Neighborhood Weather Station

Someone in the neighborhood has put up a low tech weather station near by that Frannie and I pass most days of the week. As you can see it consist simply of a rock hanging from a rope. The sign above explains the use of the weather station. It reads as follows:

Rock is wet .................. It is raining
Rock is white ................ It is snowing
Rock is moving ............. It is windy
Rock can not be seen .... It is cloudy
Rock throws a shadow .. The sun shines
Rock is not there ............ Rock has been stolen

First Whirl of the Pyramid

We gave our Christmas pyramid its first whirl yesterday. Here's some short videos.

From 11-29-2009

From 11-29-2009

From 11-29-2009

Walking Frannie - Father Rhine 2

There is just something about walking along a large body of water be it the Atlantic Ocean, Lake Eire or the Rhine River. It just has a different feeling to it.

To reach the Rhine, Frannie and I must make out way through the maze of streets in Wallersheim. Finally reaching a small alley that passes by a half-timbered building that bulges a foot into our path from settling over the 300 or 400 years of it's existence. At the end of this alley we reach the Rhine and are suddenly have unobstructed views across and down the river. Maybe that is part of it. As your eyes are able to see further, your might is allowed to follow, free from obstuctions.

Maybe it is just some thing primal, a distant memory of the habitat of early ancestors as they spread along the coasts.

For Frannie, it is primarily about the smells. Mostly this is the smells of other dogs, as the trail is a popular place for people in the village to take their dogs. But also included are the birds. There is a large population of mallard ducks and swans. But also gulls and cormorants can be seen (and I guess smelled). Also, there is a pair of Nile geese. No one knows they came from. They just showed up one day a couple of years ago and have stayed ever since. They have even done some inner breeding with the mallards, as there are some ducks that seem to combine characteristics of the two.

Frannie is particularly interested in the ducks and the swans. She will not only smell where they have been but will stand on the bank, ears forward, watching them for minutes on end. The swans are not exactly happy with Frannie's interest, especially when they are out of the water. They will stand up tall, making themselves appear as large as possible, and start hissing at her. Frannie makes no move towards them, but she does stand her ground, and every now and again looks at me like she is asking "what exactly is their problem, I just was to look". For those who know Frannie, they know this is quite a change for our dog.

Christmas Pyramid

Well I couldn't resist. I succumbed.

The stores here, like the US, have been pushing Christmas earlier and earlier. We started to see Christmas advertisements soon after I arrived, but things really picked up the last week of October. Stores are all stocked with Christmas decorations and goodies. But I've been trying to hold out for the more-or-less official beginning of the Christmas season which, in Germany this year is November 20th. This is the Friday before the first Sunday of Advent. This is when the Christmas markets open. This custom that started in Nuremberg now can be found in most every major city in Germany.

In any case, while browsing the ads one Sunday, I commented on a cheap Christmas pyramid offered by one store, saying that I wouldn't mind getting a pyramid for this year. One that was hand made, but not one of those huge, multi-tier ones. Just a nice one.

Magda didn't say much at the time, but she must have liked the idea because the next time we were in town she pointed to a store across the street and said "let's go in there". In my defense, "there" was not a store that was part of the Christmas hype. It was a small store that specializes in wooden objects including kids toys, decorations, and kitchen utensils. Some are machine made, but most of the decorations are hand-made. Included among the decorations was a shelf of hand-made Christmas pyramids.

We settled on one, that was not the cheapest or the smallest, but it was far from the other end of the spectrum. We liked it because it was not overly colorful, but rather focused on the wood. What do you think? Did we make a good choice? Of course, the idea is that as the candles burn, the hot air rises and spins the propellers. This in turn cases the figures to rotate. We have packed in away for now, but we will soon take it out and "give it a whirl", so to speak.

November 11th, St. Martin's Day

November 11 has several meaning in Germany. From a religious perspective it is St. Martins Day. The day set aside in commemoration of Martin or Tours, the Romain soldier that converted to Christianity in 316 AD and later became the Bishop of Tours.

The most repeated story about Martin occurred at the gates of Amiens when he and his soldiers came a scantly clothed beggar. Taking petty on the man, Martin cut his military cloak in half and gave half to the beggar to keep him warm. Why only half? Roman soldiers owned only half of their clothing. Martin could only give away what belonged to him, thus only half the cloak could be given. The story continues that Jesus came to Martin in his sleep that night wear the half cloak, telling the angels that the cloak had come from Martin.

I suspect there is a relationship between this separation of what belongs to the individual from what belongs to the state in this story of Saint Martin to a secondary, medieval meaning of the November 11. November 11 was when the serfs paid compensation to the nobles whose land they worked. 10 percent of everything produced in the year was payed to the nobility, be it grain, chicken, pigs or geese.

