Papa’s Birthday

 … is in the beginning of the month and this year on a Sunday. You can imagine how happy we were when we heard that Nashville schools fall break was in the week after and Helen + William were planning to come for a visit. 

On Friday they left  very early to drive the whole way. Helen keeps us up-to-date with their progress. She texted this photo from Bristol which is about half-way.

More progress! This is the overlook on I-64 in the mountains before Charlottesville. Can't wait to see this handsome young man in person.

Helen wished for Flädlesuppe, a soup my mother used to make whenever I arrived in Germany after the long flight. I had not made in a while and was happy that she wanted it. It is definitely comfort food. 

The previous photo and the next where both taken by Helen. I had also made Zwetschgenkuchen. It is a cake made with fresh Italian plums. Don't forget the whipping cream. 

Saturday morning we had a nice breakfast. Of course it had to be soft-boiled eggs. 

William is used to our "family game": eat your egg carefully so not to break the shell too much. Put the shell upside down into the cup and offer it to somebody else because "you had eaten enough". If you are on the receiving end you know of course what it is but you pretent to be fooled. So silly but we always have fun with it.

Saturday lunch? Beef rolls, red cabbage and potato dumplings, of course with lots of wonderful gravy. I always have trouble finding the right cut of meat but sometimes it is kind of close and I try my best. James agrees that it is one of the favorite recipes. 

After lunch we had a soccer game to go to. How could I have forgotten to take a photo? Well, it was a very close game and Caleb is the goaly for the team. He even goes to special goal keeper training to get better.

And after that Helen and William went to "the cousins' house" to spend the night. Any time for the cousins to spend together is precious. Since they don't have a fall break it is a bit more difficult to arrange.

Sunday - Papa's birthday! The whole family was in church. Caleb, Colin and Owen are familiar with our services and I think, quite enjoy the children's sermon and sunday school during the sermon part. William went out with them but I directed him to Dan and Thomas in the parish hall which was more age-appropriate for him. Over the years since covid Dan has developed a quite sophisticated streamed service for our small congregation. I think William loved seeing how it all works and Dan even let him do a few things. And they talked "youtube shop" for a while. 

This was later after service at the coffeehour. 

And then the 9 of us went to eat lunch at a Mexican restaurant. 

When I booked it I must have mentioned why and after the meal the servers came to sing. 

Back to our house for dessert. Caleb had made a birthday cookie with his mother. 

It was a very nice day with blue sky and a few white puffy clouds. And we even heard some music. Around the corner from us was a "garage concert". Neighbors are always invited (I remembered reading about it) so we walked over. 

And wouldn't you know it: the back drop was the famous corner in Rothenburg ob der Tauber where we all had been just a few months ago in Germany. 

We played the "left, center, right" game.

And Caleb tried the mancala game with William.

James said more than once that he had had a wonderful birthday!

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PS: William had picked out most of the photos. We wanted to write the blog together and I had very much looked forward to that. Somehow though we could never find the time to do it ... and then he was gone.

I hope we can do one at the next visit.