I became the mean lady with no script, so I had to improvise.

Scene 1: Morning came. Tiara, the maid, dusted the furniture. Luci, the owner, fed her sweet Marie Kitty (Arianna). Then, while Marie ate, the Mean Lady (me) swooped in to catnap her. Just then another little kitty (Elise) wandered unscripted into the scene, so the Mean Lady grabbed one kitty under each arm and carried them off to her dog-infested castle.
Scene 2: At the Dog-Infested Castle, the Mean Lady interrogates the frightened kittens looking for the secret recipe for Meow mix and where all the tastiest salmon are.
Scene 3: The kind maid finds the castle and comes into save the kittens. She fights the Mean Lady who falls to the floor moaning. The maid rescues Marie Kitty, but the little kitten runs to the Mean Lady who is melted by her kindness and they all live happily ever after.
Scene 4: It is Christmas. Marie opens presents. All is well.

Saturday was also the day of the freak hail storm that caught Kirk coming out of the woods. He was out for a walk while the girls clung to me in a very rare thunderstorm. The clouds rumbled for 20 minutes or so before it all broke loose the in 5 minutes the previously dry ground was covered in white dime sized hail balls. And, Kirk had just come out of the woods about then, walking through the farm fields wondering why the ground was so crunchy. It's the shoes. My previously fashion-uninterested man is now going absolutely bonkers over Lands End shoes, shirts, etc... So, it was hailing and he didn't feel a thing except the crunch.

Sunday was Tongeren Day for me! I picked up Holly at 0630 and we drove the one hour to Tongeren, Belgium arriving when is was still quite dark out. It would have been nice to have a flashlight. The wind was cold and biting and it spit rain on and off, so the crowds were very low. The vendors were a little more sparse as well, but the people that were there seemed a bit friendlier than usual.

Going to Tongeren is a bit addictive. I absolutely love it and would go every week if time and money allowed. The amalgamation of the old town gate and wall with all the little treasure shops tucked around it and the sidewalk vendors lining the sidewalks and streets with every possible aged object engage me. It all seems so story-like and the characters sitting on the back of their trucks have as many stories as the wares they sell. Going to Tongeren is a bit like an open area museum in which you can touch everything. Last time I'd gone I found a piece of Steuben glass that I can still clearly remember. This day, walking along casually looking about the randomness on each table, I found an another amazing glass vase - just sitting there in the middle of an unimpressive assortment of old stuff. I will have to look online to find out more about it, but it was truly special and signed. I got to pick it up, turn it in my hand, and feel it's weight. Then I asked the price. 1300 Euros. And probably worth more. Though it would be fun to decorate my home with all the Tongeren treasures, it is also a privilege just to be able to pick up and touch some of these things that could easily be placed in a museum behind glass.

The photo below is the storefront of a shop right behind a sidewalk antique vendor. It caught my eye and Holly thought it was quite artsy, so I took the photo. Kind of fun to play with.

Holly and I both had fun rummaging through a box of old carved mahogany pieces once used as stamps for type set. I got KT TALES - our initials and will put on a little shelf on the wall. I also found some beautiful hand-stitched, red leather children's cricket balls and later a nice pair of black, carved, wooden shoes with writing inside. On the way back towards the car I saw the chandelier I liked before. It's small, but the strings of crystals are all tied to form a basket with the bulbs inside it. It stood out from the others there, and the price was negotiable, so I think I got a deal on it.

On that same stretch was a man with a counter on which he had some wine glasses and several bottles of wine. He was clearing out a wine cellar. Two bottles of an 1950's French Bordeaux, he sold for 600E each. We had the pleasure of chatting with him and sipping on a 1996 Bordeaux that he was selling for just 30E a bottle. I would have gotten a couple, but he was selling it in a lot of 300 bottles. But these are the fun characters at Tongeren - friendly, open, without presumption. He chatted with us for a good 10 minutes and then invited us to come back for a nice glass later if we had the time.

After dumping our stuff in the van, we went for lunch in an old smokey cafe full of people. The only table left was a large solid round table that would have easily seated 8. We were two, but we sat and invited the group of Dutch coming in after us to join us. They'd purchased a rather comic clown for a friend as a joke. The lunch was light and nice. Cappuccino and a croque monsieur.

From there, Bab's place was just around the corner and I hadn't been in there since I picked up my trunk, so we stopped in.

Babs Nelemans is a petite blond woman in her 70's. She's from Belgium, but is Dutch as she would have you know and has probably smoked at least 3 packs a day for the last fifty years. Her place is thick with smoke, but her spunkiness is fun and she enjoys telling you about the furniture she has in her shop and her customers - many of whom have become friends. She loves to name drop and tells us of all the crates she ships to America and the houses she's flown to in the US to decorate.

