For RJ and I, the first working week of 2014 was quite unlike what our weeks usually are. We were off to a rather relaxed start on Tuesday, the 7th (the 6th is a holiday in my part of Germany). We were both working from my place; I have three desks here, all of them with internet access, and so it is no problem to have an efficient day at the home office. Most of what we did on that first day was preparing everything for this year.
On Wednesday, we had a visitor. I hesitate to simply call him a customer, because he is more than that; we also cooperate with him in more than one way, and he has been an acquaintance of RJ's long before the idea of working together came up.
We had several meetings with him in December, but this was the first time we had the occasion to talk in detail about what we were going to do, terms and conditions and so on. Well, it was a session that lasted 12 hours, including lunch, coffee and cake, and a (delivered) pizza late in the evening. For the rest of the week, RJ and I were both knackered and were glad for being able to take things a bit slower at our biggest customer's office on Thursday and Friday.
We still had lots to think and talk about, since several new opportunities have opened up for us, so we used some of the weekend for business as well, not neglecting the fun and relaxing bits; there was my sister's birthday to celebrate Friday night, and we went dancing on Saturday night.
This week, I am on my own again and will do most of my work at the customer's office. But because of last week's many extra hours, I am only going to take the train a bit after lunch, and work just a few hours this afternoon.
Half an hour ago, I have returned from doing my groceries shopping for the week. I have probably mentioned before that I do nearly all my food shopping at Aldi's, which is the most convenient place for me; it covers all my householdy needs, has great prices and good products, and is close enough for someone like me who does not drive but carries all their purchases on foot.
For a few weeks already, Aldi has been offering a new range of (vegetarian) bread spreads. I am not a vegetarian, but I do not "need" fish and meat; usually, I only eat it when I am invited somewhere, or when RJ cooks here and we eat together. The bread spreads come in many different kinds: there are mushroom-shiitake; cashew and red pepper; onion and cream; olive and herbs, and many more. What really caught my eye, though, was the word "Hummus" on the large cardboard box holding the small tins.
[Picture nicked from Aldi's website.]
If you don't know what hummus is, you can read about it here on wikipedia. I love hummus, but am too lazy to make it myself. So getting it ready-made in a small tin was certainly worth a try.
But... each time since I first noticed the assortment of new bread spreads, I have been looking through the big cardboard box (containing 36 tins) and not once found a hummus one. I've lifted the box on top of the pile and searched the box below, something that obviously other customers before me have been doing as well.
So far, not a single hummus tin in sight!
Of course, I have not stopped at the supermarket long enough to search through ALL the boxes - that would have probably taken me about half an hour. But isn't it odd that, out of all the many kinds of spread, that one is the most hunted for? Who, I wonder, are the other Aldi-customers who manage to grab the coveted tins before me? Is it only one person, filtering out all their hummus stock? Or is it a clever marketing trick to add just one single tin to each palette for the lucky winner, similar to the Golden Ticket in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"?
Will I ever get one of those precious little tins?
Altogether, in 2013 I read just over 50 books. Most of them were free ebooks that I had found on Amazon's kindle shop, and although there were a few that I could have done without, I quite enjoyed a lot of them and do not regret having spent time with them.
The first book I finished this year (last night, to be precise) was "American Woman's Home", written by sisters Catharine Esther Beecher and Harriet Beecher-Stowe (the latter being best known for "Uncle Tom's Cabin", I suppose). By far the largest portion of this book I read during December 2013.
"American Woman's Home" was published in 1869 and covers all imaginable subjects that matter to the smooth running of a household and the raising of a family, from floorplans to the ideal home to the care of animals, healthy cooking to the care of servants, domestic amusements and social duties to sewing, cutting and mending, ending with a chapter about "The Christian Neighbourhood" and an "Appeal to American Women".
This book is a huge source of information on what daily life in an average home could have been like in those days. It talks about both what the authors deem bad household management and what they recommend. Two things featuring prominently throughout the book are fresh air and Christian principles. There are some bits sounding rather advanced and modern for the times, but also bits that seem quite weird to us now, but are presented in such seriousness that they made me laugh and shudder at the same time.
