March 6 & 7, 2010

Friends and Families (mostly for my BEST "friend and family"),

Marianne flew off to California last week, so I thought I'd post a "diary" to show her what exciting things are happening back in Franconia.

Saturday morning, I woke to see snow outside my Offenbach hotel room. I figured that was no real problem, since I have my trusty four-wheel Audi and lots of time for the drive home. I hit the road about 9 and hit my first traffic jam ten minutes later, just outside the town of Aschafenburg. The radio said it was a 20 kilometer (12 mile) jam, so I took the first exit, figuring I could trade a bit of time for a pleasant countryside drive.

I drove through Aschafenburg and discovered some very nice turn-of-the-century neighborhoods - and ever-increasing snow cover. Then, I started up the hills east of town and my four-wheel proved it's surefootedness. Unfortunately, half-way up the hills, I came around a corner and discovered a whole collection of cars and trucks that were not so nimble. All were stopped and the guy in front of me got out of his car to investigate. He came back and said there was no chance that the road would be passable for quite some time. Consequently, 40 minutes after I left it, I was back on the freeway.

The rest of the drive was slow, with two or three fender-benders blocking the A3 highway, but otherwise uneventful. I managed to do some errands on my way to the house and then settled in to an afternoon of chores, including shoveling plenty of new snow.

Dinner, self-made, was poor but at least I could just hang out at home.

Sunday morning, I made a long list of things to do, one of which was a photo-expedition. Mostly, this was a plan to get out of the house, as the day had started bright and sunny. I packed up the camera and headed to the neighbor's back yard. He charges one euro to get in and wander around. This day, I had the place to myself, except for the deer and geese and snowy fields. Here are my pictures.

After this bit of exercise, I went to the local bakery for breakfast. Then, after a nice walk home, I needed to spend more time doing taxes. Now THAT's not fun.

Now, I'm finishing this so Marianne can see it when she finds a computer today.

So, that's Pommersfelden.

John

ps: Happy Birthday Ava!!