Tag: RRBC_Org

Welcome to #RRBC’s 2nd Annual “A DAY IN MY LIFE” 30-Day Blogging Challenge! @RRBC_Org @RRBC_RWISA @Tweets4RWISA @pat_garcia

DAY 23, MARCH 23, 2024: COME SHOP WITH ME

Good Morning, Everyone,

Shopping has always been a challenging task for me because I don’t like it. Regardless of whether it is to the grocery store, an apparel shop for women’s clothing, or shopping for something that is needed in the house. I see it as a waste of time, but I like eating. 😋

Since I have gotten used to cooking and eating fresh foods instead of canned or frozen foods, shopping is a must. I go shopping three or four times a week, as I said in one of my blog posts, and that takes care of my exercise. Looking at my fridge below, you can see why I often go to the grocery store. When I first moved here, the giant USA refrigerators sold in the USA were only in the Housing areas where soldiers and their families were living.

The bottom part is the fridge. The top part over it is my freezer.

For women’s clothing, I use the internet. That gives me flexibility, and I shop when I can no longer put it off. It is different with grocery shopping, though. Our stores open between seven and eight in the morning and close between eight and nine-thirty in the evenings. But that depends on the stores. Stores for household goods are included in these times.

Good old Aldi Süd
Netto, which is right across the street from Aldi

However, pharmacies have stable but irregular hours that Americans are not used to. They close on Saturdays between twelve-thirty and one P.M. Also, pharmacies close at twelve-thirty and open back up at two-thirty or three PM during the week.

Therefore, I left my home earlier today because I needed to pick something up from the pharmacy before it closed, and I also decided to take a couple of pictures of some of the stores I visited.

I love the pictures of the cherry trees across from the pharmacy.

I hope the pictures delight all of you who have lived in Germany. You would be amazed how much this country has changed.

Take care and enjoy your Saturday.

Shalom shalom

Pat Garcia

Welcome to #RRBC’s 2nd Annual “A DAY IN MY LIFE” 30-Day Blogging Challenge! @RRBC_Org @RRBC_RWISA @Tweets4RWISA @pat_garcia

DAY 22, MARCH 22, 2024, SMILES TO MY FACE

Good Morning, Everyone,

I opened my eyelids, and the brightest sky with Stratus clouds smiled. There is something special about having a sky window on the right side of where I sleep.
Thoughts of gratitude flooded my mind.

Today, we are eight or nine days from the end of the 2nd RRBC “A DAY IN MY LIFE” Blogging Challenge. Since I have shown you my garden, I want to show you a few things that always bring a smile to my face.

The town next to my village is Hanau-Grossauheim. I drive there primarily when I have to go to the Pharmacy, which is called Apotheke in German. Across from the Pharmacy is the Catholic Church. Although I am not Catholic, I enjoy attending Taize on Friday evenings. We sing songs, A Cappella, and I am a fan of people who can sing a song well without being accompanied by a musical instrument. I consider the voice to be the first musical instrument before mankind began creating instruments.

What I like most about this church is the cherry trees. They have started blooming, and I love standing before the church to admire them.

I have lots to do today, but before I close this post, I want to leave you one of my favorite quotes. This is one of those quotes that follows me. I have posted it below. Vince Lombardi spoke these words to his team, the Green Bay Packers. He was also the first coach to win Super Bowl 1 in 1967, and the Super Bowl Trophy is named after him.

Have a lovely day, and I’ll see you tomorrow.

Shalom shalom,

Pat Garcia

Welcome to #RRBC’s 2nd Annual “A DAY IN MY LIFE” 30-Day Blogging Challenge! @RRBC_Org @RRBC_RWISA @Tweets4RWISA @pat_garcia

DAY 21, MARCH 21, 2024, HAPPY NATIONAL FRENCH BREAD DAY!

