Have you ever tried to get into a bib coverall?

Today was my first gardening day. The weeds, green and fresh as well as brown and dry were about two feet tall, so I started with the weed whacker. I hope there was nothing of the asparagus up, yet, but as hard as I looked, I saw none.  Next came raking of the clippings and then the digging. Ah, yes, the digging. This ancient tangle of weed roots is hard to cut through. There is a patch where its a bit easier, which I had turned over last March a year ago, while Ema was also in that garden. - Memories, everywhere.
But I made sure this time I did the not simply turn over the clumps but shook the dirt out and tossed the roots away. Tante Lulu has done wonders with that dirt. I bet one would pay big money for it in a store, packed in a fancy plastic bag.

I did a little bed before I had enough - or rather my back had enough. About a 2x4 -- not inches, you joker.

To prepare for all this, I changed into my bib coveralls that I bought some many years ago down in GB in the Tractor Supply. They are size 42-30 and I must look like one of those scrawny little old hillbillies on postcards you can buy up in the Blue Ridge. they are dressed in bibs, too, but worn ones. What's missing is the slouch hat, the wispy gray beard and the crooked pipe. The thing is way too big for me, now. Nevertheless, there must be a trick to getting into one and to get the shoulder straps straight. I don't know that trick, yet. Looked to me odd that the bib was longer than the back, but, eventually, got the thing on. I felt almost like some of the guys who were woven on the wagon wheel by the holy Fathers of the Church, back in the days of the Inquisition. I was ready to confess and to admit everything, what with my twisted limbs.

When I got untangled and into the garden, of course the pollen took over and I searched for my handkerchief but the pockets were not where they were supposed to be. Then I noticed that the front of the coverall was bulging as a front for a mature size 42 should, but the bulge was much too low. Then I realized that there were hip pockets where they should not be and I finally realized I had wrestled into this unfamiliar garment and had gotten in backwards! I went up to the garage again to change, because there was a little traffic on the road and then one also feels somewhat like on a stage down there in the garden patch framed with the big old timbers and overlooking the whole valley and Bea's old farmhouse and Steve's old barn. No sense in getting people to talk about you in that way "did you see him yesterday in the garden? Oh, you won't believe it, and I heard him say us Vermonters are a bit weird". I moved very nonchalantly back into the barn, where I had much rather done it in a run, but I did not want to draw special attention.

So anyway, I went back into the garden patch properly outfitted and did my work and when my back said "HALT", just about that loud, I straightened out some and, guess what - the two Canada geese had come up from the pond and were grazing next to me just on the other side of the fence along the pasture. Explain that; wild animals that close to mankind. My constant bobbing up and down with my head to the ground and not much moving around must have made them think I was a goose myself, a weird one, grazing in a weed patch! -- "Look there, Jane, he's a big one, let's stick close to him so we can fly in his slip stream when we start up again" . . .

Life up here stirs such different thoughts than life down there.

I wish you all an equally great day,

With loving thoughts in your direction, Isa

I'm having company--all the time

In recent days, there was a deer (doe) on the pasture, then a moose (cow). Beginning of the week two ducks landed on the pond, stayed a couple of days and left northward. Yesterday, two Canada geese splashed down on the water. The were there necking this morning, and then grazed all day on Steve's early grass. They left with the sun this evening, probably to a safe place to spend the night. I don't know if they are traveling alone. Usually, they join their families for the long flight into northern Canada. Maybe they have arranged for a big meeting here? it happened in previous years. Now, in the deep dusk of the evening, there is a tom turkey out there practicing his tail feathers for the season's events. I expect him to bring his brides here pretty soon. There were as many as 21 of them last summer and fall.
It is so wonderful to live in a house that has windows open to nature. And with the rising daytime temperatures, our windows ARE open.

Have a lovely evening y'all, and see you soon? Isa

Old Pictures?

Monday, April 29, 2013 at 4:35 PM

Dear Opa,

Do you happen to have any very old pictures of Emi, Helde, your parents, or Emi's parents?

For Evie's birthday I bought her these 2 antique looking picture frames and hoped to put an old picture of someone from the family, preferably old enough to have that yellowed effect. 

