Saturday, November 26, 2016

Life



Rain, rain, and more rain. Rain+Nox=One hot mess. My life these days consists of dirty towels, muddy paw-printed floors, pants and white furniture. I clean mud splatters off of places that have no business having mud on them. I often question why I even bother to bath this dog, because, without fail, he will be covered in mud within the hour. Thus is the life of a dog owner enduring the winter rains of Germany. Newton, is how you would expect... perfect. He likes to stay on the trail next to me and sits patiently when he gets his towel wipe down after every walk. 

I recently showed one of our neighbors some of my American magazines, and she was horrified that one of the titles was "Garden and Gun". "Gun? Why would you have a Gun in a garden?"

We went to the Kino (movie theater) last week. There is one theater in Cologne that shows English movies with German subtitles. We have been there once before but I had forgotten how different the experience is. First you get an assigned seat, which is bad if you didn't buy your tickets two years in advance. Then you want to buy a treat and find that the menu consists of beer and ice cream and decide to give it a miss, and then your movie starts a half an hour late because... well, we don't really know.

We kept my birthday pretty hush hush. They like their birthdays here and usually have a party. This means that YOU throw a party for YOUR birthday. Somehow this seems backwards to me. If someone wants to throw me a party that's great, but here you do all of the cooking, and cleaning, and entertaining. Forget it.



  


 



















Sunday, November 13, 2016

Around the House

Watching: "The Crown"

Eating: Rosemary and white bean soup

Enjoying: The sound of crunching leaves under our feet

Reading: "A Gentlemen in Moscow"

   Random: 
-Turned 28
 -Nox eating and vomiting small creatures
-Newton sore from running and having his front legs iced
-Drunk fifty year old plus people in costumes on the train at seven in the morning (Carnival has begun)
-Germans are not sure what to make of Trump and we are suddenly in demand for our razor sharp political insight (our only qualifications are being Americans)




 


 









Thursday, November 3, 2016

Ireland




Being in Ireland felt like wrapping yourself up in a cashmere cable-knit blanket. It was a quick trip, but well worth the scenery and friendly people. We were happy to get out of Dublin, as we got there on the busiest weekend ever: it was a bank Holiday, Halloween weekend, and the Dublin Marathon. As soon as we left the ridiculously busy city behind, we took a deep breath, blasted the Irish Music radio and enjoyed ourselves.

Highlights:

Staying in a stone cottage 

The Ocean

Neon colored, spray painted sheep

Getting chased by a ferret, or marmot.... this did happen

 Driving on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road. Thank goodness for the big sticker on our windshield stating "Stay to the left!"

The dogs

Oh my gosh- the sea food

Pubs