Heaven

The meaning of this word has certainly changed a lot since used to describe a place opposite to hell. I can give an example as follows: Living in Berlin with no pork pies is hell! Living in Skipton near the pork pie shop opposite the church would be heaven!

How about that for changing word meaning? This superb image was sent by cousin Barbara. I think all weddings in the UK should stop including the three tier wedding cake and replace it  with this luxury version of a pork pie family.

Every time I look at it I can taste again the Skipton pie shop products. Biting into the sill warm pastry, into the succulent spiced meat and feeling the juice running down my chin. Chew, chew and enjoy the changes in taste before swallowing and getting the jaws ready for another bite.

If I lived near that pie shop I would weigh about 250 kilo by now! Thanks Barbara and I think we should go to the shop together when I visit next June. We could take a camera to record me entering a real state of Heaven ---- and with juice running off my chin!

Sleeping leaves

In my last post I told you about the onset of Autumn. I used a tree in my garden to show leaves turning to golden shades and that they were falling onto the ground --- to sleep!

I got a few nice e-mails about using this phrase/playing with English. Glad you liked it! Now you can see all of what one week can do. Here is a photo of the same tree, but without leaves. Yes, you can see them all on the ground and sleeping.

I decided to take a wider shot of the garden to show the really BIG tree. This still has a lot of leaves about to fall but you can see that its fallen leaves have already covered a large area of the garden. They are also sleeping, and if you go into the garden after 10.00pm you can hear some of them snoring lightly. I jest not :-))

This week has started well, but the hard bit starts tomorrow with lots of teaching and travel for the next three days. At least the students are now clearly making progress, but then they do work hard.

I've just returned from a Spanish lesson where all of us ended up looking very lost after trying to understand all the rules about irregular verbs. At least I am not the only one to be lost in what to us looks like lots of confusing mathematical tables! Now to do my homework.

Season change

Today the clocks went back one hour in Europe. We are now officially in Autumn/Winter time. This is NOT my favourite time of the year. I am a Spring/Summer Mensch. Months of dark, dreary, grey, wet, cold days are waiting for me.

I have already dragged bags of winter clothes out of the cellar, and put summer clothes in their place. As ever, Berliners do the same and the colour of the next six months is ..... guess what?......Yes, you are right. It is BLACK! We look like a host of shadows moving around!

I took this photo of a nice tree in my garden a week ago. Now most of the leaves are sleeping on the ground. Surprising how quickly some things change. I wanted to sleep long and late this morning, but my body clock had a different idea. Yes, it woke me at 6.45pm - new time. I tried to sleep but gave up.

I decided to just get into the day so I updated the security on my laptop, did lesson plan preparation for my Oldies on Monday and Tuesday, then my Spanish homework. I tried to understand Spanish irregular verbs and decided I had to learn them like mathematics. Problem is that I can't keep all the rules in my head. I could when I was 13!  Have a restful Sunday.

Daniel iPad

Hello, this is Daniel, and not John!

As you can see on this picture, I am holding my new iPad. The story is that I applied for a scholarship last May. I thought I wouldn't get it but I am  pleased to say that I was wrong!

I got a letter from the foundation to say that I would receive the scholarship for my new studies at a college. At the end of August, I started a course to prepare me for A-levels  in medical laboratory work.

As you read on John's blog, we went to Hamburg where I  received a certificate and scholarship details. This included money to buy a new laptop and a tablet.

Last week I bought this iPad, and I have just added it on John's W-Lan. That means I can look for English words on the internet when I come for English lessons.

John is envious and threatened to steal it. No way :-))    My next task is to find a suitable laptop by next week.  I asked him if he thought Patrizia would read this, as she did his post about dogs/pets. He said he was sure for he would show her this post tomorrow, Friday.

Artist Adam

I think it is the first time on my blog that I have posted reports about two artists after each other. My last blog was about sister Frances the artist.

This is about Adam the artist. I posted a story about him and his work some months ago. Can't be sure when so just put those words into my blog search window and you will find him.

He lives with his parents in London and studies at a university there. His hobby is creating images. When I was at school it was called pottery. His parents call his creations 'Adam's Pots'.

I think he should stop studying and become a full-time pottery artist. I know it is difficult to earn a living as a full-time artist, but he certainly has the talent.

I have selected three of his works of art to share with you. If you would like to own one of his works of art then please contact me. I shall then contact him/his parents on your behalf to start the process of you buying one of his 'pots', or even an animal.

It is interesting to discover how many people you know who have such artistic ability. Look around your own  group of friends and see how many have such talent. One of my sisters is a visual artist and the other in Cambridge is a word artist. What talent!

Artist Sister

Sister Frances is showing her artistic skill. I recently got these photos from husband Geoff, and was really surprised to see them. They show real talent. I had no idea she could produce such works of art. But then when I look into her/our past I should not have been surprised.

Our father had a natural talent as an artist and produced many sketches and drawings. After producing them he used them to light the fire in the living room next day! Even so it was clear he had a talent and I remember he talked to his children about art and drawing and encouraged us to draw and paint at school.

I remember Frances producing interesting sketches, paintings and drawings at that time. As she grew up I do not remember her producing any more, or talking about painting and drawing. Getting married and having a family became her priority.

I am really pleased that she has gone back to her artistic roots and started to paint/sketch again. Keep it up Frances and ask Geoff to send me more of your works. As my family knows, they love dogs and recently adopted another couple. Waiting for drawings of the new members of the family.

I was prompted to post these drawings/paintings to share them with Patrizia. She is in my new English class and we had an interesting discussion about pets and dogs only yesterday. Patrizia also loves dogs and she had one for 17 years. I showed her photos of dog lovers in my family from images in my blog and we had an interesting discussion.

