We could have died!

We've had such nice weather that we decided we'd go out today and clear out the vegetable beds that we built last year. First of all, we needed to rip out and throw away all the carrots that were still there. It was kind of a waste. They just rotted.

Next we mixed in compost and fertilizer with the old dirt. For that you need a pitchfork, which Gina helpfully agreed to fetch from under the crawlspace. Even though it gives her the major heeby jeebies to go under there.

Well just look at what was lurking there in the hollow handle of the pitchfork. A deathly dangerous black widow spider who was waiting there to bite us at the first sign of spring. Smart Thomas, he looked inside the handle before he grabbed hold of it and saw the spider there. Otherwise he would have been attacked for sure. He poked it out of our pitchfork with a stick and took pictures of it before squirting it with spider spray. Then, we went back to work. We divided our beds into square-foot sections to cram a lot of plants in (kind of like this) and Thomas' reed thread works perfectly for the job. These chives here look like they survived the winter.

We planted seeds for radishes, snap peas, beets, rainbow chard, broccoli, and carrots.

We also planted baby lettuce seedlings. Just one more month until we can put everything else out!

Gina's best chicken

Most of you probably already cook chicken this way, but Gina just learned and has to share! You need a crock pot (good luck finding one as pretty as this one, though...).Take a 4-5 pound chicken and rinse it out and throw away the bag of guts. Pat it dry and sprinkle it with salt, pepper, and paprika. Chop an onion and put it in the crock pot. Then stuff the chicken in (ours is a tight fit) and pour in a 1/2 can of chicken broth. Cover and cook on high for a few hours. Halfway through, flip the chicken over so the white meat is facing down, in all the juice.
That's our little guy waiting to be dinner. He's ready when he starts to fall apart. Yum!

Relevents Germany Trip - Day 3

While two from the group took the train to an early instrument maker near Lake Constance to purchase a baroque flute, the other four of us hopped on a train to Stuttgart. It turned out to be a very sad day for Germany as there was a school shooting killing 16 people near Stuttgart. We were not aware of this though until we got home after a fun day visiting museums and shopping.
First up was the new Porsche Museum that just opened in January. Following are just a few pictures of the 80 some Porsches on display (it was hard for me to narrow it down).

Porsche fire truck (1912)

Ferdinand Porsche designed the VW Beetle in 1934

a couple of old race cars (1924 & 1947)

Porsche 356 A 1600 S Coupe (1956)

Porsche 356 A 1600 S Speedster (1958)

Porsche tractor (1959)

Porsche 911 2.0 Coupe (1964)

Porsche 956 C 1600 SC Cabriolet (1964)Era 917 (1969-1970)
Porsche 911 S 2.2 Targa (1970)

Porsche 911 Turbo 3.0 Coupe (1976)

Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2 Cabriolet (1985)

Porsche 944 Turbo Cup "Pinky" (1987)

Porsche 968 Cabriolet (1995)

Porsche 928 GTS (1995)

Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe "Polizei" (1996)

Porsche 911 GT1 (1997)

Porsche Carrera GT (2003)

Porsche RS Spyder (2008)

Porsche 911 Carrera S Cabriolet (2008)

Porsche on the ceiling

cross-cut of a Porsche

After the Porsche Museum we visited the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, a wonderful art gallery. The gallery contains art from the 14th century to the present. Among the artists represented there are Rembrandt, Rubens, Manet, Renoir, Monet, Cezanne, Gaugin, Matisse, Kandinsky, Dali, Picasso, Pollock, Warhol. Leaving the museum was the only time we saw a blue sky and the sun during the entire trip. After a pit stop at a cafe and a little bit of shopping it was time to head back to Aalen.

Relevents Germany Trip - Day 2

One of the most beautiful places to visit in Germany is the castle Neuschwanstein. It is located at the foot of the Alps which makes for a scenic drive.Once we arrived and parked at the foot of the hill upon which the castle sits we had lunch at a lovely restaurant - I ordered Kaesespaetzle. Then we climbed the 'mountain' through thick snow. At the top we were given a tour of the castle's few finished rooms, including living quarters and a throne room. The elaborate decorations throughout the castle were inspired by Wagnerian operas. This was particularly interesting to us as musicians.Before heading home we decided to take a quick detour across the border into Austria. On our way there we saw a couple of swans swimming in the water - how perfect.

Relevents Germany Trip - Day 1

After being picked up in Frankfurt by my dad we arrived in Aalen and enjoyed a wonderful meal prepared for us by my mom - featuring Maultaschen. Then we decided to head downtown Aalen to see the sights and do some shopping. This photo of Aalen was taken off the Protestant City Church 'St. Nikolaus' which dates back to the 14th century.
The city of Aalen has a long standing tradition of 'city pipers' and 'tower blowers,' originally a guild of musicians responsible for all the music making at the church and for the city. To this day it is custom that weekdays at 6pm and saturdays at noon a group of brass players climbs up the tower and plays a hymn off all four sides of the 'City Church' tower. While waiting to hear them play some members of our quintet introduced themselves to the brass players waiting at the bottom of the tower. They were such a nice group of guys, they invited us to climb up the tower with them. The highlight was Luke (our horn player Mary's husband and trumpet player) getting to join in with them.

50 packages of candy

Thomas is home from Germany! His quintet tour was a huge success and he'll post more about it later. For now, here's a little taste of what he brought home.

We're not worried about getting fat from eating it all because Thomas says German candy is good for you and it doesn't make your butt get big.

Bug

Ugh! Thomas took this picture of a bug on our ceiling and Gina was hoping he wouldn't post it. Do you like this picture?

Gina and her Ma drive home

We had such a wonderful time with Katrina, Steve, and Isabella. We don't get to see each other very often so it was really nice to spend a few days with them. Here we are in our matching shirts.

Poor sweet Stella the airedale got very sick while we were visiting and had to spend the night at the emergency vet. She's feeling much better now.

We were so sad to leave Canada. So we stopped at the outlets in Pennsylvania to cheer ourselves up. Gina obtained some very nice things including a green dress and some orange shoes here:
What a long drive! It was interesting to see the trees and grass get greener as we drove farther south. Maybe it will be spring in Greensboro. Right now it's cold and rainy in Charlottesville. Afton mountain was foggy.
Gina's looking forward to returning to Greensboro tomorrow with the dogs (who stayed home and got spoiled all week by her daddy) - can't wait to hear all about Thomas' trip to Germany!