Daughter

Looking through my files I just stumbled upon this picture of daughter. It was taken about 3/4 years ago. 

I have never met a girl with so much spunk and energy and persistence. She is hard to keep up with but I sure am trying.

    

Timber!

The trees in our garden are very, very old. They were old, when I was daughter's age, picking the cherries, now they are ancient.

Some of the trees are so large that it is impossible to get to the cherries, some have been dead for a year or two and they are just standing there sadly.

So, for our mission to spruce up the garden we purchased a chainsaw

  

and husband cut down trees. He got kind of enthusiastic about it and at the end we had more logs to dispose of than originally planned.  

Father's Day

We spent Father's Day in the garden. Husband dug out very stubborn haselnut bushes, cut down trees and dug holes for new rose plants. We've made a lot of progress but the second half of the garden still looks like this. I don't even know where to start. Actually, I am not even trying to walk up there. I bet there are snakes slithering around.

But the cherrys are red...  

in some areas the grass is cut short...

the trees are perfect for climbing...

and we made muffins for husband, with fesh picked redcurrants.

Our Garden

We were in for a shock when we got to our garden yesterday. We hadn't been there in months and the grass was taller than daughter.

But there were also the redcurrant bushes, branches heavy with berries.

Husband was able to finish one quater of the property. Lots more to go.

Daughter's Garden

Daughter's "garden". Amazingly, those plants can survive buckets and buckets of water.

 

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, to the person who helped me get through my first 3 years of military life. The person who made me laugh, when I really didn't have much to laugh about. The person who held son before husband could. The person who introduced me to Starbucks Frappuccino out of bottles (because in the middle of nowhere they didn't even have a Starbucks). The person who had drinks with me on the stairwell, late, late at night when our kids were asleep and we were too exhaused and alone to do anything else.  

Happy Birthday! 

There is a little package on its way to you but since I sent it only yesterday you might have to wait a month or two...:)

   

Queensryche

Queensryche, Geoff Tate, "American Soldier", guitars, guitars, guitars = happy husband. 

Dunkin Donuts

Dunkin Donuts might or might not be a big deal to you, depending on where you live. We don't live anywhere near one. I think the closest one I have seen a few years ago would be in London. Not near at all. Plus you would think that the American ones taste different, better, since nothing tastes as good as the original.

But today, son and daughter did get the original, fresh of a plane coming straight from the States.

Being stuck with a gluten free diet, I am feeling very, very sorry for myself this evening...

Rabbit

One of daughter's friends is going through some very rough times. Miserable times, that no little girl should have to go through. I know that there isn't much we can do but I do believe it helps her to spend a lot of time with daughter. Because daughter is so full of stories and is so eager to share them that, while with her, it is hard to think at all. Period.

This little girl's birthday is coming up and I asked daughter what she would like to give her as a present. After a lot of discussions and looking through toy catalogs she came to me with an idea: "Let's buy her a rabbit," she says. 

"No, absolutely not. No rabbit. The last thing her mother needs is a rabbit," I reply firmly. 

"Well," daughter suggests, "let's buy her a rabbit and when they need help with it, we take it for a few days."   

Right. 

We did get a rabbit, even though it is just a toy rabbit. We got some hay for it to sit on and some marzipan carrots to nibble on. It's as close as we could get to the real thing...

School

Someone is rather pleased with himself.

He was supposed to take an exam today. Last night, about 9pm we both realised that he was not as prepared as he should have been but it was too late to do much about it.

Today, his teacher walked into the class room, apologized for not being able to give the class and told the students to go home early, the exam would be postponed. "What did you guys do?" I asked son. "We partied," he replied. "We screamed and shouted and danced. Then I came home. Where is my food?" 

 

St. Alban, Basel

I must admit that our one and only reason to go to Switzerland last weekend was the van Gogh exhibit. I didn't really expect much of Basel but was pleasantly surprised.

There is an old part of Basel, called "St. Alban", which is located right next to the Rhine river and absolutely charming. I was not the only one taking lots of pictures!

Basel, Switzerland