Remember the older posts are at the bottom, even if you haven't seen 'em. Check the archives too...

fancy german hand dryers




how germany looks to jack




hofbrau haus mural. And yes, they serve pork.



This is what happens when you drink.



Just don't call them "an Oohmpa loompah band," Caroline!

Caroline, you are bad. This is what happens when Ruth and Caroline eat together in the Hofbrau house. And this is after Caroline had just one wee Radler (that's beer mixed with lemonade, check it.)






This is the table we were sitting at.




This is how far I got into carving JL +RL before I was stopped by the geSTOPpo. No, for real though. They really did stop me from carving in the table. Seriously.



New meaning to the term "greenhouse." Get it? GREEN house? HA HA HA HA HA HA HA. I just thought of that myself, and no, you can't use it.



For some reason this made me think of The Phyllis.

munich during oktoberfest

us



Ruth and Jack in their natural habitat



typical metro scene in Munich during Ocktoberfest







German heaven

they kick it nude over here in the park.





Stop looking so close at that picture up there and try to pay attention. this is a photo of a fountain decorated entirely out of shells. Kind of puts mine in Florida to shame.



detail of a fish head on that same fountain





jack and michael- he shared his traveling knowledge with us. Thanks, Michael, and thanks Michele for making the introduction.



Michael, me, and Ruth as she looks nuts in the Egyptian exhibit in Munich

surfers in munchie land

The latest:
this is pretty sweet. These guys do this all day, or rather people come through here to do this all day, it seems. It's illegal, and there's a strong current, and people die here after hitting their heads on the rocks and drowning every year, but it still goes on and it's still sweet. the story is that american GIs started this after wwII while occupying, and no one has cracked down since.

accordion dude kickin it on da strasse

The latest:

Wow, thanks!/Anyone have access to blueprint software?

That was kickass. Really cool of you all to subscribe to the blog. That makes something that was pretty fun already way more fun all of a sudden. We're not quite ready to put up pics and text yet (we uploaded them from the camera yesterday, I think there were almost 5000 we have to go through. Don't worry, we'll pare that down to like, 10 to put up. Or something.), it'll be a few days yet, we have to get over to Kalamazoo before we get on this blog business, but I just wanted to get on here and say thanky to those new people signing up, and another shout out and a thanks to those who were already subscribed, you know who you are. Don't change babe. You're beautiful. What a great crowd. Good night Cleveland!

I can't frickin' WAIT to get some plans up here of what we'll build, we should have the drawings done and submitted for permits before the end of the year. IF anyone has any blueprint drawing software, hook a brotha up, because I'm going to do the engineering and that stuff myself, and bump the architect out of the mix, and try to get a Bahamian architect to stamp it, which is necessary. These types o research are slow and tedious, but we can assure you, the ship is creepin' along. We're working on the plans as well as the finances at the moment, trying to parlay the remainder of our equity in our house into actual cash to get started in the spring. If we come up light, no matter,we'll clear the lot,get utilities and put up a temporary hovel,like 20x20 cottage till the rest is squared away.

I was talking to this cat who was offering us a steel building that we would use for the second story half price, it was 30x40 with a 12' ceiling, but we missed the boat on that one, they wanted the deposit within a few days from when he notified me. I figured better to keep researching than to jump in to early. They're supposed to be pretty nice though, roomy, clearspan buildings that are relatively easy to assemble, cheap, galvalum steel that has a 40 year rust guarantee and built to withstand 160 mph (category 5 hurricane) winds.

Oh, one more thing: we got the deed/titlework to the lot in the mail yesterday!!!! About forty pages of original deed documents, all with stamps, showing the real history of the lot and all of the people that owned it going back, including death certificates from when it passed from one to another, etc. Crazy stuff. Time to get that vault I've had my eye on, I guess.

Okay, had to say muh thanks and share the good news. Keep on rockin'.
Jack

We am back. Am very glad see you all we are. must dogs pickup. blog post much later photo also yes. things do yes must myself. dogs. dogs. yes, dogs, yes.


DOGS. YES.

Still the same day as the post below

I just decided to change subjects (finally, eh?) and post it just to make sure it wasn't lost somehow. SO anyway, I was going to start rambling about Bulgaria, and i got lost in the brambles of my other rambles.

