Things To Do, 2007

A few more hours and this year too will have ended. Just back from South Carolina after a long 12 hours in the car, we are enjoying a lazy morning. In years past, my husband and I used the 31st of December to make a list of things we would like to accomplish in the new year. Along with such lame goals as losing weight and saving money, there were bigger goals such as starting a family and attacking some major work on our Brooklyn brownstone....

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Happy Holidays To All!

Brooklyn Brownstone at Christmas Time ( I swear its not my house)My little family is heading South tomorrow to celebrate Christmas at Opa's house. Opa is the German word for Grandpa. This is the fourth Christmas without my mother, but we are managing to hold the family together. I think she would have been proud that we are still following the same crazy traditions she imposed on our family so long ago. Though...

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Christmas New York Style

The temperature here in Brooklyn reached 60 degrees during the last few days. The week-end was more reminiscent of April than of December. It felt great having the windows open, especially because I had the oven going full blast. You see, as many Brooklynites were walking around in short sleeve T-shirts and shorts, I was making Christmas cookies. I should never have started. What a horrible job that is. But in my eagerness to get into the spirit...

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Mice On a Plane

First there was a movie about snakes on a plane, now little furry critters are running around the cabin. This would be my ultimate nightmare. EEEEEEEEEEK! But pardon me for asking! How come someone got away with entering a plane with a bagful of mice when I am not even able to take a lipbalm onboard? What do you think? From the BBC News Website: Mass mouse escape on Saudi plane More than 100 passengers on a Saudi plane were left panic-stricken...

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Poem For A Friday Afternoon

I read the poem below a while ago, wrote down the lines on a snippet of paper and promptly forgot about it. Today, while cleaning my office, I found it again. So here it is. I can't loose it once its published in the blog, now can I? Are You Tired Of Me, My Darling? Are you tired of me my darling Did you mean those words you said When you spoke in fond affection On the day that we were wed Tell me could you live life over Would you make it...

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Marie-Antoinette Sillage de La Reine

Everyone who knows me, knows that I am a history buff. My friends Eunice and Pearl share this interest and many a biography and historical fiction book is passed from one to the other. And then discussed at length. One of our favorite historical figures is Marie-Antoinette. So this little tidbit is for you, girls.While doing research on Jean-Louis Fargeon, parfumeur to Marie-Antoinette, biographer Elisabeth de Fevreau unearthed notes on the queen's...

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Paris and Britney's Roots

Pardon me for asking, but have you noticed that, like the rest of us, fake blonde stars can't keep up with those nasty dark roots either? I am always amazed to see platinum starlets with a black streak on the top of their head. One would think that with all their money, they could stay on top of their dye-jobs. Recently, I came across the unglamorous pictures of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears getting a touch-up. It got me thinking about how much...

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Lowe's disses Brooklyn

This always happens before the holidays. For some strange reason, there is a flurry of home improvement activity in our household. So, in order to maintain the tradition, my husband and I walked down to our Lowe's Home Improvement Center here in Brooklyn. Its not a pretty walk. Our Lowe's is framed by the elevated F subway line, and the infamous, fetid Gowanus Canal. But the sky was blue, the air crisp and a walk seemed appropriate. When...

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Poet

I was just looking through my 15 year old's homework and found a poem he wrote for writing class. I was impressed! The sirens sound and my fingers turn numbI grab my belongings and turn to fleeTrying to run from what I cannot seeI think to myself I must have been dumbTwo years enlisted and still things look glumHeaped in a bunker with more men like meSearch this building, you'll find no show of gleeAll that I have is my guilt coated gunI have done...

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From Russia With Love

I saw the latest James Bond flick " Casino Royal" last week-end. I thoroughly enjoyed it. But truthfully, the idea that Russian President Putin is having his opponents wacked is ever so much more suspenseful. It is also unneving and tragic. What started with the shooting of Anna Politkovskaya, a prominent Russian journalist known for reporting of human rights abuses in war-torn Chechnya was followed last week with the radiation poisoning of exiled...

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Do You Speak English?

