Smashing

I've just had a smashing time!  I decided to recycle a suitcase full of cassettes. A mixture of classical music and heavy metal showing my tastes at uni in the 80's. I won the suitcase when I was 16 so I decided it was time to let it have a happy retirement :-)

From the cassettes I selected a few with private messages, songs, messages from a special lady during my time in India, and from people in my Bremen period - and - I found a great tape of Kathleen Ferrier songs!

I listened to them and decided which had to go and which I wanted to keep. All went for recycling except four for later listening. Here you can see a photo of pre-smashing and post-smashing. The cassette-radio player, which no longer worked, also went under the hammer. Ouch!

Having enjoyed the smashing, I hope I can now sleep. I have not slept properly since last Tuesday and I am now feeling very tired. I have a busy day tomorrow but plan a lazy day on Sunday. Now where did I put those sleeping pills?

Botschafter

Der Botschafter means Ambassador. Yesterday afternoon I met Sylke and we walked to a communitiy centre in Lichtenberg. This is the area of Berlin in which we live. I live in the southern part of this district called Karlshorst. Why did we go there?

We went to listen to Philip D. Murphy, the US Ambassador to Germany. He was the guest of Frau Dr. Gesine Lötzsch, who is the MP for Lichtenberg in the Bundestag/Federal  Parliament and a member of die Linke Partei. It was part of a series of talks on the theme of 'Global Politics', which she and her party are promoting.

The place was packed, mainly by party members, most of whom were grey haired! Members of the public could ask questions in the second half and I was impressed by the depth and range of issues they raised.

The Ambassador spoke in German and English. The audience was pleased that he only used his translator when the vocabulary was difficult, but I noted that many of them understood when he spoke in English.

Here is a photo of him speaking. In the middle is Dr. Lötzsch and on the right is the professional translator. There is also a pic of a present we all got from die Linke party. The pen was very welcome!

blühend

One of my plants is flowering. It normally sits on my bathroom windowsill (die Fensterbank). The only warning was the appearace of buds on the leaves. This morning they had started to flower.

I decided to use it as an object to learn more about my camera settings. I did just that and decided to share two of the best with you. It cheers me up to see such colours on a grey/gray day like today!

On Sunday I went to a play at the centre where I go each Friday to meet the Photoshop Gang. Stefan wrote and starred in it. I met Marga for a tasty traditional Sunday lunch before we saw the play. It was really good with excellent acting. Marga laughed a lot, which was nice to hear.

Yesterday I was teaching in Alexander Platz. Today I dragged myself off to the Fitness Centre and forced myself to go through my training plan. I felt much better afterwards. I wonder if there is a way to feel better without doing the training? If you have any ideas then lets read them in the Comment box below.

Tomorrow I am teaching in the afternoon, as usual, then I am going to Joanne's. She is hosting a gathering to share experiences and photos of her recent holiday in Montreal.  Gerald and Jutta will also be there. I'm looking forward to seeing them again.

Thursday afternoon I am meeting Silke. We are going to a meeting. One of the speakers is the USA Ambassador to Germany. Should be interesting to hear his views on Post-Obama2-Politics. I've just got back from the hairdressers. I now look 'shorn' and tidy for the event.

Friday begins with Kerstin's Oldie Keep Fit Gang.  I shall then go to another district in Berlin to meet my Photoshop Gang and see if I can get an image steamed onto a shopping bag. Hope you have a happy and busy rest of the week.

Belzig - 2

Round 2 of the story.

We got to the 1700s. Seems to have been a relatively quiet time for things get moving again with the rise to power of one Herr N. Bonaparte in Paris. He kicked more than a few royal and papal heads in before it all ended at Waterloo in 1815.

On the way to final exit, Herr Bonaparte's army (or one bit it it) had a hard day at Hagelberg near Belzig. A Russian army led by a Prussian General (interesting mix) gave the French a hard time. At the Treaty of Vienna in 1815 it all paid off for the Prussian monarchy - the poor Prussian soldiers don't appear to have profited. No surprise!

