The Netherlands!

This weekend Marina and I ventured to the Netherlands! We drove up on Friday night and passed out in our hotel room, it was quite late. Saturday morning we lazily woke up and tried to find a restaurant for breakfast - no luck. We continued on to the town of Delft, famous for the Delft royal pottery. Luckily there was a cafe there and we had a light lunch. The Delft factory was amazing, there were so many pretty plates on display. It was really nice.

Our next adventure on Saturday was to the Keukenhof Gardens! It was so beautiful, there were fields and fields of spring bulb flowers. We took lots of pictures, and enjoyed the sights and smells. It was so relaxing to walk through and see lots of pretty flowers and fountains.

Saturday evening Marina did some homework and I went to the beach! I love the beach, it's very exciting to go to the beach for me because I grew up smack dab in the middle of America, no beaches. I sat in the sand and watched the waves for a while, then I walked along the surf and collected sea shells. It was beautiful, and the sea was the same color as the sky.

We ate dinner in the hotel restaurant and fell asleep watching a movie.

I loved the Netherlands! Something about it felt very relaxing and tranquil. There were lots of people, but nobody was in a rush or upset, they were just there enjoying themselves. I even felt that way driving on the highway, everyone was just driving along doing their own thing. People ride bikes all over the Netherlands, there were lots of bike lanes and trails. Luckily, everyone we encountered spoke English. We didn't even know how to say anything in Dutch, so it was a good thing!

The Netherlands 4-11-09

Busy as a Bee!

It's finally spring! The weather has been so beautiful this week. The daffodils are blooming! Pictures of my pretty daffodils are in the photo album below.

I've been very busy. I've been hanging out and eating with friends, sewing, cat-sitting, and working.

Last Sunday I went to Heidelberg with Melanie and Alfred, they had never been so I was their tour guide.

Over Easter Marina and I are going to the Netherlands! We're going to stay on the beach (I imagine the North sea will be a little chilly), visit Keukenhof gardens, and many other fun Dutch things!

At the end of the month Marina and I are going to Madrid, that will be super fun! I love love love being able to travel, though I do miss Chris when I travel. But it makes the time go by faster.

Callie is well, silly as ever. Now that it's nice out we take romps in the yard a few times a day. She loves it!

I have 2 new piano students I will start to teach next week. I should probably pick out which method books I want to use and get things together. Maybe after my trip...

Heidelberg 4-5-09

Chris and Gennie are Married!

I got to spend last week in warm, sunny Texas! I met my family in Austin TX for a lovely week of wedding festivities and fun. It was so nice to see my family, I miss you all a lot! We ate lots of good Texas food, played Wii, and went to the Austin Symphony which was amazing. The most important event was Chris and Gennie's wedding! They married on Thursday in their pretty, lush backyard.

Chris and Gennie's Wedding

Rhine Trip

Yesterday I went on a trip along the lovely Rhine river. We started at Reichenstein Castle which is better described by my photos than words. The second stop was at Stefan's Wine and Christmas Paradise where we sampled eiswein, the top wine in Germany. It is made when the grapes have received their first frost, but not thawed yet. On the drive to Stefan's we passed the Loreley rock on the Rhine, so I purchased a Loreley shot glass and a Bavarian music cd. The next event was our Rhine river cruise. We sailed up and down the river enjoying the many castles, vineyards, and adorable Rhein towns. After the cruise was lunch in an awesome restaurant. Old instruments were everywhere - hanging on the walls, hanging from the ceiling, it was neat to look at them all. The meal was schnitzel and fries, but since I ordered the vegetarian meal I had a potato schnitzel and fries. Very carb-filled. After lunch we walked next door and had the most fun wine tasting I've ever experienced. Hans, our wine director, was hilarious. We tried his red wine, rose, riesling, and another white wine. Germany is more known for white wines than red. I bought some wine because I had so much fun! Our final stop for the day was in Rudesheim am Rhein, where I went to the Music Cabinet Museum and wandered the streets. The music cabinet museum was so cool! I have lots of pictures for that too. Of course, on the way to the museum I start talking to Ramos and we end up getting lost, but we found the museum eventually. We had a large puertorican group on our tour, they are training at a nearby army post. He was practicing his English on me, and I practiced my Spanish. After the museum I walked along the Drosselgasse, the most famous street in Rudesheim, so I bought another shot glass to remember that. I shared a piece of cake with the tour guide and another passenger in a fancy cafe until it was time to go. It was a fun day, and though it would have been great to do it with Chris, I'm proud of myself for trying something on my own, succeeding, and having such a good time.

The Rhine

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