Don't get me wrong! I don't want to make fun of anybody's english. After all, it is a second language for me, too. But this collection of signs from around the world is priceless. I found them on the site http://users.tinyonline.co.uk/gswithenbank/mangeng.htm. Do you have any to add yourself?* Two signs from a Majorcan shop entrance: English well speaking. Here speeching America.* In a Japanese hotel: You are invited to take advantage of the...

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What About Afghanistan?

While the U.S. is busy figuring out what to do about the mess in Iraq, Nato nations are meeting to talk about Afghanistan, because the Taliban is back and doing very well, thank you very much26 NATO countries have been meeting in Riva, Latvia's capital. The summit's main objective is to come up with a more solid plan of action in Afghanistan. The situation there has been steadily worsening since U.S. and Nato troops were sent into the region...

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Riding On The F

The world sure is a strange place. One can be friend or foe, hero or demon, depending on where one happens to be at the moment. I was thinking about that yesterday as I was sitting on the F train riding into Manhattan. With nothing else to do than to observe my fellow riders, I had to marvel, as I do so often, at the fact that there are more religions, cultures and ethnicities (peacefully) represented in a New York City subway car at any given...

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Here Comes Santa Claus!

The house is empty again after the four-day week-end. I wish I could say the same about the fridge. There are still all kinds of leftovers safely stored in Tupperware containers. Enough to squeeze one more meal out of....Anyone still hungry?Now for the next phase. The Christmas season has officially begun. My neighbor D. across the street has put out her decorations. Each year, she is finished decorating the front of her house by Friday 9 Am...

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A Happy Brooklyn Thanksgiving

As a foreigner, I never quite got the hang of Thanksgiving. It seems that on this holiday, you either spend countless hours cooking an elaborate dinner or you sit in the car stuck in traffic on your way to eat said dinner. Nice!I am the one who does the cooking in my family. I put dinner on the table most nights. I am a good cook, too. But there is something about Thanksgiving dinner. Maybe it is the fact that the main purpose for the day is...

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Cheney's Reality

Vice-President Cheney is itching to attach Iran. Problem is: a highly classified assessement from the C.I.A. found no conclusive evidence that Iran is close to building a nuclear weapon. It seems that Dick Cheney has seen this top-secret report from the C.I.A. and did NOT like it. He is now dreaming up ways of deceiving and fooling the American people into believing that Iran is ready to unleash a nuclear cloud over Kansas. Have we not been there...

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Uncle Sam Wants Your Children

I often wonder why young people in this country are not more vocal against the war in Iraq. My friends tell me it's because there is no draft.The United States had a draft in place between 1948 and 1973. It grew to become the center of controversy during the Vietnam War, 1964-1975, an undeclared war that was the most unpopular conflict America had fought until Iraq. But because there is no more draft and because we have a professional army now,...

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Opa, Here Is To You

Nobody understands my son as well as my 74 year old father. " You are the best grand-son I ever had" he will say. " I am the ONLY grand-son you EVER had, Opa! " my son will reply. That is true. My father had the good fortune to have a sensational wife and two pretty great daughters. In other words, he was surrounded by women. Even our dog was female. The first grandchildren were little girls. Of course, he loved them more than anything. He...

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Bush Does Vietnam

Holy cow! Shortly after arriving in the one-time war capital, Hanoi, President Bush compared the Vietnam and Iraq conflicts."We'll succeed unless we quit" he stated about the war in Iraq.Now maybe I am overly critical of the man, but I think this was a faux-pas. First of all, why bring any war up on this first visit to Vietnam? Was that really necessary? His statement almost sounds as though he is suggesting that if America had stayed in Vietnam...

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America's Favorite Mayor As President?

Rudy Giuliani has filed papers with the Federal Election commission to form an exploratory committee in the race for the GOP presidential nomination. Funny, it seems as though he has been campaigning since 9/11. I once read that as a college kid he confided his presidential dream to his girlfriend and practiced future campaign speeches in front of her at home. The country, especially Republicans of course, are in love with him. Most New Yorkers...

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My favorite quote of the week

I venture to say no war can be long carried on against the will of the people. Edmund Bu...

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School Closings

Who is feeding the details of the Baghdad mass kidnapping to the news media? It was first reported yesterday that 70 to 80 Iraqis in old and new Iraqi National Police uniforms stormed the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research/Scholarships and Cultural Relations Directorate building. Once inside, they locked all the women into a bathroom. Then they kidnapped 100 to 150 male employees in 30 trucks which had been driven up to the building....

