The Xmas market in Kaiserswerth

Just hopped into *town* to do my shopping, and thought it would be a good opportunity to take some pictures of the Xmas market as there were not many people about and the sun was shining. Just got one picture before I had to flee, there was a very drunk and dirty tramp trying to grab the few people who were there and kiss them - eeeeeeeeeek! He said he was Santa. Well, he did have a very red nose, so perhaps he was related to Rudolf!

Quo vadis?

After retiring just over 2 weeks ago, I have got to the stage where I am wondering what to do next, where my journey will take me. On the one hand, it's great to be at home, not to have to get up and go out, to be home all day on Friday instead of staggering home at 7p.m., to have time to do what I want to do. But as Shakespeare said, "Ay, there's the rub". What do I want to do? Where do I want to go? I've spent more time in PJs the past 2 weeks than I have since I was a toddler. I need to get up, get dressed and go out, and that is very difficult at the moment. Yesterday I managed to push myself out to go into *town* to get my meds from the chemist. Today I managed the same trip again, along the Rhine and past the Kaiserpfalz, in spite of the frosty weather, and enjoyed it. And when a friend rang up, and asked if I would like to come over for a couple of hours this afternoon, I said *yes* instead of making excuses. Wonders never cease, and I enjoyed it! Tomorrow I am meeting with my ex-colleagues at a restaurant, *The Chinese Wall* for dinner, it's my farewell present from them. After trying for the last 2 weeks to think of excuses why I shouldn't go, I have decided that it's a good idea to go for a nice meal, have a chat, talk about (not so old) times and enjoy a bit of company. While I was working, the thought of being able to be at home, on my own, all day was wonderful. In the meantime, I have realised that it's the contrasts that make life worthwhile.
In the new year, I will be able to do some scrap courses at the newly opened scrap café here in Düsseldorf, as I have been chosen as one of the team there (http://www.bettypepper.com/community/?page_id=2509), and this will give me the opportunity to combine my hobby with getting out and meeting other people, instead of scrapping alone. And on Thursday, my friend B and her Mum are coming to eat *latkes* (potato cakes) as it's one of the traditional foods for Chanukkah, the festival of lights, which celebrates the re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem after the victory of the Maccabees over the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd century BC. There was just one little container of oil, enough to fuel the lights for one day, and miraculously, it lasted for 8 days, till new oil had been ritually cleansed and prepared. To commemorate this wonder, candles are lit for 8 days, first one, then two, then three etc, and things which have been fried in oil, like potato cakes and doughnuts, are eaten. And if you haven't gained a kilo or two by the end of the eight days, that's a wonder, too! And I think that the wonder of Chanukkah reminds us, that you can't win if you don't wager something yourself. So, I will be trying to get out and about more inspite of being retired. An occasional day in PJs is good. Every day in PJs is bad, at least for me.

A Fat Book from my DC scrapbooking friends

Firstly, this book is so fat it is really obese! But gorgeous. Yesterday the postie rang and brought it to me along with some other things. After I had opened the carton and the paper packaging, I couldn't believe my eyes - just had to keep looking, crying all the time, but for joy this time. It is a book to commemorate my retirement, and after my not very successful Xmas Market weekend, it was the solace that I needed. the reminder that friends are more worth, much more worth than money. So many of the ladies in the group are ill, have debilitating illnesses, bad operations behind them, sick children for whom they lovingly care day and night, just to mention a few. But they took their time and energy and love and let it flow into this wonderful little book, which I will always treasure. Thank you all, I am proud to have had this book made for me, I am proud to have such lovely friends, and I feel as good as if I had been packed into a warm cloud and could float. Thank you all!

Preparing for Noah....or *Far, far away in a little town in Germany* - Xmas Market 2009

