WEEK PRIOR TO EASTER

Wasn't feeling 100% this past week so I enjoyed 5 days at home. A rare treat. When we went into Basel last night on said to Roger that it had been a week since I'd been to Basel and on a train actually!

I needed the time out. I wrote some letters, did some spring cleaning, had lovely walks (and have blisters to show for it). Wednesday night at 8.45pm a couple of the young people from our Church turned up to say hi. They were on their bikes. They're in their 20's. They didn't leave until 12.45am!! My goodness.

After our massive dinner party Saturday night we had a visit from Karen and Carolyn. They rode out to Schopfheim from Basel (and back) on their bikes. We treated them to a light lunch and tea/coffee.




Roger and I went for a nice walk on Thursday. The weather has been absolutely glorious here. But I ended up with blisters (again) and so I'm nursing sore feet. A friend has taken me in hand and we went off to buy new walking shoes today. They look quite horrible actually, (brown) but of the 15 pair of shoes I tried on, these were by far the most comfortable. I just hope they will be comfortable when I do a long walk. Madge told me I must change them every 2 years, especially with all the walking I do!

We had a busy Good Friday. The Vosteen family (5) came to lunch and that was a treat for us. Then we took ourselves off to St Michael's to hear St Matthew's Passion being read. I had thought there was a Choir, but none was forthcoming!! It was lovely though. Roger had printed out the readings in English so this helped.

We said goodbye to the Vosteen's and then our neighbours called us over to meet their daughter who lives in Switzerland. She has very good English. We were treated to cake, coffee and wine! Had to rush off at 5.20pm as we needed to catch the train at 5.45pm to go to Kevin and Mark's for Dinner.

So the photo's below are of the Dinner party with them and Christine and Gaudenz. A lovely evening and a late night. Kevin sure does know how to cook up a treat. Not sure if you'll be able to read the menu, but it sure was special.

This is a Pavlova. How does Kevin do it. We had a little discussion about the origins of the Pavlova. New Zealand claims it as their own and so do Australia. It was named after the Russian Ballerina Anna Pavlova. I just can't make them here and I'm not sure why. Watch out family, when I come back to Australia I will be making them every day just to get my confidence back!!

MURDER MYSTERY DINNER PARTY 4 APRIL

DEATH IN VENICE

We certainly had fun on Saturday night as we hosted our first ever Murder Mystery Party. As you can imagine, the planning started weeks ago when we thought about the guests we would have and who would fit with who!! There are 8 people in the game so we had to find 6 other guests willing to play a part.

I firstly contacted people to make sure they would be willing to participate and that they were available on the particular night we had chosen. Then I sent out an invitation to each one requested the pleasure of their company. The characters were:

Romeo Bechini - the most eligible bachelor in Venice

Alessandra Macaroni - Romeo's glamorous sister, a widow and a politician

Madonna Medici - a beautiful Italian actress making her name in Hollywood

Sam Gelding - the most powerful and stupid producer in Hollywood

Sylvester Burlegque - an Italian-born businessman, now resident in the States

Marlene Matrix - a slightly fading but still exotic German movie star

Judy Graceland - formerly a child star, the darling of Middle America

Frankie Coward - a fast-talking and saucy British Music Hall comedian

Sylvester and Marlene

Madonna and Sam

Judy and Frankie

Alessandra (in middle)

Romeo with yellow bow tie !

The menu:

Bellini Cocktails and cheeses

Pasta e Fagioli

Duck Casserole with Olives

Apricot cheesecake served with clotted cream

The murderer - Marlene Matrix - revealed to only her in round 3!!

Visiting friends in Starnberg

Last Friday we travelled by train to Starnberg to visit our friends Peter and Narelle with Matthew 3 and Katja 1. We left home just after 8.30am to walk to the train in Schopfheim and were greeted by Narelle at Starnberg Nth station at 3.00pm. So quite a hike really and 4 trains!! Just as well we love train travel.

Unbelievable that we had not seen Peter and Narelle for a couple of years. How things change! We had a great catch up, were spoilt rotten by them and, as the pictures tell, loved playing Uncle Roger and Auntie Gaynor for the weekend. The children are absolutely adorable and were such a delight to spend time with.

We did the reverse trip home on Monday!! 4 trains and home by 5.45pm. It's always lovely to be home again. I find packing up to go away a little stressful these days (and you probably think we are doing it all the time!!!!).

Only picture of Peter!! I can't believe we didn't take a picture of the whole family! Apologies!

