from now on i will be posting here.

i'm saying goodbye to germany, heading back to montana. it seems like a good time to start fresh.

thanks for visiting :)

the city is magic

one last weekend

it was an epic weekend. we packed as much family+aupair outing time as possible into our last weekend together. we drove to france and fed popcorn to monkeys. and went to a falconry. and had two picnics. and ate ice cream. and walked around a sweet open air museum in the black forest. i can't get it into my head that i'm leaving in three days, but my body knows. i've been shaking all day.

one last friday

freiburg pulled at my heartstrings a little bit this morning. everyone i met was charming and wonderful. i found some treasures to pack in my suitcase. there was a group of teenage boys singing bob dylan on the street. an old man with a violin and an italian string ensemble. a saint bernard sitting in the bächle. another marzipan croissant with coffee.

also: you can still buy cloves in germany. i bought a pile today, and i'm gonna try my luck at customs.

an ode on turkish food

as much as i'm ready to leave, i will miss this awkward country. so i'm trying to do everything important one last time, with some ceremony. turkish food is at the very top of the list. it's my favorite food in germany. i have dreams about baked rice pudding and garlic yogurt sauce. so kelly and i hit up Harem last weekend for a final dish of vegetable saç, and it was so excellent.

i was ravenous from an all-day hike and devoured it before i could snap a good picture. these are from this winter, sharing the turkish-food-love with mumsey and pops.

versus the volcano

i'm supposed to fly to iceland in a week, but there's a volcano a blowin'. not ideal. i pride myself in being a stress-free traveler, and i thought i was unshakable, but this volcano business has me nervous. because my body literally aches to be on the move again, and plate tectonics might keep me grounded. yes, this is stress.

the photo is from reykjavik in 2006. i used to be quite a fan of iceland. i'm re-evaluating.

thank you germany

this catalog showed up in our mailbox last week. chock full of trachtenkleider and canned fish. i am going to keep it forever.

the shortest way to the USA

the coffee was the frothy german kind, and my eggs and toast came with peach-passion fruit jam. but we ate heinz ketchup and felt pretty american.

spree

all four of them rearranged their chairs to face the street. it's an ongoing game of german slug-bug at our house this week, but i can't seem to figure out the rules.

15 days (of gluttony, no doubt)

it's almost time for us to part ways, germany.
how much rhubarb yogurt can i fit into two weeks?
and how many marzipan croissants?

bike city

to live in the city with more bikes than cars

holga

my laptop is back from the dead

all she needed was a new power cord from hong kong.
and i am stoked about it.

it is the beginning of the end

i had such wonderful intentions. i have Holga photos to post and so many sweet yellow forsythia pictures. but my powerbook died today, and with it went my camera software. and also, tragically, the playlists that have kept me alive this winter.





maybe i'll put some words up in this space.



or maybe the motherblog just died.

* * *

"it's the first day of spring, and my life is starting over again"

i believe the winter is gone for good now, which means i am ready to re-enter the world. the weather is warm, the forsythia is blooming, and i can't stop moving. i've been running in the forest in the mornings, getting my legs ready for the mountains. because i'll be in the rockies in no time at all! i can already taste the PBR.

cold sea

kelly and i went to the north sea last weekend and stayed on a sad deserted island called sylt. it was fantastically cold, but we managed to:

have the most decadent of train picnics
walk for hours on frozen sand
eat delicious fish sandwiches
figure out the german word for oysters, then order some
climb a giant dune for a nice view
find some dank cheesecake in a doily-filled guesthouse
take a ferry to denmark and withdraw 100 kroner
buy wine over international waters
bust out the Holga, before the sun disappeared
find piles of pretty blue shells

* * *

and now back in freiburg, the resurgence of winter. i am once again biking through blizzards with my 6 year olds, and i'm not psyched about it. i'm crawling underneath my duvet until i see sunshine.