Celebrating Silvester

 

So close to the end of the year, Rain's prompt for Thursday Art and Dinner Date is "New Year's Eve Party". No such party for me, so I just leave out the party part and tell you a bit about how we used to celebrate New Year's Eve in Germany.

New Year's Eve is called Silvester in Germany - for Saint Silvester, who lived in the 4th century and whose death's anniversary is December 31. Of course, there are many people who have a party into the early morning hours of the new year, but there are also many people who prefer to let go of the old year in a much smaller circle - and some who don't do anything at all.

When we were children, we did the tradition of "Bleigieẞen", literally "lead pouring". You would melt small shapes made of lead over the flame of a candle and when it is liquid, quickly throw it in a bowl of cold water where it would harden in a new shape. Now it was everybody's task to interpret this shape which would predict your future in the coming year. In 2018, the EU passed regulations that limit the sale of toxic lead-containing products, including these molybdomancy kits. In this photo I am five or six years old when my brother and I did Bleigieẞen in our kitchen. This dates to the mid sixties.

A traditional food for Silvester is carp, but I am not sure that many people still do this. My parents eventually abandoned this tradition. Instead, we often had fondue - my mom would make a wonderful broth that would then be poured into the fondue pot where it would further heat and we would put thinly sliced pieces of meat in it and slowly let it cook to perfection. There was bread on the side and my mom usually made some very delicious sauces to go with it. A family favorite was her Aïoli, it was so tasty. This was accompanied by some good bottles of French wine. Most Silvester dinners were with my parents, my brother and his then current girlfriend, myself and my friend from Paris, Eve, who would come to visit us every year in late December (and I would go and visit her every year at Easter). I found an old photo that my dad took at one of those Silvester dinners. From left to right - my mom, myself, my brother's girlfriend, my brother, Eve.

Have you heard of "Dinner for One"? This is a Silvester classic in Germany. It's a British two-hander comedy sketch written by Laurie Wylie and performed by Freddy Frinton and May Warden. In 1962 it was recorded by the German TV broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk as a black-and-white videotape recording. It has become a Silvester tradition not only in Germany, but in Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Estonia. Same procedure as every year.

Here it is - enjoy!

Finally we're approaching the "big" moment - midnight. The church bells are ringing in the new year and there are private fireworks everywhere. When we were kids, we would step out onto the balcony to watch the show; when I was at university, I would go up a hill with my friends to watch the fireworks over Tübingen from there. Of course there would be champagne or "Sekt", as we call it. One beautiful alternative to fireworks are Wunderkerzen (sparkler) that you hold in your hand. They are very popular. My daughter sent me a photo of one of her Wunderkerzen from last year.

And with this, my friends, my blogging year will come to its end. I wish all of you a very happy, healthy and peaceful new year, filled with joy and laughter. Guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr, as we say in German - literally "good slide to the new year". See you in 2023.

Lovely Mail

 

Today's post will only be a short one after a very quiet Christmas. I want to show you two Christmas cards I received before Christmas. The first one comes from Erika and I truly love her design - the beautiful green color, the silver star, the tiny peppermint candy embellishments.

The second one arrived after its long journey from Scotland. Can you guess who sent it?

Of course it's from Elle. The cat at the back of the card says it all...

And this is the front - such a beautiful Christmas-y scene, like a sunrise or sunset in the snowy forest.

I love both of these cards and am very touched that you thought of me, Erika and Elle. Thank you so much again!

But I cannot leave without showing a drink since this is for Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Tuesday. This delicious bottle of red wine got dressed in a gingerbread man costume before it arrived in my home. I hope it still counts even though it is hidden?

To everyone in the T gang - have a happy, healthy and peaceful 2023.

The Silence of Christmas

This week's prompt at Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date is "A Christmas Scene". For this I will share a blogpost again that I already posted a couple times. Last year, Elephant's Child commented that I can repost this each and every year. I am following her advice.

In Germany, our “big day” is not Christmas Day (and we even have two of them!) but Christmas Eve – Heilig Abend (Holy Eve) as it is called. It usually starts out hectic, often with the last big shopping because all of the stores and supermarkets will be closed for the following two days. But around 2:00 pm the shops (including the grocery stores) close and by 3:00 pm at the latest a magical silence covers the entire country like a beautiful veil. The ideal December 24th brings snow in the afternoon and turns the world into a winter wonderland by the time the first church bells start to ring.

