Toby and I on our way down the mountain! Thanks Uwe!!
Austrian Alps
Hello All. September 10 and 11 of 2011 found Toby and I hiking up into the Austrian Alps in company with 39 Bavarians and 1 expatriate Romanian. This was an amazing trip filled with …. well, ummmmm ….. pain, sweat, blisters and cussing. I nearly died three separate times going up the mountain (yes, yes Toby I know that it was more like 13 times). I kept telling them that I was much better at going down than going up and I proved that to be true the next morning! I can work those sticks going down the mountain! Noooowww, Toby had a hard time coming down the mountain but that might be in part because while we were at the church service on Sunday morning, they filled Toby’s backpack with rocks and he didn’t know until we reached the bottom of the mountian. Never laughed so hard in my life!!!!!
It was also filled with some of the most amazing scenery, amazing people (so fun, friendly and adventurous), and A LOT OF BEER AND SCHNAPPS!!! If anyone needs lessons in how to live a full life, let me know and I will put you in touch with someone (any one of the 40 will tell you the same thing) in this group. I also had my first experience with bathing in a sink and let me just tell you that I need to work on improving my technique…that bathroom was a mess when I got done!!!
The pictures and video will follow … enjoy!!!!!
HUGS TO EVERYONE … ESPECIALLY THE WONDERFUL PEOPLE OF SCHNELLDORF!
Birthday Tea
Have I mentioned that I have LOVELY friends here in Quedlinburg??? Well, I do. They make even the most mundane day special just by being present in my life.
I had a tea at the Theophano Cafe to celebrate my birthday with my friends (see picture - Katherine, Nicole, myself, Gabrielle and Beatrix - Hoppi was present in our hearts but was delayed by work). I love these women. They make my life richer, they make me strive to BE more, they bring calm and peace to my life and they just make me smile. Could a girl get any luckier?
P.S. A special Thank You to my friend Dolores in the States. She sent me the most amazing birthday card!! I am still laughing about it two days later! XO
Birthdays continue…
My 49th birthday was celebrated with a surprise picnic in a beautiful park in the shadow of the Wernigerode Castle. My Prince Charming devised this entire adventure and, as would be expected, it was perfect. I cannot find an adequate way to describe this day to you. The weather was perfect, the meal was perfect, the company was perfect (of course) and the hike on the castle grounds later provided my husband with much amusement which, of course, made me laugh at myself as well. This was all “topped off” with the email (see below) that he sent my mother. It reminded me one more time that I absolutely made the right decision in corraling this man 24 years ago!
“FYI - I bought my wife a picnic basket for her Birthday and took her (blindfolded) to a beautiful park below a Castle in Wernigerode, Germany. You can see the castle in the background of the picture up on the hill. The beautiful 49 year old eating grapes and drinking champagne is the woman that I chose to marry when I was 12 years old. The adventures continue…………..”
