tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47295104537832550162024-03-13T07:16:05.580-07:00Life is a Roller CoasterShort Stories of my interesting life, randomly told by this elderly woman. You have to be patient when waiting for the "next story" because my life is still very active and exciting. Time for blogging?? Na....I steal that time once in a while.....If you want to peruse the postings in chronological order, keep in mind that the newest post is also the newest in time. Use the Archive buttons on the right side. I started this blog in 2012. Thanks for visiting!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729510453783255016.post-10334366261521930132020-01-26T07:34:00.000-08:002020-01-28T16:26:50.490-08:00My husband died on Christmas Day 2019This post is very hard for me to do - understandable - having been married almost 63 years.<br />
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People say when a spouse dies, half of them is taken away with him/her. My resolve is living the rest of my life as full as I will be able to, with wonderful memories popping up all the time.<br />
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Living alone now in our big Recreational Vehicle, in my case a so-called Fifth Wheel, has some challenges for me, but by observing most chores Dieter had to do, I can do things around the trailer, which are physically possible for me to manage. The ones affording heavy lifting will have me asking my wonderful neighbors in this resort to help me. And they did already and will do in the future.<br />
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My hubby was diagnosed with a potentially fatal blood sickness in 2004, when we were parked in southern Arizona. This rare "blood cancer" means having sticky platelets in the blood, which eventually can render all inner organs useless. In his case his kidneys were involved. The name is "Systemic Primary Amyloidosis". The oncologists in 2004 were fearing, he would lose his kidney functions very soon. We sold our lot in Florence, AZ and were driving to Florida to seek second opinion. The oncologist in Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa confirmed the diagnosis and wanted to administer the third chemo treatment. There is no established treatment for that sickness, it is all trial and error. Dieter rejected it. Oncologist: "Then you will die". Dieter: "OK. then I die".<br />
That was the time I sprang into action with my interest in alternative medicine and searched the internet. I fed him all known foods to boost his Immune System, beginning with Bee Pollen and countless other more or less expensive foods, which is always first defense, or in his case: weapon. And I found out, that Turmeric/Curcumin i.e. in India is consumed in high quantity every day, this results in very low counts of Alzheimer's patients (this sickness is also about sticky platelets in the brain).So I ordered that - and Dieter was feeling and being better and better. It came to the point, that blood panels did not give the hint anymore about his sickness. He was as strong as ever, cleaned the roof of our trailer himself - and we were host campers at BLM lands in northern California, in Susanville, twice. A third time we served both in Island RV Resort in Port Aransas, Texas, for an entire year. Dieter worked outside, guiding campers in and out, dispensing Propane, holding up the Recreation Hall and cleaning facilities. And I was working in the office like crazy, doing Telefone, bookings and releasings via computer, talking to residents, selling equipment, working with money at the bank, also with the cash mashine and credit card reader - the list goes on. This is one of the most famous fishing resorts in the south, on North Padre Island. On Holiday weekends we had to deal with about 60+ trailers coming in in one single day. Then we got help - Dieter had some hosts working with him and I had the manager working with me, doing the phone all day.<br />
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Overall, life was normal for us. But over time his age came into play - I guess - his strength was deteriorating slowly. It started in earnest in 2018, when we were moving into Zephyr Palms RV Resort, were we wanted to live permanently, because campers give up to drive around, when hooking up to the pick-up and disconnecting and re-connecting and all the setup becomes difficult to do.<br />
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In February 2019 I had to call 911 the first time, of many to follow. He lost his kidney functions then - 15 years later than predicted. He had to get hemodialyses 3 times per week, and he had a couple of surgeries connected to that, and he had an aortic heart valve replacement in Tampa on top of that all. He lost his strength completely in hospital beds and stroke centers and on dialyses chairs.<br />
This is a very short version of all these events. In my website it is written a bit more extensive:<a href="https://karinbartschwhitehair.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Home is where we park our RV</a><br />
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Usually I post some pictures within the posts, but you will find him in all my writings somewhere.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> I love you forever, mein Schaetzchen !!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729510453783255016.post-89855905499439178022018-06-09T08:00:00.000-07:002019-12-25T08:42:28.036-08:00Karin - the Author of "Childhood Memories....surviving World War II"At the end of World War II in 1945 in Germany my age was 9,5 years old. What I remembered from my experiences, I wrote down at the age of 72 - finally. My life was forever changed and made me the person I am today.<br />
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Please, open the following link - a page of my website, to read reviews, the history about my German homeland East Prussia and all the info you need, should you concider buying the book or downloading it as an e-book. I thank you in advance for showing interest.<br />
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<a href="http://karinbartsch.weebly.com/karin-the-author.html" target="_blank">https://karinbartsch.weebly.com/karin-the-author.html</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729510453783255016.post-87476189281477575602018-03-30T17:30:00.001-07:002018-06-08T19:29:22.344-07:00Retiring from traveling in FloridaOn May 15th 2015 we booked a lot in Breezy Oaks RV Resort in Bushnell for an infinite time. We were already familiar with the layout of the city of Bushnell and we knew what the climate in summers would be like. And we liked the lot, it had a big lawn, which we did not have to maintain. Our neighbors were very friendly...all was good.<br />
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........Until we received bad news. One month later I was diagnosed with breast cancer, which I discovered myself. We were driving long distances to the next city with a bigger hospital. All the diagnostic tests, the double mastectomy, check-up appointments etc. let us be on the road a lot. Our truck is an old one with "guzzling" more gasoline as we would like. My hubby Dieter had also to drive to Inverness, a yearly check-up brought up the possibility of beginning lung cancer. Wow. We managed that commuting back and forth also and were releaved to learn that it was just a lung nodule which should be under surveillance.<br />
The long drives from Bushnell to everywhere we had to go, even to shop, let us think to change location again. I was thinking of moving to Inverness, but Dieter came up with another one.<br />
He suggested Zephyrhills, just about 45 miles south of Bushnell via SR 301. "You remember that every location we ever need to visit is just around 2 or 3 corners there?" I am not so good in remembering these things, but he is a master with locations...<br />
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We have been in Magnolia Trace RV Park in Zephyrhills winter saison 2012/13. We remembered the 2 owners fondly and I started research and messaging. We were welcomed back with enthusiasm and moved in here on May 1st in 2017. Of course, it was a little work to change address again, Drivers Licences, Doctors and Hospital.<br />
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We feel good now, physically and mentally. This place is a subtropical paradise, privately owned and operated, has only 30 lots, which are big - and the park is overall nice and quiet. It is imbedded in a forest with big old oaks, which protected our long Fifth Wheel while Hurricane Irma was raging over Florida in Sept. 2017. Strong winds - normal for this region - do not bother us for the same reason. Dieter rakes the big amounts of oak leaves when necessary..and washes the entire trailer, roof and all...And he built the wooden deck in front of our trailer..my man needs something to do once in a while. When he reveals his age of 85 years to others, they cannot believe it.<br />
Campers have nothing do do??? Hahaha !!!!!<br />
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I post some pictures I have so far from this place since May 2017. More are to follow in the future.<br />
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<b>June 2018 - Address change ! Retiring comes in several stages...hopefully this is the last ! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</b><br />
Having lived one year in Magnolia Trace RV Park, Dieter realized that maintaining our unit takes too much of his strength. We want to upkeep the good look of our trailer and most of all keep it functioning very well. He had too much oak leaves to remove from the roof several times during the year and had to remove those brown tough stains and run-offs and the process of washing the roof was a full day event. Just too much for an 85 -year old....not to mention fixing leakages at the seams of the rubber roof.<br />
During our active travels we made sure to get a lot without trees overhead. We just tried the opposite in Magnolia Trace and loved it. But then ratio had to take priority over emotions. Dieter mentioned one day end of May that we should move. I went into the internet and searched another RV Park in Zephyrhills. I found one with the price matching about 6 miles away. It had a lot open we like - the next big oak tree is about 50' away on the opposite site of our park street, the concrete pad in front of our entrance area is even and clean and has just the right size. No need anymore for a wooden deck. Our neighbor on the former park was glad he could use it for his lot. Both neighbors - left and right - were not happy about our leaving, but they wished us well.<br />
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We moved on June 1st. with our long trailer hooked onto the truckbed, the second day we hauled big items, like Grill, big Flower bowl, buckets etc., the third day Dieter removed the 8x2's lumber from the soil, cleaned it and loaded it onto the truck, next to the rest of our outdoor stuff, like chairs.and small tables and the wooden steps Dieter had built.. On the 4st day Dieter hooked up the trailer again, drove it a little forward to place the wooden boards under the 6 wheels to stabilize the unit and pushed it back into the old place. We were finished with setting up the most important stuff - and we were re-connected with our our internet network. That sounds simple but in no way describes the work outside and inside the trailer....That all was very tiring - -and we sincerely hope that this place will be our last one. Our lot is # 61 in this place: <a href="http://www.zephyrpalmsrvpark.com/" target="_blank">http://www.zephyrpalmsrvpark.com</a> <br />
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Shopping is just a view miles longer than before. Zephyrhills is the right city to reach every location you want just around some corners.....<br />
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Here are some pictures ( most campers are snowbirds, meaning being in the North during the summer months)....that explains the empty lots.<br />
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<b><br /></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729510453783255016.post-61450771420026365192014-02-11T14:23:00.000-08:002019-06-01T19:31:53.664-07:00We are full-time Campers since July 2000<br />
Before I start to write about "living on the road", I start by showing you a copy of an USA Map.<br />
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Our traveling times will come to an end in the nearer future, we are getting too old to do all the necessary work in connection with breaking camp and setting up again. And driving such a long unit on Highways is no picnic either.<br />
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All the major US Highways and State Roads driven are highlighted in green. The small roads taken to sightseeing spots or simply to shop are not to be seen here...and so many of the highways shown were driven several times....<br />
We have driven 72,000 Miles by changing locations since summer 2000.<br />
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You might be able to imagine what we have seen.<br />
And the climate changes were sometimes pretty drastic. One day you wear a coat, mittens and a hat, and the next day you sit outside in a tanktop.<br />
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<b>The United States of America have incredible landscapes, including Alaska.</b><br />
<b>The Canadian Provinces and Territories are beautiful, too, especially British Columbia. </b><br />
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Some campers still have a house, or count a property of their children their home or have a storage shed somewhere. We have none of that, what we own is in the trailer.<br />
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I must admit, it was hard to leave some things behind I never imagined I could....<br />
...like most of my books, my German Knitting and Crafts Magazines ( I kept 4 from about 100...), all my Crystal glasses, bowls and Vases and my Dinnerware ( most of it I got at anniversaries, my collection of over 40 Kodak 1000-Pieces Puzzles, and most of my clothing which I concidered "Must-have" and now never would wear as a camper.<br />
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We had so many Photo Albums, I did not even count them. It was hard work to take all the pictures out and sort them into 3 Photo Boxes ( size of shoe boxes) after having discarded about half.....<br />
Other things were: all the equipment of my Gym, the biggest of it the treadmill.<br />
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We did not start this adventure of ours at the whim of a moment....<br />
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We were campers already in Germany and made vacations in Holland, Austria and Norway with our campertrailer.<br />
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When we lived here in the USA for a while, we bought a 19' Shasta Camper Trailer to drive to Myrtle Beach (S.C.) and Panama City Beach (FL) and Homosassa Springs (FL) to enjoy our vacations in the warmth of the south.<br />
Over the next years we exchanged our first trailer against bigger ones every time we made a deal.<br />
