Mistletoe confusion

Mistletoes are from a poisonous and parasitic shrub. Why would we hang it above our heads and try to find someone to kiss beneath it in the season of love and happiness??? Does that make sense? An old german mythology even tells that a mistletoe was responsible for some giants death while hanging above him! But I guess since it became the magic ingredient of Asterix' and Obelix'  magic drink there must be something good about it. For all you men out there.... go for it!! :) 

Where did the sun go?

It´s been at least 2 weeks with zero sunshine, even less then zero... There is like not a single color out there due to no significant daylight at all. Everything just blurs in a soup of grayness. It would be better if there is no daylight instead of the dull and depressing gray. Damn gulf stream, it happens every year. The clouds just come in at the beginning of December and stay forever. As much as the summer spoils us with sunshine and the fall and spring you get wind and amazing weather, as much the winter just sucks. I guess ... it´s time to work - indoors! ;o) 

be different

be different!! isn´t that what we always should become, different and unique? find your true self and stand out from the crowd! but did you ever think about what it actually means to be really different, to be so different that you are not a member of most crowds at all? well, what defines difference? mostly when you are younger you try to dress different, listen to different music and go to unique places. but since everybody is doing so and you only adjust to your most favorite crowd it is in the end not very unique i guess. and sooner or later this just goes back to "normal". unless you really think more or less different and truly stand out. when you are older you can be as unique as you want to but if you are not familiar with society rules you are lost and it actually gets harder to be accepted and not left alone. so the truth is we are all so common and that is exactly what society wants us to be because nobody wants to be alone. it is tough to deal with a person who is truly uncommon and doesn´t act the way you expect it. but guess what: that´s what makes it so special. it makes the world a little less round and a little more edgy and interesting and lovely. i wish those people wouldn´t need to be so afraid of rejection and avoidance, i wish everyone would appreciate difference as something really special and would have closer look before judging. because sometimes you find these jewels that are so much more than just "different". 

d stands for difference! happy birthday ... i am really happy that i met you. you made a difference in my life.

Wasting Food

Something that bothers me is, when people have a full fridge and throw stuff away. As the Sunday Times reports today it is quiet an amount of food that is wasted every year: One Country's Table Scrapes...

My fridge is almost always pretty empty and I have to admit I have a hard time buying a lot of stuff even when I get company just in case they might want to eat it. I follow a different diet then most of the people I know so I am always left with the leftovers. What I would like to do is having them trust me and being open for this short amount of time. I would shop so that everybody is well fed and there is nothing left over. I started by not buying the brunch menu anymore and just serving fresh fruit and muesli. I only buy what I would eat and serve ... folks, to bad!! And it isn´t even that I am concerned about your health (which totally would improve) but for me. I want to act cautious and sustainable.

One answer or the answer?

Well, I may have found an answer to my question last week. I did a little research on "sustainability" and what it stands for. It is basically and very shortened a principle of preserving resources for future generations so they will have a choice. It is based on ecological sustainability but streams of economic and social sustainability are separately researched. A sustainable system or process will last indefinitely. The most significant definition is the one of the Brundtland-Commission found on wikipedia: 

"One of the first and most oft-cited definitions of sustainability, and almost certainly the one that will survive for posterity, is the one created by the Brundtland Commission, led by the former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. The Commission defined sustainable development as development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."^[1] The Brundtland definition thus implicitly argues for the rights of future generations to raw materials and vital ecosystem services to be taken into account in decision making." (wikipedia.com)

It makes a lot sense actually. But when you look at the real world it is hardly seen. The question remaining is: why should we care what happens in the future? Why no being egoistic? And is it possible that future generations will adapt to their environment and find ways to live anyway?  Is sustainable politics just another ideology? Let the strongest survive!? I don´t know tell me!

Flip flop

I was supposed to work so much this weekend but since it was the first summer weekend and some old friends came to visit... I used the time wisely. I thought while being away from the computer and enjoying the beach! There is nothing like to hang out with your friends at the beach and watching the sun going south while having dinner ... I still can´t believe I live here. ;)

But then tonight it hit me even more! I watched a couple of movies from the Pangea Filmfestival! I was amazed and shivering again. There is so much to do and I never know where to start. But recently I catch myself a lot of times why am I being so pathetic about being Ms. Peace? I could just as well be as egoistic (and I probably am) as everyone else. Why do I want to change things and why do I care? The world is a pretty strange place to live in. It is dominated by nature but yet society believes to be in control. Why do I care about this stuff and why don´t I have a 9-5 job? 