After a rather short sleep we rolled out of bed at 6a.m., drank our coffee, got showered and dressed in loads of warm togs, and set off for the market. We took my *Panda* as it has loads of space when the back seat is folded. It's only a few minutes drive to get to the market, and as we arrived at the park where it was being held, we were a little perturbed that we couldn't see anything or anyone. The tents had not been sent up, just the metal frames, there were no lights, and nowhere to go or nothing to do except to stand there in a bedraggled group in the pouring rain by 4° Celsius. Well, sooner or later, the *organisers* turned up, and started to put the plastic roofs over the frames, so at least we could stand somewhere dry and start unpacking our tables and things. But strangely enough, we were still getting wet - the roof was letting water through. We hollered for help and 2 youngsters came, said *no problem* and pulled another roof over the first one. Our tent still had no sides, so an evil wind was icing up our wet fingers. By 8 it was beginning to get light, and the sides arrived, which we had to fix to the support-poles with plastic rings like you use for hanging up shower curtains. Not a difficult job ususally, but with cold and numb fingers not exactly easy either....and there was still rain trickling through holes in the roof. Sonia - the third one in our Xmas team, phoned her parents who arrived on the spot almost immediately and covered the back wall and roof of the tent with a really waterproof tarpaulin. I was very surprised what other people always have to hand, things like that do not belong to my standard equipment. In the meantime B & I drove back to her house to fetch the rest of out gear. We had a trolley (one of B's golden ideas!) but as the next parking lot was at quite some distance we had to huff and puff to pull this unruly beast through the quagmire of mud that had once been a path. Then we did the decorations in our now (more or less dry but still very cold tent. We twisted Xmas lampion chains with green garlands and Sonia stood like a heroine on the ladder and tied them to the cross supports under the roof although her fingers must have been deep frozen, too. After all was decorated, the tables covered with white and green cloths, and we had placed our wares festively and strategically, it even stopped raining for a few minutes, but only for a few minutes every so often. And we were already wet and cold through to the core. And it was dark. On a grey December day you need light, and the organisers had problems getting their generator to work. We had a few minutes, sometimes a few seconds of lights, and were then plunged into blackness again. We even had some customers who came by in the dry minutes and bought things....And the stall next door was selling hot egg-nogg, which did help to keep the spirits (or the spirit level) up for a few minutes at a time. At Midday B's Mum brought us some wonderful hot spicey soup, delicious, just the thing to warm us up. She lives just round the corner, so in the afternoon I went round to her place for half an hour to get warmed up. She is a very kind lady - took my cold, wet jacket off as if I had been a little girl, sat me in the armchair with my feet up and covered me with a cashmere blanket. And dried my cap on the hot radiator, brought me coffee and biscuits, and made me feel like a kid again, and it was a good feeling. When I left half an hour later I felt warm and dry again, and it was so goooooooooood to pull on my warm cap....absolute luxury! Then the day went on . And on . And on. It was freezing, it was pouring, and the lights kept going out. Some nice person used one of the dark phases to pinch the notes out of my cash box. But nobody is completely bad. The 5,00€ small change was left in the box....After we all complained non stop about the lighting - or lack of it! the organisers got the THV - a voluntary technical help association who help by catastrophies, earthquakes and dark Xmas markets. After about an hour the lights went on, so we were able to see each other shiver in front of a background of sparkling, well-lit raindrops. We kept going, with the help of egg-nogg and spiced wine till 8 p.m. Then we packed our cards and things together and dragged the trolley again through the mud to the car, and B drive us home. It was a wonderful feeling to stand on the hot floor in her house (she's got underfoot heating) and feel the warmth slowly coming back. Then a spot of supper, a lot of tears - from me - I was so cross that someone had pinched my money that I had worked so hard for! - a bit of TV and then shower and bed. Sunday we didn't have to start till 10.30, which meant we could sleep longer - very good - and started out again full of hope. The weather was a bit warmer, and at first it looked like it was going to be a nice day. Then Noah emptied bucket afer bucket of water over the park, turning everything into a sea of mud. Well, to be quite honest, I wouldn't have gone anywhere to buy things in that weather either. The few people who risked going out stamped past in the direction of egg-nogg, spiced wine and edibles. Sold enough cards to almost pay the stall-fee, which they had reduced because of the lighting fiasko of the day before. At 6p.m. we called it a day, packed up and started to transport the things back home. A friend of B's was there, so she drove half the things home for us in her car, although she had had a long day at work behind her. As we then dragged the last trolley full through the sticky mud path along by the old mill, we had to laugh in spite of it all. We were happy to get home, get out of our wet clothes, put on PJs and flop onto the couch. B's Dad brought us some supper, which was delicious, and made a nice end to a hard day. OK, ít didn't go as we had thought or planned. It was cold and wet. We sold next to nothing from the things which we had made over weeks. But I had a weekend with B, my best friend, we met nice people at the market, and it could have been worse. We could have had a tornado or earthquake or a major flood, but we didn't. And next time will definately be better!

