Siebenschläfertag

Don't Germans have funny words! Today is - in English - Seven Sleepers' Day, a day with confusing origins and meanings.

Basically it belongs to the Farmers' Almanac of Germany - whatever weather you have on June 27 is the weather you will have for the rest of the summer - for the next seven weeks. Of course farmers care because of the crops and such, but everyone else cares because it's summer and we want sunshine and warm!

So here it was on Siebenschläfertag at 8AM on the Weser in Vegasack: lovely.




Unfortunately, the rest of the day was what you might generously call "variable" : rain, sun, rain, WIND, lots of rain, sun more really strong winds, sun, etc and so on and so on. What WILL these next seven weeks be?


The legend gets connected in some unexplainable way with the story of seven young men who were sealed in a cave because they were Christians in the early Roman Empire. Hundreds of years later, the cave was opened and the young men rubbed their eyes and woke up thinking it had been only a night. Then after some confusion and upset, the then ruling Emperor declared their story a miracle. Then they promptly died. (You wonder about where telling the truth gets you.)


We're hoping for better weather and miracles that don't end in death.

No News is No News

The Hunter and Hannah blog has taken a lot of my extra time these past two weeks, and honestly not much has been going on outside of regualr activities.

Werner's been tutoring two students from the private university (it used to be International University Bremen but now it's Jacobs University since the coffee family gave so much money to them!) in German - they've been here for two years and still can't really get around in German - and were a bit embarrassed! This is three weeks, three hours a day. It keeps him busy. They're nice young women: Richa from Nepal (left) and Mina from Ghana (right), studying engineering and physics. We'll have them over for chicken wings on Friday - they say the cafeteria food is boring. I believe that.

I'm up to my eyeballs in papers to grade. They need to be done before we leave for the US, so the pressure is building! I'd much rather bike or sew or just watch ....


Television

Really, can you imagine. Me, watching a lot of TV. This week we broke down and got a digital receiver for our TV. The deciding factor was CNN no longer broadcasts analog and even though there's the internet, I want some English news fix now and again.

At the moment we have more stations than we can deal with, but I think it's only an introductory offer on some of them - Disney in English, Turner Classic Movies, BBC Prime. It took Werner a whole afternoon to get TV, stereo, VCR and DVD players all hooked up and working. I would still be working on it!

A Special Bouquet

As beautiful as this is to look at, it's even better to smell. These are dwarf strawberries presented as a bouquet. You can eat them and they're incredibly sweet, though of course it's a bit of a bother. Each berry is smaller than your little fingernail.

But the aroma! It's as big as the room! When you walk by it brushes your senses and all of a sudden, it's sunshine and summer. How wonderful.

When Vera came this week to talk English with Werner, she brought this along as a belated birthday greeting. Better than cake!

New Banner

I'd been thinking of learning HTML so I could put in a personalized banner, but after googling and reading, I figured out a way to do it with the programs I already have and know.

So, there it is, at the top of the page. It's a modified (and seriously cropped!) picture of the front of the house.

What do you think?

Big Beans

Große Bohnen, Dicke Bohnen, Pferdebohnen: they're all the same thing but are called by different names. If you translate it directly, it comes out Big Beans, Fat Beans, Horse Beans. So would you eat those if that was on the menu?

When we were in Münster, Werner had them for lunch - DELICIOUS - even though on the English menu they were listed as Big Beans. I couldn't remember that I had ever had them, but if I have they had never tasted this good. I did recognize them but it was hours before the name popped into my head: FAVA BEANS. This is a bit under a kilo, and when shelled, they yielded just enough for two decent servings. We'll cook them up tonight and have them with the salmon we bought at the market.

And then we'll eat al fresco, weather permitting, on the terrace. We'd planned to eat outside last night - dinnner of matjes and potatoes with our neighbors - but after a hot day, the thunderboomers moved over so we moved in. The food was still as good, but the atmosphere is nicer outside.

And especially now. Here's the birdhouse you gave us Ginny, with Stockrosen (Hollyhocks) just starting to bloom. They always remind me of the gardens at Giverny. Remember how many different ones were blooming there? These stalks are over 6 feet high! I can't wait till more of them open. In the front of the house, a first-year Hollyhock is coming along; its blossoms will be deep, deep purple - almost black.

65 Years Old / Young / Don't Know

Yes, this is officially old. Or at least old enough to be officially retired. Sixty-five.

Since it is a Monday and since we'd just been to Münster with Ulli, Ilsemarie, Johanna and Klaus, it was a quiet affair. That suits us both.




There was breakfast at Mutti's. We had something for everyone: Hakepeter for Mutti and Werner. That's RAW PORK, something I have tasted and it actually isn't bad but I still can't quite stomach the idea of it, so that was only for Mutti and Werner. Fesh rolls from the bakery with butter and assorted cured hams and then home-made marmelades - rhubarb from a neighbor and rhubarb-strawberry from a lady we know at the market.

Then later we both went to my Monday night English class. Werner got to know them when I came to the US to visit in September 2001 - an auspicous time - and since then he's been a welcome interloper. We took a bit of champagne and a few nibbles. They brought flowers from their gardens - absolutely gorgeous !! - and sang to him. It was nice.



Here's the folks in our meeting room.








And here's Werner blowing out the candles. PLEASE ignore me sounding like a kindergarten teacher!!!