July Cake: Daisy Cake

Beverly and I decorated our monthly cake on a 90 degree day in my third floor un -air conditioned apartment.  Not great for buttercream.  We chose a two layer cake where we used four different tips and four icing colors.  My first mistake which haunted me our entire session:  I did not build a "dam" for the  strawberry preserves.  The micro second my spatula touched the cake to begin icing, the first layer slid off.  I never recovered.  Red continued to push through my perfect green coating.

Forced to be creative, I tried crushed sweetened walnuts (Bev's idea).

At least the daises turned out.

Of course, Bev's could win awards.

Hopefully, next month will be cooler.

Ironic

Glancing into my childhood room, you see an empty floor with toys and books neatly positioned on shelves and in cupboards.  In Jenny's room, you see empty shelves with books, clothes, American Doll accessories, pencils, crayons, paper, blocks feet deep covering the floor.  Grandma once attempted to hang clothes from Jenny's closet floor, but quickly retreated.  She moved onto a college door room, apartments on 14th street in Charlottesville, her lawn room, and now her apartment - all following the same "organization" pattern.  My father stopped by her place this month and considered taking her clothes home to clean, but couldn't figure out which were dirty.

So, it may shock you that she spent the remainder of her week with us organizing our house.   She found solutions for books stuffed into crates, toilettries scattered in two bathrooms, Owen's clothes in Emily's drawer, kids art in piles, and still spent her afternoons at museums.  She read every book in our library to the kids and helped sort them in nine drawers.  She created boxes for "little things" - rocks, string, toy pieces - that the kids play with regularly.  We will start the school year with labeled clothes cubbies and a place for incoming papers.  Thank you Aunt Jenny.

Emily's Loose Tooth

[Emily is typing by herself. Sometimes Jenny helps.]

My tooth was loose for a long time.  I kepts wiggling it, but it didn't come out. 

But one day, I kept wiggling it during my golf class. Then, we went to get popsicles at the golf course.  It was still wiggley.  But it didn't come out. 

We went to the fish market. When we went to pay, they gave us lollipops.  The lollipop was sticky.  Whenever I licked it, my tooth hurt. 

I pulled it and it came out. 

love    Emily.

Germany's Sunniest City

We traveled to the "sunniest town in Germany's" and got soaked.  We left our little town for the 30 minute drive to Freiburg with high hopes the rain would soon stop.  Ninety minutes, dozens of tight turns, several steep hills, and two construction sites later, we arrived.  We parked and, in our shorts and tee shirts, ran to the nearest cafe.  (The 100 degree temps pushed thoughts of raincoats, jeans, and long-sleeve shirts from head while I packed a few days earlier. )  I quickly realized this cafe would not suit my kids', or husband's, taste buds.  We asked the German women at the adjacent table to recommend a child friendly restaurant.  They directed us to a pizzeria two blocks away.  We ran from awning to awning quickly becoming drenched.  But we did find the restaurant and enjoyed the warm dry atmosphere.

I noticed Markethalle - a food court recommended by Rick Steves - during our sprint.  We ducked in after lunch to find Italian, Chinese Arabic, French and other cuisines.  We sat on high stools and ate chocolate torte, croissants, and ice cream.  On our way out,  I grabbed a rare delicacy for us -  Chinese take out.

We ran back through the down pour and paused under an archway.

I did take one picture of the Bachle - tiny streams running down almost every street that were built in the 13th century.   I actually loved this small university town and wished we could explore.

While we didn't need an arc, the rain was suppose to continue for four more days and nights.  We decided to cut our losses and head home to Frankfurt two days early.  Bye cows.

 

Different Rules

Dave and I prepared for a quick run Sunday morning.  "Can you plug in my phone - the battery died?"  "You packed the charger right?" Nope.  We remembered the car charger.  We started our very quiet European rental car.  Five minutes later, I ran downstairs to answer the door.  I expected to see Jenny returnning from her walk.  A very irritate German woman - who I had seen the day before (ahh, seen sunbathing naked on the very public deck ) - began yelling at me.  I heard, "BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH , BLAH, auto" as she gestured to the car.  I looked at her quite puzzled.  Our car sat in the right parking spot.  She continued to yell. "BLAH, BLAH, BLAH"  I figured this would be the right moment to say, "Sprechen Sie English?"  Her face became very red.  Apparently, it is against the law to leave your car running at any time you are not in it.

Late morning, we left for Lake Schuchsee, a glacial lake popular for German holiday.  We paused before we entered the beach to warn our curious kids.  "Do not stare at naked people.  The rules are different here.  Bathing suits are optional."

Rocks covered the beach so we all wore our shoes in the water.   Emily worried there would not be enough rocks for her to collect.

 Aunt Jenny tried bare feet.

A few trains came through town.

We swam, ate lunch, collected rocks, and posed for pictures throughout the postcard-perfect

afternoon.