Payment

I do translations now and again.  I'd like to do more - really!  I can do them from anywhere there's a computer.  I have a personal dictionary and and in-house interpreter (dear hubby).  And I always learn something.  For instance, I know more about off-shore wind farm construction and maritime regulations than you might imagine.

Payment is usually the usual - money.   I like money.  But now and again you trade.  That happened recently when a friend asked if I could do a translation for her friend.  Sorta like a second cousin once removed - a friend once removed.  The once-removed friend had won a prize but the description of her work needed translation.  Yes, I can do that.  Or at least I'll try.  And won't that be fun!

After the translation project was finished - more challenging than I had imagined -  the artist herself said Please come and choose a print for payment. What?  I thought this was a gift. I was glad to do it.  But could I reject a gift?  You don't say no when someone wants to give you a gift in return to a gift.  Oh dear, I am getting confused.

But, refusing a gift is not done.  I visited the artist in her studio, had a wonderfully lovely afternoon learning about her work and had a chance to choose my "payment."

Here it is. She called it New York Lines because when she created it, she had a burning desire to visit New York - and still does. I love black and white, and she does too but the galleries don't.  Lucky me!

So now it hangs in our own private gallery and seems very much at home.

Foreign Guests and Old Traditions

Tony and Muriel from England - by way of Mittenwald in very south Germany  - called on Tuesday to ask if they could spend the weekend with us.  OF COURSE!  And really, who would say no?  We were delighted to see them again and such spontaneous visits speak to friendship.

Even more friendship came into play when Klaus and Johanna said, Sure, bring two more guests to the annual Kohl und Pinkel Fahrt.  Very cool.

Friday was rather low key as they arrived in the evening.  Dinner.  Lots of talk.  Off to bed.

Saturday morning we visited the market and found a thing or two we couldn't do without.  Then, it was party time!

It is so predictable, these wonderful traditions. Have coffee. Take a walk. Eat sweets. Drink Schnapps.

 This year we met a bit later in the year than usual and the weather was a bit warmer than usual.  For that, there were no complaints!  I don't mind, really, when I don't have to wear long johns and three pairs of socks to take a walk.  Really. 

The crocuses were in bloom in the meadows.

And political commentary was abloom in the garden of the art center.  We couldn't exactly figure out the message, but clearly the NSA was being criticized.

The meal afterwards was - predictably - DELICIOUS.  Tony and Muriel were suitably impressed with our north German food and drink and Gastfreundlichkeit :  our friendliness to guests.   How do you say that in English.  AH  -- southern hospitality!! 

At the end of the evening, Klaus and Johanna took a turn around the entrance hall to celebrate their anniversary - 47 years that day.  Johanna admitted she was not looking forward to their 50th, three years hence.  Why ever not?  I asked.  AARGH!  Who wants to be that old?? she said.  But we're getting there, all of us, and sooner.

Sunday we got up slowly and late, had a lovely brunch and then set out for the Rhododendron Park.  It's of course too early for most of the blooms, but we found a few.  Better, we found a lot of sunshine and had a lovely time wandering the paths.  Here we are with our coats on our arms!  Hot!

And suddenly, the weekend was gone!  We waved goodbye on Monday morning and promised we'd visit again soon - in Mittenwald, in England or again here in Bremen.

We're such jet-setters!

Another Museum, Approaching Overload

But not really overload.  We've been starving the last some months when it comes to cultural events, so we've been indulging.  As you can see.

This time it was Wolfsburg or The Auto City as they like to be known, since it is the home of Volkswagen.  It might be the youngest city in Germany;  though there's an old castle nearby, the city was founded in 1938 and so there's no "old town" or city center with  Gothic cathedral or medieval city hall.  It's all generic modern. 

But it's successful.  With VW as its centerpiece, it's the per capita richest in Germany.  Lucky them.

And they have a museum, funded by VW folks, of course.  And they have a really neat exhibit at the moment about Textile and Art.   Had to go.

We went with Barbara and Charlie, our Seriously Americanized German friends along with the dirctor of a local museum that showcases how households were run a hundred or so years ago.  The guys visited the VW Museum, and it was fun.

Herbie was there.

And a VW woven from rattan.

That was not unrelated to what we gals went to see - the Textile and Art exhibit at the Kunsthalle.  We walked down Porschestraße - really - to reach the museum.

I was impressed.  They took references from all media - textiles, of course, but painting, installation, sculpture, photography, film, modern, ancient, and everything between.

A 3-D installation called Love Letters - suspended in threads.

A spider (don't forget, she weaves!) of bronze and other metals.

 One of my favorites, from the Museé de Cluny in Paris, a tapestry.

And here, in minature, one meter of silk thread, knotted.  The artist took FOUR YEARS to do this.

Another favorite if mine, William Morris.  He has been on my list for years to needlepoint.  Maybe now I will be inspired to start.  I do tend to finish projects better these days.  Maybe it's because I pick my projects better.