The only answer I have now: Because of what Ms Diaz said - basically everyone is the same and wants the same: love and security and provide for the family. All over the world there are the same principles. But something went wrong when some developed different then others and that is when i t got unfair. But so far "ECONOMY!" seems to be the only principal, which works. I always get to here: the market gets what the market requests for!! Well but how about stupidity? Can you guys help me to explain to people that market based economy will drive us nuts!!! I only have my stomach to trust but not enough arguments. Explain to me what is sustainability and why should we pursue it?

Life at the beach

 Life is tough!!! I cannot tell you how hard it is to focus on work when there is a beach and sunshine. I am suffering!!! It is pure magic to come out to the beach every evening and just see the sunset. There is something so calming about it, I think I may never want to live somewhere else. What more do you need in live? 

Free Consumption!

I found this really sweet little movie on utopia.de:

The Story of Stuff from UTOPIA AG on Vimeo.

What really bugs me is, that I loooove shopping and love to spent my money but I would love to have a choice! It is not always about being eco-pc but it is about having a choice. As for food you have no idea how many beautiful and tasty apple varieties are out there, cheeses, veggies and even meat, because you cannot get them anywhere. WHY??? I don´t like having big retailers choosing for me, I like to pick my own food, because I have different expectations and want something else. I want taste and nutrition. In stores you only get standardized stuff. I am no standard... I hope! ;-)

Eater-based Conservation

Regional food is true luxury. Forget about houses, cars, clothes and jewelry, this stuff can be bought all over and doesn´t even have a lot of useful value. But what about all these rare local foods that just aren´t available? What about escaping the standardized taste and food shelves? There is a whole bunch of great food out there that is truly tasteful, special and even much more nutritious (Pollan 2008) then the stuff that major grocers offer today. The problem is that most of it is not fit to be produced to serve the economies of scale. Most of it is so delicate and special that it can only be grown and raised in small amounts and thereby not worth the attention of the retail chain. But if you like to be a free consumer with free will and the extra sense for luxury get your diamonds at the local farmers, look for those special tomatoes and basil and chicken and ... your taste buds will love you! And you also safe rare plants and support biodiversity. 

There has been a great article at the NYT about the matter. I wish there would be something like that for Germany. But maybe I´ll do it... In any case, go and contact your local SlowFood group. They know where you really want to spent your money to impress your company. It is a great organization which integrates growing and taste and social as well as environmental awareness. And it is active world wide. I asked mine where I can find great tomato plants to grow at the green house in my university (soon to be blogged) and now I have a black, yellow, pink, green and red variety. I can´t wait.

If it is healthy

I just watched a disturbing movie about the Monsanto, which was a couple of years old. The company sells genetically modified seeds and suitable herbicides and pesticides. You basically get the package or nothing and the crops also have a "terminator"-gene, which makes sure that that the F1-generation (the seed you harvest) is useless for further planting. It will not germinate again so farmers will not be able to use part of the harvest for next years crop and have to by again. Well, someone with a clear understanding mind would think: why bother, don´t buy the crap!? But as you may know plants have the odd habit of spreading around unwanted. You may have a look in your garden and count the plants you have actually planted and the once who appeared out of nowhere. You might also come to the conclusion, even if not being a Dr. in Nature Science this seems pretty normal for plants, thats how they do it! The problem with gm-crops is, that is what they do too and the next problem is they are all patented and therefore they aren´t allowed to do so if the owner of the land hasn´t paid first. Unfortunately no one has yet thought putting also a conscience into the plant, that tells them which soil is right or wrong (well, we will not accuse Monsanto of any evil meanings here) . In the case of Percy Schmeiser the canadian Farmer who received an alternative Nobel Prize for his fight against Monsanto the plants did what they were doing... they spread out and appeared on his farm. So Monsanto suit him but he fought and won in the end. Very interesting story on how to stand up and do something. But what I am concerned and more interested about is the fact that I have doubts about the whole approach to food lately. I mean BT-corn is registered as a pesticide! It is a gene from a bacteria carried into the corn-cells by other viruses bacteria or "gene-guns", including an antibiotic marker-gene ... Does that make you any nervous at all? You have non researched consequences of the bacteria gene that produces a toxin which kills organic cells in other creatures and you have a prescription free antibiotic on your plate! Yummy! I honestly do not know what the effects are and we may need some sort of green biotech but with common sense and a bit of background knowledge in nature science this cannot be healthy. And if health is what people want, there has to be another way to obtain it. And I am not talking about the environmental impacts although if thought threw they of course also contribute to our health. We are screwed. Food in the western world has become an industrial product. Since we grind wheat to its snow-white we lost nutrients and gain calories to the point were we add artificial nutrients to the products again and became even sicker and so much other effects occurred. But I guess, if that is what most consider healthy and happy... Way to go! But you may want to excuse me. I like tasty, real & worry-free food that doesn´t grow in boxes! It is just hard to find, sadly. And I am very allergic at times ... 

