Travels – Page 2 – The Dackel Princess

Traffic & Oleander

I drove the 4 plus hours to, my sister’s home today in some of the worst traffic that I have seen in a while. In fact, I saw 4 or 5 accidents along the way and nearly ended up being a statistic myself. I was so grateful when I finally arrived and could get out of the car and just breathe a little.

Unfortunately, today was a busy day. Groceries needed to be purchased, and I wanted to go and get the special dog food for Anneliese that I plan to use during her pregnancy. (Yes, I do think she is pregnant, but I won’t say for sure, because I’m terrified of jinxing it!)

I arrived back at my sister’s in time to change and head over to my mother’s house. For her 81st birthday I had gotten her a bottle of her favorite perfume. Oleander Perfume, from Bermuda, made by Lily. I was really pleased to have gotten her this.

The funny thing was that she had gotten me a small gift to keep with me always as a token of her love and affection. What did she get? Yes, a silver Oleander Blossom on a chain from Bermuda!

Coincidence? I think not.

The Oleander perfume and flowers are just something both Mom and I loved and shared over the years. Something that is just us.

Tonight we took Mom and Mel’s mother in-law out for dinner. I have known Nan since I was 8 years old, (so nearly all of my life) and it was great to have dinner with them. We went to “The Rustic Oak” and had a delightful meal.

I had soft shell crabs. I had never had them before and they were fabulous!!!

They were so very good! Everyone tried mine, except Mom who is allergic.

Mel had Scrod and said it was very good.

For dessert they brought Mom a dessert of her choice with a candle and sang to her.

And Nan also had dessert. I think it was Key Lime Pie!

So dinner is done, and the ladies are back home, and now Mel and I get ready for Saturday’s Family Reunion!

Fritz & Berlin

I need to start off this post by letting you all know that Fritz’s pathology report came back and he is going to be okay! The doctors got all the tumor and there shouldn’t be a re-occurrence of the problem! Hubby and I are rejoicing tonight!!!

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I was sitting here thinking of Uschi and Volker and the wonderful time I had with them in Berlin. So, I went through all the pictures we took, found my favorites (way too many, so this is a tad long) and made a montage.

Watching it brings tears to my eyes, as I recall the time spent with my dear friends! I hope I will be able to make a trip back, soon!

Berlin June 2010 Germany from Dackel Princess Maribeth on Vimeo.

As I said the video is a little long, but full of smiles and doggies and happiness!

Shrek Feet

Okay, I know I have pretty ugly feet. I accepted this long ago. With feet, there is not much you can do about it either. Just cover them up and hope that no one asks to see them, and that your partner doesn’t break off the relationship when he or she does!

Why am I bringing up feet right now, when all my thoughts should be surrounding Anneliese and our trip to Germany?

I woke up yesterday morning with “Shrek Feet”!

See the similarities?

It has been unmercifully hot here in Berlin. Last night when I went to bed it was nearly 90 degrees just in my room and not much cooler outside! So, yesterday morning when I woke up and my two feet looked like meatloaves, I was more than a little concerned.

I decided I needed water. I drank and drank, but noticed that the liquid was just staying put. Uschi and I went to the Apotheke and spoke to the Pharmacist who gave me an all natural fluid pill. Eventually I should get rid of the fluid. (and so far they seem to be working)

We came back home, I drank a ton of liquid and took my pill. Then we both sat with our feet up and watched TV.

Even Anneliese came out for a while. Uschi’s dog Noah, went outside under the sprinkler, so until he dried off, he was kept out of the house. Anneliese didn’t mind that at all!

In fact on this trip, Anneliese has made herself right at home. She loves her Uncle Volker and her Auntie Uschi, and considers their furniture, her furniture!

Yesterday we also went to a discount shoe store and bought a pair of sandals for the trip home. I still cannot get my puffy feet into my shoes, so velcro sandals to the rescue!

On my last day here, we are going in to Potsdamer Platz. It is a wonderful area to shop around, and most of it is well shaded. I am taking Uschi and Volker out for a meal today and Potsdmer Platz has many nice restaurants there. If Uschi’s and my feet hold up, we may walk around the Tiergarten and enjoy the sights. If our feet give out, we will have Volker drive us back home.

It is hard to believe that my time in Berlin is at an end. I so enjoy spending time with Uschi and her family, and going to the beautiful places in this country! Germany will always be my second home!

I love Drugs!!!