The train took us there and back, of course.  That way we got to chat and snack and doze and read the paper and watch the countryside fly by.

All in all, a successful day.  Yes.

To add to the plus, our football team won which was really good since we're not doing at all well this year.  ONE THOUSAND police kept us safe in Bremen.  They gotta do something about the hooligans.

Art Again

This time, it is Picasso.

Ubiquitous Picasso.  I like a fair amount of his oeuvre, but not all by a long shot. He's too  everywhere and all over the place but at the same time unique and un-reproducable.  He's only him.

So there is a new exhibit at the Bremen Art Gallery that centers on his short obsession, rather late in his career, with a model, Sylvette.  He did a series of drawings, paintings, sculptures and ceramics of her in a very short time.  The Bremen Art Musuem has one of these iconic images of Sylvette and now has done an exhibit around that one painting.

 

First, we like to support the local arts.  Second, we like art.  Third, Mr. Detlef Stein, a local art historian, is just the best guide to anything art.  Our local Indiana Jones.  I will walk a mile to hear him talk about almost anything!  Besides that, he looks a lot like a young Indiana Jones. 

This is a sculpture, sort of, of Sylvette done on a piece of metal,. You can easily recognize her pony tail.  The funniest one in the exhibit was done with simple cardboard. No one should have paid money for it, but it was perfect, the perfect reproduction of the picture and the sculpture.

There was even a ceramic bowl that Picasso made with her image.

We enjoyed the afternoon.  A little cultural pause in the pedestrian life of  Werner and Sharon.

Carnival (or Mardi Gras)

No, it isn't exactly the same thing - Carnival and Mardi Gras.  Carnival is that sorta weeks-long  time before Lent whereas Mardi Gras is that particular Tuesday before the beginning of Lent, the 6 weeks before Easter.

It's complicated.  There are so many traditions that are interwoven and it's hard to un-weave them.  There are pagan and religious traditions and there's the Saturnalia of Roman times and the Lent of Christian times and the spring-time Druid celebrations as well.

Frankly, I welcome them all.  Bring on more sunshine!  Bring on more warm! Banish those nasties of winter with lots and lots of noise!!

And for me, that is what Cannival is all about - get rid of winter and put it away with noise and color.

Bremen is not the center of such celebrations in Germany; mostly that's in Cologne and there they have not only fantastic parades but weeks of parties and shows.

We are north Germans, so it's a bit less showy.  But we know how to have fun, too.

We froze our toes and clapped our hands and tried real hard to shoo the nasty winter away.

 Hope it worked. We are ready for spring.

A Visit to Frankfurt

Frankfurt.  It was a ford (furt) over the river.  Really.  Frank  furt.  Cool.  That was more than 1300 years ago, so it has changed a bit since then.

We were there to visit old friends.  The friends are not old as Frankfurt, but in our personal history, pretty old.  Lüder and Werner were in high school together and have never really lost touch. Lüder and Ellen, old high school sweethearts, were lost to each other but found each other again.  They've been asking us to visit for ages,  and we finally did!

Why drive when you can sit on the train and watch the landscape go by and when besides it costs less than the gas for the car and often takes less time than driving and you can nap.  Really.  Is that a question?

So, we took the train.  Had a sandwich.  Did some reading.  Needled some work.

Lüder and Ellen picked us up and we drove right into town.  Frankfurt's not that much bigger than Bremen, but it has the banks and the stock market and, therefore, the money.  The downtown area is bustling and has some incredible buildings.

And the old Markthaus - indoor market - a building that houses lots of small stands that sell stuff from all over the world.  Wow.  We've seen these in Paris and Florence and Rome and they are all wonderful.  I bought some Iranian barberry, sort of small sour cranberry to use in rice and lentil dishes.  Can't wait to try it.

Between showers, there was a bit of sun.  Frankfurt has skyscrapers, and though not New York, sitll an impressive skyline.

Then we wandered some more and headed back to their place for an evening of chatting and chomping.

Sunday was  not as wet, but still windy and cool.  After a generous breakfast, we took the subway to town and walked through Sachsenhausen, an upscale area leading to the museums.  Lots of them.  The Architecture Museum, the Film Museum, the Jewish Museum, the Art Museum, the Modern Art Museum, the Icon Museum --- the list goes on and on!  We had time for one, so we chose the Städel Museum where we could all find something we liked!

Food midday was at a Tapas bar.  Such fun sharing all our dishes!

Walking afterwards took us through neighborhoods and commercial areas and finally back to the subway and home.  We're old - then it was time for a late afternoon nap!!

Evening bread and more talk and a gentle end to our time together.

But good-byes are only temporary.  We'll be together again, and we are looking forward to it!

Winter Break

There was a short school break for the kids here in Lower Saxony, hardly a vacation, just a little bit of one.  BUT, not a vacation for Mom and Dad, so ..... Can the kid come to you?  Well, sure.  Can she bring a friend?  Even better!  We know from experience that two is better than one.

