Urban Farms and Other Such Such

Tonight the storm that was brewing all day finally broke loose, bringing thunder and lightening and a sudden downpour; the works. But I love stormy weather, and besides, I'm inside now, typing up this blog post at my desk by the window, listening to the rain that has slowly stopped falling, hearing the splash of the cars driving over now-very-wet cobblestones...

The threat of a rain storm didn't stop us from spending a lovely late afternoon at Domäne Dahlem. Domäne Dahlem is a museum and still-operating organic farm that is affiliated with the Freie Universität in leafy, villa-filled Dahlem-Zehlendorf.

As a side note, the Freie Universität translates as the Free University which is basically true, since tuition is more or less completely covered by the state (I think you still have to pay a hundred Euros a semester or something like that, though there was wide-spread protest when they started charging this fee....) Most students shorten the name to the school's initials which, of course, are F.U. Kind of a problem in English for, well, obvious reasons...

My girls love Domäne Dahlem because it's nature but still urban. This cow, for example, was very country and picturesque, but also covered with graffiti which put them at ease.

I'm never sure if I should be alarmed that they are both kind of scared of wild, unbridled nature or if I should say "Go, city slicker kids!" and go break open a fire hydrant so they can play in the "sprinklers" or something. Not that we have fire hydrants in Berlin, but you get my drift...

Isn't Little Li's vintage 60s tennis dress adorable? Mia actually picked it out at a Salvation Army in San Francisco a year or two ago, but now it's her time to wear it. I'll really be sad when she outgrows it and it has to be retired. If only it were my size, but even if I do loose some more weight, I doubt I'll ever go down to a 3T. Darn!

Jasper prefers to be the man behind the camera, but I did get a few nice shots of his hands. Hands are always one of the first things I notice about a person. Before we ever fell in love or started (rather surprisingly to both of us at the time) going whole hog making babies, I noticed his hands and realized how much I liked them. I still do.

Happy last few weeks of spring everyone. Let's go ahead and rock the summer....


...and keep on wearing vintage. ;)