Family Mellmann

"Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore." I didn't hear any reports of tornadoes, but we sure did have some seriously strong winds here over the past several hours. During my drive home from handling some rental business in Middlebury, I passed twenty-two trees (of varying sizes) brought down by the winds. Some were uprooted completely and some were simply blown over. Three of the blown trees crossed the road I was traveling and had to be removed by city crews. I was able to take a detour for one of them, but had to just wait for the other two to be chopped up and moved to the side of the road. Garden sheds were flattened, whole gazebos and heavy wooden swing sets were flipped over, lawn furniture was flying...it was like a scene out of Twister . The roads were littered with tree parts, yards were covered in blowing garbage from the upturned garbage cans...it was a mess. When I got home the wind was still blowing and the rain was still falling...sideways. Just as i...

Happy Holidays...No wait, how about Merry Christmas...actually, I think it is too early for that. Let's start with Happy Advent. December is here...ready or not. With the beginning of December comes the beginning of our annual Advent Calendar with the kids. They each have their own calendar and I fill it with little wrapped goodies, that they will hopefully enjoy, as we count down the days until we celebrate Christmas with singing, the Christmas story, a few presents, and (hopefully) family.

This was our view out the front windows of the house this morning. Katherine and I captured (and later Patrick and Joerg joined us) this view while waiting for the bus.

I've been so busy working on Katherine's room that I have shirked my office duties and even some of my household chores. Joerg has been out of town for a couple of days so I thought I would take advantage of the lonely hours and work on a website update. I hope you enjoy it. Check it out here .

My King Arthur Flour classes are really paying off. Check out tonight's dinner! (in case you can't tell...it's spaghetti pasta and I will serve it with pesto)

I suppose you are wondering what fishing and Lederhosen have in common. Well, they are both part of the latest photographic update of the Mellmann Family website . Enjoy.

I have really been enjoying the baking classes that I have been taking. Not only do I learn to make something that many people can enjoy and/or benefit from (home made baked goods, pasta, etc.) I also have an opportunity to learn a new skill, stretch skills that I already have, develop new interests, and expand my horizons. I have enjoyed this new phase of learning so much that I decided to sign up for a beading class. I have been beading for several years now, but I have never taken a class. Everything I do is self-taught. One important lesson that I have learned (repeatedly) in the baking classes is that sometimes a few "tricks of the trade" shared during a class can simplify or improve my ability to do certain things, or take the mysteries out of repetitive tasks that challenge me. What was true in baking class is also true in beading class. Tonight's class was only about earrings. We learned to use seed beads, we did wire wrapping, and a dangle-y chain style. ...

My helper is back. Today, Katherine has a half day of school (teacher in-service day) so I prepared a few things that we could do together with the couple of hours between her coming home from school and Patrick coming home. For Cross Connections (a mom's group at church) I am responsible for "baby bags" (gift bags for moms with new babies) so Katherine helped me to fill the bags with things for Baby and Mom. She did ALL the work.