There is not much to report about today–we have to admit that our minds and hearts were far away from here, with the global threat of a war in the Middle East after Israel’s attack on Iran, the No Kings protests all over the States, and by later in the day, the horrific news from Minnesota. The German news immediately reported on the latter–it is very apparent that everyone is highly concerned here about what is going on in the US and in the Middle East, and well-informed. So it’s hard to write about this day as if it were important, especially since we did a whole lot of nothing on a hot day by German standards–it did hit 90 but it might storm tonight and that will bring the temperatures down tomorrow. But here goes:
We got up around 6:30 and I ran for the first time since we left the States (I do at my mom’s because I have a route figured out). Then I got cleaned up and helped my mom prep breakfast, including going with Mark to the nearby bakery for fresh rolls and croissants. Around 9 am, her significant other, Klaus, arrived from his hometown of Bremerhaven (about a 2-hour train ride plus a 20-minute walk from the train station). We had a lovely breakfast together (including a super nerdy extended research session trying to find out more about the family china that has come to my mom via one of her sisters; for the record, it is from a factory that opened in the 1880s in Zwickau, Friedrich Kaestner Porzellan, and this mass-produced but hand-painted set was probably made between 1900 and 1914).
Then we went for a brief walk before it got too hot (pretty much repeating the first half of yesterday’s walk), and Klaus showed us a slide show on his laptop of the last two trips that Imke and Klaus took together (to Potsdam near Berlin this spring, and to Weimar and Jena last fall). We also showed the photos Mark took at Kati and Rhaine’s vow renewal, and then I helped my mom with lunch preparations. Lunch involved the fancy china, so after our delicious omelet and salad with asparagus (plus coffee and cheesecake with strawberries!) I helped washing dishes by hand.
We hung out for a bit more, and then Imke accompanied Klaus half-way back to town–he always likes to check out one of the local bookstores before he leaves Osnabrück, and probably walked out with a couple of new books that will help them both prepare for the trip they are taking next fall to Leipzig and the small town nearby where my mom’s dad came from, Leisnig in Saxony. We stayed home, but later went for a shorty but slightly sticky walk along some of the familiar Osnabrück paths we hadn’t yet taken, and we FINALLY caught a European robin on camera. The botanical-garden goats also obliged, walking along the fence in a nice long row of babies, moms, and the occasional billygoat. We had some leftovers from yesterday for dinner, and that was the sum total of this low key day.