Do you understand the look I'm going for?

If you find any pictures that match this criteria it would be great if you could scan them and send them to me, if not it's no big deal.

Thanks again,

 Love, Olivia

 P.S. hope all is well with you and I hope to see you soon.
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Monday, April 29, 2013 at 7:32 PM

Dear Olivia,
Here, by e-mail, comes my first part of my response. My problem is that I have here one of those newfangled air-printers, which did just fine last year, but now does not want to scan. Says it cant' find the computer! And neither can the computer find the printer and I can't even print! So, you get this text explaining the pictures I am going to mail to you by snail mail and perhaps you can do the scanning. I would like to have these pictures back, because eventually I want to use at least some of them in a family album of sorts. I send you a bunch of pictures so you may chose what fits. Scan and print whatever you like. Share all of them perhaps with your family, after the surprise to Evie. I am sorry that we have no pictures of Emi's family up here in VT. They are all down in NC. I have included pictures of Tante Lulu and myself, because, after all, they are very, very old, too.

I have numbered the pictures I'm sending on the back and what's on these pictures is in the text here. There is no time line in this line-up, so you may choose what you can use in any sequence you like:

1) This is my dad's dad, Wilhelm Heinrich Sitterding. The picture dates to around 1925. He is shown walking on his property in Padenghe, northern Italy, where he retired after he came back from South Africa. Here is a brief CV He learned the trade of lock smith and settled in Zurich, Switzerland. He became a member of the Lock Smith's Guild and built a small plant in a suburb of Zurich, where he built strong-boxes in small desk-top sizes to built-in walk-in constructions like they have in baks. In the middle 1930's he sold this plant and with his wife moved to Bloemfontein, South Africa, where he established a brick manufacturing plant. The South African Republics at that time were booming and construction of all sorts provided him with a ready market for his product. The second Boor War put an end to the productive life in peace. His wife was sent to Frankfurt in Germany for health reasons and she took their two sones - my dad and his older brother - along with her. My grandfather remained in South Africa until after the war, then sold his outfit there and retired to Italy.

2) This is my mother, Tante Lulu and myself around 1938.

3) This is I, riding a white donkey, in about 1940. At that time, Tante Lulu and I we staying in Switzerland in a children's home. Our parents had sent us there to be away from the second World War, which was going on there. The donkey was part of the establishment. Sometimes, he was harnessed to a wagon and we took a tour of the town. This was great, because it was not often we got out of the fences of the home.

4) This is I, sometime around mid-1940

5) This is Tante Lulu, in the 1950's

6) from left to right: our mother, I, Tante Lulu, our father. This picture was taken in 1944, which was just when we all got back together after the years of separation during the war.

7) From left to right: Tante Lulu, our mother and I, ca. 1950

8) Tante Lulu, modeling an evening dress, ca. 1959. She had taken courses in fashion modeling and her stance conforms very much to what was the standard at that time. She was such a beautiful woman!

9)Tante Lulu, having a conversation with her grandfather, our mother's, father. This would be sometime close to 1938, around the time we left for Switzerland. We were then living in Stuttgart, Germany, our mother grew up in a suburb of Frankfurt, Germany, and this would be where this picture was taken.

10) A snapshot of me, ca. 1938

11) our mother changing a wheel on their first car, ca 1930

12) I in my first car, ca 1937 This, of course, was a pedal powered car, which I had gotten for Christmas around 1937 or 1938. It was made of sheet metal and apparently was very noisy on the road. The store goes that I was one day having an outing on our road -- a dead-end, no traffic  - just rattling up and down with no evil thoughts. It got a bit too much for one of the neighbors and she came out  on the road and asked me "Richard, don't you think your car is getting a little tired"? "No" I responded laconically, and rattled on.

13) From left to right: our mother, and our father, on their motorbike, ca. 1925. They traveled with that from Frankfurt to Italy to visit our dad's father. The roads were not as good then as they are now. Most of them were still gravel. If you look closely, you can see the spare tire on the far side of the bike in the rear. Your dad may want to take a guess at the size motor this bike was carrying.

