It´s Cold? So What

There are people and there are people. And then there are their dogs.

I hate the cold, it´s bearable when you move, but sitting down for a cuppa?
No way!

Is it true that "owners" with time take after their dogs, is it the other way round or do they just make a mix?
These three act as if it was warm, kinda...

Warm, well, my doc is on my side, let´s see what kind of solution we find for Perth.
Thanks everybody for the well-wishes.
Aaand she said if I can´t cope I can get a hearing aid, the swooshing will stay the same, won´t get louder :-)

Yesterday!!
I called the free service line for my tax-program. Twice!
Both... guess:
Super nice and helpful! And funny even, both!
The second one, a man, giggled and wished me "fun" with the rest - haha, dude! ;-)

So refreshing!
Maybe they get good money for their job after all!

Lion of the day - relaxing in the cold winter sun?
We seem to have skipped autumn.
From HOT summer to COLD winter, bleh!

Wish Me Luck (In The Cold)

On my way to Packstation I saw this beautiful (if unpractical) bike.
The color, so 50´s, right?

But in this weather I don´t hop on a bike anymore, just have a look:

I won´t risk to hurt my eyes (I really do not need anything bad health-wise on top, do I ;-)...).

Nice thing about this time of the year:

When I sit at my PC/TV I just need to look to the left to find this nice sight, night and morning, too.
Every year - my lille guiding star :-)

Soon off to my "real" doc.
By golly - I do hope she helps and finds a solution how I can come to Perth without getting accused of "cheating" on my insurance company!
But I do believe that Perth will help me health wise - a lot!

I mean... the weather, the new things to explore (I bet there is heaps and heaps since last time - like there always is) and last not least:
Meeting our wonderful blogger-/FB-friends!
All this is mental medicine for me - a classical reha they would pay for and that would not help me at all.

Just the pure thought I´m somewhere far away whilst Ingo is at home alone and gets a medical problem.
I´d be on inner alarm all night every night.

So: Wish me luck!

Lion of the day. Stays cozy warm... well. Stays warm, it´s not really cozy here with the cellar underneath...
Somehow we went from summer straight to winter, it seems! It´s ccccold!

(Not So) Clever Or When Doctors Make You Sick

Three men, two young working partners and their leader, stand around a barrel with a warming fire.

The leader asks: "There is a fire in the house, you can get out one person only, who will that be?"
After thinking it over the first answers that since he has a family he safes his young son.
And the second then says, he thinks of the place where he grew up, an orphanage. He goes by himself.
The leader: "I see a fire on top of a candle. I stick the candle in my son´s birthday cake, watch him how he blows it out and make a wish, take his hand and lead him into the other room where all his pressies are."

Well, without the last answer.. would you´ve had that wonderful approach?
Me, not, but I hope to keep this in mind!
Cause who knows, one day I might have another job-interview and get such a trick-question.

Not too soon, though.
After the desaster with citralopram, that cost me 8 wonderful summer months the blast trauma followed.
The first ear-specialist wanted to subscribe cortisone.
I told him that once I got eye-drops with this medication and the first layer of my conjunctiva "dissolved".
He subscibed me gingko. 4 weeks went by, nothing.
His colleague (I wanted to the first one, but, alas!), thought it is a difference if you put cortisone as fluid in your eye or swallow tablets.

I got tired, lost heaps of hair, my face swoll to the size of a football - cortisone does not work for me, I knew it.
So, 7 weeks later my ear is still swooshing, I can not hear from which direction a sound comes etc.

I am sick and tired of doctors who do not believe me!

I am so unfit, I gained weight, it´s depressing, really.

Before I was so fit as never in my life before...

Yesterday I went to see them again.
Two more tests - now I not only have a "really small head", no, they had to use kids´ equipment for my ear canal, well, I see it with humor - better this than being Dumbo!. Plus I am "real tough", I was told :-).
Result: I have to go to the clinic, maybe they can help - what a "passage"!

But, crazy: My health insurance called to see how I am doing. After I told they wished me to get well soon and "we call you in January then again".
At least with them I am lucky - my therapist knows different behaviour from other insurances.

Well, I couldn´t resist:

What do you think about the Mars-mission?

Lion of the day: (I have to) FIGHT!

Kaput

Can you relate?
You wanna make fried eggs. You´re super careful and... BOOM... the egg yolk breaks.

You wanna make scrambled eggs and are SO.NOT.CAREFUL. ... see pic above.
It was a test. I was really "brutal"!
Several times, too!

Same with life, health-wise.

The sh##t you´re taught the first 17 years of your life... I have to get rid of that NOW.
I need to learn to say NO to a doctor!
But, really, what is with those eggs?!

Food, btw... the kale-salad rather was not a hit...

Lion of the day. Looks vulnerable like a raw egg, kinda, no?

Rrroar

Lion found in Quarter Magni, artist unknown.

Taking part again in Sami´s COLOURFULWORLD Monday Murals.

Grey, Grey, Grey

Though the weather wasn´t really inviting with only 1C we went to the market yesterday.

Just the other day I saw a receipe for kale - as salad.
And when Ingo told the market-woman what I wanna do with it she got all excited and exclaimed, it´s sooo yummy!
Well, I look forward trying (as usual... Ingo cannot have it).

