Since we got up late that Sunday morning, so we had our church services in our Plieningen apartment. We listened to worship music and three messages: two by our old pastor at Calvary Chapel and one by a pastor from a church in Vacaville, California. Afterward, we prayed for our country, friends, and family.
After church, we had lunch and then went to a spa in Beuren, which was about thirty kilometers away from where we lived.
It was a unique and interesting experience. We found the place with no trouble thanks to Julie (our English GPS) but we had difficulty finding a parking place. Once again, I forgot to bring my camera, so I have scanned and uploaded some photos from their brochure (I want to apologize up front for them). Since the spa was open until 10pm we had a lot of time, even though we never arrived there until about 2pm.
It was definitely a LOT larger than I expected.
We paid for our tickets 10 Euro (about $15) for four hours for both of us. That would be more than enough time for us. It was very inexpensive compared to the spas in Northern California. The clerk asked us if we wanted to go into the clothed area or the nude area. What? It was a nude spa? I laughed and said, “No way! Thank you anyway.”
After going through a turnstile using our tickets as a key to get in, we were escorted to a locker by a young man who spoke English. The locker room was co-ed but there were male and female showers. The locker had a key that was plastic and attached to a plastic wrist band. We were told to store our things in the locker and take the key with us. In order to get the key out, we had to use our ticket to release it.
After finding two changing rooms (one for me and one for my husband), we moved toward the bathrooms to shower before going into the spa. I want to describe that changing room because it was so unusual. They were in long rows and there were two doors going into a singular, tiny cubicle. There was a bar that extended the length of the changing room and it was the mechanism by which both doors would lock. It was difficult to get that bar to lock both doors, but I wasn’t taking any chances that someone might walk in while I was changing into my bathing suit!
We separated to go to our respective shower rooms, then we emerged into a huge area where there were cubes in the walls for towels, sunglasses and tanning lotions. There were flip-flops everywhere! There were three pools inside and three pools outside. It was an overcast day, and it wasn’t hot, but we would explore the outdoor pools later.
After looking around and stowing our towels in one of the many cubes on the wall, we realized every interior pool was a different size and had different temperatures. The first one we went into was too cold. So we went to another one that was warmer. We didn’t realize it, but it was a highly monitored spa and there were tons of people. We stayed there for a bit but decided we wanted to explore more of the spa. I will elaborate on this pool later in the blog. We decided to find the sauna.
What struck me the most was the number of people and the different kinds of people. There were children splashing around in the pools, next to young lovers cuddling. There were the elderly along with middle-aged, and those with infirmities (metal crutches were propped next to the pools). What was even more interesting was that there were women who clearly should not have been wearing bikinis, but they were. No one thought this was out of the ordinary and no one laughed or made fun of them. That was refreshing to see.
After walking outside and into another building, we were now in a grotto-like cave. There were stalactites on the ceiling and there was an area where people were sitting on rock like benches. In another area of the grotto, there were showers.
Since we could not read any of the signs (they were in German, of course), we decided to try the different rooms. The first room was what I would call the “salt” room. We walked in and it was cloudy and warm and smelled and tasted very salty. We sat on the bottom row of the three-tiered, ceramic-tiled seating area. There was a clock on the wall, and we stayed in there for some fifteen minutes or so. My entire body felt salty.
We went onto the next room which was the “real” sauna. It was 60 degrees centigrade which roughly translates into 140 degrees. It was hot in there. Again, we sat on the first tier of the three-tiered, ceramic-tiled seating areas. It was difficult to breathe but we stayed (and sweat) in there for about fifteen minutes.
Then we decided we needed to shower off the salt and the heat and went into the shower area, which also was in a grotto-like environment. The shower stalls were positioned in a semi-circular manner with one large one in the middle with a half wall surrounding it. That one was the one to look out for. It spilled huge amounts of ice-cold water onto the person who was under it. And while we searched for a warm water shower, we were splashed with that ice cold water on several occasions.
After showering, we decided to check out the outdoor pools. It appeared the first one was not heated. That was not for me, at least not on that day. We went to the second one and gingerly stepped down on the stainless steel steps. As soon as we hit the bottom of the steps, we were immediately swept into a current running around the closest end of the pool. There was a circular area people were hanging on to…after going around the circular area we ended up towards the middle of the pool, but it was difficult not being drawn into that current again. We used the stainless steel handrails to guide us along the edge so we could get to the steps to get out. Even this pool was not hot enough, not to mention having to fight that current.
The next pool was about 42 degrees Celsius which is about 107 degrees Fahrenheit. Now that was more like it. It was spa, of course, but no jets. It was a stainless steel, round pool and could hold about twenty-five people There were seats along the perimeter. We sat there and did some people watching. There were people from all nations: USA, France, Turkey, Italy and of course, Germany.