Good Morning, Everyone,

It is funny now, but I didn’t eat much bread as a child. I thought it was an unnecessary item on the table. In our home, cornbread and biscuits were the bread items offered with our meals. Both breads, cornbread, and biscuits were made from scratch.

My father used to love to eat bread. I didn’t understand that, and at every meal, he expected bread to be on the table. I didn’t know at that age that moving to Europe would challenge my taste buds and change my opinion on bread.

The Europeans bake excellent bread. Each country has its specialties. Today, I am focusing on breads that come out of France.

Courtesy of Sergio Arze –A loaf of fresh French bread

The French loaf of bread that is bought from the bakeries tastes fantastic with Jam. One can cut it into big slices, warm it in the oven or toaster, spread it with butter, and eat it as it is. You have a meal if you want to spread Jam or cream cheese on it.

Courtesy of Kavita-Joshi-Rai – French Croissants

Who hasn’t heard of the French Croissants? Thinking about them right now makes me hungry. One can buy them plain or filled with chocolate, Jam, or cheese inside them. They are delicious for a snack. However, many French people eat their croissants plain. Croissants are delicious, and the best way to eat them is the way you want them.

Courtesy of Sergio Arze – French baguettes

Another French bread that I have fallen in love with is the baguette. I love to buy it fresh from the bakery and then slice it into pieces, spread butter over the slices, and freshly grated garlic. If you desire, pan-fry some fresh shrimp and make a green salad; it makes an outstanding evening meal. I must admit that I sometimes eat a baguette with only butter and garlic. It’s yummy! I add a glass of Pinot Noir, my favorite wine, and sit back and relax.

Remember that at the beginning, I said I wasn’t a bread person. Well… now, a meal without some fresh bread is unthinkable—my, how I have changed.

Happy National French Bread Day! Go out and buy some French bread and celebrate this day.

Have a lovely day

Shalom shalom

Welcome to #RRBC’s 2nd Annual “A DAY IN MY LIFE” 30-Day Blogging Challenge! @RRBC_Org @RRBC_RWISA @Tweets4RWISA @pat_garcia

DAY 20, MARCH 20, 2024, HAPPY INTERNATIONAL HAPPINESS DAY!

Good Morning, Everyone,

Yesterday afternoon, my Mac wasn’t performing as it should. No matter what I did i.e. checking different online forums, everything stayed the same. So, I stopped working at 8:30 PM.

I sat and contemplated all of the steps I had been taking. Contemplation helps me in every area of my life. It chases the agitation away; I find peace with the fact that I wasn’t successful in solving the problem, but I had done all of the background work I needed to do to sleep well. And I did sleep well.

When I awoke to a beautiful blue sky winking at me through my window this morning, I knew I would have a lovely day.

My sky window in my bedroom

I went downstairs, made coffee, and meditated before I brought up my Mac. Last night, I chose International Happiness Day as the topic to write about. My Mac wasn’t working as it should. But I believe happiness is a choice I make.

Then it happened. An idea sprang before my eyes, and a tiny whisper said, “Try to do the task (I needed to scan a document) with your iPhone.”

I had never done that before. I laid the document on my printer and pulled my printer software up on my iPhone. Guess what? I learned to scan a document with my iPhone and save it to the files on my Mac. Voila! It worked!

When I looked on my Mac, I saw my file sitting among my documents. I have a smile of contentment on my face. I learned something new.

These little moments where I move from where I don’t know how and learn something new make me happy.

Have a HAPPY INTERNATIONAL HAPPINESS DAY, everyone, and do something to make you happy.

Shalom shalom,

Pat Garcia

Welcome to #RRBC’s 2nd Annual “A DAY IN MY LIFE” 30-Day Blogging Challenge! @RRBC_Org @RRBC_RWISA @Tweets4RWISA @pat_garcia

DAY 19, MARCH 19, 2024, HAPPY BACKYARD DAY!

