Days Between...

The days between Christmas and New Years are always a blur... they go by all too quickly, and yet each day is so long, and I savor the time of doing nothing... and while I can remember the date of the day, for some reason I lose track of which day of the week it is. I chalk this up to just total relaxation! We watch a lot of movies, and I usually read a lot of books which I never finish (either because I get bored with them quickly, or because by the time I'm in Chapter 3 I already know what the rest is about). It's also a time to take the dog on some leisurely walks...

... a few days ago we had our first real snow, and it too, caused the world to stand still for a few hours...

...I love those few days between as they help me to renew my strength to tackle all those things waiting for me in the new year. Happy New Year and Best Wishes for a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous 2013!

2012 Holidays

The Bishop family in Delaware wish you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year in 2013! From left: Michael, Johanna, Liesbeth, Ed, Sophia, and Phillip.

New Faucet

Some Christmas present create new work projects... with the best of intentions, the kids gave us a new kitchen faucet. Love the design of the faucet! It's very 21st century but we have a very 1980's decrepit kitchen... the intention is to redo it...someday... when I have time to devote to a serious remodel. The old faucet was duct-taped together, so any new faucet would be a great improvement!

Somehow, under-the-sink kitchen cabinets wind up collecting a lot of stuff, which you don't really realize is there anymore until you have to work under there! Of course, it took many bosses to take out the old faucet...

...and with no lack of respect for my guys, it was Sophia who finally solved the problem of removing the old faucet, which, according to the guys, wouldn't be off for a couple of days because we needed a new wrench (or something strong enough to remove the old one). This new MOEN faucet is a beauty... and I have to say a welcome improvement over what was there before! Now if I could just finish my dissertation so we could move on to that kitchen remodel... For right now, the new faucet will will be a welcome change to the duct-taped older model that was starting to spritz water from the seams! Thanks kids!

2012 Christmas Greetings

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Americans do Christmas almost as well as the Germans do. Christmas is visible everywhere... from wreaths on the door to festive open house events in historic towns everywhere.

Christmas is more than a day, it is a season beginning with Thanksgiving and ending on New Years... or at our house, until the day after my birthday (also known as the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6). It truly is a season of goodwill as many groups and organizations do a lot of charitable giving at this time of year. This is a season of reflection as we cherish our blessings and think about the future. I am thankful for my family and friends... and cherish our relationships! WISHING EVERYONE GOOD HEALTH, HAPPINESS, and PEACE OF MIND... and a very happy and prosperous 2013!

Anniversary Dinner 2012

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary, and as usual, we celebrate it by going out to dinner as a family. Every year our children remind us that we are unusual because in their circle of friends, there aren’t many parents who have been married as long as we have. When you think about it, it is amazing that we got married at all… given that my father rear-ended Ed’s Datsun 280Z on the way to church. It was a snowy wintry evening and ice, covered with snow, had covered most intersections. As Ed and I slowly came to a stop, he looked in his rear-view mirror and said “Oh sh--, here comes your Dad!” followed by a crash. Just so you can appreciate the car, here we are with Ed's well-loved Datsun... many years ago!

...and just to do homage to our days of being young, in love, and feeling oh so cool, here I am with the famous Datsun...

So I guess you could say that our marriage started with a bang! Quite unorthodox to be sure, but then that’s us…unorthodox people, just a bit out of the ordinary, who after so many years of marriage are still married! Each year we celebrate our anniversary by going out to dinner, with as many children home and available to join in. Of course, they're now all grown, but here they are when they were little...

So this is how I will remember our 2012 anniversary dinner…..conversation revolved around whether or not it was proper to use the modifier “very” in front the of the word “unique.” Opinions at the table were split almost 50-50 as one side argued for and the other against. My position (as a former English teacher) and that of Sophia’s friend Monique, was that “very” is a redundant word and should be eliminated from one’s vocabulary… but the other side saw different shades of unique, whereas I see “unique” as “unique” and not in need of “very.” It’s amazing how long this conversation went on through dinner, and before I knew it my kids were talking (again) about how they had summer projects to work on during summer vacations, and how for years (in their terms although I only remember is as being one summer) they had to study Indonesia. The way Phil and Lili spoke about this summer project makes it sound like punishment, when in reality they simply learned about different countries in the world. When they were little I had hung up a map of the world on the laundry room wall and all through the summer we talked about where different countries existed and where they could be seen on the map. Somehow this then led to discussions of Sophia’s 3rd grade cultural day project, of which she reminded me that she had chosen France to study and brought to school a model of the guillotine which she claims we made together with moveable parts. I confess that I had forgotten about that until she reminded me about it… but I can’t for the life of me remember why we chose to make a model of the guillotine as a 3rd grade school project! Conversations move quickly at the Bishop dinner table… and it makes my head spin just to keep up. Yes, my kids are opinionated about a lot of things… but I’m glad they have opinions, are able to reason well and, not afraid to speak up! While my Dad may have provided the bang to our wedding, it’s our kids who have provided the zest to the family!