MY DOINGS !

So, Friday I jump out of bed and the sun is shining, so I think Spring when I dress! Well, that didn't work did it. I was freezing all day and felt very silly, but I wasn't the only one.

We headed off to Centrepoint, but left a little later than usual. I then hung around the city for an hour before catching the tram to Ligia's place. She was celebrating her Birthday with friends. What fun. Lots of Spanish speaking ladies! Flair! Then it was home by 6.45pm. It's good to have Roger at home to cook the meals!!

Saturday Claudia and Jose Luis came to lunch. Claudia is my friend who has the hobby garden in Basel and it is just the loveliest spot in Basel. We haven't caught up for ages, so it was good to see them both, but we decided the catch up wasn't the same with the men there! We we are arranging another get together soon.

Sunday we went off to Church and then I cooked all afternoon. I had already made a Chicken and Corn soup for Monday, so at least it was a start. I cooked an Apple Cake, yummy Date Cake, Bean and Pasta Soup and Cauliflower, Leek and Roasted Red Capsicum soup. We then decided to go for a walk as the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day.

Monday we were leading the hike around Schopfheim. There were 16 of us altogether and then 14 of us for lunch back at our place. What fun. We filled them all up and sent them on their way back to Basel on the train just after 2.00pm. Everyone enjoyed themselves.

Then Monday night Roger and I headed into Basel to go to the movies to see Gran Torino. There were 5 of us in our little party. Good movie.

Needless to say, Tuesday I was wacked! I had a headache all day so just decided to lie low. Not a bad idea every now and then. My batteries do need to be recharged quite a bit these days!! Tuesday night a friend from Church, Stefan, came to dinner and I made a Chilli Con Carne.

The rest of this week has been busy and I have enjoyed myself. The sun isn't shining though!




Tomorrow we head off to Munich by train for the weekend to say goodbye to our Aussie friends Peter and Narelle. They are going back to Australia in July (we want to avoid the 'before going' rush!!) and then are moving to Taiwan. Will let you know how it all goes next week.

Tonight it is back into Basel for both of us for the Centrepoint A.G.M. Hope it's a good one!

EMOTIONS - TAKE 2

I think I'm over my SAD (Season Affective Disorder) - as Pam would say (thanks Pam) and this week has been great. Emotions.....why do we have them, and was I silly to share my heart with the world?!! I would normally keep most things to myself (believe it or not MY DARLING CHILDREN!!!).

The sun has shone each day this week (so far, and it's Thursday night and the sun isn't shining at the moment!), and it's amazing what a difference it has made to little old me.

Monday I went on a walk with a group of 7 other women and we ended up in Riehen for coffee. That was pretty good. Roger went on the long walk and he enjoyed himself as well. Then in the afternoon we had a big bedroom spring clean. You know, vacuuming the mattresses on both sides, giving the floor under the bed a good dust, doing the dressing tables (I HATE DUST - AND I HATE DUSTING - my blogging friend Pam would really relate to that!). Everything got a good shake and I removed one blanket from the bed (haven't missed it a bit). So, that was Monday!

Tuesday I did a bake, had a lovely talk to Tom on the phone and finished writing a letter. Also had a great chat to sister Irene so ended up catching a later train into Basel. I wanted to go to France to post some articles. Whilst on the tram Roger called to ask where I was. We ended up going to France together and then back into Basel where we bumped into a friend. We were heading for the Vegetarian Restaurant "Tidbits" to meet friends so we could discuss the movie "The Reader". It was good but probably didn't go deep enough for us. The movie raises lots of issues.

Wednesday I was back into Riehen to visit a friend and meet her 2 sisters who were visiting from America. That was fun. I was exploring a new area and I like that (not quite knowing where I'm going and having to work it out - ah, adventure - love it). I would have loved a walk Wednesday afternoon but had to be satisfied with a walk to Aldi to do a little shopping! Our friend Johnny came to dinner (our normal Wednesday evening event) then we watched a Nooma video "Bullhorn" together and discussed it a bit.

Today I met one of my lovely German friends for coffee in Schopfheim and we spoke "Dinglish" together. Renate was at my Girl's Night and she had asked me for the recipe for the Shepherd's Pie that I had made. I was a good girl and wrote it out in German. She laughed about a couple of things I'd written, so we cleared those things us in a hurry! I had put grated cheese - or so I thought, but it actually meant fence grate!! Oh dear. I think I'm enjoying myself learning German more than I ever have (shhhh, don't tell Roger!!). Had to catch the 11.15am train into Basel to have lunch with Christine before my usual Crochet class at Centrepoint at 2.00pm. What an absolutely delightful group this is. Gives me such a buzz each week. One of the girls had left her purse behind and fortunately she rang Centrepoint just as I was about to leave. So I was able to deliver it to her on the Rhein where she was having a beer with her sisters. Of course they invited me to stay. How could I refuse! I was home by 5.45pm.

I'm pretty happy with this week so far and there's only Friday to go!

E M O T I O N S ! ! !

This week has been one long rollercoaster ride for me and I must be honest and say I haven't enjoyed it that much.

I have not been terribly well, but that is past now and I am in good health. I have been suffering from lack of sunshine (!!) and I never thought I would say "I don't want any more snow", but this week I did.

I visited one of my lovely and very special German girlfriends on Tuesday. She lives just outside of Basel in a very lovely little village and it was covered in a thick blanket of snow, but when I arrived it was raining and bitterly cold. I got off the bus, literally threw myself into her arms and burst into tears! Poor Ilona wondered what on earth was going on. (All the more difficult when language is a bit of a problem and when we are together we speak Denglish!!).

Anyway I survived the day and maybe I felt a little bit better at the end of it.

My motherly, tender heart was going out to our beautiful daughter Jocelyn as well and I felt I really needed to be with her for her appointment at the Neurosurgeon. But of course I am in Germany and she is in Melbourne. Completely impossible. I rang her on Tuesday night our time which was Wed. morning her time just before she went off to her appointment. I sank into bed covering her in prayers. Couldn't wait to get on the phone to ask how things went for her but when we rang she was not yet home from work.

So we spoke to Glenda and had the loveliest, encouraging conversation. So very special for me to have these conversations with my family when sometimes distance seems to tear my heart out. I love being where I am and I know God is always with me and this is where he wants me to be, but it's not always easy and sacrifices have to be made, though I don't look at it as sacrifices (if you know what I mean).

Wednesday we also booked (but have not yet paid for) our fares home to Australia on 31 July and coming back on 13 October. We would have been here 3.5 years by then. We had our 3 year anniversary on Tuesday actually (10 March). We officially arrived in Germany on 2 March 2006 though.

Our lovely African friend Johnny came to dinner on Wednesday night and that was very uplifting for us both. He 'had the talkies', which is most unusual for Johnny and great for us. We had a good laugh.

Today, Saturday, as I walked to Aldi to do a little shopping, Schopfheim was abuzz with people going to the Garden Centres to buy plants. I think Spring is here at last and today is 16C. I think I am finishing the week on a much better note than when it began - for which I am thankful.

Now I will get ready to meet Kevin in Maulburg and we are going to try out a new walk for our Basel hiking group to do next Monday 23 March. Roger is at a special Choir practise all afternoon. That's why I've conned Kevin into coming with me!

I had my Girl's Night last night which was great and there were 7 of us here. 4 Germans, 2 Aussies and 1 American! Roger and Kevin caught up at a local Schopfheim Gasthaus (one of the many Loewen - Lion!!). They were trying it out as we want to get the Aussies/N.Z'ders together for an Anzac Day dinner on 25 April. They gave it the BIG TICK. They were both a little 'talkative' when they came back at around 9.45pm!!!!!!

IRENE'S BIRTHDAY

Hot off the press is this gorgeous photo of my much beloved sister Irene. It is her Birthday today and she's had a few treats which are well deserved. The picture about sums up what she is up to these days! Working hard surrounded by files, computer, phone but of course the many people are missing!

My beautiful sister has always been there for me and we have great chats on the phone and have always written to each other (though maybe not so often these days). We have lived a long way from each other since 1980 and of course distance is huge now, but that has never stopped us from being there for each other and enjoying each other and a good laugh (sometimes about the silliest things).

Remember when we were trying to beat the guys by going up the stairs (they took the lift)........

Remember those games of Chinese Checkers........

Remember sitting outside the Cafe in Schopfheim drinking.....WELL.....whatever you like !

Remember looking for somewhere to eat in Basel? I'm sure you chose the most expensive place just to nark George!

Remember walking up the 'hill', past the horses (and George with a carrot or two in his hands)!

Remember us meeting you in Mulhouse off the train (you were expecting us but we thought we were surprising you!).

Oh so many happy memories, this is but the beginning.

I love you so very much and it is so beautiful to see you growing old gracefully. You are a very, very precious sister.