It was fun. The man behind me in the queue suddenly started chatting away with us :-)
Well, the market-men and -women sure were busy - luckily, in that cold!

Just the right weather it was to remember (one of) the best musician(s) ever.
I wonder what kind of great music and musical styles he would´ve given us if he was still here.

He sure had a burden to carry... this is to be found at the cathedral.

Lion of the day.

Nightmare Before Christmas

Oh, boy, will we have Christmas this year at all?!

Well, I guess Jack and Santa agreed on everyone having his very same ole festival each year after all cause... just have a look what I found at Weißes Ross:

Maybe Jack now looks for Easter?

Lion of the day.

And The Biggest

(In Germany).

Victoria came to "our" Botanical Garden in 1957, she has her own house even.

She can carry up to 35kg, too! And is the biggest plant to be seen in Germany.

She opens her blossom on only two nights per year in July/August, our water lily (and cause I´m not that big and people didn´t let me through I gave up trying to see that...).

The book says the first night it´s of white, the next of pink color, so she attracts different types of insects, clever "girl", huh.

There are rows of Braunschweig people with their kids to get a pic taken with the (more or less) wee ones in there - too much, too hot, too moist for me!

Did you know... the seeds can survive up to ten years!
Every February up to five "Victorias" make a run for the summer attraction of two nights!

"She" has a new house now.
Thanks to... I kid you not! ... the biggest university fund-raising campaign (the book leaves it like that. Not "of Braunschweig", not "of Germany").
€ 530.000 were given by citizens, the uni itself added € 240.000 (what the heck is so darn expensive with this????)

In May this year she took her first bath in the new place.
OK, she moved in, right.

Why ever this was a "dark story" I have no idea!

(Source)

Lions of the day.
Verkehrswacht makes sure parents know how to teach their kids how to be safe in traffic, offer booster-seats etc.

Those Were The Times

Saw this car the other day.

Well, I really have no idea what the future might bring if Turkey stays on the way they are walking.

Or what will happen here, for that matter (we do have a huge Turkish community in Germany).
Or how it happened his work has been destroyed...
I´ve never been there - and I will not go, but Ingo´s parents were there when women were allowed to wear modern clothes and show their hair. And they loved the friendly people, despite they did not speak the language they understood each other.

Now? Not even here anymore - partially!!!
There certainly are many, many people who do integrate.
But also too many who do not.

This car just showed me that many would love to go back but not under the conditions you find there now.
How sad this must be!
Enough of politics, I have no proper clue anyways.

But have a short read here: "He made primary education free and compulsory, opening thousands of new schools all over the country. He also introduced the Latin-based Turkish alphabet, replacing the old Ottoman Turkish alphabet. Turkish women received equal civil and political rights during Atatürk's presidency ahead of many Western countries.[2] In particular, women were given voting rights in local elections by Act no. 1580 on 3 April 1930 and a few years later, in 1934, full universal suffrage, earlier than most other countries in the world." (Wiki ).
And now they are back in the Middle Ages...

Merry

Pics from last Saturday.
Dunno, when I was a kid... Does it start earlier every year?
I say it again: How can kids look forward to Christmas when all the stuff starts so early?

Even the tree in front of the "castle" is up already!

Don´t worry, it was but a joke!

But, to be honest... once the lights are up this time of the year is much better to bare.

And, ohhh, just saw a docu... I wish I was from Switzerland - there you get Cheebab - a Doner Kebab with grilled cheese, Grüezi!
Wouldn´t that be just perfect for the Christmas Market (or some restautants :-)...)

Lion of the day.
Are your christmas trees and deco in your place up already, too?

All Good In The End

Well, did I have a great idea... not.
Here you see one happy Ingo looking forward to a yummy soup and the money you pay helps kids.
Brilliant.

Ingo was all brave and choose lamb, I was more traditional and went for the good ole lentil soup.

Well, what can I say?

Even I could´ve done a better job!
The lamb was fat only, brrr...
So we shared mine and had bread from the stand cause these days...

I don´t exactly expect something poisonous in there on such an "event", but you never know!
Play safe, right? Or am I too careful?

Well. Unyummy soup cries for...?

We wanted to visit the nice lady again anyways :-)

I love that you can have a lille piece and even say no - or she says no! One cheese was "too fresh", we can have a taste next time.

We have a new drug, it seems ;-)
So maybe next time we "roll" around ;-)

Lion of the day. Well, the soup was for a good purpose and they had not only so much faith to have that bread on the table, but they had real spoons, too - and everybody gave them back, also.
At one Grill´d they stopped having the knives on the table cause people stole them... how sad is that.

Next soup: made by Ingo (just to be on the yum-side for sure).

Cheers

This was Varadero, Cuba, 2010.

We met some very nice Canadians there and sure had a lot of fun at that table :-)

A mural can be on a table, right?

Taking part again in Sami´s COLOURFULWORLD Monday Murals.

I Never Knew

Found at the museum Pockelstrasse, this one is new.

Just a quick hello from here and no lion... cause lions and dinosaurs...

(hehe)