We liked it so much, that an idea began to form - especially after so many harsh snow-rich winters and having so much work to do overall to maintain our park-like property. Dieter was talking about selling our property and traveling full-time. At first I said NO WAY! But over time this stance got weaker and weaker, because the memories of our sightseeings so far really were winning about all questions we asked ourselves about it.<br />
We knew that we would have to sell our property at one point, when old age sets in....So we said: Why not now??<br />
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After I had my mind set on the open road, it was easy to load just bare necesseties aboard our newest Fifth Wheel, a 34' SHASTA Phoenix. We just had sold our property after having it 3 years on the market...It was too big for most folks, but finally a family with 12 kids bought it....for only the money we had put into it in form of materials.<br />
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Some of it we used to buy camping memberships. Without those our nightly fees for 365 days per year would have emptied out our wallet in a short time. And over the years these normal camping fees got more expensive. If anyone of my readers conciders this lifestyle, please, buy memberships in case you are not THAT rich. If you have any questions about it, you can contact me - either in my website using the mail icon or via message in facebook (Karin Herrmann Bartsch).<br />
Of course, you have to concider fuel, new tires, repairs etc, but having a house affords money also.<br />
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What about the doctors - you ask? It is best to have insurances which allow to visit doctors in any of the states in the US. It would be a mighty hassle in case of a sickness to drive to the home state of that insurance and would be most likely impossible. We have Medicare as our first insurance and a Medigap insurance which picks up the 20% and Medicare Deductable. It is a big chunk of money, but insurances stay on top of all our lists. This means having no money left to eat in restaurants or visits shows or pay extensive entrance fees anywhere. But that is fine....We enjoy landscapes in the big Outdoors. Sitting outside and enjoying ourselves or sitting inside the Fifth Wheel, which has big windows all around, and feeling really at home in that wonderful layout, is all we care about.<br />
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When our Shasta Phoenix gave us trouble, we exchanged it for a Winnebago Sun Cruiser, as you can see in the pictures. After having driven extensively in that motorhome without slide-outs, we wanted more living space and exchanged it in 2007 for this one we still have, an Alfa Gold -40' with 3 slide-outs. It feels like living in a small house, the layout is phantastic....<br />
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Update in June 2019: This Blog is hosted by Google and so were the travel pictures in albums by the years. Last year Google+ deleted all personal accounts. But do not worry. The most important you will see when you click on the links of my 2 websites<br />
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With the motorhome we drove to Alaska - via Montana, British Columbia and so forth, and we returned on the Canadian Highway 1 all the way east to Manitoba, to Winnipeg and re-entered the States in North Dakota.<br />
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<a href="http://alaskatour2003.weebly.com/">Alaska Tour 2003</a> You will find over 200 pictures of that tour within that website.<br />
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In my personal website I have a page which shows you in chronological order where we were parked and when.<br />
So when you open up an album to see pictures, you have the direction we had taken and were the pics were done:<br />
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<a href="http://karinbartsch.weebly.com/">Home is....where we park our RV</a><br />
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Please, keep in mind, that sometimes circumstances did not allow to take pictures. First 2 years I took them with an analog camera and scanned them later.<br />
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<b>I hope that you enjoy the pictures !</b><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729510453783255016.post-83393217594921228532014-01-26T08:59:00.000-08:002014-07-01T11:55:37.832-07:00Moving into a New WorldAs I had mentioned in my last blog, we were ready to live in the USA.<br />
Dieter's parents and his 2 brothers were living here already since 1953. As you might have read in one posting, Dieter had to go with them, but he returned to me, to Germany, at Christmas the same year....<br />
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We arrived at JFK Airport in New York on July 3rd., 1984.<br />
Dieter's parents picked us up. At that time they lived in New Jersey. Dieter's father took the following picture of us when we had cleared the customs.<br />
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The following day, on Independent Day, we bought a Dodge Caravan....it had a big cargo capacity which later came handy to serve us when we built our home in Greeley, Pennsylvania.<br />
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I have scanned over 60 pictures of our property, a very small portions of all the pictures we have.. Before I even start I will post one to keep your interest. It is taken near the driveway entrance. If you see later more detailed pics, you will wonder why we exchanged our beautiful property for the open road. Our relatives still think we were - and we might still be - crazy!! But our life as camper full-timers will be another post at another time.....<br />
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In the beginning we lived directly next to the Delaware River in a cabin built and owned by Dieter's younger brother. It was a very simple way of living for 3 months without electricity or running water, but it was in beautiful surroundings and we were thankful to have a roof over our head and nice beds to sleep in, and we could cook our own meals. Dieter started to work right away to build up a general construction business for his brother, together with his nephew and a friend of him. In the beginning the jump from the metric system to the inch/foot system was a slight hurdle which Dieter overcame very quickly. Having worked in Germany the last years from behind the desk and supervising huge building sites and now hammering away and working with his hands again was a painful process. His muscles were building up and were hurting....<br />
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During those 3 months we bought a property on the same road, Market Road, where Dieter's brother already had a house while he was still working in New Jersey. His wife and kids were already living in Pennsylvania. The newly aquired land was a piece of forest of Oaks, Red Maples, Pines, Hemlocks, Sassafras, Mountain Laurels and tall Blueberry bushes. And it had stones, huge stones under the surface, over the surface - big boulders....leftovers from the last ice age rims....<br />
In October 1984 we could move into a small apartment in Greeley, we would have been totally stuck at the riverside in all the snow and ice.<br />
Dieter bought a chainsaw and started to fell trees to make room for the house - in the center of the property of almost 2 acres. The area for the long driveway had to be cleared and for the septic mount also....<br />
Many of you have similar experiences while establishing a property, but I will post some pictures how it all started. We also found out that we had a couple of springs sending steady trickles of water downhill which made parts of the building site pretty soggy. Later on Dieter built all kinds of ditches, partially covered, and a little pond in the front to catch the water downhill, a collection tank for it all etc.<br />
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After one year living here as visitors, we received the "Green Card".<br />
In 1990 we were citizens of the United States of America.<br />
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Building the Septic Mount, a large one, in the back of the property. It had to accomodate 2 families....in the meantime Dieter's parents had asked if they could live with us. We said Yes, but only in a separate house, which had to be connected to our buildings by law because it was just short of 2 acres.<br />
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In the beginning of November 1984 we were ready to lay the foundation for our house.<br />
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Working on the driveway meant also to harness the running wells and put drain pipes into the ground....<br />
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Drilling of the fresh water well....<br />
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Without words - - the over-next year (1987) we both quit smoking on my initiative - and "cold turkey". We never had a cigarette since....<br />
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Dieter is building the smoke stack of our fire place in the living room, which will be the corner in a nice room, which was conceived as breeze way first in between house and garage. The open side of the chimney is in the living room ( fireplace ). We decided to close the breezeway up and make a leisure room out of it with a big sliding door to the deck in the back. You will see details later....<br />
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Dieter learned to be a mason before he went to college to be a construction engineer and architect. He is an excellent one, and the bricks around the smoke stack look beautiful.<br />
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The big "breezeway room" takes shape and to the right you see our extra long double garage. In the back it has a small room, which was my Gym and a storage shed with a double door to the back.<br />
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A big Black Bear might have thought we build it all for him, for his enjoyment....<br />
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He does not like the "clicks" of the camera and turns to leave on the opposite side, the sliding door was not in then......<br />
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Next to Black Bears ( see one bear R side of the wood shed Dieter had built?) we see Whitetail Deer, Foxes, Coyotes, Possums, Squirrels, Chipmunks and wild birds, of course.<br />
This picture is taken from the back deck. The wooden cover you see is heavy enough to protect the septic tank with the pump in it to pressure the stuff into the mountain. Dieter made all kinds of walls outside with the smaller pieces of rocks he collected while establishing a lawn where it was possible. The wooden pathway from the garage/storage shed to the wood shed ( in this picture just in the rough ) and the deer feeder covers also a little river. A "tributary" joints from the left. Before Dieter harnessed it all, it was so big that we had migrating geese feeding in it. I should have made more pictures............The wall on the right is the edge border of the even leveled sewer mount. The grass on it was so very well maintained by Dieter that we had a redneck Golf Course on it, with holes and all......<br />
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Black Bears check the deer feeder for leftovers......we had at least one in the vicinity every day......<br />
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A little story comes with this picture.....<br />
I am in the kitchen and Dieter calls me very loudly from the back yard: Get your camera! A bear is going to the front on the R side of the house! I quickly got the camera and positioned myself directly outside at our front entrance door, which was in the corner of the building - as you will see later. The column is one of three which holds our balcony up. I have the view finder in front of my eyes, and.........suddenly I see nothing anymore than black, I mean: black/black. I forgot to press the button and peeked - the black bear was about 4 feet next to me. I froze for a second or two and grabbed the entrance door and went inside to breathe...then I went out again and took the pic. The bear was already on its way to our street.....was about 400 pound.<br />
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The camper trailer was our first one in the USA, we made vacations in it to Virginia, South Carolina ( Myrtle Beach) and Florida ( Panama City Beach ). The firs are still small on the lawn, when we left in 2000, the yard was like a park.<br />
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Since we are talking bears, this one is taken from our deck in the back.<br />
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Dieter built this heavy oak door - later on it got a screen door in front of it.<br />
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This picture of me was taken before we were invited to a birthday celebration at "Pinehurst", our favorite restaurant in Greeley.<br />
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After we realized that our house needed more paining jobs than we would have liked, Dieter made the decision to dress the houses with white Vinyl Siding. From then on it was easy to keep the dust off and keep it shiny. Here you can see the matching screen door. Our house was the best insulated house in Greeley, I guess, all the inside walls and ceilings were heavily insulated. We had no Air Conditioner. During the 3 weeks of "Dog Days of Summer" in northestern PA, I regulated the temperature by drawing insulated curtains where the sun just was. It was so efficient, that I had to open the sliding door in the back in the afternoon to let some warmth in....<br />
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<b>Before we finally come to the pictures you are waiting for, I have some winter pictures to offer.</b><br />
<b>It was normal in northeastern Pennsylvania to have at least 8 feet of snow every year. Nowadays those snow piles are caused by "Polar Vortexes" , at that time, before 2000, they were just winter storms and had no names, they simply came from the Great Lakes......</b><br />
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Not only was our entire property on a slope, so was the Market Road. It does not look so steep on this picture, but the icy conditions were the reason, why Dieter sometimes could not drive to work and neither could I with my car. The mailbox you see here is ours right at the driveway entrance....<br />
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Pennsylvania mail boxes were in jeopardy all the times in winter. More than often they were damaged by snow removal vehicles because no one could even see them....Our driveway entrance is to the left. It had to be cleared by Dieter every time a snow plow drove by, otherwise we would have not been able to leave the property.<br />
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Our parking places in the front of the house - and Dieter's work truck...<br />
