The Twin’s Birthday this Month

These pictures were taken on the twins birthday in June of 2011.

Two months ago I published the above pics and in one reply to a comment I said these grandsons looked like little angels when they were kids. And Munira said that she can’t imagine them as kids. Ha, ha! So I replied:

“All right, Munira, as soon as I can scan pics again, I’ll show you how they looked when they were little! The twin’s birthday pics were taken just a few days before I started blogging. My profile pic that I still use, was cropped from that birthday pic where you can see me with Troy.”

Well, their birthday is coming up next week. So here I am publishing what they looked like as kids.
I went through all our photo albums this morning and unfortunately I could not find this special picture of the twins where they really look like little angels.

It’s very frustrating after looking for hours for one particular picture it still is nowhere to be found!
We just have too many pictures. Well, the pictures of the twins that I can publish today are all more than thirty years old or at least close to thirty years. The twins are going to be thirty-four years old in one week. When they were kids they were often together with our daughter Caroline. So Caroline is in these pictures here too. The boys loved to call her “aunty Caroline” just for fun. But she really is their aunty. Unbelievable! Sometimes people thought the three of them were triplets. However we had to explain then that Caroline is more than six months older.

T one

An Anniversary and lots of Birthdays

Last Sunday, the 9th of June, happened to be my brother Bodo’s birthday. He turned seventy-five. For a few months now he has been in an aged care home in Berlin. Peter happened to take this picture of me hugging the tree. I can’t recall having thought of my brother’s birthday at this instant.

Last Sunday when I uploaded this picture I remembered the other photo Peter had taken of me hugging a tree. I looked it up and I was surprised to find that the other picture had been taken on my birthday, the 21st September 2012, when we were on holidays in Berlin.

I don’t think I have any other pictures of me hugging a tree. Just these two. One taken on my birthday, the other a few months later on my brother’s birthday. As far as I’m concerned this is totally coincidental, but still quite remarkable!

Just for good measure here is the other tree hugging picture again which was taken on my last birthday.. — Just for good measure here is the other tree hugging picture again which was taken on my last birthday, 21.September 2012

This month some more birthdays are coming up of some of my grandchildren, there are also quite a few birthdays in the family coming up next month. In July is also going to be the anniversary of the death of our eldest daughter, Gabriele.

Hugging Trees

There were three birch tress standing together in the Tiergarten in Berlin. I hugged one of them on my birthday last September. This is the tree that was cut down soon after! Who made the decision it had to go? No idea. I remembered this tree hugging picture because yesterday I published another tree hugging picture which found great response. — There were three birch tress standing together in the Tiergarten in Berlin. I hugged one of them on my birthday last September. This is the tree that was cut down soon after! Who made the decision it had to go? No idea.

I remembered this tree hugging picture because yesterday I published another tree hugging picture which found great response.

Here's the tree I hugged yesterday. I hope nobody is going to cut it down! — Here’s the tree I hugged yesterday. I hope nobody is going to cut it down!

Sunday Lunch

This was our place for morning tea in the sun.

A bit later this place would be filled with people having lunch.

I noticed this beautifully decorated reserved table.

Our friends had spring rolls and a rice dish.

While I'm hugging a tree. — While I’m hugging a tree.

Peter is rushing to take some pictures of the pond while our two friends walk ahead to the car. Sadly it's already time to drive bck home. — Peter is rushing to take some pictures of the pond while our two friends walk ahead to the car. Sadly it’s already time to drive back home.

This weekend is called ‘Queen’s Birthday Weekend’ here in Australia. This means tomorrow, Monday, is a public holiday.
We were lucky with the weather today. There was plenty of sunshine in the morning. So it was a good day to go out for lunch with our friends who picked us up from home at 10 o’clock. By 2 pm we were back at our place for afternoon coffee and some more talking. It’s always good to see some friends whom we have known for a long time.

Leipziger Schauspielhaus

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leipziger_Schauspielhaus

The “Leipziger Schauspielhaus” was a private theater in the southern part of Leipzig, Germany. This theater was situated in Sophienstrasse 17 – 19. Sophienstrasse is now named Shakespearestrasse. During a bomb raid on 4th December 1943 the theater building was totally destroyed and has never been rebuilt.

For me it was interesting to find in the Wikipedia the above pictures and information about this particular theater. The house adjoining the theater is of special interest to me. This was Sophienstrasse 20. It was the house my mother grew up in. This house was completely destroyed in a bomb raid in April 1945 while we, that is Mum, my two brothers and I, were there staying with my grandmother and cousin Renate.

