Double-Half
or One Ten without ham

We finally decided no matter what, we need flowers, so off we went to the nursery around the corner yesterday. In 9C. End of May.

On the way we saw this cutie, the seat is covered in a jeans:



The tacho:



Front:



Even the number plate fits, color-wise:



At the nursery they had meerkats :-)



And those really cool discs:



Just not for €28 each!
The lady at the cash-out saw my face and added, we have small ones, too, for 6,50.
Yipps, we took two. Whilst I brought the large disc back another customer asked me how much... she ended up with the small ones as well.



Thanks, Woolies, always so easy to bring the flowers home :-)



Left:



Middle - keep your fingers crossed for the Braunschweig-wildflowers and the Perth-Gallipoli-poppies!



Right, hopefully they all last long!



The neighbour, who has no balcony, closed his window when I planted. Got it you jealous bas....

So. Summer?

Oh, you guys from Switzerland!
Günther is not from Switzerland.
I read the other day about... we call it "inner swine", you call it "one's weaker self". Anyhows, I read it´s a good idea to give it a name so you can reason with it. Günther, you know?

I went to ALDI yesterday to get Tom Tasty, cucumber and radish (sensational prices and quality at ALDI).
Yes, THAT sounds healthy, right?

I wondered a bit about the two old men, each with a shopping cart. New generation of retirees or widowed?
Anyhows, they took forever at the cash-out, so I looked at the table nearby and saw those darn Käsli - and bought them.

Potatoe-crisps with Emmenthaler cheese from Switzerland.
You know, the guys from Switzerland are a tad like Aussies :-)

In Germany the product would be called Käse-Chips. Boring, uncool, huh? The Swiss make up cute words, just like Aussies do.

Re-gen-schirm.
Um-bre-lla.
Brolly.

E-lec-tri-cian.
Spar-ky :-)

Käsli :-)

Yes.

The day started so misty...



Maybe that was a sign, huh?
I do know someone who killed a whole bag of German Christmas-gummybears this early March in one piece.
Hello.
There are no Käsli left. LOL.

Still the sun will shine again, right?



Else we all go to...



And I have to admit... I´m really not 20 or even 30 anymore. My muscles struggle with going back to the old work out, so Günther totally won yesterday.
And now it´s weekend, the two of us don´t have to argue, it´s Ingo-time :-)
Happy weekend!

Time so flies, I can´t really remember when we bought the lille basketball-set, didn´t know where to put it and went for the loo-door. From the inside.

I never ever wanted a bathroom without a window again, but we ended up having just that.
And bathroom and loo seperated, too, with a very small toilet.

To make up for it we hung a "toilet-graffiti-poster" on the door:



Niece was maybe 5 months old, dunno where SIL and Ingo went, but Bro said he had to go and put Niece in my arms.
New Auntie!!!
Panic-mode!
Certainly Niece felt my stress and started crying!
And Bro?
Was just for pee but got glued to the poster, gnaaah!

Niece cannot read yet, but the "loo-ball" attracts ever since ...



She (luckily) forgets about it, but if she has to go... loo is blocked.
Oh, my.
See a pattern here? ;-)

I have very bad memories of being with my Granma´s sister who "taught" me how to get potty-trained at age 1 1/2 (sucessfully).
She was a Nun, she was strict and I still know the bad smell of her bathroom.

Guess Niece will grow up with better memories of "Auntie´s loo", huh?

(Really, some places smell in a way that make me remember - even visually! - that bathroom. And yes, I was born in the early 70´s. Hitting a child was ok back then...).

Jump YES, Strike! The ball was in! ;-)
Times-are-a-changing - luckily!

After we came home from Munster on Sunday I finally braved up and just did it.
I opened up the postcard I´m not allowed to send to Australia, which is sad, it´s such a cute idea, I think!

The card says "bloom in Braunschweig" and on the back:



"Braunschweig is as multifaceted as a flower meadow. There are many chances to bloom."
And an explanation how to handle the seeds, they must´ve thought of me, huh?

Well. And certainly I am much afraid my thumb is rather black than green, yet I braved also into those, thanks again Grace and Pat, everybody please keep your fingers crossed I did it all right and the weather will do a good job, too!





