Christmas is coming...

... and I still do not know what to buy for some members of my family.

At least I've already found presents for my parents. I went to one of the bigger towns this morning. It is always easy to find something for my mother as she is interested in a lot of things. With my father, it is more difficult. He is always so busy and doesn't have much time for anything else than his work. Nevertheless, I did find a book he'll like.

Because of all the hecticness and chaos on the streets and because of being tired of standing in line in every single shop I didn't stay in the town very long. Which means I still need some presents for my aunt, uncle and cousins. Which means I'll have to go shopping in this pre-Christmas chaos again.

Delicious!

Last Sunday, my family invited some friends and family. It was kind of a late birthday party for my Dad. As always on such occasions, we (my Mom and I) cooked the dinner. As always, it was much work. But the result can only be described as delicious!

We had bread


and cheese and jam as a starter,


followed by Quiche Lorraine


and, finally, lamb from the oven.


The lamb was wonderful! And very easy and fast to prepare, actually. We just added some garlic, salt, pepper, wine and olive oil, and put it in the oven.

Our guests liked it very very much. Especially my Dad's tennis friends.

Memories

Three years ago around this time of the year I visited one of my Dad's cousins for a weekend. She lives in the North of Germany, very close to the coast. It's such a lovely landscape there, especially in fall. Most of the tourists are gone (except for one or two weeks in October, during the fall vacation in Germany). It can be very rainy and windy and cold but on some days it is wonderful! Just look at the photo above.

Becoming a doctor?

This question haunted me during my last high school years. And the answer was really difficult though I have always had a keen interest in medicine and science in general.

My father is a doctor. For as long as I can remember medicine was (and still is) a central part of my family’s life. I liked to listen to my dad’s stories about his studies, his work, his experiences with patients. I liked to visit him in his office.

Therefore it might seem natural that I went into medicine as well. But in contrast to many of my friends who knew not much more about medicine and doctors than the image that was/is created in the newspapers and TV, I knew from firsthand experience that being a doctor has not much to do with this image. Weekends were often spent only with my mother because my dad was on call, at conferences or finishing things he didn’t manage to get done during the week.

It took quite a long time for me to figure out whether I should go into medicine as well. My dad was not of much help. He probably didn’t want to influence me – in one way or the other. The decision was made only days before the end of the application period. Until then I was thinking more about other opportunities - like biology or law or maths – than about going to med school.

Well, now I am glad I decided to become a doctor. Even though it takes away a lot of my free time, it feels like the right thing.

Finally home

It's 11:14 pm and I am finally home after a very long day. I had to leave the house early in the morning to go to work. One of my colleagues is on vacation, one is sick and one went home at 10 am because she was on call yesterday. So there were only two other residents besides me at work today - for 60 in-patients and a more than full emergency room. Great, especially on a Friday. All the more because it is my grandfather's 80th birthday today and I wanted to leave early (around 2 pm).
Well, I left the hospital at 4:30 pm and went straight to the restaurant where my whole family was already eating loads of cake. I was so tired when I arrived but after a while I felt better and could enjoy it. It was so great to see them all! The party went on and we had a lot of fun. I realized once again how much I love my family!

August

The greatest month of the year starts today!

You're wondering why I think August is the best?

Well, I was born in August. My Dad was born in August. My grandfather and my grandmother were born in August. That makes four (three since my grandma's death a few years ago) birthday parties in just one month. That's reason enough to like it.

Another thing I really like about August is that the weather tends to be stable and warm. Often better than in June or July when we get a lot of thunderstorms in the evenings.

And it is that time of the year when a lot of fruits and vegetables in the garden can be harvested.

So there are many reasons to like August. But I have to admit that I like the fact about my birthday the best!

Memories

With the weather being so awful during the last few days (rainy and unusual cold for the beginning of June) I didn't feel like spending much time outside. Therefore, I haven't been on my bike for at least a week now, which is really uncommon for me.

I used the time for scanning and editing some old photos.

Like this one:


It shows my grandmother, one of my cousins and me in my grandma's appartment in February 1983. When I was a kid and teenager, my parents and I used to visit my grandma nearly every weekend for lunch. Very often my relatives were there, too. My cousin is some years older than I am, but nevertheless we had a lot of fun on those days. Sometimes we would just play some kind of parlor game, sometimes we would play house together with my younger cousin and on other days we'd just watch some stupid show on TV.
Our grandma died some years ago and so did our weekly meetings. It's too bad we don't see each other more often.