November 1-23, 2010

Written November 23-27

Friends and Families ,

One resolution I made some New Year's or other was to keep writing diaries, even in slow periods. November has been such a period and, since the last entry was Halloween, it's time. A warning though, there's nothing very interesting or exotic here, mostly just normal life. But, with a diary, it's sometimes those periods of "normal" that are fun to revisit.

November 1

I landed back in Frankfurt mid-morning, after the 11-hour flight from San Francisco and went to work. In principle, we are not required to go immediately to work after a long flight but we've found that staying active is the best way to minimize the impact of jet lag. I say "minimize" because I have found no way to really control or limit the effects. Eight or nine hours of time change is a problem, no matter what. I swear that recovery from this trip took a good two weeks, despite the normal keep-busy theory.

After a couple days working in Frankfurt (Offenbach, actually), I drove down the road to Pommersfelden. The old house was still there, unchanged. Fall leaves had mostly come down so I was faced with that chore, among others. The other yard activity was field mole diggings -- everywhere. I let them celebrate for a couple of days before I attacked with my new American mole poison. The stuff is probably illegal here in Germany, but the moles don't have lawyers so I'm not worried. Besides, dead moles tell no tales.

Since I came home a week before Marianne, the old house was pretty quiet. and the meals were completely unremarkable. I have not spent many of my 64 years as a bachelor, so have never adapted to cooking for one (or two or three or 20 for that matter.)

November 11

Marianne made it back to Germany. The flights back, San Francisco to Charlotte and then Charlotte to Frankfurt, were uneventful - something we appreciate nowadays. From the airport, we delivered her to my Offenbach hotel where she would crash and from where I would go back to work. Even though I had to work, it was nice having my partner back.

That weekend, we had our first Thanksgiving of the year, at Robin and Art's house, west of Frankfurt. They had been brave enough to invite forty people over! We helped, a little, but they had already gotten things is such good shape that there was little we could do. Here are some pictures:

November 14+

Once Marianne was home, we started settling into our normal village life. Marianne cleaned up after me. I left for a few more work days in Offenbach. She got snow tires on her car and on mine. Just in time too, because the white stuff arrived hours after my car got the new, grippy shoes. This snow tire thing has become a ritual. It's not as fun as putting on the summer tires and the promise of road trips, but there is some comfort in knowing I'll have a well-equiped four-wheel-drive car to get me to and from.

November 25

Of course the big deal for us would be Thanksgiving dinner, on the real Thanksgiving Day. Art and Robin had had to cheat since they and many of their friends would travel that weekend. We had invited a dozen people over and Marianne put on a huge spread. We used the whole house, from a welcoming sparkling wine in the living room to the view seating up in the loft. (The view is theoretical. We have big picture windows, but the dark winter evenings are upon us and our view has very few city lights to show off.)

As before, some pictures:

November 27

So, that is just about it for November. For our after-Thanksgivng weekend, we have settled on just catching up on chores and a couple of short excursions in our neighborhood. This morning we took winter pictures in Weingarthsgreuth and this afternoon we visited a very small Christmas market in Kleinwachenroth. (Say THOSE two names quickly.) Pictures:

Our backyard -- early winter?
Weingartsgreuth, a favorite nearby village.
Our first Christmas Market, and we bought a wreath.

John