Quattlebaum means fruit tree!!!

Our name has been redeemed! When Chris and I moved here the German ladies in the housing office told us that "quattle" meant some sort of skin pustule, but actually that is "quaddel" with 2 d's!!! Our name is spelled with 2 t's! Quattel is an old German word that was regional, and this particular word did not make it into modern day German. Quattel is a type of fruit in the plum family, it is yellow and sweet. Our name means fruit tree! I found this out from the nice Germans at my furniture store, they were very informative.

Apparently the original Quattlebaums originated in the German state that Chris and I live in, Rhineland-Pfalz, also called the Palatinate. Here is a little tidbit I found from a genealogy site:

The name Quattlebaum is made up of two words. The latter word, "baum", or "tree"
presents no difficulty. The word "quattel", denoting the specie, seems to have
been a provincial word that has not found its way into the present-day German
language. There is a family tradition to the effect that the quattel was a
fruit, belonging to the apple, or quince family. A late informant says the word
"quattel" denotes the pruneplum. The original sturdy stock of the quattle tree,
most likely, has through grafting or budding become a more modern fruit. It is
said that the quattel was a slow-growing tree, so slow-growing that the planter
seldom lived to reap the fruit from the tree he planted. Hence, a man was said
to "plant his quattels" when he did something for posterity. (Family tradition
regarding the name traces back to "an old German scholar" who taught at the
schools of Saxe Gotha about a century ago.) During the first 2 generations in
America, the family spelled the name Quattelbaum. In the third generation, the
spelling under English influence, became confused. The fourth generation
eventually settled on the spelling in use today - Quattlebaum.

In other words, today has been a good day. The weather is sunshiny and springy, I have all my windows open. I ran errands, had lunch with friends, and cleaned the house. In a little bit my piano student will arrive. I've been listening to flute music all day, it makes me want to practice. *gasp*

Chris arrived just fine in the middle east yesterday. He sent me a short message to let me know. He is training for the rest of this week.

Round 2

Chris left for the middle east today :-( It was harder to say goodbye at the airport, but easier to come home to the empty house. I don't think it has really set in yet. I treated myself to a little retail therapy in K-town, I found some great quilt fabric. My neighbor across the street invited me over for dinner and we had a nice time.

Tomorrow should be an interesting day, we are in Fasching which is the German version of Mardi Gras. There will be lots of parades all afternoon, I hope I'll be able to get home from work!

My new favorite holiday in Germany is Easter! Remember all those Christmas markets I posted about? Germans also have Easter markets! There is a fantastic one the first weekend in March at a very historic monastery, I'm excited to check it out.

It was great to have Chris home for a week. It was nice just to be together again, even for just a little while.

Chris leaving

Chris is home!!!

Much to my surprise, Chris came home over the weekend! It is so so great to have him home, we are enjoying our time together very much. I've been cooking his favorite foods, doing his laundry, and letting him nap :-) Callie is enjoying attacking her daddy's feet. We decided just to stay home and spend time together while he's here for a week, instead of traveling. I'm planning a big trip through Italy for when he comes back in September!

For Valentine's day Chris bought me a new printer, it's awesome. It's an HP photosmart so now I can print my own photos! That's very helpful since I'm a scrapbooker. It's wireless too, so we put it on our network and don't have to hook it up to our computers with a usb cord. Newfangled technology that I understand, yay!

We tried to do our taxes on base at the legal office, but all the computers were down. Confused and sick of waiting, we decided to go to H&R Block in Ramstein and I bet it only took the guy 20 minutes to do our taxes! We are so relieved to have that done. We tried to file online the other day, but my Missouri stuff was iffy and wouldn't let us. I have special things because I have foreign income, and the nice man got everything squared away and ready to go! That's a big weight lifted off my shoulders. Hopefully taxes will be easier from now on.

Callie is super cute, as always. She's gotten used to sharing the bed with only me, so now I wake up trapped between Chris and Callie with hardly any room to move! I've been quilting a lot, and trying to teach myself guitar. I checked out a book from the library and bought a book yesterday, but I really need help with the hand positions and guitar-specific information. I'm trying to find a teacher, so far no luck. One of my piano students wants me to play the Peanuts theme song (Linus and Lucy) for her, I guess I should practice and set a good example ;-)

Here are photos of Chris's adventures in training.

Chris Training