My Little Happy Wanderer

Leif was my little "Happy Wanderer." He loved to be out, going places, just about any place, the city, the woods, the beach. When we lived in Germany, we went on lots of Volksmarches (organized hikes I've written about before). Our boys had their little backpacks to take things along with them. Leif, when he was this little, often took a stuffed animal along for the ride.

This photo was taken in the Fürther Stadtwald, the City Woods of the city of Fürth, Germany, in the fall of 1977 when Leif was a little over two-and-a-half years old.

I was looking for a photo that I was pretty sure I didn't ever have, one of me singing to my boys, or playing the guitar and singing, and since I didn't have one but wanted to post a list of songs I used to sing to them at night. Sometimes we also sang them while driving in the car. I'm sure the list isn't complete, but I'm surprised I remembered over sixty songs I sang.

This photo goes with "The Happy Wanderer," which I used to sing to them. I loved that song, which I learned in grade school. Here is the list I came up with. Happy memories come with all those songs. Some of them, many of them, I learned as a child. It was fun to teach them to my sons and pass them on.

1. America the Beautiful

2. Ants Go Marching, The

3. Battle Hymn of the Republic

4. Daisy, Daisy

5. Dixie

6. Do Your Ears Hang Low?

7. Down in the Valley

8. Edelweiss

9. 500 Miles

10. Found a Peanut

11. Four Strong Winds

12. Goodnight Irene

13. Greensleeves

14. Hang Down Your Head, Tom Dooley

15. The Happy Wanderer

16. Henry Martin

17. Home on the Range

18. Hush Little Baby

19. Inchworm

20. Itsy Bitsy Spider (or the Eensy Weensy Spider)

21. I've Been Working' on the Railroad

22. John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt

23. Kumbayah

24. Mary Had a Little Lamb

25. Michael Row the Boat Ashore

26. Moon River

27. My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean

28. My Darling Clementine

29. My Grandfather's Clock

30. Oh, How Lovely Is the Evening

31. Oh, Susana

32. Old Black Joe

33. Old MacDonald Had a Farm

34. On Top of Old Smoky

35. On Top of Spaghetti

36. Once Upon a Dream

37. Puff the Magic Dragon

38. Red River Valley

39. Rockabye Baby

40. Row, Row, Row Your Boat

41. Sail, Baby, Sail (The Slumber Boat)

42. She'll Be Coming' 'Round the Mountain

43. Shenandoah

44. She's Only a Bird in a Gilded Cage

45. Somewhere Over the Rainbow

46. The Sound of Music

47. Summertime

48. Sweet Betsy From Pike

49. Taps (little did I know it would one day be played at his inurnment service)

50. Try to Remember

51. Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

52. Way Down Upon the Swanee River

53. When Johnny Comes Marching Home

54. When the Red, Red Robin

55. When You Wish Upon a Star

56. Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

57. Yankee Doodle

58. Yellow Rose of Texas

59. You Are My Sunshine

60 plus (And Christmas carols, of course)
And I just remembered "Frere Jacques"

How Many Photos Are There of Leif I've Never Seen?

When we were in Germany earlier this month, our friends the Streckers showed us some photos of us and our boys that were taken around 1980 when we were living in Germany. Several of them we had never seen before, and this photo of Leif riding on my back was one of them. How well I remember carting him around like this, usually when he got tired on Volksmarches and the terrain was too rough for the umbrella stroller, but also just for fun. He looks like he's enjoying himself, just a hint of a smile there. He looks so sweet. I'm glad I could scan it.

This made me wonder how many other people have pictures of Leif that I've never seen . . . and would love to see. I treasure every one.

Leif - Sachsen bei Ansbach - Volksmarch - August 5, 1978 - Age 3 and a half

I've written several times about the Volksmarches (hikes) we went on in Germany and now I've found a photo of Leif on the Volksmarch organized by the village where we lived, Sachsen bei Ansbach. It meandered through the farmland and woods beginning about a mile and a half from our house at Am Romer 9.

Looking at this photo I have to marvel at how small Leif looks. Although he was always tall for his age, he was still a very little boy and we got so used to thinking of him as a tall man that these photos are almost startling. He looks so tender and vulnerable, so little.

The day of this Volksmarch it was really hot, hence the lack of a shirt on the boy. The rest of us had to keep ours on.

It's hard to believe that over 31 years have passed since this, our first Sachsen Volksmarch, shortly after we moved to the village.

