It seems like July started only yesterday, and here we are in August already! July just flew by with lots of knitting, time spent in the garden and unfortunately two heatwaves. You might think that we should be used to a lot of heat in California, but while this is certainly true for Southern California it is not the case here in Northern California, especially so close to the coast. Mornings and evenings can be downright chilly thanks to the marine layer aka fog. I love the fog and don't like the heat and I was really happy when the morning fog finally returned. Such a relief. I guess many of you in North America experienced the heat as well. It is a mystery to me how someone can still deny climate change.
This was July in my world:
Just a few days into July I had my old German class over for some German Erdbeerbowle. Over the years this has become a tradition that everyone seems to look forward to. I enjoyed setting the table under the big shade tree (it was one of those very hot days).
Everybody came and we had a wonderful time together despite the heat. I will miss these people so much. This photo is my ticket for Nicole's Friday Face Off.
We enjoyed our "new" bird feeder in July, but had become a bit weary of the squirrels. The Geek was thinking about how to discourage these little rascals from ransacking the feeding tubes almost constantly. The Geek being an engineer through and through, he sat down and did some calculating and figuring out.
He then constructed a baffle out of thin metal and empty beer cans (good German beer!), some metal glue and duct-tape.
So far it has worked very well. We also turned the feeder by 90º so it's further away from the fence. Now the birds feed undisturbed on the tubes, but are kind enough to throw some seed to the ground where the squirrels then eat them. Everyone's happy and I don't have to refill the tubes every day but only every other day or even less. Like everything else, bird seed has become quite expensive as well.
Since we had so many hot days in July, I cooked very basic simple meals. I usually eat whole grain toast for breakfast - here you can see my summer version. There's hummus below the tomatoes and smoked salmon spread below the cucumbers. So delicious!
Here's dinner - clockwise from top left: Ramen noodles with tofu, fennel, red bell pepper and zucchini; marinated sockeye salmon with roasted carrots and zucchini; Teriyaki chicken with broccoli, green onion and rice; Fusilli with market fresh tomatoes and zucchini
One more thing - when the Geek built the clothesline for me in 2015 I also found a beautiful hand sewn clothespin bag. Now after nine years hanging out at the clothesline what remains of this bag is mere rags, so I decided to look for a new one. There isn't that much out there what I had envisioned. But then I found this shop on Etsy in Germany and there were the cutest hand sewn clothespin bags. I ordered one and I received it in less than two weeks. I'm so happy!
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.
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.
Today, one day before Christmas Eve, I want to share a post again that I wrote several years ago. Recently, when I talked with my class about German Christmas traditions, I noticed how much I miss my native country around this time. So I thought I share our German Christmas Eve with you again.
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.
This week had such a good start with finally a positive headline in our local paper. I was getting sick of all the negative news about the election and of course the virus. It was such a joy to see a message that includes hope. However, the bahavior not only of the sitting president but also of many Republican leaders following the weekend is just shameful and embarrassing. So much damage has been done to our country and our democracy. I am not sure we will fully recover from this.
Throughout the week I felt how much the days after the election, the uncertainty had exhausted me. I was tired at my work at the high school library, and while I still got a lot done it was slower progress than usual. After two more days in the coming week I'm taking a break - I worked a lot of extra hours at the beginning of the school that have not been paid and therefore I will "balance" them out and not return to work until the second week of December.
Wednesday was Veteran's Day and this year I found it even more important to observe it than the years before after our military service people had been discredited by their own commander-in-chief. I was thinking of my uncle (my mother's younger brother) who spent ten years in Soviet war prisoner camps after World War II. He was neither a sucker nor a loser and I have the highest respect for him (yes, he is still around, in this nineties now).
Wednesday was also St Martin Day in Germany when the children go out in the street in the evening carrying their lanterns and singing the traditional songs. (I once wrote about this German tradition here) I remember when we were walking along the old alleys in Tübingen with Kaefer and her lantern when she was two years old.
She is living in Munich now and she texted me that she saw several families walking with their children, carrying the lanterns and singing songs. Unfortunately she hadn't taken any photos.
We had some pretty frosty nights this week, the first in the season. It was also the same time that my neighbor had left for a week. She had a house and cat sitter who was putting out food for the cats, but Kibeau didn't seem to be very fond of him and spent even more time than usual in my garden. I was worried since it was so cold (we can't have him in the house because of the Geek's severe allergies), so I made a box for him with a warm fleece blanket inside and a blanket tuck around it. In the nights I also put a few pillows up against it to keep off the worst of the cold. Kibeau immediately climbed into the box after I had set it up and spent every night there, sleeping late into the mornings.