This fact and another story about Martin explains one of the traditional meals served on Saint Martin's day. When Martin learned that he was to be named the Bishop of Tours, he hid himself in a barn full of geese because he did not what such an honor. The noise from the geese gave Martin away and he was installed.

And so the nobles of the time ate geese to celebrate the day, as do a number of people today.

In this part of the middle Rhine, for working folk, the meal to celebrate the day is much more basic.

Magda and I were invited across the river to a part of Lahnstein known as Martins Siedlung (Martins Settlement), named after Saint Martin. This working class community was destroyed in WWII as was much of Lahnstein. It was rebuilt in the 1950s by the inhabitants. The homes that they built with their own hands, are small by today's standards and may not have the straightest walls or perfect corners. But each was on a plot of land big enough for a garden to feed the family (which makes such perfect sense for people coming out of the destruction of war). On Saint Martin's day, the people of this community decorate their fount lawns with candle-lighted paper and glass lanterns, many hand made. As night falls, the community comes out to greet each other and view the display of lights. At around 6:30, a parade begins. At the head of the parage is someone dressed as a Roman soldier riding a horse representing Saint Martin. Following Martin are the children of the community carrying paper lanterns and a band playing religious music. In former times, the children would sing songs praising Martin as they walked in the parade. But that is not true today, much to the chagrin of the older folks remembering their days in the parade.

Children are given sweet bread, sometimes shaped as a pretzel or as a man smoking a pipe.

After the parade, the families retire to there homes to the traditional, working class meal for Saint Martin's Day in this part of tye world, Dippekuchen. This is like a giant German potato pancake that is baked in a cast iron pot. This one contained 5 pound of grated potatoes, bacon, onion, fleischwurst, eggs and spices.

As a final note, there is an awareness of our celebration of Halloween, that creeps into German celebrations at this time of year. Several of the houses were decorated with carved pumpkins. This is interesting because Martin was known for destroying pagan temples and structure. Here we have this symbol of a pagan celebration that has transcended its original meaning and is being used in the observance of a saint is interesting. But perhaps it is Halloween itself has made this transition into a holiday for kids, with no pagan or religious connotations to it.

The German Corner

In the city of Coblenz at the confluence of the Rhine and Moselle rivers, sits the monument to German Unity know as Deutsche Eck. Translated this means "The German Corner". Frannie and I see this almost every day on one of our walks.

The monument was originally built in 1897 to honor Wilhelm I, who fought several wars for German union. Under his reign the German Empire included areas which are today parts of Russia, Poland, France, Denmark, Belgium and Lithuania.

The large central statue of Wilhelm I was actually damaged in 1945 and sunk in the Rhine. It was not recovered and restored until 1993, after the fall of the Berlin wall.

Today, the flags of the 16 German states fly around the monument with a large flag of German. Also on display are also 3 sections from the Berlin wall

Reading the Grapes, Mittle Rhine 2009

We visited a vintner in the village of Spay, just south of Coblenz. They produce mostly Rieslings from their vineyards in Bopparder Hamm.

Her comments echoed those her Baden counterparts. The grapes were of very high quality this year. But, she also noted that quantities were down.

We should begin seeing 2009 wine the first week of April next year

Frannie is an Honorary Schängelhund

Frannie is now registered with the city of Coblenz. Since she wasn't born in Coblenz, she can not officially be considered a Schängel (referring the the mischievous schoolboy that is a symbol of the city). But she thinks of this as home now. 

She wears here new metal proudly, don't you think?

She and I had to register at the same place, soon after arrival. We both claimed no religion, because it's true and it avoids paying the taxes that are collected for the church. I, however, did not get a medal to wear.

Walking Frannie - Father Rhine

On the mornings that Magda works, Frannie and I take a walk. Generally this lasts about an hour. Sometimes, it's a little more. Sometimes, it's a little less. It's not that we walk very far. It's just that Frannie's way of experiencing the word through her nose requires a good deal of time stopping to get a good sniff.

Generally, we begin by walking north, pass the Schreber gardens where there are some nice green spaces for Frannie to perform her duties. Then we have some freedom to go whatever direction we wish. But usually our choosen direction is east to find one of the alleys that provide public access to what the Germans call "Father Rhine".

There we are often greeted by the barges, some half a football field long, that ply the river. Some ride high in the water, empty and heading to their next load of goods. Others are loaded, riding low in the water, the bow wake six inches below the deck.

Frannie will stare in the wonderment of these huge beasts passing by. But she is much more intently interested in the other animals, or more precisely, the smells of the other animals. Obviously, other people walk their dogs here. The mallards, gulls and cormorants produce more than a passing interest. But she doesn't have a clue of what should be done with these large, long neck white birds on the water's edge, or on the bank.