Doing Christmas Cards

I have to admit that I'm known for skipping sending Christmas cards because some years it seems like a chore... but this year is different. I was inspired in Holland where I bought some Dutch Christmas cards to send out to American friends and family.

Of course, then I also needed to get American Christmas cards to send out to Dutch friends and family! I settled for Unicef cards figuring they'd also do some good for children somewhere.

When I do send out Christmas cards I also like to get out my stamps and decorate the envelopes. It may seem so silly, but I just love doing this! It always reminds me of my childhood in Holland where one year I received a stamping set from Sinterklaas. They were alphabet stamps, along with a few farm animals.

Guess some things from childhood always stay with us... like some children may remember a favorite toy or truck, I remember those stamps. This year I'm having fun sending Christmas cards!

Christmas Tree 2012

It's done, it's done, it's done! Alleluja!

Busy Week: Holland & Jessup's Tavern

This is what people ususally think of when anyone mentions Holland. I love this quaint part of Holland, and during my recent trip with my sister, we enjoyed much of Holland's history and old architecture. We arrived just a few days before St. Nicholas, as we know him, Sinterklaas day, and everywhere we went there were many "Zwarte Pieten." They are St. Nicholas' helpers and can be seen everywhere collecting money for the needy as well as handing out candy (pepernoten) to children who have been good.

Zwarte Piet is also known to capture bad little boys and girls and take them away in his sack... and when we were children we lived in as much fear of Zwarte Piet as we did relish the capture of the pepernoten he would throw about everywhere. It wasn't uncommon to be visiting an aunt or uncle, and have just Zwarte Piet's white gloved hand appear through the door throwing pepernoten our way, with a stern warning from our elders to be good, or else! It's a wonder that we all grew up fairly normal and well-adjusted. Both aunties from my mother's side had birthdays within days of each other, so naturally this was a warm family get-together. We also had a wonderful evening with my father's side of the family, as we visited with aunt, uncles, and cousins galore!

One afternoon we took the train to The Hague, and visited the Queen's throne room and the houses of parliament.

On my sister's "to-do" list was to eat croquetten, which we enjoyed one afternoon during a cousins outing in Rotterdam. We also saw the 1000 Years of Rotterdam exhibit in the Schieland Huis museum...

...and it was well worth the visit! It was there that I learned that Rotterdammers build their first dikes on the early 1300's... amazing!!! Our cousin then took us shopping in Middleburg, a small medieval town in the south of Holland...

and then to Zeeland, where she lives, and we enjoyed the one dry, sunny day of the week taking a dune walk along the North Sea...

...and then coffee and grocery shopping in the very small town of Haamstede... complete with a small castle!

We did see much more during this trip then we had planned, and it was fun, and gezellig, being with family again!

On Sunday we experienced lunch at Hotel New York in Rotterdam, where we enjoyed this great plate of oysters. Let me go on record to say that oysters from the North Sea do taste differently from oysters from the Chesapeake Bay.

Tuesday it was back to work, and every day since then it's been festive with lunch and dinner outings with my colleagues on the ethics commission and colleagues from work. Thus I was at Jessup's Tavern in Old New Castle twice this week. It's by far and away one of my favorite places.

The ambiance there is always great, and since the weather has been cold, the fireplace inside, even the fake one, just adds a warm feeling. Now it's on to finishing schoolwork and getting ready for Christmas!

Eggs Florentine

It's Sunday morning at the end of Thanksgiving weekend and so I must make my Eggs Florentine and Dutch Pancakes as a last hurrah to the weekend before various children depart. I have to give credit where credit is due because this recipe originally came from my sister. Through the years I have modified it somewhat by adding the hot sauce and making this completey vegetarian.

While the Eggs Florentine are in the oven, I make the Dutch pancakes, which take a longer while to take-- it's really an exercise in patience! This recipe is really in-exact, as it takes experience to learn how much milk and how much flour to add to the batter.

