You're Only Young Twice

Whenever you get the February-Blues, or start whining about getting older: have a look at this funny little book!! 
I adore Quentin Blake - (especially "The Hermit and the Bear", written by John Yeoman). 


Look at this: 

and then do it yourself: 

Feel good again? 

That's good! 

Frederick the Great and Bill Clinton

Harry S. Truman, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama.

Or, if you prefer a more ancient version: Napoleon Bonaparte, Queen Victoria, Mahatma Gandhi.

What do all these have in common and share it with Fredrick the Great? Besides being statesmen?

I am quite proud that I found that link all alone, when I looked at a wood engraving of Adolph Menzel (who in 1840 illustrated the “History of Frederick the Great” written by the historian Franz Kugler with about 400 wood engravings). 

What do you see?

That the relationship between father and toddler son seems to be quite OK at that time – spending ‘quality time’ together?

Well, that was not what I meant. Please look at the picture very closely.

Yes: Little Freddy stretches out his left hand to get the ball.

Right away I pounded my search into the internet (http://www.indiana.edu/~primate/forms/hand.html)  – and it is true. Frederick the Great was a left-hander. The statesmen mentioned above were it too. As Queen Victoria.

Now there is a lot written about left-handers. Smart things and absolutely balmy things.

I didn’t enrol our child for the Waldorf Kindergarten when by absolving the required ‘Mother-preparing-courses’ (fathers don’t need courses) and by reading Steiner I found out that even today they 're-educate' left-handers to write with the right hand (“If the child loves his mother”, they told me, “it will do that lovingly”), but, even more bizarre, they see left-handedness as a karmic punishment: “One is re-born as a left-hander because one has lived a debauched, voluptuous life in former life.”

Oh!

They said that to me literally in the Hildesheimer Waldorf-Kindergarten – it is possible that other Waldorf institutions have a more liberal concept, but even now an Austrian left-hander adviser writes:

“Especially cautious parents should be who want that their child should visit a Waldorf school. Left-handedness was seen in original Waldorf pedagogy still as a karmic problem (…) (www.kindaktuell.at)  

My father was a left-hander, whom they „re-educated“. I am ambidextrous (very convenient – though I am very sorry to say I cannot remember my former life). And our son is a pure left-hander – never having any problem whatsoever with that.

I don’t know what it meant for Frederick II.

I hope at court they knew this quote by John Donne (1572 – 1631):

„Reason is our soul’s left hand, Faith her right.“

Both are important. 

A Beggar's Bowl

Berlin is a big, big fridge: Siberian temperatures, minus 17°C at night and icy east wind. 

But Yours Truly stepped outside (well: my pedometer forced me). My aim was the Castle Charlottenburger Schloss, to look at a special painting of Freddy’s father (The Horrible).

Well – I abandoned the plan, though I could already see the castle at the end of a long, long alley. But the frost was biting into my nose and fingers, and  a stilled thirst for knowledge is not worth a ruined complexion. Down these mean streets a man must go, but as a woman I sneaked into a little backstreet, where I had once passed the shop window of a goldsmith.

And there I found it: my Beggar’s Bowl.

“There’s nothing like going out in style”, my late father sometimes remarked ironically when he thought I overdid something. So: I do know that this is a very posh Beggar’s Bowl.

But the intention why I bought it is pure.

First: it shall remind me that a day gives us so many presents – and I want to have and keep a grateful heart. It is so easy to overlook all the goodness a day puts into our bowl. I had a warm bed tonight. I had a wonderful breakfast this morning (really strong hot tea, an egg, porridge with real blueberries, half a grapefruit) – shelter and food, I am thankful for that.

And the bowl shall remind me of something else:

As I told you before, I am a person with a very vivid imagination. I read the complete “Pamela” (in English) with 15. I read Colette – my absolute favourite (my parents forbid me to read it – too young, they said – an excellent way to create an ardent reader).

Result: I am great in picturing to myself how an experience will be in future.

And this is not a clever way to live.

