Jeep Grand Cherokee headlights

Yup. In fact we retired from Dallas to the Sierra Nevada, and like you say, it's a short trip to a beach or a mountain. Your pic of Baumholder reminds me that the old German barracks are still there but transferred back from the US to German units! But I don't know why you say the trees are not alive. Maybe there was some insect damage when you were there, but they were all growing when I left!

I'd like people to know that I don't like American cities either. I grew up close to Boston, I spent lots of time in New York and Seattle, and the one time I went to L.A. it just gave me the willies. There are places here I like, but I have already moved all my stuff to Silverton, and bought the empty lot next to mine, to keep Californicators and Texans from building there. :-) (Although to be fair, the latest wave of refugees seems to be from Indiana, Missouri, places like that, that I always used to think of as rural too.)

Do they laugh a lot, when you say "pedacito"?

Earle

"Poquito". (Pronounced "poe-kee-toe" because of insane Spanish spelling rules.) If you ask for "pedacito" in the wrong settings, it is hard to tell what you are going to get.

I have a new lawn now, but the neighbors don't care. They use the proper term for it, "wildflowers". ;o)

Earle