Double-Half
or One Ten without ham

... or He didn´t come with empty hands

... or In return for some B-day pressies

Whatever! :-)
I worked only 5 hours today because my Brother was in town!

I had some Birthday-pressies for the now 31-y-o and we went to Tres Amigos (german) for some very yummy lunch!
The waitress was obviously not so pleased to have paying guests, but the food was just great and in my case lasts twice.

And I have new glasses (and some cheap earrings I bought for the glasses)!

I just love it when my Bro buys rather fancy glasses the people in our small hometown won´t buy, because after a year or so they become mine :-)
So, here we are, glasses and necklace by my Bro, the Optometrist and Goldsmith :-)



Sadly he had to leave rather early, but I take three days off next week cause we wanna put new flooring in our Mom´s new apartment - plenty of time to catch up then!

Gack, instead of cycling to the gym here I sit, stomach still full, sipping hot tea - 19C inside, I´m freezing! But it´s not even November, far too early to put on the heating! Constant rain all day, icky weather!

Winter may come! I took the pic from "high up" so you can see the orange "fur" on top - love it! You think it looks stupid? HA! Yips :-)



... in retrospective I look like Spock! You see exactly where my ears end!
... must be my ears, no?
That was the .. one of the... reason(s) I bought the cap - it covers the ears completely!

Today I got my second letter from Ingo - it was a bit of a puzzle-letter! (you can click to enlarge)





Not only a puzzle, though! Ingo included a game, guess he was inspired by a travel-agency-ad advertising a journey to Australia - get the Blowie!! (you can click to enlarge :-)







Though actually... do you ever try and squish Blowies? The name says it all, no ;-)

I loved this letter! :-)
A real card is on the way to Ingo.

This is my first autumn on the new route to work. It´s 10 km less to drive, but it´s a big part over rural road instead of highway.

And rural roads are full of colorful, fallen leaves! This morning, still dark outside, I was stuck behind a truck.

But I didn´t mind because I saw the most beautiful and wildest dance of the masses of leaves that were blown in the air by the truck.

All this whilst listening to Freddie Mercury´s Exercises In Free Love - is there a better way to start a working day? :-)

I "cooked" today and will you believe it, what was written on both products really was true - my mouth still burns! :-)





And this despite the fact that both were expired already, not long but they were.... Time just so runs, concerning canned food and noodles!

Tonight it´s rather spooky here and I miss Ingo a lot! Outside a man was screaming, a car´s alarm went off, then the wind made the insect screening bump against the balcony-door. I just hate that!
Til the 4th I have to wait, then Ingo will be back!

Not a love letter, though... rather a report on how he´s doin´ at reha. Seems to be more a detox center than a rehabilitation center! Poeple who have to fight obesity, alcohol and cigarettes. Only a few need to come back from a severe sickness.
And it seems that clinic is not really prepared for those. The other day Ingo got introduced to "his" nutritionist. Maybe it was gut-feeling, Ingo tested her. He said, "after eating one kg of ice-cream my stomach hurts." Her answer? "Maybe you suffer from intolerance against lactose." YES! 1 kg - 2.2 pounds - who would not hold his belly in pain after such an amount of ice-cream?!
Next she sent him to the kitchen so he can see where all the fat is hidden. Hello, lady, you need glasses? This man needs to gain weight!!!

Darn. At least he did not loose his creativity. No numbers on the sheets but "signs" that match only once:



Again he does not want me to come for a visit - it´s too far and hence too stressy. We spend the gas-money on a treat here at home soon.

BTW! Gas is back to normal, still a little fortune to spend, but not hilarious anymore!

Before going to the gym today - went everyday since Tuesday and the more often I go the better I feel, so full of power!! - before that I went to the city - so a slightly longer route, not much!

I counted: 81:5 - no, that´s not the outcome of a very boring game of footy!
81 bikers without a helmet, 5 with - me included. 3 adults, 2 very small children.

Now I really do wonder after having learned it´s even law in Australia and you´re considered an idiot in the US riding without - how come German people don´t wear a helmet on the bike? We have lots of cycle paths, but often enough you´re on the road with the cars. Older people, ok - they always went without, they always will. But all the younger ones (me included for a long while, sporadically wearing one, mostly forgetting it...) - what´s wrong here? Anyways.. I´ll be wearing one now! Hope I never need the protection, though!

... or: time RUNS!

I know this will be of interest to no-one but myself - and maybe Ingo - if he had Internet-access!! (which is not the case).

Kelvin Love will be with the Braunschweig Lions for yet another year, yay, he is such a "sweety"!!! Always fun, nice to kiddies and a great sportsman!

And... oh-boy!!! It´s the eighths season with him already (german)!!! Time just so runs!

Ohhh, so great!

Umm... Name: Kelvin Love - action: Something great - music in stadium: Love Is In The Air - hopefully: often yet again! :-)



Pic: http://www.braunschweig-lions.de/ (german)

So. Until I find time to go buy a new helmet with Ingo at my side, I take his helmet. With a cap underneath it looks stupid, but works.
Thank you, guys, you convinced me it´s really worth wearing one.

So, today I hopped on the bike and had a look around on the way to the gym: I counted - me included - 39 bikers (both ways).
37 wore no helmet, only one other guy did! Felt like being exotic!

How come? Is a helmet more accepted by bikers elsewhere?

Seems the place Ingo has to call his home for supposedly three weeks is also rather exotic (he started rehab today). E-Mail? Possible, but... 10 cents per minute! Bet they only have a 56k-modem...
TV? Nope. Just for a whole lotta money. He brought his DVD-player with which you could watch TV - no connection.
He just called me - standing on the window sill, otherwise no receiving.

So, since he forgot to take books, it´s radio (and maybe TV in the car, if he finds a spot). Poor man!