The bowl shall remind me:

Life/the Tao/God is putting the events and surprises into my bowl – and I shall take them as they come. Without rating “This is good” and “This is bad”.

Difficult for me. Very. But I try. And learn. Sometimes.

(Now comes a bit of stream of consciousness for you. “The bowl is beautiful – but these are definitely not my colours. I love pink, I have a problem with orange and lime green”, I thought. My Inner Voice talked back: “But it is beautiful! If you always walk on ways you always walk – that will become boring!”)

The Goldsmith wrapped it up. In (beautiful) orange crepe paper. (“But I..” Oh, shut up!” said my Inner Voice). And just as if to mock at me the goldsmith put a pink ribbon around it. (“Pink and Orange don’t harmon…” SHUT UP!”) 

I gave in to my Better Self (and even put that present on a lime green bench to take a photograph of it, I told you I exaggerate sometimes) 

“Have you already seen the Lietzensee?” asked the goldsmith. “No.” “If you go to the left on your way back to the underground, you’ll pass it by: a little park with a pond – and a beautiful atmosphere.”

“That’s good”, I thought. (I know!)

And went.

And it was a marvellous surprise!

A present in my bowl.

Frederick II: Malaria in Prussia?? Are you kidding?

One can discover so much about Fred browsing a bit here and scrolling a bit there!

„As a 15-year-old he suffered from jaundice, with 28 he picked up a persisting form of malaria, which plagued him later again and again with attacks of fever, cold shivers and fits of dizziness“, writes Tilmann Bendikowski in his essay „The Eternal King“.

I thought: “What? Malaria? In Prussia?? Where did he get that?“ The internet offered only the Staufer Emperor Friedrich II (1194 – 1250), whose son had died of malaria. Then I saw that Albrecht Dürer, Oliver Cromwell and Friedrich Schiller were ‘famous malaria-victims”.

But nothing about my Friedrich II.

Was the author mistaken? (As I in my last post on Freddy: I spoke of his ‘Tobacco-colloquium’ – but that was the vice of his father, the “Soldier-King”).

Then I found „fever of the marsh’ and ‚alternating fever‘ – (these words used in novels I had never connected to malaria).

“In days gone by malaria was common also in countries with temperate climate, among them Germany. (…) Into the 18^th century there were many epidemics. Great parts of Germany were hit hard, but especially the marsh and moors at the coast. (…) Through river regulation and colonizing of the moors numerous breeding places for gnats were destroyed. (…) In the developing coastal landscape Anopheles maculipennis typicus ousted the fever transmitting Anopheles maculipennis messea.” (Wiki)

In his essay about Frederick Mr. Bendikowski wrote:

“Nobody could quite help Frederick, because he developed also in medical issues the inclination to know everything better than the experts. As an example: when drinking the vast amounts of coffee in the morning he sometimes used to put some grains of mustard seeds into it – he thought that best.”

After living a few years on this beautiful earth I do agree with Freddy: one should not rely on the“ experts“ only, but also use one’s common sense.

Coffee belongs to the same plant family as Peruvian bark, a bark that was used by Peruvian workers successfully against malaria fever, and brought to Europe in 1640 by the Jesuit Order in form of powder. The medicine fabricated out of Cinchonia was later later called “quinine”. And grains of mustard seed were used by alternative medicine in foot baths against fever – so maybe Fred was not that daft by using them – though even a placebo-effect would be fine.

Today in Europe malaria has been exterminated. But don’t let us rejoice to early!

In 1997 the county council of the little German town Cuxhaven had to deal with the question “Marsh fever – Are there possible risks in marsh counties?”, because they had found in a cowshed a gnat of the family Anopheles atroparvus, one (!), which is a carrier for malaria. (When you say 'to make a mountain out of a molehill' we say in Germany 'to make an elephant out of a gnat') As Europe is getting warmer it might create a warm and damp climate that could encourage the spread of these gnats.

Well – there helps only one thing, even if Mr. B. might blame me that I believe that I do know everything better than the experts („I? Me?? Never !!”) :

Carefully I pour a Gin tonic into my glass.

