Double-Half
or One Ten without ham

My dear friend Mandi knows we have no Pies available here in Germany - it´s.such.a.pity, I tell ya!!!

You´re in town and run a wee bit hungry?
Problem!!!
You can get a piece of Pizza - so large, it´s a whole meal (to me at least).
You can get - hey, we´re Germans, right? - a sausage in a breadroll (I come to that later - it´s totally different to a Hot Dog).
You can get Chinese Food - too much for a snack...
French Fries are ok, but hey... all the time? Burger King... too large, Big M .. boring...

It´s just not a Pie, ya know???

A hot, yummy Pie you can pick up anywhere, oh how I miss that, seriously!!!
It´s a bigger snack, but still a snack somehow, no?

(Wish Mexican Snacks were available, too!)

Anyhows. Mandi probably remembered when Ingo and I tried to make our own Pies, making the "dishes" out of ashtrays? Yeah, yummy idea, huh?

For one reason or both...

She saw receipes of/for Pies in her super food ideas-magazine and went to the store to pick one up for me (or/and Ingo), too - and, wisely, payed a visit to Coles, too, to get us some proper Pie-dishes - thank you so much, Mandi!!!

Mandi sent it by sea, which is the better and cheaper way to go - and guess what?! That German customs duty apartment sure - again/as always - needed to pick out "my" parcel for control.
So... it took the happily awaited parcel with to me unknown content (other than I´ll like it) from early July to end September to arrive!

@customs duty Germany... aren´t you bored opening parcels adressed to me?
They always lack drugs or such, always!

Anyhows, funny coincidence: Ingo´ll buy a new hob - we get a great chance to try it out!

Thanks to custom duty we can try out the "Christmas in July"-receipes soon, too (it´s getting cold) ;-)

What really cracked me up, though... the back of the magazine is covered with an ad from... Mc Donald´s!!!! Is that a joke? I laughed my head off :-)

If I can choose.. when I could choose I actually prefered The Fresh Food People above Coles. Except once:
I don´t remember that place´s name, it was somewhere in the Asherton Tablelands .

There was a very small Coles, but with a bakery section.
The baker was from France/had French roots maybe - they offered "Petit Pain" with Pain being Bread (!) and they were like German Brötchen - you cannot even compare it to a breadroll.
We stayed another night just to get Brötchen once again.

Hmmm... thanks, Mandi, for thinking of us and sending it over, too!
Can´t wait to try it out!

Addendum: On the packing it reads: "coles smart buy - why pay more for everyday basics?"
everyday basics... basics! Wake up, German Food Industry - I want Pie as a basic stuff!

I have difficulties to find a title for this post.


Sat we went to our old home. We went there early - Ingo had to get the Moped running, Thursday she´ll be at the TÜV.

I went to SIL for the time being.
Who was sick again, caughing a lot. So I played with my Niece.
I think she recognized me.

This is her in the pic above - with her new dog - isn´t that a crazy dog???? One eye crossed out the other a button, very cool, I think :-)

After a while playing she crawled over, looked me in the eye rather seriously.
Then took her little hand and grabbed my knee.
I thought she wants to stand up (which she is pretty good at - guess next time we meet she´s maybe walking all by herself).
No, she didn´t stand up.
She squeezed my knee a little and gave me a reassuring smile, like: "We´re friends now, huh?"

It was the cutest thing.
And there is more to come by the and of this post (let´s just replay that great day step by step).

Moped is running, here´s a little proof:



We went for a mini-tour, too - but it wasn´t warm enough, the wind was nasty.
So, we went to Ingo´s parent´s house.
They weren´t there, sadly.

Here´s a pic of their cool kitchen:


Yep, 70´s style, all original, I love it.

Fun detail:


To answer the door!

This is outside - pretty, I think:


Their new swing - amazing! If I had the place for it... I´d buy one, too.


We then went for a walk to "kill" time, it was beautiful - and so "rich" - here Ingo is trying (and succeeding) to get an apple with an old apple from the ground:


Hit an apple, get an apple, easy like that.
It wasn´t really ripe yet, though...

It was such a sunny, bright day - my little cam couldn´t take all the light!

The colors were just awesome:


It´s so peaceful "in the country":


We heard some bells, when walking here - and thought there were kids playing, maybe.
Nope, no kids:



Here´s a cow with white eye-lashes!


And this one´s got a heart for an eye:


Farming is rather weird these days - everybody is producing corn:



Well, it´s for animals and to produce power - not tasty at all.


These were yummy, though:


You could survive outside atm!
But a pizza is a better way, though - or the yummy food at my Mum´s Birthday - it was delicious!

No pics though, dunno my cam isn´t working properly with flash atm :-(

Mum herself... I have no idea. She´s very weak, can hardly breathe. She didn´t eat that much. She has but one chance and she gets it only if she manages to gain weight. Niece ate twice as much as her.

Two siblings of my Mum, friends and us family made some 12 people.

I was sitting at the other end of the table, so I guess Niece couldn´t see me.

She certainly entertained everybody, it was the funniest thing!

Bro said she´s happy and friendly to strangers. But, in this she´s like me: She doesn´t like to be touched by strangers.

Remember that knee-scene?
When we left, she was about to get changed, so the three of us, SIL with her in front and I, stood by the door.
I waved and she understands that means good-bye (I think she understands).

She gave me a smile, kicked her Mum so she could get out of her arms and hugged me!

I smiled the whole way back home.
What a cutie!

Today my Boss showed up in my office.
Oh, my.
He really wanted to be nice, but it was nearly too much for me. How I am and that he´d like to hug me if that helped. Told me about his MIL and made suggestions that really might help my Mum and Bro, I passed the info already.
All very well meant, but I had trouble to hold my breath, to not start crying.

He knows about Ingo, too - I told him some weeks ago via E-Mail why I didn´t attend the company-meeting unexcused (dinner included).
I could tell him that today Ingo is "celebrating" another birthday, what a relief, no? (Happy Birthday, btw...)

Life is weird.
With death and sickness being so close to fun and learning new stuff (Niece).

Addendum: I´m kinda proud of myself - maybe you agree that´s ok?
I squeezed my Polo between those two in first and only attempt:

I beat my Father´s genes once again, haha! ;-)
(What´s wrong with my cam, huh??? What a bad pic!)

Draw a Stickman

...and Henry, too - everybody is happy about that - see the man to the right? He (, too) had to take a pic of Henry - in August/September they use the place to play open-air-opera and hence, Henry is out of sight.

Friday Ingo had a "little surgery" and by the time The Simpsons were on he was back home!!!
Thanks to his parents who stayed near Hamburg just for this case... to pick him up and bring him home to me asap.

Sat we went to the city.
Cause, well...


Who could resist this weather?
Life - Ingo back home, healthy (another check-up due Thur-Fri). Good chances my Mum will be able to fight cancer once more. And sunshine, green gras...

Even the bikes are huge at this time of the year:


Notice the T-Shirt Ingo is wearing? He changed later on to another great city...
Ok. Just a sign for Fahrradstrasse. It´s kinda new still, on certain roads (push-bike-) cyclists rule, yay :-)

Ingo´s watch was broken, so he needed a new one as back-up-clock in the mornings. He choose grey. I couldn´t resist this cheapy in green. Those colors together is my eye-color, funny, huh?


I was still waiting for a (payed) T-Shirt to arrive for me, so we went into the little Braunschweig-Shop. T-Shirt was there, Ingo found one, too and was so generous to buy me a jumper for the colder days (my very first Fruit of the Loom-stuff).

Sorry for looking so stupid. Can´t help it. As soon as a cam is directed at me...


I really don´t like jumpers with the actual city-name divided in the middle by a zipper.
It makes it read "Braun | schweig" - "brown | shut up". being German in Germany... not a good idea unless you´re brave and in a safe bunch of guys - my two cents worth...
THIS one is great, no? Lion | City - yay :-)

And here´s the T-Shirt:


Ingo got this one also (they usually have em in men´s style only, that´s why I had to wait for mine. Not that more expensive to have them printed on women´s style-shirts I found out):


"Styled" like this we went to:


... our favorite Steak-House, El Gaucho.

Guess one just longs after something special, something good after such a bad time with death being so near.
Ingo said, huh - you managed but two posts while I was gone?

Yes. I just didn´t feel like it.
I was sad, scared and life wasn´t fun at all.

Despite this:


Life is great again.
Brr... we´re not even into October and it´s cccc...old! :-(

But... Ingo is back, so I can live with this.

I still got the jester's license to be there for my Mum.
So today I left work at lunch-time and went to Bro´s place and then, since Weds are Daddy-Days, the three of us went to our Mum.

She´s weak and tired, but seems "ok" otherwise. Three more radiation-treatments and then they have a "final" meeting where they tell her what´s next.
She seemed afraid. Hope Bro can go with her. (I can´t since it´s in the morning).

Well, Niece likes to clean out her Grandma´s shelf, as you can see in the pic above - that girl was busy!
Here she looks like, "hey! I gotta stuff to do!", no? ;-)

But then she decided a nice smile for the cam would be ok :-)


Later on we went back to Bro´s place cause
a) my car was still there and more important
b) he wanted to show me something, an achievement a certain little someone could call her own:



Well.. nearly on her own.
This is why I look so red in da face on this pic:


Running... ok walking and steering that "bike" back and forth was exhausting a bit!

That little girl made our day.
She´s so brave! Drooling like crazy and in pain due to new teeth coming, but fun to be around none-the-less. No crying at all.

Ingo... still in hospital Hamburg Altona, waiting for progress.
He´s pain-free, stats are good, only cycst is still a problem.

And his "neighbor"... - went from ok (two older men, calm and normal) to changing rooms to do someone a favor (toilet in his old room was integrated).
Went into a double-room only but with a guy... the scruffy-type, having a smoke every ten minutes (outside, but room stinking bad anyways), watching TV till 2 am (!!!). That guy left (was thrown out?) and in came a raggle-taggle-ole guy who is complaining all the time, even worse.

His parents went to the North Sea to be near when he can come home.
So glad they care and do!

Hope Ingo will be home soon, also for his work-project - and for my sake.
And Mum... no idea what they reveal on Friday...

Today was exhausting, tough day at work (IAA) and then such a very windy ride in the car, construction sites, traffic jam. But... I´m glad I went.
Can´t believe I might loose my Mum soon, she seems so normal. A last rear-up might be the cause...

Addendum! Ingo´s Bro called me - maybe not all is lost with my Mum.
I asked him to call my Bro cause he is more up to date.
Oh.my.
Something with Ingo´s Bro´s heart isn´t well.
He said he doesn´t want to talk about it in detail but is in peace with himself.
By golly. He´s got a wife and four kids... I respected his words, but now I worry about him, too.

Sunday, already.

Thanks everyone for stopping by and helping me!
You made me stronger, you made me smile when life was sucking at me.

And I guess it worked on Ingo and my Mum, too!

Ingo: The darn thing in his body was over 12 cm long!
They cannot operate, but punctured it quite successfully - we hope.

Mum... if she manages to gain weight, she can come back for chemo!

The pic above...
Well. Good as I am (...) I went to give my vote. For what´s or who´s leading my town.
Kinda weird to do this on this kinda special day, huh?

Good as I am... I brought in the Sunday paper in on my way back (it´s free) - and what did I find?
Yep!
Toooo-daaaay a new DVD was released: "Braunschweig - Die Löwenstadt" - city of the Lion ("die" is for "she", a city in German is female, don´t ask and no, we won´t die, Braunschweig really is strong).

So... I went to the city and amongst some stuff I had to treat myself with real "Pommes Frites", that´s the pic above.

Whilst eating I strolled by Graff, which is a great book-store, always new books on display outside for us eating, munching people.
And it works, too!


"Essen kommen" - what a cool book is that?!
Ingo is the Chef in da house, but, oh, well!

"At one we gonna eat" - this was so dang true!
My parents both were working full time and at 01:0...5 or 13:05 we ate. Always.

Memories... isn´t this book too cute?


"Pril"-Flowes, awww...

Receipes and memories, a great book:


This is my loot of the day:


All for Ingo, right? For the Braunschweig-DVD!

Two of the things made it to my desk:


What a day...
A rare Sunday with the Shops open - a very rare day with the temps over 30C!


I have to remember how the hot air was on my arms and legs. Hmmmm... no freezing.
So missed Ingo, though.

My bike...


I miss riding it...

Here´s a pic of my brekkie:


And the shadows the sun created in my kitchen:





And what did I find on the balcony?
The only sunflower Ingo wanted to throw away cause she was broken... I kept her - and she really is the only one who is blooming! No kidding!

The other ones will make it eventually, too - but she is the first!

I will have to say Good-Bye to Ingo tonight.
Drive to work at 5:30 tomorrow.
At 08:00 his parents pick him up, bring him to his doc and then to Hamburg to a special clinic, some 200 km away in real bad traffic.

Whilst I´m typing I hear him suffer.
If he heard me cry, he´d get upset, so I keep quiet.

After work I´ll drive to Hannover to visit my Mum in hospital, then drive to an empty home.
Friends offered help.
But... it´s all too much.

Suddenly it´s really, really emergency-like. People tell me, nah, don´t worry, his weight is much better than back then and all.
I asked Ingo a hundred times to write down his last will.
Like I did, years ago, being totally healthy.

Each day we´re both on the highway...
He never did. He/his family own 70% of this apartment - we´re not married, but spouses for over 16 years... that might become a problem.
Tonight he asked to make a copy so he can write his last will down. He was too much in pain, though. Thanks for adding that kind of fear to my fear about your life, our life.

I will say Good-Bye.
I cannot hug Ingo, he´s too much in pain.
I´m in a different kind of pain.

I so-so-so hope people are right.
I so-so-so hope I can find ourselves together joking on a playground like in that pic above again soon.
And hug.
Be happy.
I feel so darn helpless.

Oh, dang. His Mum yahooed his Bro (doc) needs our number. How am I not to cry on the phone?!

---

Dang!
His Bro was so helpful! Explained as much as he could (data hasn´t arrived yet) - maybe it´s not that bad after all.
Dunno. He always talks to me as if we knew each other well.
He´s some months younger than me, we went to different groups in (the same) kindergarten, to diffenrent classes in school, yet... maybe he sees me as family?

I said Ingo can´t talk much, but he can tell him what he thinks is worth it and handed over.
After that he was... kinda deeply moved.
I said it´s said we only meet on health-issues, to which he only kinda grunted.
Maybe some kind of change is in the air?

Oh. He´s also very, very clear about some behaviour concerning waiting too long with some things (like visits to the doc) - I´m so with him!
Was good to talk to him.
Is - as weird as that sounds - never like talking to a stranger.
Last time we talked was in 2008!

I feel better now.
Still afraid, though.