Mum told us again and again that at the age of fourteen she did get a part as an extra. She played a page boy in a production of the famous Leipziger Schauspielhaus.. Being part of a theater production she found immensely exciting.

The above pictures are from 1906. Mum’s sister Ilse was born in 1907 and Mum was born in 1911. Mum had another older sister and an older brother.

“Am 11. Oktober 1874 fand die Eröffnung unter dem Namen Carl-Theater statt. Hartmann nannte die Spielstätte Leipziger Schauspielhaus und eröffnete es am 10. September 1902.”

The theater was opened on 11th October 1874 under the name ‘Carl Theater’. A bit later it was called ‘Carola Theater’. Around the turn of the century it was closed for a while. It was named ‘Leipziger Schauspielhaus’ by Anton Hartmann when he opened it on 10th September 1902.

Towards the End of May

This is near the entrance of the Great Hall where the five Buddhas are.

I bought a card with the five Buddhas on it. So this is just a copy of the card. At the back of the card it says:

“Nan Tien Temple is the largest Buddhist Temple in the Southern Hemisphere. It is also known as ‘Southern Paradise’. The Temple has evolved into a harmonious place where the East and West meet and merge. . . . .”

Nan Tien Temple, Berkeley Road, Berkeley, NSW, 2506, Australia, http://www.nantien.org.au

We’ve seen David yesterday. The place where he’s staying is called Nursing Home now. I think previously it was called Age Care Facility. David is still in te same room where we’ve seen him before. He was asleep when we arrived. The first thing he said when he woke up was: ‘I have a Mother’s Day Gift for Mama.’

I was thrilled that he had thought of me. And he had waited since Mothers’ Day for our arrival so he could hand me his gift! He wrote out a Mothers’ Day card for me as well! Well, Mother’s Day had been more than two weeks ago. His birthday was on the 8th of May. On the same day it is also his sister Kathy’s birthday. Kathy is ten years younger than David. His brother Anthony has been appointed David’s guardian. Anthony told him that Kathy was going to visit him soon. She lives a bit further away from Sydney now. David is very much looking forward to his sister’s visit, I think. His friend Steve had also seen him a couple of times already. And of course Anthony would see him on a regular basis.

We were able to sit with David outside in a sunny courtyard. A nursing help ask him whether he’d like to have his lunch outside. David did like it that lunch was brought there. The friendly help wanted to tie a large bib around his neck. But he indicated that he didn’t need it. David ended up not eating very much.

Today we started trimming some of the trees. After about one hour we thought that we had done enough gardening for the day. Tomorrow we are going to do a bit more gardening.

About Me, Uta

“You’re so vain. You probably think Nan Tien Temple is about you.”

This is the message I just received from wordpress. And they are right, aren’t they? I am so vain that I think Nan Tien Temple is about me! It certainly is. Did you notice the little photo where I am just about to push this thing to make the Gratitude Bell go off? Well, this is about me!

As I did make the bell sound across the landscape I was thinking of my parents and all my ancestors. What a marvellous journey I’ve had to come to this bell on such a beautiful Day as we experienced yesterday.

A beautiful Day

It was great to see Baby Lucas on Mothers Day!

We saw ten family members, including Baby Lucas, for lunch on Mothers Day. Baby Lucas got all the attention. He is a little darling. Everyone loves him so much. He was surrounded by three aunties, one great-aunt, one uncle, one grandma, one great-grandma (that’s me!), one great grandpa, and of course his proud parents.

We went to our favourite Thai/Chinese Restaurant. The place was packed full for Mothers Day. However daughter Monika had booked a large table for us ahead of time. All of us were very comfortably sitting around a large round table. For Lucas a Baby chair was provided. He sat in his chair only to have a drink and a banana. I was surprised how well he was able to eat the banana out of his hand!

We all had plenty to eat for lunch. I always love rice and vegetables with a spicy Thai sauce and Chinese tea. As entree we all had some spring-rolls. For afternoon coffee and cake the family came to our place. I liked all this very much. My daughters gave me some beautiful gifts for my skin and for smelling nice! My son rang me from Melbourne later on in the evening. For afternoon coffee one son-in-law did bring along his mother as well as the mother of his deceased wife. The conversation around the table was quite animated. The other son-in-law arrived a bit later from Sydney after he had seen his mother. Ebony, the mother of Lucas, went after lunch with Baby Lucas to see her mother and therefore did not come to our place for coffee.