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Brooklyn Stoop Sale

The "stoop" sale is a true Brownstone Brooklyn tradition. Basically, you drag every unwanted item out of your house, display it on the high steps or stoop leading to your front door and wait for passers-by to express an interest in an item. It is the Brooklyn version of the garage sale.My friend Eunice and I have a sale on a regular basis, to " keep the shit moving" as her husband Joe likes to say. So two week-ends ago, we convened in front...

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Fall In Washington

There is no denying it. Fall has come to Brooklyn. I woke up this morning, looked out at the newly bare trees and thought: how much things change in one week.The same is true for this week in Washington. In our nation's capital, President Bush took a huge fall, and I wonder if he can be put together again. After six years of blundering, smugness and lying, he finally was punished by voters in this mid-term election. And it felt sooooo good.Bush...

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"Military Action" Heroes

Today is Veterans Day. This day always makes me a bit sad. It always is about W.W. II veterans and not very much about Vietnam veterans. Don't get me wrong. My home country, Germany, would have had a very different history, had American soldiers not fought so bravely to liberate us from a dictator. I guess it is always easier to be proud of soldiers who actually affect the course of history so positively. The poor young men who were sent to Vietnam...

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Ortega Is Back!

President Bush suffered another defeat this week. The fact that the Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega won the presidential election in Nicaragua on Sunday has not been widely publicized. Sixteen years after he left power, the communist leader recaptured the presidency in part because he used the United States' meddling in this election as a rallying point.President Bush and his "handlers" thought it was a good idea to influence the Nicaraguan election...

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My Favorite Quote Of The Day

There is nothing worse than aggressive stupidity.Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 18...

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Carreer change for Cheney?

Since yesterday morning, I have been wishing I were a little mouse in the White House. I would love to hear Bush strategize with his cronies. The rest of the Rebublicans are mad at him for not firing Rumsfeld last week, his father is probably calling every five minutes with advice and Nancy Pelosi is waiting to meet with him . This is better than any soap opera. Ah, the justice of it all!So I propose a career change for Cheney, too. Since his...

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Online Freedom For All!

In some parts of the world, what I am doing right now could land me in jail. That's right. If I were sitting in front of my computer in Egypt posting a message wenting about my government, I could be arrested. The organization "Reporters Without Borders" is trying to raise awareness on this issue with a 24 hour online cyber demonstration.Thirteen countries censor what should be a space for free expression. They are Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt,...

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Oh, What A Beautiful Day!

Within the last hour, it has been announced that Montana's Senate seat goes to the Democrats AND Rumsfeld is resigning. My prediction this morning came true. DING DONG the wicked witch is gone! Though it is raining like crazy here in New York, it is a beautiful day!Below is an article from the German Spiegel. Read about Europe's reaction to our election result. November 8, 2006 EUROPEAN REACTION"End of a Six Year Nightmare"Following the midterm...

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" I Won" she said.

My daughter went back to college yesterday after casting her vote. Last night, she was checking the election returns with her roommates and felt confident and proud about her vote. All her candidates won here in New York. Not a bad first voting experience. This will not always be the case. In the future, she will taste the bitter defeat we, her parents felt six years ago, and even more depressingly two years ago. I hope that when this happens,...

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Coming Out Of The Dark Ages

What a relief. America is finally back out of the Dark Ages. I feel as though I can breathe again. As I am writing this, Congress is firmly in democratic hands and they have won four seats in the Senate with two extra seats a distinct possibility. As a commentator on BBC Radio news said this morning: " President Bush had a bad night." Oh, what a sweet affirmation that Americans are not as gullible and pliable as it has seemed for the last 6 years....

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Stand For Something

My eighteen-year-old daughter is voting for the first time in her life today. I am so excited for her. Since she was a little girl, my husband would bring her to vote with him. Our polling place was also her elementary school, and there was always something mysterious about seeing the school gym transformed into an adult world for one day. Now she belongs to this adult world. And I feel proud that she is taking the time from her busy college...

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Monday's Video Pick

Laughter is the best medicine! Check this youtube video out. A humorous look at our President and global warming. It's worth it.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5r6TqpO...

