it's a tough life

I've been meaning to write this little essay for some time now. But I did not want to be thought of as a complainer and considered a spoiled brat. Things are getting so bad, however, that I feel I must vent my frustrations and anger:
Take the weather, for instance: Day after day, the sun shines from a boring blue sky, with here and there a little white cloud. The temperatures range between 28 and 33 degrees centigrade. This goes on day after day after day...
Then there is the swimming pool in our own garden: It is at least 20 meters from the door of my studio and its clumsy structure makes it necessary to climb a 4 rung ladder or jump into the pool head first. What is worse, when I want to leave the 23 to 26 degree water, I actually have to climb this ladder. Not an easy thing to accomplish for an 80 year old man.
Then there is the need to constantly make decisions: When I climb out of the pool, do I lye in the shade of a large umbrella or do I prefer the sunshine. By the way, I am forced to open the umbrella all by myself. (When you need them, the staff is nowhere to be seen.)
Protected by this umbrella I no sooner have dozed off a little, than Christin comes with a snack:
A fresh roll,  some delicious ham, a bunch of grapes and three kinds of Austrian and two kinds of Italian Cheese. Here we go again. I prefer the Italian Cheese and there are only two kinds on the cheese tray.
Again, I have to make these difficult decisions, since I cannot eat all of the cheese. I wish Christin would not bring so much and in such variety. To make matters worse, I have to sit up if I want to eat any of this stuff.
Have I told you about the Wine? Once again today it was at least 1 degree too cool and in this heat the ice in the Gin and Tonic glass melts much too fast.
The gardener has just left and the noise of his electric lawn mower was almost deafening. I wish he would use a Scythe, or some nail clippers.
Yesterday I actually found three, count them: three wind driven rose pedals in the pool. This kind of water pollution must absolutely stop.
This reminds me:
Our roses have thorns. I must ask our gardener to either clip them or replace the bushes with a thorn less variety. There are such things. No??
Just so that you don't think I am complaining needlessly, let me tell you this:
When the pool man comes to vacuum the pool, I actually have to get up from my deck chair to unlock the rear door. He came the other day, just as I wanted to go for a swim. I had to keep him waiting a good 20 minutes until I was ready to come out. Maybe I shall ask him in future to perform the pool maintenance during the night hours.
And so it goes: I could keep on and on telling you about the hard life I lead. But, what's the use... I am sure each of you has his/her own problems, even if not as severe as mine.

No,no,no darling...
not quite so much ice in my Gin and tonic please...

Bertstravels.

BAMBERG, BAVARIA, GERMANY

BAMBERG, CITY HALL.

Recently we visited a most beautiful and interesting town in Bavaria, Germany.
It features many important ancient buildings: Cathedrals, Castles and
other architecturally interesting  edifices.
One of the most fascinating structures is "The Old City Hall".
In the early 14th Century, the citizens of Bamberg wanted to have
their own secular government and to house it, a proper City Hall.
All of the land, however, was owned by the Catholic Church
and the Bishop of the area, refused to allow the erection of such a building,
as it would house a competitive power structure to his own
hitherto unchallenged Dictatorship.
Although the Bishop owned all of the land, he and the Church did not own
the River, Regnitz, by name, nor the Island located in the middle of the town.
So the Burghers of Bamberg  built their "Rathaus" (City Hall)
on this island and connected it with two bridges to the mainland.
The original structure was finished in 1386. What we see today
is the Rathaus as it was rebuilt between 1744 and 1756 

 

Beautiful homes along the banks of the river Regnitz.
Due to their rising right out of the river,
this area is called: Little Venice.
On the river side each house owns a boat, but on the other side
cars are a more preferred mode of transportation.

 

Exciting Soccer in Bleiburg - unpaid -

Exciting Football in Bleiburg
Played by unpaid amateurs with Enthusiasm

...a packed defense and a sure-grip keeper...

One of many nail biting goal-mouth actions during a game
of two amateur clubs.

This free kick, taken by a rank amateur who plays for the love of the game
barely sailed over the wall and rattled off the cross bar.
A couple of inches lower and we would have screamed:
"Goooooooooal.
That same evening I saw several Millionaires take free kicks
 from about the same distance and the ball each time
 sailed  mile-high over the cross bar.
In this amateur game, the midfield is simply the area
one must fight through
in order to get to the opponent's goal.
In the "Millionaire's game" the ball gets passed
in their half of the  midfield 100 times...
back and forth...back and forth,
until ball possession is lost, whereupon the
Millionaires in the other colored shirts
 do the same in their half.
Exciting Soccer ???
Gimme a break !!!

Orson Wells ... smart guy..

I agree with Orson Wells, who said: "If you have an intimate dinner for Four, you should invite three friends..."