14) Tante Lulu and I searching for "easter eggs" in our garden in Frankfurt, ca. 1937, before the family moved to Stuttgart in 1938. Lulu found almost all the eggs, but in the and she shared with me.

15) Our parents crossing the Alps with their first car. This was after they had "grown out of" the motorbike in very lat 1920's, before even Lulu was born. Note the road. That's what even major highways were like most of the way from Frankfurt to Italy, where our parents went every year to visit our father's dad, after he had retired there. I vaguely remember those trips before the war. Lulu had more lively memories and we talked often about those tours we made with our parents. After things turned more normal again in the late 1940's early fifties, we took that trip in more modern vehicles on better roads, but it was still and adventure.

And that is that. I hope you find some keepers for that album for Evie. Good luck. I apologize sending the pictures without comments - no printer and time's a-wast'n.
Love, Opa
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Tuesday, April 30, 2013 at 7:19 PM

Dear Opa,

Thank you so much for doing this for me!  I can't wait until the photos arrive so I can compare them to the descriptions you listed.  I will be sure to take cautious care of the pictures and return them to you soon after the scanning and printing is finished. 

Thanks again and hope to see you soon.

Love, Olivia

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Tuesday, April 30, 2013 at 7:43 PM

Howdy, Olivia,

I mailed those pictures this morning by priority mail. The postoffice promised delivery in two to three days; so it is going to get tight for the birthday. I'm sorry. They also offer express delivery and that would have been over night, but the price they quoted is so out of this world I waived that. And please don't even think of mailing them back to me. Better you pack them up safely and bring them to me :-)

It is beautiful up here. The spring is slowly pushing its way in. The maples have that early season red sheen, and the willows by the pond were yellow when I came here and are turning green and greener by the hour. Tante Lulu's daffodyls are blooming, the daylilies are pushing up through the ground and the lilac at the corner of the deck has big fat buds. I put some of the garden chairs out on the deck and enjoyed lunch out there today and I can't wait to get in the garden -- the ground is still too cold to do any seeding or planting. I won't do much, anyway - I bought basil seeds and spinach seeds. With the basil I'll make some pesto, like Emi and I did a couple of years ago. Mix that in with the pasta and cheese - HEAVEN! and the spinach is gong to be 'my daily bread' - with Catalina dressing or just salt, pepper, olive oil a few drops of lime and  the main part: a good balsamic vinegar. I'm so sorry I left that one at home that I got last year at your little olive oil specialty store. Spinach fresh picked out of the garden mmmmhhhh! I do hope you will get to take a trip sometime this summer!

 Love, Opa

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Wednesday, May 1, 2013 at 8:49 PM

Good evening, my dear Olivia,

According to records on USPS Tracking, the pictures should be delivered to you tomorrow (Thursday) by the regular mail carrier. If you want to, you can look it up yourself: Search-word usps tracking. Tracking number of the envelope is 9114 9010 7574 2637 2221 18. Enter this number without the spaces in the place on the web site. It looks like we will be "on time". What fun we can have with computers . . . 

Love, Opa

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Thursday, May 2, 2013 at 7:26 PM

Dear Opa,

The pictures arrived today!!! They are just what I was looking for and I now just have to choose which ones to use.  Thank you again and I can't wait to show you how they turn out in the frames!

Love, Olivia

Moving in

So I took that drive I was talking about, the one that takes me from home to Washington/Tysons Corner, to Harrisburg and up 81 to Binghamton and from there over to Albany and then on the old Rte. 7, then 9 to Bennington and Wilmington and up on 100 to the "mountain top". I must say, it was a nice drive. That country around Harrisburg is so beautiful it takes your breath away. It is horse country with low rolling hills and pastures with straight white fences and small woods and spic and span barns, and spring is in full swing and all is green and fresh and crisp. And once you get into the mountains north of Frackville (!) it is almost like driving in the norther foothills in Switzerland. Ive used up all the 'ands' there are, but there is so much to tell, having those pictures still floating in front of my eyes. Around Albany, in order to avoid all toll booths, you get into a small-town/urban hassle, especially if you try to get through there around five in the evening when the laboring masses are trying to get home. Else, there were dense traffic situations on 95 and the again from Harrisburg to I78 that takes you east through NJ to Somerville and then Newark. It felt like all traffic turned off from I81 to I 78 to head for the NYC area and I81 over the mountains is almost deserted - now, before the vacation traffic starts.

