Double-Half
or One Ten without ham

Today was a beautiful day, so when I came home, Ingo said, let´s go for a walk!
Certainly I took the new aka big cam with me, the zoom really is great, pic above shows the exhaust shaft of the powerhouse. See the (nasty) pigeons on top?

This may be a pic more appropriate for a beautiful autumn day: What´s the firebrigade doing there, saving a cat from the tree??? Is the cat ok??? No need to get nervous (why is that pic so blurry then?) - they´re saving... ... apples :-)
Ingo said they very likely are on training with the turntable ladder and before those apples get foul and fall down, why not work for a treat?
This guy in front already took a big bite, as you can see :-)

Here´s our "long Henry": Always good to see him, means you made it home safely.

I leave you with some green colors and a friendly smiling guy: Happy Halloween?
Guess here we won´t have any kids asking for Trick or Treat, last year was one kid and today, I think the doorbell isn´t even on...

Ingo made Grünkohl on Sat and boy did it get cold outside. It´s a typical meal for the winter-season and looks like this: Sososo yummy!

This geranium: ... is a true survivor - all other plants were like really dead on our balcony after this "summer". This one not entirely, I let it be there.
I never cared - and look, blooming and all, despite the cold (1C this morning, yikes, we really need to get our winter-tyres on!)!

When it´s cold outside, this is what you can do when you´re not a strong flower: Yes, certainly we puzzled our town :-) Because Braunschweig-people love their town: This is the Braunschweig-emblem in our grocery-store.

Places… when cleaning out our parent´s stuff we found this can: You can use it as safe. The moment I saw it I had the smell of warm plum butter in my nose.

Back then Sonnen-Bassermann, situated opposite my parent´s/Bro´s house, cooked them in autumn.
Yikes, what a mean smell. And how “fun” to run when you had clothes outside to dry!
Oh so often I thought about putting it all back in to the washing-machine, because despite what my Mum said, the smell stuck in a bit.

Now “Sonne” only produces convenience food and has reduced it´s staff to less then half in that town. The main domicile has moved far away.

I worked there for three weeks back in 1989. Can you believe that – although I saw the bad stuff like cockroaches, spiders and grub – I still eat convenience-food?

Even in those three weeks! But, well, what can you do when “fatherly” colleagues secretly bring you hot portions from their line in the night-shifts?

I still don´t like plum butter, though.

Prefer Grünkohl ;-)

Sat we went into the city – such a beautiful, warm day!

We visited Henry The Lion´s real Henry again, do you spot him under the leaves?: And had a closer look at the display for the blind: Henry right in the middle: About this place in braille. Reminds me of Helen Keller, she was deaf, too, studied, rode a bike, went on the world fair in Paris... she was born 1880, her book "The Story Of My Life" is just amazing.
Guess I wouldn´t be that strong-willed.

Am I thankful I can see these wonderful colors… Did I mention what happened to these great shoes I so had wished we´d found them before that stupid hike I had to attend with sneakers? This happens to the best hiking-shoes – when they sit in a board for over ten years…
On the way back home from the city it already happened. Imagine me being in Harz with this, oh, my!

So… where did Ingo take me? To the kids-section in a shoe-shop to buy me new hiking shoes.

Why kids-section? There you get no name shoes for 40 bucks whereas the ladie´s ones came for 80 euro.

And since I´m no hiker but will use them mainly for our walks into the city in bad weather… they´re good enough.

The new camera is really good, great zoom.

From here (hello again, Henry): We got this on top of the tower! At times, though… We should´ve given up… Eww, huh? Outside a church! How ugly!

And then we saw this on a bench... A bra and earphones, ummmm???

Now it looks like November, grey all day. Where did “golden October” go?

Yesterday I was at Bro´s place again to clean out the house.
Maybe the last time, the next two weeks my colleague is on holiday, hence I need to go to work.
And in November the days are that short already, I guess it doesn´t make much sense to drive over. I´m nightblind and would have to leave too early.