My Smile Award from Sue B

Sue got this award from Donna, because she is always making her smile, No wonder, then Sue writes scandalous stories about sparkly nipples, lady-bird porn and paper bills, to name just a few, Chaos follows her through life leaving a trail of funnies in her wake. And now I have got this award from Sue, together with 4 others because, I quote: *Valerie as she always has a funny story to tell - those darned spiders have kept us very amused lately! Valerie also tells a moving story, and is a constant inspiration with her mind-blowing flow of stunning creations!* (She just hasn't yet realised that my mind blew long ago). And I am choosing for my five award recipients SusieJ,(This Is My World) Alyson (Crafting to keep sane) Joanne (Take life by the hand), Crafty Tracy (who will soon be downloading her buba) and Slightly South of Sanity, whose hilarious antics often keep me amused.
Thanks Sue, thanks to all who make us smile even when the world is sometimes sad,mad and bad.

An Udderly moooooooooooooving story

Well, folks, it has happened. I retired on Friday. Although I had been looking forward to this great date for months, I was rather sad when the day finally arrived. I will miss my oldies, all those gossipy old girls telling hair-raising stories and enjoying a good giggle and naughty jokes, and those sweet old men, who hardly have the strength to stand, but insist on opening the door for me and kissing my hand. I will miss those who always sing the same, sweet Russian melody, because it's the only thing in life that they haven't yet forgotten. I will miss those who always dolled themselves up, day for day, telling me that there was a lot of competition about. I will miss those who always smuggled some food from the dinner-table to their rooms, *just in case*. They all knew what is was like to survive on scraps during the bad times of war, those hungry times where they never knew when they would get something else. I remember a lady called H., now some years dead, who survived 7 concentration camps and seeing her 2 year old son shattered to death in front of her eyes, who always said, *I knew I would survive, because my name means life, and somebody has to tell the story*. Some of our residents were depressed, often cried - they really had a reason, too - others were always happy and smiling and full of kindness. Each of them was different, had another story to tell, and the majority of them had endured at least one hell in their lives. I will miss them all, cherish the memories of those who died, and try to remember the difficult ones with kindness, too, then I know what a lot of them have been through.
I will miss my nice, fun-loving and hard-working colleagues, and wish them strength to carry on with their work. Perhaps I won't miss the bosses so much, but I wish them well, too. And I wish the secretary a kinder tongue and fewer bitter words for the colleagues who occasionally have to dare to disturb her work (which is of course, always top priority!). I will need a few weeks to get used to not being there. I can go there anytime and visit my oldies and colleagues, but I think I need a time to get used just to being me again. When I came home on Friday evening I was very sad, and my friends from the scrap booking forum on Dc were waiting for me, took time to dry my tears and make me laugh again, and Maria sent me this wonderful card, *I've herd you are retiring*, which really did put a grin back on my chin. Thanks, too, to Alyson, who also sent a wonderful card, and for the many mails with good wishes for my *new life*. Now that I will not be working anymore, I will have time to do things that matter, like crafting, reading, like living, just for me!

Freddie's Family - the never ending story....

Well, I sprayed half a can of Paral on the places where the spiders were. The wind blew it back into my face, and after I had stopped choking thanks to the speedy use of my asthma spray, I looked outside and saw some cheerful spiders jumping up and down and thumbing their noses at me. What a waste of my good fly spray! After watching the merry antics of F's family for another 24 hours, I asked the girls on the scrapbooking forum over at DC if anyone had a hot tip for me. Sue B told me to try hair spray. As most hair sprays really smell awful, I thought that it was worth trying, even if it only stiffened the hairs on their little legs....Decided to do the evil deed this morning before I left for work. So I sneaked onto the balcony, armed with a pump bottle of super-hold hair lacquer from A*** (guaranteed to fix the most extravagant punky hair styles) and sprayed, under the motto, *Let us spray*. Well, it smelled even worse than the fly spray, but as there was no wind, it arrived at its destination in enemy headquarters. Then, cowardly as I am, I left them to their fate and went to work. I got home again at about 7.30 this evening. No spiders. No bungee jumping in front of my window. OMG, what have I done?? I still have a compulsive urge to look out of the window and see if they are there, but it's all quiet outside.
Anyone got a good tip for cleaning super-hold hairspray off the window??