For instance, while Catharine Beecher was a strong advocat for women's rights in that she thought all women should be able to work for their own livelihood, and that domestic work was just as important as any business conducted in the world out there, she did not think it fitting for women to go into politics. To her, men and women had different roles assigned to them by god and nature, and the way to happiness was adhering to those roles.
In the book, mothers are encouraged to teach both their daughters and sons how a household is run successfully, how to cook, mend clothes, plant fruit and vegetables, and so on, so there is not the strict separation of tasks into male and female, as you'd expect from a writer in 1869.
The wikipedia article about her is quite interesting.
For me, the chapters talking about the ideal home, how it should be laid out, furnished and decorated, were the most interesting ones. While doing research for this review, I came across this blog post with pictures and excerpts from the book.
My free kindle edition does not contain any pictures, so I was happy to find the complete work with illustrations elsewhere, and I have nicked some of them for my post.
It was an interesting book and made me glad once more for living where, when and how I live! Back then, managing a household involved so much more work than nowadays with all our modern appliances and ready-made products. One really wonders how come people are so "stressed out" all the time, when in reality they have so much more free time as people did back then.
For me, the whole period of Christmas and New Year is what makes winter - that least loved of all seasons - bearable. I know I have no real reason for complaining; we have not been flooded, or hurricaned, or earthquaked or anything else, and temperatures have been more like March than December for most of the month. Still, winter brings darkness and cold (cold enough for my liking, anyway!), cuts long walks short and stops my running until I feel like taking it up again in spring. Therefore, from the first Advent weekend until the 6th of January, I am glad to have Christmas and New Year to look forward to - and also to look back on.
Christmas Eve at my parents' was as cosy and nice as always, just the way we want it. Here is a picture of the tree with the (real!) candles lit:
My sister spent most of the afternoon helping my Mum to decorate the tree (this year with a red and gold theme) and generally get everything nice and shiny for the evening, while I did nothing but show up for the evening, a bag with presents in tow.
On Christmas morning, I opened the presents that had arrived from Yorkshire. Every year, I can't believe how many nice, beautiful, useful and thoughtful gifts I receive! This year's highlight certainly is the pretty gold bracelet from my sister. I have already been wearing it a few times since. And you won't be surprised to hear that half of the contents of the Cadbury's Milk Tray is already gone (with no help from others).
See the small pink handbag? That's the one that came with the dirndl I bought at the end of November.
RJ joined me on the afternoon of the 26th. We went to my parents' for a delicious dinner and a game of "Who wants to be a Millionaire". To everybody's surprise (including my own), I won!
The 28th saw my Mum and I attending what was a première for us: we went to a show cooking! Or cooking show?
A Turkish lady had invited my Mum to the event, which was held at a school less than a 10- minute-walk from where I live. The cook, Ömür Akkor, is apparently one of the most famous TV cooks in Turkey and author of several cook books. He is also here on blogger - unfortunately, I do not speak Turkish (I really should, what with having so many neighbours from that country).
Thankfully, there was a young man translating for the German guests, and so we had an interesting and fun afternoon, watching Mr. Akkor prepare several easy-to-make and very delicious dishes, which we all shared afterwards. I did not bring my camera, but I am sure most of you know enough of Turkish cuisine to imagine the delights that were in store for us - and all that for free, with no work involved on our part!
Mr. Akkor was not at all like a "celebrity"; he was very kind, down-to-earth and with a sense of humour obvious even though I could not understand a word of what he was saying. My Mum bought the cook book, and I am sure I will read it, too: it is not just a collection of recipes, but the recipes are embedded in a love story set in the days of the Seljuk dynasty (10th and 11th century). Mr. Akkor received the "Gourmand Cookbook Award" for Best Historic Cookbook in February 2013 at the Paris fair "Gourmand International".
