Northern Lights

 

Until last Monday we had a lovely exhibit in the sculpture garden of our Center for the Arts. It was called "Northern Lights".

The sculpture garden is not particulary big and it took just half an hour walking through it and admiring all the beautiful light installations that were so fitting for the season and truly "lit up the night" - at least until 9:00pm.

I don't know how many LED lights were displayed, but since it's LED these lights didn't use much energy. There were a couple beautiful archways and the Geek couldn't resist taking a photo of us in one of them. (First two faces for Nicole's Friday Face Off)

This one was my favorite display - I liked the sculpture and the way the lights led up to it.

And this one was a close second.

Do you see the faces? These are the second two faces for Nicole's Friday Face Off.

Maybe you like some spheres better. They were constantly changing their color.

I also liked the lights in some of the trees.

It could have been a really beautiful experience, if - parents would have set a better example for their children. Everywhere were signs to please not step into the displays and stay on the path, however, there were quite a high number of parents who encouraged their kids to walk right into the display, trample around the area and behave like the little devils their parents showed them to be. Since when have people become so incredibly entitled and disrespectful?

The Geek and I decided to leave when this behavior became too much. It's so sad that some people have to spoil an otherwise beautiful experience for others.

An Austrian Kaffeehaus

 

Before I tell you about the Austrian Kaffeehaus, I want to show you the Christmas cards I received - I wanted to do that last week, but completely forgot. It's pretty obvious that work has started again and I don't get all the things done I actually want to.

Above on the left is the card that I received from Erika and to the right you can see Jeanie's card. Both cards are so beautiful - thank you so much, Erika and Jeanie, you made me happy!

I am one of the lucky ones who actually received two cards from Elle. Aren't they cute?

Elle, I really feel lucky to have gotten two cards from you - thank you so much. I also loved the cat postage stamp she put on one of the envelopes - from one cat lover to another.

Now let's visit the Austrian Kaffeehaus, the Konditorei Austrian Pastry in Davis, CA. Konditorei actually means pastry shop - you can buy your pastry and take it home, but you can also have a real sit-down experience here. A Konditorei doesn't sell bread, it only sells pastries - and coffee, of course. If you want to buy bread in a German speaking country you go to the Bäckerei (which often also sells some pastries).

When I visited Kaefer while she was studying at UC Davis we sometimes would go to this Konditorei, either for lunch or for breakfast. It was not exactly a Kaffeehaus the way you would find it in Austria, but compared to other similar places here, it came close. It definitely had much more of the "gemütliche Atmosphäre" than many coffee places in the US.

The coffee was excellent, strong without being bitter. And of couse they had baked goods that you would find in a decent Austrian Kaffeehaus.

Palatschinken (a thin pancake) on the left, something hearty in the middle (I forgot the name of it) and Topfenstrudel (quark strudel) on the right

The food was delicious and we really liked the special Kaffeehaus atmosphere. It was so different from other coffee shops here - when it comes to coffee culture, there is definitely room for improvement in the US. I tried several coffees during those four college years - here I'm having a Macchiato while Kaefer is enjoying her Palatschinken.

Unfortunately, the Konditorei closed in February 2022 since the owners retired after 32 years of hard work (Albert immigrated from Austria while Gloria is from San Francisco). 

Of course this is for Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Tuesday. Rain's prompt for this week's Thursday Art and Dinner Date is coffee shop and since Kaefer can be seen in the pictures, I also share to Nicole's Friday Face Off.

Zwischen den Jahren - Between the Years

 

Looking for the new year...

In German we call the time between Christmas and New Year "zwischen den Jahren" - between the years. It's one of my favorite weeks in the year.

This time we spent that week extremely slow and lazy. The weather - rainy, chilly and even stormy - supported our lazyness and was a great excuse to stay home. We used the car only once, because I needed to get to my PT appointment.

We did a lot of reading, puttering around the house and even some cleaning. I baked my "seastar" bread, a hearty whole-wheat bread that has a hint of sage, and I cooked tasty dinners, like this teriyaki chicken with broccoli, green onion and rice (cooked in the wok).

