Today we walked around Bamberg! I am SO tired, but really enjoyed the city and so many photo ops. Many of the buildings here are styled as if they were in Italy- plaster on the outside, windows with shutters, just very Italian. I wasn't expecting that. But they make for interesting photos. Most places here have English speaking staff, so it's very convenient. But sometimes they don't speak English, or there's no English menu, and I was surprised at how many random German vocab words started to come back to my mind when I was looking at menus to translate. My parents have this awesome grocery list in German that hung on our wall for ages, and I used to go over the vocab words in my mind all the time growing up. Of course it would have been easier if I'd had someone to practice German with when I moved back to Michigan, and then I'd still be speaking it. :)
I've got some photos to upload tonight, I hope I can get blogger to do it properly. I'm so fed up with blogger than as soon as I get the chance I'm switching to Wordpress.
Time for some dinner here- we're knackered so early to bed most likely, unless we(read I) decide to do some night photography with the tripod...
Sunday, 27 September 2009
September 26, 2009
Believe it or not, here I am in
You might be interested to know what it’s like driving from the
Last time I was on the Autobahn I was in the back seat- this time I was behind the wheel, and I had our little Honda Civic going 110mph. J On our way we passed Frankfurt Airport, which is quite close to the road- I didn’t grab the camera in time to take a snap of it, but I remember being picked up from the airport in 1985 and hitting the autobahn, and my mom thinking my dad had lost his mind. J My turn to lose my mind now I guess!
Tomorrow we are going to walk around
Sunday, 20 September 2009
September 20, 2009
It's a quiet morning here on Windsor Road- G is in Poland for the weekend, Nelly's asleep in the sun, Z's doing child care at the early service, and I'm sitting in my living room surrounded by towels. :) Yes, towels- personalized towels, which look very nice and I'll be photographing them this week for a new client who was referred to me by my star client Claire at Breckland Orchard. Do a google search for Breckland Orchard and check out her website. :) We've been needing to do another photo shoot, and I managed to book it for this afternoon which is great as I wouldn't have been able to get it done for another 2 weeks at least- we need to get some shots while it's still summery and green outside. When I woke up this morning I realised that although it's more subtle here, the trees are just starting to get that tired late summer look. In Michigan it happens like the first week of September, the trees start to look, well, sleepy. And you know that fall is fast approaching, like a train. But here, it's very subtle- just a leaf or 2 on the birch tree outside our house have turned slightly yellow. Fall here takes a long time, it's more like a turtle than a train- slow and steady wins the race. :) Oh and by the way, they don't call it fall here- they always call it Autumn. But I keep on calling it fall because I like fall better. :)
Have I gotten everything from the to do list done? No. :) But I like to set a high bar and see if I can reach it- that's my style. :) And besides, it's only 11am here, and there are 8 working hours left in the day! After working really hard Friday I did go shopping yesterday for a few hours, and watched a movie for a little while in the evening while some other tasks were running in the background- it was nice to have some chill out time. There's nothing like a warm British wool blanket- they are the warmest blankets ever, and I don't know why we don't get some in Michigan because we could all use one on our beds in the winter!
This week I have quite a bit going on- the towel shoot to sort out, a portrait shoot for a person who does Martial Arts, my various tutoring gigs, and the 2 groups that are out at Anglesey this term. Then away for a week to Germany, and then spending a week in the UK with Hope, and a week after that and Helen and Robin come to visit for a few days! I love the fall because it's the best time to travel so we get to see loads of people coming to visit. :) Our Shanghai trip is finally booked for Nov 14-26. I've already fielded a few questions about Christmas- we will likely stay here for Christmas Day to help with the international events around that time (it's always short staffed because everyone goes off for Christmas) and I'm going to head back for a week or 2 but G might stay here because he has a Stateside meeting in January already because he's on the committee of a conference for his field, so once he knows when that is he can schedule a visit to MI as a part of it. The conference is really exciting- I'm so proud of him for being on the committee, it's quite an exciting thing to be asked to do, because they don't just ask anyone and you have to review the hundreds of papers that people submit. It will get him some excellent exposure, and shows him to be the expert in his field that we all already know that he is. :)
I have to leave in about an hour to go meet my client for this shoot- we're having lunch as well. She's turned out to be a real friend to me, and I hope I'll have the opportunity to share the good news with her. So pr for C and her family. Also, I know many of you have been pring for U, my coworker from Wales- please keep lifting him up as his situation remains difficult at home, but the Father has been answering prs and U is asking more questions about Gd.
