BACK IN THE U.S.A.
We arrived back in the U.S. on Monday Sept. 1, 2014.  The flight from Seattle to Frankfurt was OK except for some long lines at the airport, even with priority check-in because of Patch.  The staff at Frankfurt seemed to have to find out how to handle a cat.  We stayed the night in Seattle close to the airport so we could easily return in the morning to continue to L.A.  That flight was OK also.  We stayed in a extended stay hotel very close to the rental house that we moved into after a visit to see our parents.  On the way from the airport we went to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants with our good friend Lindee who picked us up at the airport.

During the last couple of days in Germany, we walked around downtown and visited some friends so I have a few pictures of that.

Next I will create a blog of our happenings in the U.S. and include a link here.
http://susanssmith2014-back-home.blogspot.com/
It won't have as much activity as life will pretty much be back to WORKING!  Good and bad thoughts about that.

Only got to enjoy one English lesson with Richard.  He knows a lot more English than I do German.

One of my best friends, Elvira.

Another one of my best friends, Anni.  Even scaredy Patch allowed her to pet him.

Fontanella's gelato, almost as good as Jurgen's ice cream.

Good bye swan family.  The babies are almost adults.

I will miss the Vogelstang See and the walks and the birds.

Downtown Wasserturn Park

THE END

to see our blog for BACK IN THE U.S.A. visit this link:
http://susanssmith2014-back-home.blogspot.com/

LEAVING IN ONE WEEK - LAST BIKE RIDES

The apartment is getting really empty.  The boxes left last Monday.  The bed will go tonight to a friend and we will sleep on the twin beds that came with the apartment.  It seems strange that almost everything I do now I say to myself, this is the last time I'll do this or that in Germany.  Go to the store, the vet, ride the bike here, visit this person or that person etc.  We had the Sister missionaries over for dinner last Thursday.  Our oven is broken now so we had to do dinner in the microwave and I have very little to work with in the kitchen for cooking or serving and no spices.  On Saturday Steve and I took our last bike ride together to Heidelberg.  It rained on us going there and back but not too much and it wasn't too cold.  Yesterday I had my very last bike ride in Germany.  I took the missionaries on a ride to Waid See.  We had a nice time.  The weather was a little cool and we had some sprinkles but we didn't get too wet.  We stopped at the zip line in the park, went through the Vogel Park, took the roads throught the fields, went to Waid See, the dairy, the circus was in town so we saw some camels and some zebras.  The bikes are now washed (as best we can do with a bucket of water) and will be packed tonight or tomorrow for air freight to L.A.

Sister Lahra Dawn Sherwood and Sister Chloe Lehman.
Before dinner we walked to the lake to see the swans.

The baby swans are almost full grown.  The grey ones are just starting to get a white feather or two now.

Steve and I rode to Heidelberg on Saturday.  The weather was cool and a little rainy but not bad.  The park on the opposite side of the river from the main part of town is very nice.

Last bike ride in Germany.  The 4 missionaries and Christian Siebert who will be leaving on his mission to the U.S. very soon.  We are so blessed to have this "P" day for a ride.

Sister Sherwood, Sister Lehman, me, Elder Stout, Elder Fitzgerald.

with Christian

 They all take turns on the zip line.  The zip lines are pretty popular and common in playgrounds in Germany.

 At Vogel Park.

Missionaries in the cage?

In the frog lookout.  I like how the heavens shine the light down on the missionaries.

These two donkeys where having a fight, maybe sibling rivalry. 

Our stop at Waid See

Inside the dairy barn with the cows

With camels

All 3 of them have the same expression!

Of course Zebras!

Milk and Cookies at Waid See

Milk Staches

BABY HAWKS
A few days ago, 4 baby hawks that must have had a nest nearby in one of the trees, took their first flight!  I really enjoyed seeing them try out their wings.  One landed right in front of me on our window sill for a few seconds before taking off again.  They were almost white on the belly with brown speckled feathers.  They tried to balance on the antennas on top of the other buildings and sat on several window sills while catching their breath.  They would fly around and around the building just at our 11th floor level and just below and just above.  The ravens came to bother them, so I do hope they all survived OK and got off on their own journey from here.  I could only get one photo of one on a window sill on the building to the south of us.  This one stayed there for a long time, it must have been very tired or afraid for awhile.

BIKE RIDE to LADENBURG
August 11th, I went for a nice bike ride.  The weather wasn't raining like the days before and after that so I was lucky to get out.  On the way I saw a bird in the road, just sitting there and not moving as I approached.   I thought, "that isn't good".  So I stopped and waited by it so no car would run it over.  Since it still didn't move, I picked it up with my bike sleeves and held it and talked to it.  It liked that.  After a while I set it down in a nice safe shady spot and it recovered and hopped away.  I hope it did OK.  Then I rode to the library downtown and rented a few DVD's.  Downtown isn't much fun to ride in and I had to walk in the most pedestrian crowded areas but after that I rode out to Ladenburg which is always a nice place to ride.   I took the small ferry for the first time, that was fun.

Many farmers plant various flowers in a patch next to the crops to attract bees I think.
This one had a patch of pretty sunflowers.

Here is one of the storks we see all over here in the fields.  I will miss these birds.

I saw this bird in the road.  I think it must have hit a mirror nearby and was stunned.

I picked it up and talked very nice and quiet to it.
Telling it that I would not hurt it and would help it.
I think it liked me.

I sat by it for a while in the shade and it seemed to recover.

I couldn't see any injuries but I will never know if it was totally OK.
It did hop off into the brush.

I think the bird flew into this mirror that was close to where the bird was sitting in the street.
What a shock that must have been for it, as it does look like you could fly through that.

I took the small ferry across the Neckar for .50 cents with a bike. 

The ferry can hold 6 cars.

Not a hard job.
Cars drive onto the ferry, another guy collects the money and this guy pushes the button and goes back to sleep.

The ferry runs on a chain that is submerged in the water.

This time there was a big flock of mallards in Ladenburg Park.