THE WEEK THAT WAS

I thought I'd give you a quick rundown of my week. I wish I'd been able to have a lie in this morning but it just wasn't to be. The old brain started waking up rather early!

Monday - Went hiking with the girls from Basel (on the train at 8.15am!). Back home by

1.20pm and spent the afternoon preparing for Dinner.

Alina and Cyprian, our lovely young Polish friends

came and had dinner with us. Hungarian Goulasch

and Sticky Date Pudding.

Tuesday - Madly trying to get a parcel off to Tim and Amy before Roger went off to Choir. Posting in France is so much cheaper so Roger cycles over there after Choir to post letters. I then spent most of the day continuing to write Christmas letters.

Wednesday - an early morning Skype call from David and Sue Ridley was a delight for us both. Then I received a phone call from an Aussie friend here Sharyn who is 38 weeks pregnant. I hope to visit here some time next week.

Then it was rush, rush, rush as we were expecting David, Simea and Lia Gut for lunch. This is our Youth Pastor from German Church. We told them to come early as they had to leave early afternoon so Lia could sleep. We had a wonderful time together - as always.

In the afternoon I continued letter writing.

Thursday - I was trying to draw money out the bank!! The Aussie dollar is not doing well at the moment, so I didn't want to draw too much out. But in the end, I couldn't draw any out, so I went back to the bank and put a cheque in! Now we wait for it to clear! It's always difficult at the end of the year. Money dries up!

Did some shopping and tried to get organized for Friday, knowing I would be limited in time, but that didn't work. Our neighbours invited us in for schnaps at 4pm and we enjoyed a lovely 3 hours with them - speaking only Deutsch! Lots of charades took place I can tell you!!

Friday - went off to Centrepoint morning tea which is always a good place to meet new people. Then raced home to cook for my Girl's Night. I only had a slight idea how many would be coming - between 6 and 8! Not too bad really. Anyway, late in the afternoon I received 2 phone calls and I was very discouraged. (Actually I was a bit cross with myself feeling like this - like poor me, I've done all this work and people cancel at the last minute!!). But I recovered and 4 of us had a lovely evening together.

Saturday - now we sit in our loungeroom listening to the radio being streamed over the computer from Australia about the election. Quite boring really, but we're doing it anyway. Will report on a lovely Saturday next week.

P U M P K I N S ! ! !

I LOVE PUMPKIN!


I AM NOT ABLE TO BUY GOOD PUMPKIN !


I AM BEING DEPRIVED OF PUMPKIN !

THESE PUMPKINS ARE FAR TOO EXPENSIVE. THEY ARE ORNAMENTAL FOR PEOPLE TO DECORATE THEIR HOMES DURING HALLOWEEN!

AT THE SCHOPFHEIM MARKETS LAST WEEKEND I PAID 5 euro FOR A PUMPKIN. FOR MY AUSSIE FRIENDS THAT IS $8.00 !! IMAGINE THAT

I HAVE PUT IT IN THE GARAGE TO AWAIT THE ARRIVE OF GLENDA AND TOM AND TO EAT IT AT CHRISTMAS TIME. (A BIT LIKE KILLING THAT FATTED CALF!)

MY ROGER

I just want to let you all know that I think this man is quite gorgeous!

MY SISTER IRENE

Hummm.......wonder what's she's playing???? "Old Rugged Cross" I bet? What do you think? Well, maybe I'll only take comments from my kids. They know exactly what her repertoire is. I think this really suits her. I wonder why she doesn't buy a piano for herself. It would help her to relax, and drive George (Irene's husband) mad!!!

I think this beautiful piano is in a home Irene is trying to sell in Perth, Western Australia.

Want to buy it then go to http://www.ijrproperty.com

THANK YOU GOD FOR A WONDERFUL LIFE

Time is marching on and it is a while since I've posted. We're just busy and having lots of fun being busy! I'll start from today and work back.

It's been nippy today. As we had been rather cooped up all weekend, Roger and I decided on a nice walk around our countryside in Schopfheim (in other words, up the hill, past the horse stables - no horses to be seen, all in bed!! - and then back through Schopfheim to do some shopping). It was very nice and also very quick!

I started on my Christmas mail today. Method in my madness. I want to be organized this year and I don't want to be freaking out at the last minute like last year. Plus, it's the weather for writing letters - cold and wet. Might even be in for some more snow this week. If so, I'll share some pictures.

On the weekend we were on an overnight trip with 9 of our Mosaic Team. We went to a place in the middle of Switzerland, arriving around 2.00pm. It was snowing, which of course was a real treat for us all. We had lunch, settled in and then took to the snow for a good old snow fight. I just love them. Lots of fun. We ate, drank tea/coffee, played games, talked, ate, watched a video and generally had a lot of good time together, did I mention we ate? We left for home around 2.00pm Sunday. We all agreed it just wasn't long enough. Photo's coming when Nolan sends them to me!!

We are continuing to meet lots of lovely people and form good friendships. We are particularly enjoying the Centrepoint (English club in Basel) Friday morning teas as there are so many interesting people turning up to them. It makes Friday a busy day for us as we are continuing with drinks and nibbles at the Galerie Friday from 5pm till around 8pm. We try to get that 8.35pm train from Basel SBB which gets us home by 9.15pm!!

Have had some lovely hikes with the hiking group on a Monday morning. The weather has been rather pleasant for hiking actually. I've met a lovely friend who is from Basel. Her name is Christine and she loves Australia. (One of my dreams was to meet someone that lives on the Rhine River in Basel! Christine is that person!! I haven't been to her home yet, but she promises me a visit).

We've done heaps of entertaining. Just love it. I think it's one of my favourite things. Having people share the beauty of Schopfheim and our little home, and of course great cooking. Our good friends who are based in Paris but are currently in the USA for 5 months managed a visit as they had a conference in our area. We spent a Saturday with them. We talked and talked and talked. We just love them to bits. It's great to have special people we can share ideas with and 'chew the fat' with!

Our special friends Bernhard and Lorraine came out a couple of weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon. We went on a short hike together then came home and ate food together. We love these friends and always enjoy our times together.

There are so many special things about living in Schopfheim. Our neighbours are a real treat, and the longer we stay here, the better we get to know them. It's always lovely to see so many children around the place and tonight our friends Johanna and Juro called in with Juro's St Martin's lantern. Very cute. Should have taken a photo but didn't. Sorry about that.

The lady upstairs has been playing musical plants in the garden. Now you see it here, now you see it there!! It breaks my heart but I must laugh and not cry!

Winter has come early this year. We had a small amount of snow last week, but it didn't stay on the ground. They are promising more snow this week with temps -6C to 2C in the middle of the week. I won't feel much like going out, but Wednesday is a VERY busy day for us both. I have my Deutsch conversation with Eliane then we are hoping to make contact with Sue, a young lady in Stetten whose mother owns a Korean Restaurant, then in the evening we are wanting to go to a book club meeting. We bought the book Restless by William Boyd. I have read it and Roger has just started. It sure was a good read and I highly recommend it. I have never been to a book review before so this is a new experience for me.

Now I must go. I have dinner to cook (Shepherd's Pie on this cold night) and then more letters to write. My darling is at a couple of meetings and won't be home until after 9pm.

All in all I'm a very happy little possum!!!!!!!