Great times in Sofia. Things I'm enjoying now include the sound of the pool balls at the table, the guy next to me typing hunt and peck style faster than I've ever seen it done, the accents of those speaking their different Englishes, since it seems to be the universal language at this point, the guy on the other side of me rolling a cigarette, the hordes (legions?) of pigeons outside vying with the swarms (tempest?) of cats outside for scraps that a lady throws out her window. Ruth over on the couch blogging. Having no plans. Looking forward to seeing you fine people. The unveiling of this mystery of these eastern countries (not very even)and the conversations of those who've been traveling to Turkey and Syria who say how beautiful they are, how they feel safer there than anywhere they've ever been, and basically dispelling my ignorance and broadening my horizons. Including dispelling the hype I've heard about other place forever, and more recent hype b.s. like how insanely dangerous Mexico is (lie), etc. I guess fearmongering sells newspapers, but even if I was a newspaperman, I still don't think it would be worth it to make so many people afraid of each other unnnecessarily.

We'd like to come back. To ski. To hike. To travel further. Maybe on bike. Maybe hitchhiking (yes, it's actually safe here). To see Bran castle. To see the castle at Rasnov, or wherever. To go to Varna on the Black sea. To go to the rest of Romania, which is supposed to be beautiful, poor, and kind. the people there bring you into their homes, I hear, and feed you, and refuse to take anything as payment. It's just considered normal. Sounds like the Bahamas. Sigh. I miss it!

Ruth has been compiling her blogs in a notebook, and I have been mostly taking pictures, and thought I'd tell about them when i post them, and have not been keeping notes. I hope you'll forgive us for being so lax. I promise we'll post a ton when we get home, lame as that is.

Lots of love. I think there are still some of you who need your keys for the house in the Bahamas. Forgive me for being so lame and losing track. I hope you'll have faith and know if you're reading this, and care enough about us to bother, that we care about you too, and that that place will be built for you to enjoy too. Just hang in there. We're actually moving forward, believe it or not.

your friend,

Jack

October something or other

Ruth and i will be back home on time as planned. We checked into changing our tickets, and the punchline is that it would be $2200 each, and some change. While this is mere chickenfeed to high rollers such as ourselves, we figure we should get back and hug the dogs. Also, Ruth's bad paw is bothering her, so she's limping about (we've been hanging out with some Limeys, could you tell?)and my knee is a problem for some reason, since it started making this funny popping noise when we were in Florida. Not funny like a mean clown, but more like a sad, broken clown. So I'm limping and she's limping, it's pretty funny actually. So yeah. There's that. So we realize there's so much to see here in Bulgaria that we had no idea existed, that we realize we really will need to come back here.

Honestly, I don't feel that way about most of Europe, or most places I've been, though I'm glad to have been there, unless to visit specific people, but Bulgaria is pretty awesome for a number of reasons:

It's cheap. Very cheap. Dinner in a chinese restaurant last night was like $2.50. Teachers get paid 45 liva a week here. Like 30 dollars. So stop complaining about this "recession" already. I was sick of it when it started. We're all so spoiled it's sick. We have 100 times more than we need to eat and stay warm and comfortable, but we complain when we get down to only having 90 times more than we need to eat. Anyway, Bulgaria's strengths: it's cheap. Besides just making the feeling of panic go away that you get in say, Italy, when you order a cup of coffee and find out it's like $7.00 U.S. , you have the feeling of freedom that you acquire when you can look at a menu and know you can afford the food they're selling, and not only that, but you'll be able to do it again next time you're hungry. That's quite a nice feeling. So, feeling like that, with a little spring in your step, you look around you and you think: "I could afford to go take a bus to that mountain to hike it." Or "I'll buy a 2 liter of beer (like $1.00 U.S.) and share it. And you feel okay because the people next to you are doing the same, for you and for each other. And you're staying in a hostel that everyone is grateful for and can afford, and money kind of loses it's meaning in a way for a moment, like you can stop hoarding it and just relax. I love that feeling. Last night, Ruth and Andy (New Zealander buddy)and I went out to eat Chinese in the afternoon (it was close for us peglegs), and we hadn't eaten yet that day, so we were pretty ravenous. Andy and I each ordered something from the menu, plus some sides, and Ruth and ordered two things. Then we ordered fried bread. 13 cents each, I think, and so I ordered 3, thinking that it would be right for the three of us, and thinking it was 3 slices. Andy had already ordered 5 that I hadn't heard. It turns out they were small loaves. Eight! Plus dumplings, plus all this other. And when it came, each could have gone far enough to feed the three of us, it was really nuts. But we wrapped it up and brought it back to the hostel to give away, but everyone had free spaghetti, so there was just a huge abundance. And we gave the dumplings to the cats, because cats love Bulgarian dumplings. ANd it was really nice.

