Category Archives: Daily life
The Big Sleep
When we place a city on the imaginary globe in our minds, we tend to think first in terms of weather. Kaiserslautern, Germany, has a wonderfully mild climate: the average daytime temperature in winter here hovers several degrees above freezing. …
It’s All Fun and Games Till You Can’t Find Your Hotel
Driving in Germany. How bad can it be? Cute towns, charming churches, quaint signs that you can’t read. You’re having a good time until you realize you don’t know where you’re going, and the winter night is closing in fast. …
An Afternoon Walk around Rodenbach
The town I live in is like Grandma’s cookie jar: I never know what I’ll find when I shut my front door and walk outside, but I can be pretty sure I’m going to love it. There are lots of …
As American as…
The other day, I caught a few minutes of a Bavarian cooking show. Six Landfrauen were sitting down to a dinner prepared by a seventh Landfrau. Beautiful table. Elaborate menu. Strong, confident women who looked good in dirndls and who …
By Bread Alone
The other day, we asked a man who had lived in Germany for many years what he missed most when he went back to America. Without hesitation, he answered, “The bread.” He was probably thinking of breakfasts like this one, …
Learning German with Lucky Luke
I don’t just sit around and watch television all day. Sometimes I read books. Comic books, that is–and my favorite is Lucky Luke, the man who shoots faster than his shadow. Television is a great way to learn a foreign …
My Morning Jog
Jogging through scenery like this does more than tone the body. It heals the soul. I took this photograph today on my morning jog. Now, lest you think that I jog for miles, let me set you straight. The entire …
It’s a Small World After All
It’s a beautiful day, and I’ve just returned from a walk through the gorgeous German countryside, where I snapped the photo above. I decide to share my good mood and call my grandmother back home in Texas. “Hello?! Hello?!” Her …
My Last Garden, continued
Joe and I found the example graves at the Koblenz National Garden Show completely fascinating. They were so unlike anything we’d seen. Some were as elaborate and elegant as a Japanese flower arrangement. Others were just downright different. Joe’s favorite …