The fall colors are wonderful right now. The Chinese Pistache that I planted a few years ago is spectacular this year - I think it's getting prettier each year. It's almost glowing against the backdrop of the dark redwoods.
Did I tell you that I am teaching a creative writing class at the German School? It's an "elective" in addition to our regular classes. It has been on my mind for a long time to offer something like this, and since I know how challenging it is to write in a foreign language I thought it might be interesting to try it. So I did - and it seems that my students love it. This week they asked me whether I'm offering it again next semester and even though it is a LOT of work I'm seriously considering it. I enjoy it tremendously! I do all the work that my students do as well which means that I have been writing a lot recently. I am so happy about it. I have always enjoyed writing and started writing creatively when I was around ten years old. Growing older I took several creative writing classes - it is a really "old" love of mine. Who would have thought that I would ever teach creative writing classes myself?
I leave you today with an image of my Roger's Red - a California native vine that doesn't have "red" in its name for nothing. It's winding up the windmill my husband bought for me several years ago when we were still living in the Brookdale house.
Last Saturday we had out Winterfest at the German Language School. Usually we have a Weihnachtsfeier (Christmas party), but this year we opted for something different, and I think we were quite successful in this new way of celebrating the season.
One of our board members loves to bake and she outdid herself in platters of cookies baked according to German Christmas cookies recipes. There were quite some of my favorites, especially the Vanillekipferl (left to the Haselnusskeksis). My mom used to make them every year. They are a bit tricky to make, but hers were always delicious. These ones tasted just like hers. I also love Zimtsterne which was another staple in my mom's home. Christstollen - or Weihnachtsstollen - is a typical Christmas baked good that is only eaten during the holiday season. I'm not a big fan, but I know that many love it. It is not easy to make, so we always bought ours.
My all-time favorite is gebrannte Mandeln - almonds roasted with sugar and cinnamon and best eaten while still warm. I don't think there is a single Christmas market in Germany without gebrannte Mandeln. Unfortunately they were placed right next to the popcorn machine (the only un-German item at our Winterfest) which threw a weird yellowish light onto the almonds.
Of course there was singing of some German Christmas carols, a few performances by the kids' classes and the little (and bigger) kids could decorate cookies. Please note that Ella's cookie here is already half eaten...
We had set up a few booths to have a Christmas market with an ornament exchange, ornaments and German books for sale and a silent auction. People were mingling, drinking hot chocolate and spiced cider and there were some old fashioned fun games for the children.
And of course Santa - or der Weihnachtsmann, as we say in Germany - came and brought a few goodies for the kids. There were also gifts for the teachers which was a lovely surprise. It was a wonderful little Winterfest and something we will definitely do again.
In 2010, when I was still writing for Vision and Verb, I wrote this post about a special November tradition we have in Germany. Since we just celebrated this tradition with the children's classes at German Language School yesterday evening I thought it a good opportunity to post it on my blog as well.
November is a pretty gray month in Germany. Days of fog follow days of
overcast skies, with the sun only making rare appearances. Except for the first
day of the month (All Saints) when in the Catholic parts of the country candles
appear on gravesites in the cemeteries, the month offers mainly dark and somber
holidays: Volkstrauertag (our kind of Memorial Day), Buß- und Bettag (Day of
Prayer and Repentance, a protestant holiday that is not an official holiday any
longer) and Day of the Dead which also marks the end of the church year. All
these holidays are very subdued and perfectly fit the somber mood of a German
November.
However, almost midthrough the month, on November 11th,
lights glow in the dark accompanied by the sweet little voices of children
happily singing the old folksong “Ich geh mit meiner Laterne” (I walk with my
lantern). Yes, it is Martinstag (St. Martin’s
Day), not an official holiday at all, but a beautiful tradition. On this day,
children all over Germany
remember St. Martin of Tours, who was a soldier in the Roman Army (around 330
A.D.) and became famous when he cut his woolen coat in two parts with his sword
and gave one part to a beggar. He later left the army and became a monk.
Today, children create their own paper lanterns, often in
preschool, kindergarten and elementary school. These lanterns come in all
shapes and sizes, from simple to elaborate – and in the evening of November 11th
as well as the days around this date, the young children go out in the streets with
their lit lanterns and sing those old folksongs. It is a sweet sound in all the
hectic day-to-day noise, a moment to pause and listen to the beautiful tunes,
look at the young faces and notice the enthusiasm and joy the children show.
They bring light into our night, music to our ears and joy
to our hearts.
A beautiful tradition that I hope will never vanish.