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In the front of the property you see our camper and "B & R" 's Box Van. We had a tractor with a snow blade, but the hight of the snow made that useless, Dieter had to shovel the snow and throw it high up, so we had still the use of the driveway. And it was cold, as you can see, because Dieter can take harsh temps usually without overalls.<br />
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View from our front area in direction of the garage of Dieter's parents house.<br />
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All pictures are not from one winter but a selection from different one. Our backyard. Nothing underneath the snow - -just drifts and accumulation from shoveling....<br />
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How to get to the wood shed and the deer feeder?? <b>Shoveling !!!!!!!!!</b><br />
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In the winterime we covered the flower pot in the front with a bird feeder for big wild birds and squirrels.. Across the street you can see a neighbor's house.<br />
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View from our guestroom window onto the covered back deck and onto the wood shed, which in the meantime got an extension for Dieter's tractors and maintenance stuff. We had to dress the wood shed up and cover the entrance to keep bigger critters out, so we would not encounter them by getting firewood.<br />
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This was in one winter before we put vinyl siding on. View from the wood shed onto the back wall of the extended garage....<br />
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We had about 15 deer in wintertime waiting for Dieter in the evening to return home from work to receive a big bowl full of good stuff.....we had bought deer feed with molasses in it, they just loved it.<br />
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With this winter view of our house-complex, which included several buildings and extensions,</div>
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I say once more Good Bye to cold winters. </div>
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<b><u>Second Part of this Blog - showing more details.......</u></b></div>
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Entrance, Kitchen, Living Room.......upstairs: window of a smaller guestroom and to the right the sliding door from the master bedroom. Right: Covered Breezeway.</div>
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The access to the 28' x 6' covered balcony is only from our bedroom. It was our very private world.....</div>
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Later on Dieter covered this porch with treated lumber. He found something to improve every year.</div>
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On the right side of our garage you see part of the entrance porch to the house of my In-Laws.</div>
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Entrance area of the house Dieter's parents lived in ( sliding door to living room and garage.All connected to our garage. The entire length of all the connected buildings is 100'.</div>
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Dieter had built another room and connected it via a covered passage with double door to the side path to be able to pass with tractors. When it was very hot in summer, I was sitting in that passage with the doors open, it gave me a cool breeze....The new room was heated with Propane Gas - it was Dieter's office when he had taken over the lead of the firm. He did not want people with dirty shoes walking through our house.</div>
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Passage and Dieter's office building.</div>
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The only garden we could have was a rock garden. We needed a digging bar everytime we wanted to plant anything.</div>
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In the foreground the septic mount. Dieter had just finished to convert Mom Gertrude's vegetable garden into a fine patio and had replaced the fence with a better one.....</div>
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The entire complex was insured for 250,000 Dollars. When we sold it, we got only 145,000 for it, it was only the amount of money Dieter had put into it over the years. A family with a dozen kids moved in.....</div>
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Meanwhile Dieter's father had died and his mother lived with us because she was not able anymore to live alone. </div>
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Dieter's father was 90 when he died and his mother was 93. By then she lived in the Assisted Living Center in nearby Shohola, where I once worked.</div>
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Our back deck - - which I sincerely miss sometimes, especially in the summer, when we sat outside in the warm evening and looked upon the forest in the back, which Dieter had illuminated with a lamp in a tree...that was just magical. </div>
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View from the kitchen window..... without the snow - haha!</div>
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Nice seating area next to our pond.</div>
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Dieter built a little fountain into it to give the little fishes some bubbles. We also had frogs and bullfrogs in it and we had planted water lilies, which grew wonderfully.... This pond was created by harvesting dirt for the sewer mount. It is pretty deep and filled itself by rainwater and spring water. </div>
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Path from the back toward the driveway.</div>
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Isn't that a neat wood shed and an elegant tractor shed?? Dieter saved the glass doors from a building site which had to be remodeled. All the floors in our house had thick hardwood floors.</div>
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BTW - I did all the painting work with the entire property, inside and outside.</div>
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Dieter also built all the furniture inside, including the entire bedroom and this heavy oak table. We could stand on it if we wanted to....I was sewing all the curtains from scratch. Dieter also put the mural on the wall. The lamps are from IKEA....</div>
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Later on we exchanged this older lamp with 2 new ones and bought a new couch.</div>
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We took the heavy door to the breeze room out and left an open passage, which we later outfitted with a folding door. </div>
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Seating corner in the bar. Dieter built everything, the bar, the chest, every nail and screw in those buildings went to his hands.....</div>
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From left to right: Dieter's youngest brother Herby, then Karin, her sister is taking the picture and her husband stands next to me ( they were visiting from Germany ), and at the right Dieter's younger brother Fred. Both brothers are not with us anymore. And Dieter is the bartender. </div>
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We moved the old couch, which we got from relatives when we moved in, into the breeze room when we bought the new one for the living room.</div>
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As I said before, Dieter built the vanity and all the furniture in our big bath room by himself.</div>
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This is the only picture of our kitchen without persons in it and therefore the only one I can post - but I think it is sufficient to show you that we had a real rural kitchen, admired by every visitor.</div>
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<b>I hope I did not bore you with too many pictures.... If you enjoyed it, please, post a comment.</b></div>
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<b>Several times, when friends in facebook envied us for our lifestyle of sightseeing and living on the road, I told them that everyone can do it when we can do it.. We sold all what you saw here - and not have seen - ...</b></div>
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<b>The next post will be about going full-time as campers.</b></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729510453783255016.post-37608624660067105382014-01-17T15:11:00.000-08:002014-07-01T11:53:45.306-07:00Our House in GermanyWhen Dieter and I had married in Germany in 1957, we were very poor. Dieter was at his last semester in Engineering School and I was already pregnant with our first child. We lived in a very snall apartment under the roof.<br />
Being poor does not mean being unhappy - just the contrary!<br />
Dieter's first job as Construction Engineer and Architect was just enough to pay our small rent and buy groceries. From there on Dieter frequently changed employers to climb up the money ladder, which also meant changing locations of residency. The apartments got bigger over the years and so did Dieter's reputation as a Professional. At some point big Construction Companies sent their Managers to our door to win Dieter over and convince him to change.<br />
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We were a family with two sons when we started to make vacations at the Holland shoreline south of Rotterdam. When we had our daughter we had moved already to a neighboring city and when she was 2 years old, we had to move to Bremen. The Apartment at "Huchtinger Bahnhof" was spacious and involved 2 floors with another room under the roof. It was so nice that we never really had the urge to buy an own house. It was also a matter of money. We both loved our vacations and we always taylored those to the needs of our children. Later on our camper trailer changed to a bigger size, a small boat with an outboard motor was added - and our vacations stretched out to Austria and Norway. Our boys were active Kayakers participating in Ralleys and Dieter helped them and their peers to transport them and the kayaks to starting locations. Dieter and I were also members in a Camper Community at the river Weser and had our own lot. We invested into that too, and we were driving to that wonderful spot outside Bremen almost every weekend. Of course - our children loved that. <br />
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Finally - in 1977 we had that idea to buy our own<br />
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house. Dieter knew exactly what to look for because he was sure of the quality of that pre-manufactured house which was developed in Sweden. The houses had 2 separate Apartments, the yards divided by a fence. It had many money-saving utility features. And we could option in many extras. I do show only few pictures from the inside, but it was lovely, to say the least. Dieter once had worked for that company and a new development with those houses was just established south of Bremen. The street next to our property was the border in between the City State Bremen and the Lower Saxony State, where we now lived.<br />
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Our property was the biggest one in size and located at the end of the development and had access to the garage court where Dieter's business car was parked. Dieter had built another big double garage for my Audi and his BMW with the garage door to the garage court. He was pretty busy converting a dirt patch of old lawn into a park-like garden. I can publish only some pictures from it because so many others are showing persons of our family and friends and I do not expose them to the public according to their wishes.<br />
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This is the front of our part of the house coming from the street Dinklager Weg in Stuhr via a foot path.<br />
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Backside of the double house. The two left upper windows are ours, and so is half of the covered seating area and the adjacent shed.</div>
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This is the tile path from the entrance area to the back terrace.</div>
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The open door leads to the Living Room. Dieter clears the table of empty beer bottles. We had guests....</div>
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To the right you can see the shed door, and in between the house and the shed is a big seating area, where we could sit when the weather was on the windy/rainy side.....</div>
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The garage court yard. Our double garage, which was very deep and harbored Dieter's work area in the back, shows my Audi to the left and Dieter's private car, a BMW, to to the right. The fence door to the right could be opened completely to park our camper trailer. the garage door to the right of the colorful fence contains another Audi, Dieter's business car. Behind this all we had planted a little forest, with pines, firs and 2 leaf trees.</div>
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Cabinets in our Living Room, which show only one half of that side. For our first small apartments we had </div>
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bought already furniture we could stack and remove or add feet - those could now be incorporated into the wall furniture. Dieter completed the skirtings etc. and built a small bar. The style was IKEA wood furniture.</div>
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Dieter had built this outside Fireplace/Grill and it worked fine and was employed very, very often. The street you see is the Stuhrer Landstrasse, the borderline in between 2 German States I was speaking of. Along that side we had planted firs and all kind of bushes, blooming and non-blooming. This hedge was growing fast and the sreet was not to be seen anymore. The table you see on the right side was a Ping-Pong table made by Dieter, the board was resting on movable work horses......</div>
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Dieter had also built the nice bird feeder - and had planted the big fir in the middle of the lawn.....This is Karin, the picture was one of many taken that day, it was our daughter's Confirmation Day.</div>
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Our big fir was trimmed with lights for Christmas Saison - and drivers on the road stopped their cars to look or take pictures. One day we had sirens going outside, the police was investigating what the reason for the car stoppings were, they thought an accident had happened....</div>
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The building you see behind the fir is L-shaped and has a Grill built into the wall with a seating are on the other side, and the inside is a bar room.The door you see is the side entrance of the big garage.</div>
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Dieter opens a keg of beer when our second son had his wedding party in our place. The pictures taken in that garden bar are priceless, but as I said - too many persons in it, the pictures have to stay in our photo boxes...</div>
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We toast with Champain on our son's wedding after Dieter had addressed the newlyweds.....</div>
