Family holiday.
So we went and had a stereotypical family holiday in a holiday park over the Carnival mini-break. We had a cute little house with a freestanding fireplace and two tiny bedrooms. ( Read more... )
Memery.
I am only following the instructions:
Ask me for a letter and I'll give you one. Then you can fill out these questions on your own blog.
I was given the letter S by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
frenchani - let's see how challenging this is going to be.
( Read more... )
Ask me for a letter and I'll give you one. Then you can fill out these questions on your own blog.
I was given the letter S by
frenchani - let's see how challenging this is going to be.( Read more... )
Entry tags:
Heronic.
That word in the subject line can't be the correct adjective, but I am keeping it as it is.
My students make up words all the time (knowledgement, degrandable, crowfunding, detaily) so I want some of the neologicalizing goodness.
Under the cut, you will find pictures from our New Year's Day Walk which was a particularly short one this year because one of us was still suffering from a really nasty cold - which manifested on Christmas Eve which is that person's birthday, too. So, not a happy holiday for him.
So we went on a really really short round in the neighbourhood.
( Where the heron lives )
My students make up words all the time (knowledgement, degrandable, crowfunding, detaily) so I want some of the neologicalizing goodness.
Under the cut, you will find pictures from our New Year's Day Walk which was a particularly short one this year because one of us was still suffering from a really nasty cold - which manifested on Christmas Eve which is that person's birthday, too. So, not a happy holiday for him.
So we went on a really really short round in the neighbourhood.
( Where the heron lives )
Mother's Day.
I am a mother, but not the most traditional one.
I couldn't have become one without the help of a male person.
That male person continues to be important in my life and the kid's.
He is the main caregiver for the kid.
And this is why, today, I bring you pictures of them baking a rhubarb-banana cake.
Which happened some time ago and wasn't a special Mother's Day one-time deal present.
( Baking in your pyjamas )
I couldn't have become one without the help of a male person.
That male person continues to be important in my life and the kid's.
He is the main caregiver for the kid.
And this is why, today, I bring you pictures of them baking a rhubarb-banana cake.
Which happened some time ago and wasn't a special Mother's Day one-time deal present.
( Baking in your pyjamas )
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Brandenburg Gate.
So, you've seen the Brandenburg Gate and decided it was a lot smaller than you expected, so apart from its symbolic value when it was closed due to the city being split in half, it's irrelevant which means that you can safely ignore it on subsequent visits?
Yes, that's what I thought.
City marketing made me see the light. (Pun intended.)
( Like this: )
Yes, that's what I thought.
City marketing made me see the light. (Pun intended.)
( Like this: )
Sunday walk.
Only it wasn't a Sunday, it was last Wednesday - when Germany celebrated re-unification and we drove to a small lake close to the border to the Netherlands. There was a brisk walk on comfortable paths around the privately owned lake. In its current form it was created when the local peat bogs were harvested, but the lake itself is much older. Since the 1920s it has been a popular destination for daytrippers - there is even a small motorboat that takes you across the lake if walking all around it proves too much for you. Which even a four-year old can do, with a little bit of whining, but there was a treat at the end: Probably the last time this year that we sat outside eating some ice cream.
( Pictures from the walk: )
( Pictures from the walk: )
Rain.
It feels like autumn now. On the bike ride to school I wear gloves and today in the lunch break I needed an umbrella to supervise the kids playing in the school yard.
This picture was taken on nearly two weeks ago, in the park near our old flat in D-village.
School shopping.
So there I was at the local branch of an international chain selling office supplies because I wanted to buy something I'd seen in their advertising. Yes, I know but the item I was after was a ring binder so ugly that I needed to get it - it is for a special purpose.
Of course the store was swarming with people - school starts here tomorrow or the day after (if it's your first day at school) and there were these confused groups of parents with lists in hand looking for their children and for the various items that they will need for their first day of school. ( Blue is for boys... )
Of course the store was swarming with people - school starts here tomorrow or the day after (if it's your first day at school) and there were these confused groups of parents with lists in hand looking for their children and for the various items that they will need for their first day of school. ( Blue is for boys... )
Entry tags:
When German supermarkets do a British week.
Just for fun,
here is how Aldi Sued do their "Very British" week:
They registered the trademark for "Taste of British Isles"®. They invented a little logo with a coat of arms that features a rose, a dragon, a thistle and a clover which looks like it is printed on a postage stamp with the words "Taste of British Isles" on it. Yes, obviously that is their way of getting away with selling products from the Republic of Ireland, too. Still, I could see why actual British and Irish people might not be very happy about this.
So, what do they sell to the good people of Germany wanting a taste of the British Isles?
Fish & Chips, Baked Beans and Irish meat (lamb and beef) feature on the first two pages.
