The garden reminded me of pictures of Colonial Williamsburg. Looks like ol' Ben Franklin would feel right at home.

Straw roofs always remind me of the three little pigs. The Sniers Hus was built in the 17th Century, so it has some wickedly cool construction details. One of the barns was held together by wooden pegs.

We drove further down the country road and slowly passed a group of students learning horseback riding. They looked so proper in their riding outfits. Then we came upon this old house. It originally had a water wheel, missing now. Do you see the bridge on the right? A little stream flows by the house's side. The house, dating from the US civil war era, is sadly empty now. The family lives in a new home across the street.

Just a little ways down there was another mill. This one still had its wheel and still ground grain. It was built in 1758.

Opposite the mill was this building. I had to take a closer look, so Dan and Dave waited in the car.

When I stepped through the archway, this is the view that greeted me.

I quickly headed back to the car when I realized that I was standing in someone's private yard. I wouldn't want to disturb Sleeping Beauty.

THE AUTOBAHN, NEW FRIENDS, AND MORE WINDMILLS

photo credit

I thought you'd like to see what modern windmills look like here, since I've been showing you my pictures of the old ones, go I pulled this one off google. The new ones are about 10 stories tall. I always catch myself softly humming the Teletubbies song everytime I we pass them while driving the autobahn. Speaking of the autobahn, this guy passed us going about 150 the other day. Back home, only cops drive that fast! There's a saying that on the autobahn, you are either the hunter or the hunted. I saw a bumpersticker while we were driving once that read, "Don't hunt what you can't kill," or in other words, stay off my bumper if you don't think you can take me. Pretty much sums up the typical driving ethic on Germany's highways - and even on their sidewalks!

But not all Germans will mow you down. Many Germans I've met have been kind to me. Last night I visited Daniel and Annette's small group. It's an English-speaking Bible study. It was nice to fellowship with them and encourage ourselves in our faith. And tonight, I visited Dan's older friend, Herr I. again. He was hospitable, as usual. It was hard to say goodbye to him, but at least I will have one more week to visit the small group before I return home to America.

IKEA, A WINDMILL, AND A SOUVENIR KEY

After work today, Dan drove the kids & me to Ikea, a Swedish furniture store. This pair of lamps represents the style of furniture and housewares they sell. I was impressed that these were only 18 euros each. We had a snack at the hotdog stand while we were there. Everybody here seems to love sparkling apple juice. They mix half juice with half club soda. We actually mix it ourselves at the table, but today we bought it already mixed. I like it in bottles at holidays, but I'm starting to get used to drinking it every day.

On our way back from Ikea, we took a long drive around the countryside surrounding my brother's apartment. This is the second old windmill we've seen since I've been here. This one has almost completely been rebuilt as a meeting room where locals hold marriages and other events.

This old well marked the corner of a big farm. This country scene reminds me of a print my dad used to have in his home office.

The moss growing on the roof of this half-timbered barn is common around here. See the unmelted snow lining the street?

Right by this farm there was a little cottage that was being completely redone. A great pile of debris lined the curb beside the house. Mixed in with the old wood and carpet was an old chest. The antique trunk was way too big to salvage from the trash pile, but we pulled over so that I could remove the old skeleton key still stuck in the lock. I popped it into my pocket to keep as a souvenir of the day.

When we got home from our outing, David and I both pulled out our little gifts for Annette. In the store, most of the time I wandered around separately from David, so I was surprised that he and I both decided to buy his mom a little happy, since she didn't come with us. But I was even more surprised when, out of all of the things in that huge store, we both picked out exactly the same gift for her! What are the odds? I thought it was rather remarkable, to be sure.

DAY TRIP TO HAMBURG

Dan got off early from work again today, giving us more time for our escape from the house. Given the larger allowance of time, we decided to skip driving into Buchholz and caught the train to Hamburg.

At a deli in the train station, I noticed these open faced sandwiches made with raw ground beef. According to reputable sources, they are amazing popular around these parts. I think I'll stick to my standard cheese-bread. Thanks, anyway.

