first two books of the new year

I almost bought this first book at B&N when it debuted a while back. They sent me a coupon and the hardcover was reasonable with the discount. Instead I ended up buying two paperbacks. Not quite a mistake, but I put off reading a great story. So, when I found the paperback version on sorting day at the bookstore, I grabbed it for the trip.

"Garden Spells" is a wonderful read from Sarah Addison Allen. I'd have to classify this book as magical realism....small bits of otherworldly stuff thrown in a very real setting. The Waverly sisters have always had a bit of magic to them. Claire is a caterer whose dishes have a way of influencing people and events. Claire's sister Sydney returns home after a life on the run and discovers her magical gift. Of course, Sydney's issues follow her and provide a nice bit of conflict as does her return to her hometown and the reaction of those she left behind. The story has a perfect blend of characterization, plot, dialogue and description. She added in a wonderful dose of romance and several very interesting sideline characters. This book gets two enthusiastic thumbs up and I'm ready to read more from Sarah Allen.

The second book I read was "Cry Wolf" from Patricia Briggs. I've seen Briggs' books at B&N, but as the library still has a pretty poor urban fantasy collection, I'd never read one. I'll be on the hunt for Briggs' books next time I'm at the bookstore. Even if I have to pay top dollar. "Cry Wolf" is a werewolf story, no vampires, no fairies, just some bad ass wolves facing down an evil witch. Because the novel takes place in a world Briggs explores in her Mercy Thompson novels, it took a bit to orient myself. Once I did, I thoroughly enjoyed the story. Anna is an Omega wolf...the peace bringer to a pack, and a very rare wolf indeed. Her mate, Charles, is the son of the Alpha wolf and the pack's enforcer. I was intrigued by the world building in this novel and will look for the Mercy books to learn more about the people and places Briggs has created. Again, two thumbs up for this book.

What a gift to read two good books as I start off the new year.

mid week

As the dryer wasn't delivered yesterday, today I get to cancel an orthodontist appointment and two dental appointments so I can make sure and be home....let's hope they deliver the darn thing this morning as I have a meeting from 12:30-2:00 today. Arghhh.

Not much else to report other than I managed, with the help of Tylenol PM to sleep from 8:30 until 5:00 this morning without any early morning wake ups. Yeah! The kids all slept through as well.....finally a taste of our normal body clocks.

I did manage to read a bit on our vacation and will be posting thoughts about those two books tomorrow.....if all goes well. One was a magical realism novel and the other a paranormal book.

Happy Wednesday.

the slow return to normal

I managed to sleep a bit later today, all of 4:00 in the morning. Of course both girls are up with me as their body clocks aren't adjusting quickly either.

My dryer died while we were gone to Europe. So yesterday I washed all the laundry, loaded it into the van and headed off to the laundromat. I haven't been in one of those since college. The place is a bit rundown but clean. I managed to get six loads dried and folded in 90 minutes. Lowe's is delivering a new dryer today.....at some point....I hope.

I'm off to the bookstore today as well to work my regular shift. Anxious to see how the construction of the White House Garden exhibit is going.

The hubby printed off some huge pictures of our trip. They are placemat sized. He hasn't sent me any of the photo files yet, so I still don't have anything to upload. However, once he does I will go back and insert them into the blog posts I wrote while in Europe.

My brain hurts today...I think I need more coffee. Jet lag day two.....

jet lagged mind

Yep, I'm up way before the roosters today. The jet lag hit me hard about 2:00 this morning and I eeked out another hour in bed before I just got up, made coffee and decided to start my day.

Here is a random list of oddball things running through my jet lagged mind this morning regarding our trip.....

Pay toilets in Germany are a great thing...their public bathrooms on the autobahn are clean and monitored. For .50 euro you can actually have a decent place to take care of business.

The women in Bavaria like their fur coats. I have fur coat envy now, saw some very elegant older women sporting full length furs. Quite the vision to watch them navigate down the cobblestones in their furs and heels accessorized by a totally well mannered dog on a leash.

Europeans take their dogs everywhere. Restaurants, shops, groceries...everywhere and their animals are so well trained.

They eat better than we do, they are thinner on average than we are and they walk A LOT!

I didn't miss television for the whole week we were in Bavaria.

