A Porch Is A Room, Too?

 

A last greeting from the super-duper-porch in Madeley, cabin 101... for... Nicole´s SITAR

 

 

This lille sketch is from Wendy Bink´s  calendar 2026 I got at the Freo Markets.

Sketched with the super oil pastels from Red Dot. Well, at that stage from a pencil, the  pastels followed:

 

 

Sibling#2 is peeking already! #3... oh, wait... wait... 

Wendy´s art sure spoke to me already in 1999 when I nearly killed her super-star!

Nearly!!! Looong before I was introduced to her by Grace in 2013 (I´ll show you soon!)!

 

1999, somewhere in the Australian Bush. I was driving our wonderful Nissan Patrol LWB.

 

 Pic taken in Perth  - usually "he" (to Germans cars are male (protectors))...he looked rather like this:

 

 Ingo gave him the name "Baby"...

 

Well, I was driving in the bush, gravel road and really: bush. 

Suddenly Papa-Emu ran through, followed by two chicks!!! 

 

Two???

 

Usually Mommy lays three eggs and Papa takes care then ...

 

OK. I stopped the car and waited. 

Nothing.

Nothing.

Hmmm... like my lille Brother? Looking at every plant and being slow?

I turned the motor off and waited.

Nothing.

 

OK.

A snake? 

A car?

Sooooo sad, poor Papa.

 

Started Baby.

 

And...

The Wee one looked at "me", fell on his butt, red dust all over!!!!

 

Emus cannot fly, they run and up he was - running to Daddy!!!

 

I kept him (or her):

 

 "Baby"  was 6ZY 416.

 

1995 we memorized our number plate´s green car in German. Dumb idea.

Those math-guys amongst us know, language and numbers are on different parts of the brain so Baby went in language (six-zet-why - four-sixteen).

 

So, yes. 

I have Baby 3 (and 1) on my arm.

 

Henry´s alter ego, the Black Swan 

 

 "I take care!" - Oh, Papa waited for #3, too!

 

Papa, btw..

 

 ... in the middle, dancing with Mom on their silver wedding.

He´d turn 88 today. If cancer hadn´t taken him away in 2002... and... isn´t that art , too?

 

I will not drive all the way to Seesen to visit the grave 4 times a year, I have my family in the living room and kitchen pictured when they were happy and healthy. 

 

To Dad:

 

 

 

"Turne bis zur Urne"!!!!

 

 

 

T STands For Pizza

... which is my ticket to Elizabeth´s T. Wine with bread??? Just read on....

The journal:

 

Monday: Weee... "serenade" by Bro and Nieces via What´sApp, T via What´sApp and then teeth cleaning by hand. Doc came in. "My fav patient", she grinned and was done in: under one minute!!! All good! Under.one.minute! Birthday call from fK, What´sApp  and otherwise a quiet, sunny, cold day.

 

Ordered Truffle-Pizza!! Something went wrong, money came back - I had a "Birthday-bread" instead... see pic above.

 

 

Tuesday: Found all gear for Perth, suitcases smell like cellar but thanks to AI I will hopefully get rid of that.
Parcel for Ingo. I was to sign with my finger on a smartphone. Ummm.  But she was content with it - even if you can never track that back to me! 

Truffle-Pizza!!! Certainly I got an accident-one. But... YUMMY! "The code, please". "There was no code submitted..." - "last two numbers of your phone?".... thinking, thinking.... getting old! I had to get the whole number through my brain.

 

 

Wednesday: When the day starts with, "good morning, my love", then it must become a good day, right? My fav check-out woman. After I got rid of paper/cartons after preparing them, did laundry... Reckon I´m fully recovered. Did banking - additional tax payment that high I could not transfer in one piece! Did employment office stuff, more recycling paper, dishes, suitcase#1 is covered in baking soda - it funnily even has my surname:

 

 

Thursday: HELP!!! I am to give all documents for tax return (I give that away again) till March 02nd. I thought I have more time!!!! Asked back.. "Oh, sorry, I thought you wanted to have it done earlier... we need to have it ready March 2nd 2027"...  Do.Not.Think!

My bank has humor. When  you do nothing for a longer while you do something... "Logout. You have successfully logged out." 

 

 

Friday: Puzzling about. It is stupid but... I hate travel, so much can go wrong. Beaming???

But then... I´d have no job in railway... 

Railway... got my "certificate" for the training. I am "exemplary, constructive, collegial, recognized, competent, valued... active, successful." I Hope that means they take me back, I so hope!!!! Or is this too much sugar and means good-bye?

 

Weekend: Saturday: Bad news:

 

 

Reckon those strawberries are gone. Glad I have some more and hope they made it. First time I see this.