Tomorrow, RJ and I will attend a gala dinner buffet & dance for New Year's Eve; that was my Christmas present for him. Of course, I have been thinking about what to wear from the moment I had the idea :-) It was not difficult to settle on a dress, but I still did not have matching shoes - my proper dancing shoes are black and don't go with the dress at all. On the 23rd, I braved the insane masses of people in town and went to three or four shoeshops - it wasn't too bad, actually, as I was mentally prepared for the pre-Christmas madness, and knew exactly what I wanted. I was in and out of town in an hour, and came home with two pairs of shoes. Both of them would look good with the dress, but I guess I'll go with the more subdued pair. It has exactly the same pink as the palest pink in the flowers on the dress. The "Barbie"-pink shoes will go well with the dirndl, don't you think? :-) Besides, they cost only a tenner, and so they simply came with me. Which one would you choose?
Whatever you'll be doing tomorrow to welcome the New Year, here's wishing all of you the very best for the next twelve months!
...until we'll all (i. e. my parents, my sister, some close family friends and myself) meet at my parents' place for Christmas Eve. That is the most important part of Christmas for most Germans, and we are no exception.
Most families have a traditional meal they serve for festive occasions; ours on Christmas Eve is Frankfurters and spuds salad. Of course, it is the same delicious spuds salad my Dad always makes; you can find his recipe here.
We will also exchange our gifts tonight. The (real) candles on the tree will be lit. It will be a cosy evening of togetherness and harmony (provided we don't sing!).
I wrapped my presents yesterday. Together with the ones sent from England to my parents and sister, they make quite a nice pile, don't they!
Another impressive pile is sitting on the sideboard in my living room, next to the Christmas cards I found in my mail box this year. There have been a few more cards arriving since I took the picture, but you get the idea. These presents are all from my Yorkshire family (they really do spoil me!), and I will open them on Christmas morning. I will then ring my mother-in-law for a nice chat (usually takes an hour).
On the 26th, RJ will join me here for a few days. We'll be at my parents' again for dinner, and probably go for walks (weather permitting) and generally just enjoy spending time together and try not to talk about work too much :-)
I am very much looking forward to all of this, and I hope you have plenty of reasons for looking forward to Christmas, too, no matter which way you choose to spend it.
Let me end this post with some pictures I took over the last 2 weeks.
On the morning of the 13th, I still had hopes for a White Christmas:
But it was all gone by the next day, and now we are having temperatures more like March than what you'd expect in December. The birds seem to believe it, too, and I am almost waiting for the first flowers to pop up.
This one was taken on the 17th. I just had to try and capture that beautiful sunrise, seen from my kitchen window.
One day and one hour later, a different picture:
And this morning:
Merry Christmas to all of you!
Yes, I've done it again: I've given my mind a sugar-shock of over-sweet holiday reads once more, after the ones listed on this post. And just like last time, for the brevity of one of them, I count them as three reads although there were actually four of them.
Christmas with the Alexanders
by M. Malone
This was relatively short and relatively nice. The Alexanders are a big, close-knit family who celebrate Christmas at their house with so many people I lost count: several sons and their wives/girlfriends, a bunch of children, plus some non-relatives who end up as house guests. A man and a woman who keep their feelings hidden from each other, thinking that the other person mustn't know they love them. A young single mother who feels more at ease with the Alexanders than with her own parents. A car crash that could have ended really badly. These are the ingredients for a story that, I realized later on, I should not have read - since it was not meant to be a standalone read, but is part of a series about the Alexanders.
You can find out more about the books and their author here.
Nine Days in December
by Suzie Dawson
Too short for me (approx. 30 pages, if it were in print) to really get into the story or the characters, whom I didn't like very much in the first place. A woman loses her job when she ends her affair with her (married) boss. She has to come to terms not only with having no job and not much money just before Christmas, but also with her mother coming to stay.
Home For Christmas
by Patricia Kay
The best of this bunch of free ebooks, and also the longest.
Quinn and Maureen's parents died when they were children, and they were raised by their aunt. All during their childhood, they were very close, but later fell out over a man. That lead to Quinn leaving their home town and not return for ten years. Only when their aunt needs her help after an accident does Quinn come home - in time for Christmas. Will she make up with her sister? What role does her aunt's tenant play?