I didn't miss seeing strip malls along the autobahn. They don't have urban sprawl like we do and it is a total delight to see 'towns' dotting the countryside with actual countryside between the towns!

I saw lots of the tall white new green energy windmills and boy do they look cool. Not a detriment to the scenery at all...more like modern art.

I've been dreaming in German. Not that I can speak the language, but I picked up a few phrases. Now I hear other people's conversations....very weird.

Make sure you learn the phrase for tap water in multiple languages...they don't gulp the water like we do and they will bring you mineral water, which costs euro, over tap water unless you specify. I've acquired a taste for Pellegrino as my sister in law drinks it. Yum. Love that bubbly H20.

Chocolate croissants are one of God's many gifts to the planet. As is Nutella.

Europeans make better chocolate than we do...the Belgians do it best....yum.

In Europe, men don't drink cappuccinos in the evening. They switch to espresso....unless they are gay...or so I was told.

They do wear jeans in Europe, but I only saw tennis/sport shoes on Americans.

Another must have is a good scarf....you aren't dressed unless you have one wrapped around your neck...this is for men and women.

Germans make great coldcuts. No preservatives and boy are those meats, especially at breakfast (fruhstuck) yummy.

You have to ride a high speed train at least once in your life...what a delightful way to travel.

Time to get the second cup of coffee and read my old local newspapers. I stopped the metro paper while we were gone.

Happy Monday everyone!

home sweet home

We arrived back in the states ahead of schedule, made it through customs and such and arrived in C'ville by 6:00. Our wonderful neighbors had dinner ready for us in the crock pot and our dog waiting at the door. All is well in our world.

I can't say enough about our trip. It was amazing. Pictures will be added soon...we just have to get them loaded.

However, here is one of the oldest and the Italian-Bavarian waiter who was quite smitten with her at dinner on Saturday night at San Marco's in Fussen! Great food and excellent wine.....plus if you are a cute blonde, you might just get your photo taken with the owner's son!

departing for home

We had a wonderful end to our stay in Bavaria. On New Year's Day we took a drive to Oberammergau which is a delightful small town filled with decoratively painted stores and homes. The buildings are decorated with murals and other painting techniques. The region is well known for their woodcarving and we stumbled upon a store that was open after we had lunch at one of the few restaurants open on that holiday. They celebrate New Year's like it is the 4th of July...quite a big celebration. Anyway, we purchased a small Madonna and child statue, just lovely and I can't wait to find a special spot for it once we return home.

Yesterday we took the drive down into Austria and went up the Zugspitz, which is the highest peak in that portion of the Alps. You take a gondola ride up and let me tell you, my stomach did a few flops and twists. We had lunch in the cafeteria at the summit....and took lots of pictures from what felt like the top of the world. It was unreal, beautiful, awe-inspiring...I've never been so high off the earth and still been actually on the earth! You could see skiers a ways down the mountian and they looked like ants. The sky was so clear blue and it was so cold....just a really neat experience for all of us.

We drove back to Fussen and had dinner at San Marco's Restaurant. It was so yummy...and Julia had her picture taken with the very cute Italian-Bavarian waiter...the son of the owner....funny story with that:)

So, we packed up and drove home today. It took way longer than it should have as we ran into a lot of traffic and were delayed in several areas. Long day. We are packed and ready to leave early in the morning for the drive to Frankfurt and our flights. Hope all goes smoothly and we don't run into any delays in Amsterdam.    

We have had an amazing two weeks here. I think the girls have been changed forever by this exposure to life outside the USA. It has been a real eye opening experience for them to see how other people live and to experience so many different types of regions.  I think I have given them the travel bug. They are already planning their next trip....they both want to go to Italy! 

Scott has taken over 1000 photos....we will have a lot of work to do with them once we return home.

Off to bed for us.....everyone is ready for tomorrow and our long journey home.  

happy new year

Happy New Year to all of you.....we woke to several inches of snow this morning. The trees are sugar coated with fluffy white stuff. Not sure if we received enough to change our plans as the navigator is still sleeping.

The kids would be happy to play in the yard.....she has a big yard and has invited them to jump all they want out there. They went sledding yesterday....with the Alps as a back drop. Scott said it was amazing. I opted to stay home and enjoy some quiet time, as did Patti. So, the ladies read books and the men took the "kinder" to the slopes.

May 2009 bring many good things to all of us.