A Week of Eating and Feeding

On Monday evening, we invited the Sister Missionaries and Alejandra over for dinner and had a wonderful evening eating and visiting with them. Alejandra is still shining since her baptism! I can't believe that I am crazy enough to plan another diner party with them a few days before we leave, but I did. We will miss them so! Enjoy the moment, right?

St. Martin's Day rolled around again--the holiday that the German children love so much. The children were high as kites at school on Tuesday before the big night, when they carry around their lit lanterns, sing songs around the bon fire, and sometimes get a treat from a kind person (a bit like Halloween, but not so full-blown).

The story goes that St. Martin, a kind man, saw a cold beggar on the street. He tore his cloak in half and gave it to him to keep him warm. 

Last year this celebration was held in the small church in Eckenheim with only our Kindergarten, and they performed the most tenderhearted play. But this year the meeting was held in the Big Church (as the Little Church is under major reconstruction) and included many schools. 

Jade's mother, who sat in the front row, got stuck with all the Kindergarten kids, but she still had a smile on her face!

The children brought gifts to share and brought them up during the singing.

By chance, we ran into Claudia and Nic Cailler. Nic was trying out his new lazer light this year.

We had invited Swen and Gretel Swensen to go with us, so afterwards they introduced us to a new restaurant--Krombacher. It was very clean and delightfully decorated, and the Italian food was excellent (pesto and four cheese tortillini.)

We knew that this was a great place to eat as they had the saying, "And they lived happily ever after," in several languages on the wall by our table. Serendipitous!

On Thursday evening, we invited the Cailler family over to try out a new dish that we enjoyed at the Kartofelkuchen--potatoes au gratin with a thai curry sauce over chicken and peaches (unusual, but very tasty). We had a very fun time teaching them how to play Nertz, and I showed Nic how to play American marbles.

Unfortunately, on Saturday evening we missed the trip downtown for the Vespers, because I got home late from working at the office. Don and Marsha Livingstone were kind enough to forgive me and invited us over for dinner and games. We had a very fun evening with them!

On Sunday, Monika Lippert brought her friend, Lilo, to our ward. After our meetings, we had them over for dinner at our apartment--chicken and shrimp tortillini in a cream sauce, green beans, garlic bread, and ice cream with caramel sauce for dessert. Monika brought over some gifts for us to take home to the grandchildren. She is such a dear and sweet friend.

Well, with all this good eating this week, no wonder we are so fat!

P.S. I got released as counselor in the Relief Society--no more activities to plan. Now all I have to do is write the ward's Christmas program. It will be sad not to be here to enjoy it.

Alejandra's Baptism Day! November 10, 2012

Today was such a wonderful day! Alejandra Diaz Caballero got baptized! We have "adopted"Alejandra as one of our daughters, and we are so happy for her. Lonnie spoke about receiving the Holy Ghost. She was confirmed the next day. Oh happy day!

Seligenstadt and Gelnhausen with the Roberts

Saturday took us off on an adventure to Seligenstadt and Gelnhausen with our new friends, Bev and Paul Roberts. We accidently found ourselves at this ferry, so we drove on as the last car and crossed the river.

This is Saligenstadt.

Don't you just love this front door?

Or do you prefer this one?

We stopped for lunch in a cute little cafe.

This is flammkuchen, and you don't find it very often. It has a very thin crust and comes with different toppings like pizza does. This one was topped with ham and cheese.

This one was the very best with ham, pineapple, cherries, and gouda cheese.

 This beautiful flammkuchen had tomato and feta with little peppers--very spicy.

 Of course, the boulangerie was right next door, so we had to take a peek!

Then we drove on to Gelnhausen, a very charming city with many half-timbered houses that were beautifully painted.

 

We found the Marienkirche from the 12th century and went inside to warm up.

 

 This was the tiniest organ we have ever seen in a cathedral.

 

 

 There were some interesting things inside this church that had to do with some celebration.

 

 We even discovered the Witch's House!

 

We have never seen this kind of sculpture on the side of an apartment house. Interesting!

A book shop advertised books with the most interesting hand-made puppets.

 

This was a great town for window shopping because by 2 p.m., everything was closed up. Great window displays!

 

 

Time for Eis! Hmm, which to choose? By now we have probably tried every flavor imaginable. Our son Paul tells us to just walk by and imagine eating it.

 Not nearly so tasty as having the real thing. Best buy in Germany--1 Euro!

We drove out of town and home to the most beautiful sunset at 5:00 p.m.. We're getting very short days now with sunrises at 7:30 a.m. We are at the same latitude as Canada.