So what to do when you're ready to cry because all you had was 5 months of being able to get outside without boots and puffer coats?
Dig 'em out of storage (I think I'll save my energy this year and keep them in the foyer year round) along with your happy attitude, then get outside to show 'em who's boss.
And with my baby sister Daphne(who's not so "baby" anymore), and not my hubby...
And we let Afton out of her straight-jacket to walk around...
And we had to wear our WINTER coats, not shorts...
And I got a decent picture...yay!
And then it was time to go!
I love love love, having my Daphne here! She's my mini-me, only better! She's tall, I'm short. She's got fatty lips, I ....don't. She's got rhythm, I ...have a Caucasian doctor for a dad. (yes, it's her dad too, but she didn't get the gene) She's the youngest of 6, I'm the oldest of 6. 12 years apart. She's going to be living with us for the next year and I could NOT be more grateful! Luke has been away more now than at any other billet. Fun times. And we haven't been fortunate enough to live close to any family. I feel spoiled!
I started plotting my garden. I hired a gardener to pick-axe his way through the "soil" filled with rocks, chunks of cement, and hard-packed mud. He brought his little chanchita to do the dirty work. Don't you want a team like this doing YOUR yardwork?
...or "Lake Constance" for all you country bumpkin. Lovely piece of Heaven on Earth! A lake situated in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland at the foot of the Alps! *Even on a not-so-clear-weekend, we got some pretty decent shots...just look hard in the backgrounds for the Alps. They're there.
They make me smile... almost as much as this place does. :)
Speechless.
Afton looks like one of those ocean buoys here.
Please! Do NOT bother me. I'm sunbathing in Heaven... while Afton eats my shoe
Coolest fountain-that-you-can-play-in
My big German piece o' man
Don't say anything... ('cause I love him and think he's cute. Even if he is riding a sealunicorn with shorts entirely too short!)
Afton rides rabbits
Fun (for lack of anything else for a caption)
Best food we've had since arriving in Deutschland! (Oh Thai, how I love thee!) And the owners had a "thing" for Afton, which I did not mind because I actually had time to taste my food!
Fat, sticky, and happy after boating, Thai, and Italian ice cream. Mmmmm
Day 2: Island of Mainau... on the lake.
(while) Porter rides ponies. For 1 Euro he rode a pony at the island petting zoo.
Baroque Castle. That's all I know. I just wanted to get back on the water.
Where Stuttgart's rubble from WWII was placed. And now it stands as a mountainish hill. Grass and trees cover the entire thing until you get to the top. And here it is:
I DON'T GET how I am always captured imagining myself floating weightless with little seahorses...how does that happen?!
It was sobering trying to imagine the history of each piece and where and how it was destroyed. I can only imagine what the WWII /Holocaust sites will be like!
"Hohenzollern Castle is the ancestral seat of the Prussian Kings and German Emperors as well as the Swabian branch of the Princes of Hohenzollern. It ranks among Europe’s most famous and popular castles. The stunning panorama of the picturesque landscape has already been admired by Emperor William II. (1859-1941) who visited the castle several times and is said to have uttered 'the view from up here is truly worth a voyage'."