Oh, the sound of church bells – how much do I miss this! They ring every day (at 6:00 or 7:00 in the morning, at noon and again at 6:00 pm), but on Christmas Eve all the bells are ringing, from the smallest, highest pitch to the biggest one with the deepest, loudest sound. It’s a concert of bells that resounds through the silence, calling for mass. Christmas services start in the later afternoon, the first ones mainly for smaller children, showing nativity plays and involving the kids. Later in the evening follow the more “grown-up” services with meaningful sermons and the old German Christmas carols sung by the congregation. Everybody knows these songs and since the churches are always packed on Christmas Eve it is a strong and joyful singing.

 

After church it’s back home – and waiting for Christkind (Christ Child). Yes – it often is not Santa coming through the chimney (there are not that many houses with a fireplace anyway) but Christkind. When I was a child I always envisioned Christkind with golden curly hair and a flowing white dress, an angelic smile on its face. It would place the presents in “die gute Stube” (“the good room” = living room) and magically disappear, unseen by anyone. The children are called in and they stand in awe looking at the Christmas tree – that was brought in and decorated only the day before (or even in the morning) and very often carries real candles on its branches. I have always loved the real candles, it smells differently and the whole atmosphere is – yes, magical. After singing a few Christmas carols everybody opens their presents accompanied by Christmas music on the radio.

 

And if you’re still awake or missed the afternoon/evening service you can go to midnight mass – always my favorite Christmas service. A huge tree is lit (some with real candles – we live dangerously in Germany!), the atmosphere is festive and peaceful – it is our “Silent Night, Holy Night”.

May the magic of Christmas touch your heart, wherever you are.

T is for This and That

 

Foggy December sunrise

Hello T gang - last week I had to pass Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Tuesday because I was summoned for jury duty. Usually I don't mind being called for jury duty, but this time it really bugged me since it was so close to Christmas and I was very busy fulfilling Christmas orders for my shop. You can't knit in the courthouse (they don't let you through security with knitting needles, those murderous weapons!) in order to fill all those times you are waiting. And there is a lot of waiting involved. It's such a poorly managed process. Nevertheless, in the end I was excused on Thursday afternoon and could return to my knitting needles. I had published an early deadline for Christmas orders, but still many orders for Christmas were put in after that, most of them by men who realized that Christmas is on Decmber 25th (indeed!) and they were looking for a gift for their wives, mothers, lovers... and thought hand knitted socks and hats are the ticket. The socks are made to order, but the hats are ready-to-ship - of which I almost ran out! Only a couple are left. I am determined to have a bigger inventory next year.

The weekend before my jury duty we had our "Winterfest" at the German School. Since we are only a tiny satellite campus - the other one is in Marin County and way bigger - we had a small celebration. Everybody came together in my classroom and we just sat, eating cookies that our administrator had made (she is a wonderful baker), drinking spiced cider and having good conversations. Here you can see the display of the cookies, and to the right there are "gebrannte Mandeln" (roasted almonds) that are my all time favorites.

The hallway in our school (it actually is a church where we rent rooms in their school) was decorated with these cute reindeer. I couldn't help myself, I had to take a picture of one of them.

I brought some leftover cookies home which the Geek really appreciated. We were in a German mood that day and had a German, or better say, Swabian dinner - Kässpätzle. Spätzle is a Southern German kind of noodle made from flour and eggs. They're mostly eaten in Baden-Württemberg (where Swabia is located) and Bavaria, but the Swabian and Bavarian Spätzle are different from each other. The Bavarian ones are small lumps whereas the Swabian ones are longer and thin and actually look more like a noodle. In my completely unbiased opinion (ahem...) I think the Swabian Spätzle are better. Real traditional Swabian Spätzle are handmade - when the dough is done you scrape it bit by bit from a wooden board into boiling water. This sounds much easier than it actually is; unfortunately I have never managed this art. "Käs" means cheese, so these are cheese noodles, a bit like maccaroni and cheese; the most important part though is the slowly sautéed onions on top.

A glass of wine was the perfect companion and this, of course, is my contribution to this week's T Tuesday.