So here we are. In a former totalitarian communist state, in a hostel that had been an inn that had been seized and it's owners exiled, living some kind of socialism-lite.

To go off on a political tangent for a little, and I would like to hear your comments and thoughts, since you're reading mine and you deserve your counterpoints to my rants, but I do think there's a huge difference between communism and communism practiced by a totalitarian tyranny. That is, I think that communism is actually quite nice in some ways, and could be viable in some forms. Namely, if it was done in small groups where the people felt the social pressure to pull their weight and contribute so you don't have deadbeats, and second, if you can kick deadbeats out, distinguished of course, from those who are unable to contribute. I would contend too that those unable to produce and contribute in a capitalistic economy are only able to survive due to the vestiges of communism or socialism that occur within it. That is, disability, social security, medicare, FHA, group homes, and even libraries and any other "community" treasure are forms of socialism or communism. I'll go further and say too that (something I've been thinking for years) that I personally feel more compelled to contribute and produce when I'm actually helping someone rather than just chasing money and then hoarding it. In my case, I would rather work for free for someone I love (you) than to be paid exorbitantly. I also would rather share what I have with those I care about (again, you) than to own it myself. I could go even further and spell out all of my contentions regarding how wrong capitalism is, but I'll spare you, unless anyone reading would like to discuss it, which I'd be glad to do. I care about this subject a lot, but it's largely academic to discuss, so pretty pointless here. Anyway, let me know if you're down for a beer and a talk, and I'll offer my exhibit A by buying the first round. Bottom line is I'm calling "bullshit" on the inherent badness of the bad word of communism, and pointing out that it's not sharing that was a problem, even here. But the crushing power with which it was administered and the complete lack of justice associated with it, and the scale it was done in. As far as communist USSR goes, you couldn't pay me enough to get involved (wink) but I'd do it on a small scale with our people any day. Yeah, I trust you that much.



ANYWAY, I know I know. This is a blog of whatever, and this is not appropriate here, but it's also a blog of our lives and our thoughts, feelings, reflections, and reactions, right or wrong, and the chronicle thereof. So yeah, it's all part of the same thing. And not to point out the obvious, but those of you reading, our friends and family, are reading this because it started as a chronicle of our trip, but continued because it is a chronicle of our lives as they point toward the defining event of finally building a place that we will all share, communally, socially, but which will be bought via capitalism and sustained in that same way, probably by renting rooms sometimes when you and we are not using it. So, yeah, these thoughts and political ideas are all wrapped up in this Bahamas building.

There's a lot of other things about Bulgaria that inspire me in how we'll proceed n the Bahamas, and very specifically, about this hostel. I know I never finished talking about why we need to return to Bulgaria, but let me continue my series of digressions by mentioning a few more things I like about this crib.

Easy maintenace tile floors. Common free computers. Free pool. Events boards, info and local stuff of interest that people leave for others. Guest books, not unlike ours at Shady Rest. Thank you notes stuck around the walls and the desks. Free books (for trade, really) on the honor system. A big place for everyone to flop on together. Basically a 15x15 square with a TV, books, and dominoes and tons of pillows. A guitar hanging as a decoration from the ceiling that you can grab and play. Communal kitchen and meals, and people giving away their extras of things they've purchased. A note in the bathroom to please keep it clean for your fellow travelers, and it is. a stereo people can play music on if they like. The good manners that people employ, taking short turns on the computers (unlike me now), a basket for people to share leftover shampoo by the showers, and generally, all kinds of things that are offered and shared freely by people who all get to enjoy the wealth of the group and really no hoarding. The people working here get a place to stay, and very little more, yet they are very kind, generous, and outgoing. There's a level of consideration that's remarkable, and that you do see in hostels often, where there is a ton of diversity, outgoing warmth, humor and general spirit of conviviality. I honestly have not seen one frown, heard a grumbled remark, seen anything with anyone's name etched into it, or even anything secured against theft, except the locks to the sleeping areas, the street, and on the lockers for valuables. It's great to have so much available to so many broke people and yet none of it has to be nailed down. Could it be because it's offered so freely and everyone has use of it already, so thers' no need to try to hoard? I think they're onto something here. I think the buccaneer road place will be similiar, or hope. But man, i have to think, if strangers of all nationalities can have this much of a positive, gracious, safe, fun time together here, I can't WAIT to see how all of our family and friends are going to be when they get in the same building and cook, eat, play together. Recipe for magic. I'm so excited I can hardly take it.

