WEDNESDAY'S HODGEPODGE

Since St. Patrick's day is so near, Joyce has presented us with some ideas to ponder as we respond to her weekly Wednesday's Hodgepodge.  Everything from the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow to our favorite shade of green is discussed.  She also reminds us of National Pi Day (I never knew there was such a day) and Albert Einstein's birthday this month.  If you haven't joined in the fun, now is the time to do so.  Just click on the badge above and let your imagination roam free!




Here it goes!
1. What would you do if you found a pot of gold? Let's pretend this pot of gold is worth exactly $1500 (which would actually be more like a cup of gold at current values). Anyway, let's also pretend you have to spend it as opposed to making a donation someplace. Now tell me what you would do with that 
cup 
pot of gold?

Book the first flight back to Ohio to kiss my sweet grandbabies.  $1500 should cover it.

2. Do you celebrate St. Patrick's Day in any way, shape, or form?

Nope!  Although this year we may end up at Killian's pub  here in Munich on the 17th.

3. Have you been bitten by the Spring Cleaning bug? What spring cleaning job most needs doing at your house? What spring cleaning job are you most dreading?

There's a cleaning bug??  Really?? 


 I think I will wait until the movers come to take our things to our new place in Munich and then I'll give it a good going over once everything is gone. 


After winter, the windows need cleaning the most.


4. lime-shamrock-sage-forest...your favorite shade of green?

I love all shades of green.  Green happens to be my favorite color.  It is impossible for me to prefer one over another.

5. Thomas Jefferson once said, "I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it." So...do you believe in luck or do you believe we make our own luck?

For most of us, our luck is a direct result of our hard work.  Others may not see it that way, but few people are able to go through life content with putting their future at the mercy of happenstance.  There is enough hard evidence of the fortunes  of hard work to convince me that luck is made, not wished upon.


It disturbs me when people say, "You're so lucky," about this or that regarding our lives.  Luck has very little to do with it.  Have they forgotten all of the hard work that went into making our life as comfortable as it is?  Or, do they only see the product of all of that hard work and just assume we "lucked out?"  I find that phrase very irritating.  Not only hard work, but good decisions and a willingness to sacrifice also attribute to one's apparent "luck."

6. Monday (3/14) was Pi Day. Get it? Pi =3.14. Those math types are so clever aren't they? Since I'm not one of them tell me what's your favorite piE (the edible kind).

                               Pi = 3.14159265

Lemon meringue; home made, of course!

7. That same date (3/14) happens to be the birthdate of the late physicist Albert Einstein. I bet he knew the value of Pi. So...what do you think is more important and or valuable in life... intelligence or common sense?

Good question, Joyce!  One without the other is of very little good, is it?  I have heard that Einstein, although extremely intelligent, lacked some very basic common sense.  Yet, common sense can only go so far.  So, rather than choose one over the other, I would say a person would prefer to have a little of both to be a well-balanced individual.  

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Although I have been taking photos for years, I have just recently enrolled in  photography courses here in München.  The amazing thing is that have finally found courses in Germany in English!  I feel like I have won the lottery! 


The first course begins in two hours and I'm really looking forward to learning all I can about my camera and how to compose good photographs.  It will be fun to see what more I can do with the camera.

Catching Up to Do

Saint Ottilien - One of the villages Steve and I rode our bikes through on Monday, Ap. 13th, 2009.

Here is a birds'-eye-view of Saint Ottilien that Steve and I bicycled through on Monday, April 13th. We pretty much stuck to the bike trail on the outside of the village (the bottom road on the photo) heading South to the Ammersee (lake). Between villages you could bike on the trail in and amongst the fields and orchards through the countryside. It was a beautiful, gentle 76 degrees and the breeze from pedaling the bike was a pleasant respite.

I have to preclude this with the fact that I haven't biked in years and going over ten miles was a milestone for me. I've committed to a bike ride each day for 30 to 45 mins. to keep my heart pumping and to start-kick my metabolism. So far, to this date, I've dropped 5 lbs. That would be in four weeks. Not a staggering amount, but it's a start.

It is easier here, in Germany, to have a healthier lifestyle. You only have to look out of your window to see joggers, bicyclists, and people walking in droves throughout the day. A constant reminder of what "I should be doing." Since we haven't purchased a car yet, I really have no choice but to walk or bike if I need anything. Yet, we really do need a car if we care to bring back large items, travel outside of the train/bus/subway line, or have friends and relatives go on expeditions with us. So, Uncle Fred and Jaci (my mother-in-law from Australia), we won't be walking you "everywhere." We have some excursions planned and you can rest assured, we will have a car by the time you arrive!



This is as far as we have come with the inside. All of the boxes are unpacked, but not everything is yet in its' right place. To add to our consternation is the light fixture situation. We've purchased them all (17 in total), but we still have to commission an electrician to install all of them. Since it was a four-day holiday this past week, we couldn't reach a soul. Steve is in Nuremburg today, all day, so perhaps tomorrow we can work on finding one willing to spend a day here installing light fixtures.

Our art has not been hung yet either and that will be a days' work in itself. We have some overlarge pieces that need to be hung and some of the art is in sections. This I leave to Steve, the engineer. His mathematical skills are far more advanced than mine. Being as "right-brained" as I am, I can "eyeball it" and come somewhat close, but I guess we shouldn't fiddle with experimenting with lots of holes; something I'm an expert at!

So, it's good to be somewhat settled and at the very least, be able to locate a toothbrush without digging through boxes. Now our concern is what to do with all of the paper from the boxes! At the moment we've found a corner in our storage and when we have our car we'll deliver it to the many locations throughout the city for recycling.

My final duties are to locate a doctor, begin classes in German, and to have a TV installed. Then, I think life will be fairly normal, for an American overseas. The sooner I can speak German, the better I will understand what is happening. For example, there is a sign posted near the mailbox and, of course, being in German, we can't comprehend it. However the word, "Achtung!" stands out and I have watched Colonel Klink on "Hogan's Heroes" when I was little and I seem to recall it means, "Attention," or possibly "Danger." I also recall seeing it on a golf course in Australia near a pond. I guess they wrote it in many languages, because the gist was this:

Be careful when retrieving balls from the water. Crocodiles!

I doubt if there are crocodiles in or near my mailbox, but there is a pond across the street. Nevertheless, I'm going to have to jot the message down and type it into Babelfish to find out exactly what it is that we should practice caution with. See, learning German is not a luxury here, it's a necessity!!

So, I'm off to do my daily ride with my camera at my side. I'll shoot anything that attracts my eye and let you be the judge! Photography is my passion and I have a whole new environment to discover!
Cheers,
Chris