When I'm not knitting I'm taking walks in the neighborhood (usually to the mailbox to mail my orders) and am still finding autumn leaves on the sidewalks - pure poetry. Today Liz and I walked around the lake - she has a new dog that I had to meet, he's super cute - and we saw this beautiful Great Egret who landed next to the trail.

Last week I received mail from Kathy in Ozarks who sent me a beautiful handmade Christmas card. She put a gorgeous wax seal on the back of the envelope - look at the deer!

Inside was a very beautiful card - look at that:

And the back of the card - the kitty is drinking the milk for Santa - I so love this! Thank you very much again, Kathy!

Things are slowing down in the Bartz household. After tomorrow the Geek will be off work until after New Year - the company is shutting down over the holidays and I am very happy about that. They have been doing this for several years now, but this year the break is longer than usual. I don't mind, I love to spend time with the Geek. After almost 25 years of marriage I still love my husband very much.

I wanted to display our angel orchestra - these are little handmade wooden figurines that are made in the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains) in East Germany. They have been with us for a long time, but unfortunately we couldn't find them. I know they are somewhere, I am sure we put them in a "safe place" which is always a bad idea. But while looking for them we came upon this jigsaw puzzle that we bought 25 years ago when we were in Oxford, UK. So instead of putting up the angel orchestra, we sat down and assembled the jigsaw puzzle of Christ Church, one of the colleges in Oxford.

Do you like to put together jigsaw puzzles?

If you celebrate it, I wish you a happy Hanukkah.

A Real Banksy?

 

Sometime overnight in the last week after Thursday, this street art appeared on the wall of the Masonic Lodge in Windsor, CA. No one knows where it came from and exactly when. All we know that it wasn't there before Thursday.

But there is one dominant question - is this a real Banksy? No one so far has answered this. It does look like art à la Banksy, however, it can be completely fake as well. After all, it's easy to purchase stencils like this and a spray can and off you go.

Does it really matter? I sure don't care. I like this little girl with her heart shaped balloon and the brown rainboots, and her sweet face is my contribution to Nicole's Friday Face Off.

Frosty Mornings

 

Recently we have had pretty chilly nights and frosty mornings. The frost is painting its beautiful pictures in the garden, decorating the leaves of some plants.

There was even some frost on my cow and when the sun hit it, it started to"steam". Oh those beautiful surprises!

Just a couple days before, I had gathered the fallen leaves of the Japanese Maple in my front garden and brought them to the back to mulch some parts in the garden there. Those leaves had beautiful icy edges and when backlit by the morning sun, started to glow. I was in photographer's heaven!

Even a single leaf on the bare ground looked amazing.

Nature's art...

And now to the dinner part for Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date - with the colder weather we're eating more hearty food. Last week I made Italian sausage with penne, peppers and broccoli. I've really fallen in love with sweet Italian sausage, mainly because of the fennel in it. It gives it such a great flavor.

Many people eat soup in the colder season, but somehow I have never found my love for it. Sometimes I make soup, but it certainly is not a favorite. What about you? Are you cooking a lot of soup in the winter?

Thanksgiving in the Park

 

Sonoma County, where I live, has an abundance of beautiful nature parks. On Thanksgiving we were blessed with mild sunny weather and therefore we spent it hiking in one of my favorite parks, Crane Creek. I've written about this park several times - here and here for example - and this probably won't be the last time.

I always take a picture of the tree above in front of the vineyard.

We had just walked a couple minutes when we noticed a hawk high up in a tree. I'm not quite sure which hawk it is, but I suspect it's a Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis). Crane Creek is a great place to watch hawks and kites.

We walked for a while and then climbed up to a bench from where we enjoyed the view and listened to the many woodpeckers that were darting in and out of the surrounding trees.

We came upon a split tree - maybe the drought and then a storm cut the weakened tree open. This must have happened sometime during the past months, since the last time I was here.

Further down, a Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) was resting on a bare branch. I have to admit that I have a great weakness for these graceful birds.

It's the trees that fascinate me over and over again in Crane Creek. There are native Oaks, California Buckeyes and California Bay trees, which have a wonderful scent. Many of them are covered with moss that waft in the wind.

There are many crooked tree parts to admire - branches and entire trunks. And those of you who have read my blog for a while know how much I love crooked trees.