The swans are year-round residents at Neuendorf, thanks to the handouts that they get from the human residents here. Frannie, so far, has been content to stare at them, ... and smell where they have been. We do wonder if she is viewing then as playmates ... or as a dinner.

Golden October, make that November

The Germans refer to the time of year when the leaves of the trees and grape vine have changed to yellow as "Golden October". Unfortunately, It didn't come in October this year, and it isn't as brilliant this year as I've seen in the past. We're not sure of the reason. It has been dry this summer and fall. And while it has been cool, it has not exactly been cold. Some of the trees seem to just go from green to brown. And the vineyards still are showing some green in their leaves.

In any case, we are seeing some glimpses of it this week.

Auf dem Jagd

9:40am and the blare of the hunting horns announce the gathering for the hunt to the small town of Greimersburg. This was a big hunt for the town. 93 shooters and 20 drivers had been invited for this hunt by the Dutchman that owns the hunting rights in this village. He had wanted to plan a large hunt to invite a number of his friends from Holland to participate. They made up about half the shooters and drivers.

With the horns, the 113 hunters came together at the town community center to hear the rules of the hunt, first in German, then in Dutch. The hunt was to take place from 11:00am to 1:30pm. Effort should be made to take the injured or old. Be certain of you target before you fire, there are hikers as well as drivers and dogs out there. The primary game was wild pigs. Deer and foxes could also be taken.

Wild pigs have become a major problem in farming communities in Germany. These pigs are quite destructive to the farmer's crops. Their increasing population seems related to the increase acreage devoted to farming corn. Corn has not been traditionally farmed in Germany. It seems to provide the wild pigs with a food source and cover from hunters. More than one farmer has told us that the pigs like to go into the middle of a corn field and eat their way out, so their destruction is not noticed until too late.

And then again the horns, this time announcing the beginning of the hunt. The shooters were divided into groups, each group was a assigned a leader from the area. The leader was responsible for positioning the group members. After all the shooters had left for their positions, the drivers where divided into 4 groups and positioned for the start of the hunt.

The land around Greimersburg is mostly cultivated. But there are some steeply sloping area where the forest has been allowed to grow. The set up for the hunt was classic. Shooters were position on the edges of these wooded area facing outward towards the surrounding fields. The drivers and dogs would work through the woods trying to encourage the game to move into the fields where they could be seen by the shooters.

At 11:05, the driver's for the group I was in fanned out along the road and entered the woods. For the nest 2 hours and 30 minutes, we moved in a line though the woods and berry patches that were in our way, periodically yelling "hup, hup, hup" to scare and pigs near by and to inform the shooters and other drivers of our position. Sometimes we would re-group to start another pass through the woods. As luck would have it, during all this time, we were only able to see a single deer but it was moving too fast for the shooters to get a good shoot.

While we were unable to find the pigs in our area, we could hear shots being fired in the distance. Other groups appeared to have better luck.

At 1:20, our leader called a halt and we made a last pass in the direction of the autos. We loaded up and headed off to the hut to celebrate the hunt. At the hut, warm gulash soup and Zwiebelkuchen (onion tart) was waiting. We warmed ourselves by the fire watching each of the groups bring in their game. In all 12 wild pigs, 8 deer and 4 foxes were harvested.

In the ceremony that ended the hunt, each successful shooter was given a small branch from a pine tree. The meat from the harvest would be processed and sold to help pay for the hunting rights. The party was the real reward for the hunters. The drivers were given a little extra for their work, a kilogram of Dutch Gouda cheese. The sound of the hunting horns signaled the end of the hunt, but the party at the hut continues a while longer.

The Hallows in Halloween

There is no organized celebration of Halloween as there is in the US. It has become recognized thanks at least in part to the commercial opportunity that it provides for stores to sell candy. Kids may visit family of close neighbors to beg for treats, but there is no organized "Beggar's Night" as we in the US associate with the holiday.

Rather, the primary holiday in Germany this time of year is the day the Halloween sprung from. The "Hallows" in "Hallows eve" that is the origin of Halloween refers to All Saints Day.

For Catholics, November 1st is All Saints Day (Alleheiligen) , a commemoration of the Saints and their sacrifices. This is followed by November 2 is All Souls Day (Allerseelen), a commemoration of departed relatives.

In Germany, the two are celebrated a single holiday, Alleheiligen, which seems to focus more on the departed relatives than on the saints. It is a day that people return to the towns and villages where their relatives are buried. The relatives' grave sites are cleaned and decorated for the celebration later in the day. This celebration consists of service in the nearby church or chapel, followed by a procession to the graveyards and a blessing of the graves. The blessing of the graves occur at dusk, lighted by the glow of the candles that have been placed on each of the graves. Afterward, families together in homes, often over 'kaffee und kuchen".