The typical ingredients - girl meets guy, they both heartily dislike each other, and you know exactly where that is going to lead - are there, but the story is well written and the characters, to a certain extent, are credible.
Several scenes had enough tension for me to keep going; they could have gone different ways (but in the end did not fail to deliver as expected).
Unlike with the other books, the editing was well done; there weren't any typos or other errors. The author is apparently quite well known; it was the first time I have come across her. Click here for her homepage.
Santa (Maybe)
by Alice Bex
According to the subtitle, this is a "rom com", a romantic comedy. Romantic, yes, because there is plenty of that in the book. Comedy - hmm... maybe my sense of humour differs greatly from the author's, since I did not find anything to laugh about in the book. The story is quickly told: Divorced mother of cute little girl knows that what is really missing from her life is love. At a shopping mall, the daughter insists on meeting Santa. The man behind the Santa beard and costume happens to be an old school friend of the woman's younger brother, who always had a crush on her and never stopped loving her in all those years. But he is in trouble because of another woman, and she has no idea who he is - how will she react once she'll find out?
The author is on blogger, too; you can find her here.
Something all four of these (free) ebooks have in common are the male characters: They are invariably dishy, with fabulous bodies and faces to match. Not so the ladies; at least two of the main characters are described as not being exactly skinny, and looking as tired and stressed out as you do if you juggle work, family responsibilities, money and other worries. I wonder whether that really is what women want to read? Well, I did read these stories, in spite of having some really good books (not ebooks) on my to-be-read pile, but I'd find them just a little more realistic if the people in them were a bit more like real people, especially the men.
Two Saturdays ago, in addition to the regular Christmas market I have already told you about in recent posts, there was a smaller indoor Advent market held at the Kulturzentrum (literally "Culture Centre") in the town centre. This was organized by a lady from the Municipal Administration for her fellow Civil Servants. All municipal employees could apply for a stall to sell home-crafted items, with 10 % of the proceeds going to a project in Burkina Faso.
This was a welcome opportunity for my Mum to try once more to sell her hand-knitted socks, after we had not been overly successful with our stall at the outdoor market in the summer.
I had arranged to go and help out for a bit, so, after my usual Saturday morning round of cleaning, I went to join my Mum.
Our stall was at the back of the largest hall in the Kulturzentrum. It was amazing to see how many pretty things people had made and were offering at their stalls, from delicious looking muffins and brownies to silver jewellery and ornaments. Most of what was there was more or less "useless", for decorative purposes, and since I am not one for much deco at home, I did not want to get anything from these stalls.
Unfortunately, there was another socks stall nearer the entrance of the hall, which meant that most visitors passed there first - more than once, people arriving at our stall told us they really liked our socks but had already bought what they needed from the other stall.
We did not sell as much as we had hoped for, but a small sum still went to the Burkina Faso project, and we had so many nice and interesting conversations that we did not consider the whole thing a waste of time.
The stall next to us, on my Mum's side, was rather big and manned by a whole family. The parents had some decorative stuff on offer which I can't even remember properly, but the daughter...! She had put on display her own creations of beautiful dirndl dresses, and one in particular caught my eye as soon as I arrived at the hall:
And you can guess what happened, can't you?
At first, I merely looked at it. Then, I asked the stall holders permission to take a picture of the one I found most beautiful. Next, I asked the size. It happened to be mine... Then, I agreed to try it on in a small room behind the back wall of the hall. It fitted... I kept going back to my chair at our stall and think about occasions to wear the dirndl.
That wasn't so easy to work out, because my part of Germany is not like Bavaria, where ladies wear dirndls more often than here. In fact, I was quite against the "dirndl hype" that has been going on here for the past 5 years or so, with cheap dirndls being on offer even at supermarkets every year around the time of the Octoberfest and also in spring, when there is a big Frühlingsfest (spring fest) in Stuttgart. Whenever something - a specific piece of clothing, a book, a film or a new type of sports - is the subject of a hype, I usually do not follow that hype but look at it with a mixture of distaste and ridicule, and that had been the case with those mass-produced pseudo-dirndls.
