The Tick Tock of Time

It's arrived. Our Grandfather clock. I am... ecstatic and sad at the same time.

Ellicia and I had always wanted a really nice souvenir of our time in Germany. Something more than the standard postcard or beer stein.

Luckily for us, the Black Forest region of Deutschland is renown for it's clock making. Much like the Swiss, I suppose.

We found a family that has been in the clock making business for hundreds of years. I remember visiting their home and seeing clocks older than America, and still ticking.

I also remember visiting their showroom. They had a barn/garage type building in their backyard. The showroom was on the second floor. Narrow stairs. And Ellicia was determined to get up there. And she did!

We spent the next hour and some shopping around. We picked out all of the details that we thought would help summarize our time, and ended up with quite a few details of the Schloss Neuschwanstein.

The clock is handmade, to custom specifications. It's expensive, and in fact, more than we ever thought we'd spend on a souvenir. But, we also knew we'd likely never be back to Germany. Besides, all we needed to do was make a small downpayment (to secure the order), and then over the next years, we could pay whenever we liked - no interest or nonsense. And the clock would be made when the money was final.

That was right before we left.

When Ellicia passed away, I felt a very strong desire to no longer wait for the clock. Years didn't seem to be a right timeframe. So, I dashed the full balance off to him (thank you, Ellicia, for the life insurance). It had to clear customs and of course there were freight charges (all told, another 50% of the original value), and then there was bickering between the shipper and the customs agent on who was to hire the truck to bring it to the house (took 6 weeks, till finally I had enough and told them to just hire the $!@ truck).

It came. Truck delivered it as far as the driveway. It was a huge crate. 500+ pounds. So, I enticed some nice neighbors to help carry it in. I did some crate breaking -- after unscrewing 49 long screws... yes, I counted them. We hauled it in. Stood it up. And then, as we all know from the wee hours before Christmas morning...

Some Assembly Required

Had hang the weights, the pendulum, set the time, and calibrate the workings.

And now, it chimes. It can do three different tunes, and even has a Night option. It's beautiful.

And once it was all set up, I stopped, and sat down in front of it... and just started talking to Ellicia. Told her how nice it looked, and what a good job she did in helping to pick out the details. How beautiful it sounds when it chimes. And the details and the workmanship. Very impressed.

It's the last piece to arrive from Germany. There's nothing more to arrive. And it's the last thing we truly picked out together. What was only to be a memento of our time in Germany has become more a memento of our time.