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This is a happening in our kitchen. I prepare a big meal for a crowd and appeared to be tired. Dieter came in, recognized it and comforted me....</div>
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This was the day when our oldest son got married and all guests had coffee and cake in our place - next to some wonderful drinks. We both are very tipsy...and I feed cake to Dieter because his hand seemed to be unsteady....haha....</div>
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On this picture you can see clearly how the growing bushes and trees give us more and more privacy...</div>
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This is the pathway you saw in the beginning of the picture series. Our flowers reached almost the second floor level.....</div>
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As I said earlier - the street with the through-traffic is blocked out......</div>
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In 1984 Dieter lost his job because of recession in northern Germany. He was over 50, over qualified and over paid - and he had to make room for a freshmann from a school with one third of his pay... Instead of waiting for a job to get offered from the government agencies, we decided it was time to make a giant step forward and go to the United States. Dieter's younger brother in NJ wanted him to start a general construction business in Pennsylvania for him because he had already bought a house in PA......</div>
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We sold the property and everything we owned, bought back all insurances as possible, </div>
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packed 51 big boxes, shipped them via freight ship to New Jersey and flew over....</div>
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Our children and their families and our daughter, who wanted to study , stayed behind.</div>
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More about our new home in the USA will follow in the next post.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729510453783255016.post-22640296682393439772013-03-16T17:28:00.000-07:002013-03-16T17:28:31.923-07:00Remembering our cat Susi.......We lived in northeastern Pennsylvania, enjoying our property in the woods....<br />
when we decided to add a cat to our family of two people.<br />
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We had already cats in Germany - we were "cat people"....Not that we do not love other animals too, but we do not like hectic around us, we like to live quietly, and we are not really "alpha dog" material.<br />
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At that time we had already in mind to sell our property and going full-time on the road as campers. We had made short vacations already in South Carolina and Florida with our trailer. Dieter was finally successful in convincing me to part of all our belongings and sell the property in order to travel. I loved living in the trailer, see new landscapes, meet new people.<br />
In summer 1998 we met and very much befriendet 2 people in Homosassa Springs, Florida, which are still our friends, Ron and Chi from Los Angeles, CA. Chi had a cat on a leash and was walking around with her. I never had seen a cat on a leash before and I thought when Chi can do it, I can do it while traveling.<br />
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Dieter and I bought all items a cat needs and placed those in the right spots in our house before we drove to the Dessin Society Animal Shelter in Honesdale, which had a non-euthanizing policy.<br />
The resident cats were immediately around us, purring and flirting with us, when Dieter noted a lone cat sitting in her little house at the wall way on top of other cat houses. He pointed her out to me and said: She might be the right one in a trailer, she seems to be quiet...While we were thinking about it, she came down, ate some dry food, then used the litter box, cleaned herself shortly and went right up to her perch again, not even looking at us.<br />
We told the girls in the office that we want to pet a certain cat because we are interested in her...one came with us into the cat room and we pointed up to that cat. The girl said: "Oh, no, not our "Peanut"! We all love her, she is the darling of the shelter. We all laughed and said that would be the right cat for us. She handed her to us and she looked at us intensely then and started purring.<br />
We learned that the cat was already in the shelter for one year, she was 2 years old.<br />
She had all the shots and was spayed, had mite and flea treatments etc. We adopted her December 11th, 1998 for the total cost of US $ 65.00<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xQJByeGKHsg/UUSky6fP5wI/AAAAAAAAGYw/ZIwrXpzxmaY/s1600/Susi+on+new+sofa+in+PA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="460" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xQJByeGKHsg/UUSky6fP5wI/AAAAAAAAGYw/ZIwrXpzxmaY/s640/Susi+on+new+sofa+in+PA.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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We renamed her Susi.<br />
She was an American Domestic Shorthair Tiger. The color was called Agouti because the tips of her dense fur shimmered golden in sunlight.<br />
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It was wintertime, snow outside, she could not go outside, besides, we had her to train to tolerate a leash first.<br />
She was sitting at the sliding door to our porch in the back most of the time, where she was observing all the action outside....squirrels, chipmunks, deer, racoons, all kind of birds, foxes and black bears.<br />
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She was fighting the harness first, but we made it clear to her that she would not go outside without it and she was smart enough to get that message from us. Meanwhile Dieter was building her a playhouse from a moving drum and we bought her some toys...<br />
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and she liked also to snuggle up next to us<br />
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or play "hide and Seek" with us:<br />
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We found out that a cat harness - build like a 8 was useless, she wound herself out of it, so we bought a small dog harness with a bridge on top and under her belly - that worked very well.<br />
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1999 we went to Florida for the winter again with our camper trailer and we were the ones now admired for walking with a cat on a leash. Sometimes we fastened her leash to the camper or to our truck when we were sitting outside,<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JUm8oEl_Es4/UUSqjqDc5jI/AAAAAAAAGZY/P7aGbABa9zo/s1600/Susi+next+to+Chevy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JUm8oEl_Es4/UUSqjqDc5jI/AAAAAAAAGZY/P7aGbABa9zo/s640/Susi+next+to+Chevy.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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and she was very content with that. We never let her be alone outside anyway, we were always around.<br />
She was also very friendly with people who approached Dieter when he was walking the campground with her. She meowed and walked right up to them.....<br />
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We had sold our property in July 2000 and said "Good Bye" to Pennsylvania. Later on we visited there 2 times but basically made criss-cross tours through the entire USA.<br />
It turned out we loved the desert and the weather associated with it. The following 2 pictures show Dieter with Susi, first in Florence, Arizona, and then in Deming, New Mexico.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0mZ7qXHX9pw/UUSsz_ftENI/AAAAAAAAGZo/6ve_czuT1HE/s1600/Susi+walking+in+Deming.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="468" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0mZ7qXHX9pw/UUSsz_ftENI/AAAAAAAAGZo/6ve_czuT1HE/s640/Susi+walking+in+Deming.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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In 2002 we exchanged the Fifth Wheel trailer for a used motorhome, a Winnebago Suncruiser, 34" long, Turbo Diesel. Susi got used to living in the motorhome really quick.....<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bAd4nv-G2bQ/UUSuP4sRc8I/AAAAAAAAGZw/rnrH1UeDkMk/s1600/Susi+on+MH+dashboard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bAd4nv-G2bQ/UUSuP4sRc8I/AAAAAAAAGZw/rnrH1UeDkMk/s640/Susi+on+MH+dashboard.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x7gMY61CXX8/UUSubgGr0cI/AAAAAAAAGZ4/2EpaKZ-w1Iw/s1600/Susi+in+green+box+in+MH.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="473" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x7gMY61CXX8/UUSubgGr0cI/AAAAAAAAGZ4/2EpaKZ-w1Iw/s640/Susi+in+green+box+in+MH.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Susi was a good hunter.....<br />
Even though her leash was not that long, she managed to catch a bird in flight, and she got hold of several chipmunks over the years. Of course, we helped the critters to their deserved freedom.....<br />
And she was eager to please us...<br />
Example: she was rolling a pencil on the table and was almost ready to push it from the edge - then I looked at her and said with a calm voice: Susi, the pencil stays up here, ok?? She looked back at me for the longest time and walked away from it. When Dieter called her she came like a dog...she never angered us.<br />
She was the right cat for us older folks and being a camper....<br />
Susi also liked to be safe outside because she walked into the heavy-wired dog cage we had bought for her all by herself since a couple of big owls in Florida were hovering directly over us in an old Live Oak tree. She felt she was in danger then, meowed and wanted to go inside. Since she had the cage, she really liked it. Once she stepped inside there onto her plush carpet, she meowed - which meant: close the door. We did and she laid down to nap......<br />
She also liked to nap under a bush.....<br />
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or on a camper table, like here in Coursegold, California...<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wTThl_HbGbU/UUS5V3PX_kI/AAAAAAAAGag/wkHfvTHFCss/s1600/Susi+in+Coursegold.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="474" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wTThl_HbGbU/UUS5V3PX_kI/AAAAAAAAGag/wkHfvTHFCss/s640/Susi+in+Coursegold.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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or next to Dieter outside, in the shade, like here at Pilot Knob near Yuma, Arizona........<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DiYXaSTT63s/UUS502Gm47I/AAAAAAAAGao/5IGrqXWijVM/s1600/Susi+liesnext+to+Dieter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="474" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DiYXaSTT63s/UUS502Gm47I/AAAAAAAAGao/5IGrqXWijVM/s640/Susi+liesnext+to+Dieter.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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In December 2007 we exchanged our motorhome for a 40' Fifth Wheel "Alfa Gold", which you can see on the cover of my Google+ page.<br />
It took Susi about 10 minutes to claim it as her own house - just by putting her body on about every corner and nook, to give it her own mark.....<br />
She loved the additional space because we had 3 deep slide-outs instead of a small galley...no comparison...<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZpKD10H59xs/UUTrF9X2mMI/AAAAAAAAGa4/4Yc2bTs9S2E/s1600/Susi+napping+on+table.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZpKD10H59xs/UUTrF9X2mMI/AAAAAAAAGa4/4Yc2bTs9S2E/s640/Susi+napping+on+table.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Only cat lovers can understand how a cat can have naps on the table.......<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cIfA2aKe0ik/UUTsHBPxC3I/AAAAAAAAGbA/V7zWfF19kzM/s1600/Susi+on+desk.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cIfA2aKe0ik/UUTsHBPxC3I/AAAAAAAAGbA/V7zWfF19kzM/s640/Susi+on+desk.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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"This is my Mama's place and the computer is humming a nice melody, - I like this place!"<br />
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As you might have noticed, the pictures come in no particular order...<br />
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Susi's place was in between us in the truck when we had our driving day. She was laying in the Samsonite tote, the entrance flap open, napping, sometimes trying to touch me with her right front paw - mainly napping or even deep sleeping. she did not care about the landscapes flying by... When Dieter slowed down to get fuel at a gas station, she was curious, came out a little, stretched, to get a good look out of the window...no - not there yet, no camper trailers in sight, back into the tote, back to sleep. When we made a stop at a rest area to eat lunch, she stretched and was eager to come with us to enter the trailer to have something to eat too. She had the clock clearly in her head. When we slowed down to enter the driveway of the scheduled camping resort in the afternoon, about 2:30 PM, she came out looking again, but this time really agitated because she had spotted RV's, lots of them, so she knew we reached our destination. She jumped onto my legs to have a clear look out of the window, reached with her front paws onto the dashboard, looked around and meowed all the time... Hurray - we made it, we are there!!<br />
We had to go to the office first to establish our lot to stay, Susi was in the truck...As soon as Dieter had parked the unit, she REALLY wanted to exit the truck... I had to take her ( the leash was always attached to her collar in the truck), and walk around the truck and the trailer, so she could survey the surroundings, establish her temporary home, like always, hundreds of times. When she had seen where she was, she wanted to go inside. When we were ready to push the buttons for the 3 slide-outs, she was sitting there observing the entire thing, how our trailer transformed from a small trailer into a real home.....<br />
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Susi was our true travel companion, an experienced camper!<br />
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On April 1st, 2009, we started "workamping" in Port Aransas, Texas, on Mustang Island. We had already experience being hosts, but this time it has been serious work - Dieter outside and I in the office. Island RV Resort had 200 sites......<br />
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When we entered the ferry with our long unit,<br />
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I looked at Susi and recognized a hidden fear, like always, when we were near big waters. She did not like the oceans or big lakes. But then I looked into her eyes and whispered: Everything is fine, Susi...That was enough for her to relax again. She trusted us completely.<br />
