Oh, Christmas tree...

Can you believe this?! It is Christmas time again!

I have the feeling that my mother-in-law is right: the years are flying by as older you get... And the Christmas shopping seems never to end. Each time I think I got everything I find something new. At least the Christmas tree is up and decorated, so is the whole house.

Now, I need (no, I want) to bake cookies with Jakob and practice a few Christmas songs on piano. "Have yourself a merry little Christmas now...". Yeah!

Ps. Let us hope for some snow without losing power for six days like in October (Snowstorm in October!). The generator we actually ordered is sold out until March...

Summer and other catastrophes...

The summer is almost over. Thank God! Enough excitement for a year!

Let me think about August... first we had the earthquake, then came Hurricane Irene. We lost power for four days, our basement was over flooded and fallen trees blocked our road. After Irene the tropical storm arrived and our septic system in the back yard could not handle all the water anymore... Fun, fun, fun.

Oh yeah, and then my in-laws arrive. Just joking, that actually was nice. After three weeks they are back in Germany now.

And school started already. And we try to recover... And I am happy about the beginning of the fall, a quiet and peaceful time...let us hope!

Our favorite place is gone...

Borders is going out of business!!

I am shocked!!

Is nobody reading books anymore??

It was always my favorite thing to have my latte (with a scone!) in the book store cafe (at least twice a week), to read European magazines and check the new books. Never left the store without buying one. And now, it is gone...that what I discovered coming back from vacation! Very, very sad about it...

Ps. My son loved it too!

In the Highlands of Cape Breton

Did you ever see a moose? No??

We did!! Just yesterday. It was eating the leaves next to the road.

And that' s not all. We even saw a whale (at least the tail...) from the window of our lodge.

The wildlife here and the landscape are just breath taking!! "Here" means: in Nova Scotia, in the Highlands of Cape Breton National Park.

Everything very scottish here, including the weather (cozy 56 degree yesterday, but 80 today). The only thing I do not like here are the coyote warnings, but we survived our hikes. And if you are standing on top of the hike trail and have the amazing view of the

Cabot Trail and the ocean a you forget the coyotes...and everything else.

Ps. Did I mention the traffic here? You can almost not handle it...but you can count the cars you see while driving the whole day. Just use your fingers.

With Will and Kate on PEI!

Here I am! Together with Will and Kate on Prince Edward Island!

Just joking...thank God!

But they stayed in in our hotel few days ago before we arrived.

They are in the USA now (or did they already leave??), while we are visiting Canada.

After two days in the beautiful (but very crowded) old town of Quebec City we are enjoying the loneliness of the island.

Love the small villages along the coast!!

And you can bike almost everywhere here!!

And eat tons of lobster!! (and mussels!)

And walk on endless beaches, of course!

Addicted

How far is too far to get a coffee? A real good coffee.

No, we are not on vacation in North Carolina anymore but the coffee problem is still the same. If you are a coffee drinker (like me) and do not live in New York City (but in New Jersey) you find yourself in a coffee desert. The next Starbucks is a 20 minute car drive away. I do not talk about a nice cafe with real coffee mugs. I gave up this kind of illusions long ago. Just Starbucks. Or Seattle coffee. This one you get at Borders, my absolute favorite place,

20 minutes away, of course.

Yeah, books and coffee - worth a long way to go...or drive.

We celebrate a special anniversary today: 5 (happy!) years in the USA! Can not believe this! Was not the plan to stay for just two years? How the time flies by...