Good Morning, Everyone,

When I first came to Europe as a United States Army soldier, I thought the world revolved around the United States. Imagine my surprise when I found it didn’t. The Europeans are different. Their differences lie in treasuring their time off from work, the public holidays they celebrate, and their summer vacations.

If you visit Europe in June, July, and August and maybe the first two weeks in September, you will find few Federal offices open. Some stores, doctors’ offices, and other medical facilities are closed too. People are on vacation or at home working in their backyards, and if they don’t have a house with a backyard, they have gardens and can apply to the city municipal office, where they are put on a list to rent one.

This is my shed where wood for the winter is kept. When you walk out of my front entrance, it is on the right, going into my backyard. It is already filled with wood that is drying.

Our space in Europe is small; we live close to one another, which I had to get used to.
I have a home, so my backyard is my garden.

I am blessed with a patio that goes from one side of my house to the other. At the moment, you can see images of things I’m decluttering. They will be picked up in April. We’re still on our way to the backyard.

Let me put a disclaimer here: I am not a gardener, but I like being in one. I am thankful that I have a couple who are very close to me, like a sister and brother. My brother does the heavy garden work, and his wife helps me at home while I write. I have committed to a few responsibilities that no one else can do, but I and I’m happy that God has sent me dear friends to help lighten my load.

We’re now in the backyard and in the corner is Lydia. She is a plumb tree. The green trees behind her are outside the fence, but they don’t scare Lydia. She gives up beautiful plumbs every year.

My brother, sister, and I looked at my garden last Sunday afternoon when they dropped by and decided it was time to clean it up sometime next week so I could enjoy the glass patio and look at my trees.

This is the bottom half of Moses, the walnut tree I planted myself. It was only a small tiny baby branch. People told me it wouldn’t live but look at him now! I want to show you how tall and stately he is.
Isn’t he a doll? Wait until he blooms. Then, Moses is magnificent.

It has been freezing here, so my cherry, apple, and walnut trees have not started blooming yet.

Here is Daniel, the cherry tree, standing by Moses.

I think they will bloom in April, and they will be gorgeous when that happens.

I gave each of them a name when I planted them and have written a caption with their name, like a name tag you get when you go to a conference. I took the photos this morning.

We’re now on the other side of the garden, and you can see a tree I haven’t named yet. I’m thinking about calling him Joshua.
Finally, we’re leaving my backyard from the other side, where my car is parked. The balcony belongs to my room, where I sometimes lie down and nap.

My backyard is looking forward to spring just as much as I am.
I hope you enjoyed the visit.

Have a nice day, everyone, and take care.

Shalom shalom

Pat Garcia

Welcome to #RRBC’s 2nd Annual “A DAY IN MY LIFE” 30-Day Blogging Challenge! @RRBC_Org @RRBC_RWISA @Tweets4RWISA

DAY 18, MARCH 18, 2024, HAPPY NATIONAL AWKWARD MOMENTS DAY!

Strange situations happen where there are no explanations. They are so incomprehensible that you believe you have been in the Twilight Zone.

I experienced such an incident ten years ago when my husband was living; we took a bus tour of fourteen days to the United Kingdom, Scotland, and Ireland. I was looking forward to the trip because I wanted to discover which part of Africa I came from. I thought I could find some records in York.

We decided to go with friends from his Law Enforcement club. We were twenty-five couples, and we met up at Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (Frankfurt’s Main Train Station) at four o’clock in the morning to get on our tour bus and be driven to Bremerhaven, Germany, where we would take an overnight ferry across the English Channel. I had never been on a ferry before. My very first time. Whenever I went to the UK, I bought a flight ticket and flew with an airplane. I am not a swimmer. I can paddle the water, but a swimmer, I am not.

Thus, I avoid cruises. They are not my cup of tea. I didn’t know that the tour bus would also be loaded on the ferry and that the ferry would arrive at our destination the following day around nine AM. The tour bus would be unloaded, and we would get back on and start our trip.