I might be switching blog providers here soon- blogger is making it very difficult for me to post photos up (ridiculously difficult actually) which is why there aren't many photos up! Wordpress has a better photo system, so I might migrate over once I have the time. :)
Have I gotten everything from the to do list done? No. :) But I like to set a high bar and see if I can reach it- that's my style. :) And besides, it's only 11am here, and there are 8 working hours left in the day! After working really hard Friday I did go shopping yesterday for a few hours, and watched a movie for a little while in the evening while some other tasks were running in the background- it was nice to have some chill out time. There's nothing like a warm British wool blanket- they are the warmest blankets ever, and I don't know why we don't get some in Michigan because we could all use one on our beds in the winter!
This week I have quite a bit going on- the towel shoot to sort out, a portrait shoot for a person who does Martial Arts, my various tutoring gigs, and the 2 groups that are out at Anglesey this term. Then away for a week to Germany, and then spending a week in the UK with Hope, and a week after that and Helen and Robin come to visit for a few days! I love the fall because it's the best time to travel so we get to see loads of people coming to visit. :) Our Shanghai trip is finally booked for Nov 14-26. I've already fielded a few questions about Christmas- we will likely stay here for Christmas Day to help with the international events around that time (it's always short staffed because everyone goes off for Christmas) and I'm going to head back for a week or 2 but G might stay here because he has a Stateside meeting in January already because he's on the committee of a conference for his field, so once he knows when that is he can schedule a visit to MI as a part of it. The conference is really exciting- I'm so proud of him for being on the committee, it's quite an exciting thing to be asked to do, because they don't just ask anyone and you have to review the hundreds of papers that people submit. It will get him some excellent exposure, and shows him to be the expert in his field that we all already know that he is. :)
I have to leave in about an hour to go meet my client for this shoot- we're having lunch as well. She's turned out to be a real friend to me, and I hope I'll have the opportunity to share the good news with her. So pr for C and her family. Also, I know many of you have been pring for U, my coworker from Wales- please keep lifting him up as his situation remains difficult at home, but the Father has been answering prs and U is asking more questions about Gd.
I might be switching blog providers here soon- blogger is making it very difficult for me to post photos up (ridiculously difficult actually) which is why there aren't many photos up! Wordpress has a better photo system, so I might migrate over once I have the time. :)
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
September 16, 2009
I've been running around like a madwoman this week- this seems to be an unusually busy time business wise, with tons of people wanting headshots for their websites, at least one new company doing a major product launch, and a few clients wanting updated product photos while it still looks warm and green outside. I have the potential to put art work up in a new local framing shop, and the chance to photograph old carpentry equipment that's about to get scrapped. Aside from that I've been at a BNI function everyday this week, 5 days running, and am scrambling to keep up with the contacts from all of that and the new business coming from it! That plus spending some good quality time outside at Anglesey Abbey, with groups and doing various gardening things, has made for some full days. But I'm getting a streamlined process going, and things won't be so crazy post Germany trip. :)
I met with a business coach/marketing connection today- we're doing a trade swap, and he gave me some great help on the business name. He liked Digitalis as well. :) But thankfully that should all soon be sorted, in which case I will be moving ahead with a new logo, followed by a new website, and new business cards etc. My virtual PA has been scanning business cards for me, and will soon take over my invoicing as well- I'm sending pretty much anything that I can her way as I need to focus on sales and marketing (and photographing of course) which is what every small business owner should spend their time on primarily. I'm still hoping to be able to take on someone to do contract work for me in the next 8 months.
