Laurel Elisabeth Stevens

Intriguing Walk I’m in love with the heath.  In the guide book this place kept grabbing my attention from our earliest arrival.  Finally as my birthday approached I told the family that is where we would go to celebrate.  So, against German custom (celebrating early is bad luck) we drove to Lüneberger Heide for my “birthday outing” as our family is beginning to term these little trips. It started out poorly.  In spite of my enthusiasm, I hadn’t planned well.  I just figured we would go exploring.  There is a large nature park that encompasses part of the heath (Heide), so during the one hour drive I was looking at the website on my iPhone and telling John where to go, continually revising our plan.  Nevertheless, we arrived in good time and parked. But was it chilly!  I guess the house was warm when we got dressed, and the sun was shining, so half the family left without coats, and only one fourth of the family had a jacket that might r...

Warsaw is a beautiful city.  I must say, though, it took me a few days to appreciate it.  Sunshine helps too.  I've learned that big cities scare me for a few days and then I start liking them.  So here are a few shots from our wanderings around the town on Saturday.  Weather being unpredictable, I carried around an umbrella and raincoats all day yesterday, under a bright blue sky.  Today, Sunday, dawned sunny and bright as well, so I pulled all the rain gear out of my backpack.  Thus, after church, the rain poured down.  After a wonderful lunch at Kino Kultura, we took a taxi back home. The gardens atop the University Library--we're walking all over the roof! Climbing up the roof A rare close up A view from the Palace of Culture and Science--Warsaw's old town is the area of red roofs. Here Dad is showing Henry models of Polish army tanks, howitzers, etc. etc.  Dad did not mince words and explained that these things kill p...

In Germany we have visited a number of German speaking churches--Lutheran, Reformed and Evangelical Free, but today in Warsaw I went with my parents to what they already, after one month of being here, refer to as "our church."  It is the Church of England in Poland, meeting in a Catholic chapel called Res Sacra Miser,  pictured here . There were certainly a lot of things for the kids to look at, a big change for these Protestant kiddoes.  Elisabeth sat on the pew with my parents and the three of them filled it up, so Henry and I sat behind them. The liturgy was printed on 2 sets of paper and it was a bit tricky to follow along, but it was so good and so needful to hear the word of God.  In my own language.  I don't think I realized until I looked at the liturgy, how hard it has been to not be at an English speaking church.  In truth I was refreshed. We read together the Nicene Creed, which is more in depth than the Apostles Creed, which even in most Pre...

At a playground a couple of days ago in Warsaw, near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Henry was playing on a merry go round with a little Polish boy.  Instinctively Henry began speaking German to him.  It rolls off his tongue so easily . . ."Das geht so schnell!"  "It goes so fast."  Other times I hear him telling me things in German just as if he were speaking English.  I'm glad at least one of us keeping up his German while we are away.  On the train from Berlin to Warsaw we were in a compartment with a Polish woman who spoke Polish and German, so Henry had a very easy time conversing with her and showing her his cookies, his coloring book etc.  She was charmed. Waiting for a bus in the rain The kids and I are in Warsaw visiting my parents for a week.  John is in Germany flitting about between cities that begin with D.  Every time I talk to him I assume he is in a different time zone, but no, he's only 8 hours away, by train. Vie...

A delicious tradition that I married into happens at least once a year in early summer.  It's a night of All-you-can-eat Strawberry Shortcake.  So with an "Erdbeer Hofs" (pronounced Erd-bear)--"Strawberry Huts"--popping up all over town, it was time for this extravaganza. I bought 2 kilos of strawberry, not wanting to run short.  On our way home on the tram the luscious red strawberries sparked a conversation with a friendly lady we were sitting with.  She asked how much I paid for them, and since they were from an Erdbeer Hof, I knew they were more expensive, but better than what I would find at the grocery market.  These were from Laatzen, a town just southeast of Hannover. After Dinner Crash We've had a fabulous crazy weather day, alternating fierce thunderstorms with brilliant sunshine and blue skies.  We made it to the zoo this morning, beating the crowds by arriving at 9:30, half an hour after opening.  We've noticed that around her...

Sunset: 9:45 PM Sunrise: 4:58 PM John and I took this picture at about 10 PM Sunday night.  We wanted to show all our Texas friends how light it is at these northern latitudes this time of year.  We are at 52 degrees north.  Houston is 29 degrees north. My bare feet were getting cold on the grass, he he he.

Monday was the day after Pentecost and in Germany it is a holiday.  Some people get together with family, some go out of town for a long weekend or take the whole week off (if they don’t have kids in school) and some just hang around the house like we did.   After a late breakfast we got out for some exercise.  John and Elisabeth headed out first, John running and Elisabeth on her bike.  They wended their way through the neighborhood and then onto some trails to eventually end up at a playground at the edge of the woods.  Henry and I took the direct route to the playground, he on his bike and me on my speedy feet (walking).  As we went by the Lutheran church where Henry attends Kindergarten we saw a large group of people who seemed to be leaving the church.  I assumed there was a Pentecost Monday service.  We took a different route so we wouldn’t have to ride right through them, but encountered them again a few minutes further into the woods....