Being self-employed, I had been working very hard before we left Grosskrotzenburg, and I was looking forward to finally getting on the ferry and then to our cabin.


We had a nice outside cabin. The ship’s kitchen was excellent. The chief cook and his crew served us well for the evening meal as we crossed and for breakfast. After the evening meal, we retired to our cabin, and I went to bed immediately; my husband said he might go to the deck and look around and talk with a few friends, and I mumbled goodnight. According to my husband, I slept like a log.

In the morning, I woke up, stretching my arms out after having a delightful sleep, and my husband was sitting up, already dressed, with a scared look on his face. I asked him what was wrong. I thought I had snored too loud. That was when he looked at me and said, “Now you wake up. Didn’t you hear that the ship was going under? The buses, cars, and trucks parked underground in the belly of the ferry crashed and shoved into each other like someone in the underground terminal was throwing them around.”

Shocked, I said No. The awkwardness of this moment was that everyone heard the alert from the captain over the PA system and was standing by, and I was the only one sleeping. I still laugh about this moment. In fact, I am laughing now. 😊


Let me say the ship wasn’t going under, but someone had forgotten to park his giant truck safely so it wouldn’t roll. Cars and motorbikes were severely damaged, but no one was hurt, and no one slept that night but me.😴

The couples who toured with us kept asking me afterward how I could sleep. All of them thought the ferry was sinking and their lives were over, and I was the only one who had the best sleep of her life going across the English Channel.

Have a lovely day!

Shalom shalom.

Pat Garcia

Welcome to #RRBC’s 2nd Annual “A DAY IN MY LIFE” 30-Day Blogging Challenge! @RRBC_Org @RRBC_RWISA @Tweets4RWISA @pat_garcia

DAY 17, MARCH 17, 2024, TRULY, I AM THANKFUL

Good Morning, Everyone,

The sun is out, and unlike yesterday, when it showed splotches of itself at various times in the sky, it is brightly shining, and for that, I am thankful.

When I compare the sun’s radiance to yesterday’s brightness, the words of Jeremiah, the Prophet, rattle within my soul like a child shaking its baby rattling toy.  

Through the LORD’s Mercies, we are not consumed. Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22-23, NkJV) 

A deep flood of gratitude storms into my consciousness, reminding me that I awoke in my right mind; I was able to perform self-care myself, to discern putting one foot before the other when I walked, to go down my stairway without fear of falling,

to see the sunrise and marvel at its beauty, to see and feel the warmth beaming right now through my living room window.

Yes, His mercies are new every morning, and His faithfulness is great. Such thoughts awaken the yearning in my heart for a long, hot summer.   

I won’t be bundling myself into a heavy coat today. After finishing this article for the challenge, I will go outside and let the wind caress my face. I have long discovered that it is not the big things in life that make me happy but the little things that I sometimes take for granted, like the soft caresses of the wind and its gentle touch to rejuvenate my face. At the same time, my skin protects my cheekbones, forehead, and chin from debris that could harm me.

Taken from my living room window with my iPhone, I saw the beautiful appearance of the rising sun.

Thankfulness is what uplifts me, and not my emotions. My feelings are fickle. They look at my circumstances. I need someone greater than me and all humanity. Someone who’s got me whether I’m confused or troubled, sad or happy. I need the presence of the invisible Creator and Ruler of the Universe, the source of all moral authority. The one who spoke and things came into being. 

Getting to know Him is my pearl of great price, and Truly, I am thankful.    

Have a lovely Sunday, everyone. See you tomorrow. 

Shalom shalom

Pat Garcia

Welcome to #RRBC’s 2nd Annual “A DAY IN MY LIFE” 30-Day Blogging Challenge! @RRBC_Org @RRBC_RWISA @Tweets4RWISA @pat_garcia

DAY 16, MARCH 16, 2024, EVERYTHING MUST CHANGE

Growth fascinates me. Looking at the trees I planted in my backyard, I am astonished at how they keep moving toward Heaven.