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After having worked in that big campground for 1/2 of the year, as planned, we were begged by the manager to work another half year in the winter season. We said "Yes".<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kO4Makf-ZJ8/UUUE4md0xUI/AAAAAAAAGbg/OXjHkboFLYs/s1600/Island+RV+Resort.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kO4Makf-ZJ8/UUUE4md0xUI/AAAAAAAAGbg/OXjHkboFLYs/s640/Island+RV+Resort.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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That was also the time when Susi was not acting like always - she was very choosy with her food, walked sometimes away from it, even when we offered something else. She was withdrawn and did not clean herself anymore, which was usually her best loved activity. Suddenly she started drooling. That was the day we visited the vet in town. This very nice lady looked into her mouth and cautiously diagnosed mouth cancer. She took X-Rays and prescribed an Antibiotic treatment to exclude a possible infection of the mouth. It did not work.....and the X-Rays prooved that her gums were rotting away.......<br />
In the meantime Susi had lost 3 pounds already and was going to starve...She still had appetite, begged for food, and when it was in front of her, she started and gagged - and walked away.<br />
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Dieter and I looked at each other and without exchanging words, we packed her into her travel tote and drove to the vet again.<br />
To tell the veterinarian that we wanted to have our pet euthanized, was the most difficult decision we ever made. Susi herself lay trustfully on the metal table and waited for things to come. She looked at us and I mouthed the words: Everything will be fine, Susi. Those words haunted me for weeks to come, I felt I had betrayed her trust in us. But it was the only solution, we could not imagine seeing Susi starve in front of our eyes.<br />
She was fighting the syringe with the deadly concoction, the vet had to give her an injection of an heavy relaxant to be able to continue. I was talking to her during the procedure and petting her head as good as I could. I hope she understood that this was done out of love..........<br />
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After one heavy and deep intake of breath our Susi was dead. The date was October 2nd, 2009.<br />
The vet and her friendly and empathetic assistant took Susi away, wrapped her into towels and packed her in a carton. We had no money for cremation, we had already spent about 500 Dollars for the visits and treatments. I took the warm carton into my arms, we drove to the campground, Dieter got a shovel and we drove in direction Corpus Christi. We buried Susi in one spot in the dunes Dieter had dug out. On our way back to Port Aransas I was blinded by tears. Dieter somehow managed to see the road ahead of him despite his tears.<br />
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17 days later we found the courage to visit that grave, which was just a sandy patch in the dunes....I took the picture from a higher vantage point.<br />
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<b>Thanks, Susi, for the wonderful memories! You have been a real friend and companion!!</b><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729510453783255016.post-38216007712065434162013-02-12T14:49:00.000-08:002013-02-12T14:59:15.703-08:00Karin's Childhood in Königsberg (in former East Prussia)<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">The following blog is a copy of Chapter 5 of my published book: </span><br />
<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">My Childhood Memories....surviving WWII ( <a href="http://karinbartsch.weebly.com/karin-the-author.html">http://karinbartsch.weebly.com/karin-the-author.html</a></span><br />
<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">By clicking on that link you will find all info about ordering.... thanks! </span><br />
<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Enjoy reading about this chapter of my life.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"> </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">I was born in Berlin because my father studied in </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">Spandau to be a graduated machine engineer</span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"> within the German Army ( Title: technical inspector). </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">When I had been 2 1/2 years old, the family moved </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">back to Königsberg, the hometown of both of my parents </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">and both of my grandparents. That was in spring 1938.</span><br />
<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Since then I can recall everything. My mother tested my </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">memory in later years by asking me to sketch our </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">apartment, which has been one of four within an old </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">castle-like building, sitting on a huge barrack-square in </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Königsberg-Ponarth. It was a nice living there, </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">everything of upped standards to acomodate officers and </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">their families. I could even describe to my mother, how </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">the furniture looked to the detail, how many drawers were </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">in them, including describing the contents. The entire </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">property to the street side was adorned by wonderful </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">smelling white blooming bushes in summer. The high wrought-iron </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">fence was hidden by the bushes and its opening was a </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">double door of the same material, closing the property to </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">the street side, to the Palvestrasse No. 20. Broad steps </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">were leading to the big entrance door. </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">To the right-hand </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">side of the entrance way one was greeted by colorful </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">flowerbeds and a big park-like garden. A natural growing </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">lawn was the center, never mowed, with flowers so </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">beautiful in the summertime, bees feeding on them and </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">butterflies sailing through the air. The lawn was surrounded by a sandy path, leading to the path around </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">the house. I cannot remember how long that path actually was, but I think it took me 4 full minutes to run </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">around it. On the outskirts of that path were fruit trees, apples of different kinds, cherry- and pear trees. And a huge sandbox invited to play. Each of our three neighbors had a couple of children. Our plays together were mainly chasing each other and climbing trees. On the backside of the building the vegetable yards </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">had so many beds, that by looking at them one would have thought that it was growing a crop for the entire </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">barracks. And the big strawberry field was the center of attraction for the visitors, which in the summertime were many. We had a wooden round table with round benches, seating about 10 people, with an open entrance in a high wall composed out of lilac bushes. You can imagine that birthdays in the summertime were always scheduled to be celebrated in our garden. A hedgehog family made </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">their home in our yard, too. It was fun to watch them, sniffing around for worms with their cute little pink </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">noses.</span><br />
<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">In the wintertime the fun continued in the yard, but we children were dressed in warm clothing. Snow had </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">been plentiful in that corner of the world. We kids let ourselves drop to the snow and made snow angels. Every kid in the snow belts of the world loves this activity, some might call it snow eagle.</span><br />
<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Being inside in the winter and playing with my doll Elly killed time, I would have rather liked being outside all the time. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">I remember one incident, which shows that I also was very creative. My mother was out of the house only shortly, and when she came back, I had 2 big green leaves cut out of our dining room curtain with scissors. Two big holes were very prominent were the leaves once </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">were. My mother was a good seamstress and fit the leaves </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">back in, thanks to my accurate cutting.</span><br />
<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;"><br /></span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">My doll Elly was dressed by newest fashion standards </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">by my aunt Else, my fathers sister. So was I. She put all </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">her pride into dressing me in finest and very modern </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">garb. But my most beloved toys were coloring pencils and </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">paper. When we were visiting my grandparents, I never </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">left home without it.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">There was one element missing in my world of happiness, and that had been my father. He was home for</span><br />
<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">2 weeks, maybe twice per year. I received letters from him, Feldpostbriefe. Two letters survived my ordeal, and it is filed away in my documents. Once in a while I look at it, read it. He must have missed me terribly, not only his wife.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">On February 15., 1940 my sister Doris was born. She was so beautiful and looked like a little angel, when she was over one year old. Her head was full of yellow-blond curls, and when she moved, they all bounced in springlike fashion. She was complemented on those, of course, and she must have been very proud of it. My mother and I could not figure out for a long time, why she cried all the time while being in the bathtub. One day Doris made it clear to us why. She pointed to her hair and mumbled "Locketopp, locketopp" </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">( curly-head). She had felt that the water straightened out her curls for a short time. We were relieved that she cried for beauty reasons only.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">I liked also visiting the zoo. The lions and tigers have been my favorites and the apes with all their funny antics had been of the biggest attractions also.</span><br />
<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">When we were visiting my grandparents we had to pass a big ice cream parlor. Of course, a little portion of </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">that cold delicacy was always in order. My grandparents Rudolf and Gertrud Herrmann ( my father's parents ) </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">were always the hosts of big dinners, like Christmas and </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">Easter. They both had a lot of siblings, my grandma less </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">than my grandpa, he was one of eleven.</span><br />
<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">My mother's mother, Johanna Kaiser, died, when my mother was 18 years old. She had been bedridden for two years. Mom's dear aunt Auguste Neumann, her mother's sister, was her vice-mother from then on, her best friend and adviser. And my mother took over in being a mother for her only brother Bruno, who was 8 years at that time.</span><br />
<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">My widowed grandfather married again, a very excentric and selfish woman, Elisabeth Kaspereit. She never had any motherly feelings for her new daughter and she acted accordingly.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">A big part of my childhood fun, of the good years, had been our visits to the shores of the Baltic Sea, the</span><br />
<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Samland Kueste ( Sambia Coast) , called Bernsteinkueste ( Amber Coast).</span><br />
<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Those visits to the sea were so wonderful for me, I cannot even describe it.</span><br />
<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">From what I remember, Königsberg had 2 main train stations, the Hauptbahnof and the Nordbahnhof. The </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">latter included the Samland Bahnhof next to the Cranzer Bahnhof. Must have been similar to modern platforms, I assume.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">I beg for understanding, when the facts I state in this</span><br />
<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">book turn out to be not 100 % accurate. I have to depend on my memories. I cannot ask anybody. Still living relatives were too young at that time. I should have taken notes when my parents were still alive, but I didn't.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">So, we left the Samland Bahnhof in Königsberg for Rauschen Duene ( translated: noise in the dunes), which was a short distance from the station Rauschen ( Svetlogorsk ), an overall distance of about 60 kilometers from Königsberg. Rauschen Duene was wearing its name for the right reason. The nearer we came to the coast, the </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">more prominent the noise of the water had been. At first </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">like a "white noise", then the distinguished rythmic noise </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">of rolling waves reaching the shore. The train station was </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">embedded in a dark pine forest with very high trees. I </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">could see the water deep, deep down, so high was the </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">coastline. The coast was called Steilkueste ( translated: </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">steep coast ). Visitors had to use the cable train to the </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">beach. There was also a path going down in serpentine - l</span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">ike fashion. I learned that the Russians now have an </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">elevator in place, where the old cable train station once </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">operated. </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">The beach had a long wonderful broad wooden </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">walkway with plenty of benches lining both sides. It was </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">part of a spa town, and ladies were eager to show off their </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">newest dresses, hats or sun umbrellas.</span><br />
