Random stuff and wedding random stuff

I got a package from my mom today which included some pictures from my brother's wedding. There were some pictures of me and Dave and two of me and my siblings in a silly pose. I really like them all (Thanks mom!).

Me and Dave are trying to figure out who is going to take pics at our wedding. Dave has a very nice camera but he kind of needs to be in the wedding. The next person to come to mind is Cat but I also require her to be in the wedding. I'm not sure how much it would cost to pay someone and I'm not sure I want to know especially since things tend to be more expensive over here and a photographer is general not cheap. I'm sure we'll figure something out but any suggestions is also greatly appreciated.

Next weekend is a four day so me and Dave are going to start looking for places for the wedding. I'm thinking maybe somewhere in the Black Forest and Dave is thinking maybe we can try the "Cinderella" castle. We'll probably pick a few spots and see what we can get.

On other random stuff news, my garden is doing well. So far we've enjoyed radishes, spinach, and lettuce. This is all stuff that grows quickly and in cool weather.

Once when I was younger and had a garden, my dad bought some lettuce to grow. Well, instead of heads of lettuce, we ended up with like 3' lettuce stalks with few leaves. That seemed an awfully unnatural state for lettuce and I avoided growing lettuce afterwards. Though since I've learned that in hot weather (say South Carolina summers for example) lettuce bolts. Bolts means the lettuce goes to seed and when does it grows into a tall stalk (which means I didn't have mutant lettuce to my great relief). Germany weather is great for lettuce. We have the loose leaf kind so when we want a salad we just pick some leaves off and they grow back.

The spinach I grew for Dave because he told me that he liked to make spinach salads. Well, I learned that I liked spinach too. Spinach is definitely one case where growing it is better than what you can buy in the store. Even the baby spinach is pretty bland from the store. I also find spinach is better on hot sandwiches that lettuce because while hot, wilted lettuce is just gross, spinach actually taste good that way.

Residence in Wuerzburg

When Dave was looking for a job in Germany (I think this was in March), we went to see the Residence in Wuerzburg. It was beautiful. Unfortunately, they don't allow pictures be taken of the inside. That sucks because I would have really liked to show you some of the awesome stuff there is to see. It was still cold when we went so there wasn't much growing in the garden, but we got some nice pictures. This first one is of the palace from a raised area in the garden:
This place is enormous and so is the garden. We plan on seeing it again sometime in the summer.


I really liked this next pictures because these two ducks are really cute. Since it was cold, they had their bills stuffed into their features:



This last picture is of two silly ducks, but they are still cute together too:

Awwwww....

Random Bits of Germany

I've been driving in Germany for a couple of months. Now, many of the road signs are similar to those in the US. Others I remember from my Germany drivers course and many I don't remember but are intuitive enough that I can figure them out. Then there is this sign:
Does it mean "Frog crossing", "Yield for frogs", "Caution: slippery when frogs", "Froggy weather possible" or as Dave suggested "Danger: killer frogs". I'm sure this sign makes perfect sense to Germans, but it is one of the great mysteries of Germany to me. Then I saw this sign:
I fondly like to think this version means "Holy Crap! Frogs!"
This is one me and Dave saw for the first time together. Wow, I was joking about the slippery when frogs suggestion, but now I'm wondering. Seriously, there is only so many ways a sane person could interpret this sign and all of them imply slipping and frogs. I'm speechless now.

Wedding Date

The date is set for September 5th. Start saving up for plane tickets :-). Now I just need to find a dress and a place to have it. Know you, minor details.

Gochsheim Finds

This is the last post for today. In Gochsheim village was where the next flea market I went to after the Kaltenhof one. It was pricier but nicer stuff too. I fell in love with this cabinet.

If what the guy told was true then this was a washing cabinet from the 1890s. It is pine construction with walnut veneer and a marble top. I paid 280 euro for it which is alot for one piece but I really like. Dave likes it too. It is at the end of the hall and I think I will store extra towels and stuff in it. Dave likes to use it to set his keys on. I will have to get some bowl or basket for that.
Here is a spinning wheel for yarn. I got it for obvious reasons. It was either 20 or 30 euro. I picked it because I liked the wood. He said it was the oldest one he had. It was crusted with enough dirt for me to believe it. It's pretty small so I wonder if it was for a child or if they are just made in this size. I can tell there has been at least one repair to it. It's definitely a nice display piece if nothing else.
This is an etched picture of two boats. It was 5 euro. This is my dad's influence on me because he really likes boats and I thought this picture was cool. That reminds me, I finally read the book "A Voyage for Madmen" (I think that is what it is called) and it is a really good book, but it deserves it's own post so I will talk more about that later.