We used to know more about nature than we know today. We used to know we are creatures living in a biological habitat with all its consequences.

On Beauty

Well, I guess spring is on it´s way slowly but surely. One of the first flowers to appear is Helleborus. I love this little flower... somehow I think it is very sensual but it might be just the fact that they are a promise of upcomming warmer days filled with sunshine and the hopes of coffee outside....

Helleborus orientalis is the botanical name of the very popular, early blooming shade perennial more commonly known as the Lenten Rose. It grows hardy around the world in temperate zones 4-7. In the English speaking world they are known as the Lenten Rose but are not roses at all. They are actually of the Butter Cup family. Their flowers bloom during the Easter celebration of Lent, leading the vernal precession of color in the shady areas of thoughtful perennial gardens. When they are not in bloom they remain as lush ground cover throughout the year; and they are deer proof. This lush, hardy shade perennial is grown and prized by master gardeners throughout the world. The selection I grow here at my nursery produce a mixed symphony of colors ranging from white to pink to purple with many suprise variations in between - I referred to them as a traditional cottage variety. 

I have to tell you about the book I am reading right now. It is Michael Pollan's "In Defence of Food":

GO an GET it! It is a very good holistic approach to what to eat! I really enjoy his rather nature scientific approach to what we need as biological organsims:

"Looking at eating and food, through this ecological lens opens a whole new perspective on exactly what the western diet is: a radical and, at least in evolutionary terms, abrupt set of changes over the course of the last 150 years, not just to our foodstuffs but also to our food relationships [ecological not social relationships], all the way from the soil to the meal."

Talking about food, we tend to separate ourselves from our habitat. Our brain made it possible to be more or less independent from the daily hunt and gathering but nevertheless or system might not be made for boxed and stored food. At the bottom I kind of have the feeling we might still be as biological as any other animal and they don´t eat processed food to often. I guess so should we. So keep in mind: there ain´t cereal-trees out there. And fruits already have vitamins when harvested ripe, so there juice doesn´t need extra vitamins. 

Eat food, not too much and mostly plants! And read the book.

On Truth

Well, I don´t know exactly all facts, but I 'believe' and agree:

religion as a natural, biological phenomenon

I guess I like being the driver in my 'driven' life.

:-)

Runner's High

There is proof ... and it was found in Germany!! ;-)

A runner's high does exist according to new studies: NYT german: Uni Bonn

Nothing I couldn't have told you before but we like it better scientifically proven anyway. The feeling afterwards is amazing. It is calm and focused. The mind is clear and happy, I even don't mind the pain in muscles and sometimes blisters on my feet. The problem really is to get out and start. But hopefully the temperatures will rise soon and make it easier again. The snowstorm yesterday didn't look too promising though... 

Running

Sometimes it is so easy. I wake up and think... gotta go running! and off I am. But sometimes it is really tough. Like those last days. I did my 10k a day but it was fight and I only managed to motivate myself with the sunshine in the morning and the memory of the feeling afterwards. It was cold, I felt tired and just not in the mood I guess. But those are good days too. Because running makes you feel better no matter how you feel about it while doing so. It clears your head and balances your emotions and puts everything in perspective not to mention all these physical improvements. Of course that was why I started it in the first place, but now I just know I feel better after a run, I managed to motivate myself and I get to study the trees along the way. I always have my next calender idea in mind and need to know when certain trees are ready or not. You cannot see much of that from the office, so running helps even to continue dendrological field studies (maybe that is just in my case). I really cannot wait for nicer temperatures. Up to a certain day running in the winter is fun, you know: gloves, hoody on, apple-devise in my ears and visible breathing... pretty damn cool. But NOW I don´t like cold anymore. ... We´ll see about that next week: my first run this year. I only signed up for 5k. Should be a nice start into the season on my home-track. I have to admit I live in the most beautiful running area. I get to run by the sea, which makes it very nice but tough sometimes too. Wind fights your pace and salty air make your nose running and eyes teary but still I love coming up the little hill and see the baltic in different conditions almost all the time. I love it when the waves are just strong enough to have those white breaks. It has that true marine blue then. Getting carried away here...  Go running or walking! :))

Beautiful Baltic

The Baltic Sea was very rough today. It was storming like crazy with winds from the east, which is very unusual here. Usually it comes from the west, so the wind today pushed against the rivers and beaches blocking regular waters paths. 