<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">My great-aunt Auguste was renting a cabin there in </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">the summer, so she was the host of many of her loved</span><br />
<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">ones.</span><br />
<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">It had been fun! We swam ( I only pretended) and were </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">strolling the beach and found countless pieces of</span><br />
<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Bernstein (amber ). The Samland coast had and has still </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">the biggest amber deposits in the world.</span><br />
<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;"><br /></span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">What I have not mentioned so far is going to school. I just loved it! Learning to write and to read was fun! I had to visit the "Schule Heinrich-Fichte-Strasse" in Ponarth. I went there by foot, it was not too far. Instead of toting the daily needed books and material by one hand, we had to have a backpack tote. It was made from leather and had a big rounded flap on top to close it. It was worn by shoulder straps.</span><br />
<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">When we had entered the classroom and class started, we had to show the teacher that we have clean hands. We had to stretch out both of our hands flat on the desk to be inspected by her, whether the nails were</span><br />
<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">cut and the hands were clean. The government made it also mandatory that every school child had to bring 2 pieces of raw vegetables for break time, which had to be verified by the teacher, who had also to make sure it was eaten. For health reasons mothers were also advised to administer to the children one tablespoon of Lebertran ( fish oil ) every morning and one tablet of Calcium Lactose. It was handed out for free.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">After living a carefree childhood for 6 years in Königsberg ( that includes living shortly in Breslau, where my father was stationed ) there was trouble brewing. World War II was getting closer to our city.</span><br />
<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Bombs were falling and defense systems were making mighty noises.</span><br />
<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">A part of our basement was dedicated as Luftschutzbunker ( air-raid secured emergency bunker ) for 2 families on our wing of the house. The ceiling was supported by heavy wooden beams, bunk beds were built </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">in, storage shelves installed and a porta-potty system was in place. A heavy iron door closed the shelter. Those were the times already, that no lights were allowed in the </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">house during the night hours, not to be a target for bombing. We had a candle in use, here and there when </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">dawn fell, but when the sirens went off, we had to cloth ourselves very, very quickly in the dark. In order to do so, we had to lay our clothes onto a designated chair for each person very neatly, backside up, in the order we undressed. So we had just to feel our way to the clothes pieces and dress in the reversed order in the case of an alarm. Some nights we had to do that task two or three times per night. Our mother shook us awake, put us half sleeping in front of our chair. Very so often we heard already planes approaching and grabbed our clothing to stumble down the stairs into the bunker. My sister was 4 years at the time and I remember her crying, protesting to be robbed of her sleep, not understanding what the hell was going on. She had to throw up often during that </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">ordeal.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">One night the bombing was heavy, we were very </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">frightened. At one point we thought that was our end. We </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">heard the noise of an approaching bomb, that terrible </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">sing from higher pitched to lower pitched. We all fell into </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">each other, hugging. The house shook - then silence. One </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">of the adults took a peak out of the door, expecting fire or </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">flames. Nothing. The alarm ended the other morning. By </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">inspecting our yard carefully we found a crater made by a </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5;">bomb about 10 yards from the entrance door to the cellar.</span><br />
<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">It had not exploded. It was a Blindgaenger.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Post scriptum:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">At the time I published my book I could not spend more money than I did to publish it online, which meant no pictures. I wrote the book by using Microsoft Wordpad and let lulu.com do the formatting for a fee. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">By now many internet friends looked at the pictures I posted via facebook and other outlets. I will re-post them here now. We saved only a handful of pictures when we had to flee the area. Thanks to Scanning I am able to work with those via computer.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GgFxCxac3-8/URrCWjUBozI/AAAAAAAAF3s/xmWNP02f7SI/s1600/Karin+007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GgFxCxac3-8/URrCWjUBozI/AAAAAAAAF3s/xmWNP02f7SI/s400/Karin+007.jpg" width="262" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Karin is dressed to play outside...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_xkdbxE15H4/URrCXES1dmI/AAAAAAAAF30/VNA-c4aE1zk/s1600/Karin+vor+Fliederlaube.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_xkdbxE15H4/URrCXES1dmI/AAAAAAAAF30/VNA-c4aE1zk/s400/Karin+vor+Fliederlaube.jpg" width="283" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Going to school now. Picture taken at the Lilac Arbor in summer.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X5LmU6yULrc/URrCXDclnyI/AAAAAAAAF34/X8Fiqlt5yXo/s1600/Karin+008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X5LmU6yULrc/URrCXDclnyI/AAAAAAAAF34/X8Fiqlt5yXo/s400/Karin+008.jpg" width="257" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lilac Arbor in winter - Karin the wild one.....</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-flqMSqoCH90/URrCXsxgUYI/AAAAAAAAF4E/bJtWy3GBfVU/s1600/Summer+1939.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-flqMSqoCH90/URrCXsxgUYI/AAAAAAAAF4E/bJtWy3GBfVU/s400/Summer+1939.jpg" width="271" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Karin admires wild flowers</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-M3B00g1tb-Y/URrCXjZVDGI/AAAAAAAAF4I/PwzlebmcxVE/s1600/Karin+with+Elke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-M3B00g1tb-Y/URrCXjZVDGI/AAAAAAAAF4I/PwzlebmcxVE/s400/Karin+with+Elke.jpg" width="321" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Playing with Elly</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cd0iF61deIc/URrCYNtSGhI/AAAAAAAAF4M/izDebgieN7k/s1600/bigRotkaeppchen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cd0iF61deIc/URrCYNtSGhI/AAAAAAAAF4M/izDebgieN7k/s400/bigRotkaeppchen.jpg" width="268" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Karin as Little Red Riding Hood </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3nnuozLVXfg/URq0uXIxp6I/AAAAAAAAF3A/bghekkOlfNU/s1600/060x.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3nnuozLVXfg/URq0uXIxp6I/AAAAAAAAF3A/bghekkOlfNU/s400/060x.jpg" width="280" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Entrance Gate to our yard. Enjoying the snow with sister Doris</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729510453783255016.post-14431263417119115572013-01-30T11:45:00.000-08:002013-01-30T16:19:59.659-08:00My Lutheran Confirmation March 1950<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PC_Kjp8duHA/UQl2V4zSIEI/AAAAAAAAF2E/dPAb9MDKP98/s1600/Konfirmation+1950.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PC_Kjp8duHA/UQl2V4zSIEI/AAAAAAAAF2E/dPAb9MDKP98/s640/Konfirmation+1950.jpg" width="406" /></a><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;">March 1950 in Haltern am See in Germany. I was 14,5 years old then. A perfect picture and a memorable event...Here is the story about it....</span></div>
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<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">My parents, my sister and I had left the Russian occupied zone in 1948. At that time there were already controlled travels in place to keep the population there instead of having them leaving and living rather in the British, French or American occupied zones. I was short of dying of malnutrition in 1948. We crossed over into the British occupied zone in Bebra. We had my aunt living in Kassel, which is nearby. After I had gotten my meal with milk and Raisins from her ( which I devoured because I did not have any protein since 2 years), she made an appointment with her doctor to have me checked out. I looked like I would not make it much longer and I was fainting very often. Sure enough - the doctor said he would have given me 2 more weeks of hunger, then I would have died. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">I continued seeing a doctor in Haltern am See, where my father had found work in a sawmill. He had left </span><span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;">the Russian occupied zone earlier to find work and a home for us. Under the doctor's supervision, I gained half a pound of weight every day until I looked like a "normal" girl of my age. My sister is 4,5 years younger than I and she had other health problems caused by malnutrition. She had facial paralysis and stomach problems and her bones are in bad shape to this day, getting more and more prominent in her advanced age now. We had 2 small rooms under the roof. That was basically what we had in fall 1948 - a roof over our heads. I had no shoes, no clothing - only what I was wearing. When I started to go to Elementary School again in Haltern, I was wearing house shoes which were given to me by our landlord. My mother was altering them with some bands to hold them together to make them wearable. The dress I had was altered already so many times....</span></div>
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<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;">My confirmation in church was scheduled for March 1950. In fall 1949 my mother and I started to visit the two shoe stores in town to look around. At that time businesses had just started to buy inventory, the selection was still scarce. My outfit had to be black - that was the problem....after so many "dark years" people were looking for more colorful clothing and shoes. One store promised to order shoes in black in prospect of all the other girls who would need them.</span></div>
<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;">What about the black dress? My aunt Else, who was sewing fine clothing for me when we still lived in our hometown Koenigsberg in East Prussia, came to my rescue. She and her parents ( my grandparents on my father's side), lived near her sister Charlotte in Kassel. She came via train with her sewing machine and the best black dress my grandma had owned and had salvaged by wearing it as one layer of clothing when we all had to flee the Russian WWII front in the east. She was taking the dress apart and putting it together for me. As you can see. the dress turned out to be wonderful. The fabric was silk, shiny on one side and matted on the other, so I had a matted black dress with shiny trimmings. And a shiny black bow was holding my braids together behind my head....</span><br />
<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;">The New Testament I had to have in my hand during the ceremony I received from the church and the handkerchief I had to put onto the book underneath my thumb came from my aunt also...</span><br />
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<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;">But there were other small problems....</span><br />
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<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;">One day my mother took me aside and told me that my parents could not buy me anything as a gift nor bake a cake for me. I knew that, my father made little money and my mother was working some hours in housecleaning or dishwashing in a restaurant. That work paid more in food leftovers and second-hand clothing than in money. I was fine with that, no problem for me. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;">Shortly after that conversation we heard the doorbell and a woman was asking to come up the stairs and talk to us. She identified herself as a women from a church group which took care of charity matters.</span></div>
<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;">She put a bag of flour, a bag of sugar and a pound of butter on our table to help out with a cake. My mother started to cry. ...And then the lady lifted a small package out of her tote and gave it to me and explained to me that this was a gift from the people from America for my confirmation. </span><br />
<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;">Then I started to cry.....The package hat 4 big letters in black stamped onto it: </span><strong style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;">C.A.R.E.</strong><br />
<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;">It contained writing paper, 5 pencils, 5 color pencils, an eraser, a bag of peppermint candy and five of the most wonderful "girly"handkerchiefs I ever have seen - to this day, I might add. That package was more exciting to me than the entire confirmation ceremony. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;">All Americans who are reading this blog now: </span><strong style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;">My sincere and heartfelt Thanks! </strong><br />