I took Dave to the Gochsheim place yesterday. We didn't see anymore furniture that we liked, but we got some lab glassware stuff and some other small things. The garden place that we got the lettuce is just across the street from this place. I think Dave likes the garden place even more. He took some pictures of the flowers there. Next week, I will talk more about our adventures and have pics too.

Me and Dave

Dave has finally joined me in Germany. I'm very happy I have someone to help me clean dishes again. ;-) Saturday we went to some flea markets together and bought some more furniture and other stuff. We got an awesome hutch for only 129 euro. I have to schedule a time to get it delivered and once that happens, we will take some pictures. We also expanded our garden with a cherry tomato, a spicy pepper (I don't know what kind because the lady at the gardening place only knew limited English and I know even less German), and two lettuce plants.

Here is a pic of our ever expanding garden. We have a ton of dwarf fruit trees. We have an olive tree, peach tree, nectarine tree, cherry tree, apple tree, little orange tree (citrus mitis), lemon tree, and a kumquat tree. We also have two currant bushes (similar to a cranberry but less tart), some radishes and carrots, herbs, bush bean (similar to a green bean but mine is a yellow bean), spinach, and a sweet pepper. Some we bought as plants and some I'm growing from seeds. Dave wants more lettuce plants.

Today we are going to buy some stuff for the kitchen then go relax for the rest of the day. Dave has some nice pictures from our exploits which I will put up soon.

Kaltenhof Finds

So last Saturday I decide to check out my first German flea market. I used the little ACS booklet again. I decided to go to the Kaltenhof one. The booklet didn't give an address and the directions were not enough for me to find it on my own. I soon learn that my GPS will give directions with just the city so with that and some vague directions I manage to get to Kaltenhof Farm. I do have to say that any directions that include the words "drive past the castle" are pretty cool. State side, you usually get something like "At the Wal-mart..." but never anything about castles. Anyway the stuff at the flea market or "Floh Markt" was a wide range of new and old. There was some really good priced furniture. Stuff that would cost hundreds of euro was around or under a hundred euro. Most of the stuff was too big for me or not my style, but what I did find was two stone coffee tables. I'm not sure why I need two coffee tables but they were only 15 euro each.
This one will be used as a coffee table. I don't know what kind of stone it is other than it is green and heavy.
The one is also a green, heavy stone. This table is a bit taller so I think I will use for the tv once me and Dave buy one.

This table is going to be the kitchen table. It was 60 euro. It's a little beat up but we'll call that rustic charm. It's pretty small as is but it has extensions for each side. For everyday use for me and Dave it's a good size as is. I think this table was hand made because the construction is very basic. There is a draw on the side of the table and the dovetails are not the same size. It's very sturdy though.

I also ended buying an old sewing cabinet. I don't have a pic for it but it's singer sewing machine and it's foot powered. I paid 30 euro for it and it's another piece of heavy furniture. I may have to hook it all just to see if it will still sew.

I'm pretty excited by my flea market finds. Next time I'll talk about the washing cabinet I bought.

Because blogging is easier than letters...

I've decided the easiest way to keep everyone updated is through a blog. Ok, here goes nothing. Last week my loving mom sent me some money and I've been doing my best to spend it all in one weekend. It's all good though because now I have some nice stuff for my apartment. It started with me wanting to buy furniture but not knowing where the furniture store were. Alot of people get stuff from Ikea but I wasn't sure that was the kind of furniture I wanted. Anyway, ACS has alot of informational booklets about Germany and I remember one had stuff about shopping. So I'm looking through it and there is a wicker store called Krines. I figured I would get some furniture for my little patio and the booklet said it was opened Saturday so I went. Their wicker stuff is more upscale than I was expecting. All their outdoor stuff was either too big or not my style, but I did find some stuff for the apartment. I bought two screens and a chair for 307 euro. It was a little pricey, but it was a good deal considering how expensive "cheap" furniture is here in Germany. Everything in stock was 30% off and I used my VAT form so I didn't have to pay the fGerman tax of 19%. (In German stores, the price listed includes the tax. So I had to pay 366 euro then use the VAT form to get about 58 euro back).
Here is the first screen I bought. It was originally 185 euro. It's just chilling in my living room right now until I figure out where I want it.



Here is the second screen I bought. It was originally 131 euro. It's in in my kitchen and holds my two orchids and a coffee grinder ( I bought because it was cute, I don't drink coffee). Not sure yet what I'm going to put in the other three baskets but I'm sure I'll find something.

Here is the chair I bought. It is wicker and leather. It was originally 208 euro. I think it's a really cool design.

That's all for this post because my laptop battery is about to die and I'm not at a place I can charge it. Tomorrow I will talk about German flea markets (which are AWESOME). Also tomorrow I shop more. Wheeeee!!