Anyway, I overcame all sleep attacks along the road. Before reaching Binghamton I turned off into a rest station and moved the back of my seat to almost horizontal and shut my eyes. But almost immediately my bladder protested and I had to get 'out of bed' and over to the welcome building and while I was out there I noticed the view - Switzerland again - and the peace and quiet (no traffic) and the sun shining down on the mountain ridge on the horizon and farms and green fields in front and an occasional car looking like solitary ant cruising at comfortable speed along a country road across the valley, and, of course, all of that blew all sleepiness away. I stood and watched the scene for a while, breathed the fresh air and then got back behind the wheel, grabbed some Lindt kugels for instant energy and drove on. I got into Bennington with daylight still out there and stopped at Price Chopper for some immediately needed vittles, like milk and bread, banana and strawberries. I was home by 9:30 , after a relaxing trip of some 13 hours.

I had talked to Chip along the way and he had gone over to the house and started the water heater, flushed out the hot water system and the toilet traps and left the lights on for me downstairs. All I had to do when I got in was turn the lights on upstairs, find my pj's and go to bed. It felt good. I slept ten hours.
The new canoe seats don't fit. I brooded over that all day yesterday and finally came up with a reason, but this is getting somewhat technical now and I won't trouble you with it. They just simply don't fit. I have now an alternate plan and once I get down to Greenfield and into Home Depot I'll see if they got the materials I need to realize this new plan.

Another thing that went amiss is one of the two chargers which I carry around on-the-go for phone and iPad. The one for the iPad went astray and the one for the phone must work for both but while it does fine for the phone it is a bit very week for the iPad. During last night, it managed to charge the battery from 26% to 69%, and the iPad is now still suckling, because while I am using it it consumes almost as much power as the charger delivers and the battery gets practically nothing.The phone is downstairs suckling from the car battery.

The other thing that happened is that I did not record the pass word for my wi-fi here on the mountain and so I can't get on the web with the 'Pad (it is the new one, so it can't remember having ever been in VT before). I am using the Mac for this e-mail. That one remembered.

Yesterday for breakfast I had the obligatory raw bitts, and then cleaned a little bit around the house. Before I left last fall, I sprayed HomeDefense and laid out mouse poison. There was one pack of mouse bait that I found empty and another that disappeared, probably the mice taking it home to show to the family. We need a cat in the house! I found one mouse under the golf cart and Chip said he had found none all through winter. The HomeDefense worked harder! There were whole mountains of Japanese ladybugs on the window sills and along the sliding door and the vacuum cleaner crackled for joy as it sucked up the load. Then I went to Brattleboro and on to the Walmart in NH. Life is expensive here! A small jug of 1% milk is over two dollars, a loaf of bread (Artisan, multi-grain, 1/2 lb) goes for over three dollars and bottle of Paisano has advanced to 15 dollars. The latter is OK, still, because that is for 4 liters, which makes it equivalent to $2.81 for a standard 3/4 liter bottle. And it IS good wine. It won 'best in show' at the Boston wine exhibition some fifteen years ago ;-)

There are two things I need to mention: while life on the mountaintop is truly a life in peace, down in town things look different. First of all, you see all that green and pink and purple hair in all kinds of styles from short to long and from slicked to spiked, worn by people who will do anything to either look like individuals or project some kind of a rebellious image. The second thing is that the people you come across in the stores don't like us flat-landers. They really don't. They park their shopping cars in the middle of the isle and have a chat with some acquaintance and they absolutely refuse to let you through. They look straight at you and don't make a move to make room. this rudeness is just a little bit worse than in Sneads Ferry, except that here it is the local population that does not tolerate their guests, and there it is the crowd of intruders that comes for a week that is resenting all those locals that get in their way of having fun. Goldsboro is better by far. We are just honest working folk trying to make it through another day together. Ahem. Perhaps I should make a double check here: perhaps it is I who can't bear crowds. It is absolutely wonderful up here, above it all.