Woof, and more

the short list:

been thinking a lot about the bahamas, and what to build, and how. We think we've homed in pretty close to what the floorplan will looklike, what the construction techniques will be, etc. it will be a galvalum metal barracks style dome, lotsa windows, one large open main floor witha a kitchen and living room, large doorwalls facing the water, and a porch on the west side of the house, and stairs on the south porch leading up to a balcony 16 feet above ground level, perhaps 20x20. the basement/ground floor will be concrete, 4 rooms facing the water, and 4 small bedrooms across the hall, with other rooms (weight, music, bath) further back. It will be dug into the hill, but freestanding with a walkway between it and the retaining wall that holds the dirt fromt he hill back. On the east side the walkway will be 12 feet wide to accomodate the parking of two vehicles, the boat and the truck. More detail on that later.

We are in: bulgaria, sofia, "Mostel Hostel." Very very nice, free breakfast and dinner, beer, internet, laundry (3$) all for $10 U.S. Wowee. Lovin it.

TRying to change our flight to delay our return a week.

More detail and blogging soon. Must get beer.

Love you all, and miss most of you.

Just kidding. Miss you all too. I feel like a bad father to our dogs for leaving them, but feel it was my duty to come here to be a good husband to Ruth, besides loving the adventure myself.

We\re staying at the Mostel Hostel at least one more night. At least one more post should be forthcoming.

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE WOOF CHEERS! PROST! WOOF!

we're in an internet cafe, and i aint been keepin so good a notes. so i was gonna post photos and just comment on em which i like doing more anymore because the other way i just end up finding my way back to ranting about george bush who was the worst president ever and i'm talking about the son especially because not only... \\

wait. i was gonna skip the rant. okay. the photos. i can't post 'em. howevs, i'll give you a list of some things you'll see later:\\

wormland
the egyptian museum exhibit in munich where the dead people live
our good times with michael, michele's old buddy who took the day to show us around. very cool guy. \
sweet brass and banjo band in the english garden, munich
a pig knuckle on my plate
plum pudding\
drunken germans
drunken americans
drunken german americans
german dogs
austrian dogs
polish dogs.
polish sausage and hot dogs
hungarian dogs
hungry dogs
the terror museum\
italian dogs
grecian dogs
crazy churches
ruth throwing food down caroline's shirt
americans watching
ruth and caroline dancing in a fountain
grimace devouring a child. i think this was a reference to goya's "saturn devouring his children"
hookahs
construction techniques and architectural differences in various places
flattering portraits of stalin
torture chambers of his handsomeness
awesome food ala Vesna's Vienna cafe on Mack ave. near wayburn
graffiti stencils of joe strummer
crazy toilets
toasthead man\
awesome sculptures of perseus and some other dudes tearing shit up
the mask museum in vienna
pro obama graffiti
pictures of my crazy coins i bought, including 1944 nazi pennies
pitbulls and other dogs
ruth and me eating on the sidewalks fruit and bread, etc.
photos of tshirts that cost the equivalent of us 75$ saying "fuck the crisis"
photos from the erotik museum, including suggestive imagery from ancient japan, etc.
turka cola
graffiti, everywhere graffiti
people we met
dogs we met




photos from auschwitz
piles of human hair, glasses, children's shoes
claw marks on the walls of the gas chamber
photos of "zdzislaw morawski" a prisoner who died at auschwitz, likely a relative of the murawskis.



pause








pictures of yvonne, astrid, matthias and chris
pictures of chris's little piece of heaven on earth, muhlhausen
fabilous desserts
fabulous deserts
duck dich
haike
philip
sousa
christian
johanna
houses built across a bridge
more dogs\more icecream
no nazi graffiti
yes vcr graffiti
my new fake fur hat
eddi croco condoms (mit "prickelknoppen!")
photos and videos fromt he trains at night
venice, which was flooded when we went there
the tiles at st. marks cathedral (wowsers)
me smoking cigars, eating pork chops and drinking beer
something called the "colliseum" which is like a big building or something
holy dang dance party stickers everywhere
the smiling face of my pretty wife
picassos and other art at the peggy guggenheim
the capuchin monk's bone sculptures, Rome which was insane

more later. gotta go!