Can you tell that the tree at left is an apple tree? We had apple trees in our yard there, too.

Tonight I am able to scan photos and look at them with a smile and lots of love, without the sadness and tears I often have. I can remember this day with fondness and delight. How fortunate I was to have it.

Three Volksmarchers - Somewhere in Southern Germany - September 1978

One of our favorite activities during our second tour of duty in Germany was Volksmarching. Volksmarches are hikes laid out by a local hiking club, that wander through villages and towns, but mostly through woods and farmland. You sign up and pay a small fee, and choose whether to hike the short, medium or long course. In those days, the short course was 10 km (6.2 miles), which was plenty for us and would take us about two-and-a-half to three hours with the boys, depending upon the weather and how challenging the terrain was. We never managed a 20 km or 30 km "march."

Volksmarches take place in all kinds of weather, and we were out in rain, snow and sleet as well as heat and sun.

The price to enter includes some "Kraftbruhe" at a couple of stops along the way. That's basically beef or chicken bouillon and is served steaming hot in disposable cups. It also includes your prize, which is a usually a medal with some interesting scene or personage on it, but could be a metal or wax plaque or a plate to hang on the wall. We had quite a collection of these and still have some of them.

It was a great way to see more of Germany, get some fresh air and exercise, and find a new restaurant to visit at the end or on the way home.

Lots of times, Leif would get worn out and have to be carried. After all, we started doing this when he was only two-and-a-half years old and six miles is quite a long way for those little legs.

I no longer know where this particular hike was, but we were living in Sachsen bei Ansbach at the time, and it was somewhere within a couple of hours drive of there in southern Germany. It was a lovely fall day and my guys did what they always did when there was something to climb . . . up they went, all three of them. I'm glad none of these logs rolled or slipped under their feet or we might have have some difficulty finishing the hike.

Peter W., as always with his arms around his boys, enjoyed those hikes, even if we did occasionally get lost for awhile trying to find them.

This photo was taken in September 1978, exactly 31 years ago. Peter A. was almost ten years old and Leif was a little over three-and-a-half.

Leif's 3th Birthday - Furth, Germany - January 28, 1978 - Age 3

We moved to Furth, Germany, next to Nurnberg, the summer of 1977 and lived there just one year. While there, we celebrated Leif's third birthday. He was thrilled to get a tricycle, his very first wheels, and boy, did he pedal fast! Where we lived it was fairly level ground and he could make headway. This photo was taken in the apartment, though, looking from the living room-dining room area toward the hallway that went to the bedrooms, because he had just gotten the trike at the party.

We had a small birthday party for him with kids that lived in our apartment building and his friend Katie from the next building over, and had a good time.

It was during this year that Leif went to the Montessori preschool I've written about before. He got a lot of exercise going on Volksmarches with us beginning that year, too. He had a generally sweet personality, but he did have a temper. I remember one day when he got mad at his brother for not letting him come into his room and threw toys at the door, denting the paint and making me really upset with him.

There was a large open area between the rows of apartment buildings and Leif liked to go play in the sandbox there. One day he left his sand toys in the box and was upset when he went back for them and they were gone, a hard lesson for him.

But on this birthday, it was just happiness, presents and yummy cake and ice cream.

Happy Third Birthday, Leif!

Leif & Peter Anthony - Volksmarch in July 1978

One of the things we enjoyed and did a lot of while living in Germany was Volksmarching. Hiking clubs in towns all over Germany organize annual hikes on trails that range from 10-30 kilometers through villages, fields and woods. Participants sign up and pay a nominal fee to walk the course (noncompetitively) and receive a patch, medal, or other token for completing the walk. It's a great way to get some exercise, see the countryside, and collect souvenirs, as well as recording all the hikes in a record book. We also took a lot of photos.

We participated in many Volksmarches in all kinds of weather. Leif was very young when we were doing this, from 2-5 years old, and although he walked a lot, we also took along an umbrella stroller for when he got tired, and even carried him on our backs.

We all amassed a lot of medals, and each of our sons had a large cannister of them. When they were young, we displayed them on black velvet hangings on their bedroom walls. They also had German hats with enamel pins from locations we visited, on hikes or otherwise.

This photo was taken in July 1978 during the Welden Volksmarch. Peter Anthony (9 and a half years old) again has a protective arm around Leif, who was three and half years old.