Usually the first 2-3 pancakes are too thick and when I get the "feel" for how they should be, then I adjust the batter with some more milk until it's just right. They are especially good with freshly whipped cream and fruit-- our favorite is blueberries.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! The sun is shining and the temperature will be in the fifties today, a warm and almost balmy Thanksgiving Day for Delaware. Thanksgiving Day seems to be everyone's favorite holiday and officially kicks off the holiday season in the USA. I begin the day with a cup of coffee and watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV. Ed's busy with the turkey, the kids are doing whatever it is they do, and I'm enjoying warm feet because I'm wearing my lovely slippers. What more could I want? Every winter I suffer from cold feet because Fawn won't let me wear anything on my feet around the house...

... she has this thing about always taking off my shoes and socks. She also carries my shoes into the middle of the family room and then guards them there. Guess she associates my wearing shoes with me leaving. For some reason, she hasn't bothered me about my new slippers yet-- so it will be a nice, warm Thanksgiving for my feet!

Mom's Taxi Service

It's the evening before Thanksgiving Day in the USA, and so I'm running "Mom's Taxi Service"! Already made a run up to the Philadelphia Airport to pick up Michael who flew in from San Diego. The airport was a zoo, of course! The worst part of the trip was driving to the airport, as traffic just screeches to a halt when 95 and 495 merge near Chester. From there it was a slow crawl to the airport. Thank goodness for the cell phone waiting lot! Got there early and enjoyed reading a book on my new Kindle paperwhite (makes me feel like a Nook traitor!). I even enjoyed watching the sunset as flights rolled in, were somewhat delayed, and cars lined up to fetch their human cargo. Now I am waiting for Sophia to come in on the Chinatown bus, which is notoriously unreliable and late! On the plus side is that it does make a stop in Wilmington, so I only have to take Fawn along with me to pick up her Mamma on 4th Street. Hopefully, this bus should get in by 11:30 PM, so I have enough time to make the jello salads before making the "taxi" run! In the USA, Thanksgiving weekend is the most heavily travelled day of the year...even more so than Christmas. It's my favorite holiday. No gifts or shopping craziness-- just a good meal with turkey as the central focus of the meal, and family togetherness. What could be more satisfying?

Judy 'N Me

Life is always good when an old and dear friend comes to town! Judy came up from Georgia where she is building a new nuclear power plant, and stopped in the Philadelphia area on her way North to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with her family. We met for breakfast at our usual place, the Sunrise Cafe in Kennett Square.

Judy is an amazing woman! She is a known authority in the nuclear power industry with expertise in training accreditation. She works in a man's world and has taken on some big challenges.

I can't express how good it was to see Judy! We even loved kissing the rooster!

Socks from Santa- Thoughts About the Holidays

The Nor'easter charged up the East Coast earlier this week and added insult to injury as North Jersey and NYC were blanketed with snow. Even my sister in Cape Cod had to rely on her generator to keep the lights on during those high winds. The irony of this is that I am teaching a new course in emergency management this semester! What timing! Those affected by the storms are in the process of cleaning up and salvaging what they can... Sophia was basically, as she likes to call it... "homeless" for 10 days while she crashed with friends in Harlem. Several of my Ripkanista friends have been without power for 12 days and trying to get back to some semblance of "normal." New York is an amazing place... the subways are running again! I never would have imagined that this 100+ year-old subway system could withstand the flooding. So now it occurred to me that we have just one weekend before Thanksgiving... which means a lot of getting ready to do. To put myself in the mood Santa began her socks-and-underwear shopping today!

My son said that he told his friends he has never bought socks or underwear ever in his life because Santa brings them every year! My girls are very picky about socks, and I have to have one of them with me to pick them out, or they write a detailed description about what to get and where to get it. In many ways the boys are so much easier! The socks are all stowed in the back of my closet... now let's hope that on Christmas Eve I will remember where I've put them.

Next Week's Nor'easter

As if the recent devastation from Hurricane Sandy wasn't enough, a major Nor'Easter is forming offshore and could impact the East Coast this week. Following a similar storm pattern as did Sandy, this storm would bring more high winds, rain, and snow to affected areas.