After two stressy, crap days at work the weather was a very welcomed treat!

What a weird tree this is, such a short trunk and such a full head!



And ohh, those flowers were beautiful!



This "mess" on the ground looks like a one-eyed duck to me:



Somehow we now have the beer from Hamburg, ASTRA (german) - made with love:





Reminds me that I really could need a holiday at the sea! Really!
Just not possible at the moment, more stressy (and I suppose fun!)-times ahead.

The car is ready to go, it has the Brunswick emblem now:



Well, Brunswick.. we don´t have the The Phantom of the Opera, no, we have the The Phantom of the Oker (- I´d never go to Hanover) (german) - with the Oker being a river that also runs through town and made the town that strong in the first place:



Sadly, it´s sold out!
It´s about the old fight between Brunswick/Braunschweig and Hanover/Hannover: A curse is laid upon both and can only be fought if the two get a happy couple. I hope they bring it on once more! The poster on the Brunsviga (german) opposite our apartment reminds me of being too late every day!

The only thing I love about saying good-bye to summer - the colors:



And a decent cup of coffee from my new cup, a true cup of someone who lives in the town of Henry the Lion :-)



Happy weekend, everyone!

It´s weird over here! See?! (you can click to enlarge)



The trees scream "look everybody over here! We wear our colorful dresses to say good-bye to beautiful summer-times! Autumn is here!"

The skater?! No, not a freak! It was hot today! Not the expected 15 C, but at least 25!

We went for a looong walk. I still found myself stopping, saying to Ingo, "Look! It´s in the middle of the week and here we are - together! Going casually for a walk!" Like it´s the most normal thing to do! And it is now! No need to wait for the weekend, no more stitches when seeing other couples inbetween the week!
How and why did we manage to live in different places for so long?!
But. I try not to think of it and just enjoy what we have now :-)

See, this house is all wrapped up against the coming winter:



Ingo´s rehab is due. Yips, already after only being home for 10 weeks without any medical attendance or care he gets rehab granted. Boooy, those guys are quick, no?!
Next Tuesday he´s off. Maybe for three long weeks. Far away. If he does not go he won´t get any money. Clever, guys :-(

Ahhhh, I just love the sea! This is Denmark.

Two of our bikes went there - with my Bro and his girlfriend. And certainly the bikes are theirs now!
Nice gesture to take a pic :-)




Wanderlust!
Weird word! Actually a german word! But we say "Fernweh" for it!
Wandern = hiking
Lust = well... lust, desire.
I don´t like hiking much but feel a longing (weh) for a distant (fern) place like the sea.

That was my personal "record" today!

I´m on the way home, heading on the road towards a traffic light - a green one. One that marks the highest point on my route, I´m pushing uphill, I don´t wanna loose any energy on the way. From the other side of the road a "Hello Pizza"-delivery car turns into my lane, before me, all is good. But... before Hello Pizza is a guy from Wolfenbuettel, the number-plate hence begins with "WF". Hello you guys, stay in your town, will ya? Oh-so-often they seem to be overwhelmed by traffic!

And so it happens. Hello Pizza is in a hurry. WF slows down with no reason (lots of cars? Traffic lights? The combination of those?).

Accident #1: Hello Pizza bumps with a loud bang into WF who comes to a total halt.

By overtaking I see no damage, must´ve been plastic on plastic, bumper against bumper, so to say. I´m nearly on the cycle way, have a bad-gut-feeling.

Nearly accident #2: WF has a wife and she is keen on seeing for herself what happened! Have a look backwards first to check if the way is clear? Nope. Maybe in WF they have no cyclists? She nearly wipes me off the bike by opening the door WIDE. Hello?! That was close!

Autumn is there, it´s getting dark earlier, so I have the flashing lights on. Seems they are still not bright and flashing enough for some!

Nearly accident #3: I wanna cross a road, a car want´s to turn right and sees me in the last sec! We both manage to stop in time.

I´m nearly home. In this area the rule is: The person to your right has right of way. No matter what as long as it´s a vehicle that is allowed on the road.

Nearly accident #4: That darn, stupid ### DID see me, looked me straight in the eye and simply crossed the road. Thank you dumbass!

I´m home safely, the phone rings, it´s Ingo, saying, hey you just passed me, I was waving, didn´t you see me?
Nope. Had my eyes on the road. (And no, reason of the call was not an accuse for not waving back, but to question if I need something from Aldi round the corner).

Man. Guess it really is time again to wear the helmet. I know I should do so always. But after the gym with wet hair (from showering!), a cap is so handy...

Am I glad nothing happened to me today - the day started straight away with D`oh! ...

I had on: green shirt, green earrings, even the socks were green (that was coincidence, though). I´m just outta house and realize, D`oh! I still wear the orange glasses instead of the green ones (scrolling down a bit needed) :-( Argh!

Have to add... Didn´t know D'oh! was really created by the Simpsons!

Ingo´s helmet is better than mine - we made it fit to my size, my head + a woolen cap - Ingo´ll be gone to rehab and meanwhile I´ll look for a better one for me...
Thanks guys, for telling me how lucky (and stupid) I was - you helped turn me into a helmet-guy, one of the still rather rare species over here!

18 years! That long we´re one united Germany today! The kids who may drive a car now grew up in one big Germany. They are adults! That makes me feel old!

Still - since 18 years! - we´re sad we lost June 17th as a public holiday to it!
Which was a day in summer with heaps of BBQs!

Are we truly united? No. There is still a big gap, also financially. As well as in our heads. In our old heads.
Certainly we feel glad for the "East-guys" - hey, I work with some! They´re fun to be with, especially when it comes to bananas!

Just go to google, pictures, and ask for banana ddr gurke - I´ve been told by one of them! :-)
Well - long weekend, and I need it! :-)