She remembered us. Holly's eyes went big the second she walked through the door and saw the 19th c French farm table. I knew she'd be going home with it. The long table had a long drawer at the end that Bab's described as the baby drawer saying that a family would sit down for dinner and put the newborn in the drawer at the end. While Holly stepped out to call her husband, Babs offered me a glass of wine and we sat and talked at Holly's new table. Before we left I reached up on top of an 19C Austrian trunk to get down a dove decoy that had caught my eye. "Do you like it?" came the husky voice with the Dutch accent. "Yes, it's very serene." "Then it's yours, darling. Take it." And it was gifted to me along with its pair. As we walked out and said goodbye, both Holly and I got hugs and three kisses (the Dutch way) from Babs. I think we've made a new friend now.

An aside: Holly picked up her table on Friday with her German landlord. When she tried to pay, Babs said, "we don't pay here," and they all went to the smokey cafe that we'd gone to before for lunch - a long 90 minute lunch with coffee and cognac. Babs and Mike (the landlord) got talking and realized that Mike had bought a lamp from Babs 30 years ago. They both remembered and Babs was able to describe the lamp and the price paid for it! Amazing!


My Monday -

Some days are just strange. Today was normal in some respects and frightfully busy, but among that business were two sights I'd never seen.

The first: I was on the phone with a friend standing in my upstairs office window looking out like I often do when on the phone when I saw two men, dressed entirely in black, bring a body zipped up in bag, out from the apartment and put it in the hearse parked on the street. I know that these things happen, but it was weird to see. Tinny told us that he was an old Dutch man who wasn't in good health. We'd seen him looking out his window some evenings. I wish now that I would have waved. On the positive note, according to Tinny who is very practical in these matters and not at all insensitive as it would seem, there is now a very spacious apartment available immediately if we perchance, know of someone looking for a space to rent.

The second (and less morbid): Today while walking out of the Sittard markt, I saw a bicycle go by. It was a normal looking adult bicycle in most respects except that it had very large sturdy training wheels on it! I didn't get a good look at the rider, but the bicycle was interesting.

We knew Tiara was special when she wanted me to make sushi for her 6th birthday and a couple years later we were taking her to a nice Japanese sushi place for another birthday and pretty much anytime I asked her what I should cook, "sushi" was her first response.

In Paris we ate at a Japanese restaurant that served amazingly delicious food and there, another sushi lover was born. This time, Arianna, for whom I'd ordered only cooked food, decided that Kirk's tuna sashimi and California rolls were better. She loved it.

So for two weeks she begged.

Me: "Arianna, what would you like for breakfast?"

Aria: "Sushi!"

(5 Minutes later, 20 minutes later, 2 hours later, the next day, repeat) Aria: "Mom, can you make sushi now?"

Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack all had the same request. Tiara was always smiling and jumping in the background.

So a few days ago, we made the sushi rice which is really the only time consuming part of sushi making. Then I showed Tiara and Tiara taught Kirk and we all made sushi together. Elise and Luci had plain rice. The only thing that was missing was the pickled ginger that I couldn't find at the store, but it was still good.

We will grill some tuna for them next time since it was such a hit and get a little fancier with our fillings.

Sushi sound complicated, but it is very easy and not a problem to make at home. The only trick is that you really need the bamboo mat, but get yourself to an Asian market and you can find one very inexpensively. I don't use raw fish at home for obvious reasons, but grilled fish leftover from the night before and imitation crab are great. The Japanese friend who taught me how to make sushi used tuna from a can and that worked great too although grilled whole tuna is much better.

• Place saran wrap over your bamboo mat to prevent mess and to keep your mat clean.
  
• Put the seaweed wrapper on the mat. I usually put the fold facing up so it rolls easier.
• Spread a thin, but even layer of sushi rice over the surface of the seaweed leaving just a 1/2" area clear on both vertical ends.
• Place your ingredients of choice horizontally along the center of the rice.
• Using the mat, begin at the end closest to you and slowly roll your creating being careful not to get the saran wrap into it.
• Before you get to the end, lightly wet the rice-free end with water to make it tacky.
• Finish rolling and squeeze tight.
• Slice as desired.
• Serve with wasabi, pickled ginger, and soy sauce

Today was supposed to be a busy day with a Chinese New Year's party, the girl's first day of swimming lessons, and my much-stressed-about USA night for the IWC.

But, in the middle of baking the "world's ugliest fortune cookies" with a group of sixth graders, we got the announcement that we needed to hurry because the school was closing early. Then my cell phone rang telling me to pick Luci up by noon. Then I got a half dozen other calls from people.

The entire base was shutting down by order of the General.

I celebrated a rushed Chinese New Year with Tiara's sixth grade class eating fried rice, crab Rangoon, Chinese chicken salad, pot stickers, and a couple other nameless items under the sea of red paper lamps the kids made the day before.

I picked up Luci and tried to contact the club about tonight. Mr. Snackers wasn't there. So I tried to run a couple errands on base, but all the offices were closing. I couldn't even get the mail.

At home it was a barrage of phone calls trying to figure it all out. We ended up getting the word out to all the IWC members that our dinner was postponed until next week. It's a bit of a logistical nightmare, but I think we'll make it work with just a few glitches. I'm glad we have the weekend to tweak things a bit.