I wouldn´t be able to see this little girl! She always makes the day good again!
I have to learn so much though!
When she saw me she smiled big and ran to me, so cute!
So I went down and hugged her. Her little arm stayed outstreched, though, she didn´t move.
When I asked her if she likes me to pick her up, I got a little bugged out "yes!" and she didn´t look at me for a while... uh-oh-Auntie-fault! Next time I know better (whenever that may be...)
Just to be on the "safe side", I got a (last?) Ten Without Ham from da Nico.
When I said, don´t keep it warm, it goes to Braunschweig, he certainly already knew.
No one but me orders a Ten Without Ham and I bet it´s not a ten anymore, either.

Here she is with her Mummy: It was such a warm day!
And no rain at all in sight - Niece´s shirt shows rainboots, though (very cute!).

Here´s the whole family: Always a treat to see them after all this work.
We got done quite a bit, read we threw out a lot. Still so much to do and you see only little progress.
Three apartments with many boards, big boards, full to the brim and an attic alike, it´s really awful. So few stuff we want to keep, so much too good to throw away, maybe we can sell it - which is more work.
Enough whining.

The title? See/hear here: That´s Bro´s garden. For years he had different ... to take care of, our Mum.
It was quite a mess.
Then Theo came. He´s from Greece, can´t work long, has no job.
He knows heaps about gardening, so, when he´s able to, he comes over and works for a few bucks, a cuppa coffee and a cigarette here and there.
He got so much done and also knew it´s best to plant crop plants the first year, not gras.

Mais, that´s corn, which Niece loves. "Lauter Mais", "so much corn!". Sorry The movie starts with Bro snorting! And sorry it´s so short, felt like a long time.
Cute how she pushes her Daddy away, no?
She did this before and then looked up at me, thought she´ll repeat this, but... no.

Autumn... yep it´s here again. This was Monday btw.
And btw, maybe you´ve seen this pic on FB where I wrote "Spouse´s new shirt. Well, he actually was est. 5 years later, but we live in the City of Henry the Lion. Plus... it´s a Londsdale-Shirt. Always makes me think of Landsdale/Wanneroo where we always stayed when being in Perth :-)" I never know what to use, blog or FB, hence... I need this in here, too.
Another warm and sunny day, we´re off to the city now!

Despite the days getting shorter, stealing my time due to being nightblind, I went to Bro´s place again to clean out the house.

Pic above shows my car parked in Bro´s gateway. Like mentioned here the meter maids know I´m family and I don´t get a ticket.
Oh so often people park their car here! All my life!
Mum did never mind, she "escaped" via the pavement. But how to get in? People never think about it and yes, there is a sign saying this is a gateway, no parking...

As every time we had a coffee first - despite me announcing I need to leave early to drive in daylight.
Maybe it´s more important to be there for each other, huh? So I let go.

Boy. We got done SO much!
In maybe 14-16C I was wearing a T-Shirt, and sweating!
Up three floors, grabbing two yellow bags (German,or see here (which I guess, no one will ever do ;-)...) and down into the basement (steep steps).
My muscles still hurt!
So much!
We store them in the basement, the city collects them every 2 weeks, I guess.
We got Bro´s V40 (Volvo, big station wagon) full to the brim with old clothes and glas to recycle, then again half-full.

At one point I had to sit down, laugh, and grab the cam: I named this little soldier James Ryan (yeah, I´m creative, huh?!) and Bro was like "What?!" when I told him, hey, now you killed James!
And, really, after several runs, James lay on his back.
So sorry, dude. You escaped the yellow bag ... and then got stomped by Bro.

We had fun, too. Wanna meet Marge Simpson II, visit Bro (he won´t step on you): Seriously, Mum was wearing this?! In public, too?

I can´t even remember our Dad going outside when it was raining (and the thing looks new, too), but, hey... I got a yellow poncho for riding the push-bike in the rain. Will throw away my grey one, wanna be seen, right?

My car is full of loot we can leave here easier (no yellow bag but bins - easier for clothes-hanger and stuff). Yeah, do I look forward to Monday...

