A Sunday in Liederbach

Micaela and James reluctantly arrived back in Germany a few weeks ago and, since then, have been bored silly. Lots of sleeping much too late due to jetlag, lying on the couch playing Wii and whining about how bored they were. "I can think of lots of things for you to do," I said. "Tidy up your room...go for a bike ride...take your little sisters to the park so I can finish my cleaning in peace...set up an obstacle course in the backyard...scrub your bathtub..." They did not like even one of my suggestions.

But today is Sunday. The stores are all closed and you're not allowed to make a lot of noise (like mowing the lawn, using a wood chipper after trimming shrubs, etc.). Sunday for Germans is a day to go for a brisk walk with ski pole-looking sticks (Nordic walking), a long bike ride, a hike in the mountains, or take little kids to the playground. On a rainy day, I think every German goes to the movies. It's the only thing to do!

It wasn't raining today, so David thought some skateboarding, bike riding and geocaching was in order. A perfect day to take some pictures, too.

Here are some houses on our little street.

The 400-year old "Shepherd's House."

The bridge over the Liederbach (Song Creek).

Liederbach's skateboard park is on the other side of town.

James stayed with his friend Christophe a few weeks ago in Atlanta. He and Christophe did quite a bit of skateboarding together.

Becca zooming on her pedal-less bike

A rare display of sibling support

Another use for the ramp -- sliding down

Time for geocaching. Emilie was in charge of getting us to the right spot.

A good representation of what geocaching can entail. But we couldn't spot what looked like a cache.

David trying another tactic (to no avail, we never found the cache), with Höchst in the background. You can see all the smoke stacks of the huge chemical complex. It's always a lovely view.

We indulged in another German custom -- eating ice cream. Germans love their ice cream. We frequently see a line of at least 20 people waiting to buy a cone at the café the mall. Seeing that line always makes us chuckle. We didn't have to wait here in Liederbach's quiet square to be served.

Delightful fountain in the square representing the three small towns that joined together to form Liederbach

There are two quails in the Liederbach coat of arms.

Emilie is still in Sound of Music mode.

Why you need to learn the language (the sign says "Not drinking water")

I am hazarding a guess that this phone booth was a gift to Liederbach from her British sister city Verwood.

Back home, David and I needed to take some glass to the recycling receptacles. I thought I would photograph along the way. This is the pump located in between our two garden sheds that really need to be painted. Under the sheds is a large tank for collecting rain water from the gutters around the house. So simple, so smart. Atlanta seems to always be suffering from a drought and people are forbidden from watering their lawns and gardens straight from a hose or from a faucet in the house. But no one we knew of collected rain water on the rare rainy day, except David -- he set up rain barrels.

Sunflowers next to the chicken coop along the path that runs past our back yard

David recycling. The town picks up paper and our yellow recycling bags that are filled mostly with packaging materials from our house, but we need to walk our glass to the recycling receptacles.

It's wonderful to be able to walk to so many places here. Back in Atlanta, you needed to drive. Even if you wanted to walk somewhere outside the neighborhood, you were discouraged by how dangerous it was -- often no sidewalks and not enough room to walk without being terrified you wouldn't make it to the store in one piece.

When Micaela was about 8 years old, the news was on the TV. The anchors were talking about a cold snap that had hit the northeast and a video was running showing people walking around Boston, all bundled up against the frigid temperatures. Micaela asked, "Why are they doing that?" I said, "Doing what? Bundling up like that? It's cold there!" "No," Micaela continued, "Why are they all walking?" I was astonished. My daughter had no idea that people actually walked places.

The kids sometimes do complain when we make them walk places instead of drive, but can I tell you how wonderful it is, on a Sunday morning, to give your kids a list of baked goods and some money and send them to the bakery? David and I just put our feet up, sip our coffee and wait for our fresh rolls. It's heavenly.

Liederbach sign showing all its sister cities

Our first year here, this roundabout did not exist. Instead we had a normal intersection that caused a lot of headaches. It was difficult to make a left turn from where we lived and traffic would back up. There is now a roundabout we say has been decorated by the guys who did Stonehenge, and we love it. You almost never need to wait more than a few seconds to enter the roundabout, compared with waiting 15 minutes to make a left turn during rush hour two years ago.

A sign we spied on the way home. I think I know what I'll be blogging about in a few weeks.

Liederbach corner