I know, I know...

I swear, I do go into the city, but country living is so new and fun for me! Just look at this cute little cow, for example....


When they're that young, if you give them them your hand, they kind of suckle the fingers like udders with their toothless little mouths.

Ok, I can see that this is too much country!

Someone else has had my camera for the last week and a half, but I swear I will get pics of the city up soon, and of some other things here that you might like to see. In the meantime, here's a picture of yesterday's breakfast table. Today's was much the same.


Every day's is much the same. Fresh broetchen (little bread, literally), homemade marmalade, cheese, various "meats", which I tend to stay away from, and a cup of tea in a mug from Minnesota.

Speaking of questionable meat, about a month ago, before I knew what it was, I had about 4 tablespoons of the best liverwurst I have ever tasted. Could possibly have been the only liverwurst I have ever tasted. I'm not sure I would have tried it if I had known beforehand what it was, but it was purchased fresh from the farmers' market that morning and was exceptionally tasty. Probably won't eat it again for a while, though.

I am going to the city today to pick up my camera, and promise to have intriguing and scenic shots of things other than cows up soon!

Best wishes from Deutschland.

Fog

As I said before, the sun has vanished. Here are a few pics from Tuesday afternoon:




I hear the Minnesota fall has been spectacular. Enjoy!

Election Day

It's finally here! Or...there. I did send in my absentee ballot, though, so I feel like a part of it even though I'm thousands of miles away!

And this really is an election for the world. People here in Germany are so excited to hear the results, and an overwhelming majority are hoping for Obama. I live in a very Catholic city, and the newspaper had an article this morning urging people to pray for an Obama victory! I also ran into a neighbor yesterday who said he got a new dog and named him Obama! People are really fired up here.

I am going to make chili tonight and settle in front of CNN to watch the early results come in. Unfortunately, with the time difference, I think it will be midday tomorrow before I will know who won!

Moving Picture

My hand was kind of shaky, but this is an extremely typical scene here. It is on the edge of the old town (the old town is behind where I am standing), and I shot this while just standing outside waiting for my brother at about 3:00 in the afternoon. The amount of bikes here still amazes me, but this scene is not one bit uncommon.

Teutoburger Wald

Aengus and I visited the "mountains" yesterday. You can kind of see them in the distance here, behind the windmills:


They are about a 30 minute drive from Muenster. I believe they are the highest point in all of Westfalia, although at only about 1000 feet, they are named for the forest, and not for the mountains.


You can't tell in any of these pics, but it was packed with people - alpine walkers, regular walkers, "real" mountain bikers (as opposed to people riding Hollander bikes in street clothes on flat unpaved paths and calling it mountain biking), and tons of kids and dogs.

The sun was shining for part of the afternoon, which was great, but it soon gave way to more clouds and fog. It was still beautiful, though.



Aengus seemed pretty happy about the trip, and afterward he got to accompany us to dinner at the Nobis Krug to lie by the fire while I ate the best Sahnerschnitzel ever made. It's awesome how accepted and welcome dogs are everywhere here, but I do realize that my love for him borders on obsession!


We're still doing pretty well here. Hope you are well, too. Until next time...

Doldrums

The sun has vanished here, and I don't think she'll shine again until March. Maybe April. It promises to be a long winter, but I have the Weihnachtsmarkt to look forward to. It is a huge outdoor market, not exclusive to Muenster, with booths for food and various gifts, along with gluewein - kind of like mulled wine. The part I am looking forward to most is the feeling of community from all the people standing around socializing together. The Germans have many occasions to get together, but I remember a certain warmth surrounding the Weihnachtsmark, despite the cold and often rainy weather.

I spent the day in Borghorst with Josie today. My German is increasing enough so that I can get the gist of most everything she says. I certainly cannot understand every word, but we do fine. She is practicing her English, too, which is super fun to see.

There hasn't been much reason to take photos for the last few days, so I'll put a couple from last week when the sun was still shining. Aengus and I are still walking every day, but now I'm adept at keeping an umbrella hoisted along the way.




Hope you had a Happy Halloween. It is not a huge holiday here and I only saw 2 people dressed in costumes (they were about 8 years old). I don't much care for Halloween, so I didn't miss it.

More to come soon. Enjoy the weekend.

One more thing for today

This was outside my kitchen window this morning...


So cute! I think she's about 4 weeks old. Her mama and a couple other cows live there, too, but they're often in the next field over. Fun to have them right out the window!