Everyone loved the cheese-cake that Peter had baked for Mothers Day. It was great to see so many family members in the one day. I feel blessed that Mothers Day had been made so special for me. And I greatly enjoyed seeing daughter Monika surrounded by all her five children plus Lucas, her first and so far only grandchild.

Daughter Caroline stayed with Matthew overnight at our place. We are always very happy when they can make the time to stay overnight. Caroline spoiled us by cooking an excellent supper and breakfast in the morning. After breakfast Peter took them to the train-station. They apologized that they couldn’t stay a bit longer but they have a busy week ahead of them.

I greatly enjoyed the breakfast that Caroline cooked for us.

Diary Update

This picture was taken by me five weeks ago as we had just returned from buying the Saturday paper. Today is Saturday again which means paper buying day! I love it when both Peter and I can walk together to the Newsagent’s shop which is close by at little shopping center.

Last Wednesday we saw a French film with English subtitles. The film is called AMOUR. We had seen this film once before a few months ago. It was shown in Berlin with no subtitles but in German. As I remember it the synchronisation from French into German had been done very well which was a relief. Usually I prefer to see a film in the original just with subtitles. So now we had the chance to listen to it in French. Both Peter and I agreed that it was great to see the film a second time.

This French film shows a couple in Paris in their eighties. Both are retired music teachers. They have a daughter who is also a musician and travels a lot with her English husband. She comes to see her parents in Paris only occasionally. The mother has a severe stroke, is hospitalised. Some time later she’s supposed to go into a hospice. She needs constant care. She begs her husband to take her home to care for her there. And this is what he does! He takes on to care for his wife who is very disabled. The film shows how the husband who is very elderly himself, takes on the task to look after his wife. It gets more difficult for him as her health deteriorates more and more. Despite some outside help this poor man is at breaking point in the end. Out of love for his wife he perseveres. The daughter urges him to give the ailing mother into a hospice. But the father doesn’t give up. He says he promised his wife to look after her at home. This is a very slow moving wonderfully acted film. Both Peter and I liked it a lot.

The husband is played by JEAN-LOUIS TRINTIGNANT, the wife by EMMANUELLE RIVA, the daughter by ISABELLE HUPPERT.

So this was our Wednesday adventure. While we were watching the movie, our car did get a big service. Luckily apart from the service nothing else needed to be done to get the car re-registered. On Thursday, while I was at my exercise class, Peter fixed up insurance and registration for the car. Last Monday he had to fork out a lot of money for the dentist in Sydney. It was a very expensive week for Peter but he’s glad everything is behind him now. From now on we can relax and enjoy Mothers’ Day and Peter’s birthday.

On Monday, when Peter had his dental appointment, I went with Peter to Sydney to keep him company. Unfortunately we weren’t able to see David for his birthday as we had promised. I wrote him a card saying we’d see him as soon as possible.

Yesterday, Friday, we had a good time in the afternoon. We played Scrabble and Rummy at my place. Next week we are going to play at Irene’s place again. Peter had afternoon coffee with us. Marion who had an operation recently, is doing fine. Erika is overseas for the time being. So only three of us played instead of four. The ladies were very impressed that Peter had baked some apple turnovers for afternoon coffee. Isn’t he a dear! For Mothers’ Day he wants to bake a cheese cake.

P.S. Peter just pointed out to me that in English it’s called ‘dubbing’, when a new soundtrack is added to a film. In German it is called ‘synchronisation’. This film with French actors was actually a French/German co-production.
And there is something else I can add here: From 4 June – 20 July 2013 the SYDNEYTHEATRE.COM.AU is going to show a play called “THE MAIDS”. The housemaids are played by Cate Blanchett and French screen star ISABELLE HUPPERT. It says the housemaids fantasise about killing their mistress! You may recognise that ISABELLE HUPPERT is the actress who plays the daughter in the movie AMOUR.
Our daughter sees theater productions on a regular basis. Maybe we should ask her whether she would be interested in seeing ‘The Maids’ with us. Oh, what a bombshell!

DIARY

I think my poor husband has enough for a while of me always editing and uploading pictures for new blogs. I finally managed to put a stop to inserting pictures about our recent trips, the trips when we went about in this rental car. I am happy now that the task is finished even though it was great fun doing it. Writing about where we had been and what we had experienced is really good for refreshing memories. And to look at all the pictures really does help to remember more and more.

Yes, Peter for sure doesn’t like me to spend too much time with the computer. He always urges me to do something else. Ah well, I think we’ve been doing a few other things recently besides spending time with the computer. And for beginning of next week three more trips are planned: Two to Sydney and one to Warrawong. But more about this some other time.

Wishing now everyone a very good weekend!