{this moment}

A Friday ritual Inspired by SouleMama

 

A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see

Interesting Development

Last Wednesday I informed my manager that I would be leaving to move back to Germany, talk about shock. For me it was important that they would know as early as possible about this. Being a manager myself I believe that it's only fair to give them enough notice if possible, so that a suitable replacement can be found.
On Thursday when I got in the office Tony our director approached me. I always had a lot of respect for him. From the day I joined the company he's always been very approachable and visible, I got a lot of feedback from him on my performance and support for what I needed to do my job well. On Thursday he told me that Stu, my manager told him that I was leaving and he told me about the office in Germany that the company is currently in the process of opening and if I would be interested in that. Talk about surprise :) Unfortunately the office is in Berlin and too far from where I will be moving but the whole thought process and offer behind it really threw me off. I know I am doing a good job but this was a confirmation of it that I didn't expect, yet it was very much appreciated. 


Another surprise came this morning, my cousin and family (her husband and two kids) are going to be moving to Adelaide, Australia just a few days before I will be moving back to Germany. Greg her husband is a Kiwi and my cousin spend some time in Australia before and always wanted to move there. They decided it's the best for their family and they will be missed but I totally understand where they are coming from. I will go down to London in a few weeks to see them to say good-bye and hopefully can visit them in Australia one day.

Move update - 115 days to go

I remember doing a 100 days coutdown while I was in the US and the time just went by so fast. It's the same now, although on some days I think that the move is so far away but then when I think about it, we are half way through April already. Which leaves me with May and June in the and I am off from the 26.7 for a few days and then it's moving time. Even since February, when I made the decision, time has just flown by...

I have packed a few things but not much yet anyway. The moving company is booked for August 8th and majority of the payment has been made. The last payment will be made 1st of May and then this is one less thing to worry about.

I am working on plans of what to do workwise once I am in Germany. At the moment I am looking into self-employment options that let me work from home. We will see how this goes over the next few weeks.

Rubarb

I had to go to the fruit and Veg shop this morning as I was totally out of potatos, onions and carrots and I also wanted to get some salad and tomatoes for dinner. I got all of this and also found some rubarb. Now I have not had rubarb in a good 7-8 years ever since I moved to the UK more or less. My parents used to have some in the garden and by August last year I decided I needed to plant some too but with the move I decided not to in the end. So when I saw the rubarb today, I had to buy a few pieces and cooked it when I got back home. This was and still is a lovely treat

Old Video's

I have a few home video's, 1 is 21 years old, the others only around 10 years old. I don't have many but the 5 that I do have I cherish a lot :) With them being on old video's I am worrying that they will break and add to that that I don't really have a TV, I can't watch them. A few weeks back I bough some software for the PC that will allow me to transfer my videos to my laptop and then to DVD. With this weekend being grey and cold I decided this is just the think to do. I have finished transfering 2 video's to DVD (my year as Aupair in the US and Carnival 2001). I will do the other 3 video's on a different day, as it does take a few hours but it's well worth it.

This week

I have enjoyed the warm weather

Smelled freshly cut grass for the first time this year

Watched the trees staring to blossom

Enjoyed lovely walks in the sun with the dogs

Weekend

We spend the Sunday in Chester-le-Street at my friends Shelley's. It was her birthday and we had not seen each other for a while, so we were both desprate to catch up on each other. The weather was nice, lot's of sun and we spend 95% of our time outside in the garden. Jessie and Lily enjoyed the attention they got of Shelley, Gary and especially of the kids. lily played ball all afternoon until she busted her paw and I forced her for a break. That was a good thing since she just wanted to continue to play, she is barely able to walk today and is due for anitbioitcs at the vets later. She must have had a blister at her paw and that opened. The paw looks sore and she refuses to walk today but otherwise leaves the paw alone unlike Jessie who would bite on it.

Later on Maria came by too, I used to work with Maria and she is Shelley's sister in law. They brought their two year old Labrador Oscar with them and Lily in a suprise move got on pretty good with him, which I was very pleased about.