Anzac Day Memorial Service

Berlin 1939-45 War Cemetary

Heerstrasse 139

Berlin - Charlottenburg

The kids went to school today with lots of these for their classes, and a few extra for the token Aussie and NZ Teacher.

today's successful shopping trek

This week we have had trouble with ants...they have managed to climb up to the 3rd floor of our building into our kitchen...they bypassed both other neighbours and set upon us!

After finding out the right stuff to buy, and where to buy it, I finally found the stuff I needed "Amiesenkoeder" Lay these out, the ants will eat the poison and take the poison back to their nests and that should be that! (just like Aussie Ant Rid).

Next door was an Asian shop that has been recommended to me for different Asian and Indian foods, so I thought I would pop in and see what they had, before I start planning exotic dinners.This Asian shop had EVERYTHING...and I will be there often! Much to my delight they had soft brown sugar....and even better MILO!!!!

We ran out of our year supply of Milo about a month ago, and we all miss it! They are only small tins, and they cost more than I would normally pay for Milo...but we are desparate! This Milo is made in Kenya, so it will be interesting to see if it the same...we don't care....it's MILO!!!

Alexander is a Field Mouse in the school play this year....bugger...I really like it when he is a narrator, and I don't have to worry about making a costume! Off to Idee, and picked up a Burda pattern (lucky for "Carnival" they have a good selection of costumes to chose from.

I found some light grey and pink (pink for inside of ears) fabric. The costume is for a cat, but I can adapt this to a mouse surely....I know my cloth making sewing leads a lot to be desired....but surely it can't be that hard (instructions are in German, French and English).

I am thinking about making a separate pair of pants and a top, stitching the tail into the pants. It gets really hot on that middle school hall stage, so I don't want his to pass out from heat exhaustion! The Burda pattern uses the thick fur (not appropriate for Summer on the stage), so I had to think about how I was going to get the ears to stay upright....then I found these Bra Wires, and see what I can do with these...

stay tuned (you may hear me swearing from there when I begin cutting and sewing).

note....after 3 days of squishing ants in the kitchen, I bring home the Amiesenkoeder, and there is not an ant in sight....unbelievable!

Der Britzer Garten

Way over in the "old East" is this fabulous park, Britzer Garten

We were a little bit early for the tulips in bloom, but some of them were out.
In particular was this yellow type of tulip, from a distance it looked like a bunch of bananas hanging from a small tree!

It is a stunning garden, with lots of walking paths, small lakes, many playground areas, a "scenic train" runs through the grounds, and heaps of cafes scattered over 90 acres of parkland!

The kids had a great time, we found this hill, and they decided it was perfect to roll down, which they did over and over....unfortunately the last week we have had heaps of rain, so there were some very muddy patches down the bottom. So the kids were filthy...thanks good ness for stain remover! Anyway, they didn't care, and they had a great time!

and then you have to wak up the hill again to start again!

See Alexander's knitted socks...he loves them, but it is almost too warm to be wearing them now...he has requested some cotton ones for Summer!

and after the mandatory "sensible" photo, they want to do the madatory "silly" photo...thank goodness for digital cameras....

Lots of different playgrounds to explore. We walked for awhile and then we would stop at a playground for the kids to run around and play. This one, they dug a tunnel under the wooden house, made sand castles together.

See Cameron's glasses? He was having trouble seeing the white board at school, we got his eyes tested, and yes, he needed glasses (that would explain why he continued to get closer and closer to the TV! He is thrilled with them, and amazed at how he can see things now! He spent the 1st couple of days looking through his glasses, then lifting them up to see the difference! Thankfully they make fairly sturdy glasses for kids, and they survived the rolling down hills and jumping off small wooden houses!!

Outside the Garten are some "garden houses"..here is one of the gardens...I don't know what sort of comment I can add to this one, but it must be a real pain in the butt to mow the lawn.

Sue Me

For the past 2 weeks, (and for this week as well I think), some government, environment department is testing our streets around our house for underground movement (or something like that, the letter that came in the mail had lots of big German words that made no sense to me).

These wires and cords are EVERYWHERE!!! Even in the big round park up the street, there are cords just lying all over the park. I took the kids up there the other day to kick the footy, and spent all of 5 minutes there, because it was so easy to trip on them.

This is a good one, the black cord goes right across the footpath

After a few beers on Friday night, you could imagine all sorts of accidents just waiting to happen
2 pieces of yellow tape hold the cord down outside your gate.

Doesn't it just scream LAWSUIT