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<span style="color: #848585; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;"> I liked the choir singing, the director was my teacher Mr. Benfer who also played the organ on normal Sundays. My parents and I were joining the choir. New friendships developed and more laughter and fun entered our days....</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729510453783255016.post-82051045031492912452013-01-01T06:52:00.000-08:002018-08-05T07:38:09.108-07:00Our Happiness was challenged in 2005<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Enjoying a summer in the high mountains of Colorado in 2004, </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">my husband Dieter had to visit an Emergency Room one day because one leg was swelling up quite fast. Some tests were performed, including a blood test. The doctor did not like "a number in the blood test", but otherwise did not give us the impression that anything was urgent. Dieter received a prescription of water pills and his leg was coming back to almost normal size. So we took our time as usual when traveling with our motorhome, parking two weeks at a time in resorts, doing sightseeing and having traveling days in between.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">We had bought a camping lot in Tierra del Sol Resort in Florence, AZ in spring 2004 and we arrived back there in October. We immediately made an appointment at a doctor's office nearby. This family doctor diagnosed Dieter with Nephrotic Syndrome after having seen the blood test papers from Colorado and after having ordered a 24-hour urine sampling. His diagnosis could mean so many ailments. He was thinking of Multiple Myeloma and he made an appointment for us with an oncologist in Mesa, AZ, where Dieter underwent every test there is, including biopsy of the kidneys, the spinal cord and the hip bone, MRI's and so on. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">The diagnosis was Primary Amyloidosis, a rare blood disorder. The oncologist called it blood cancer. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">The outlook was pretty bleak. We were told that both kidneys could shut down at any moment and that the sickness is potentially deadly....</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">The term Amyloidosis includes a group of disorders caused by abnormal folding, clumping ( aggregation ) and/or accumulation of particular proteins ( amyloids - fibrous proteins and their precursors ) outside of the cell, but within the tissues of various organs in the body. The accumulated amyloids causes the progressive malfunction of the affected organ. Normally, proteins are broken down at about the same rate as they are produced, however, these unusual stable proteins are deposited more rapidly than they can be broken down. The accumulation may be localized, general or systemic. </span><br />
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</span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">The oncologist in Mesa did not want to determine alone what to do and was seeking a second opinion by sending Dieter to the Cancer Center in Tucson, AZ. The doctor there was recommending Stem Cell Therapy. He said to Dieter that he would love to have him there on his floors because he loved Dieter's positivity and his humor. We asked him what could happen to Dieter while undergoing this Stem Cell thing...Nothing what he told us sounded good. Dieter rejected this therapy. The oncologist promised to contact our oncologist in Mesa with his advise.</span></span><br />
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The oncologist in Mesa prescribed Dieter Chemo Therapy which was a high dose of Corticosteroids, together with 2 other meds. His entire body was swelling up slowly, he grew more and more tired and weak, and he gained about 60 pounds on water weight. New Jeans and new underware were needed...<br />
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Our neighbor and friend Dick looked after Dieter every day and tried to cheer him up and convinced him that it might be best to keep on working, like building the shed. The building permit and the concrete floor were already there. Neighbors were helping as much as they could or as much as Dieter let them. I was the painter.<br />
We were told that our shed looked the cutest in the park.... see for yourself:<br />
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You also see the back end of our Winnebago Suncruiser we had at that time, and our cat Susi enjoying the outdoors in her cage. She felt very content with that, she went in by herself and meowed, which meant: Close the door.<br />
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The swellings were slightly down and the oncologist did blood and urine tests again and decided that Dieter should have a second Chemo Therapy. We said No. We decided to sell our lot to be free again - our friend Dick bought it. We had the feeling we had to drive to the east coast, to be "nearer" to our kids and grandkids in Germany....we cannot really explain what our feelings were, we hoped that Dieter would survive, but we were not sure about that. Some force pushed us....<br />
Another friend was offering to drive our motorhome all the way to Florida, so Dieter could rest. But Dieter had the confidence to do that himself. We left - and our friend Dick lost big tears by wishing us well.....<br />
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As soon as we had set up camp in Bushnell, FL, in one of our Escapees Membership Resorts, we made an appointment with an oncologist in the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa. He ordered a special new test, which confirmed the Diagnosis:<br />
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<b>"Primary systemic AL amyloidosis involving the kidneys ( IgG kappa monoclonal gammopathy in his serum )".</b><br />
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Dieter agreed to take the second Chemo Therapy, which was just another random try because there is no known cure for this sickness. This time it was a chemo against breast cancer..<br />
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In August Dieter wanted to have a break in scenery, he wished to see the beach. We made reservations in St.Augustine, at Beachcomber Resort, the Gulf directly across the street.<br />
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When we arrived there, Dieter got very sick, I mean: sick-sick. He was able to drive our car from the dolly and made the full hook-up connections and had to hit the bed. We thought the chemo had finally catched up with him. After two days I called 911.<br />
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After the First Responders had learned what the symptoms were now - vomiting black stuff - they raced with Dieter through St.Augustine to reach Flagler Hospital fast, the sirens going. I was driving directly behind them in our car. The sirens made my mind go blank, I felt nothing.....<br />
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It turned out to be a bowel obstruction, which doctors thought was connected to the high dose of Corticosteroids. Dieter spent overall 3 weeks in the Intensive Care Unit. Besides cleaning him out totally to be able to do surgery, the doctors were confronted with lung embolie, liver infarct and heart disturbances. They had to give him high doses of Heparin in order to stop the blood clots and this made his guts bleeding even worse. They implanted a Greenfield Filter into his vena cava to prevent the blood clots from ascending. Then they could operate. Dieter lost 22 inches of his small intestines. A crew of several doctors saved Dieter's life. Would have doctors in Arizona or elsewhere done the same good job? We will never know.<br />
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At one point in between, one doctor told me that the situation is serious and I should tell my relatives. I emailed our 3 children and they all came fast, also our son-in-law. Our second son was in Australia at that time and had to fly to Germany first and meet up with his brother. Dieter told them that he is fighting with all his strength and that he will survive. When the children had to leave after one week, that was not quite clear to everyone....Dieter was living only on some small ice chips for 3 weeks but he had the strength and the will to get better. One day while I was at his bedside, nurses run in, pushed me aside, looked at the machines and into his eyes and hit the button "Code Blue". Standing outside the circle of nurses and doctors and not being able to help somehow is the worst feeling...<br />
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He was released after 3 weeks into my care into the motorhome. He had to wear oxygen equipment and had to take lots of medication. We had a big oxygen generator under our little dining table and the long hose was leading into the bedroom, to his bed. I walked next to him when he walked daily outside, every day a little more.<br />
Then a hurricane came into our area. The resort had to evacuate. I took the following picture of the angry Gulf of Mexico. Dieter never walked the beach that time nor did he see the beach.......<br />
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The oxygen company came to retrieve the equipment - and I was ready to drive our motorhome the first time. Dieter wanted to drive the first stretch....but he made it all the way to Bushnell, 135 miles all by himself. When we arrived there, he was "done".. The manager came and did all our connections. Other campers came and asked whether they could be of any help.<br />
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We made appointments in Tampa again. The oncologist insisted that Dieter had to finish his second chemo. He did and when we had a follow-up appointment and tests done, he told Dieter that the second chemo did not do a thing for him, he wanted to try a third. <br />
He sat very near in front of Dieter and said: "Look me in the eye,<br />
if you do not take the third chemo, you will die!"<br />
"Good, then I die" my hubby answered.<br />
I was ready to support all his decisions about this. And I was ready to help him fight that thing all by himself.<br />
That was the last time he took anything against this sickness, besides the supplements I prescribed for Dieter and besides the blood thinner he had to take because of his implant.<br />
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After being back in Bushnell, another hurricane came and we had to drive north to Silver Springs. That was the time we decided to go west again, we had it with the hurricanes. When we told Dick and Myrt that we wanted to come to Arizona again, Dick said that we can rent our former lot for a very good price.<br />
We had found out in the meantime that the prices for flights to Germany are the same, Phoenix or New York - no difference.<br />
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The picture below shows Dieter before we left Bushnell.<br />
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Dieter gained most of his strength back, slowly. He was even able to drive up to the home of Dick and Myrt in Wisconsin in spring 2006, where we stayed for some months. On our way back we visited our sister-in-law in Pennsylvania.<br />
In Nov/Dec. 2006 we flew from Phoenix to Germany. We wanted to show our kids that their father had changed from a sceleton to his old self. We had a good time, but it was very strenuous for both of us.<br />
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We hoped that Dieter's kidneys would hold on - and we still do. Even this topic is not important to Dieter. He was reading lately about mobile dialysis units and I just read that "in-center" dialysis has now overnight treatments, meaning, that the patient sleeps the night away and can go home in the morning with clean blood instead of living every third day in the hospital....<br />
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Many of my friends already know about this, but so many others do not. If any of my readers ever notice "foaming urine", that would be the first very noticeable symptom. Please, see a doctor then....<br />
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In the beginning of his sickness, Dieter lost every day 8 grams of protein through the kidneys.The first defense at that time in 2005 was a recommendation of a doctor in Bushnell to drink 2 big Whey Powder shakes per day to replenish the lost protein. This kind of protein can very easily be absorbed by the body. He still takes one in the morning. If anybody would be interested what supplement I found for him and what he still takes daily, please, contact me via a comment here.<br />
According to the latest test, he loses only 1,8 gram per day these days. Big win - hurray!!<br />
Even the latest blood tests did not show any significant deviation from normal.!<br />
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Whatever ails you, my friends, don't feel sorrow for yourself and don't be a couch potato.... and don't follow doctor's advises blindly. Research everything yourself and confer with your doctor over your findings. Stay as active as even manageable and live your life as "normal" as possible. <br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Happy New Year and my best wishes for Health and Happiness! Karin.</b></span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2St. Augustine, FL, USA29.8942639 -81.31320829999998529.784150399999998 -81.474569799999983 30.0043774 -81.151846799999987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729510453783255016.post-21049490710829355212012-12-26T15:08:00.001-08:002012-12-26T15:08:54.479-08:00The scariest day of my LifeToday we have stormy weather in Florida, strong wind gusts and possible thunderstorms are predicted.<br />
To fill my spare time while the Stew is simmering in the pot and while Dieter and I sip on the second spiked Eggnog, I chose to go on with my blogging and he is reading a book. Please, do not think this will continue in this rapid pace, like every day an episode. Oh no, when the weather improves, we will walk more - somehow we have to stay fit.<br />
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My writing today is all about a summer day at a beach in Holland - I think the year might have been 1968. I do not have exact records because we have been at the same beach very often. Our neighbors were having their vacations with us in the same little town named Ouddorp, which is located on the island Overflakkee south of Rotterdam. We rented cabins near the beach at the north-west tip of the island. At that time the prices for those were small, the tourist industry in Europe was still in its beginnings. We usually spent 3 weeks of vacation there, which meant that the wide beaches during the weekdays were almost deserted, which we very much liked.<br />
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The day I write about must have been a Sunday, the beach was crowded. We had our two sons and our little daughter with us, our neighbors had two children with them. The men and the boys were playing beach ball and I was strolling with our daughter, who was about 3 years old, alongside the water's edge, observing people. We decided to buy ice cream at the beach restaurant.......<br />