So they arrived, Amina and Lea, friends since toddler-hood. 

They played artist.

They visited the Universum.

They made pasta!  Boy was that an affair!  And in the end a very tasty one. 

No pictures of the finished food since we were so busy eating it along with homemade Sauce Bolognaise.  We think next time we'll get out the ravioli maker that Michelle gifted.  Yes, we will!

There was one morning left to visit the outdoor market, say hello to some of our market friends and play Queen of the Mountain on some leftover snow.  It's sitll cold here.

 Next visit will be a week in summer break, waaay down the road in late July.  Looking forward to it!

Book

As the saying goes,  When you get laid up, you might as well make lemonade of it. Or something like that.

So I got laid up and had to spend three plus days in bed. Though Werner disagrees with me, my considered opinion is that only those who have not been confined to a bed for days at a time can possibly think that that  is a pleasant way to spend your time.

How do I spend days in bed without going crazy or driving those around me crazy?  I read.  Books.  Several of them.

I had started Flaubert's Parrot earlier, sidetracked by Christmas and holiday events and placing the book too far from my reach.

But now there was ample time to finish it.  What a treat! If you ever read Madame Bovary and wondered why in the world it got so much attention, this will enlighten you, all wrapped up in fiction and fantasy.  If my professors had presented literary analysis the way Julian Barnes does, I'd have been entranced.  Of course I assumed it was newly published.  Silly me - it came out in 1985!  Here's the NYTimes review - glowing.

Finished that one!  Do a little needlework but that's not enough to pass the time.  Ursel to the rescue!  First a little gem of a book, a quick read, a playful and imaginative story of the Queen and books. Yes, that  Queen.You just have to read it - it won't take an afternoon and it will make you feel good and make you want to expand your reading list.  Mine has grown by at least 10.

  

And finally, time for one more.

It's literary again, with a fictional overlay.  When I read "I was sitting in my plastic chair on the sandy drive"  I of course assumed my protagonist was in Florida.  No.  Maine!  It's a different sort of beach bum on a different sort of beach but with the same ol' beach bum blues.  Fun, with more than a dash of poetry.

Now I'm out of bed and up and around on my own two feet. Next time I read three books in three days, I hope it is on a beach in a plastic chair.  NOT in a bed.

Wismar

We love and treasure our holidays with family and friends.  They are central to how we operate and function and live.  Can't do without them.  BUT we really like a vacation alone now and again.  Just us two.

Our last just-us-alone trip was in August 2012,  sooooo very long ago, when we visited Celle with our bikes.  Compared to life-before-Werner's-retirement, it's almost an eternity since our last just-us-two vacation!  Before retirement, we usually took two not-so-little vacations a year on our own, in addition to visiting family in the US twice or more a year!.  Now, well, not so much.  I confess, I miss our little vacations.  Obviously, I am spoiled. Very.

Anyway, here we are, going on a little vacation to Wismar, one of the first of the Hanseatic free-market towns, those cities along the North Sea and the Baltic Sea who got together and formed a trade and mutual protection union.  Almost an early NATO, but not quite. Lots of maritime interests here.

Our little holiday apartment was only steps from the old town square, a way easy point for orientation. There you'll find the famous town well, used regularly by the residents until into the 18th c.  And the lovely old restaurants and hotels and shops and the town hall.

The area around Wismar and the Baltic Sea is known today for its Brick Gothic architecture, buildings both public and private, religious and secular. The churches are a major attraction, all in the Brick Gothic style.  The two larger churches in the city used more than 5 MILLION bricks each in the construction, all locally made (without slave labor unless you consider the fact that folks weren't really paid so well in those days).  Amazing work.

On day two we took advantage of a guided tour up the tower that remains from the 14th century Church of Our Lady (St. Marienkirche in German or Notre Dame in French).  The nave of the church was seriously damaged in WWII and never restored.  After a while it was too damaged to do much about and since the East German government had little money and less interest in churches, up they blew it.

We had a wonderfully clear day to see over the whole city and to the Baltic Sea.  Lovely, but I was glad when the guide said we weren't going further up!

In the former side chapels of the church, there were exhibits that were so well done.  These are philosophers, set in terracotta (the brick of course) discussing the religious questions of the time, and over time, since they were from different epochs.

The next day, cold and rainy though it was, we went to the beach.  Ah.  NOT Florida.  The sand is not white and there are mountains of shells from mussels, lots of seaweed and cliffs of clay and chalk.  But the sea air is wonderful and the gentle sound of the water is my lullaby.

We ate of course.  Fish of course.  Twice we opted to eat in our little apartment and enjoy reading or sewing or watching some TV.

We even bought a souvenir!  And here they are on our breakfast table this morning: felted egg warmers.  I know it's silly and totally not necessary, but fun.  We all need a little fun, even when it comes in small packages.