However, that pertains to everything in life. We are on a journey. When I take the time to observe the people around me, revisit the places I have been, or see a cat or dog grow into maturity, I marvel at how quickly people, animals, places, and situations change.

Nina Simone, one of my favorite singers, recorded a song that has followed me so far in my life, and this song makes me aware of how precious life is and how quickly it can change.

On one of the blogging days during this 2nd RRBC Blogging Challenge, I showed you a picture of my baby palm, three. A leaf had not opened up. Yet today, it has opened, and another leaf is coming. I see the changes when I behold the palm tree I named Hadassah.

Most profound are the changes I see within myself and on my body when I look in my mirror. The changes are sometimes like footprints, revealing that time is passing by.

Nina Simone – this is a version in her older years, but I find it great. It is emotion pure!

Everything must change; nothing remains the same.

Learning to live with that reality and remaining true to your purpose is the mark that distinguishes the human being from all else on this earth.

Shalom shalom

Pat Garcia

Welcome to #RRBC’s 2nd Annual “A DAY IN MY LIFE” 30-Day Blogging Challenge! @RRBC_Org @RRBC_RWISA @Tweets4RWISA @pat_garcia

DAY 15, MARCH 15, 2024, WORLD SLEEP DAY

Good Morning, Everyone,
I thought long and hard about today’s calendar topic because I always contemplate and ask myself when the world will wake up. I don’t mean that to sound sarcastic, either.
When I hear the news on television, read various newspapers, or listen to specific podcasts, when I examine the unrest among the different nations and the wars that are taking place, I can only shake my head at what I see and hear, and I wonder why others don’t see it.

We are at fault for disturbing the circadian rhythms of our internal clocks. It is time we wake up to see that our behavior patterns keep us from sleeping.

A child starving of hunger. Courtesy of Shutterstock

I don’t know of any child who can sleep on an empty stomach or while bombs are bursting all around them.

The sun is coming up, sneaking a peek through my bedroom window.

All the elements needed for a good night’s sleep will be available when we change our way of living and stop bickering and fighting against one another in wars.

Have a lovely day, and take care.

Shalom shalom

Pat Garcia

Welcome to #RRBC’s 2nd Annual “A DAY IN MY LIFE” 30-Day Blogging Challenge! @RRBC_Org @RRBC_RWISA @Tweets4RWISA @pat_garcia

DAY 14, MARCH 14, 2024, NATIONAL WRITE YOUR STORY DAY

Good Morning, Everyone,

We are approaching the halfway mark, and today, I will talk about NATIONAL WRITE YOUR STORY DAY, which I think needs to be banned until a person reaches eighty or eighty-five.

We have many books written by writers everywhere who want to tell their stories. The number of authors in the genre called Memoirs is continuing to increase. However, it is my humble opinion that writing a memoir between the ages of thirty and eighty is questionable. What have you experienced in that short time that may help someone else? 

Here I am attending the Writer’s Festival in Matera, Italy

I hear you yelling, “At thirty, life is over!” But who told you that? Some school of thought or some adult who may be unhappy at living? When I read the Memoirs of Victor Hugo, Victor Frankl, Corrie Ten Boom, Gail Sheehy, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, and many others in my digital library, I found them telling me differently about writing their stories, and they lived worthy lives that told of their overcoming!

Here, I am working in my office, deep in concentration.

Therefore, I am not one of those people who think life is over at thirty. To be honest, I don’t know if I will write an autobiography about myself because my story is still ongoing, and I don’t know if I want to expose myself to an audience where I have to defend the messes that will go in the memoir I would write about myself. 

Singing at an International Congress near Cologne

Thus, I won’t be taking advantage of National Write Your Story Day, at least not yet. I will wait until I turn eighty-five or ninety, and maybe then, I will begin writing one. 

Take care and have a lovely day.

Shalom shalom,

Pat Garcia

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