29 December 2012

Today the weather was clear and about 40 degrees. While in the City to do some shopping,  I noticed many other people shopping for sales like me. A neighbor said the local supermarket parking was full and difficult to park. This is Germany the weekend before New Years Eve which is a holiday and the stores close early during day on the 24th.  Christmas lasted 2 days which meant Sunday the 23 all stores were closed and most businesses closed at Noon on the 24th what with Tuesday and Wednesday, the 25th and 26th being holidays it was essential to get all shopping done by the 22nd.  What is great here is the peaceful two days of Christmas without stores being open and most people staying at home in contrast to the States where everyday is go to the Mall!  I got some long walks in with the dog both of us enjoying the exercise and Thursday evening the 27th was a visit to the new Freiheitshalle an all purpose exhibition hall to see the Glinka Ballet company from Russia.   

Today being the 3 of December, I am sitting at my desk planning the day with one of the main tasks being what to eat for dinner.  I decided pea soup with "Bauchspeck" ( pork belly used in chunks not like American bacon.  The word bacon comes from old German "Bacho" meaning buttocks) to accompany this windy cool and overcast day. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacon 

I am currently working in Berlin, a city I am quite familiar with in a production of the NOVOFLOT OPER to premier on the 24th of September. We are still in this gloomy sort of weather pattern that has persisted since the beginning of August. It has been cold enough to freeze some of the tomatoes in my greenhouse which is saying something. At any rate some thoughts about working and traveling on the subway here. One sees many people riding bikes and it is prudent to know where the bike lanes on the sidewalks are as could be quite dangerous. I have barely missed being hit by a rider because I am not used to being in this city. The view is quite nice at times as many of the riders are slim young ladies determinedly riding to work. One view that is not so nice is the subway entrances often peopled with drunks, panhandlers, or groups of people of indeterminate origins congregating and blocking at times access causing some detouring to get down below to a waiting train. There is one gentleman at the station on Alexanderplatz lolling around with a beer bottle in hand the whole day and into the night acting as a kind of official greeter. I have yet to figure out his function but he seems to know quite a few of the other beery individuals and then there is the smokers getting their last kick in before descending into the denizens of the Ubahn deep leaving a blue wreath of fog to get through before finally reaching relative air security.

The weather in August has been rainy and quite cool unlike Russia and Pakistan. It is Sunday the 29th of August and the daytime temperature is currently at 54 degrees. I am wearing fall jackets and sweaters. The prognosis for Monday is a high to 50 degrees and I am looking at the temperatures in the 90's in New Jersey. This is not unusual in Germany particularly in the region of Northeastern Bavaria where I live and my first year in Hof was similar with cold rainy weather up until October. This has been a good year for certain fruits such as apples and plums. They have a small plum here known as Mirabellan which is primarily used in jams and jellies and is mostly yellow in color. I had my first taste of these preserves when I was working in Austria. The lady who rented rooms for singers at the time made jam from these from the orchard from her backyard. The house stands on a former farm in Gars am Kamp in the Kamp Valley of which its river of the same name (again Kamp) flows westward to the Danube River. I still have a few of her preserve jars in my cellar. I have 2 gardens with plum trees and have had good success with the fruit making jellies, a type of canned plums in syrup and even dried prunes made in the oven. The first year I made plum jelly, I had to give away jars as it was enough for at least three years supply.

I have a large field near one of my gardens where I take my dog for a walk. The farmer usually cuts a grass strip alongside the crops which is perfect for all sorts of dogs with a brook running in the middle into which my labrador loves to plunge. Afterwards back at home I have to hose her off which doesn't phase her in the least.

Over the fields with Meggy

Today was unusually mild for November and I went for a bout of training in Nentschau, Germany near where I live with my Labrador Retriever named Meggy. The name is probably originally Maggy but the German pronunciation of the english "AAH" is "EH" as they don´t hear the difference. I arrived at my trainer´s and as I forgot to set a date for training she gave me the leash and I went out for a walk with Meggy by myself. The dog is being trained professionally and I see Meggy on weekends when she can overnight. It is quite expensive but the results are a well behaved dog that can respond to commands and even quietly lay at my side during church services (Bless the Beasts and the Children comes to mind). Normally when I have a training session during the week, the trainer goes with me and we work various commands and activities with the dog. Today was different, as I said, and I took off with Meggy by my side over land trails along fields reaching the former border of West and East Germany. There is a sort of road which is grassy with cement blocks where the East German border guards patrolled with vehicles to keep the inhabitants from crossing over to the other side and in their minds keeping the West out. We then turned and headed West making a circle coming back to our starting point at the trainer´s home. I had to watch out that Meggy did not try to sample the sheep droppings left when a herd was visiting a week or so ago. Labradors eat everything and Meggy is no exception. She was more interested in the apples that had dropped off the trees, chewing them and ultimately swallowing them. I have the feeling that when I am working with her and that is what one does for the rest of a dog´s life as put to me by my trainer, that the time goes swiftly by with no feeling of exertion. It is better than jogging while there is a purpose with the intent to communicate with the dog and vice versa.
Größere Kartenansicht

Sept 28 2008

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorbus_aucuparia 

Today out my kitchen window the fog bed lifted by 8:30 and I could see the Vogelbeere Trees  (European Rowan or Mountain Ash) leaves which have turned a brilliant red. These trees literally named in German, "Bird Berry" because the small red berries,  are an important food and vitamin source for the birds before the onset of winter.  They are bitter but can be used in Jelly or marmalade. The fall trees in Germany are not as colorful as the northeast of the States but this year I must say that the foliage display is quite beautiful.  The maples are red and gold and I must get out with the camera to capture this year´s magic. G is feeding the cat Mohrle ( as in the English word Moor) pats of butter which are placed on the newspaper on the bench of the breakfast nook.  Not a good way to train an animal, but, if simply given the butter she drops it on the floor. This is somehow more hygenic. I walked to the bakery this morning to pick up fresh baked rolls which being Sunday the bakery is open from 8 to 11, a recent phenomena in Germany.  Up until recently, all shops were closed on Sunday.  They are slowly moving in the direction of other countries but things move here very slowly at times into the future which is not always bad.  When I came here 17 years ago, all stores and shops closed on Saturday at noon and you had to wait till Monday to do any shopping. Needless to say, Saturday morning was a mad rush to pick up any necessities.  During the week, all stores and shops closed at 6 PM and many were closed during the noon hour so the  employees could go home for at least an hour or so. I was working daily in the theater and when I got my mid-day break nothing was open!  Now the major stores are open till 8 on most days of the week as well as Saturday.  Sunday is still a quiet day for most people to stay home and be with their families. Trucks are not allowed on the highways from Saturday evening till midnight on Sunday making travel more pleasant. 

Later after church,  we drive to a small restaurant in a nearby village where we can sample the local Frankish food. The day is sunny and warm for a change as it has been an unseasonably cold September with frost in my garden killing the tomatoes. This sudden warmth is called "Alt Weiber Sommer" or old wife summer akin to our Indian summer.  Federweisser, the  new wine of the season,  is the drink of choice at this time of the year.  Its name is  comprised of Feder-Feather and Weisser-white from the yeast color suspended in the wine.  The yellow jackets circle the plates and glasses as we sit outside on the heavy wooden benches and tables outside of the Gaststätte.