belated bavaria and my lack of updates.

I fear that this space will be rather sparse for the remainder of our time in Edinburgh. I've got so much on my plate that I'm going to have to place this on the back burner for a while. Once we're home and relatively settled I've have no doubt that I'll be back with plenty to say, but I foresee little free time to fill this little white box with my comings and goings for the next few weeks.
That being said, I can give you a little taster of our long weekend in Bavaria. We went to visit my parents who have been living there since 2007, and enjoying the fruits of this Bavarian summer these last few months. It's still quite cool there, and it has rained quite often this summer, but we were able to find one full day of sunshine and warmth. We ate far too much delicious Bavarian food, and enjoyed the company of my loving parents. We cooked-out on the grill--which is something I've been dying to do for lack of it here in Edinburgh, and I relished the smell of BBQ, baked beans, and corn-on-the-cob.
I also got the chance to go riding with my dad on that sunny day we had. Nope, not horseback, but something just as exhilarating. Motorcycle. Yep. My dad finally got his bike. He's been wanting one for years, probably since his motorcycling time at Montreat when he and my mom were dating. Well, he has one now, a nice BMW with a smooth ride and lots of torque. It was impossible not to smile as the wind rushed past us on those beautiful back-roads of German countryside, and he pushed the speedometer higher and higher. It took a while for the feeling of "If I let go right now I'd go flying off the back of this thing and probably die" to subside, but once it did I was a junkie for speed and "woo!"ed everytime we came to a stretch of straight road. It was fun to spend some father-daughter time with my dad too. We haven't been able to do that in a while.
My mom and I spend some time cooking together in the kitchen--not much, but hey, we did. And also plenty of time poring over my dissertation for grammatical errors and ways to cut down my long-winded and scenic ways of saying things. My prose-style is definitely more conducive to creative writing than academic writing, but I'm holding my own.
It was lovely to see my parents, and they were lovely to have us and take us out to eat, and BBQ with us, and just generally loving on us. A break from everything was exactly what we needed, and we came back refreshed and ready (for the most part) to take on what this month is going to throw at us.
Those of you who are inclined, if you could pray for us as we finish our time here. That everything comes together as it should, and that we are able to get out of our flat, get our deposit and tie up all our loose ends easily and completely.
Here is a smattering of photos from our Bavarian weekend.

Until next time... (which may, in fact, be once we're home in our Blue Ridge Mountains!)


Caitlin