Belzig and all of the Fleming area was taken into Prussia. Why? Those bad Sachsens had supported Herr Bonaparte, so they had to pay. The Prussian King, Friedrich Wilhelm IV was so happy that he came to Belzig in 1849 (a bit late?) to open a memorial to the event, but he also ordered the renovation of the town, hence the fine architecture of many old buildings in the town centre.

The place expanded and modernised. One example is the construction of railway lines and stations in 1901-1904 which linked Belzig to Berlin and all the major cities/towns of the area. The town and its achitectural important buildings were saved in 1945, when it surrendered without a fight against the Red Army.

And so Belzig became part of the history of East Germany with nothing untoward happening locally. The next big event was the discovery of a deep thermal spring in 1996, leading to the construction of a Thermalbad, a name change, and the place becoming a health and tourist attraction.

The photos I have selected are of the museum in the Castle, me on top of the old defensive tower, the old church and the station showing the lines out to Berlin, and the rest of the world. Or put in another way, showing the lines from the rest of the world into Bad Belzig. It really is worth a visit!

Belzig - 1

I went to Bad Belzig for the first time yesterday. It is a histoical town south-east of Berlin. The town was allowed to adopt the name 'Bad' in 2010 when a thermal bath was completed and opened. This post is written with Frances, Barbara and Shirley in FL. in mind. I hope you enjoy this brief tour into the history of one town in an area called Fleming in the north-east of Germany.

The story begins in the 9th century. There is a record of west-slavic settlements in the area and a defensive work on a hill. From 960AD Germanic settlers moved into the area, with another record of a defensive work on a hill. By 1200AD the area had been taken over by Germanic settlers and in 1230AD the first stone church was built called Marienkirche.

In 1298AD, the area became part of the later kingdom of Saxony. There seems to have been a lot of building and further settlement of the area. The defensive work is then referred to as a Burg = castle and on the same hill overlooking the town. From 1465 it was called Burg Eisenhardt = Castle Ironhard.

In 1530, Martin Luther led a group of protestant vistitors to the town. No record of what he thought about the castle! The town was devastated and the castle destroyed (Not as Ironhard as they thought!) by the Swedish army in the 30 year war in the 1600s. Not a happy time for anyone then for they also had to deal with the Black Death at the same time. If one didn't get you the other one would :-(

The castle was rebuilt to the shape/style we can see today, the town was re-settled, fields worked, harvests taken in and so things got better. In 1725 the 'Postmeilensäule' was set up on the order of August the Strong, King of Saxony. His name is on it and it shows the distance to other towns in his kingdom.

Now to the photos. The first is of the station, for it was renovated recently, followed by the Postmeilensäule and two photos of the Burg. I shall write another report with more history and photos. 

Shopping Bag

Last Friday, at my Photoshop course, Stefan had prepared something new. We had to search our computers for a favourite image we had created. This was then printed onto a special kind of paper.

Next step was to put this on a cotton shopping bag. A sheet of baking tray paper was placed over this before ironing with a hot iron. Gently ease off the original printing paper and there you have it! Your favourite creation on the side of a shopping bag so others can see it when you next go shopping. Nice practical idea.

Unfortunately I could not find the one I wanted to it was agreed that I look at home and take to the class next Friday. The bad news is that I can't find it in my picture memory sticks/external drive. The solution is to find another one for next Friday. Watch this space.

Here are some pics of the bags, Stefan taking a rest and Helga proudly showing us her shopping bag. Quality is not the best for I took them with my mobile phone then transferred to my iMac via Bluetooth. After some confusing technical instructions it finally worked.

Highway to ?

I struggled to come up with something interesting in my Photoshop class this afternoon. I spent the last lesson preparing a bridge, then was not sure what I wanted to do with it today! I tried inserting it into various backgrounds and didn't like the results. Ah...the problems of being creative and an artist!