All I can say is, thank you, Doxycycline! It seems that this is the wonder drug that is helping to make me well! I woke up this morning feeling so much better. That is after 3 doses of the drug! I was able to get a few things done. AND I actually want to get up and do something.

I admit to being a little bit nervous when I woke and felt better. Should I get back to life, or should I stay on my chair another day? I decided to go 50/50. I would do what I needed to do for a while, then sit down and rest for a few, then get back and do a little more.

Besides getting some laundry done, I also got out a few Christmas things, which just cheered me up! The first thing up was the little Christmas village that Mandy gave me a couple of years ago. I just love the two skaters twirling around, and I can also turn on the Christmas music if I want.

I also got my mantle decorations out with the cast of snowmen and Santas. My little Christmas tree with my mini dackel ornaments is up and my ceramic Christmas tree.

Then I stopped. I told myself it was time to get the jammies back on and kick back. I feel pretty good about what I have gotten done. Perhaps tomorrow I can actually do something like vacuum! That would be wonderful. Anyone living with a German Shepherd can appreciate this, I know!

Hubby and I also brought our suitcases down from the attic today and although we haven’t started to pack, they sit in the hallway and each time I pass them, I smile. 8 days and counting!!!

Soon I will be on the deck of our ship enjoying the warmth of the Caribbean!

By the way, anyone who would like the web site to watch our ship’s web cam, as we cruise around the Caribbean, let me know and I will send it along. I’m watching the ship right now, and enjoying it. It helps me dream of the warmth and the relaxation that Hubby and I will enjoy!

Traveling

The trip down to Pennsylvania took us about 8 hours. It didn’t seem so long because we listened to Julia Child’s “My Life In France” on an audio book.

Oh how my mouth watered and I thought of all the wonderful foods she was describing and I found myself incredibly hungry. But I stayed away from exits with food and all went well.

I ate a lovely Schnitzel for dinner and then we came back to our room and walked the two dogs.

Now I am going to say goodnight as tomorrow we must be up early in order to go and eat and then go to the dog show. I will post results as soon as I can.

We’re On Our Way

With Hubby at home caring for Fritz, Greta and the puppies, I am off to Pennsylvania with Arnie and Anneliese for the German Dog Show. All the primping and preening I’ve been doing should help. Oh yes, and I’ve groomed the dogs too! lol!

We’re going back to the site of last years show, in Reinholds, PA. It’s really lovely there. The show is held at an Equestrian Center in the middle of rolling pastures. It’s such a pleasure to go there.

The Judge this year is a man I have shown under before. He rated Greta three years ago. He is a kind man, who enjoys the dogs and is very fair. I’m happy to be able to show both Arnie and Anneliese to him.

I’ll be posting all weekend from Pennsylvania. Yes a Dackel Princess road trip! Complete with pictures and up to the minute stories of life on the road with two dackels!

Here is Greta when she went to the show three years ago.

And Arnie two years ago.

And Anneliese last year.

Yes, my life has now truly, gone to the dogs!

White Berlin!

I woke on Thursday to find it snowing once again here in Berlin! Oh dear, I think the Berliners will all blame me for this frosty winter! After all, I come from the land of snow back home in the USA!

We have had Anton overnight. Oh how wonderful this is. He hasn’t been taught any English yet, but like most children he is already parroting back what I say to him!

Anton loves to help and he is very good at cleaning the kitchen floor! Oh boy! I am having so much fun with him! In fact he even helped me today when I was writing Dackel Princess!

Uschi and I took turns reading to him. Now this was quite funny because my German is really poor, even at a pre-school level!

Anneliese thinks the snow is wonderful and she goes out and runs around the house the a crazy dackel! Her favorite thing is to plow head first through the snow! She is happily waiting until Saturday and I’ve kept her relatively quiet.

I was quiet today as well. I think the Jet Lag caught me and I have felt very tired. So with all the snow coming down, and being this tired I decided to just hang out today. Noah took advantage of this and I found him in my lap quite a few times, with tons of kisses! Tomorrow we have great plans to go out and visit a few places in the area. Shopping or at least window shopping!

Have a great day everyone!

No Dackels In Berlin!

Today we went out in an attempt to find a small wire-haired dackel toy. We searched high, we searched low and we could not find one dackel toy in all of Berlin! I saw many other things I liked, but the one thing I kept asking myself was, “Can I fit this in my suitcase?”. Usually the answer was no, and so Hubby will be happy to learn I have spent very little during this trip.

I am enjoying seeing what Weight Watcher items are in the shops. Today I found an entire display of their foods!

I wish they sold these in America! I would be a very happy girl!

