Home

Our first priority was to make it begin to feel a little bit like our home, well actually, it was to get some heat. The house had been closed up for a couple of months and is "heated" by a wood stove.

Jörg building our first fire

It is called a cuisinière and is an actual stove on one side, with a small wood burner on the other and a surface on top that can be used for cooking. Other than a small fireplace in the living room, it is the only source of heat. The stove heats the kitchen/dining room and, although I am told heat rises, the upstairs has stayed pretty cold. Our wonderful real estate agent and new friend, Audrey, had pre-orderd us a supply of wood and dropped off kindling. Jörg is the official fire-builder and he gets up earlier than I, so at least one room is kept moderately comfortable. Our model looks like it may be from the 70's, but apparently they still make them because Jörg saw the exact same one in white at the local store.

Audrey also lent us a "paraffin heater" (along with an electric wok and toaster), which is as scary as it sounds, but does give us a little heat in the bedroom in the evening. Of course, it can't be left on over night, so you can see your breath when you wakeup in the morning.

After the fire got going, we were able to unpack our Ikea purchases and the two boxes which Jörg had shipped from the US.

One of our favorite neighborhood restaurants in SF has large scale pictures of the owner's family, so we borrowed the idea and had a couple of family photos printed on a large-scale printer at Kinkos. These are the first version and we will work on something more permanent, but they cost less than $5 each to print!

Jörg in the kitchen

Jörg's maternal great-grandmother's sister butchering a hog.

Randel's father (R) and friends doing a little baking.

A few things from home.