After talking to Stefan I decided on a simple presentation of a highway to ....somewhere! We came up with the titles of a number of songs starting with, 'Highway to....' and that provided the inspiration I needed :-)

Stefan had created a picture before the lesson to show how we could use some of the photos he had prepared. I liked this one so he allowed me to post it to my blog and share with you. I know Jan and Marcel only look at the pics and don't read the text, so I hope they like the pics!

Stefan's pic is of the street outside the entrance to our centre. It was clearly taken in summer and incorporates a camp site and some other images. It is so well done you can't see where one begins and the other stops. Have a nice weekend!

Snap the Snap

Just got some photos from Silke. She took them on our little tour. We could say she was snapping the snapper!

Frances and Barbara,  note colours and scenery. It is very different from Silsden.



You can try to match these photographs of me snapping to my earlier post showing what my camera was pointing at. Not too difficult for you!

I still have a lot to learn about how to get the best out of my camera. I think the solution is to just keep practising and getting help from profis such as Silke. 

Biesdorf Sand - 2

We walked further and talked about where and when the proposed road would be built. I snapped some other images including this of what appears to be a white flower. It came originally from Canada. It appears in late summer/autumn and is bright yellow in colour. I like this shot for the shadow and light.

I took another landscape shot using my filter. I increased the filter and here is the result. Sometimes you can't see that a filter has been used. We went further and decided on a break. Silke took this shot of me having a 'nip' from my Flachmann.

You normally take one with you when you go skiing. This one was a present from Jan many years ago. The contents warmed me against the encroaching cold evening :-)

As we left the area we stopped by the rail tracks. Silke told me about other hobby photographers who go there to take shots of trains, particularly engines from Poland.

We waited .... and waited... then left. Yes, you have guessed right. Just after we left such a train went by and we had no time to take our cameras out of our rucksacks.

Na ja .. pech gehabt!  Even so, it was a very pleasant afternoon and thanks to Silka for helping me to learn more about my camera.

Biesdorf Sand - 1

This afternoon Silke cycled over. It was a relatively warm day with a bright blue sky. We chatted about a few things, including camera details, before cycling round the corner to Ruebchen.

Can I hear some of your asking what that is? It is a cafe specialising in simple homemade dishes. They make two soups a day, which are always delicious. Today we had pumpkin soup served in large bowls with a substantial slice of wholemeal bread. Very healthy and warming to prepare us for our cycle ride.

We headed for an area called Biesdorf-Sand. We went there last winter and posted reports and photos to this blog. We decided to go there again because of the weather, sun and shadows. On the way we passed a company making cranes. I could not resist taking a shot of some of them shooting into the blue sky.

We passed a group of buildings where airships and then planes were made from the end of the 1800s, cycled on, turned a corner and entered the Biesdorfer Sand area. I played around with filters and other settings to learn more about using the cameras. Here is a landscape using a filter.

As we cycled further, we came across an area full of rose-hips. I stopped and one smiled at me. I took out my camera and snapped before it stopped smiling at me. What luck! Here you can see the result.

We cycled further then stopped for a break. I took the opportunity to wipe my new winter shoes. They are the 'Hummer' equivalent of shoes I mentioned in an earlier blog. Great for walking through such an area!

Spring in Oz

I got an e-mail and photos from Ian and Birgit over the weekend. If you remember I have posted a number of reports to this blog about them.  They were my generous hosts when they lived in Beijing.

They now have a house overlooking the bay in the north of Sydney. Very nice.

Perhaps I shall make it there one day. Keep reading my blog for there are plans afoot for late next year.

I selected three to show you how hard their life is there :-) Must be tough going to the gym almost every day and having to enjoy this beach. A nice contrast to entering autumn and winter in the northern hemisphere.

I really like the photo of the two human-animals on the back of the horse/donkey on the right. What an interesting combination!

