I need my DSL!

Alright, it's my official opinion that it's taking far too long to get the basics - I'm not cross about it but I have reached the point where I'm more than ready to have a refrigerator, stove, oven, and, gosh darn it, internet!  We've got access to all those things (though our staked-out-section of the fridge is mighty small) at Dan's office, but that just means that we're camping out at night at the house and camping out during the daytime in the communal kitchen of the institute.

I am way behind on so many very nice email messages - and I don't like that!  Do know that I'm thinking of you all but everything's kind of spare and we're still dealing with the basics.  At least we have a toaster and the butter doesn't get totally melty out of the refrigerator... and I've found peanut butter, which is of primary importance.  Have peanut butter, will carry on!

Tomorrow, just to balance it all out, Devin, Merlin and I are going on a field trip.  To where?  I don't actually know but a few of the postdocs here decided to have a day trip and just 'cause we can, we've decided to join them.  We've got some sort of package that you can get on weekends with a really cheap "family" ticket on the train...  I'll share details with you when we get back as well as try to get caught up on email and the posts I've been meaning to write about Göttingen.

As an aside, there seems to be a ladybug party (they're flying up and sometimes in by the dozens) outside the window as we experience the supposedly last beautiful days of early autumn.  It's been gorgeously sunny and warm and will most likely turn cold next week.

Our love to you all!

small details

If you've known me for any length of time, you've probably noticed I'm extremely detail oriented.  This can be a good thing - as in the case of my finding sometime employment as a copy editor.  It can also can be somewhat maddening, as in the case of the recent move when I kept track of everything down to the stray screws at the bottom of the junk drawer

It still bugs me that I found, then lost again, the last screw to the closet door mechanism in Merlin's bedroom.

Sometimes, being focused on details, the bigger picture eludes me; but usually I have the benefit of being made happy by very small things*.  I couldn't ask for a greater gift than to be able to notice really interesting details, to find small sensory treasures all over the place.

This town, having been in existence in some form since at least 1150, is full of rich detail.  Over the centuries things have disappeared, been covered over, replaced, restored, created anew.  I'm finding and appreciating something whenever I can.  Lucky you, you get to notice them too, sometimes with description, sometimes just in photographs.

Enjoy!

---
*  Ooo, I think I like this phrase in its Winnie-the-Pooh-esqueness:  "Made Happy by Very Small Things," kind of like a "Bear of Very Little Brain."

House, found.

I'm in a rush (when am I not, lately?) - as we're vacating the guesthouse in two hours and there's still some things left to deal with (ah, the food problem, again).

We found a house in the nick of time - it's still got some work to be done, and it's a slightly strange place but it'll do and it's got some great features.  We're moving in while the upstairs floor is being replaced, the bathroom being re-done and the kitchen getting a new stove, oven, and refrigerator.  Nobody can decide how the very oddly sized rooms should be divided, but for now it doesn't matter since we're sleeping in the living room.

Here are pictures from the realtor's website.  We've got no internet or telephone there so I don't know when I'll be online next, but hopefully it'll be soon.

meh

It's been a bit of a bumpy week.  The house search has been a challenge.  I've looked at 5 places.  All of them but one are on the high end of our budget (actually, they've claimed territory outside our budget, but what to do?).  The one that was more decently priced turned out to only have two bedrooms in the house but included two bedrooms and a distant bathroom on the ground-floor, connected by a common-use stairway.  Really, they were just separate rooms waiting to be rented out to students, it seemed.

It's ironic, seeing all these beautiful, beautiful houses and finding so few of them available. 

The one I've liked best was close to Devin and Merlin's school, had ample room for guests, a yard, a really nice landlord who is retrofitting it with new bathroom fixtures, lights, and a new kitchen, and was, unsurprisingly, too expensive.  The next option is the one I'm trying for now - but I've got to work out details about whether or not we can move into the downstairs while the upstairs floor is being replaced and bathroom repaired.

Do you see the trend?  It seems landlords wait until they have a renter before they make repairs - or they put it on the market while the previous tenant is still current and who knows when they'll be moving out... or they list the number of rooms and sometimes count the bathrooms in the total so that you have to see it to find out it really only has two bedrooms.

Adding to this was the large amount of bank paperwork that came bearing PINs, none of which seemed to work, colds caught by the kids, a tick bite on yours truly, residency paperwork hitting the glitch of my passport expiring next year... 

and I've concluded that the honeymoon is over and we're back to reality.

We're all looking forward to finding some normalcy so that we at least feel like we have a home base in which we can weather all storms, even when they're as small as a tick.

****

off topic and long shot:  Is anyone looking for new cell phone service?  I'm about to cancel my existing account and pay $600 for breaking our contract for 3 lines.  If you're interested in adopting a T-mobile line, please let me know...

oh, and I'm behind in answering email - in case you hadn't noticed...

Walk in the Wald*

This week and a half has been crammed with errands and tasks.  Busy, for sure, but not stressfully so.  Yesterday was the first morning my legs weren't stiff from all the walking I've been doing - daily 3 to 5 miles as I cross town and head back again, from Devin and Merlin's school to Dan's office, to various shops and then back to the guesthouse.  Taxis are much more prevalent than in most US cities, but they're expensive and I haven't figured out the bus system.  Anyway, the walking doesn't hurt at all and it lets me see all sorts of really neat things.

On Sunday we enjoyed ourselves by doing more walking, of course!  Dan's boss invited us to his house for a simple lunch (amazing rolls, cheeses) and a walk in the woods behind his house.  Some of the area is protected (there's a deer park) while in some places the paths pass next to farms and fields.  It was a great way to spend what would be the last mostly-sunny day for a while.

Here's the goofy gang at the beginning of the walk.

 We were heading up and in.

Along the way there were stone markers, including a few with dates.  These woods are actually quite young, having been planted sometime around 1904.


The area around Göttingen** is pastoral, and so green right now.  Coming straight out of the Central Valley heat, we feel like we've been dropped into the late November rainy season. (Here I recommend clicking on the photos if they interest you.  They'll open up in their own window, large enough to actually see).

I admit, I'm a straggler, always at the tail end of the group, dawdling along looking at something (very often a plant, but I'm open to anything, really).  That means a lot of my pictures show the rear of the group and how far I've lagged behind...

 and then they have to wait for me to catch up

<==It's nice that Merlin lags along with me, though of course the speed-walkers are good humored.

Here are the scholars, deep in conversation: ==>





Among the discoveries:

The Banana Slug's German cousin, the Orange-Wedge Slug***

Unintelligible Teutonic Runes

and, The Slightly Sad Cyclops

All in all, we had a great time!




---
* You didn't know you were coming along for German lessons, did you?  Wald means forest or woods and it's pronounced "valt."

** I have to say I am so happy to have discovered my umlaut.

*** not it's real name