And so the first day came to an end. This Saturday morning started slowly and by the time I had some food on the table to break the long fast I got me a veritable 'brelinner'. I bet you never heard that one before. I am resolved to have only one meal today, and that was it. I had two eggs, sunny side up, and two flat iron steaks, pan grilled in salt and pepper and olive oil and a table spoon or so of sesame seed oil. And as a side I had me a bit of multi-grain bread with a hard crust and a bowl of hearts of Romaine lettuce dressed in olive oil and balsamic vinegar with a touch of salt and a bit more pepper.

Now I want to go to town and find me a charger for the iPad. Am I sure I can find that at the new Family Dollar in Wilmington? Definitely, I will find some Lysol wipes there, and perhaps one of those dish cleaner sponges with a handle like I got for birthday. Here, I still have the Scotch sponges with one side scrubber and I already miss the other kind after only one week of using it down south.
And now I wish you all a wonderful weekend, and thanks for holding still so long, listening to my long tale without interrupting me once.

Lovingly, your Isa

Muffin Recipe

Thursday, April 4, 2013 at 2:15 PM

Dear Opa,
I was wondering if you could send me the recipe for Miss Ellen's muffins that you were telling me about.  You can send it on email or mail it to me, whichever is more convenient for you.
Thanks and see you soon!
Love,  Olivia
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Thursday, April 4, 2013 at 3:35 PM

Dear Olivia,
Here I was just sitting at the table, looking at that recipe and thinking I could really make a batch and then bake me a couple of those muffins in the morning for breakfast. And then my bleep'n bleeper bleeped and your e-mail had arrived requesting the recipe. What luxury, to have fresh muffins to wake up by. The ones you made early is week really hit the spot!

Here is Ms. Ellen's recipe:

3 cups 100% all bran
1 cup boiling water
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cups Crisco oil
2 eggs (beaten)
2 cups buttermilk
1/2 tsp salt
2-1/2 tsp baking soda
2-1/2 cups all purpose flour

Combine 2 cups cereal and 1 cup boiling water. Let stand to cool.
Cream sugar, shortening, add eggs and beat well
Stir in buttermilk, salt and baking soda
Fold in flour, 1 cup all bran and cooled mixture of all bran and water

The batter keeps up to 6 weeks in the refrigerator

Spoon batter into greased muffin tins
Bake @ 400 deg. for 15 minutes

I think I might make me a batch when I get back from the fish fest in Sneads Ferry this weekend.

See you tomorrow, and y'all have a safe trip!  Opa

Just to let you know

Wednesday, February 27, 2013 at 10:01 AM

The riddle about my gmail/imap has been solved. It came up whither the replacement of the old pad and the need to renter all passwords. Now everything is back in good order and these are the first of the many words I hope to be able to exchange with you, using my new pad :-)
Love, Opa

A propos 'words': there is still a hang up with 'words with friends'. Patience, please. Even that will fall in line some day.
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Thursday, February 28, 2013 at 8:06 AM

Yeah, and now, after the iPad, on to the smart phone, which is still trying to send a birthday message to your dad and reports about every fifteen minutes that it cannot send it. I pushed every button this phone has, and in every sequence possible, and for every reasonable duration, and I succeeded to delete this message three times! I went to AT&T and simply got a smile: "I got a Samsung and it does the same thing. It'll go away, after a little time". Well, if I knew where to go from here, I'd go there. But looking at all the reports about tricks played by the iPhone, I am hesitating to go that way. As kids, we used to build us phone systems that worked! We used empty bean cans and packing twine and a piece of parchment paper. Adding a rubber band would give us an instrument at the last level of advanced technology. Now that was recycling at its best!

Kaarin is here helping me find my way in my new life style. Things could be better, and eventually they will be. Give it time. The worst is that I can't drive - safely. Those pain killers do more than just kill pain. They make you feel really good.

Hoping to see you soon, anyway, Opa 

Once again

Once again:

“One great use of learning," said Count Timascheff with a smile, "is to make us know our own ignorance.”

Excerpt From: Verne, Jules. “Off on a Comet! a Journey through Planetary Space.” iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright.

Check out this book on the iBookstore.

