Photos to go with today's earlier post!

Ok, first of all, a kayaking photo or two from our Dec. 31st trip to George L. Smith State Park outside of Metter, GA (about an hour up I-16 from here):



Joe in a grove of cypress and tupelo gum trees.




This one is a bit blurry but I really liked it:


Now, despite the fact that I do actually occasionally take a nice photo (and also have gotten one of my photos published), I apparently suck at using my camera. Because 75% of the Spaetzle pictures? Are blurry. Sigh. Here is one that isn't. (Will miracles never cease). This is Joe making homemade Spaetzle (German-style boiled pasta) with the special Spaetzle maker that his mom got for him for Christmas. It's cool!

Here's a close-up of the technology:

Basically the bottom part is like a grater with large round holes, and the top part slides back and forth to force the dough (a lot liquidier than pasta dough) through the holes. You can see the boiled Spaetlze in the pot. Once it boils for 2-3 minutes, it's ready to eat!

Joe's mom makes this fantastic stuff with Spaetzle layered with cheese and sauteed onions. OH MAN that stuff is good. Hallo Edeltraud! Ich mag Kaesspaetlze!

So that (but without cheese and onions - dammit), along with some buffaloaf, was dinner tonight. Pretty good stuff! Then Joe and I had an UNO tournament (best of 7 games) to decide who wins a gummy bear. (Just one - we both have big resolutions - heh!)

Tomorrow is Friday, and I am happy. I gotta say it's really hard going back to work after being gone for so long. Also I'm sick. Also I don't know if I'll have a job in 2 weeks, so it's kinda hard to stay uber-motivated. Also did I mention I'm sick? And on Robitussin?

So for those of you interested in reading and/or learning German, here is an article about the Sock Wars, a worldwide knitting competition that pits knitter against knitter to see who can knit fastest (but it's nice because everyone wins a pair of handmade socks!). I didn't participate in this last time, but 2 women from my knitting circle did and had a lot of fun with it. Joe found this article online the other day and we thought it was really funny:

http://www.tagesschau.de/schlusslicht/sockenkrieg2.html

The caption under the photo is funny - it says "Harmlose Strickerin oder kaltblütige Mörderin? Die Sockenkriege decken die wahre Natur von Handarbeitsfreunden auf." Which means "Harmless knitter or cold blooded murderer? The Sock Wars uncover the true nature of hand-crafting friends." Oh! The intrigue!

(By the way, I'm proud that my German is getting better but sometimes Joe says things to me and I still can't figure it out. But my vocabulary is getting bigger. Go team!)

(Also, if you go under Kinder on that website, http://www.tagesschau.de/, they have cool games for kids, but again they're in German so you might need an interpreter. OH! And Rachel? The cross country skiing game is back up - look under Sport (at the top of the website), then Wintersport in the left hand column, then Biathlon, then scroll down til you see it in the right hand column. Joe's gotten down to just under 3 minutes. I stink. But it's still fun!)

Alright, time to take some more Robitussin and hit the sack. Good night!