May 23 2020

Working on language retention with using some pictographs and sound alike words in English or German etc. to fix a word in memory. We are having a couple of rainy days here for a change which for the farmers and forests are well needed. Insect counts are low and certain animals are in the danger zone.  We have had two students in local schools testing positive for the Corona virus. At this writing schools are slowly opening with classes meeting at intervals during the week. There will be an opening of an outdoor drive-in theater on the parking lot of the town‘s local festival hall.  The local paper had an article about using wild plants as thistles and pigweed to add to the table. Wash well! Two students in the Hofer schools have come down with Covid 19 and one of the schools will remain closed until the 2 week in June. Father’s Day comes on Ascension Day in Germany and many men go out with little carts filled with bottled beer in groups but this year was very orderly with only one police citation for not keeping social distancing.  Perhaps many men stayed home with their families for a change. 

 Today is Monday the 6th of June and like many days in Germany it is a holiday. I am enjoying two weeks of vacation from teaching as the students are off till the 17th of June for what is called „Pfingstferien“ Pfingsten being the German word for Pentecost or Whitsunday. It is one of the holidays in Germany which has two days like Easter and Christmas. So today it was up at 7:30 to take the dog out and jog. Meggy the dog had a stroke last August and is per Vet‘s advice not to go with me on my morning run. Recently she has decided to wake me up starting as early as 5:30 AM by barking and howling a phenomenon that is new for her. When she was younger (now 14) I never heard her bark and luckily she is a dog that stays at home when no one is there without making a fuss. I was getting up with her at first thinking she had to go out but reading a bit online and observing her actions, I realized she wanted me to simply get up. The advice is to let her carry on and not give in. I hope the neighbors will be ok as her barking is quite loud. The little dog in the one of the upstairs apartment barks ( not powerfully) the whole day long till her mistress comes back from work. I end this report with a picture of my „Pfingstrose“ from my garden a type of peony which blooms at this time around Pentecost giving its name.