Tonight was our iHUB bbl study, the second one of the term, and we looked at the centurion in Matthew and how he had such a strong understanding of authority, which increased his faith. I'm excited about the new term, and getting to know new Chinese friends. G's Chinese studies are going well- I've had to work out a system so that I'm not in the same room (or ear shot) when he's talking because I have perfect pitch and the process of learning Chinese tones resembles a beginner violinist to my ears. :) It'll get better in a few months, but for now I just have to cope. :) I'm carrying on with Welsh to divert my mind from the unpleasant feelings of odd tones coming from a beginner. :)
It's 11:20pm here- no I'm not still working, yes I'm going straight to bed. :)
I met with a business coach/marketing connection today- we're doing a trade swap, and he gave me some great help on the business name. He liked Digitalis as well. :) But thankfully that should all soon be sorted, in which case I will be moving ahead with a new logo, followed by a new website, and new business cards etc. My virtual PA has been scanning business cards for me, and will soon take over my invoicing as well- I'm sending pretty much anything that I can her way as I need to focus on sales and marketing (and photographing of course) which is what every small business owner should spend their time on primarily. I'm still hoping to be able to take on someone to do contract work for me in the next 8 months.
Tonight was our iHUB bbl study, the second one of the term, and we looked at the centurion in Matthew and how he had such a strong understanding of authority, which increased his faith. I'm excited about the new term, and getting to know new Chinese friends. G's Chinese studies are going well- I've had to work out a system so that I'm not in the same room (or ear shot) when he's talking because I have perfect pitch and the process of learning Chinese tones resembles a beginner violinist to my ears. :) It'll get better in a few months, but for now I just have to cope. :) I'm carrying on with Welsh to divert my mind from the unpleasant feelings of odd tones coming from a beginner. :)
It's 11:20pm here- no I'm not still working, yes I'm going straight to bed. :)
Friday, 11 September 2009
September 11, 2009
Happy anniversary to my brother and sister in law- 5 years today! Wow the time flies...it hardly seems like 8 years ago since the 9/11 attacks. Interestingly there was news coverage here of the memorial events going on in the US- the fact is America is under a microscope and I hear more US news here than anything else. There's been lots of coverage about Obama's healthcare reform attempts, about Sen Kennedy's death, about the 9/11 memorials, the list goes on. I feel like I'm not very far from home because I hear about it all the time.
Things are carrying on here- we're at that time of the year when the days get shorter the fastest, and it's more dramatic here because we're quite far north. The nights are getting cold, and it's about time to put up the winter panels of glass, the ones that go inside the house and keep the drafts out. It's not cold by MI standards, but feels cold here anyway. :)
I've been meeting with lots of business people this week- tomorrow is a big event for our BNI group, we've entered a Dragon Boat race that's to raise money for charity, and it should be good fun. I'll get great photos of it. :) It's a busy weekend for me because the dragon boat race is tomorrow, then Sunday after the service is the Harvest Lunch (which I've been asked to photo) and after that another chch photo shoot this time for the students, then I'm driving to Norwich (about 1.5 hrs away) for BNI training which is early Monday morning. Whew. Next weekend I'm taking myself off to Wales- I was intending to go to Scotland but I can't drive 10 hours by myself and it won't be fun alone, so I'm driving 4 hours to Wales on my own instead and making a weekend of it. It should be good fun- George is taking the backup camera and heading off to Poland for the weekend for a wedding for one of his coworkers, so it's a bit crazy. :)
Speaking of travel, we are driving to Germany in about 2 weeks- we'll be there about a week, and I'm looking forward to seeing my old village and getting photos of it! Maybe even video if I can figure out how. :) It's been 25 years since we moved to Germany, and I looked on Google earth and you know Baunach looks very very similar still. It's still a wee village, not much in the way of development. I'm keen to see it again.
Time for bed!
