It runnith over. Our cup, that is.

Aside from the torrential downpours yesterday and today, our weekend (plus Montag) was fantastic! N was given an extra day off on Friday (for the German Reunification holiday), which came in handy after some wine tasting Thursday night. We were invited to dinner with our landlords, their daughter and son-in-law, the other American couple in the Burg, and two of our landlords' friends. We dined from 7 pm to midnight- and N stayed until 1, when I think he tottered home and finally made it to bed. I was already deep in sleep.

Ingrid prepared a traditional Sunday dinner. We started with potato pancakes and homemade apple sauce (with apples from the grounds!), followed by pork roast, red cabbage, boiled potatoes, and veggies, and then finished with ice cream, homemade whip cream, and baked castle apples. All hand made that day. When I asked if I could bring anything with us, she told me, "No, of course not." Oh, and we had champagne, peach liquor, and a million bottles of white wine. It was a blast- and so kind of them to have us over. Bernie toasted to N and I, saying he hopes we have a good time living in the Eifel and living at the castle. How could we not?

Saturday found us braving a real European IKEA. For four hours. With Euros. I almost had a meltdown after the living rooms but before the bedrooms, but thankfully that's where the IKEA restaurant was located. I paid 1 Euro for an ice cream cone and got to watch a space-age machine suck up my cone and spit it back out with the whole tri-angular ice cream portion. Bizarre, but good for a sugar kick. Back home, some of the IKEA furniture never made sense to me. Why would someone buy a whole wall of connecting shelves? Or a whole build-in kitchen or closet? Why do they showcase rooms that measure 2 square feet by 2 square feet? Now I get it. Euro living spaces are typically small and if you would like to hide your undies or put your silverware somewhere other than the floor, you best bring your own shelving.

Tomorrow I hope to go to the wood shop to recover a chair and sand and refinish a table I found at a used furniture store. Super great coffee table for 20 Euro.

And a belated happy 25th birthday to my little brudder. Love you, Caser.

PS. Financial Crisis? Presidential Debates? Lance Armstrong returning to professional sports? What? Very removed from the news cycle over here...a post on that later.