It was time for us to get out and I wanted to go back to the first pool we were in. That pool had jets that we did not get to experience. We realized when we got out the first time, we were in there that it was a very controlled pool in that the jets which were for different parts of the body were along the perimeter of the pool. People lined up to the stairs and waited in line. There was a large timer on the wall above the waterfall at the end of the pool that could be seen from anywhere in the pool.
How it worked was that the timer was set for 30 seconds. Every time the timer hit zero, the people moved to the next set of jets. Leave it to the Germans to be orderly even when they are in the spa. It worked though, and everyone gets a chance to use the various jets. From jets for your feet to jets for your shoulders and back. It was wonderful. I was totally looking forward to being under the waterfall but for some reason, when I got there, it wouldn’t work. I was bummed about that. Oh well. Perhaps next time.
We walked around the spa for a bit and realized they have a cafe, tanning beds, a work- out area and you could get a massage. It was a terrific place, and according to Brigit (the woman who was doing physical therapy on my husband), it’s the best place around.
My husband was not all that impressed because the spas were not hot enough (except the one outside) for him. And what he really didn’t like was the number of people who were there. He thought it was going to be a natural spa, not man made. I suppose if one goes on a Sunday, it is expected there will be tons of people. I had to wonder how many people went during the week?
We retraced our steps, showered, and got dressed.
Ted lost his ticket, and he didn’t realize he needed it to leave the locker room. That must be the way they monitor how long one is in the spa. Anyway, I went to the counter and begged the clerk to allow him to leave.
The ride home was uneventful. At that point we were very hungry and decided to have pizza at Mama Maria’s across the street from where we lived.
After eating, we realized it was time to do the weekly chore of laundry. It was getting increasingly difficult to find the motivation to gather up the clothes and take them to get washed on base. Add to that, laundry is my very least favorite chore to do, and it’s even more of a struggle when we have to lug the laundry to and fro. We had to get a washer and dryer fairly soon.
Have you ever been to a spa such as this? I will never forget it, that’s for sure.
For the past couple of years, my husband has wanted to travel to Kentucky to see the life-size Ark. While I thought it would be fun to do, I hadn’t been able to commit to any time because of my mother’s illness several states away.
I dragged my feet getting ready for the trip on a Monday morning. At one point, we almost canceled the trip because we both were feeling a little under the weather.
Like many theme parks, the parking area is far from the actual Ark and you take a bus to get to it. You can see the Ark in the distance, but it doesn’t look very big… until you get up close and personal.
There were many exhibits on how they lived on the ark and what their living quarters may have looked like. We don’t know for sure, but God is able to do all things so I believe He may have put the animals into a state of hibernation while they were one the ship. But who knows? It’s a question for God Himself, when we get to heaven. (And I have a LOT of questions for Him, too!)
We traveled underground and walked the length of one wall of the temple mount. The wall’s stones, which were at least twenty to thirty feet long and four to five feet high, had no mortar between them. It was simply astounding. I stood in wonder at the feat of building such a wall in ancient times. But what happened at the end of the quarter mile trek to the corner of the temple wall would be something that would stay with me for the rest of my life. Our guide told us the stones we were standing on were the same stones that were in the streets of Jerusalem in ancient times. I imagined Jesus walking through Jerusalem on the very stones I was standing on.
Struck by the stark beauty of the thousand-year-old Olive trees in the garden of Gethsemane located at the foot of the Mount of Olives, we stood in awe of them. While there are paths and the garden seemed small to me, I imagine it wasn’t small in ancient times. Most likely, there were no paths or walls surrounding it.
We stood on a platform and stared at Golgotha, also known as the place of the skull, where the crucifixion of Jesus took place. Sadly, it is now a parking lot for a bus station. But on the stony hill above the blacktop, the eyes and the nose of the skull are still visible. But photos from the 1800s show the entire face of the skull.
is in heaven preparing a place for His bride, the church
It’s a word that means different things to different people. Some disabilities are seen, and some are unseen. Some are mental and some are physical. Even terrible scars can be a disability.
My husband was and still is my inspiration for writing these types of characters.
To this day (and we’ve been married going on twenty-one years), he will not capitalize on his disability. In fact, he does things himself even if it takes extra time and all his concentration. (We all probably take for granted the everyday things we do when we have two capable hands.) He’s an IT professional and types with one hand. He even served in the military. His disability didn’t stop him from living his life to the fullest, but it defined his out-of-the-box thinking in any life situation including his job.
He now wears a brace on his left leg (much like the ones on the left) and his hand is virtually useless, but he perseveres and will not use a wheelchair. He is determined and will fight for the right to be self-sufficient.
