Harvey Travel Arts

So, Brian has uploaded a lot of our photos onto the new MacBook. If you don't already know the story, I'll share it now. Our PC laptop contracted a virus when we arrived in Germany. After a virtual lifetime of being PC users, and ONLY PC users, we have purchased a Mac and absolutely enjoy it! So much that we'll probably update our desktop once we have the money set aside to do so. Anyway, there is a bit of a learning curve. I have not yet figured out how to preview photos before posting them to the blog. I'm sure there's a way, and I'll get to it. In the meantime, please enjoy a photo number 1,000 from the England files, an antique bedroom of some palace or other. Ha.

This cute yard is ours. Our new yard while living in Germany. The first time we lived here, we didn't have a yard, but our outdoor space was a large deck on top of a building. This time around, we have a little green. It was overgrown when we got it, but the manual (yes, manual!) push mower and a little weed eater action took car of the mess. Now we have to start tending it; trimming back trees, taking out the dead ones, pulling weeds, planting... The list goes on and on. It's perfect for us. Funny, if we were living at home in the US, we'd want a large yard, privacy, etc. But somehow, having this petite, simple to care for yard is perfect for us here. It won't require a lot of upkeep, but we can still have a space to see God's creation and relax.

We have been in our new place almost a week, and yesterday the phone and internet were hooked up. This afternoon I'm going to try to get some photos to post. Anyway, Brian accidentally left his cell phone at the house this morning. The phone rang a little while ago, and a woman was on the line, speaking German (this is Germany, after all) asking for Herr Harvey. I told her (in English) that I'm Frau Harvey, Herr Harvey is at work. Then said, in German, "Sprechen Sie Englisch?" She hung up. I called Brian at work and gave him the number to call her back. Ahh. One of the fun things about living in a foreign country is trying to learn the language. I am a firm believer that one should make an effort to learn the language of the country you are living in, but I also know from experience that it's easier said than done. The learning by immersion that one hears about so many times is not as easy as it sounds. Despite the fact that we live on the economy (of...

We are moving into our new place tomorrow! We chose the three story town home. It is close to public transportation, so I can go everywhere I need to go. There's a garage and a parking spot, so if we wind up with two cars, we'll have a place to park. If not, there's plenty of room for visitors to park their cars there. I am thinking about planting a garden. I told my mom this and she kind of laughed at me. I don't know why? Maybe because I've never shown an interest in gardening before. She has always had beautiful flowers every year, and has even grown a few tomatoes here and there. But I've always been more of an arts & crafts person. Well, there are seeds, and we have a yard. Of course I don't know where to begin, but I'm sure someone around here can teach me. When we move in, we'll take photos. I'll post them as soon as possible, hopefully next week. We are supposed to get internet service on the 21st. I'm looking forwar...

Sorry, I don't have any photos yet. But, I have had an interesting day househunting here in the Heidelberg area. Brian and I looked at three properties today. The first was a townhome with garage. It has a beautiful yard that is large enough to entertain but small enough to mow in about 10 minutes. Lots of bright windows. There's even a loft space for me to paint from! The second reminded me of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," except in place of stone lions out front, there were Sphinxes. The interior was large and dramatic with lots of shiny finishes. Emphasis on the shiny. The living/dining room space made me think of ballroom dancing. The third was a sufficient space; clean and neat. Plain, but sufficient. However, the three flights of stairs, sans elevator (hey, we had one last time we were in Heidelberg!), and an extra flight within the unit was quite a lot for grocery lugging. Which one will we choose? One of these, or another still to come? I'll let...

Okay, I still don't have any photos, but those won't be available until we get settled in Germany. Until then, you'll have to settle for words. We have been enjoying our visits in Texas this week. Family and friends that we haven't seen for a while have welcomed us with open arms. We miss our loved ones and our home state; it's good to be home, even for a brief while. Brian and I went to get our Texas driver's licenses back! We are so excited to be able to call Texas "home" while we live in Germany. I know, how can we appreciate two different places so much? I think it's because we enjoy traveling and experiencing new things. Well friend, I hope to be in Germany the next time I post. Until then, auf wiedersehen!