BIKE TO RHEIN AND LAMPERTHEIM
On Saturday morning we rode about 25 miles out west to the Rhein river then north to Lampertheim and then back through the Viernheim Wald and Kafertal Wald.  The weather was wonderful.  We had to stop to see the bison, who now have 3 babies.

Us at one of the stops along the Rhein river.

Viernheim Wald

South of Lampertheim

Kafertal Wald

Bison mommy and 3 kids

BIKE TO BERRIES
Last week I rode out to a place where we saw a lot of ripe black berries (Bromberries).  This patch I found is about half way to Ladenburg beside a gravel/pit yard.  Blackberries grow wild all over the place here but they are not always in a place easy to get to, to pick them.  This patch is really accessible along a small road.  I found that blackberry bushes are full of thorns, every part even way down to the berry, even on the backs of the leaves.  There are so many good ripe berries that are too high to reach, I need to find a portable ladder that I can take on my bike to get to them.  But I did get plenty within my reach.  I had my bike helmet and bike gloves on, that helped a little bit with protection from the mean thorns, but I still ended up with more little bleeding scratches than I do when I bathe 2 cats.  The berries are really good and I made a pie, and 2 cobblers.  We took the pie and first cobbler to the church BBQ on Saturday and didn't bring any home, that was good.  The second cobbler I made last night was better I thought, and Steve and I enjoyed it warm with vanilla ice cream.

The small road to Ladenburg and the berry bushes on the right.

You just start picking one by one.... 

soon the container is full!

and soon another container is full!
I spent about 2 hours picking berries.

There is a price to pay in blackberry stained fingers.

and stained finger nails and little thorns.

Berries after I washed them and put them on the counter on paper towels to dry.

Globes of juicy goodness. 

First cobbler, like a cake with berries on top, before it is baked.

Cobbler when done and sugar on top.

Blackberry pie.

SILK DRESS
Sister Lorz from our church gave me this piece of 100% pure silk from Thailand.  It was about 2 yards and I was able to squeeze a dress out of it by using smaller seam allowances and not going exactly on the grain and making the facing with 6 pieces instead of 3.  Silk is challenging to sew.  It is really slippery, it wants a very new sharp thin machine needle that I didn't have, it ravels like crazy, and it wants to have larger seam allowances that I wanted it to.  I ended up zig zagging every seam or using fray check on them.  But I think I can wear the dress and I do love the feel of real silk.  I'll wear it to church but I don't think it will hold up to a bike seat so I'll bring it in my basket and change into it when I get there.

2D image

3D image

Very little scraps

NORWAY TRIP

TO GET TO THE NORWAY BLOG GO TO:

http://susanssmith2013-norway.blogspot.com/


TO GET TO THE FIRST ENTRY OF THE NORWAY BLOG, GO TO:

http://susanssmith2013-norway.blogspot.com/2013/08/susanssmith2013-Norway.html

BIKE RIDE TO Käfertal Wald IN THE EVENING
After a hot day with thunder and lightning showers it cleared up so we went on a short evening ride to the Käfertal Wald forest to see the animals.  Most had already gone to sleep but we did get to see a few deer and fed them some carrots.  They love carrots.  Their antlers have really grown since we last visited them when Christina was here.

"Do you have more carrots for me?"

HOT WEATHER AND THUNDER & LIGHTNING
We have had several really hot days here, around 90 F or more.  I went for a swim in the lake yesterday to cool off.  It was really very nice and refreshing.  The cats have been like melted butter, hardly able to move.  Today it clouded up and we had a wonderful display of loud thunder, eye popping lightning and a heavy down poor of rain.  It cooled things off nicely.

Muffin is like melted butter.

VOLKSWAGEN CAR SHOW, BIKE RIDE TO MULBERRY ISLAND, SISTER MOON'S DINNER WITH US

On Saturday morning we rode our bikes to Steve's office to make some copies of some papers and on the way we ran across a Volkswagen car show.  I enjoyed seeing all the really nicely restores old cars and cute little campers that they have for the VW's.

There were these cute little campers they pull behind the VW's.
This guy also had a home made bike on the back.
I wouldn't mind having one of the campers but I'd pull it with a different car.

We saw many really nice camper vans

another cute camper with a pop up

Some of the VW's like this one had window fences.
I'm not sure if the fence is to keep birds out or kids in.
There is also a attachable window air conditioner on the drivers side.

there were also some new modern looking VW's

I remember Pat & Lee Heaton had a VW bus camper.
They took that camper all over the U.S. and Europe.

After the car show and the visit to the office we did the ride I did previously to Mulberry Island.  In addition to those sites we saw a horse getting new shoes at the horse riding school on the island and some cute dogs getting to play in the river.

A big horse getting new shoes.

other horses use for riders at the school

I thought this one had a beautiful 2 tone hair color.

Chocolate Lab loving the river and fetching sticks.

In the evening, we invited Sister Lauren Moon and Sister Samantha Smith over for dinner and a walk around the lake.  Sister Moon is ending her mission here in Germany next week and will be flying back to the U.S. on Friday.  I made them an american meal of meatloaf, potatoes au gratin, jello salad, and a fresh peach pie that we put vanilla ice cream on.

Sister Moon about to pluck a feather from the swan in the lake and Sister Smith.

Sister Moon and Sister Smith

PAINTING MANUELLA AND DAVID'S APARTMENT
Manuella and David are getting married next month.  They have just rented an apartment so on Friday a few of us went over to help them paint it.  I left before it was finished that day but maybe sometime we'll go back and see the end results.

David in the kitchen before painting.

Sister Moon and Sister Smith and Elder Elsworth in the hall

Sister Moon and Sister Smith and Elder Elsworth in the hall

Looking out the bedroom window into the back.
I noticed that all the apartments on the left have the TV dishes.

Living room before paint

Looking out the living room window

doing the ceiling white

Manuella doing the walls golden "gelb".

David's mom and little sister

David's mom, little sister and Manuella

Sister Moon and Elder Elsworth looking into the kitchen