Our loop finally let us back to this tree again, and when you look closely you can see "our" hawk on top of it. It was "following" us the entire time of our hike.

Back home we made some hot chocolate and covered our mugs with a Dutch Stroopwafel. The steam from the hot drink softens the caramel in the cookie - oh, so delicious! This is for T Tuesday that is so kindly hosted by Bleubeard and Elizabeth.

Next week I might miss T Tuesday because I will be on call for jury duty.

Black Friday by the Sea

"I feel most at home out along the Ocean's edge, where land meets sea. It is here along these rocky, life filled pools, giant kelp forests, and flat rock fishing holes that life reaches into me with a soothing calm." - Jesse Lee Longacre

Many years ago, back in the early 2000s, the Geek enjoyed a good Black Friday shopping. He would get up before the crack of dawn and stand in line to get some pretty good deals (at that times you would actually still get good deals). After a few hours he would return home to have a long and lazy breakfast with Kaefer and me - and entertain us with the funniest stories about the things he had experienced while standing in line. But after a few years the appeal had vanished and Black Friday shopping stopped in the Bartz household. Instead, we stayed at home and spent a wonderfully lazy day, playing games, putting up the Christmas lights on the house and eating too many cookies. A couple years later, REI introduced the #optoutside Black Friday with their own stores closed so that their employees could enjoy the great outdoors. We enthusiastically embraced it and since then, we have spent Black Friday far away from any shopping and any laziness.

This year was no exception. The weather was gorgeous and we decided to go to the ocean and spend the day in Salt Point State Park. This state park has been on our list for quite a while and I honestly don't know why we didn't go there sooner. It is a gem.

Salt Point has a very rough and wild shoreline. It is named for the cliffs and crevices where salt from ocean water crystallizes in sandstone depressions. The Native Kashia Pomo gathered salt here for centuries. One of the most unusual and beautiful features of the sandstone along these sea cliffs is the honeycomb-like network called tafoni.

The waves and salt spray leave salt crystals which interact with the sandstone, causing some portions to be hardened, while others are loosened. This creates the lacy, box-like pattern. There were many to find here.

How can you not love this texture on the sandstone? It is simply amazing.

We were constantly putting up our cameras, taking pictures. If it wasn't the tafoni, it was the "lovely rough" sea that captured us with its tall waves - some of them were a good ten feet tall and arrived in the typical "sleeper wave" pattern (a series of very powerful waves followed by a smooth sea followed by very powerful waves etc.). The constant noise from the crashing onto the shore sometimes was so loud that we had to shout to each other.

Beside the tafoni, I was fascinated by the entire geology of this place. Rock surfaces were different, some smooth, some rough. Some reminded me of the slick rock in places like Canyonlands or Arches National Parks. Water pooling in depressions washed out the sandstone even further. There were different colored layers of rock and I repeatedly wished that I knew more about geology. A geologist would have a hayday at this shoreline.

A sea urchin had become lunch for a passing sea gull.

A tide pool served as a mirror for the clouds in the sky.

Sometime during the day I came upon this sign that inspired the quote at the top of this post.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything about Jesse Lee Longacre except that he was only 41 years old when he died. Maybe he was a tribe member of the Kashia Pomo. His words truly spoke to me.

I was happy to see a few birds - right when we started out I saw a hawk disappearing in the forest beyond the shore and a kite hovering over the cove. I thought I had taken a photo of the kite, but I can't find it anymore. It's a mystery.

But there was this sweet little sparrow that came to rest on this beautiful rock cairn.

A Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) flew by and landed a bit further down the way. What a graceful guy he is.

Before I saw the Black Oystercatchers (Haematopus bachmani) I had heard them and was looking for them. They were darting up and down among the rocks, probably looking for mollusks.

Nature is just the greatest and most accomplished artist. That's why this shoreline is my contribution to Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date this week. What did we have for dinner on this wonderful day? Well, we drove a bit further up North to Gualala and had lunner at the Seafood Shack - clam chowder, local rock fish and chips accompanied by a bottle of local beer.

On our way back home we witnessed a beautiful sunset over the ocean. We made it just in time to a parking spot next to Highway 1 - weren't we lucky that there was some pampas grass growing (non-native and invasive, but beautiful) along the road that made a splendid foreground?