The "Hemmastubn" after the fire....

Yesterday, Saturday, the 16th of June
we drove up to the Hemmastubn,
a wonderful dining room, comfortably furnished and serving good food.
You cannot imagine our surprise and disappointment
when we found that the place had become victim of lightening strike
on the 12th day of May...on my birthday, of all days...

The remains of the Hemmastubn.
Being located atop of the Hemma hill,
(I don't want to call it a mountain)
it took the fire fighters some time to get there

 

 

The "Interim Hemmastubn"

Until the Restoration of this lovely, quaint Dining facility,
the two indefatigable operators have set themselves up
in an "open-air-eatery".
As long as the weather is as it was yesterday,
 this would be a great place.

We had planned an 80th birthday party in the original
"Hemmastubn".
Then lightening struck and nixed our so carefully laid plans.

The charming hosts of the "Hemmastubn"
(a "Stubn" is a dialect form for a word meaning
 "old fashioned, comfortable living room")
and since it is located on the "Hemma Mountain"
... it's called see above.

ROSES IN OUR GARDEN

 

 

 

 

"AROWHON PINES"...: Some of the people who make it all happen....

Helen and Theresa
The two marvelous women who made and make it all possible.

A friendlier reception cannot be found anywhere.

The Kitchen Chef ( he with the mustache)
and two of his helpers, without whom, he insists,
these culinary miracles could not be produced.

Once the Chef has approved it,
this smiling Beauty serves it to your table.

Now, that's FUNNY !!!

An 85 year old man told his doctor, that his 25 year old wife was pregnant.
The doctor looked at his old friend for a while and then he said:
"Listen, my friend, I will tell you a little story: There once was a man who wanted to go bear hunting.
On his way out he intended to grab his bear hunting gun, but by mistake, in his haste, he grabbed an umbrella instead. No sooner was he out in the forest, then he was confronted by this gigantic Grizzly bear. He raised his umbrella, pulled the trigger and shot the bear dead."
"But that's impossible" said the old man. "Somebody else must have fired the shot"
"Precisely" said the doctor.

Panta Rhei ... Everything flows

I know for certain that Heraclitus, the Greek Philosopher, who lived between 535 and 475 BCE
never had a chance to visit Algonquin Park.
And yet he claimed that "Everything flows" and that "No man ever steps in the same river twice".
Although "Heri", as his friends called him, or "Clitus", as his rivals referred to him deprecatingly,  was not referring just to a river, or any other body of water, but to all things on earth.
When he said: "Panta Rhei" he spoke of life and existence, which, forever changing, confronts man always with a new world, a new Universe, yes, a new life.
Had he been lucky enough to visit Algonquin Park and Arowhon Pines, he might have added "Eureka" to his pithy sayings.(as it was, he had to leave this one to another Greek) as he stood at the edge of the new dock,
(in his time the dock was brand new) marveling at the reflection of the partly rolled up sails, in the deep green water of "Little Joe Lake". He might have noticed that the reflection never stayed the same but changed constantly, timelessly. And since reflections are simply the mirror of  reality, he would have concluded that  reality is in constant change. Therefore: "Panta Rhei"... "Everything flows" ... and no man can ever dive from the same dock into the same Little Joe Lake twice.
Below here is the proof : Quod erat demonstrandum.

Panta Rhei

 

 

 

 

Some more of "A.P."

Christin, waving to...

...the Loon ?

The Picture above is easy to identify:
It's Christin paddling to her heart's content.
But what is the image below?
It also comes from "A.P."

 

The Pearl of Algonquin Park - AROWHON PINES

If you would like to combine inextricably the raw, beautiful nature
of Algonquin Park with the unadulterated luxury of an internationally
acclaimed hostelry, if you want to quietly paddle along the shore lines
of  deep-green or sky-blue lakes listen to the haunting call of a loon
and in the evening hours be pampered by world class personnel in
the most romantic setting of a rustic, but elegant dining room, with food
prepared by an internationally experienced Chef,
then follow my suggestion:
Spend some days at the Arowhon Pines Lodge. 

On the left, one of the buildings housing wonderfully appointed accommodation.
Picture Center shows the veranda encircled dining room and if you look
carefully, you will see a Loon in the still waters.

A closer look at the dining room of Arowhon Pines

Small tables for 2 or 4 are grouped around the massive central fire place.
Study the menu carefully, since your mouth will water when reading about
the scrumptious selections of imaginatively prepared meals.
The Desert Table must be seen to be believed.
If, however, you worked hard during the day
 having fun paddling your (free of charge)
canoe, even conquering a Portage or two,
then you can easily afford the extra few calories
of this mouth watering, eye popping selection of
great food.
This is Arowhon Pines Lodge in Algonquin Park.

ALGONQUIN REFLECTIONS