Out front, it looked a bit like a battle zone.The big wall had been removed, mostly because the foundation was weak and, reportedly, even some of the sandstone blocks were ready to crumble. Since this is what might keep cars out of our living room, we were worried and will appreciate a new, stronger, wall. (A few weeks later, we heard from the previous owner that it was exactly an errant car that had wiped out the original sandstone posts by the front door.)

Out back, the new patio had been poured. This still seemed pretty rough and, like much else with our dream house, a little small. Oh well, there are only two of us after all.

The kitchen had a new roof and it was much stronger than the old one. In fact, if a meteor is heading our way, we'll hide in here.

The details of the new roof showed that this is more than just throwing up some old tiles on new wood.

Inside the kitchen, things were getting hot. All the floors on this level are being covered with an isolation mat that is sealed with hot tar.

The new bricks were to finish the pantry.

Upstairs, the bedroom ceilings had actually been finished by the plaster people. Most of the walls that WILL have plaster were being prepared with metal lath.

Also upstairs, things were changing on the landing. The attic stairs had been partially removed. This stairway was being removed in favor of a deployable ladder - and a better view out our little window.

Meanwhile, Mr. Loehr showed an example of our windows. We opted for the simplest of window, largely because that seems right for our old house.

The first change was the reappearance of the wall bordering our "Hof". This wall will be strong enough to stop errant cars, that's for sure. Even the "fence posts" were rebuilt from reinforced concrete to protect our home a bit. Right now, it looks a little rough, but I think it will get better as it ages.

Inside, the floors were getting covered with piping for the heating system and miscellaneous wires. The living room has also become the place where workers leave notes for Axel when they need to clarify just what he meant to have said.

Marianne's friend Barbara, who also transferred from Rhine-Main to Giessen with her, brought husband Mike for a construction visit. Besides being nice people, this was a great deal because Mike is a real landscape architect, with ideas on how to handle our intimidating and weed-filled back yard. He went out walking through the tall grass and didn't even say "Why?"

Our next stop was to see the work of our terrazzo craftsman. We had already decided on this sort of floor for our entrance since it's traditional for this area and because we had seen some interesting work a few months ago. The bad news was that the man whose work we had seen earlier has since retired. The good news was that he had passed the work on to his assistant, who clearly knows the craft too.

He showed us a sun room he had done in a nearby town and, again, we were taken by the life and the color of this material.

Our last stop for the weekend was a garden show two or three villages west of Pommersfelden. We still weren't ready to make this a buying visit, but it was fun to get ideas. We saw a carp pond (no - too big)and a fountain(maybe). We saw from wooden flowers that looked real (easy care!) and real flowers that looked like wood . Throughout, the show celebrated with a German mariachi band while neighbor houses dressed in their finest.

Outside, our wall now has a gate again. There was also a mountain of "stones" getting ready to go down as the surface in our "Hof" (yard between house, barn, and pigsty.

Inside, the shower wall had been completed. I'm sure this will look better when it's done. I'm sure.

Upstairs, more and more plaster was hitting the walls.