Anyway, the wind has picked up. Aachen declared a state of emergency and shut the city down bracing for the storm. The Deutsche Bahn train company stopped all trains across Germany. Police started closing off some roads in Geilenkirchen and telling people to stay home and indoors. The only people on the roads were going home.

Tinny had brought in all the toys and put a tarp over the metal grate leading to our basement with bricks stacked over it. I closed all our rolladn protecting our windows from flying debris.

One German news report called it Kyrill, naming this system that's bringing 105MPH winds - hurricane force winds - all across Northern Europe from England to the Czech Republic. So far there have been over 20 fatalities.

Kirk paced earlier worrying about this storm. He understands it enough to worry. Everyone is taking this seriously - with the exception of a couple Canadians that I talked to. They are so nonchalant about the weather.

The wind is gusting loudly outside shaking the rolladn fiercely. It's a wonder that anyone in the house is asleep.

When we moved to Missouri and we experienced our first tornado sirens, I learned that calm weather is not necessarily a good thing. The weather can be scary, and then that wonderful, peachy sky calm that comes, is sometimes just the moment you're sitting in the eye. So you think it's over and look out the window before the other half hits.

That was the time that Kirk and I were laying on the trampoline outside at our neighbor's house watching the electrical storm flicker across the sky and listening to the sirens on base just a mile away. We weren't real smart.

So, this week, that's where I am, laying on the trampoline in the eye. Last week was crazy running a mile a minute and trying to keep up on projects and catch up on household stuff. This week I should be crazy, but I feel remarkably calm.

Yesterday we had the first truly gorgeous day since we'd been in Paris. It was sunny and blue. People were out in herds - literally. After church in the morning we drove out to Schinnen to get some groceries and every little path through the fields was filled with people on foot, on bike, and on horse, with kids, with strollers, and with dogs. People were everywhere. There is something very uplifting about seeing people walking outside on a sunny day. It just means that life is good.

So, when we got home, we met some friends and walked through the forest near our house for a while. It felt great. The little ones loved it. Tiara and Hadley found a stream to splash in and started making summer plans to take their bikes there and then ride to the ice cream shop. There were masses on the trails. Groups of 10-20 people standing at path intersections chatting - kind of like Walmart on a Friday night in Warrensburg, MO, without the big yellow smiley faces.



We saw our favorite punk rock cows, and being the friendly beggar bovine that they are, and thinking we might have stale bread, they took one look at us and started a full run towards the fence at us. It was adorable, their long bangs blowing in the wind like a 1970's Tampax commercial (sorry folks, that's the visual in my sleep deprived mind and it works).

Yeah... best to end it there. :)

Life is just good. Today was another sunny day. We're all uplifted with a good dose of Vitamin D, a little thing that makes a tremendous difference. The girls are all happy and though it's still cold, it feels great to be outside.

I would love to be finishing up the Paris trip. That will get wrapped up this weekend - I promise.

January has just started full steam ahead with very little time to do anything extra. Yearbook is in full swing with a big fundraiser the first of February that we still have to do a lot of work for. I'm working with the students on the books and getting all their information together. My IWC US night is next Thursday, so I'm trying to get all those details together so the night goes off well. On Tuesday we had some dance lessons so we can do some of our 50's dances without looking silly. Some days I leave in the morning and don't come home until bedtime between volunteer stuff and the kid's activities.

So, I'm not complaining. I'm blessed and I love my life and all the things I choose to fill my time with, but it does leave for a tired me and a few days without blogging, which, is my therapy and relaxation, so I'll get to it soon.

I hope all is well with all of you.

A couple nights ago while cuddling with Elise and trying to get her to settle down, I began to think how marvelous it would be to have a big bag of light green ping pong balls at my side. The next night I laid there armed with a nice round red plastic tomato. Last night I had plastic grapes.

Thankfully, I haven't had to use them yet and I am still on the lookout for those ping pong balls. So that, while trying to get the three little ones to bed, I can just gently lodge a ping pong ball in the direction of the popping, snapping, clicking, kicking child across the room so that the gentle tap of the harmless ball can act as a firm reminder that her mother is in the room and it's time to be quiet.

May be it's just the long vacation and being out of the routine, but the strange nighttime noises are pretty much driving me crazy. Elise will be almost asleep when I hear a wall-shaking YAWN. My reflexive reaction is SHHHHHHH. The reply is always, "I was yawning!" said in the loudest whisper possible.

I know it's a phase. They won't do it when they are 16. I hope. So the problem now is just making it that long without losing my sleep-deprived mind.

(Update: The ping pong dreams have not subsided. At least 1/3 of the nights, I lay there with three little girls loudly whispering questions to me like, "what are we going to do tomorrow," "Can I have a fruit roll-up in my lunch," and "Pssst, Mom, can I have a pony someday?" Shh. Shhhh. Shhhhhh. The other night I did resort to tossing a beanie baby across the room at Luci. It kind of worked - for a couple seconds anyway. Let me know if you find any green ping pong balls.)