That should, as we all know, help against malaria through its content of quinine in the tonic water - used regularly. (In India British people were forced to use the tedious gin only to mask the bitterness of the quinine J.

Why has Schweppes reduced the amount of quinine? Again a dark conspiracy of the pharmaceutical industry?? 

Sláinte! 

How to Stay Slim in Winter

I just discovered that my post read most by far is: “How to Stay Slim” from 31^st October 2011.

Well, here are some further news: 

a) Alexandra Stoddard points out in her book “Feeling at Home” (William Morrow, NY , 1999) that there is a link between weight gain and NOT ENOUGH LIGHT in winter months. 

Her information convinces me, though I don’t know if it is scientifically evaluated:

“Do you tend to gain weight in the winter months? How much, on average? Most people gain approximately five pounds in the winter, but people who suffer from SAD or light depression tend to gain twice as much weight. “

That’s interesting. I know that in winter I “gain” about 1 kilogram and, as this is not very much, I always thought: ‘Must be the sweets and more delicious food on Christmas.” When it is getting cold I feel a light craving for a bit more fat (that I dislike otherwise) – and think: “Well, the body knows what it is doing: this might be a sort of protection against cold; and also the body might need it in case of a flu. “

But if you gain more and ‘don’t know where it comes from’, then Mrs. Stoddard’s light-theory might be worth trying. Light the lights! 

And you can even improve this, she says, by :

-         -  Placing a mirror opposite a window

-          - Keep all wood tones light

-          - Paint the room brilliant white (well, I prefer a very light sunny yellow)

-         -  Always have clean windows 

b) Then I found an interesting article on the hormone Ghrelin.

If you see pictures of delicious food, you become hungry although you might be not hungry at all, having eaten your breakfast just an hour ago.

This is the gist of the scientific research they did in Munich: the optic stimulation releases a strong amount of the hormone Ghrelin into your blood – and that does not only control your eating-behaviour but also the way your body utilises nourishment. Your brain starts to “digest” the optical stimulus and without control of your will the bodily processes get started.

Now: everywhere you see pictures of delicious food: on TV, in your women’s magazines (following the newest nutritional regiment), you see it in cook-shows and books, on  advertisement boards and in shop windows.

I would advise anybody with a weight problem to keep away from such pictures!

In my post about “How to Stay Slim” I went a step further – I formulated my own advice without the help of Munich scientists:

I don’t buy sweets for my home (except Easter or Christmas) or for my office – I know that at four o’clock in the afternoon I would become weak. But if nothing is there – I cannot eat it. And it is highly unlikely that I will go to my colleagues and beg for sweets. In front of the TV I put a plate with carrots, apple slices etc on the table: you will munch it away if some series is really suspenseful. 

c    c) And now my third advice – I also follow it myself:

A week ago I bought a Pedometer.

I am a person who likes to walk.

I am often astonished when Husband takes the car to drive to a store, when I would – and do! – walk to that store (if it is not too much, I see carrying the shopping bags as a kind of weight training).

Even as a youth I loved books about housekeeping (later I wrote a good-selling book about it) and interior design – and I knew instinctively that there was something wrong with those “efficiently designed kitchens”, where experts had measured the steps a housewife does working in the kitchen - and then showing you how to arrange the furniture to work economical - by saving steps.

But what for???

You have to move, otherwise you will gain more weight!

In summer for most people that is no problem. But in winter? When it is cold outside, getting dark early, and maybe it is even raining? Then it is so much nicer to grab a book, cuddle on the sofa and read. 

Normally you should walk 5000 steps a day (depending on the length of your steps) – and if you want to lose some body-fat, you should work up to 10 000 steps. A DAY!

I was really shocked when I looked at my pedometer after a normal rainy day in the beginning of January. We have a huge flat and I run a lot –BUT absolutely not enough!

I am a person for gold stars: I do work for them :-) If I have a To-do-list, it is much easier for me to work (because I can tick off things “done”); and I love the card at my weight-training, where I have to put in my notes about how many pounds I worked with (I am good at that! And proud of it).