On two afternoons I worked on classroom Valentines for my Etsy shop. When Kaefer went to kindergarten and the first two or three years of elementary school I used to create the little Valentines that each kid could bring for the classroom Valentine's party because I never fancied the cheap and quite dreadful Valentines you could buy. From this the idea was born that I could actually offer different sets of classroom Valentines in the store and it has become a great seller. I'm down to three different styles and I also think this might be the last year of classroom Valentines in my store. 

In the middle of the week a storm approached the West Coast and the ocean reacted with some very huge waves that were pounding the shore. We didn't go there because as someone who lives close to the coast we know how dangerous the Pacific Ocean can get in those conditions. I admit that I would have loved to see such big waves, but the reasonable side in me that every now and then takes the upper hand kept me at home. A good decision as we later found out, because there were so many people at the coast and the stupidity of some (mainly tourists) didn't know any limits.

Up to almost the last day of the week I didn't get any orders and finally was able to knit my poncho-style sweater again. I had started knitting it last spring, but then the "knitting year" became so busy that I had to put it aside. The yarn is bulky weight, 100% Peruvian Highland wool - "Wool of the Andes" from Knit Picks. The color is a warm terracotta that my camera unfortunately can't represent accurately.

The Geek and I "celebrated" New Year's Eve with a good dinner and a glass (or two) of bubbly. We didn't make it to midnight - he was already fast asleep while I was still reading my book (I love reading in bed and do that every evening; it's my way of getting ready for sleep). The bubbly is for Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Tuesday and with it I wish all of you joy, laughter and good health for 2024.

Christmas Memories

Christmas Eve, my brother and me, 1960s

Over the past few days I was looking at some old photos that my dad took when we were children. All of them were slides that my father-in-law scanned for me several years ago. The quality of the images is very poor, but they did bring back memories of Christmasses (is that a word?) long time ago.

Both my parents had lost their homes in World War II. My mother had to flee from the border to Poland at the end of January 1945; my dad was never able to return to his hometown Marienburg (Malbork in today's Poland) after a year as a POW in a British camp in Belgium (his parents and younger sister had been able to catch the last refugee ship out of Danzig/Gdansk). My parents met in a small village in Lower Saxony where they eventually started a family. 

They didn't have much money - my dad had just earned his PhD and was one of two veterinarians in a country veterinary practice (nothing like "All Creatures Great and Small"), but with the little means they had they still made it possible to give us children a magical Christmas.

There was a tree in front of our rented house, and they put real candles on it. It was so beautiful. My mom also put some Wunderkerzen (sparkler) in it - nowadays they are mostly used on New Year's Eve. 

My mom with my brother, late 1950s

Here she is lighting the Wunderkerzen; my sister to the right

Later she would light the tree in the living room. There are not many ornaments on the tree because they didn't have many (there were more important things to spend money on) and the family ornaments were left behind in the war. But there was a lot of lametta (tinsel) because it was affordable.

A Christmas tradition in Germany is to have a Weihnachtsteller (Christmas plate) filled with chocolates, marzipan, homebaked cookies and nuts. We loved our Weihnachtsteller and I sure was delighted about the chocolate Santa.

My brother and I loved to bake Christmas cookies - well, I mainly loved to eat the dough!

1961

Later we moved to the Sauerland, Northrhine-Westphalia, where we lived in a nice flat. My dad had found a position as a vet with the county which is way more sustainable for family life - no more calls in the middle of the night, but still calls on the weekends. My parents lived in that flat for 42 years.

My brother with very short hair, because that was the only way to "tame" his abundance of locks

Sometime - I can't remember exactly when - we started a new tradition for the time "zwischen den Jahren" (between the years - the week from Christmas to New Year). My mom received a huge jigsaw puzzle of the Alexanderschlacht (the Battle of Alexander at Issus), a 1529 oil painting by the German artist Albrecht Altdorfer (you can see the painting here). I think it had arund 1500 pieces and if you look at the painting you can see how detailed it is, and assembling the sky was a real pain. It always took us several days to put it together, but every year we did. It was a family "venture", even my dad, who didn't enjoy puzzles very much, joined in every now and then. I once saw the original painting in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich - it's a truly impressive painting.