Normally there is at 500 meters of pure sand down to the water on the left hand side to the wall I was standing on. And on the right side the water is at 1 m lower - normally. It was fun!!! I walked 5k into town since biking wasn´t an option obviously. Around my part of the beach, the water came right up to the dunes. You couldn´t walk on the beach at all. The snow, rain and hail was needling my face so it is very smooth and piggy-pink now. It was actually the first real bad weather day I experienced here so far. I liked it - as long as there is spring to expect soon.

Happy Easter to every one!

j

Spring

Happy first day of spring and try not to be too consumed with consumption for easter! Do something with sense and sensibility!! Get out and look at trees or stay in bed and cuddle since the weather won´t be as nice as hoped for! ;-)

Cherry Plum / Blutpflaume 'Nigra'

It makes me really nervous when I forget plant names. I was walking around for days now and couldn´t think of the name of those shrubby small trees that start to bloom. They have a dark  reddish flower bud and turn into a cloud sweetest springlike pink once the flower opens. It is Prunus cerasifera 'Nigra'. This variety was introduced in the US in 1916. Once the blossoms are gone it amazes with dark red leaves which provide a perfect screen for any other plant even plain fresh green leaves look amazing in front of such a stunning unusual color. Later in summer there are some yummy juicy cherry-like fruits... can´t wait. 

Read and Think about

... the label of the food products you are about to consume! I know some of you get really frustrated with me when grocery shopping because I ALWAYS spend too much time reading and thinking in front of a shelve, the workers at my local market welcome me by now. But it is damn necessary if you want to be a free educated consumer trying to act sustainable at the point of sale. That´s all I have to say to this: nyt. It discusses the use of taste enhancer mostly all sorts of glutamine in modern food products. It is a protein that is found naturally in all sorts of dairy products, meat or soy (the highest natural content) and of course within ourselves. It is supposedly good for muscles so bodybuilders love it.... It can be extracted  as Glutamin acid in a rather complicated process and is then being sold as crystalline white substance which is then being added to food as E 620 or other salts like E621, E 622, E 623 ... 

Any clinical study on the substance didn´t show any indication of health risk when used in regular doses. But since it is a taste enhancer everything (supposedly) tastes better and therefore: what is a reasonable doses? I observed that kids who are used to canned and processed food (which generally include all sorts of Es because aroma just doesn´t stay) do not like the taste of natural fresh food. Even as adults they have to have their Maggi or others when they cook. I grew up with mom´s delicious home made chicken-broth. I do eat processed food (how can you not in this world)... but I would prefer fresh any time also because of the taste (not to mention the resources that are used to produce most processed food). Smell, taste and feel the structure of different fresh foods with your tongue, nose, lips - whatever, learn the difference between with and without enhancer and make up your mind. Try and enjoy food. It might be weird at first but it is like art, when it´s most disturbing it is the best. Go into a grocery store (organic or a better regular one) and smell the apples, most of them don´t smell anymore, but sometimes you find one and then buy the smell you like the best. You will notice a delicate balance between sweet and sour with an aroma explosion on the sides of your tongue. When it tickles like champaign you are hooked to apples... the good ones (which cost a fortune and need to be treated like treasures!!! no refrigerating!!!) :)

Food enhancer only contribute to convenience and globalized taste. The differences in tastes will be lost and therefor varieties in food. But it won´t kill us immediately.  

Justice

What a big word. 

I spent the last 6 weeks traveling throughout Germany and Switzerland discussing agriculture and food matters with lots of people. Today I finally enjoyed reading the sunday times over my coffee again and found this article: A Global Need For Grain That Farms Can´t Fill

Well, looking at the latest developments in agriculture and food industries "justice" is pretty stressed all over. Justice for farmers who finally get better prices for their commodities, justice for developing countries who finally develop at least in parts and seem more able to gain access to resources and food. But how do we really feel about it watching our food prices to speed up? Milk, butter, bread ... everything has nearly doubled. Now agriculture and food ind. is accused to drive the inflation and heat social matters. Let me put it this way: a VW Beetle used be around 2000 € now it is around around 20000 € whereas a piece of butter used to be 2,50 € and at it´s lowest last year it was less then 50 cent. You simply can´t produce a piece of butter for that. Not even when you leave out risen energy prices and an all other speeding costs. 