I also planted sunflowers, basil and parsley from the €1-shop.
The rest will be ready flowers from the nursery around the corner.

Summer, you can really come over now!

Sunday I put on a skirt, after all it was some "whopping" 16C... (brrr)
We hopped in the Polo and went to where you get warned there might be a big bang here or there.

The place is so "secret" Ingo had to trick the navi.
Over a very idyllic route we went into Europe´s largest military zone, to Munster, some 110 km/h via country road.
You know Ingo, right? A bit.

He didn´t see a music box anywhere in Perth.



So, Ingo bought a box, put his music-"box" into it and will send it to our Aussie-Nephew L for him to learn.

It plays Lilli Marleen and a statue of her stands in Munster, with the most popular latern, certainly.
Songtext is translated here, link was given by Ingo (sorry, I have to mention that... if you grew up here you´d know why. Dunno about outside this country but here the pic shown on that site is a no-go.)



We asked some passers-by to take a pic of us, too:



First with Ingo´s cam in HDR-mode, then with mine on normal mode.
The mate shook his head upon both cams being the same model and broken at the same spot...

We´ll send the pics along with the box.



Horses in front of a steak-house?



For the way back home the navi lead us via Celle. So many red lights so many slow drivers, it was a pain.

I at least could take some more pics of that sunny day.
A village:



We passed some that had names like Sülze, "aspic" or Groß Hehlen, with hehlen meaning "to handle stolen goods".
Umm... ok...



Ahhh, all the lush green:



Monday was back to a rainy 14C.

And, no. I cannot watch The Big Bang Theory, it gives me a headache... yet it´s so darn present it went into the post´s title... yikes!

Saturday arvo Ingo called from Schadt´s he´d just met a fan of the Düsseldorf Panthers, there´s a game, if we wanna go?



Well, sure I did!
There´s a (German?) saying, back then there was more tinsel.
Back then for the opening there were heaps of cheerleaders, male and female, always with a themed show.
This is now:



Are you serious????
We payed 48 bucks for our seats, too. 24 Euros each, I once started with 5 DM, which would be €2,50...

Tinsel, did I mention?
Back then ear protection was not needed, now kids have to wear these:



Is that a German/European thing to make noise when the defense is playing? I hate it.

For over 10 years we went to each home-game, now I knew but one player, Jabari Johnson... it was kinda sad.
But some things never change, like the music for each kick-off:



Start me up!

We screamed "Quarterback sack!" a lot, oh my, even if they´re not the Braunschweig, but the New Yorker Lions, they´re still the German Bowl defender and damn good - for German standard.
One day I really wanna go visit a game in the US!

The Lions won 58:7, yet, unlike in soccer, the players say good-bye to each other with respect and sometimes with hugs, I love that:



Plus, they have cool cars!



No idea how often we will visit, considering the price - and what you get for it - there is no real pre- or after-game-show anymore, either, no Joe Cocker or Nena... (tinsel, right? ;-)...).
This time we payed with money we got as wedding-pressie, actually it was the first of that money we spent!

Saturday I felt like taking a different route to the city.
Never did I go via those stairs.

And funny enough this is Neue Strasse, new street :-)



Kinda idyllic, no?



This house reminded me of socialism and it could well have stood in GDR, all balconies look the same....



If you know me... I tend to get lost. Yet I could not resist to follow this path - it lies right at Güldenstreet, a very loud and busy street. Just a few steps into this you hear it no more.



There is a complex of little apartments for retirees.
Dunno. On one hand there is everything in that complex, also help, but would I want to live exlusively amongst old people, being old myself?
I thought, by golly, I might have only lived the first half of my life.
But do I want to live into my 80s, likely without Ingo, with a walking frame instead?
But when do you want to go?
Good thing we don´t know this!

There was also a 50+ internet café with a nice mural:



And right behind that a little park with maybe Till Eulenspiegel?



River Oker...



When I looked it up later at google-maps (orientation... huh?) I saw if I´d followed that bridge I´d ended up at hospital Holwede. But well. As Ingo was in there with his tonsils I was living more far away.

"Brave" me went back the way I came.
Cause... I was wearing a Braunschweig-cap. Tad embarassing to ask for the way, no? ;-)