Here is my mother doing a puzzle - she always loved doing one in the colder season (this, of course, is not Alexanderschlacht and this picture was taken some other time during the winter).

This year I kept up the tradition, not with Alexander, though, but with a fun image of Yosemite, and on a much smaller scale (around 300 pieces only) and it was done within a couple hours on a chilly afternoon right before Christmas Eve.

My Christmas tree in my tiny flat while the Geek and I were dating.

Later, we established our own Christmas traditions when we had our own family. First Christmas with Kaefer.

Our German traditions mingled with American Christmas customs when we moved to California. Kaefer's letter to Santa:

Nowadays, the Geek and I don't really "do" Christmas. But this year, some neighbors and us started a new tradition - caroling in the neighborhood. We did that last Friday, and we had so much fun together. We caroled for more than an hour, going along the streets, singing in front of homes - it was joyful and so rewarding spreading some cheer. I can't share the pictures and videos because I don't know whether everyone would be okay to be out in the blogosphere.

Therefore just an image of our Christmas Eve drink - a delicious rosé champagne. Cheers to Bleubeard and Elizabeth at T Tuesday and to everyone who reads this.

 

The Silence of Christmas

Today I 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.

Since Mary and Joseph have faces, I'm sharing this to Nicole's Friday Face Off

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.

Winterfest with German Christmas Cookies

 

Ten days ago we had our last German class before Christmas and that's when we usually have our "Winterfest". At our big campus in Novato this is usually an elaborate event, but at our tiny campus (only two classes) in Santa Rosa we usually have a "gemütliches Beisammensein" (a "cozy get-together"). Since we are a German language school, the main characters at this gathering are the Christmas cookies - German ones of course. 

These are very special cookies because they are all baked by our admin (her mother was German) who is a first class baker. One afternoon before our last day she stood in her kitchen and baked all these wonderful cookies for us and her husband made the gebrannte Mandeln (roasted almonds) which are a staple at German Christmas markets.

There were Raspelberge (coconut macaroons)...

Spekulatius (spiced cookies similar to speculoo) and Nusstaler (hazelnut cookies, some of my favorites)...

Zimtsterne (cinnamon stars) ...

and of course Vanillekipferl (vanilla almond crescents).

Some of these cookies you're probably familiar with. Now you know where they come from.

My personal absolute favorite aren't the cookies, but the roasted almonds. They are loaded with memories. Our admin put them in cute little paper cups.

These cookies fit perfectly Rain's theme this week over at Thursday Art and Dinner Date.

Our get-together was really nice. I liked how students of the two classes mingled and talked with each other. I got to know some of the students from the other class much better - they are beginners while my class is for advanced students. A good mix actually.

There were enough cookies to take some home. Our admin had provided some cute containers for exactly that purpose (she does think of everything). The Geek was very happy when I came home with a container full with cookies and a cup of roasted almonds.

By now everything is already gone, of course. Roasted almonds and home baked German Christmas cookies do not survive for long in our home.

Autumn Meets Winter

 

Charles M. Schulz, the creator of the comic strip "Peanuts", lived in Santa Rosa for more than 30 years and died here in February 2000. Therefore it's no wonder that many Christmas decorations in my neighborhood depict one or more of his characters, the most popular among them Snoopy and Woodstock. 

Winter has arrived here with heavy rain which, of course, is very welcome. In the higher elevations of the county there are warnings we might see snow on top of the mountains, however, I do think it is not cold enough for that. I'm thankful for the rain, and am enjoying the spots where autumn meets winter.

This is the time when the Geek and I often have a cup of hot chocolate in the evening, which is my ticket to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Tuesday this week.

This is only a short post and I hope to be back by Thursday with some German Christmas cookies.