Some I kept: (The last one says "B. Zibner", no idea why my Mum had put her name on it?) There are more like these and Ingo had the idea of making a mobile sculpture out of them! Let´s see!

Maybe you´ve read my post about the worst hike of my life.
Yeah. Guess what we found??? Shoes for hiking! New, never worn, my size. Made by Lowa, that´s very good quality!
Seesh!
How come my Mum - she was 15 cm smaller than I - had my size?
Ok, Nose, ears and feet keep growing... but that much?!
Anyhows! We found more! I need new boots. We had a look at some, too ugly, too expensive... here we are! Boots, made by Gabor!
Finest quality! Plus two more pairs, also by Gabor.
Mum, why did you never ever wear them?
I´ll do that for you now, thanks heaps.

Shoes... so, so many we gave away to charity.
Oh, boy. Mum never threw anything away.
And what did we find after I went to the hardware store to buy garbage bags? Right, garbage bags.
Never used.

I really wonder, Bro and I do... Do many people have to get rid of so much junk?
Our parents both were children of war, yes.
But... so.dang.much....

We also found this cool set: Thermometer, hygrometer, a weather station: And now I know why my cam was such a "cheapy" - obviously you cannot force flash!!!
Geez!
But when you get the surrounding "dark" enough, the result is ok: Yes, we tried to trick her, Ingo did. Nah, doesn´t work.
Anyone an idea, it´s a Nikon L810...

I made this idyllic pic with her, though: In Ingo´s room.
While he sat there with a sad face and hurting tooth he might even loose. On a Friday. Poor boy (I dare say this, I had the same problem, but my tooth was saved - the pain... outch)

SIL didn´t know I´m nightblind and will leave early.
She made Kale for me, oh, what a pity we all still have to learn how we function, how we are.
Hopefully next time she comes to visit with Niece.

Yesterday: So sunny!
Today... it rains all day long. The thrive of having a Friday off, both, Ingo and I (who now is asleep on the couch with his aching tooth). Bahhh...

Let´s hope for a great weekend anyways, huh?! :-)

Totally forgot about this video I took while waiting for Ingo (you need to see the whole post, blogger doesn´t give a preview in a preview...). It was like really loud and we thought it´s but overdriven noise, but the new camera is a hit, I think. Some typical German music at a little marathon :-)

See those two guys dancing away at 0:26, music sure is motivating!

This she is btw (in German it´d be a female), my new camera: Guess it´s a phased-out model, was quite a cheapy, but does a good job in my eyes.

And my old one got pimped up a bit, too: The sheep munches gras, isn´t that too dang cute???
And yes, I know it´s meant to be on a cellphone. But my cellphone... My good ole Frog King lives there.

Well, autumn is here... River Oker is full of leaves (pic taken with the small one): In the city I really didn´t get it... again. "kids eat free"? And the rest is written in German.
And you know why? People don´t speak English.
"Kaffee to go"... "Taschen for sale"... stop try being cool, I´d like to shout in shops like this. Cause... that´s not cool.
Or I´m an old-fashioned fart.

"kids eat free" with a German definition what "kids" are might even be ok. But Kaffee and Taschen???

On the way home I took this pic, isn´t this just nice? I had to clench my teeth, though, when I saw this great yellow "A" beside this beautiful entrance: I´m not happy we have the Asse nearby. Water is coming in and who knows what´ll happen to all the radioactive waste.
But...
Germany shutting down nuclear electric power generating plants, one after another. Do people really think in Poland, France or wherever the plants are they are as safe as the German ones?
We have (had) high security standards you probably won´t find in those places.

What are we supposed to do, go in the woods, cut down trees for heating, ride on horseys instead of cars, back to the roots?
People now whine that electricity is becoming way more expensive.
Yeah, buying it from other countries shure is a bad deal.

Sorry, but all those yellow "A"´s (against Asse, against nuclear power in general)... those guys often drive big, old cars (with a small yellow "A" in) - empty.
Start in front of your own door, they make me whine.

But let´s end this little pic-& whine-marathon with a beautiful pic: