Two More Days....

Or is that "daze"? We're finishing up the cleaning in this humongous house and feeling thankful that our house in Hawaii is not big. The house in Hawaii is an end unit townhouse in a four house grouping. The biggest model of the complex, it's only about 1300 square feet. The monstrosity we've lived in here in Bavaria is at least 3,ooo. It has four floors and room upon room, most of which we never entered, let alone lived in.

The Hawaii house is just two floors, no basement, Oahu is, afterall, a volcanic island. The first floor is the kitchen, living room, dining area (we don't call it a "dining room" because it is more of a nook than a room), rather large wasteful foyer an large full bathroom/laundry room combination and a large, very sunny, very private lanai. The top floor has four bedrooms, two very small and two medium-sized, and a small full bathroom. There is also a really nice storage room/walk-in closet. It's a good size for us, not much cleaning, which we both are loath to do.

My only problem with the Hawaii house is the size of my craft stash relative to the size of my craft room. But, since I've been here in Bavaria and had a craft area at least twice the size of the room in Hawaii, I realized I have too much stuff for anything than a full scale craft studio. As my craft supplies, the majority of which are beads and fabric, arrive in Hawaii, I'm going to take a good hard look at everything and give some away to Goodwill. I really need to downsize and down-spend. Wish me luck!

Bella Italia!

Bob and I returned from our last trip to Italy during our stay in Europe. We will be back to Italy but not for a couple of years. It's expensive and time consuming to travel to Europe from Hawaii. And the jetlag.....

We chose to tour Italy by car this time. We've flown to Rome several times, flew to Venice, flew to Florence, but this time we decided to climb into our trusty yellow Mini CooperS and travel the Italian highways.

I don't know who ever started that vicious rumor that Italians are terrible drivers. They really aren't. They don't take any more risks than the rest of the European drivers I've encountered, although I think their definition of "road lanes" might lose something in the translation. They tend to drive in two lanes at once, but once you get used to that, it's easy to deal with. And they will occupy one lane, at least temporarily, if you wish to pass.

We stopped for several days in Tuscany. That region lived up to its reputation in beauty and food. However, it was rather touristy. And everything was perfectly manicured and cleaned. Anyone who has been to Italy for any amount of time will know that Italy is usually controlled chaos. I think that is part of its charm. Although I do realize that living in ultra-ordered Germany for two years, could be coloring my opinion.

After Tuscany, we traveled on to Abruzzo. We traveled south of the recent earthquake shattered L'Aquila area. We climbed into the mountains of Abruzzo which are wild and un-touristed. Finally we hit a spot with our GPS navigation system just gave up and left us on our own. There was only one way to go....up.

After four hours of driving through wild natural scenery, we arrived at our destination of Rocca Pia. This small...REALLY small hamlet was the birthplace of Bob's grandmother. I think that this small town was the real Italy.

We started at the only open restaurant we could in the town, there was another restaurant which wasn't open at least not for lunch. Needless to say the town residents were rather curious about the yellow Mini Cooper S with German plates that was driving around their town....or should I say back and forth in their town. There was only on street suitable for driving.

Once Bob explained his connection to this little village, the place came alive. The lovely owner of the restaurant in which we had lunch found us a room in her brother's B&B which was closed for the season, but was opened for us. We were assisted in every possible way to find remnants of Bob's family's past. And at 9pm as we were slumbering in our very nice B&B room, we were moments away from meeting some of Bob's family's present.

At 9:45 pm, there was knocking on our room door. Upon opening, Bob found two of his second cousins and one of their children outside our room. Apparently word had gotten around this small burg and the relatives came to call. Bob had a wonderful time catching up with all the family history. Bob and I don't speak much Italian and they didn't speak any English, but I've found that in Italy knowing some Italian nouns and Spanish verbs will get you through. So we managed our way through an hour or so of conversation.

The next day we got up early, having decided to drive straight through back to Germany. We drove along the spectacular Adriatic Coast and vowed to return to that area and spend a couple of weeks. That, however, won't happen for a couple of years. But we will be back...

To all the cat lovers out there....

How many of us cat lovers can relate to this You Tube video?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs2ZPU6eDp8

Wave Bye-Bye to the Car

I waved bye-bye to my cute little car on Friday. Hubby and I drove to Stuttgart (3hrs from here) and turned my little Mini Cooper convertible over to the car shippers. In a little less than 3 months, it will arrive on Sand Island on Oahu all safe and sound, but probably a little dusty.

We took the train (well, TRAINS, actually) back from Stuttgart to Grosskarolinenfeld where we live. It took about 4 hours. It was interesting, but very expensive. It cost about 140 euros for the two of us. But, we couldn't rent a car to get us back for that price, so we had an experience and even got to sleep on the train from Stuttgart to Munich. We had gotten up at 4 am and left the house at 5 to get to the car shippers in time for our appointment.

Yesterday other than doing some laundry, I did virtually nothing. I have to pick up the pace in doing my last minute things, but I'm having a hard time getting motivated. At the last minute I'll just jumble everything into a box and have it all mailed to us after we get to Hawaii. I'm just exhausted right now. I am going to be able to use the three weeks off in Maryland to catch up on my sleep and gird my loins for the last push to Hawaii.

After the stress....

comes the cold....as in virus. It's been lovely outside this week and I've come home every day in my little orange Mini Cooper convertible with the top down.
Everyone with convertibles seemed to be out driving around enjoying the 60-something degree weather. Well, it appears maybe I was too precipitous. This morning I woke up with a cold. I had avoided all the sickness of my coworkers all winter only to catch the springtime version. I think it is a result of delayed stress from packing up and seeing all my beads and fabric and craft supplies drive off in big crates. I tell you I'm really attached to that stuff. It's my sanity to counter balance the insanity of my job. At least I have some small beadies left to play with. I want to perfect my right angle weave technique and practice a few other kinds of beadweaving stitches. I'm also working on a beaded doll.

And when I get tired of beading, I have my cross stitch, which always calms me.

Everything is GONE!

We survived the packout of all our stuff. Our cats survived, too. We're living with loaner furniture, which is adequate, but far from our own furniture. I was thinking this morning as I woke up on an Aerobed, our sleeping arrangements until we leave in June, that I felt weird...restless...out of place.

I am one of those people who, contrary to the popular trend, would not like to live "simply." I like my stuff. And I am a bit attached to my stuff, too. But this morning I realized it was not my furniture I'd miss, it's my artsy stuff....my toys as I like to call them. I miss the wallhangings I've made, the needlework I've had framed, and my quilts. Besides my husband and my cats, they are what make my house a home. I feel out of sorts without those touches of home. I have some artsy creations at my office at work. I think I'll bring them home and put them up until the last shipment of last minute stuff in May. I think that would make me feel less out of place.

Is Winter Ever Going to END?????

I, personally, am weary of the cold, the snow, the ice, the feeling of being trapped inside. For a few days earlier in the week it was over 50 degrees farenheit. I guess the local Germans are also feeling "cabin fever" because I noted some convertibles being driven around tops down. I did get my Mini Cooper convertible out of the garage, where it has been since November, and enjoyed driving around with Jimmy Buffet music cheerfully spouting from the speakers, but I'm not hardy enough to put the top down in less than 70 degree weather.

Yesterday, when I went out to climb into my little car to motor off to work, I found the wipers frozen to the windshield and the boot frozen shut. I just hate it! I'm wondering if I'll see spring before I leave Germany in June.