Farmers also now have the weird choice of producing energy or food on their fields. Whatever pays them more will be it, of course they are not doing this for the romantic farmlife, they are economists themselves who have been mistreated big time the last years. So don´t expect them to be overly concerned with  your prices. And the need for energy is biiiig. We are in the weird position where energy and food are growing to the same value.... But I am wondering: corn that is growing for energy-production doesn´t need to be "safe" as in food-standards. One reason why farmers don´t use pesticides and fertilizers (not to mention monocultures or GMO!!) as much as they used or would to is because of food safety issues (and environmental concerns). Well .... corn that´s been fermented to gas which then is been burned to energy doesn´t need these standards for food security.

The other thing that concerns me is, that last year in europe the fallow grounds were opened for production already, that is land put out of production to rest for revitalization (and to lower production) and now there are even voices who claim to put more land to work. More land from where? Nature reserves of course! To feed the current demand (and make the most profit out of it) people would put anything at risk. Once a land has been used for intense agriculture it cannot be transfered back easily. It takes a lifetime to reestablish a young forest and a young forest doesn´t provide anything that an aged forest does in terms of CO2 conservation and water reserve. Not to mention the biological habitat. 

Food is a much undervalued and underestimated product. It has its own rules, doesn´t work like industrial goods and depends on global rules of climate and nature. It is something that doesn´t fit into economic rules. It is something we seem to only need a certain amount of, but that is crucially substantial. We tend to forget that.

We are exporting most of our grain and meat yet have a self sufficiency rate of over 100% for everything but fruits and veggies. Don´t worry, we will be fine, we just have to pay a higher price for food. A more reasonable price and it hurts me as much as you. So making this a sustainable long term "justice" for everyone, I guess we need to cut back and let others have some to. Cut back on cars and energy consumption, cut back on food (just think of how much you throw away) and cut back on demanding the world for ourselves. As a society we need to realize that we are still depending on nature. And there is nothing eco-romantic about it... crucial reality if you follow the  climate changes.

LOHAS

I learned something at the conference yesterday. I always wondered why "green" still has the image of birkenstocks and woolsweaters... well it doesn´t actually. It´s pretty en vogue you just need to be around marketing people... LOHAS it´s what you call it today with it´s famous promoters: Vanity Fair. I just hope it is more than a marketing- instrument. I hope people fill it with background and have a real sustainable influence with sustainable ideas... trendies usually jump on the next one pretty fast - nothing sustainable about it. We´ll see.

Don´t talk about it

Everyone is pregnant! It used to be 20 but now it is 30 - everyone is pregnant or just delivered. It is fun. The generation has finally left school and reached adulthood, takes over responsibilities and christmas -if at all- makes sense again. But for those around who are not busy yet with breast feeding, spit wiping or belly-button-pop-outs, a missunderstood and misstreated tiny minority, life is tough. You not only miss your party-pals you also get the poor-woman-left-behind-look. For some reason you haven´t reached the status of reproduction yet so something must be wrong with you. Men who are left over are cool, career driven machos only to be desired.

An interesting flirt-advise: he said: “If you meet a man, don´t tell him you want kids!” Well, isn´t that too obvious to hide?! At some point a woman is simply READY to have kids, it is in her DNA, there is nothing she can do about it. The point is a woman´s brain is not in her uterus - so by saying she want´s to have a baby, she means: sooner or later with Mr. Right! She is simply ready to go the next step but doesn´t go down that road with simply everyone. It seems though that men in that age, who are still single, aren´t ready at all. They may never have left boyhood to become men, who are able take care of their offsprings. Guys let me tell you, there is hardly anything more manly then raising kids and becoming really cool dads. It is a duty that needs all the power and guts you have and I am afraid some guys just don´t have it. Playing around sounds too good. But don´t be scared - lucky you there are women who just know how to handle everything and love you for leaving the house in the morning. Don´t worry!! 

;-)

11

10 years ago a very special little girl had her first birthday cake all over her face and I had the pleasure of watching her trying to navigate the chewy yummy frosting in her mouth with both hands. She learned to use silverwear pretty fast as she did with everything else. She is one of the brightest little girls you have ever met and though I never had the peasure to spent her birthday with her again, I assume she is doing something fun every year for her birthday.

