Durch die Strassen auf und nieder, leuchten die Laternen wieder... ***Herbstunterhaltung im Deutschem Eck***

[MmeLindt]

Durch die Strassen auf und nieder
leuchten die Laternen wieder:
rote, gelbe, grüne, blaue,
Lieber Martin, komm und schaue!

Wie die Blumen in dem Garten
blühn Laternen aller Arten:
rote, gelbe, grüne, blaue,
Lieber Martin, komm und schaue!

Und wir gehen lange Strecken
mit Laternen an den Stecken
rote, gelbe, grüne, blaue,
Lieber Martin, komm und schaue!

*

It is that time of the year again. Check your lanterns, get enough batteries, start the Bastelaktion.

I was lured in by talk of Gingerbread.

No time to read and comment much, am off to Dublin this afternoon with DH.

Do you lot remember last year when I was having problems with DH? You all helped so much.

I was asleep the other night and felt a kiss, just at the side of my mouth. When I opened my eyes, DH had his eyes closed and looked asleep. I nudged him and asked if he had kissed me while I was asleep and he sheepishly admitted to it. It was soooo lovely, it gave me a warm feeling for days.
He is so loving and attentive now, much more so than he has been for ages.

So, I just wanted to say thankyou again for helping me talk through that time.

how lovely ML I'm really happy for you. I remember that time and I have wondered how things were panning out but I didn't want to quiz you about it on here. I think Dublin is a lovely town. I could quite happily live there I think. I'm sure you'll have a nice trip. Is it a business trip for dh and you're accompanying him?

Just popping in from the June 08 group to check up on Ernest - everything OK? and to report snow here in austria too, 1 metre up the mountain here with 2 ski lifts open this weekend - way too early!!!!!!!

What's with all the snow in October? We haven't had any yet, but I'm sure it won't be long. I've heard that if it snows now it's supposed to be a mild winter. We'll see.

Hope not Westvan - our business depends on it

OK, then let's all wish for lots of snow! The company my husband works for also makes a lot of its money with cold winters so he's like that too.

thanks zzzen - is it good? worth it?

ml - glad things going well.

deb - no, not really

must dash. house tip. scary baby sitter coming soon.

It was the only one in the shop ernest, which is why I bought it. It's ok, nothing special but you do still ahve to practice (or dd did). I'd take one times table a week, play the song (you hear it twice, once with all the words, the second time the answers are left out 4 x 6 is....., ). I think the idea is the second time the kids sing along adding the answers but dd never bothered with that.

After listening to it twice like that in the morning, I would get her to write that table down. I started with the more difficult ones - 6,7,8 and she never seems to forget those. 2x and 10x are straight forward, you don't really need to learn those much, 5 is pretty straight forward to and there are tricks for 9 (like in the answer columns one number is going up, the other down)

18
27
36

so that's no real problem if they can't remember them off by heart. It's just 3,4 and 6,7,8 you have to get the hang of and memorise really.

Worked ok but any song booklet thing would do the trick I think.

sorry ernest that was maybe a bit more detailed than you want.

Deb how's it going in Austria. I thought you were packing it in or am I mixing you up with someone else now? Is cinders (or whatever she is calling herself these days) still in Austria, do you know?

Westvan you have me curious now, wondering what business your dh is in.

Hi there, all. Thanks for the shove over here, Zzzen.

Had a good weekend away, was nice to do some shopping wihtout the kids moaning "are we finshed yet?" all the time.

Saying that, I did say that the next time we go we will take the kids as there was nothing much that we did that we couldn't have done with the DC.

We went to a really touristy tourist trap on Saturday, a dinner wiht show, Irish music and Riverdancey dancers. It was ok, but not particularly authentic.

Sunday morning we walked the length of Phoenix Park, into town and had the full Irish breakfast at Bewleys. Yum. We had certainly earned it, we walked for near 2 hours.

Off to do some shopping. My parents leave tomorrow so got to get some stuff in before they leave. The DC are off school this week and I hate doing the groceries shop wiht them. I always spend loads on shite cereals and sweets.

Will e-mail you Ernest

ZZen - yes our house is for sale, nearly had an offer last week but it's all gone quiet and really we're cutting it fine to move now before our 1st winter guests arrive. But we have decided to stay until the end of the school year anyway even if we sell then rent, as ds1 is in the 4th class and could finish Volkschule, also moving in the summer holidays would be much better.

how do you feel about the move Deb?

I suppose you couldn't hve gone out at night though so easily ML if the dc had been with you. A bit of time as a couple away from the dc is a good thing if you can wangle it. What did you buy in Dublin then?

ZZZenAgain - He's at the city works - electricity, natural gas etc. They love it when people turn up the heat.

Hi westvan, I got your email! Should we try for next week to meet up?

Might have found a flat so I could celebrate, not sure yet though bit of a strange story!

Off to do a mad tidy up, well more like stuffing things into our one little built in cupboard as a mum is coming round to collect some Arbeitsblätter for her dd who has been off ill.

