"It was the best of times..." Charles Dickens

I have finally succeeded in loading some more pictures on my blog. I have quite a few this time...
Carrie, Jane, and Ray all made it back to Washington safely. Now I just have 4 weeks until I follow....

Last Sunday we all went to the Rhein after church to grill. I'd never been to this place, but it was right at the foot of the Drachenfels and was very beautiful. Here's Amelie blowing on the fire.

And our grill location from a distance. We were by a little inlet from the river and had a sort of rocky beach. It was very pleasant.

Amelie took this photo. It's me throwing a rock (with style) into the river...

And here's the action shot of Amelie throwing a rock into the river...

On our way from the car to the grilling location on the river Amadeus spotted this prime piece of firewood and decided to bring it along. After not too long Amelie helped him...

Question: What do you do when your turkey steak is too hot?

Cool it off in the Rhine, of course. And that's exactly what Amadeus is doing. (We [Americans] watched, somewhat horrified, but containing our laughter.)

Amadeus with Rhine-washed turkey in hand retreating from from the water...

"mmmm. This is tasty--not too hot anymore. I'm going to go sit on my mommy's lap now..."

Mommy, very unconcerned that her son is eating a turkey steak that has been dipped---nay, washed--in the Rhine River. I'd bet she's never had giardia...

The kid, however, seems to display no signs of sickness.

Insa! She was our first exchange student. She sends her greetings to the whole Boothman family...

There's Insa and her mom, Roswitha. We went to their house after grilling on the Rhine and had some tasty ice cream.

On Saturday, while Carrie was have a party going to Switzerland and over into France from staying with friends for the weekend in southern Germany, Jane and Ray and I went for a bike ride to Bonn. After sitting here on the Rhine (Ray is resting on top of the monkey bars) and hanging out we went and got something to eat and then went to the coolest little coffee shop. It's very artsy and at the same time classy and gemütlich (untranslatible word: means something like cozy, warm atmosphere, you want to be there. Places with flourescent lights, for example, probably aren't gemütlich)...the coffee was also excellent.

Carrie and I got up at 4:30 after staying in Dusseldorf with Yuting, one of Mengni's friends. She was very kind and hospitable (and made probably the best breakfast sandwich I've ever eaten). We took a taxi to the airport [that was carrie's idea, and I'm sure that I speak for her too when I say: it was totally worth it!). We got checked in with no problems and both the bags (carrie took one home for me, thanks carrie!) were under the weight limit. We were a little worried about one but it passed no problem.

We then had time to enjoy a nice cup of coffee together and read the bible before I sent her through security. She wrote me earlier and told me that she arrived safely in Washington!

Yuting also made us a lovely little dinner the night before we left. The tomatoes were tasty, but I couldn't eat all of them and didn't want to leave just a few...so carrie took one for the team and ate them, bravely. She likes tomatoes alright, but they're not (I think I've got this right) her favourite to eat plain.

The following few are of the central station in Bonn. I couldn't decide which one I liked best. I took two in B&W, but I like the colour of the blue pole, a lot. I also like the light coming through the tunnel thing, which can be better seen in the colour ones...

And here are some of the beans that I got from my garden this morning (and a lone carrot, which tasted excellent...I thinned the carrots again so that the ones left can grow bigger.) The vegetable soup that I made shortly after this photo was taken was delicious. I used the seasoning that Mrs. M and I bought at one of the markets in Paris.