Mothers and Daughters

Emily and I had a fun evening last night.  The Young Women's organization in our church did a special mother and daughter event.  We got massages, learned relaxation techniques and painted each other's finger nails.  I was too busy relaxing to take any pictures of the massages (and the great cookies that came after) :o)

Is my "little girl" taller than me now?

Emily is so talented!  Aren't these nails beautiful?

Ward Trunk-or-Treat

Here are some fun pics from our ward Trunk-or-Treat.  Along with the festivities of candy collecting outside (the weather was beautiful!), there was also a chili dinner complete with hot dogs, dinner rolls and veggie tray inside the Church building.

Welcome to our Trunk...would you like a treat?

A motley couple (to say the least!).

Handing out candy to the little darlings.

Dr. Who and a Jazz Musician.

In the Church parking lot...waiting for the goblins to appear.

My vote for cutest trunk decos.

My all-round favorite costumes...and they're home made!  Wow, now that is creative :o)

Isn't this the most darling costume?  Viva! Little Red Riding Hood!

My vote for the prettiest costume is the Spanish seniorita on the right.  (The witch is a good costume, too, though!)

Halloween Fun

The costumes are here!  Ivan dressed as Slenderman (he is a scary villain in some electronic game).  Emily dressed as Who?  Dr. Who, of course!  Emily went to a Halloween party with friends from school and Ivan and his friend here (the Scream) went to a school party.

Ivan posing with his friend from school.

Emily getting some fatherly help with her bow tie.

Authentic Dr. Who pose!

Be careful what kind of ID cards you carry.

Dr. Who zapping Slenderman....

Will the real Emily and Ivan step forward?

In full Dr. Who attire...including a sonic screwdriver and  banana in coat pockets!

Art Garden

Welcome to a small sampling of the Williams' art garden.  It is basically the stuff hanging on our walls.  I'm not sure anybody would particularly want to see what's hanging on our walls.  We do have a sort of weird mish-mash of things we've collected in various places over the years.

View at your own risk :o)

This watercolor was done by a Russian artist.

This is another picture from Russia.  At the time I was really taken with it.  I just wish I could remember what it says.

This interesting picture is a paper cut and ink illustration.  One of these days I want to talk about this artist and share more of his work on my blog....but not now (sorry).

Guess who?  Jay and I were enjoying a stroll one afternoon in Moscow when Jay asked a street artist to draw me.  At the time I was embarrassed by this drawing, but now - about 10 years later - I guess I can tolerate it.

Jerusalem Dinner

I will be the first to admit that I miss food from Jerusalem.  My family does, too.  So, I tried to recreate falafals, pita and hummus.  It is all from scratch, but it didn't taste as good as it does in Jerusalem.

Fahrting in Frankfurt Hinders Language Studies

I will try to make this brief (I don't want to bore you).  I 've noticed that as I'm driving or walking around Frankfurt (and in Germany at large) there is a lot of fahrting going on.  Yes, it is pronounced as you may imagine.  There are Aus Fahrts (out farts) and Ein Fahrts (in farts).  So, on the roads you are either in farting or out farting.  While this may seem crude to you...why? because you are an American!  Germans "fahrt" all the time.  They love fahrting.

This brings me to my next point.  Language.  I hear many people tell me that the German language is very difficult.  This may be absolutely true.  However, if you are an English speaking American there is an added hindrance.  It isn't just all the signs everywhere that say "fahrt" on them.  You would be surprised (I know I am) at just how many truly embarrassing words there are in the German language.  Now, when I say "embarrassing" what I mean is by all American cultural standards - we just don't say those kind of words (at least not out loud and definitely not in public).

I would never sit in my car and say "don't miss the fart."  This is not to belittle the wonderful German language.  They are a truly amazing people and so is their language.  Even if fart in German means something different than it does in English (which, of course, it does)...it still sounds the same.  Therefore, if you are particularly shy, you may not want to study German as your second language.  It will require you to say the word fart sometimes.

If this was the only culprit I think we could manage, but there is a long list of culprits.  And if you think I'm going to tell you what they are....you have something else coming.  I'm turning red just thinking about it.

As you may have guessed, Ausfahrt means "exit" and Einfahrt means "entrance."

Jet's Bootie Boogie

Good morning everyone!  The best way to begin your day (other than scripture study) is to take a walk in nature.

This morning I took Jet out on a "trial walk" with her new winter booties.  I got a good gut laugh watching her get used to them.  Oh, it was funny.  Anyway, she did get used to them.  So, we had a great walk this morning.  In fact, we walked a little longer than planned and it kind of threw my day off a bit.

Again, I'm posting pictures from our walk.  The lighting is a little different as it is later in the morning.  The light always makes the trees and surrounds so lovely.  Of course, you must see a picture of Jet in her new boots.  I suspect we may be starting a trend.  Other people out walking noticed her shoes.  One woman asked about them and I gave her the name of them so she could find them on the internet.

Ciao!  Ci vediamo!

The Magic Flute

We went to the opera last night.  We walked to the train station and rode the train to the opera house.  It was a nice evening.  The singing was beautiful and amazing.  The costumes were imaginative and clever.  What great ideas for Halloween ;o)  Ivan said it was the longest good experience he's ever had.

Here we are at the train station near our apartment.  The train will be here in 2 minutes.

More waiting for the train.  It's almost here.

At last, seated inside the opera house in Frankfurt.

This is what it looks like inside the opera house.

Morning Walk

Yesterday on my morning walk with Jet we stumbled on some beautiful walking paths not far from our apartment complex.  The leaves were changing and that made it even more amazing.

It is a good thing I took pictures this morning as I noticed that the yellow leaves were less dense and falling to the ground quickly.  There is an icy chill to the air.  It probably won't be long before Mr. Winter pays Frankfurt a visit and brings snow.

Tonight Jay, me, Emily and Ivan have tickets to go to the State Opera to see The Magic Flute.  We are very excited to go.  It will be the first "real" opera the children have gone to.  Stay tuned for news on that excursion....hopefully it will be good news :o)

The beginning of our walk into the forested area.  The stairs you see to the left go over a bridge that enters into another large park with oodles more walking paths.  We'll go there when Jet gets her winter shoes.  If we walk there her feet and fur get all muddy and gross.

Cute little bridges here and there going over ponds and streams.

The ducks (if you can see them - they're at the edge of the pond) are unusual looking and very loud and noisy!

Here are the ducks again.  They kind of look like a cross between a duck and a goose.

I couldn't resist taking picture of the morning sunlight on the trees.

A closer look at the tower.

Here we are back in our apartment complex heading home.  The stuff you see on the ground are chestnuts.  We have a lot of chestnut trees here (also walnut trees).  There are a few red squirrels that live in these trees and dine on the fruit of these trees.  One of these days I will capture a red-headed squirrel in a photo.  They are very fast and when Jet sees one she about has a heart attack trying to pull off the leash.

The Germans in neighboring apartment complexes come here to collect the yummy chestnuts to roast.

I don't know how anyone can pick chestnuts up.  Those spikes hurt! I've even had stray spikes get stuck in my foot when wearing sandals.  Not smart to wear sandals walking around fallen chestnuts. 

Little Brown Bunny

I have to share something funny with you.  Jay bought Jet some toys before we moved here.  One toy happened to be a soft little brown bunny.

Well, it looks almost identical to the wild brown bunnies that live in our complex.  It is probably startling to some people to enter our home and see a bunny lying there lifeless with our vicious hunter chewing on it (he he).  Enjoy the photos -