When we arrived at the city park, I couldn't believe how green the grass was, considering that the water was still frozen over, and small unmelted piles of snow were scattered around.

After walking in the park for a few minutes, we came upon a huge greenhouse.

The greenhouse was filled with all kinds of plants in different habitats. Here's David in the desert section.

We left the greenhouse and crossed the park to the rink. The girls planned to skate; we guys ended up setting off on an adventure of our own, rather than wait on a bench for two hours. More about that in a minute...

Ellen snapped this one.

Ellen and her friend Solvi

When we got to the rink, they were taking a break to resurface the ice, so we killed time eating a snack and playing on the adjacent playground.

Ellen shows off her mega jungle gym skills.

Doesn't every little kid dream of driving the Zamboni?

The skaters started making their way onto the ice, while the three of us made our way up to the balcony for a better view.

The little kids could skate holding onto little gnomes. I wonder if they have those in adult sizes? Can you tell why I wasn't out on the ice?

After watching the skating for a few minutes, we said goodbye to the girls and headed on a quest to find a church. We could see the tower in the distance, so we had a good idea of the direction we needed to travel. We started our walk and found the streets were pretty much deserted.

On our walk toward the church tower, we stumbled upon a block of old-looking houses. One was really old - from the 1770's; the rest were built in the 19'70's by a private foundation to resemble houses from that time.

We stopped by one of the buildings on that block so I could nab this photo of a window in an old door. Dan read the sign by the door and realized it was a museum or something and that it was still open for the day, so we knocked on the door, and a guy unlocked it and let us in.

The building ended up being a library owned by the foundation that rebuilt the block of historic houses.

The library was filled with books written in an old form of German. Dan had fun talking to the librarian. Dave and I amused ourselves looking at the display cases and paintings.

After we left the library, we kept on walking toward the church tower as the sky grew darker.

The church is named after the Angel Michael and has a statue of him over its front entrance.

I wasn't supposed to take a picture in the church, but, oh well, I read the sign after I'd already snagged this one.

When we got back to the rink, it started snowing! We guys stood on the balcony overlooking the rink and caught snowflakes on our tongues until the girls were ready to leave. Then we all made our way to the mall.

Can you imagine an American mall with a fruit and vegetable stand? I've never seen one, anyway. It's hard to believe the Germans are this into healthy eating.

I can't believe that German malls have real bakeries either. It's like I've died and gone to Bread-lover's Heaven.

A shopper bundled into winter clothes eyes the new Summer 2006 collection.

A cup of chai hit the spot before our train ride home. Thank God that coffee houses are something the US has in common with Germany.

STIR CRAZY

Illustration by Alli Arnold

Today was pretty much a lazy day of hanging around the house, we are all going a little stir crazy, what with the cold weather and all. Tomorrow we are supposed to get out of the house for a little adventure, at least driving into Buchholz or something. I'll keep you posted...

SNOWMEN, SNOWBALL FIGHTS, AND BOTTLE ROCKETS

winter makes a dramatic display in white here in Germany, that's for sure...I keep expecting to see the White Witch's sledge pull around the corner at any minute...

Here's my attempt at a self-portrait...

Dan shovels the walk so we can get to the patio where we will shoot fireworks...

a snowman family portrait...These were the first snowpeople I've made since we lived in TN when I was 3...so really the first I remember...

Dan and Nette putting on the finishing touches...

E with the snow lady...

Me and the kids with our snow people. See the old army hat on the snow man? It's from a British soldier found in a German field after the war ended.

The snow hit most of Europe. It made the news. Here's a link with the story. In this picture, you can see how thick it was. My footprint swallowed my hand when I measured the depth.

Looks picturesque, doesn't it? But shoveling snow is much harder work than this Mississippi boy expected it to be!

This is a neat spiral staircase behind E & D's school. I'll post some more pics like this on my design blog. If you want to see them, follow the link on my blogger profile...