Hope you like these images Patrizia and I look forward to talking about them with you next Wednesday. I have added Frances' painting of a bowl of flowers. This shows a real ability different from painting animals. Well done!

Kyrill cooked

I left Frohnau yesterday afternoon and headed for Spandau. From the far north of Berlin I took two S-Bahns and an U-Bahn to get to my destination. It all took another hour. Spandau is in the far north-east of the city. I have been there a number of times before and posted reports on this blog.

The reason this time was an invitation from Kyrill. He is Marcel's flatmate and they study the same subjects at the same university. I posted a photo and brief story about him when Marcel moved in and I visited for the first time.

This time it was to enjoy typical Russian cooking. I know that in my last post I said I was in a restaurant after my Frohnau walk, but I knew I had a meal waiting in Spandau so I only ordered a small appetizer. A good decision.

I picked up some red wine on arrival in Spandau and that was the right choice for the food. Kyrill had really put a lot of effort into preparing and cooking the meal. He also likes to cook and does so when he is at home in Russia. He told me about the dishes, but I can't remember except one was Ukrainian borscht. Very tasty food and as usual with conversation laced with lots of jokes and humour. Thanks Kyrill for a very special experience.

Footnote to my Berlin readers: They are looking for a new flat/rooms to move into by the end of the year at the latest. It is not easy to find a place in Berlin now as you know. If you know of a place please contact me. Thanks.

Frohnau.

I went to Frohnau with an Oldie Walking Gang yesterday. I know the leader of the group and he invited me because there were some Non-German speaking visitors and he wanted me to translate/help. I readily agreed for I had never been to Frohnau. It has a population of 17,000 making it slightly smaller than the suburb in which I live

It takes a good hour to get there by public transport from where I live. I duly arrived, met the group and we got to know each other. It was a gentle walk through forest ending in a village called Schulzendorf. There we had a tasty late lunch in the large 'Dining Room' of a restaurant.

Frohnau is a very desirable place to live. It is in the borough of Reinickendorf in the far northern part of Berlin. It was founded in 1908-10 by Count Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck (You don't get many names like that anymore !). He inherited the land and decided to create a new town based on the English concept of a Garden City.

It was designed by Joseph Brix and Felix Genzmer. The town centre is built around the train station, open garden/park areas and large buildings such as the Casino Tower. You will not find manyhouses there. You wander the tree lined quiet streets and look at large gardens in which sit mansions/villas, of course with rooms for a servant or two! It was incorporated into Berlin in 1920.

It is surrounded by forests and walker tracks. It also has the tallest hill in the north of Berlin. A very large tree grows at the top of this hill, as you can see in the photo. I enjoyed visiting the town and walking through the woods in ideal weather for the time of year.

3 October

The 3rd October is a special day in Germany. It is an official holiday to mark the (re)unification of West and East Germany. This year was the 25th anniversary, so a special day for all. The weather was ideal with sun and blue skies.

My Mugglesee Gang and I decided to spend the day on a healthy bicycle ride plus picnic. Uli had the task of organising the event which he did very well. I noted that as we were moving, he looked at his smart phone. Yes, all the information was there on the internet. Only a few years ago we used maps printed on paper!

We met in the bicycle compartment of a S-Bahn going to Strausburg. It is to the east of Berlin and if you miss it and keep going you arrive at the Polish border. As regular readers will know, it is one of my favourite places in the countryside east of the city.

We exchanged information about what we had done since out last meeting before we got out. Uli took the lead and led us towards a nearby lake. We got there okay but ended up on the walkers track near the water rather than the higher bicycle track. No matter, we stopped for a break  at the water side. See the photos.

We continued cycling, had our picnic and ended up at a lake north of Strausburg, which I had not been to before. There we had another rest and enjoyed the sun, as you can see in the photo. Back on the bicycles and a steady pace to the S-Bahn station.

We reflected on the day as we returned to Berlin and all agreed it was one to remember. Great sights, weather, picnic and friendship. Looking forward to my next Muggelsee Gang meeting.

Muscles cooked

I've had a very busy and often stressful week. One bright spot was on Tuesday when Muscles M arrived. He called earlier to ask when I was at home, if he could cook and stay over. The only free  afternoon/evening was on Tuesday, so he arrived late as usual :-)

He returned from Hungary a couple of weeks ago, but I knew he had to prepare for an examination. That was on the Friday of his call. I have to admit that he really studies hard and his level of German has improved considerably. He had to prepare for another exam next week so I grabbed the chance to see him.

He wanted to relax, cook, talk about his summer holiday and enjoy a Gin & Tonic a la English style! That was easy to arrange as we settled into his summer adventures. I liked the way he presented his adventures with photos, and there were a lot of them.

I really enjoyed the photos of his time at Lake Balaton with his Opa und Oma and the time he spent with old school mates who are all now studying at different universities in Hungary. Marcel is the only one in the group to be studying outside the country.

Then he decided to go to the shop for things to cook. He did this and then started cooking quite late. It did not matter to him as he threw himself into the task. He finished at 11.10 pm. Yes, you read correctly. By this time my eyes were closing. I talked to him as he ate, prepared his bed and said 'Goodnight'.

I now never eat after 7.00pm on Docs orders, but I enjoyed seeing him tucking into his creation. He left me some to warm up next day, which I did and it was tasty. I look forward to our next meeting and seeing how much his new chin beard has grown. :-))

He said he was going to shave it off. I told him that if he did I would cut his arms off. I wonder what the next photo of him will look like?