Opa

Guete Sunntig mitenand

No snow! But cold and humid. How 'bout you? Isa

Thinking of you

Dear Elanore,

How fun to get your greetings! They came by mail a few days ago but, so to speak, I could not immediately answer because I kept my eyes on the thermometer and out the window and my fingers were crossed. Like you, we had a winter weather advisory here and, not only that, the front that was supposed to bring snow to Goldsboro and to Virginia Beach was reaching all the way up to Vermont and Chip Raleigh had written me an e-mail saying that they expected a LOAD of snow and were standing ready with shovels and snow blowers and plows and trucks to keep things moving in southern Vermont. Usually, a load of snow up there results in broken limbs and even broken trees and if conditions are 'right' the snow sticks to the roofs of houses and sometimes breaks things. That's what happened to our sugar house. So. My thoughts were attached to my fears and, once again, they ran away from me.

Right now, things are quiet and the air is warm and as soon as I get to push the 'send' button on this note I'll grab me a pillow and a book and a glass of water and celebrate Sunday afternoon in the sunshine of the back yard. It's getting late, already.

Yesterday I went shopping and paid some bills and then I got just an hour or so outside before the evening shadows moved in. It was wonderful, but what a shame to spend most of these glorious days inside. I really should get a bit better setting priorities. What if I were to do the shopping early in the morning and the bill-paying late in the afternoon, after the sun has escaped behind the roof line? Perhaps, as I get a bit older, I might start practicing such thoughts ;-)

On Tuesday, I'll drive over to aunt Kadin. She gave me a job as a 'baby sitter' for Wednesday and Thursday. She and uncle Steve will drive up to Quantico where Steve has to attend a meeting of the US Marine Association. So, in order for Kaarin to be able to go with him, somebody must be at the house to see that Karl gets to sleep and to eat, and goes to school on time and finds the house door open when he comes back and the heat running so the house is warm and he can do his homework without freezing his fingers off. What a responsibility I have been given. Oh, my!

After this laying out in the sun, very soon now, I'll do dinner. There is the choice of stew or a slice of pizza or some cheese with crackers and a spinach salad. All these items are intricately attached to this past weekend with all of you and every mouth full will bring fresh memories and the hope that we will do something fun like that all together very soon again.

With loving thoughts,  Opa

An Incident

While I'm trying to move back in, can't wait to tell you this story:

So, I drove up my driveway and parked my car and unlocked the door and entered my passcode into the key board at the side of the front door. Dutifully, the alarm system reported "Alarm Off".

I started the household with heat and hot water and Wi-Fi and AT&T Microcell and even the fireplace to keep some of the extreme load off the heat pump. I hear motor noise in the area and thought it was one of the farmers driving around, but when I came back to the car I heard the noise coming from above. I looked up and there was a helicopter making slow circles around our neighborhood. I thought it might be in context with the bypass - some areal survey or something. I grabbed some stuff from the car and went back inside.

Coming out again after a while, the helicopter was still there, circling lower and I saw guns sticking out on the side and noticed the police paint on the little cabin. There was also the sherif's cruiser in front of my car. I walked over to it but there was no-one inside and nobody in sight, so I started walking around the house. At that moment, a big guy in uniform came around the corner of my little office building, concern on his face and the right hand on the grip of is pistol on the side. The helicopter had stopped circling and hovered a little to the side, obviously to give the shooter in the right seat a clear shot down to our driveway.

All this analysis, of course, came later. "What's happening?" I asked the police guy. "Well, we had an alarm here." replied he. "You did?" I responded smartly "Yes", re retorted. "I don't understand, I said, I just came home, opened the door and disarmed the alarm system and it reported all clear. I'm so sorry you had a false call". "Oh, that's OK, what's your name?" I told him and even spelled it for him and his face cleared up and he asked the last question "You live here?" I said "Yes" and he wished me a good day and walked towards his car while I tried to reconstruct what I had come out of the house for. By the time I found solid ground under my feet, the helicopter had gone and the police cruiser was backing out of the driveway and my first thought was that I now could safely continue to rob the house, because my presence here was legit. No ID needed, no nothing, except the above exchange. Cool!

Have a good day, y'all.  Isa