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It's the war in Iraq, Dummy!

We have all heard it now. The mid-term election is about Iraq. Not the economy, not gay marriage and not stem cell research. We have yet to learn what exit strategy the Bush administration is working on. Apparently two weeks ago, while talking to reporters, Bush casually mentioned permanent bases in Iraq. It is not the first time this came up. I have no doubt that this administration has no exit strategy, because they never meant to leave Iraq....

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Not Everybody In Texas Is a Republican

For those of you who are fans like me of Molly Ivins, the Texas political columnist, here is one of her latest columns. Please read it before tomorrow and before voting. Ivins gets it right every time......KEEPING OUR EYES ON THE BALL ( November 2, 2006)By Molly IvinsAUSTIN, Texas -- I'm still worried sick. The R's have seized the news cycle! Which says more about how dim American politics are than anything I can think of. Apparently, the Michael...

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Air Force One Boarding Now!

Pardon me for asking, but how come President Bush was taking Air Force One around the country to make appearances all over the country in an effort to help his fellow Republicans campaign? This bugged me so much that I did some snooping on the internet and found out that there are of course rules about what portion of a trip is political and which part is public business. However, there are many ways to interpret the purpose of our President's trips,...

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Toilets Beware, Germans Follow Directions to the Dot

According to an article on the Deutsche Welle News site, Germans are beginning to get disenchanted with their GPS navigation systems. The problem? They may be too good at following the instructions. "If the system tells them to turn right, they turn right. If it tells them to turn left, they turn left." Even if it means crashing into an outhouse.Here are just a few real incidents from German roads A 53-year-old German driver recently took the...

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This Week's Best Headline!

" *PRESIDENT BUSH ASKS U.S SOLDIERS TO STOP DYING" From the Onion Radio News by Doyle Redland. Follow the link. Its great.www.theonion.com/content/node/54...

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Survivor Washington!

This idea is too late for Tuesday's mid-term election. However, we have two years to seriously work on campaign reform. I suggest a totally different approach for the presidential election in 2008: instead of allowing candidates to spend millions of dollars on boring and badly acted television commercials bashing their opponent, how about running a couple of reality game shows to choose our next President. We can't do any worse than the voting...

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It's Not Our Fault, It's Yours!

Let's see. What did the White House do today that is the fault of the Democrats and of the American people:The Federal Government set up a Web site in March to make public a vast archive of Iraqi documents captured during the war. The site posted some documents that weapons experts say are a danger themselves: detailed accounts of Iraq’s secret nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The documents,apparently constitute a basic guide...

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Now For Something Totally Different

Sorry, but I could not resist. This is truly noteworthy. I know a few people who will be glad to know that the gnomes have not been hurt or tortured in any way! Liberated gnomes foundFrom correspondents in LimogesNovember 02, 2006 06:48amSOME 79 garden gnomes snatched by a so-called gnome liberation group, were discovered today along the banks of a stream in the central Limousin region, police said.The gnomes were hidden in some underbrush with...

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SUV's for the mentally impaired

Just came across an article from the BBC. I am speechless. So let me understand this right: Gas prices go down and people are actually going out to buy S.U.V's? How can that be. Have they already forgotten this summers gas prices? Are they such optimists? I want a pair of the rose colored glasses they must be wearing. Where do I get me some? Here is the article:CHEAPER FUEL HELPS GM SALES SURGEBBC November 1, 2006 GM's trucks and SUVs are...

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Hello, can you hear me?

Alright. Though the Verizon truck was standing in front of the door and two big fellows were working on the cables in the backyard, my internet service was slow as molasses. So that you don't think that I am exaggerating, the picture above was taken from my backyard window. I ask you: does this seem like state of the art equipment? How does America hope to get Iraq up to speed if a U.S. telephone company can not even provide New Yorkers with...

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Mister, can you spare a Euro?

In case you have not tried changing Dollars into Euros lately, I can tell you that I feel like a poor country bumkin when I travel to Europe. My dollars are not worth much anymore. I don't even try to convert prices in my head anymore. It just would make me dizzy. But why would Americans care about the slide of their currency if they don't travel abroad? Because the dollar is still the world's reserve currency. It's slide could possibly mean...

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