The next page shows you Traditional Chips wth the flavours Sweet Chili and Salt & Vinegar - guess what, they mean crisps, but as we call them Chips in German they opted for the American term and bottled Buck's Fizz which is described as a spritziger Cocktail.
Then it's time for sweets:
You get three different kinds from the Toffee-Sortiment: Peppermint Crémes, Chocolate & Toffee and Chocolate Caramels; Winegums, Scottish Shortbread Fingers and ice cream that is modelled on after-dinner mints.
Then you get Gallantry Irish Whiskey and on the next page English Tea in German-style teabags in three varieties: English Breakfast Tea, Five O'Clock Tea and Black Tea Clotted Cream - apparently that is black tea with cream flavour. *Shudders*
That same page also has Brotaufstrich: Bramble Jelly, Fruity Orange, Lemon, Old English Orange and Blackcurrant Preserve.
Everything in italics is a direct quotation from the leaflet. The website already has next week's specials, so you can't see bigger pictures there.
here is how Aldi Sued do their "Very British" week:
They registered the trademark for "Taste of British Isles"®. They invented a little logo with a coat of arms that features a rose, a dragon, a thistle and a clover which looks like it is printed on a postage stamp with the words "Taste of British Isles" on it. Yes, obviously that is their way of getting away with selling products from the Republic of Ireland, too. Still, I could see why actual British and Irish people might not be very happy about this.
So, what do they sell to the good people of Germany wanting a taste of the British Isles?
Fish & Chips, Baked Beans and Irish meat (lamb and beef) feature on the first two pages.
The next page shows you Traditional Chips wth the flavours Sweet Chili and Salt & Vinegar - guess what, they mean crisps, but as we call them Chips in German they opted for the American term and bottled Buck's Fizz which is described as a spritziger Cocktail.
Then it's time for sweets:
You get three different kinds from the Toffee-Sortiment: Peppermint Crémes, Chocolate & Toffee and Chocolate Caramels; Winegums, Scottish Shortbread Fingers and ice cream that is modelled on after-dinner mints.
Then you get Gallantry Irish Whiskey and on the next page English Tea in German-style teabags in three varieties: English Breakfast Tea, Five O'Clock Tea and Black Tea Clotted Cream - apparently that is black tea with cream flavour. *Shudders*
That same page also has Brotaufstrich: Bramble Jelly, Fruity Orange, Lemon, Old English Orange and Blackcurrant Preserve.
Everything in italics is a direct quotation from the leaflet. The website already has next week's specials, so you can't see bigger pictures there.
Project.
You might remember me whining about not having a real garden, only a paved yard which doesn't get very much sun because a) it faces north b) it's enclosed by houses and walls.
So, we're never going to live off the fat of the land growing our own vegetables behind the house, but we did a small-scale experiment this year with an apple-crate garden!
( Pics and text )
(Now that I've posted this, the heatwave will kill everything!)
So, we're never going to live off the fat of the land growing our own vegetables behind the house, but we did a small-scale experiment this year with an apple-crate garden!
( Pics and text )
(Now that I've posted this, the heatwave will kill everything!)
Entry tags:
Classic.
Street art version of iconic children's book gangster Räuber Hotzenplotz. Instantly recognisable to most Germans.
The kid calls him Hotzenkotz. It's a lovely series of books by German author Otfried Preußler - a variation on the Kasperl und Seppl adventures from the German versions of the Punch and Judy puppet shows. Apart from the big bad robber who has seven knives and a sword in his belt and the two boys the stories also feature their Grandma and of course policeman Alois Dimpflmoser who is very pompous and slightly useless. Oh and of course, a wizard, Petrosilius Zwackelmann. (Sadly, only two female characters in the first book, Grandma and the Fairy Amaryllis.)
The kid loves the books and the illustrations, but also the old and new film versions and of course, the CDs with the stories that he listens to before he falls asleep. We usually read him a story and then it's time for a CD.
Green.
The one good thing about all the rain we had?
Everything is very green.
On Pentecost Monday (or Whit Monday if that means more to you) we made the drive down to Hesse to visit my father's half-sister. She hadn't seen the kid for ages and it was a very pleasant surprise for her.
After a very traditionally 'home-cooked' meal in a restaurant we managed to spend outside the portion of the day that wasn't full of rain.
( First we walked around a pond: )
Everything is very green.
On Pentecost Monday (or Whit Monday if that means more to you) we made the drive down to Hesse to visit my father's half-sister. She hadn't seen the kid for ages and it was a very pleasant surprise for her.
After a very traditionally 'home-cooked' meal in a restaurant we managed to spend outside the portion of the day that wasn't full of rain.
( First we walked around a pond: )
Where were you when...?
There is this one thing people always talk about in relation to shocking historical events: Where were you when you found out? When the horror struck, when you gradually became aware that this was not some the usual small accident but a significant event?
( Solingen )
( Solingen )