Snow on the Tracks

Just a light dusting last night and this morning. Nothing like we hear from our friends back in Seattle.
The Hoquiam River, about a block and a half from our house. I love watching the tides come in and ebb out.
The shipyard's old roof seems to be sagging more. I'll be sorry to see the old building go. I hope they fix it this next year.


More Summer Winter comparisons.

The snow starting last night.

happy xmas!

Here's a present for you! Go here to download the pdf and you can make your own facsimile of the ornament Laura refused to put on the White House tree this year. Scroll down and click on the red & white ornament.

cross posted at Mark of the Beast

Dear all,

Hope you are well!
Here is instalment #4 in our series “Nothing much interesting about Serenity’s travels”; and in this episode, Serenity actually left the house! ...well, I had to, because my passport is only valid for another couple of weeks, so I tramped to our local (i.e., for this borough of Berlin) town hall to apply for a new one. Our town hall, however, is actually quite pretty, so here are a few pics for you. The building was erected between 1901 and 1903. The internal shot (pic #16) is the entrance hall, just as you get in through the main doors (pic #15).
And, since there was scaffolding covering some of the facade today, I nicked the last pic (#17) from the intertubes. (Ed: that's at the top there now)

The website I stole that final pic from, by the way, seems to be of a local person; the domain translates as Grampa Hagedorn He even greets visitors per audio in the finest of Berlin accents. I recommend having a look. There are a bunch of photos of an exhibition (which had apparently been held in the shopping centre across the street) of stuff inventive people in the DDR had built in their spare time, including a racing car made from the same material as the Trabant ...Duroplast, My family had a Trabbi until just before the wall came down :) ); a home-built computer; a DDRmini-motorcycle disguised as a BMW one; a beer dispenser made from a cement mixer; and other such gems. Oh, the stuff you find through random intertube-picture-stealing! :)

Hugs y’all!
Serenity


(Editor: Dammint! I know I rotated that picture before uploading. Tip yer head sideways for a moment... Thnx.)

The Weather Report from Hoquiam

We have a couple inches of snow, and winds haven't been too bad. Overall, we are enjoying the Winter Wonderland.
Here's a comparison, Summer and Winter from the same window.

And another.



Stay warm!

As Promised! Her Pinkness!

In which I get all photos hopelessly confused. But I trust you can figured it out by now. ... instalment #3: “Serenity brings on the X-mas spirit, part 2”. Another traditional German X-mas decoration is the Adventskranz.
This year, to give the whole X-mas spirit a turbo boost, Serenity spontaneously decided to make her own.
Having my friend Andrea there was quite convenient, as this is really a two-woman job. Here is us during the final stages of the project (pic #08), and here is a picture of the finished result (pic #09).
We were quite perplexed about how well it turned out, especially considering how little previous practice (none), planning (15 minutes from getting the idea to having bought all the “ingredients”) and/or skill (well, obviously we are regular Martha Stewarts; just didn’t know it) the whole exercise was benefitting from. This is me lighting the first candle (pic #10)This is me lighting the first candle (pic #10), and
Andrea lighting the second (pic #11).
And finally, the finished Adventskranz on the coffee table (pic #12). In the background, you can see some slices of Stollen (see previous episode) and the Marzipan cake mom got
for my birthday. Tomorrow (Sun, 14 Dec) is the third Advent, so we’ll light the third candle then. :)

(I promise to actually leave the house at some point and send you some
pictures of the area!)

Nothing much interesting about Serenity's travels #2

Hello again,

Ok, instalment #2: “Serenity brings on the X-mas spirit, part 1”.
On Saturday, Serenity’s very good friend Andrea came to visit, and Serenity used the opportunity to schedule some activities to introduce the X-mas spirit to her current environment. Of course, these included the eating of much Stollen. (Not sure if you are starting to see a theme here, but yes, for me, “Liebe geht durch den Magen” (German proverb saying, “love goes through the stomach”)...
and so does travel and home. Just wait till you see the pictures of the
Eisbein I intend to have soon... but I digress).
Of course, X-mas spirit is a lot about decorations and music. I played five of my favourite X-mas compilation CDs (yes, five). Those of you who were at the Yak that day would have heard a lot of the songs; plenty of Bing Crosby and the like, but also some choral and symphony orchestra renditions.
For decoration, I trudged into the basement to get out the old Weihnachtspyramide.
Again, those of you who were at the Yak that day might remember my telling you about those, and that Jane had found an SL one to put up there.
Here are a few pics of ours, which we had since I was quite little, and which, every year, gets a little more singed at the wings, as it keeps stopping when the room gets too warm...
hang on, my mom is calling to give the pyramid a little push.
Aaaaah... childhood flashback (Darned thing!) .

OK, part 2 coming up... :)
Serenity

Nothing much interesting about Serenity's travels

(Editor's note: Our Second Life pal Serenity, is off on holiday. I've asked her for pictures so we can all follow along as she travels from New Zealand back to her native Germany and then to America for the first time. I'll be updating the travelogue as she goes. And seriously, we need a better title than that!)

So, here now, as requested, in our series “Nothing much interesting about
Serenity's travels”, instalment number 1. (Instalments 2 and 3 will be
on their way in a few minutes as well. Most of my travel is quite
personally oriented (as opposed to touristy), so I honestly cannot promise
that any of this will be interesting to anyone but me. Therefore, please
feel free to use your own judgement on what, if any, of this you actually
post. Please, also do not hesitate to edit for grammar and spelling and
such.This first instalment is entitled “Serenity gets to have breakfast like she used to in her childhood”. On Friday, Serenity was on bakery duty (pic #01),
and bought some very nice rolls (pic #02).
She and her mom then
had a nice German-style breakfast at the kitchen table (pic #03). I know, I know; to most of you, it will seem weird that we have cheese and cold cuts for breakfast, but that’s what a typical German-style breakfast looks like, so there. The main alternative is cereal with milk or yoghurt, but what is the fun in that?! In my humble opinion, any self-respecting German has this kind of breakfast at the very least on Sundays (unless they’re Bavarian, in which case they are allowed to have Weisswurst. Please note also the boiled egg, which in our family is enjoyed with mustard (see glass with blue lid). Yum!
(P.S.: Serenity’s mom says, “The jam is missing.”)

OK, there you go. More in a couple more e-mails.
Hope you’re well.
Serenity