And the Winner is ...

Last Monday, my Toastmasters club held a Humorous Speech contest. I decided to participate for the first time ever with my speech "Confessions of a Baseball Wife." After all, I had already given the speech while working on my Entertaining Speaker manual and had won First Place in the In Other Words contest at the Pennwriters Conference 2011.
Indeed, I beat two award-winning speakers to win First Place in my club! I will now advance to the area contest.

At the Falconry

During my trip to Germany, I wanted to do some sight-seeing. After all, I finally had wheels at my disposal. But the weather threw a wrench in my plans, especially during the first week. It rained at least part of the day, making it hard to plan any trips. The second week, my brother and I ventured to a nearby wild animal park/falconry.
Of course, I didn't take my SLR and the 400mm lens along because it wasn't a birding trip. Therefore, I only took a few photos of stationary birds with my advanced consumer camera . The raptor pictured here is a steppe eagle. There were many raptors at Wildpark Potzberg, including a Stellar's Sea Eagle and a Bald Eagle. The flight show lasted an hour. Located on the tallest hill around, the raptors took advantage of thermals to perform their flights. Raptors weren't the only attractions there. We saw elks, reindeer, pheasants, and cranes, to name a few. It was an enjoyable afternoon and - most importantly - the rain held off until we headed home.

Party Time

I recently traveled to Germany to celebrate my dad's 85th birthday, which happened to fall on a Sunday. The week leading up to the event was an anxious one for several members of my family. My niece frantically studied for her final oral exam at university. My aunt was in the hospital for a heart catheder and other heart tests. My mother was undergoing skin cancer treatments. And I was fretfully awaiting the arrival of my suitcase.
Two days before the big day, my niece passed her exam with flying colors and is now a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. She will go on to get her Masters degree. Way to go, Alex!
A day before the big day my aunt was released from the hospital. She was able to come to the party, provided that someone picked her up because she was not allowed to drive yet. I came to the rescue, since I happened to have a rental car.
And so we had plenty of reasons to celebrate, and neighbors and friends stopped by for a visit. Then we headed to a restaurant for a leisurely lunch before having coffee and cake at home. It was a good day to stay inside because the weather was cold and rainy.
Two days before my departure, my nephew celebrated his 24th birthday with a big bash at home. It was a great way to end my visit, but it was bittersweet for me because I had to big goodbye to my family the same day.

I Still Got It

Once I safely arrived in Germany, I faced another challenge: I had a rental car at my disposal. That meant that, for the first time in 16 years, I had to navigate German roads. Not only are German roads much narrover than American roads, there are also parked cars left and right. It was not unusual to count seven cars in close proximity on the same side of the road. Add to that the traffic circles that have popped up around nearly every village and it all makes for interesting driving.
It didn't take me long to get used to it and I enjoyed the freedom that a car afforded me. I was not dependent on public buses anymore and could visit friends in villages off the beaten path. Next time, I will definitely consider a rental car again. Hopefully, the weather will allow me to do more sight-seeing than during my recent cold and rainy visit.

Something is Missing

My Lufthansa flight from Philadelphia to Frankfurt was enjoyable, if you can call two sleepless nights in a row enjoyable. No one sat next to me, so I could spread out my belongings and stretch my legs. Dinner was edible, the hot towels divine, and my window seat provided a view of the East Coast.
When I landed in Frankfurt, however, the carousel at baggage claim stopped without spitting out my suitcase. I had to file a missing baggage report and the clerk gave me an emergency kit with toiletries and 50 Euros to buy necessities. I also learned that another flight from Philadelphia was going to land in an hour and decided to wait, just in case my suitcase had made it on that plane. It had not.
Luckily, my family had learned my new arrival time and my ride waited patiently for me. During the next few days, I called Lufthansa twice a day to learn that "This happens frequently on this route!" Oh? This is business as usual? Finally, on Wednesday my brother saw on the Internet that my suitcase had arrived in Frankfurt. I was relieved, because I had fretted quite a bit over the thought of filing lost luggage claims. It took another day to make it to my parents' house. I was never so overjoyed at seeing my luggage. The final insult, though, was that my suitcase had a "Rush" tag on it. It is quite a stretch to call a four-day delay a rush.
In the meantime, I was washing my few items of clothing I had packed in my carry-on case. In an odd way, I was glad that airlines now charge exorbitant amounts of money for a second piece of baggage. That way, I had at least a few changes of clothes and an extra pair of shoes to wear while waiting for my luggage. And I had a lot to tell my friends at our get-togethers...

Sleepless in Charlotte

When I decided to celebrate my dad's 85th birthday in Germany, I had no idea what I was in for. After all, I had crossed the Atlantic quite a few times before without any problems. Not this time.
The flight from Pittsburgh to Charlotte was uneventful. The trouble began after boarding the flight to Frankfurt. Two hours later, we still hadn't moved, supposedly because there was an engine problem and the crew had to check off their checklist. About one hour after taking off from Charlotte, the pilot announced that we had to return to Charlotte because the air over Frankfurt was cold and the sensor of the deicer was not working properly. BUT, the plane was too heavy to land and that we had to dump fuel first. After several hours of rough flying at different altitudes we landed back in Charlotte. We were instructed to stay at the gate because the problem should be fixed in 30 minutes or so. I quickly called my husband - who wrongly assumed that I had already landed in Germany - to contact my ride in Germany before making an unnecessary trip to the airport.
After 30 minutes of waiting, we were told it would take another 45 minutes. Then, the work crew had reached their time limit and another one had to be called in. But, not to worry. They provided food (since when are pretzels a food group?) and beverages for us while we waited. And waited. Meanwhile, the last restaurant in our concourse had long closed its doors. Around four o'clock in the morning, passengers began to revolt and finally the airline decided to cancel the flight entirely. We had to stand in line to rebook flights with the promise that the airline would reimburse us for our hotel up to a certain amount. I was shaking with hunger when I finally received boarding passes for a flight to Philadelphia on the following afternoon and from there with Lufthansa to Frankfurt. In the meantime, I had to fetch my luggage and find a hotel at five o'clock in the morning for a quick nap. Then I was off to finally have breakfast before returning to the airport.

To be continued...