Book Listening

 

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I have been listening to This American Life with Ira Glass since I can remember.  Not every week, nor every year even, but sometimes several episodes together until I need a break for a while.  He is the usual narrator of or the radio program, which relates stories about American people organized by theme.  I bring this up not because I am recommending the show, but because I want to give a feel of how much time I spend in the car. 

Last month, and December too, I was listening to mystery novels on Audible or Librivox.  Librivox is especially cool because it is a huge collection of public domain texts (most of which are classics) read by volunteers.  Some readers are about as good as I must sound reading to the kids with background noise included.  Other readers are AWESOME.  I good list can be found on Forgotten Classics, a which mostly consists of even more, well read, audio books.  I have finished 15-20 books in the last 3 months.

In an earlier blog post this year, I described a day in the life of me in the car, but I am reluctant to try and add up the hours.  I will probably be forced to identify myself as sedentary and will inevitably feel the attached self loathing which I already have enough of related to "baby weight."

The thing is, I love walking around here.  Everyone does.  I have seen pedestrians every outing, every time.  I have seen as many or more cyclists.  Last snow, I saw the neighbor across mounting her bike to take off in the middle of a weekday (in the snowy driveway).  If I could spend the time walking, I would, although this probabably would also include book listening too.

Testing a new app Blogsy

 

Mikey

Nadja and Mikey

 

Posted with love

The truth about Germany's long dark winter is setting in.  It is not the kind of thing where there are days without sunlight because of the latitude, just weather.  The days are short and it is never sunny for an hour together, especially in winter.  The opposite of summer in Texas, jumping from heater to heated car rather than AC to AC.

Anyway, I thought is wasn't as bad as they say, but now I understand.  I am tired and listless, unmotivated to go outside or do anything inside.  The kids are different too.  The have not even built a snow man because there have just been too many cold days strung together and it isn't worth going out: the hats and gloves and boots and snow pants and zipping and then putting everything away later...

So they won't mind school tomorrow, right?

Winter Wonderland

"Outside, outside.  Shuh, shuh."  Nadja poited at the door, then the windows.  She brought me her tiny pink Timberlands; she brought her jacket.  Finally I got her and myself bundled up and we went outside to play.

Here are some pictures of the front of our house.  The window with the three curtains up there is the kitchen.  If you look closely, near the flowers are rotting gourds left over from December.

First Cologne (Koln) Germany: locks on the bridge

There is a bridge in Cologne covered with locks of love.  If I understand correctly, the tradition is: inscribe it, lock it on, throw the key in the river.  Romantic, considering the number of locks along the bridge.

We were really there to see the Cathedral and the zoo.   I did not know about the bridge until we had to cross it from where we parked and had lunch.  The Hilton served currywurst with pommes outside.

X-Wing fighter?

 

No explaining needed, Santa.

Modays are so busy that it's already Tuesday

Moday is mostly driving and waiting, waiting and driving.  I take Tommy to kindergarten by 9:00 then Theresa to gymnastics at 10:30.  This sounds easy, except gymnastics is a 45 minute drive from our village. 

Half way between the village and gymnastics is the base, so we go there next to return videos, vacuum the car and eat lunch before picking up Mikey at 2:00 and rushing  back to our village to get Tommy from kindergarten at 3:00. 

Then, we make the 45 minute drive all over again to ballet at 4:00. If you were counting you would notice that we still have to go back to the base and pick up Rosie at the teen center.  By then, it is 5:30 and dark outside.  So we eat on base and drive home.  This takes a lot of gas, and Monday is over.

Tuesday, the Airman's Attic is open, and the new year brings many donations.  I enjoy this trip and so does Nadja because there is a room full of free toys.  Really.  Take some and leave some.   Today she got a pink poodle back pack baby leash.  Probably I will not be to ashamed to use this in the international airport soon.

Here is what I am really happy about.  I got a new years Moleskine soft cover set of two 13x21cm unlined journals.  Look:

What are these peppers called in the states?  Paprika?

No catchy title here

I got a new pocketbook which zips at the top and has a loop handle.  Now my ID will now fall out at the jewelry counter in the BX, nor will Nadja be able to take my credit card (until she learns to work zippers, I guess). 

I got Chanel Mdse. perfume, and a new pair of jeans. 

I got the tee down with a lot of help from Rosie, or perhaps I should say Rosie got the tree down with no help from me.  Mikey Elf with life size photo of his face is still taped to the window, and the garland is still on the front railing, and there are several overly ripe gourds still propped up next the the small evergreen trees on the outside window sill.  Those are next as I imagined I smelled them when I walked by below, although the have not yet begun to implode or leak.