Life in the 'hood

I've made mention about the neighborhood I live in, and this week has brought it all home again.

Yesterday I was on my way home from the gym and the state store (doesn't everyone stop for liquor after a workout?), and I wondered what the hell was going on now, because the road that goes past our apartment was totally backed up.

Customers at the hole in the wall bar (that dares to call itself a pub) up the street from us, had spilled out on the sidewalk and were all staring up the street. Porches that are normally empty all year long, were full of their house's inhabitants.

"Great! A wreck, just what I need (I'm now a hard hearted Big City dweller)!"

And then I saw a police car pulled up on the sidewalk.

Then another police car.

Holy shit! There were police cars all over the place (I counted eight) and they were parked across every driveway entrance including ours and what the hell had Hans done now?

I slowed to a stop and not one person behind me honked their horn.

Everyone was that mesmerized.

I finally pulled over and parallel parked across the street. My heart slowed down a bit when I realized that our apartment (and Vet Tech Girl's apartment, below) didn't appear to be the center of activity. I saw policemen with guns drawn, walking around a junky apartment house just up from us. From the looks of things I'd say they were searching for someone and all I could think was; if that certain someone had broken into Vet Tech Girl's apartment, he was probably sitting on the couch and sharing bon-bons with my grand-dog Duncan the Pit Bull.

I managed to lug my sweaty body, and my many bottles of liquor across the street without getting caught in any crossfire, and burst into our apartment breathless with excitement.

I made Hans, who had been slaving away at the computer (Internet poker) and hadn't heard a thing, look out the window but by then most of the police cars were gone.

Then tonight we walked out of the apartment and there sat three police cars, and once again the police were circling the building up the street, only now they had a police dog with them. But shortly thereafter they left.

I very excitedly filled Vet Tech Girl in on the situation and she (like Hans) had no idea this was going on around us. I was telling her to please be careful and keep an eye out because I don't think the culprit has been caught. We then veered off that subject and onto her car (now fixed thank God), her need for a couch (I have one at my house that she can have), and then she said, "My friends love my purse! I even had a man say, 'I love your bag!' and another one of my co-workers loves it but she wants one that she can wear across her chest."

To be honest folks, I thought she'd either thrown it out or given it away. And it just made my day to see her hold it up and tell me how, because of its color, it's a great fall purse and she's loving it.

I think you have to be a parent to understand that your kid's approval sometimes takes precedence over prowling criminals and gun toting policemen!

Sometimes I actually sew, you know!

While we were in Germany this month we found much to our delight that Hans' distant cousin HAS A WINERY!!!!

Oh happy day!



Here is Hans standing in the door to their business. They've been making wine for years but now that the 'Sohn' (our age) in the Werner & Sohn has taken over there's a bit of concern because you see, he only has daughters and they have no desire to continue the family tradition.

I just hope that the Sohn is around for a long time!

Cousin Marianna treated us to a wine tasting at the family home and I surprised myself when I discovered I absolutely loved one of their sweet wines. Normally they make me shudder but I couldn't get enough of theirs. In addition to the many wines, very expertly described by the owners, we had freshly baked bread from their kiln, elk pepperoni, and an assortment of cheeses.

Toward the end of the evening Bernard brought out an unmarked bottle which I learned he'd pulled from their 1976 stock and apparently it had been a very good year.

I think it was too.

Anyway we ended up ordering a case of assorted wines to be sent to us here in the states and I'm anxious for its arrival.

And as for a true test as to how good their wine was; I woke up headache free the next day.







All the greenery you see here are vineyards.

Actually Germany has many fine wines, they're just not that well known in our area.

Hans says that's because they keep all the good stuff to themselves!












This is Trittenheim, and Baby Brother has an oil painting of that little yellow church before the town grew up around it. Cousin Bernard drove us to the top of a lookout so we could get pictures of the valley.

I wish I had a better camera.

















Here are just a few of the bottles we sampled.

I tried to transfer this picture onto photo transfer fabric (purchased from Nicole Mallalieu) and I think I need to monkey around with my printer settings. It worked; it's just a little washed out (see next picture).














I then sewed the finished transfer to the front pocket of my Passport Purse.

I didn't put Velcro at the top of this pocket because I didn't want to stitch into the picture.




















A close up.

You can see that it's slightly grainy.


























Here's the back. Instead of another outer pocket, I added a more secure zipper pocket.
























I also made an adjustable shoulder strap.

I couldn't find small tri-slides so I substituted a vest buckle.

















The zippered gusset at the top of the bag.

















And I used one of the Werner wine corks as my zipper pull. As a thank you for showing us such a wonderful time, I'm going to send this particular bag to Bernard's wife. She's the tasting expert of the company.

On our next trip to Germany we hope to find relatives who own a brewery!