Garden update

One thing I was really looking forward to leaving behind in Oklahoma was the wind. Oklahoma is windy. And much to my dismay, Vienna is also windy.

The wind has been taking its toll on my little garden. I've pretty much given up on my strawberry plant even though there are about dozen strawberries on it. But the sweet potato vines are looking positive. And yesterday the first two flowers on my pumpkin vine bloomed.


The flower's a little wind-blown, but it's there. Now when will the pumpkins show up?

Mail call

I received a letter today that made my heart skip a beat.


When I told Brian I was blogging about the letter, he asked whether I was just trying to scare my mom. But I imagine my mom only noticed that the letter was addressed to my maiden name. She probably didn't pay any attention to that long German word above the address.

That long German word that looks like it might have "police" stuck right in the middle of it.


Bet she's noticing it now. And maybe her heart is beating a little faster as well. But there's nothing to worry about, Mom. Yes, I received a letter from the police asking me to come down to the station. But I'm sure it's nothing serious. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about.

On a side note, wouldn't it be nice if the police could send out letters to criminals asking them to report to the station and it actually worked. Of course, if said criminals had seen the images of this 5-star prison in Austria, they might be more than happy to report to the police station.

Back to the letter... I actually knew it was coming, I had just forgotten about it. Last week, Brian and I started working on getting our U.S. driver's licenses transferred to Austrian driver's licenses. One of the requirements is a document from a physician that states you are fit to drive. But since I'm diabetic, I'm required to meet with someone at the office that issues driver's license -- which happens to be part of the police bureau. So this letter was just telling me what to do next. If all goes well, maybe I'll have an Austrian driver's license in a few weeks.

See, Mom, I told you there was nothing to worry about.

One year later

Wow, I can hardly believe it's been a year already. One year ago yesterday, I wrote my first blog entry. Thanks for sticking around and humoring me. Hopefully there will be some fun and interesting stuff in the near future, but right now I've got nothing.

For those of you in the U.S., enjoy the fireworks and don't forget to wear your flag if you want to be in fashion.

Fashion show! Fashion show! Fashion show at lunch!

As you are probably aware, Europe is on the cutting-edge of the fashion industry. If you want to know what's going to be fashionable in the U.S. in the near future, you just need to know what's in fashion in Europe right now. Fortunately for you, dear readers, I'm going to pass along a must-have for this season's fashion. No, it's not the boondoggle key chain. Are you ready for it?

Flags!

That's right, flags are all the rage right now in Vienna. They're so versatile.

One can be worn as a belt.


Or as a sarong or skirt.


Then there's the toga-style.


And one of the most fashionable ways to wear the flag this season is as a cape. That way, you can show your support for your favorite team and fight crime at the same time.




Now, normally when fashion moves from Europe to the U.S. it is tweaked slightly. So you may not see people wearing actual flags as an accessory in the U.S. However, I predict that by Friday, you'll see a lot of folks wearing clothing with an image of the U.S. flag. Come Friday, even you may be wearing an image of the flag.

Wild and crazy guys

Right now, Germany and Spain are playing the championship game of the Europameisterschaft, or the Euro Cup, or Euro2008, or whatever you want to call it. Even though I haven't really been interested in the games, I've enjoyed all of the festivities surrounding the games. Today after church, Brian and I wandered around the city center a bit before heading home. And let me tell you, there was a lot of craziness going on.

First, we stopped by these huge soccer cleats that are display in MuseumsQuartier. I just wanted a quick photo for Almost Daily Vienna, but we ran into this a lot of cheering fans near the Germany and Spain cleats. Here you can see a little bit of the madness as the Germany fans (standing in front of the soccer ball) and the Spain fans (standing next to the Spain cleat) try to out-cheer each other.


As we neared the city center, we heard more crowds chanting for their team. Near Stephansplatz, we saw a large group of Germany fans cheering for their team.



We also saw another group making a lot of noise, but we I couldn't tell which team they were representing.

The nice things

My sister Amber has started a craft business. She makes hair bows, applique shirts and onesies and other girly things. And right now, she's offering buy one, get one half off on all items.

So go check it out. All Things Nice.

Swan river

It's been pretty warm here lately, so Brian and I decided to make our first trip this summer to the river. We found a nice shady area and settled in. That's when I noticed a lovely swan family just a little ways down the river.


Alas, they were just a little too far away to get a nice photo. Brian and I enjoyed the cool water. Sharkdog, not so much. He's not really a water dog. But he does look good sitting next to the water.


A little later, the swans decided the grass looked tastier near where we were sitting. I was quite excited to see they were coming our direction.


Have you ever watched a swan swim? Half the time, they were swimming like this:


See the little foot sticking up? I think they had their bodies twisted so one foot was in the water and the other one was not. You can see the same thing going on with the mama swan in the top photo. Do ducks swim like this as well? It made the swans very effective at moving sideways.

They were all nice and cute until they actually got to where we were sitting. Then Papa Swan started hissing at us. Hissing! It was the most terrifying Anatidae experience of my life.


I tried to get a video of the hissing, but he was almost finished with us by the time I turned on the video, so doesn't sounds all that scary. And I don't want you thinking I am a sissy. Trust me, it's a threatening hiss.

Finally, Papa Swan was satisfied that we weren't going to attack them (though I'm pretty sure Sharkdog wanted to play with them), and he let Mama Swan and Baby Swans enjoy the lush green grass. After they noshed on the grass for a while, they headed off into the sunset. Well, not so much into the sunset, but they headed off nonetheless.


After the whole hissing incident, I was rather happy to see them go.