A wonderful meeting

Mr E, mini me and I yesterday evening returned from a quick two day trip to Frankfurt am Main in Germany. We arrived there on Thursday evening…

… and on Friday afternoon I went to visit an academic library and meet with the librarian there, none other than fellow blogger Herba Minor! Last August I went to a large international librarian’s conference called IFLA and had hoped to maybe meet other fellow blogger-librarians there. That did not happen but the idea did arise to do a little personal exchange instead. The first part of that exchange happened last Friday; sometime next year part two will happen when I will happily welcome a return visit.

Herba gave me a full on tour of her library and we had such a great professional exchange. Turns out academic libraries in The Netherlands and Germany deal with many similar issues. And I think I’m going to steal an idea from them for at least one of “my” libraries…

It was also just lovely meeting Herba in person after knowing her from blogging for so many years, she felt familiar to me right away. We didn’t only talk about libraries, there was a lot of catching up on other topics as well, including Mr. Armitage. It was just so very nice to finally connect in person. Afterwards we met up with Mr E and mini me for dinner and had the most lovely evening to boot.

On Saturday, Mr E, mini me and I stopped by a church I used to go to in Frankfurt when I lived not far from there with my family in my late childhood/early teens. It was (and still is) an English language Anglican/Episcopal church and also very instrumental (together with the US Army base library that we used to frequent) in me not forgetting my English after we moved to Germany from Israel…

We also took a brief look in the little town of Friedberg for a bit (which was very close to where I lived), before we headed home again.

We had a lovely short trip and I’m already really looking forward to Herba’s return visit some time next year!

In a bit of a lull

In recent months I find I have not been blogging much. Mostly it’s meet cute Mondays and not that much else. I constantly think of things to blog about, I have a big one sitting in the back of my head right now as I type this, but somehow I can not find the motivation to deep dive and make the time and effort to type it all out. I’m sure it’s got to do with some private family worries that I’ve had but now that everything seems to be settling down again, the blogging bug still hasn’t returned. I find that I miss it on the one hand, but can’t make myself do much on my blog on the other hand. Well, today I’m making myself do something by typing this post. Not that much to type about, but I’ll give it a go.

The weather today has been glorious and we decided to watch mini me play a football match as the end of the season is nearing. Alas, they lost by 3-2 but it was fun to see her in action and also really nice to catch up with another couple (parents of mini me’s team mate) who we’ve known for a long time before mini me even joined the team.

Mr E and I then biked to one of the lakes near where we live for a bite to eat and a glass of wine/beer outside in the sun. When we got home late in the afternoon, our cat was all too eager to find a spot on my lap! She misses her people when they are gone during the day…

Mini me hung out at the football club all afternoon. When she popped in this evening before heading out again she showed us a trophy she had been given: her team mates had chosen her as MVP of the team for this past year! We’re very proud.

As Junior is out all day as well (at a music festival), Mr E and I had a nice takeaway Thai dinner together and our neighbour’s cat also came by for a visit. He used to be the best friend of our old cat who died last winter and it’s always nice to see him around.

His colour even reminds us of our old cat, so occasionally, for a moment, our hearts will skip a beat when we see neighbour cat in our garden. Alas, it never is our old Effoh but neighbour cat has a special place in our hearts because he and Effoh used to be good friends…

Now the evening is here and Mr E and I are still in our garden (it’s after 9 pm). It’s gotten a little chillier so we are wearing sweaters now, but it’s still light out and nice and peaceful…

The house is still a friggin’ mess (we had initially planned a cleaning day today) but we can’t be too bothered by that after the lovely day we had today. We must make the most of good days while we can, mustn’t we?

Hanukkah sameach & Happy birthday!

Been celebrating my daughter’s birthday with family but it’s also the beginning of Hanukkah. At my mother’s house, my older sister lit the first candle this past evening on the 18th and said the blessing and I helped…

Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate!

December 19th has just started now and that means my daughter’s 19th birthday has arrived, as has my aunt’s 86th birthday…

My aunt has had a very difficult fall and has (almost) gotten back to her old self again which makes me so very happy. And my daughter is turning into such a wonderful young woman, doing well with college and with friends and in life in general, I’m very proud of the person she has become and can’t wait to see how she develops on! Happy birthday to both these wonderful December 19th ladies!

Seoul

Mini me is in Seoul right now, visiting my 22 year old niece who studies there (in the blue jeans in the first picture), accompanied by my other 17 year old niece (riding piggy back in the green sweater below). They’ve been having a blast there.

Earlier this evening the news reached us that something horrible was happening in Seoul. Apparently at Halloween festivities in the city at least 146 people have died and 150 have been injured in a mad crush of the crowds. We contacted mini me and were assured that she and the girls were fine. She told us that the three of them and a fourth friend were also headed to that Halloween party but on nearing the area found it all too crowded and had decided to turn back. They were safely back at my niece’s apartment when they heard how bad it all really was. Thank goodness they are all fine! My heart breaks for the terrible loss of life and all those who have been injured. Our thoughts are with Seoul tonight.💔

There she goes!

My 18 year old daughter (dressed in black) and my 17 year old niece are off to Seoul in South Korea. We dropped them off at Schiphol Airport this afternoon.

They are off to visit my other (22 year old) niece who is studying and living there and they are somewhere over Azerbaijan now, according to our flight tracker. It’s a 12 hour direct flight from Amsterdam and my daughter will be gone for two weeks. It’s a little scary, knowing she is so very far away from us in such a different world, without us there to help guide her, but it’s also a comfort that she’s not on her own and that the girls will be hosted by my 22 year old niece who already speaks Korean and knows her way around Seoul (she’s been living there for two years now). We really are happy for mini me that she has this opportunity, she will learn and see so much, and we are sure the girls will have a marvelous time together. Little girls grow up so quickly…