And since I have the pedometer I say to Husband: “I have to go out to fetch a grocery/look at a shop window/walk through a park.” “But it is cold – and raining!” he gasps, but I cannot hear that – because I am already outside.

Daily 5000 steps I get now easily – everything more I am proud of.

So, join me:

-          Don’t look at too many food advertisements

-          Light up your rooms

-          And walk – at least 5000 steps a day.

You’ll love yourself for that! 

Why not? Frederick the Great and I

What do you think of, quite spontaneously and without looking it up on Wikipedia, when you think of Frederick the Great?

I have to confess: history is not quite my cup of tea.

I remember all teachers I ever had: in English I saw in Frau Dr.Mergel what I wanted to become: a real “Lady”. Till this day I am grateful to Dr. Liebe – French lessons – for his positive view of me (quite in contrast to the monk Mr. Franzen, who broke out of his order and taught us Latin, and who prophesied a dark future for me as wedded wife, adding “And for children you are also not suited” which burdened me for a long time – though in spite of him I quickly married. And still am.)

Unforgetable is the ‘shining light’ Mr. Schmädicke, my class teacher in sports and biology. When I was 15 I had such a crush on him that I would have eloped with him unscrupulously – but the crush was only on my side.. .sigh…For him I worked so hard that I got the best mark in biology, and in sports I jumped from the highest diving board and suddenly was able to do a handstand! Yes – an inspiring teacher lends you wings!

         But in History: who were my teachers? I only remember the old history maps, and that for the umpteen times we started with the Greeks and the Romans, very thoroughly, but just shortly before the National Socialism we had no more time, so sorry – we will do that next term! – but when next term came, we repeated the old Greeks and Romans once again, to be on the safe side… Although a lot of our teachers at the very posh grammar school The Barkhof in Bremen were really old so they might have told us from their own experiences.

But why that talk about Frederick the Great?

This morning our Berliner Zeitung presented us with  a special magazine: F. To the 300th Birthday of Frederick the Great. The cover was a picture by Andy Warhol from 1986.

And I thought: Well – why not?

When I look back upon my first year living in Berlin, I see a lot of action, but no common thread. For 2012 that common thread will be Frederick the Great.

Don’t panic: I will handle that very individually.

Till now I wasn’t very interested in that man. The words that sprung spontaneously to my mind were: 

The Old Fritz/tobacco colloquium/ snuff/ Voltaire/ enlightened absolutism/ potatoes (of course)/ music/ Seven Year’s War/ Sanssouci/ three-cornered hat/ a very tiny potentate (as so often)/ and “The first servant of his nation”.

Come to think of it: quite a lot. Our History teachers couldn’t have been that bad.

So when from now on you see an “F” in front of a title, you know: Frederick the Great.

As you might say: 

"Let's Blitz the Fritz!" (Softly, please). 

The photograph is from the cover of the Berliner Zeitung 'Magazin spezial' 14./15. Januar 2012 

A Hat or not A Hat - That is the Question!

In her new post, Pondside asks whether she should wear a hat or not.
I am a fan of hats - and wear them often.

This photograph is not that convincing - but the hat is fine:

I like them in winter, too (well, this is a mixture between cap and  hat):

Of course one has to stay polite: at the cinema or theatre the person behind you still should be able to follow the action :-)

The following hat I bought in Munich, it was made by a very famous milliner, but I have to confess that I didn't wear it that often (Son told me: "If you drive a Pontiac Trans AM like me, you don't have to spray it pink to get attention." Well, he has a very convincing way to persuade me. Though I liked the hat... )

This one is for "Gardening in High Heels".

And this one only for fun ( a picture from Hamburg, two years ago).

A hat is a fine way to change your appearance, and not so drastic as a new hair-colour (NO - I didn't - it's only a funny wig).

If I find a very daring hat and nobody wants to accompany me, I still have this cute 'family man":
so utterly smart!