Visiting Philine in Bad Rothenfelde, Germany

 

A day after daughter Amy flew back to Atlanta from visiting us the week before Easter (which I'll get to later), Astrid and I drove to Bad Rothenfelde in Germany to visit dear Philine, from our Shutterchance photoblog, who is in rehab following a right-knee replacement on March 1.

Actually, we made it a 3-day, 2-night trip (Tuesday-Thursday this week), spending 2 nights at a Fletcher Hotel in Denekamp, NL, close to the German border, making our trip to Philine on Wednesday easier--only a one-hour drive each way.  

Bad Rothenfelde is a health resort in Lower Saxony, known for its wellness spas from salty water and air.  Philine's medical clinic is smack-dab in the middle of all that goodness:

It's a huge complex of everything anyone needs for rehab after surgery.

And it's a stone's throw from the gradation towers that remove water

from the saline solution to produce salt for the salt baths:

Because we were a couple hours early for our meet-up time with Philine at 2 p.m.,

we first walked around this largest of 2 towers...in the rain...

and got our education.  This was totally new for me!

And it's all situated in the context of a lovely park

which residents from the clinic can enjoy while in rehab.

We even had time to enjoy some German goulash soup before heading to the clinic.

Exactly what the doctor ordered for a rainy day!

Once with Philine, we spent all of 45 minutes with her!

This is the collage I posted on Shutterchance the next day, for all our friends there

who have been very concerned about how she's doing.

In those 45 minutes, Philine met us at the reception desk, showed us her room,

walked the halls past all the important places (blood labs, exercise equipment, dining room, etc.),

and then back to her room for her to take a nap.  We did her in!

Believe it or not, her knee replacement gives her no pain.  THAT part is a huge success for her.

However, at age 82 (on April 10), the operation did a number on her blood hemoglobin,

making her dangerously anemic--tired, weak and short of breath.

In those 45 minutes, she had to take several sitting breaks.

And by the end, regardless of how tired she was (even though the exercise was important),

she became the Philine we all know at Shutterchance:  our "professor" and mentor.

By the time we left her back in her room, she had her tell-tale smile and twinkle in her eye. 

On the way back to our car, we passed the second, shorter  gradation tower,

sans windmill and rain.

This was a very important trip for Astrid and me, to check up on our dear friend who is very special to our SC community.  Many of us have met her in real life and were concerned about her need for rehab because of her severe anemia.  It so happens that we were her first/only visitors thus far because of sickness among her German friends.  So all the more we are glad we could make this trip.  It was for US as much as it was for her.

Best wishes from all of us, dear Philine, as you continue your recovery....

Texel Island, NL, 2024: Renovations

 

To be honest, I thought I had already posted about our January trip to start some renovations in Jaap's bungalow, as a gift from Astrid's deceased brother, Sander.  

But no, I didn't.  So this is the gist:

After years of surviving on a dorm-sized fridge, we all agreed it was time for something larger

that would still fit in the space.  Astrid did the prep, while Jaap "supervised."

The same thing for a new stand-alone freezer, which needed a cabinet to protect it.

We were gone when the appliances arrived, but the photos from Jaap 

proved that all Astrid's hard work paid off!

So, that was why we were there in January.

Segue now to early March when Astrid and I returned but without Jaap.  Astrid didn't like the back of the freezer cabinet because it wasn't adequately stabilized.  So here at home she prepared a new back which she was able to install this trip.

And, yes, it did the trick!

And with that done, we spent the rest of our time (6 days total) traipsing all over the island, "practicing" with our new "Sanders" (iPhone 15 Pro Maxes).  

All the photos following, from this March trip, are with my iPhone 15 Pro Max:

Let's start with eating out!

A café in Oudeschild.

Outside that café in living color.

A café in Oosterend and, yup...I'm still on that penchant for the NOIR option.

The same café in Oosterend in living color outside, of course.

Before and after eating, as you'd guess, we were taking photos everywhere, whether at the beach (North Sea) or in the vicinity:

Again, always "practicing" with the new iPhone 15 Pro Max.

And, yes, we even visited a couple of wee churches:

This one is the Reformed Church in De Waal.

And of course, a windmill:

This one is Het Noorden near Oosterend (yes, near that café).

But the crowning success of the Texel trip this time, hands down, was my first visit to the The Slufter salt marsh, nature area.  OMG.  Where have I been all my life!

From L to R:  The Netherlands, then Texel island, zooming in to where The Slufter is.

Using the pano option, we're looking out to the sea from the inland entrance to the salt marsh.

It totally made my day, the trip, and my new "Sander."

Enough for now to say we're both totally thrilled with our new iPhones and wonder how often we'll use our Canon PowerShot cameras going forward.  Will we always want to carry BOTH cameras with us, for the rare times the Canon might actually get a better zoomed-in shot??  I guess time will tell....

Clarification:  all non-collage images have been tweaked in PhotoShop,

which means they are not SOOC (straight out of camera).