Posts

Well Into Lent ...

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Oh the lengthening days of Lent.  I confess this has never been my focus during this season but in this new land of little light (especially in the dead of winter), quickly lengthening days are the greatest of gifts!  Though still cold, we had several sunny days this week and I take every opportunity for a little Vitamin D when it comes.  Walks around our little lake are glorious to me. My German teacher asked me about "Fastenzeit" and whether I observed and in my ridiculous German I tried to explain The Repentance Project (  http://www.therepentanceproject.com ).  I failed but please visit and check this out.  I have so often felt that as a modern Caucasian woman - what can I do about racial reconciliation?  How am I implicated in the experiences of my contemporaries of color?  I don't have a notebook of answers but when I read this it instantly felt like a good place to start. This month started off with Lindsay's dramatic death scene as Haemon in Antigone.

Christmas in Berlin

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Christmas in Berlin! Brandenburg Gate I have gotten several emails and texts from friends asking "How was Christmas in Berlin?!"  Germany certainly is known for it's Christmas Markets and we did make it our business to visit several of them.  It would take a great deal of dedication to hit all of them in a season, however!  There are over thirty in Berlin alone.  So what are they like?  Hmm - our observation was that some have a carnival feel with a merry go round or thematic petting zoo (you know - the crèche animals alive and bleating) while others are really just community gathering places for people to meet up with neighbors and friends and have a drink while their kids ice skate or run around the market.  Most are temporarily erected wooden huts displaying a mix of standard Christmas Market eats- both sweet and savory.  The larger the market the greater the offerings: bratwurst, goulash, schmaltzkuchen (every culture has a version of fried dough!), crépes, glue

Our new chapter has begun!

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Well it has been five years since I sat down to blog and now more that eight years since we left our last family assignment in Kathmandu.  I loved doing my blog there as it gave me a chance to document our time and share with friends and family what we were up to.  I thought I would try a new blog when we returned home but then life took over!  Going home and having Bill prepare for and then go on an unaccompanied tour while I attempted to keep home in order and tried to raise our dear hoodlums - well, that meant that having time to write and pursue photography went on the back burner, or more accurately, out the window! Life has morphed in some pretty profound ways the past five years.  My children are now two teenagers and a tween which is ABSOLUTELY hard for me to get my head around.  I lost my father in 2013 and I miss him.  My dear Mom is now 91.  And here we are ... in Berlin! Since family and a few friends have asked and since I really was looking forward to it,  here