Dickens - Summer Sunset

"A tranquil summer sunset shone upon him as he approached the end of his walk, and passed through the meadows by the river side. He had that sense of peace, and of being lightened of a weight of care, which country quiet awakens in the breasts of dwellers in towns."

~ Charles Dickens

European S'mores

Oh yes folks, you read correctly. European S'mores!

So, recently, I was shopping with a friend (Hi Chrissy!) in Freiburg, and we decided to poke our heads into a little Frucht Gummi Shop. Upon entering the store, I noticed a huge display of "American Barbecue Marshmallows". All thoughts of Gummi Fruit left my head, as I gazed at the HUGE bags of white fluffiness before me. "Hmm," I thought, "what a lovely treat to take home to Thad." So, I grabbed a bag and ignored the various, unusual flavors of gummi fruit (apple, green tea, honey, ginger, coffee, you name it!).

On a cool day last week, Thad (who loved the gift, by the way) made two delicious cups of hot chocolate, allowing us to sample the treats in a heavenly way. Ever since then, I have had it in my head (or tummy) "S'mores...how I would love to have a s'more!" (I can just smell the campfire now!).

Alas, the day arrived...we had a couple of pieces of toasted baguette leftover from dinner, which just couldn't be thrown away. Then inspiration came! We have marshmallows, we have Nutella (a yummy chocolate and hazelnut spread...consistency of Peanut Butter)...ooh, we could make S'mores!! So there you go...European S'mores!

Photos below...though not as good of Food Photography as my favorite FoodBlog Chocolate and Zucchini, but you get the picture!

Picasa Updates

Thad has recently added several updates to our Picasa site, we have just forgotten to make note of it here. If you would like to see some more of our language classes, time in Freiburg (where we travelled to daily for class), and time with my dad, then head over to our Picasa page:

http://picasaweb.google.com/thadhoskins

Quirky Fonts

So our newest letter has been uploaded and sent off to the printers. I must make note that the crazy font choices were not purposefully done. I created the letter on my computer (the location of the original font), and then sent it on to Thad's computer (which doesn't have the font!). And rather than making a transition to one font, it chose random ones!! So, there you go...a rather quirky looking prayer letter that didn't catch my eye until too late!

Oh well...it makes for some interesting reading. Enjoy!

Laugh Out Loud Moment (August 2007)

So we are sitting on the train heading home from a day of German classes, and I (Jana) am studying some German grammar rules while Thad is relaxing from a long day (in German this is called a Pause…pronounced “pow-zeh”). After a while, I notice that he is listening to his MP3 player, so I casually grab one of his headphones out of curiosity. I gasp and turn to him saying “But you haven’t listened to George Strait in years!?!” He just shrugs his shoulders while I start audibly laughing. Promptly I close my German book, and we begin tapping our feet to Country music while staring out the window at the passing German countryside (and chuckling to ourselves about the stares we would receive if we stood up and began two-stepping in the aisle!).

August 2007

Finishing Language School and Upcoming Projects

To view letter in PDF format, click here

Visit to Hochblauen

We were over at the Miller's house for lunch to see some friends we made during EASC (European Staff Conference) last year. They are on holiday and will be in town for a week. We are experiencing an usually pretty day considering the weather recently, so after lunch we went to Hochblauen, the highest peak around. From there, you can see France and the Swiss Alps. We took a few photos and I uploaded them to our Picassa site (http://picasaweb.google.com/thadhoskins/Hochblauen). Enjoy!

Christianity and the Arts

Here is a great article about IAM (International Arts Movement) and the efforts of today towards rejoining Christianity and the Arts.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19833395/