Although that´s a zillion years ago I remember when I was 11. The whole world was about playing, teasing my brother and going to school, for fun of course. We did play a lot, didn´t listen to our parents as much as we should have and life was great! I had everything I basically needed back then. Of course I had no idea that such a thing as politics excisted and that it kept me and everyone else in east germany from going to all the places we might have liked going to. I didn´t understand the concept but I remember the feeling at my grandparents balcony, which looked out to West-Berlin. I was wondering what is there, why do we never go there? Why were there soldiers with guns at some places in Berlin? I already knew what soldiers are and that guns could be dangerous. And a lot of kids from school were really proud of their jeans from west-germany, which I never understood. Pants were pants back then as long as I didn´t have to wear these red corduroy ones, my mom loved so much. I couldn´t care less. All I needed was my bike, my friends and family. I had a beautiful childhood.

But before I turned 12, the world changed, literally. My parents had rented a little cabin the summer of 1989 in the mountains in soutwest of east-Germany. We were on vacation and enjoyed swimming, hiking and I even remember my Dad letting me drive that old car for the first time (don´t try this at thome). You could do such things back then. Anyway, we had a great time but my parents were pretty alert to the daily news. I didn´t really know why but a lot of people were about to go somewhere and it made other people nervous. That fall the so called “Wall”, which devided Germany in two parts came down and the people from both sides could go anywhere they wanted to. But that was only one part of the big change. All the sudden, I have a memory of a worried look at my parents faces. The system had changed and we had to adapt and change lifestyles and attitudes. A lot of people in east germany had to find new jobs and keep up with new problems of social cruelty and a thing called capitalism. It was all about money all the sudden. I remember my first time in West-Berlin. At first I was holding on to my mom pretty tight but I got used to it pretty quick and curiosity came in. I will never forget the first taste of kiwi at the age of twelve. :)

Although the change was a very rough time of insecurity and loosing grounds I am sooo happy that I had the chance only 9 years later to travel across the ocean to become an extended member of an extraordinary family and had the time of my life taking care of  the sweetest little girl ever who just turned 11. 

Love you!

Chuchi Chäschtli

... is something like a small kitchen box and the proof that Swiss is not German! It is a cute language that sounds a lot like coughing and almost everything ends with -li, a minimization that is so typical for this beautiful  small country.

Lucky me, I have two amazing friends in Switzerland who took outstanding care of a poor flatlander like me. They took me up to the Jungfraujoch (aka Top of Europe!!). This magnificent place is a saddle between two of the highest mountains in the Berner Oberland the Jungfrau (Virgin) and the Mönch (Monk). Like everywhere in Switzerland the train gets you there. It goes through the mountain for roughly 50 minutes with two stops where you can look out windows that were placed in the famous Nordwand of the Eiger and on Monk´s southside overlooking pure ice and snow. The train ends in 3500 m (11482 ft) above sea level beneath a scientific lab, a tourist restaurants and observation points. You can actually go out and feel the frosty wind and icy temperatures. ...

You don´t really feel the height until you start walking around too fast and taking steps. It is bizarre, your heart starts beating fast, you are out of breath in no time, your circulation gets a little messed up and you feel a little drunk. So you really have to go very slow and enjoy the scenery. It is amazing. The Aletsch-glacier starts right here, everything is white, white, white.... Impressively there were ski-tours starting where I had trouble to catch my breath while walking. It is pretty dangerous to ski on glaciers because of the crevasses but it looks really fun with all the plain white snow, slow descent and nobody around.

Once back down on at the Kleine Scheidegg (2000 m) I was forced to ski too!! Well, I have to admit it is fun and I grew out of kiddy-hill in no-time. ;-) Since, I have never been on skies like these before it was hard to get used to at first but it was so much fun and I wish I could have gone down with the others instead of sharing the rather flat plateau with kids that where not even half my height and did a better job then I did. Well, easy with these short skies they had. My friends had a blast especially when I fell and couldn´t get up. ....

The Kleine Scheidegg is what I always imagined a ski-place in the alps must look like. Little trainstation, no cars and huge mountains. There were sweet restaurants in old houses with great homemade food (nothing like real swiss cheese in this world) and lots of relaxed fun people skiing up and down the mountain.

Despite all the fun it is visible that there is lots less snow then there is usually. The slopes are prepped every night with huge snow cannons. And being lower then 1500 m there almost no chance anymore for a decent snow cover. Climate change is a serious and visible issue in the alps. A lot jobs depend on the snow in the winter season. The perma-frosted ground in the higher alps is starting to melt, releasing debris and strong thunderstorms cause a lot of wind but mostly water erosion almost every year now.