But this one... a hand-made individual dirndl, like nobody else would have; very well made, beautifully put together, and so reasonably priced it was almost too good to be true. Last time I owned and wore a dirndl was when I was a little girl of 5 or 6, and I loved the full skirts, little aprons and puffed sleeves back then.
I agreed with the young lady who makes these wonderful dresses to keep "my" dirndl on the dummy, and if someone else wanted to buy it, not to wait for me to make my mind up. When the market ended at 4.00 pm, "my" dirndl was still there, though. Many visitors had admired this one and the other dirndls, but nobody had bought one.
So... I ended up taking this one home with me, already having several occasions in mind where I would get to wear it next year.
Just look at how much detail there is! Each of those tiny roses around the bodice is hand-made of satin ribbon. The little blouse is made of lace. The skirt is of deep pink satin, and the bodice and apron are of a rose-print on cotton with tiny glittery bits interspersed (I don't think you can see them in the pictures). Don't look at my footwear - of course I would not really wear those in public with this outfit.
My secret worry was that RJ would think it too kitschy and over the top, but when I showed him my new acquisition Saturday evening, he loved it as much as I did.
Now all I need is a pair of cream Mary-Janes to go along with it...
That is what can happen when you set out to sell socks: you end up buying a dirndl!
...the planet. That's an expression I have heard and read many times, and it came to my mind last night when I was snuggled up under my feather duvet and extra woollen blanket, before drifting off to sleep. That time of the day (or night) has often been when my mind came up with an idea for a blog post, and it did so last night:
Friends I miss, who have seemingly dropped off the planet.
It is easy to lose touch, with each of us being busy with our daily lives, and I know it is next to impossible to keep up the threads of communication with everyone we've ever seen as part of our (wider) circle of friends and acquaintances. Of course, email and blogs do help, but if you email someone and they stop replying, or you leave comments on their blog and they never come back, all the wonders of modern technology do not make a difference.
I dedicate this post to some of the people I was in touch with regularly for years and who have, for unknown reasons, stopped communicating. Who knows - one or two of them might even stumble across this post, recognize themselves, and get back in touch. And even if they have reasons for not talking (or writing) to me anymore (reasons I honestly don't know), at least they will know that I have not forgotten them.
There is Robert, who lives in Canada and was in regular email contact with me for a few years, even co-authoring some of my stories (you can read them by clicking the "short stories" label on my blog - most of them are my own, but there are two or three of Robert's).
Philippe, one of the handsomest men I know (don't let him hear that - he hates it!), a Parisian originally from Cayenne (French Guyana), who has a great sense of humour and whose generosity and ability to deal with difficult circumstances in his life I much admire.
Marjatta, a lady from Finland who combines stunning physical beauty with superior brain power and, again, a great sense of humour and no haughtiness at all.
Ange, my "sister" in Singapore, whom I struck up a close friendship with over a discussion of the merits of Ricky Martin (whom we both dislike), and who is extraordinarily gifted when it comes to languages (and yet another very beautiful lady). She is so honest it can be painful to some.
SP, fellow resident of blogland, whose blog I truly enjoyed until she stopped posting. I do so wish she would reopen it, or at least let her former readers know that she's alright.
The Hattats, whose blog several of you also have been following, and whose posts always allowed me a glimpse of a way of life very different from my own.
Macy in Scotland, who has had more than her fair share of trouble and grief, and whose blog so often made me want to be able to write like her.
There are many more; some have moved their blogs away from here, and I did not follow them there because I find my time taken up well enough without adding yet another platform to my social media portfolio. Most of them I have never met in real life, some others I have.
Every now and then, someone drops back on to the planet, as has happened recently with Mark, whose blog you'll reach by clicking on his name here.
If any of you should happen to read this and not find you mentioned by name, let me assure you it does not mean I never think of you. There are just - sadly - quite a few of you, too many to fit into one single post. I hope that your silence is not my fault. If I have done anything to offend any of you, it was done unwittingly. Come back if you feel like it; and in any case, I wish you happiness and peace, whereever you are now and whatever you do.