good times

okaz, before i go further, i will saz that that the austrians use y and z in the opposite places on their kezboards, so just flip em around in zour brain. it#s driving me crayz trzing to correct all these zs and ys. we left munich zesterdaz, took the overnight train to vienna, but because we decided we wanted to sleep more, we just continued onto budapest, walked all around and bought cheap food (turkish as usual) i had something amaying but all i can tell zou is it had chopped gzro meat, red cabbage that was verz fresh, spicz red sauce on bread, and it was like being back on mack avenue in grosse pointe park and having Vesna there chatting it up at the Vienna Cafe, still the single most underrated restaurant in all of detroit in mz humble opinion.

we went to the TERROR MUSEUM which was reallz nuts. prettz much a historz of the nazi occupation and then the arrow cross occupation, and then the soviet occupation, all of which used that building as their headquarters for torturing and hanging dissidents. It started as one buiolding, but then turned into labyrinths under the whole block for the cells. incrediblz scarz stuff. I think two dazs would be a nightmare, but I canät imagine if those two dazs turned into 5 years. The communists reallz got nastz after Lenin was gone and under Stalin it sounded like it was a reallz insane terror-state. I#d like to do a lot more reading about Stalinist USSR, something we donät learn much of. Iäve heard that he was much worse than Hitler, but there isnät as much documentation and as much outcrz because the violence was directed within, as opposed to Hitler takeing the Jews from Poland, Jews and Gypsies from Romania and hungary, as well as from within. Anzwaz, itäs all verz interesting, and waz too sober a subject ot explore here. Iäll just understate by saying it was overwhelming to see this monument to the horrors these people endured.


We miss zu all verz much, and Ruth and I are off to check out some museums. Then itäs Prague (Praha) tomorrow, then Krakau, Poland, possibly Berlin, and then Mulhausen for Chris Lison#s birthday. Heäs going to be 25!!!!#

hugs, kisses, and all that rot.

JL and the Ruther

we raced back tot he trains station just in time to jump on, and here in budapest, we went out to a techno club, hung out at the hostel, and now just overlz indulged in their free breakfast buffet(including a few sandwiches we made and stuck in our bags when no one was looking - SSSSSHHHHHH!!!)

Now weäre off to the musik museum which is supposed to be verz interactive, then onto the anthropological museum to see monteyumaäs headdress, of all things.

view of oktoberfest from the ferris wheel. WNot sure where they got the name for this event, but it was a lot of fun, let me assure you.




Everythings a little different over here. Like this shot glass for instance. Their liquor tastes horrible, but they were quite neighborly for putting a mint in it for ya.



Painting some cat was selling. I liked muchly.



"running man" sculpture with a hot woman in the picture horsin' around.



Okay, this is us getting on the "fahrt zur holle" It was pretty much a haunted house, but the funny thing that happened while we were on it was that after Ruth and I had been deprived of each other's exclusive company for literally several hours, we got on this thing. riding around, it snapped a picture of us halfway, I guess to get the terrified look on our faces, except it caught me with my hand down Ruth's durndl and her hand down my lederhosen. Well, if we weren't surprised when it was taken, we were when we saw it.



This is Ruth and Caroline taking their own picture from the "swinger" as it's Known to us in the states. I didn't have the sack to get on this thing. Cheers to the brave ones. The women.



thees be some purty lahts




This pretzel bling is for the women to wear between their um, charms on Octoberfest to give the the gawking men something to pretend they're looking at. It's kind of shocking for the rest of us, like everyone wearing push up bras that are light on the bras everwhere you try to run. The male equivalent would be all the men wearing their testicles outside their pants that day, even more than normal. It was quite shocking and horrible and we were all very upset and offended and we will not soon feel the heal upon our scars. Oh yeah. They love pretzels here.

"photos" captions by JL

I call this piece "pillow faced skinny leg lederhosen man"




Aaron, Brook Ruth and Jack in our getups. I think this was taken as Ruth was trying a the famous German "mustard dessert"



they tell me this is what i look like when I sleep



this stuff is pure crap. It's half coke, half orange. It's really as bad as it sounds, and that ticket is to get my euro back when I return the bottle, which is about a buck and a half deposit. I applaud the effort though. those Germans have licked pollution on the ground, maybe someone could teach them about beverages. Like maybe someone could invent a German version of our so- called "beer."