Things are carrying on here- we're at that time of the year when the days get shorter the fastest, and it's more dramatic here because we're quite far north. The nights are getting cold, and it's about time to put up the winter panels of glass, the ones that go inside the house and keep the drafts out. It's not cold by MI standards, but feels cold here anyway. :)
I've been meeting with lots of business people this week- tomorrow is a big event for our BNI group, we've entered a Dragon Boat race that's to raise money for charity, and it should be good fun. I'll get great photos of it. :) It's a busy weekend for me because the dragon boat race is tomorrow, then Sunday after the service is the Harvest Lunch (which I've been asked to photo) and after that another chch photo shoot this time for the students, then I'm driving to Norwich (about 1.5 hrs away) for BNI training which is early Monday morning. Whew. Next weekend I'm taking myself off to Wales- I was intending to go to Scotland but I can't drive 10 hours by myself and it won't be fun alone, so I'm driving 4 hours to Wales on my own instead and making a weekend of it. It should be good fun- George is taking the backup camera and heading off to Poland for the weekend for a wedding for one of his coworkers, so it's a bit crazy. :)
Speaking of travel, we are driving to Germany in about 2 weeks- we'll be there about a week, and I'm looking forward to seeing my old village and getting photos of it! Maybe even video if I can figure out how. :) It's been 25 years since we moved to Germany, and I looked on Google earth and you know Baunach looks very very similar still. It's still a wee village, not much in the way of development. I'm keen to see it again.
Time for bed!
Tuesday, 8 September 2009
September 8, 2009
Ok, so I think I just officially became the crazy American girl on my street. Though you my American friends won't be surprised when I tell you this tale. :)
A house across the street and a few doors down has a burglar alarm that started shrieking like mad, and it's 10pm here right now. So I opened my front door, used the Maglite to shine onto their house, didn't see anything, so I figured that likely as not one of their next door neighbors would have called the owners (that's what usually happens here) and the alarm would stop. Well it didn't stop and didn't stop, so I grabbed my keys and cell phone (and the trusty Maglite) and walked straight over to their house and started shining the flashlight around outside, in the windows (which were all dark) and everywhere just to make sure no one was there. I even shined it over their back fence, where criminals like to hide. :)
The next door neighbor (well sort of next door, sort of over an alleyway) did have a door open, and obviously thought I was a nutcase- here I am in a skirt with a huge flashlight shining it around like I own the place...but I walked over to chat and see if he knew what was going on. He'd called the owners but didn't get an answer, so I asked if he'd tried the security company. All the windows and doors looked fairly secure, but you never know. He didn't know what company it was- so I took my Maglite around and checked the name, and just at that point the shrieking stopped. This poor neighbor who was looking at me like I was a nut for having a gigantic police-esque flashlight didn't seem keen to talk, so I think I'll try to go round tomorrow and chat with him and the alarm house owners just to say hello.
I should say for those that may not know that I'm from a rural village, where my parents live on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, and it takes hours for the police to come and investigate something. In Michigan we have guns and dogs for these sorts of situations. :) A powerful Maglite combined with a barking dog does wonders for scaring off people, and it has about a 200 ft range at least. So I'm not afraid to investigate things myself from a safe distance with a nice bright light, though I don't have a dog. :) I'm an American girl- what else can I say for myself? :)
Whether I scared away any criminals remains to be seen, but I did wonder about getting an alarm ourselves...crime is up in the city and we live on an affluent street. Hopefully my neighbors will still talk to me tomorrow. :)
A house across the street and a few doors down has a burglar alarm that started shrieking like mad, and it's 10pm here right now. So I opened my front door, used the Maglite to shine onto their house, didn't see anything, so I figured that likely as not one of their next door neighbors would have called the owners (that's what usually happens here) and the alarm would stop. Well it didn't stop and didn't stop, so I grabbed my keys and cell phone (and the trusty Maglite) and walked straight over to their house and started shining the flashlight around outside, in the windows (which were all dark) and everywhere just to make sure no one was there. I even shined it over their back fence, where criminals like to hide. :)
The next door neighbor (well sort of next door, sort of over an alleyway) did have a door open, and obviously thought I was a nutcase- here I am in a skirt with a huge flashlight shining it around like I own the place...but I walked over to chat and see if he knew what was going on. He'd called the owners but didn't get an answer, so I asked if he'd tried the security company. All the windows and doors looked fairly secure, but you never know. He didn't know what company it was- so I took my Maglite around and checked the name, and just at that point the shrieking stopped. This poor neighbor who was looking at me like I was a nut for having a gigantic police-esque flashlight didn't seem keen to talk, so I think I'll try to go round tomorrow and chat with him and the alarm house owners just to say hello.