For my Dutch family and friends-- Nor'easters are storms with hurricane-force winds that circulate from the northeast combining with warm moist air from the south, and so these storms bring either much rain or snow. They also cause a lot of beach erosion at the shore. This weather pattern explains what I have been feeling and smelling in the air the last few days...it's gotten wintry-cold here, and the skies have been grey and overcast looking very much like winter. The air feels damp and it's bone-chilling cold. Let's hope the Jersey Shore and NYC are spared another blow!

Hurricane Sandy

As Hurricane Sandy barreled up the East Coast who would have thought that NYC would be flooded and experiencing the worst case scenario? With the tunnels into Manhattan completely flooded, and the subways as well, there is no way to get Sophia out.

She's crashing with friends in Harlem right now because her apartment was right near the substation that exploded in the lower East side.

Although she was technically in zone B, and stayed in her apartment throughout the night watching the storm come in and the waters rise, as soon as she stepped off the edge of the sidewalk she was in zone A-- the mandatory evacuation zone. The next morning she realized that living without power and water was not fun,

and so she took a cab to her friend's place. I'm sure it cost plenty as cabs or on foot were the only modes of transportation. Today the subway is partially up and running above 34th street, but she lives further down. Cell phone communications have been spotty, but she is able to get text messages through now and then (the cell phone carriers have experienced damage to their towers) or through FB. I asked if she needed a rescue effort from Delaware, but she assured us she's OK. Let's hope the big Apple gets back on its feet soon!

Submerged Bounty

The Bounty went down in Hurricane Sandy yesterday. The US Coast Guard was able to snap a picture of the Bounty as it lay submerged off the coast of Hatteras.

Contrary to earlier reports that said the entire crew was rescued, the captain of this ship is still missing.

In the Midst of This Storm-- The Bounty

For history buffs and movie afficionados-- here is a piece of history and trivia that may get lost... a replica of the HMS Bounty

is now a ghost ship at sea as the crew was forced to abandon ship when they lost power off the coast of Cape Hatteras during Hurricane Sandy. Click on the link (hover your mouse over Bounty) to read a detailed report by the London Mail online.

Sandy-- Moving Up the Coast

Sandy's moving up the coast.

Sandy's slowly making its way up the coast. The driving rains have started and the air temp definitely has chilled! The complicating factor for this storm is that it coincides with a full moon and that effects the the water levels at high tide. Also, there are two huge air masses, aka low-pressure storms, converging from the north and the west colliding with the hurricane. That's what's making Sandy so different. Nothing to do but wait...

Waiting for Sandy

The temps have already dropped and overnight we went from high sixties temps to low fifties with cold air coming from the north. Hurricane Sandy is making its way up the East Coast, and so hurricane preparations are underfoot. the yard furniture is stowed on the back deck, and I've laid in a supply of candles, matches, and batteries. By far and away, these Eddie Bauer flashlights and lanterns are my absolute favorites!

These little lanterns act as flashlights or lanterns. They can hang because there is a hook that slips out of the top handle, or they can stand on their own. I've bought quite a few of these little wonders, but they keep disappearing and I'm down to these two. The little green guy on the left is a generator-type flashlight with a smart little hand crank that needs to be wound about 150 cranks to make the light work. It's fabulous because this one doesn't require batteries, and actually the handcranking is not so bad! I've also bought enough candles to get us through the entire holiday season and more, and then, of course, there is the storing up on human and animal food in case the power goes out. The electronics are charging, and so now it's all about waiting...

The Grand Black Dress!

For weeks, (no--- months!) I have been agonizing over what I would wear to the Green and White Ball! Silly, you would say? Yes, except that this event is the most important fundraiser for students at Wilmington University. I agonized over where should I go to look for dresses.

Dress shopping is not my favorite thing to do... just the thought of it all seemed so time consuming and exhausting! Should I look for a little black dress (aka short black dress) or a grand black dress... meaning long black dress? Then, yesterday after work on a whim I stopped by a local bridal salon and voila! The very first dress I tried on was the one! Granted, I don't quite look like this...

...but I will make a respectable showing (I hope!). See you at the Green and White on the 27th?

This One Is for Lili

This one is for Lili, who, as my youngest child often laments that we have so few pictures of her as a baby! It's sad but true because we moved to Delaware when she was only 8 weeks old and I had a not quite 2 year old, 4 year old, and 11 year old to get situated in the move. But Lili, the pictures we do have are precious, and here you are with Oma and you were just a few days old (and yawning).

You were such a cutie pie...always smiling and happy!

And just look at this happy bunch! Seems like yesterday...