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and started licking away the precious cold stuff from the rim of the ice cream cone. Our daughter said to me: I go to Papa, she and I had a view onto our group playing ball, where her dad was pretty active. I nodded and additionally pointed our group out to her, they were in plain sight. I finished up my ice cream, observing the shallow waves coming in. When I was done in a very short time, I went to talk to Dieter. I looked around and said: Where is our daughter? Dieter answered: I did not see her in the last minutes.<br />
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<b>That was the time when we started to panic and all hell broke loose in our mind. Where is she??</b><br />
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We alarmed all members of family and friends and we made plans to search for her - in all directions - left - right - up the stairs over the dunes, along the ocean. It was afternoon, sun was high up.... Dieter jumped into our car and drove home to our cabin, thinking that she might have gone home. Nothing. We notified the life guard, which notified the local police.<br />
My mind was blank, I was not in tears, I was simply shocked, while all sorts of possible outcomes blew almost my mind. She loved the water but could not swim....oh my god! Was she kidnapped??<br />
Then the life guards started to ask questions. They skimmed the water too. What was the color and design of her bathing suit? I said blue with yellow flowers ( later on I realized that it was just the opposite - yellow with blue flowers ). I was short of collapsing and Dieter was also very upset.<br />
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After what seems to be an entire lifetime the sun had disappeared beyond the water horizon, a wind came up, we all started to shiver, and we were exhausted from running around in the sand. The beach was clearing, very few people were left.....<br />
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Then 2 of the life guards approached us....<br />
"We think we found your little girl - she is alright! We will show you where she is!"<br />
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They were running and running - up to almost another restaurant in the dunes, about 3/4 of a mile away. Our legs were going on "automatic", keeping up with the youthful life guards.... There she was!!!! There was an elderly couple sitting on a blanket, they had their jackets on and our little girl wore a big woolen sweater, about a mile too big for her. She looked almost surprised to see us and was a little spooked when we both started to cry while hugging her. My tears were coming down in rivers....all tension releasing.....<br />
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The couple explained that she was wandering up and passing them, and they were wondering why she was alone. For security reasons they talked to her and started to engage her in little plays. They thought that her party must be pretty close and that we would show up any minute. When they were ready to call the police in the evening, the life guards found them.....<br />
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That was a lesson well learned. From then on I never left her out of my sight.<br />
Can you imagine how we felt??<br />
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Here is another nice picture of the dunes there......<br />
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....and of a stroll in the harbor....<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com33253 Ouddorp, The Netherlands51.8090723 3.935203699999988251.730503299999995 3.7738421999999883 51.8876413 4.0965651999999881tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729510453783255016.post-38522985775431525412012-12-24T18:53:00.000-08:002012-12-24T19:20:00.133-08:00Christmas 1953 - A milestone in my lifeIt is Christmas Eve.<br />
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Memories of former Christmas celebrations come to mind while the chicken in the oven sends waves of a wonderful aroma into our living quarters. We would have liked to roast the traditional goose, but money is short and we are experienced in living life the simple way.<br />
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Bringing you back to Germany, to the summer of 1953. I was 17 years young and very much in love with Dieter, who I knew already since 2 years via a youth club. In the beginning of our meeting each other I mentioned to him that I somehow have to get a hold of a certain book written in Latin because I had Latin in school and this school had only limited editions of it - like every school in Germany at that time. World War II was very effective in destroying almost everything. His eyes lit up and he said: I still have mine, you can have it, I do not need it anymore. Dieter was 2,5 years older than I and he was an apprentice in the construction business, he learned to be a mason. At the next day, after his work was done, he came with his motorcycle to the doorsteps of the house, where we had rented a small apartment in the city of Haltern am See. My mother called down to him to come up and visit with us. It was not really love on first sight, but over time I recognized that he had a very honest character, was helpful and a little shy.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZCJiIHfzoE8/UNj_Zx2ugJI/AAAAAAAAFuo/mVPVM6M8FG0/s1600/Karin+15+Jahre.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZCJiIHfzoE8/UNj_Zx2ugJI/AAAAAAAAFuo/mVPVM6M8FG0/s320/Karin+15+Jahre.jpg" width="216" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Karin is 15 years and just had her braids cut off</td></tr>
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At that time the only entertainments available were the movie theater and the dance floor at the weekends, next to strolling the sidewalks in the city and meeting fellow youth club members. Looking back I wonder how the entire family could be so happy, how we both could be so happy while we had nothing than our will to learn, to live and hardly any clothing to wear. We both had to flee our homeland, flee the Russian war front in winter 1944/45 - Dieter had to leave Silesia and I had to leave East Prussia at the Baltic Sea. All we salvaged was our clothing on our bodies and some packs and sacks on our backs and in our hands. But this topic will be another post at another time.....<br />
We were very poor and I was glad that I had a boyfriend who was able to pay for my movie ticket and a roll of candies, even though he only earned a small allowance as an apprentice and he had to divide his earned money into three parts, one for himself and the other two as an allowance for his younger brothers.<br />
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But we had fun. My parents had both a wonderful singing voice, Papa was a Bariton and Mutti sang Soprano. My voice was not bad either and so was Dieter's. He joined the three of us to be a member in the church choire. The dirigent had been my teacher in Elementary school in Haltern am See. He was a wonderful human being, loved by all his students. He not only loved me but also liked Dieter very much. His family name was Benfer. I come back to him later on in this post.....<br />
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My parents came with us to dance on weekends, so did many other parents of the youth club, because the parents were in their own club, where all members were celebrating memories of their homeland by singing folk songs and dancing folk dances and listening to stories of survivors. Dancing and having a glass of alcohol or two, was wiping all sorrows of living away, at least for a while. On Sunday after church my parents and we both had nice walks through the nearby forest. I was very well chaperoned, but nevertheless, both Dieter and I were content with that. We had our first kiss together after knowing each other for one year. We made tours with his small motorcycle on Sundays, hiked, walked and talked.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pxnSAXv4UBw/UNkAdaU2yMI/AAAAAAAAFu0/vje0NoAzXYk/s1600/Auf+Motorrad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pxnSAXv4UBw/UNkAdaU2yMI/AAAAAAAAFu0/vje0NoAzXYk/s320/Auf+Motorrad.jpg" width="216" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ride into the mountains to hike - 1952<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">NSU ZDB 124 ccm</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-djSju4jWb_I/UNkAeIYoHuI/AAAAAAAAFu8/X17cJWN1Xg0/s1600/Dieter+in+Ibbenbueren.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-djSju4jWb_I/UNkAeIYoHuI/AAAAAAAAFu8/X17cJWN1Xg0/s320/Dieter+in+Ibbenbueren.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dieter in summer 1952</td></tr>
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Dieter started to be unhappy during that fateful summer of 1953. His parents were in the process of immigrating to the United States and he did not want to go with them. He wanted to stay in Germany. His parents did not want to hear any of this and forced him to go with them. The dreaded time was September. He had in mind to study in Germany to be a construction engineer and architect.<br />
When i told my friends that Dieter promised to return, they just laughed and said: Yeah, yeah, once in America he will stay there! I would not follow him and he knew that. His father was very angry with me just for being there and being loved by his son.<br />
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Long story shortened: He had left. He wrote from New Jersey almost every day a letter on very thin airmail paper about his life and about loving me. He was the only one in his family speaking basic English and having a job at a big construction firm. He worked there for 3 months and one day he went to a travel office, bought a ship ticket ( there were no passenger flights at that time until 10 years later...) and told his family he was leaving. It came sooner than he himself would have thought it would have happened because he was drafted. He filled out paperwork and gave the envelope to his mother to mail it. He was supposed to deliver it himself by reporting to the drafting office. After 2 days over the time he was expected there, 2 FBI officers were on the doorsteps of his parents apartment. His mother told them that he is on his way back to Germany.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k2bS2iLj1vs/UNkR_3MM7fI/AAAAAAAAFvQ/zEIEE5eieJM/s1600/Dieter+on+ship.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k2bS2iLj1vs/UNkR_3MM7fI/AAAAAAAAFvQ/zEIEE5eieJM/s640/Dieter+on+ship.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dieter on the steamer "Atlantic" on his way back to Karin.</td></tr>
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Meanwhile on the steamer, the purser came and confiscated his passport without explanation. After a couple of days he got it back without words. The traveling by ship over the Atlantic took 9 full days. Later on Dieter learned that the draft was unlawful, he was not 6 months in the USA when it would have been lawful and he would have been sent to Korea.<br />
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My mother received a letter from Dieter's mother telling her that Dieter was on his way to us and that she put Dieter's welfare into my mother's hands. He was expected back in a German Harbor on Dec.23rd. The ship was held up for another day because of thick sea fog. We did not know that and we waited that day - and waited. I was a nervous wreck. The other day, on Christmas Eve, we were supposed to be in church by 10 minutes before 5 PM sharp. It was already 4 PM and nothing happened. I was sitting and brooding.... when suddenly my mother cried out: A taxi, a taxi - Dieter is coming! I was standing in the door frame of that room with a blank stare and mumbled: What should I do now? My mother replied: Put your dress on! ( I was only in my underdress in order not to wrinkle my precious but very simple dress ). Then the entrance door opened and Dieter put his suitcase on the floor and stormed up the flight of stairs to embrace me.....<br />
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What a joy! My mother served him hot coffee, we talked a little and we left for church in time.<br />
In churches in Germany it is usually really quiet before the service. Everybody whispers... This time was different, at least up where the organ was and where the choir members where recognizing Dieter. He was hugged and greeted and also warmly welcomed by Mr. Benfer. It got louder and louder up there. Most in the congregation turned around and looked up with asking faces....<br />
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Our pastor had not the ability to fascinate with his speeches, he was boring, to say it in short.<br />
He started to greet everyone: I greet the old ones, I greet the young ones, the sick ones - and so forth. After he was done with greeting, my old teacher Benfer said very loudly: He forgot to greet Dieter. I am convinced that everyone in the church had heard it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dbYoN5JOIfU/UNkTGn1rI_I/AAAAAAAAFvc/CqWxTxGWPOE/s1600/Karin+18+Jahre.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dbYoN5JOIfU/UNkTGn1rI_I/AAAAAAAAFvc/CqWxTxGWPOE/s400/Karin+18+Jahre.jpg" width="243" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dieter and Karin together again!</td></tr>
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My friends could not believe their eyes seeing Dieter. Later on my best girlfriend tried hard to win Dieter over for herself - without success, of course. Two years later we got engaged at Christmas Eve.<br />
Dieter proposed by asking my father for my hand and my Papa was very pleased. Dieter was very much loved by my parents. Dieter had a room in the house of a family friend, where he lived when he came home on weekends. He studied 4 years, one year in Essen and 3 years in Koblenz and he graduated as a construction engineer.<br />
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We will be married 56 years on March 25. 2013.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ysxStOweJsk/UNkTlknq9cI/AAAAAAAAFvo/J705ziCXBIM/s1600/March+25++1957.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ysxStOweJsk/UNkTlknq9cI/AAAAAAAAFvo/J705ziCXBIM/s640/March+25++1957.jpg" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">March 25. 1957</td></tr>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com17Am Römerlager, 45721 Haltern, Germany51.74531 7.169089999999982951.742852000000006 7.1640474999999828 51.747768 7.1741324999999829tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4729510453783255016.post-85954817495964926882012-12-23T19:31:00.000-08:002012-12-23T19:31:04.685-08:00May I introduce myself?My first post gives you a link to my website which I update regularly.<br />
This site has 18 pages and gives you a deeper look into my interesting life. It also has a page providing info about the book I wrote, including reviews.<br />
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<a href="http://karinbartsch.weebly.com/">http://karinbartsch.weebly.com</a><br />
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<b>Merry Christmas and a wonderful Happy New Year to you all! </b><br />
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Till next time! Karin.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0Zephyrhills, FL, USA28.2336196 -82.18119469999999228.121711100000002 -82.34255619999999 28.3455281 -82.0198332