It was a stressful, agonizing year. In March, an ambulance took my mother to the hospital and then later to a rehab facility. Sadly, she could no longer stay in the home she’d been in for seventeen years, so rehab transferred her to a long-term care facility. And we knew it was the final stop.
Memories flooded my soul. What I remember most were the Thanksgiving dinners. It was her holiday to shine and one we all loved. Mom started collecting Franciscan Apple dinnerware almost sixty years ago. Until the manufacturer brought out new pieces back in the late 90s, she owned every piece ever made. The collection is astounding and one I will not part with, even though those fabulous dinners are a thing of the past because family members are scattered all over the east coast. I will take the dining room set because it is something my mother cherished along with those dishes.
We haven’t seen a Thanksgiving like that for twenty years. And it’s OK because I have the memories. What is sad is that my grandchildren will never know the fun times we had around the dinner table playing trivial pursuit or cards. Those days are long gone because electronics and Netflix have taken their place.
I accomplished one writing goal, and that was to publish four books in 2021. Although one of them was a compilation or boxed set of the first three books in the Women of Worthy series, it still took time and effort to get it published. And I’m taking it as my fourth book. Since I managed to complete that goal, I’m making the same goal for 2022.
Another item scratched off the to do list for 2021 was baking. I love to bake goodies for my family, but this year, I decided to order pastries from a fabulous Italian pastry shop near my hometown. I realized it was less expensive in terms of time and money than for me to buy the ingredients and make them myself. The love factor may not be in the purchased baked goods, but the pressure it eliminated was well worth it. I also recognized no one really cared if they were purchased or homemade. What was important was the people surrounding us during the holidays.
Jesus Would be Born of a Virgin in Bethlehem
Jesus Would be Filled with Power, Peace, and the Spirit from Birth
A Star Would Point the Way Towards Jesus, the Christ
Jesus Would be Worshipped by Shepherds
Kings would Present Gifts to Jesus
Sunday. A time of worship and church. And we were late. We were both ready at our usual departure time, but my husband was called on a case for his company. I had resigned myself to watch the service from my living room chair even though I wanted to be there in person.
But the reason we had to be there was because we were asked to be the prayer team after the service. The enemy would like nothing more than to keep ministry workers at home and miss God’s blessings. We would have missed a wonderful time of worship and the blessing of ministering to others.
That dear brother has bone cancer. He told us how he’d been hospitalized frequently in the past month. (We knew this because of the updates during Wednesday evening prayer time).
“Because I have hundreds and hundreds of people praying for me,” he said. He told us he had people praying from as far away as Oregon and California.
When we lived in Germany, we took a road trip to Paris. It was Memorial Day weekend. What surprised us was how disconnected we felt from the “holiday” because the Europeans do not celebrate the day. And why would they? It’s an American holiday. We were given the last Monday in May off because my husband worked for an American company in Germany. Since the company did work for the military, they observed the holiday as well.
took some photos. I noticed a man with a VFW hat locking his car door to the left of me. I walked over to him and thanked him for his service (something I always do whenever I see a person in uniform.) Because I don’t speak French, I asked him if he knew why the Arc was closing. He said there was a Memorial Day procession at noon and that we should stay for it. My watch said it was barely 11:30.
My husband, Ted, sat on a ledge and I told him why the Arc would be closed. He wanted to stay for the event. I joined him for a few minutes to cool off because the temperature soared that day.
The French Police came and told us we had to move behind a set of metal barricades. My husband and I turned and moved quickly to get a ring-side spot that allowed the best view. The Star Spangled Banner faintly played and I wondered who played it. French soldiers marched to the front of the tomb and there was a French military band who came around the side and stood opposite the French soldiers. They had been playing our national anthem!
I hesitated because I didn’t want to offend him, but I wanted his opinion on WWII. I think he understood what I meant. He said that it was sad that it happened. He said he didn’t know what he would have done if he had lived in that era and that he was glad he was living now and not then. His response disappointed me, but I wasn’t surprised by it. Five minutes before the event, he and his girlfriend left. That surprised me.
As the band played the Star-Spangled Banner, my husband saluted, and I began to sing loud and proud. I heard a woman’s voice behind me singing loudly as well, and then other voices joined in. There were more Americans in the crowd than I expected.
My mother, who turns 92 in June (exactly one week after my birthday), has been slowly deteriorating.
But mentally? She has her good days and her bad days. Some days I’d call, and she didn’t recognize my voice. Other days, she was jovial. And that was cause for celebration.
’ve come to terms with my mother’s frailty and the fact that it may not be long before she’s not with us, but rejoice because we still have her… even if it’s just for a little while longer.