Of Sunshine and Walznudeln

We had a wonderful week of "it's-beginning-to-look-like-spring" weather. Not the April showers and gray skies spring, but the May flowers and sunshine spring. As mentioned before, when the only weather one experiences is walking from the car to work or the shop and back again, it may not feel so significant (believe me, I was one of those people for 15 years), but when walking, biking and public transport are your primary means of conveyance, you always have an eye out to the sky. So, for Delynn and I, the breaks of sunshine are a welcome change from the last winter's cold, wet grip. More rain will come, but the sun's touch feels so good on our skin.

This is a sunset in Lörrach-Stetten off of the balcony of our friends' home were we hold our weekly Life-Group. Lörrach incorporated this neighboring town of Stetten 100 years ago last week into the city itself and I hear some families from the former town of Stetten still hold a grudge. It seems like after 100 years you should just let it go. Lörrach also celebrated its Frühlingsfest (Spring Festival) this weekend. Delynn and I trammed over after church this afternoon to enjoy the sunshine and grab a wurst.

Have I mentioned that I really like that stores are closed on Sundays? Sure, it can be a pain when you didn't plan and run out of toilet paper at an inconvient time, but in general it is a nice change of pace. It forces us to slow down and enjoy the day of rest. I can see perhaps a little bit of the wisdom of God's directive.

So, apparently our family invented some new innovative type of noodles in the timeless past. They come in 8mm and 20mm widths. It feels so strange, but oddly comforting, to see our name on a package or a store (Baby-Walz is a chain of, well, baby clothing with stores throughout Germany). We have one just down the street and I don't even think about it much anymore.

Something also struck me this week about stores here in Germany that is so different than in the States. My local store ran out of coffee cream in the large (500ml) jar a couple of weeks ago. I like my morning German coffee with cream. Do you know that they still do not have any new stock? It simply is not anywhere to be found in the store. This would never happen at a Winco or Safeway - am I right? Another store in the neighborhood carries the product, so we can still get the coffee cream but it seems just so odd. When a product is sold out, the store clerks rearrange the remaining near-by stock items to cover the hole and they remove the shelf tag. You would never know that they even sold the product. This can go on for weeks before the product is replaced. Now, in all fairness, we DO go to the store much more often here than we would back in the US, so maybe we just never noticed it before but this has happened to more than one item that we purchase on a fairly regular basis.

Delynn and I took a quick trip Saturday to Liestal to see what it looks like during the day. Remember the fire parade (see 16. Feb 2008 blog entry) that took place down this street? It looks so normal now... Since we have a month-card for train/tram/bus travel, we like to make opportunites to take short explorations. As one walks around various towns and villages, you often come across memorials to folks with whom you have absolutely no frame of reference, but they have a nice flower arrangement, so why not take a picture? While I don't know who Herr Herwegh is, the townsfolk of Liestal must think enough of him to pay the gardener who provides this dazzling array of spring. (A quick google shows that Georg Herwegh was a 19th century poet who had to flee to the safe-haven of Switzerland)

As the rain showers turned to sunshine this week, the pre-school could not wait to get out to play. Here you can see most of our pre-school class prepared to go out and jump in puddles! What fun! These are the smiles that fuel our love for serving here in Germay. Each child is a precious gift from God and we see them as such. They are great fun and their smiles can melt your heart.

Have a blessed week. Love to all.