3/2/12 busy busy busy

Ok, I have proven, I am not a dedicated blogger...so sue me. Not a whole lot exciting in my life usually so I save it up for the days when I have more to say. This is sort of one of those days. Let's see, a little over a week ago I (as my grandma would have said) went ass over teakettle and ended up whacking my head open. This is kind of funny because I was getting up to go get a cup of tea (hehehe get it..ass over teakettle when I was getting tea...anyway...). So after some debate, I did end up having my friend Deb take me in to the ER, a few stitches later and off to home...only to discover I also had a concussion...but no biggie, not after a brain bleed and TBI in the past.

Anyhow, so the weather has been ok, no snow really, just kind of overcast, but the ground is convinced it is becoming Spring...as some flowers are already up and blooming and others are starting to show their way up.

A few of the flowers already blooming in my yard.

One thing I love about Germany...they love flowers. I had gone to the local garden shop (Dehner) to get some flowers for Deb (she is stubborn and wont let you pay for gas, or other things, so somethings you just have to find ways around her stubborness in order to thank her). And while I was there not only did I find her a lovely basket with all sorts of flowers/plants in it, but I found another that has a little weeping willow (or something like that) in it, so I decided I needed more Spring in my life too...and it will look lovely out on the front or back porch anyway :) The great thing, not only does it look so lovely, but basically only cost about $50...see how pretty...

It's still inside for now...till the weather is a little more consistent.

The reason I decided to write a bit today is because it seems this will be quite the busy and diverse weekend. Today, after work I went to the Rhine Ordance Barracks because they were having the Spring Bazaar...and I wanted some Dutch cheese...so I went. The Spring bazaar is not as big as the Christmas one at Ramstein, but still has some interesting stuff.  So I walk in and notice this beautiful Portuguese pottery. Now you have to understand that for Christmas my friend Deb gave me this lovely teapot that has these really pretty red poppies on it (its an English pottery though)...Funny thing is that i had bought the matching pitchers not knowing that she had gotten me the teapot...but anyway...I saw this Portuguese pottery with poppies on it. Yeah, needless to say I am now the proud owner of a beautiful poppy pasta bowl (or I suppose fruit bowl or whatever thing to serve in it) and a sort of matching pizza platter (it's meant for making pizza or that sort of thing on, but could be used for so many serving things). They are handmade and decorated and so pretty.

This is the pasta bowl (although hard to tell in this photo)

This is the pizza platter.

I continued to look through the vendors...mainly because I was seeing if the English ladies were there that the  other poppy stuff came from. (they weren't there, darn it). Well one of the polish pottery factories had a vendor there. I was going to get the pamphlet for their factory because I would like to go there and happened to see this unusual dish. I hadn't seen one like it before. I am not sure what its real use is (and to tell the truth my Polish is awful anymore...I need to get a language set and relearn) but I have decided it is an olive dish...but it is way cool.

So that was the start of the weekend (and by the way, yes the cheese was delicious...had it with some crackers for dinner). But, wait, there's more...

Tomorrow I am going over to Ramstein for their Asian Auction (seriously, they have Asian furniture and other items brought in to have an auction for their PTA). Supposedly it is an amazing event....so what the heck I will find out. Then I go for my normal volunteer time at the CASF (its where the wounded airmen/soldiers go to be shipped back to the States for treatment). I have gotten in the habit of making some sort of food on Saturdays (hey it helps to serve two purposes...first it gives me a chance to cook cause its boring to cook for one...and second, the guys (and girls) that are at the CASF seem to appreciate the effort and it makes me feel good) but I was informed that I shouldnt cook anything for tomorrow night as some bigwig (president, ambassador...cant remember which...thanks to this concussion) from Luxembourg was coming for a visit and he was going to buy pizza for everyone there...so instead I made some brownies to take in.

Then on Sunday I think I will get up and go to the Kloster Eberbach (a former Cistercian  monastery) for their International Easter Egg Market...it is supposed to be amazing too (I know, everything seems amazing...but it is). I am hoping to find some items for the grands to send back to them...besides, now that I finally have a GPS and it has the European maps, I can go more places. You may have seen this monastery before..if you watched the movie The Name of the Rose...a lot of it was filmed in the monastery.

It looks like some possibility of pictures this weekend. We shall see. At the end of the month I will go to a few other Easter Markets that are being held in parks, and that should be nice. Then I am scheduled to go on the 31st of March to Holland to the Keukenhof Gardens (the famous tulip gardens) on the day when they are supposed to be in traditional garb...let alone on the tour we go to a cheese farm (yummy cheese...havent met many I didnt like) and also at a wooden shoe factory. Then at the end of April I am supposed to go back to Keukenhof for the flower parade and a visit to the Hague (and maybe a quick jaunt to Amsterdam). Still havent decided what to do for Spring break...who knows.