Uschi and I went to several Malls before I realized it was after 2 o’clock and I needed to eat. We stopped at the Food Court and I had a Curry Wurst and a nice cold beer! It was wonderful!

A choir was singing at the food court and it was really nice to listen to while we ate.

choir

We headed home late in the afternoon and stopped to buy dear Volker some cakes to have with our coffee. Volker had stayed home with Noah, Uschi’s seven month old chocolate Lab puppy and the sweet Anneliese, who will be meeting Herr Isagrim on Saturday for their first tme together!

My favorite cake has always been Mohn Kucken. This is made with Poppy seeds and is wonderful to taste!

Now we wait for Anton, Usch’s grandson to arrive for the night! What fun it will be to have him with us! Tomorrow we go to a specialty garden and dog store to browse around.

Don’t forget to say Hi! I miss you all!!!

Shopping & Eating Sensibly

Today I woke to bright sunshine and warmer temperatures. So pretty, but a little sloppy when walking. Anneliese is doing well and she is being just the sweetest doggy with me.

Yesterday Uschi and I went out to a huge shopping mall in Berlin’s, Alexander Platz. The mall was three stories high and packed with shops and people. I bought a scarf to go with my jacket, but that was all.

On our way home we stopped at a grocery store and I roamed around the store. I could not believe the wonderful Weight Watchers food items they had there, including Fleisch Salat and salami and soups. Oh I wish we had these things in America!

We took many pictures in the market before a woman came and said we were not allowed to take pictures! Why not? The store was beautiful, clean and well displayed. You would think they would want to show off. I took pictures anyway because it was so nice.

I must tell you that when Uschi and I are together we do nothing but chatter like two teenagers! It’s wonderful! Uschi’s husband, Volker has set me up with his computer and helped me along with any and all problems I have had with it. He also gets me my fresh baked sunflower seen rolls each morning! For my German readers, you know how wonderful those are!

Here is a little montage I have made from my first two days. I promise more pictures along the way. Meanwhile, don’t forget to comment so I don’t get too homesick for you all!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The Trip Over.

I wanted to write and tell you a little more about our trip over. We met some interesting people along the way, almost all were interested in Anneliese and her plight of being bred to a stranger! Lol!

In Boston I saw a man sitting next to me take out this very small machine. I asked him if this was a real computer? He said yes, then grumpily told me he didn’t want to speak to me because he was too busy!

Another woman was the twin of my friend, Heather! She was very nice. Eventually our name was called on a stand-by basis, and we boarded the plane for New York, LaGuadia Airport. I knew I would need to take a cab over to New York, JFK Airport, and I asked the flight attendant if she knew a cheap way to do this.

She told me that a flight crew was on board and they were going to JFK. She asked if I could share their cab and they said yes. They were so nice and we rode over with them and it cost only $6.00! That was great! It turned out that the Captain of my flight to Berlin was in the cab with me, and after that he made sure I got a good seat on his flight and that Anneliese was taken care of.

At JFK I spoke with 3 interesting men. First a computer genius who was on his way to lecture in Amsterdam and then on to Brussels. He was probably 10 years younger than me. He was very interested in Anneliese and her story about going to Germany to meet her husband. He asked me many questions and we spoke for the nearly 2 hours it took me to get through both check in and security.

Oh yes. A big thank you and cheers for the fine security people at both Boston and Kennedy Airports. They were wonderful! I simply asked what they would like me to do with Miss Anneliese and they happily guided me through and helped me with my luggage!

I met a young man (age 15) on his way to visit his father in Milan. His parents are divorced and he lives with his Mom in the States, and visits Milan for vacations with his father. He was very polite and very handsome! I bet the girls in Milan think he is adorable!

Then there was John. I spoke to him the longest. As we sat waiting at the gate we talked about life, family, dogs, and the universe. He was a fascinating man. So John, if you are reading this now, a big hello to you!

I was the second person in line off of the plane. I got to Security and Immigration and the woman looked at my passport picture and then at me with a questioning look. I laughed and said to her, “I know, bad hair cut in the picture!” She smiled and said “Yes!”

And then we were through the doors and there was my Uschi! I put Anneliese down in her bag and just held onto Uschi and felt the tears come in my eyes!!! I cannot explain how wonderful it was to feel her arms around me after all of this time.

Wonderful!

So today is catch up on some sleep, and try to stay in the time zone. I cannot believe that it is snowing here and we have had about 3 inches of white stuff! It’s so pretty, but I think I must have brought this with me!