I should say for those that may not know that I'm from a rural village, where my parents live on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, and it takes hours for the police to come and investigate something. In Michigan we have guns and dogs for these sorts of situations. :) A powerful Maglite combined with a barking dog does wonders for scaring off people, and it has about a 200 ft range at least. So I'm not afraid to investigate things myself from a safe distance with a nice bright light, though I don't have a dog. :) I'm an American girl- what else can I say for myself? :)
Whether I scared away any criminals remains to be seen, but I did wonder about getting an alarm ourselves...crime is up in the city and we live on an affluent street. Hopefully my neighbors will still talk to me tomorrow. :)
Sunday, 6 September 2009
Happy Labor Day!
Or Labour if you're British. :) Labor Day is an American holiday, so there's no holiday here tomorrow. No American football, no BBQs, no anything out of the ordinary. It was a nice weekend all the same, with good weather, so I can't complain. These days I'm spending at least half the weekend catching up on stuff that somehow didn't manage to get done during the week. Mostly it's stuff that I've been behind on- I'm running at least 2 weeks behind on processing files, so anything that I've taken for fun is not in the critical path of getting done and has piled up. I still have stuff from our trip in July that hasn't been done!!! If you're on facebook you'll see photos slowly emerging, and they are also making their way up to Phanfare.
It's only 10:30pm here but the residents of Windsor House, Cambridge are all knackered (that's British for exhausted) after a weekend full of parties at our house and international team training yesterday, and chch today, and meeting new staff and all the new people who come in September. Z went to bed 2 hours ago, and now it's my turn. :) Good night!
It's only 10:30pm here but the residents of Windsor House, Cambridge are all knackered (that's British for exhausted) after a weekend full of parties at our house and international team training yesterday, and chch today, and meeting new staff and all the new people who come in September. Z went to bed 2 hours ago, and now it's my turn. :) Good night!
Saturday, 5 September 2009
September 6, 2009
You may all be wondering why I haven't updated the blog in far too long- what have I been doing since August 26? Did I work myself to death? Has my computer broken? Did I suddenly get carpal tunnel syndrome? No, I have just been ridiculously busy!!! I've wanted to update the blog but have barely sat down at the computer as I've been on the run here there and everywhere. So a brief update...
Last weekend (Aug 28-31) was a Bank Holiday weekend- think like Labor Day weekend. I worked basically the entire weekend, trying desperately to catch up with the work that I've gotten behind on- I got quite a bit done (those of you on Facebook saw my to do list!) I've had a lot of appointments this week, and it's been a busy week for networking as well because I had BNI Tuesday morning, Wednesday lunch was the Cambridge Businesswomen's event, I missed the one I was going to go to Thursday night because we had an impromptu going away party for a friend who's moving to Uganda for a year, and then Friday was the Very Early Lunch Club (VELC) which is once a month and I was photographing the event...followed by a fantastic workshop about using social networking for business. It was facinating! And we ended off the day today with a huge 75th birthday party- 3 girls were turning 25. :) It was here at our house, and we had the house packed full- there were at least 30 people, if not more, and we all had a blast. Fortunately they ended the evening with a few games of Mafia, which I sometimes enjoy but only with very close friends, so I was able to clean up everything except the room they were in which made it an earlier bedtime for us all. I even went around and sanitised the door handles etc with bleach, which I try to do once a week anyway for good hygiene. There are 3 of us living in our house, and we can all track germs in from who knows where- I notice a big difference in general healthiness of Windsor House when I keep the door handles etc germ free, and we are all making sure to wash our hands well.