What is amazing though is that in supermarkets you will find a lot regional food. Switzerland protects its agriculture by restricting imports. The food is very expensive but well worth it. It is of very high quality and supports regional farmers and therefor the countryside as well. Of course it might be easier and cheaper to import and use the positive effects of trade but the loss of diversity, originality, quality and therefor parts of their identity will follow for these people here, so why not spending more on food and saving on cars (e.g.)? Trains really take you everywhere here and swiss-like .... always on time!

THANKS to A&S and good luck on Swiss Jr. !!!

Aging Tree-wise

Every branch tells its story about laughter and tears, worries, pain and happiness. when a tree is young it grows well it becames tall with big juicy leaves and soft branches who stretch out in every direction, curious and fearless. but then there comes an exciting though fierceful yet sometimes dreadful time of adjusting towards conditions of limiting influences. Fighting with the wind, bearing the drying sun and staying alive through the frost, just to battle even more - zillion enemies and competitors of alike and different nature. Only to become really beautiful, wise and strong, growing personality and character to withstand ever repeating dangers, adjusting that inner nature towards the outer conditions. The roots deeper in the ground providing a safe base, the inner branches strong, though mature and sometimes  grumpy, ready to hold climbing youngsters and extra big towels. The outer ends still looking for the extra bit of sunshine but with different ambitions -  careful, thoughtful but not less curious. After a while it all comes in balance and the roots just provide as much as needed above and only a certain number of leaves is useful to keep up the life cycle and yet expand as needed. In a long time from now it´s all wrinkly and odd schaped and strong roots deep down holding a whole world together by providing an all integrated habitat itself. 

Sun rises, sun sets and rises again, it won´t change any time soon if astrophysicists can be trusted.

happy birthday!

Wilhelma

I did have some fun down south. There are places almost everywhere I go that ease my mind instantly. They all have to do with trees. You will find some kind of forest-botanical-garden-arboretum anywhere you go. So this might be the most beautiful place in Stuttgart: the Wilhelma. It´s actually a botanical and zoological garden at once. Of course some King needed a summer-pleasure-house in the late 19th century and it started as a fancy collection of exotic plants, pretty hip at that time to do so (till today dendrologists haven`t changed a bit, they don´t have gardens, they have (art)collections ... knowing every plant by name and birthdate). 

I was amazed by their display of magnolias. It may not be the broadest variety but the setting was soooo beautiful. A "Swabian (Schwäbische) Alhambra" !! It is set up as typical oriental garden with a wall around, cross paths and lilly pond in the middle. Despite the fact that magnolias are not a common interior of oriental gardens it was magnificently arranged. There are some ancient magnolia trees there. Unfortunately I was too early for their bloom. This one is called Magnolia x soulangiana 'Amabilis' ...

But the Camelias are blooming now. If there is a botanical garden that shows them near you: go now! The one in Berlin has as superior collection. They are in the tea-family and have extraordinary perfectly ordered beautiful flowers. I was fascinated by this one since it has curly edges, pretty wild for camelias. It is called: Camelia japonica 'Nioi-Fubuki'

Well, but so much for boring plants they don't do much according to your needs of fast action. There were also cute animals out there and since it is becoming spring soon you could feel something going on here, let me tell ya. These two were just about to do it, but then she seemed a little disturbed (maybe my curious camera). She just snapped at him and he rolled off of her. It was really fun to see how difficult it must be for them according to their physiology. :)

Well and don´t ask me about those two. Love doesn´t know rules.

It will be another great sunny weekend. But I have to write papers and work. :( Well, this pace has an end in March. I only need to survive a couple more weeks. And at least I get to run tomorrow morning by the sea. What luxury...

Take care!

HappyHappy

The train took me to Stuttgart yesterday, where I purposely  chose a hostel to stay although it was a work trip and I could have also gotten a decent hotel but hostels are much more fun. After a near death experience yesterday - my iPod and I were separated for about 20 minutes without knowing of each others whereabouts - I tried forever to be happy in this city, which I really dislike. I thought I need to be in a good mood to pursue my work. I have important meetings today and tomorrow. Well, it didn´t work. I still don´t like being here ....

I woke up this morning at around 4 am. I dreamed of something that really gave the creeps, so I was pretty depressed all morning. And then I found this article on HAPPINESS!! There is a whole scientific community working out how you can be happier! Why? To make us depressed! It displays all the factors (income, education, political participation, volunteer activities and close relationships) of people who consider themselfs as happy and which you may lack off and that´s why you are not as happy as you could (should) be. 