Manu, Britney and Caroline

brat



that's a keg on his hat.




me and my new pal




this is the fisher price shirt we got for C for her birthday. We all remembered actually playing with these when we were kids. I just remember that I called the freckle faced one "sparky" because he was a pyromaniac





this was outside the ride called the "fahrt zur holle." I can't think of any funny jokes to make about that name, so you'll just have to do your own. I will say though, that if Hell was really as cool as that ride, with this guy hanging out, I probably would have been more religious. I just always figured it was something really horrible, like reading blogs. whoops.

everybody's wearing durndls these days



cute kid at octoberfest. Man, that girl could drink!



some chickens





now thatsa pizza!




Caroline and her buddy Brook showing off their new outfits

this is what happens when you drink



Caroline and Aaron being freaky. it happens when you drink





This is floor tile in this restaurant we ate in yesterday. I gotta get the pictures of the pizza they had there up on here.



this is a gift we got caroline to help her drink more




this is up on the bar at Club Fabrik. It used to be a factory I guess. This is what happens when you drink.

A start on some photos for yas.

Ruth and Jack planning our next move: the takeover of the world



The cake that Caroline's grateful employer got for her birthday. It was quite something, let me tell ya.



The floats in the parade were a little different than we have in Detroit on Thankgsiving. Like we might have say, Cap'n Crunch ridinga flying saucer and pounding oversized mustard while he whips his elves, they just drive around with float after float of dudes hauling sparsely decorated kegs of beer around. Beer kegs, band, scantily clad women, beer kegs, brass band, scantily clad women, etc. etc. Kind of hard to watch after a while . After the first two hours the crowd's attention seemed to appear that it might wane if it kept any longer than a couple more days. They're a very simple people. Meat. Beer. Sex. Engineering. Taking over the world. What else is there, if you really think about it?




Here's the crowded beer tent. Good luck getting one of those fabled "beers."




Here's what it llooked like in there the day before.



Oi. Hola. Ay. Arr. Etc.

J here.


Today is... (pause while I ask) Sunday. We've been here since Wednesday. So far we have had the following malfungtions. Can't remember what day it is. J got sick. Ruth got sick. Caroline got sick. J getting sick again. Aaron alive and well, missed a couple planes tranes and automobiles to get here but got in for a quality time. I bought the Eurail "asaver" not the "flexi" and turns out it was the wrong bpass, so tomorrow we need to exchange it. The memorty card in the camera crapped out so we assume our first 4 days of pix ar lost. So, what follows witll be some since then. As in, since yedsterday morning. Again, sorry for te typos. (no delete key as I mentioned earlier, and below). Going to meet MIcheles friend Michael for Lunch to say hello.

What else? OCtover fest yesterday started (that's how they say , spell and capitalize it here). The place was MAD. We had a great time with Aaron, walking and chatting, and cautht the parade in the a.am, but blelieve it or not, it was very difficult to get beer there. You can only get it at a table, and the tables fwere full, and the tents were waiting room for the tables basically. We did get one each finally. Symbolic, largely.

I think I'll put the photos in and just add captions, since I think they will tell the story of th eday best.

Okay, love. Jack OUT. Sue adn Dave, if you are reading this: thank you AGAIN so much for watching our beloved hunden (my guess as to how they say it here), and please give them our regards, our love, our kisses, hugs, and any other sweet everythings that you feel are appropriate. We are so glad they are with people we love and trust and without you, we couldn't be here. Thank you. Thank you.

Jack really OUT.

we made it, and all that rot

Okay everybody. We're here. Don't a go call the c oast guard and such. Safe and sound. Not a hair on our heads mussed even. Oh, before I go further. GaCarolyine's delete key is bust so I'm not going to correct my mistakes as I go. Like her name. Avbove there. It's her birthdya by the way. Wish the old girl a (and a I do mean old) a good one.

It's Thursday they tell me. I started with "Monday?" and went from there. I LOVE never knowing what day it is. I'm fairly sure it's (I literally had to and still am thikniking as I type) it's SEPTEMBER. Yup. That's it.

Two

Man I wish her delete key worked. I'm dtoo lazy to go back an ighighlight each mistake. And that's LAZY. Okay I gotta tell chris we awanna come early to visity, and I have to eamail someont to clall my pore ole musdder to tell her we're safe.

XOXO. GOt some sweet pictures to put up. They'll be following shortly. These Germans are hilarious as I remember...

another xoxoxox and another hugh (whoops, I wouldnt' wish that on anyone)hug to Laura for getting me this backpack I'm still using 20 years later. I would have neber bought that myself. You know me well, as being an extremely cheap (I mean THRIFTY)bastard (I mean fellow.).

Later
Jackle Smamckle