I haven't been out at Anglesey Abbey much this week because the head gardener is out with appendicitis, so it's been an all hands on deck for the gardening team, and my coworker who is the community warden needed to work with them all week. I definitely missed being outside, but I was able to track down a schedule for the coming 2 terms and looking forward to the first groups that will be out next week (well, that is sort of this coming week.)
In other news, we're driving to Germany at the end of this month for G's cousin's wedding, and G might be off to poland for a weekend for his coworker's wedding. I'm still determined to go to Scotland even if I have to go alone and hostel it instead of camping because I really want to photograph in the fall there. So we'll see what happens- it'll be a busy month.
The international work at StAG starts off this week- I'm shifting from the ladies study and teaching a study for ladies who aren't followers of JC but who are interested in learning more, and we'll be meeting at the same time as the ladies in hopes that eventually some will go into the women's study. Also, we've transitioned out of iBASE (language students) and into iHUB(20s-30s post graduates, mostly Asian) and iHUB starts Wednesday. Do be lifting the international work up. We had a good training day today, which was very encouraging, and we're excited about what Gd has going this year.
Thanks for pring for our relationship as well- we really appreciate it and we definitely feel the love. :) We love you all and we miss you guys! Especially in the fall we all feel a bit homesick, so know that we're thinking of home a lot these days and hoping you are all enjoying the change of seasons.
Last weekend (Aug 28-31) was a Bank Holiday weekend- think like Labor Day weekend. I worked basically the entire weekend, trying desperately to catch up with the work that I've gotten behind on- I got quite a bit done (those of you on Facebook saw my to do list!) I've had a lot of appointments this week, and it's been a busy week for networking as well because I had BNI Tuesday morning, Wednesday lunch was the Cambridge Businesswomen's event, I missed the one I was going to go to Thursday night because we had an impromptu going away party for a friend who's moving to Uganda for a year, and then Friday was the Very Early Lunch Club (VELC) which is once a month and I was photographing the event...followed by a fantastic workshop about using social networking for business. It was facinating! And we ended off the day today with a huge 75th birthday party- 3 girls were turning 25. :) It was here at our house, and we had the house packed full- there were at least 30 people, if not more, and we all had a blast. Fortunately they ended the evening with a few games of Mafia, which I sometimes enjoy but only with very close friends, so I was able to clean up everything except the room they were in which made it an earlier bedtime for us all. I even went around and sanitised the door handles etc with bleach, which I try to do once a week anyway for good hygiene. There are 3 of us living in our house, and we can all track germs in from who knows where- I notice a big difference in general healthiness of Windsor House when I keep the door handles etc germ free, and we are all making sure to wash our hands well.
I haven't been out at Anglesey Abbey much this week because the head gardener is out with appendicitis, so it's been an all hands on deck for the gardening team, and my coworker who is the community warden needed to work with them all week. I definitely missed being outside, but I was able to track down a schedule for the coming 2 terms and looking forward to the first groups that will be out next week (well, that is sort of this coming week.)
In other news, we're driving to Germany at the end of this month for G's cousin's wedding, and G might be off to poland for a weekend for his coworker's wedding. I'm still determined to go to Scotland even if I have to go alone and hostel it instead of camping because I really want to photograph in the fall there. So we'll see what happens- it'll be a busy month.
The international work at StAG starts off this week- I'm shifting from the ladies study and teaching a study for ladies who aren't followers of JC but who are interested in learning more, and we'll be meeting at the same time as the ladies in hopes that eventually some will go into the women's study. Also, we've transitioned out of iBASE (language students) and into iHUB(20s-30s post graduates, mostly Asian) and iHUB starts Wednesday. Do be lifting the international work up. We had a good training day today, which was very encouraging, and we're excited about what Gd has going this year.
Thanks for pring for our relationship as well- we really appreciate it and we definitely feel the love. :) We love you all and we miss you guys! Especially in the fall we all feel a bit homesick, so know that we're thinking of home a lot these days and hoping you are all enjoying the change of seasons.
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