My dd got her the work she missed and just arranged for the mum to come and get it so much for having a presentable state of tidyness at all times!

Hi admylin! Good news about the possible flat. Yeah, I think next week could be good. I'll try to clear my busy schedule.:-)

My house is definitely NOT presentable. Must work on that.

And typical - I just made a leek tarte at lunch time and the place still has an oniony smell to it! Where did I put my insence sticks....

Oh, sounds intriguing, Admylin. Hope you get the flat.

ZZzen
Typical Brit. I bought jeans, a tshirt and cords, and a winter jacket from M&S. I got the £10 jeans that a lot of MNetters have raved about, they are actually a really good fit.

Yes, we thought that about taking the kids. There were other kids at the show we went to. The dancers got some of them up to dance one of the songs with them. The DC must have been Irish though, as they picked it up so fast. Twas really sweet.

Mystery - always good IMO.

We went to a kind of folklore evening, sort of a barndance in Poland which I thought was brilliant but that might ahve been because the culture was so different - so I didn't pick up so much on it being corny etc. It was obviously geared to tourists mind. I suppose in Ireland , it was just so glaringly obvious to you though.

How did you like Dublin, was it your first trip there?

It was my first trip to Ireland, so it was interesting. I liked Dublin, such a busy city. Lots going on.

Am busy researching our next holiday, to south of France, Avignon or Aix en Provence area.

ooh sur le pont.....

I would like to go to places like Lithuania or Iceland, maybe Tibet (not that they are really that similar that you can group them like that...) but I can never get dh to go along with it. He says we're going somewhere with a bit of infrastructure thanks very much - and nice food.

Maybe in reality I am too old for that kind of backpacking off the beaten track but it is what attracts me.

ML - glad you had a good weekend in dublin - i've only been a couple of times but my sister lives there - she says its great if you're a tourist but silly expensive to live there!

zzen - like you're ideas of places to go on holiday but i'm with your dh - i like somewhere with infrastructure too!

Ernest - hope things are ok!

been a mad busy week here - IL's were here doind some serious garden work - the people who lived here before us obviously had an obsession with Rotenzia (?sp) - they were everywhere! but most gone now or moved around to other parts of the garden and some bulbs planted for spring!

also had to take dd to the orthodontist yesterday - she's only 8 but her 2 top front adult teeth are already pushing forward (despite never sucking her thumb and only having a dummy to sleep with until she was 2!). so she's to have a brace to wear at night already -she seems so young to start this! just need to wait to see how much the Krankenkasse will pay now! i still dont understand the whole health system here!

Cannella
I was shocked at the Dublin house prices, and that takes some doing as we are used to Geneva prices. A normal, boring semi-detached houses selling for over 1million euros.

Do you mean Rhodedenrons? I think people plant them as they are easy to take care of. I need to sort out the bed at the back of the house, no idea what to plant htere as it is under the balcony so gets little rain.

Cactus perhaps.

canella - both of my boys started with braces at about 8 since the orthodontist thought it was absolutely necessary. For our first son the Krankenkasse paid the whole thing in the end - they paid 80%, we paid 20% when we got a bill each quarter, and we got that back after the treatment was completed successfully. Then they changed the rules a bit and for our younger son we had to pay more because he had work done that the orthodontist felt was essential but the Krankenkasse considered 'cosmetic'. They're very picky these days and sometimes it can be a matter of millimetres between what they'll pay and what they won't.

Rotenzia? Do you perhaps mean Hortensie? Those are hydrangeas and yes, many Germans are mad about them.

Hi, just mega busy, kids in german school is a ft job. ds 1 got a 4 two weeks ago and was gutted. Then last week he got a 1+ and today another 1 so we're both v. pleased. I am so chuffed with him and for him. He told me about another boy in his class who burst into tears when he got his test result back He said he burst into tears when he got the one back last week too Poor kid. It really makes you sad that a little kid is so stressed out about thier work, and I wonder if he gets a hard time at home, or if he puts the pressure on himself or the system, or a mixture of all 3. poor little sod. I have to say, the german school couldn't be further removed from the experience of the IS. But they have made a huge amount of progress. I've come to the conclusion if a kid isn't very clever (not stupid but not very clever), hard working and fast, they are stuffed. Goodness knows how ds3 will cope (lazy little toe rag)

The boys have definitely earned their holiday - fly to UK on Saturday for a week in North East, from whence I hail - been almost a decade and 3 kids since I was last there. In fact, ds1 was the age dd is now when we went, just before we left UK in 2000.

Dd took her first steps at the weekend She's still only doing 1 or 2 a day, but here's hoping she's actally walking before she turns 2

canella, the krankenkasses systemis a mystery to me too, though not as bad as the CH one. Ds2 might need a brace, he was a thumb sucker, though he stopped the minute he lost his baby front teeth, so am pretty gutted this thumb sucking has affected his adult teeth even though he stopped sucking before they came through, so a warning there for parents of littly thumb suckers

Hope everyone's ok. Gosh, sorry this has been so long.