The article is actually very interesting and tries to put it all in perspective. I especially liked:  "But if you have positive illusions about your partner, which goes along with the highest levels of happiness, you're more likely to commit to an intimate relationship." :) 

It also showes that not the happiest of the happy ones are the most driven. I know people who are constantly reasoning things in life, asking questions and trying to make an effort to improve their life and parts of the world, thereby achieving a state of mind and knowledge that is only to admired. But some of these are truely on the more sad side of life, if not constantly but more than others. Why is that? I think first of all, these people are able to see things that aren´t right, which if present all the time and forced to care about by your inner core, can be pretty depressing itself. Because I guess the question is: where to start and how to do it. And second pretty much as a consequence of first, it is pretty exhausting. Brain cells need relaxation too! Watch people who you consider depressed in a safe environment relaxing for while and I am pretty sure they will be just fine after a while. But it will happen again...  (I am excluding people who might have a real clinical condition.) I am only saying I guess: don´t think you have to be happier if you are just fine it will all come naturally!! And don´t let others rule your needs for happiness since it only displays their inability to deal with your emotions.

And by the way, get a life, when starting to think about how to be happier! Get busy with something, improve your life in a sustainable way, try to change eating habits, energy use or activity levels. Get into a cycle of activity and rest and don´t panic if you panic! It is perfectly normal.

"But maybe, just maybe, the single-minded pursuit of happiness as an end in itself, rather than as a consequence of a meaningful life, has finally run its course."

Merheba

My dear friend Ann-Marie is back in Turkey and continues her beautiful blog:

http://amershon.edublogs.org

iyi aksamlar!

SEALS!!!

So far, the yacht habour is home to seagulls alone but soon there will be not only boats here but also SEALS! The university of Bonn is opening a research station at the yacht habour "Hohe Düne", that is across the big city- harbour entrance from Warnemünde. In April they want to bring in the animals. They will study their behaviour and orientation in the water. That will be so cool. Seals are awesome and amazing ... ;-)

Otherwise this was the first really warm weekend, sunshine all day. It was spring and I tried to enjoy most of it somewhere outside or close to outside since my computer works better inside a cafe. I had to work a lot, because I´ll be travelling next week. It will be really hard to focus on work in the summer when the beach is so close. hmmm. Well, we´ll see about that when it´s time to do so. Maybe I should work at night, sleeping is overrated anyway. I love to live here. 

J 

Jantz toll!

Another blog to read! Well, this one is probably more for me to write and let go of my thoughts. So it is up to you to follow them or not. But instead of bombarding all my friends with emails of stuff I found interesting I might as well use this medium to let you know what I am thinking about, what I might work on and who inspired me. 

It is difficult and strange to be far away, new town, new infrastructure, new people. Although there is a phone, it is not the same so I miss talking the way i used to. But on the other hand I like the experience of adjusting and change.  It somehow makes me think a lot which of course only provokes more need to talk....

Anyway, since I live out here I am very much into food, nature, society and the whole WILD world out there. I guess I have always been like that but now I kind of see a path. I read a book that´s called "Wild" and is truely refreshing down to earth about what nature really is (pretty dirty). I had a discussion about the emergence of nature and sociology. And I saw a movie the other day that was amazingly beautiful and probably describes my search pretty well (not that I would ever do the same): Into the wild!! A young man leaves everything behind and tries to live in the wild world. The experience of just being you and knowing what you are capable of, what your physical needs are and how you biologically fit into this world, where the edges are and how unsustainable nature really is. What makes you move that´s not socially deformed? I liked the idea and of course the beautiful pictures too. But like I said before, I wouldn´t go as far. Way to scary for a city-slick but perfect for distant admiration. :)

The other thing that really made me happy today was that Michael Pollan spoke on TED. I liked his way of talking about food. Food is such a socially integrated topic that we always forget about what it is really there for! It keeps us going. That´s it. And because we have enough we can choose from we always choose what we like the most and thereby influence what we get tomorrow (although it is called marketing today - Darwin was right! We are selective just like any other creature.). But what do we like today? It is still in our genetic patterns. We are no less programmed than a bee which goes for a specific flower first.  But since our lives are pretty detached from our biological habitat, there might be a gap between what we need and what we think we need. So we don´t choose the best apple out there for a decent snack midafternoon, we like it processed and aroma-enhanced mixed with spices and sugar, surrounded with baked dough. 

call it a night!