Ian and Birgit,  please send more so we can see your spring/summer as a contrast to our cold period.

How about some of you CasVegas lads sharing some photos of spring and summer in your bit of Ozland and New Zealand? I am sure my readers would like that!

Taiwan

Over the weekend I got some photos from Bernhard. He was in Taiwan on business and used the camera on his iPhone to send me more photos. Nice of him to reduce them for it saved me that work!

I selected two. They are of a parade and restaurant visit. They bring back memories of my Beijing adventures in September 2011. Thanks for sharing them and hope to see you for coffee next Monday.

I had a completely 'normal' week last week and my weekend was a quiet one. That was my deliberate choice. Sometimes you just have to turn the tempo down and spend time for yourself. I did a lot of reading and even cooked something new based on potato, broccoli and mushrooms. This week looks very much like last week except that I am not going to the cinema on Tuesday afternoon.

Last week I did and saw the new James Bond film. It is great. Rush off to see it as soon as you can. It is a long one with a break in the middle. I liked the pace, action and dialogue that says what is necessary - and nothing more. I also liked humorous self-irony comments, such as M asking Bond if they were just getting a bit too old for it all :-)  I know what she means!

Tanzi-Bar

I recently got an e-mail and photos from Michael and Angela. They were on holiday in Tanzania and Zanzibar. Thanks both and I hope you enjoyed your holiday.

They are into middle age, daughters grown up and left home, so they are enjoying time together as an older couple. I particularly liked these photos of the landscapes they saw.

Great to see them as we enter a cold, grey November.  Thanks for sharing them with us M&A.

Mehr Blümchen

I've had a good day. It started with Kerstin's Oldie Keep Fit Gang and new movements/stretching. Then to Stefan and my Oldie Photoshop Gang. Nice to see Susan back in the Gang. We repeated things we did last week and I did some developments. Here are my new contributions to Kunst. I have not decided on the price for sale yet:-)

I then went to the shopping centre I told you about in my last post. I decided to buy the Hummer equivalent of winter shoes. I got a nice surprise. They were reduced by €10.00. Now I am waiting for lots of rain, snow, sludge to test the Hummers on my feet!

As I left the store I bumped into Ralf. What a surprise. I can't remember how many years it is since we last met. He didn't look any older, but then he is very sporty and active. We had a good chat and exchanged info. Now I can call him and meet next time I go to Muggelsee.

 I have a quiet day tomorrow with a visit to the Berlin Philharmonie dominating my Sunday. Have a nice weekend all!

November 2012 Things

Berlin started November with rain, cool winds and grey skies. Typical November but I note our local BSR are busy cleaning the roads and pavements of fallen and soggy leaves. Good work.

I've just got back from shopping at a large centre two stops on the S-Bahn from where I live. Jan recently bought his camera from an electrical store there. I went in to see what they had to offer for camera 'freaks'. Not a bad selection but I left as my eyes opened at the price of the lens I would like to buy! You got a very good deal Jan.

I bought some leather winter shoes with fur lining for old feet. Ideal! I also looked at some real all- weather-condition winter shoes from Docker. They seem to be the shoe equivalent of a Hummer automobile. I may buy them tomorrow :-)

I also bought seven CDs of classical music. Mainly Beethoven piano sonatos for me and Chopin piano sonatos for Marcel. He is a great fan of Chopin. I think they share the same streak of middle European romanticism!

Looking into my diary for November, I note it is about the same as October. Teaching, Oldie activites, concerts and daytrips when the weather allows. Can't wait to test the new fur lined shoes!

Who has a birthday in November?  Jeff, Rob and Annie share being 57 on the 19th and will celebrate no doubt somewhere in The Netherlands. Sarah will celebrate being 52 in London with family and friends. Stefab S. will celebrate another birthday with a round of friends at a party in Prenzlauer Berg here in Berlin on 29th. I shall probably gate-crash! Have a great day each and Happy Birthday wishes from me.