 

Other ... last stuff for holiday bought. I hate traveling. So much can go wrong. I hope when this publishes we have arrived.

 

Weekend: Sunday: Die Maus, the beginning is in German, followed with the same in another language, which is revealed when done. It was...: Austrian! See!!! I DID struggle with the Vienna-team! It counts as foreign language! I so had to laugh! Because by now I understand. ... more or less.

Ingo insisted on going to the Steak House. And there was the CUTEST waiter ever! He looked Italian/French and was in such a GREAT mood! 

Let my tenant know via What´s App I´ll be gone to Perth and if something´s on.... she called me on the dot and we had a nice, long chat. Nice as in.... her Hubby has passed. Oh. She is 77 and still so positive. I need to meet her some time (I inherited the apartment from my Mom).

Munchy: Better late than never and now the little wine Ingo got for Christmas 2024 (!) is finally empty -  I added truffle oil -  I will do this always maybe now?

 

The internet series - I spare you the boring ones...

"These mathematicians changed the world 

 

Isaac Newton (1643–1727)

 

Isaac Newton, one of history's most famous polymaths, discovered calculus. He also developed a method for approximating the roots of a function and classified most cubic curves of the plane."

 

As still written in Braunschweig... 

Henry 🦁

 

 Hope all went well. We´re on the way to Perth. I am offline...

 

 

 

FFO - Fly To Mexico (Or Perth)

Let me start with something serious that was also in TV-news yesterday, they arrived:

Now for some other faces:

Atm I don´t have the nerve to sketch so these are the faces I join Nicole´s FFO with.

Funny side story: My Brother is a little crazy. He really left me alone with Niece when she was 3 years old.

I don´t have kids and hence no experience and didn´t know what to do. She wanted to play.

So we played we fly  to Perth. And when I said it´s a very long, boring flight she put herself to bed and fell asleep. At first she only pretended but then, LOL.

 

And for Gilenna´s Lunch-Break:

 

Now some funnies:

  

 

#loveGoldenGirls

With this, if a tad late:

 

If you´re not into Supernatural: Salt keeps bad away.

The new internet series

"These mathematicians changed the world 

Anaxagoras (500–428 BC)

Anaxagoras was a mathematician and astronomer who was able to explain the exact cause of solar eclipses. He also attempted to explain rainbows and meteors."

Henry 🦁 

 

 Have a funny Friday!

 

 

 

Sparrow In Ice

 

 This of course is for...

 

 

 

Eileen.

Let us always be friendly and thinking ahead and help.

Tomorrow I have a recap of that of 2025. 

  

The internet series: 

 

"Habits of the 1960s that would be unthinkable today 

 

 Telephones

 

 In the early 1960s, rotary dial telephones became increasingly unpopular, while tone dial telephones became increasingly popular."

 

Here is ...

 

Big Niece, being 3 back then saw this and knew what it was!

I called China at age 2 cause Dad showed me how to use it and left me alone.

Was an expensive experience. Did he learn? No. Taught me how to drive our BMW at age 14. go figure... Do I miss him.

 

 

That was fun in the early 70´s in Germany, dress up and act (up) - as many an animal is allowed to do today.

 

Counts as... ok, no, here is Henry 🦁 

 

 You gotta love 'em...

 

And right now...

 

 

King Frog is surprisingly still happy! And I forgot the BBQ-coal outside - aw, well, let´s...
 

 

24 Days Of Christmas Food Around The World

 

 As the Christmas Market is open till December 29th I am not too late to make you hungry with this! 

And in case you did not know: Kapers are NOT animals (I thought so for a very long time and sorted them out - they are yummy). Germany: Green kale it is - not that sweet stuff! Yikes ... India is my fav - you?

 

Here you see my Mom.. what can I say. Her (second-) fav boy, Ingo. She made kale... before Christmas, because that we spent in... yah, guess... Perth. It´s a pattern, kinda, huh.

 

 If you like, post here.

 

Addendum - the pic above shows my Mom, I look like this (as Ingo says, awful, frozen, the moment a cam gets up, sorry about that - I gave my "best" to look friendly - and yes, it says "run!!!" - but, as Ingo also used to say - and maybe it saved my job: "show your face!" I worked at ESE a couple of times, bosses saw me... when working for Alstom Salzgitter I worked 100% from home and hence no one knew me... I don´t want to be a ghost to you...):

 

 

 And I join Gilenna´s Sunday Smiles with it, too. 

 Henry 🦁

 

 

Dad made me join Bro when I was living in Hildesheim already, I was in my 20´s and yet... we had to wait in Bro´s room upstairs till Dad rang the bell and only then we were "allowed" to join Mom and Dad - Santa had left the place after leaving pressies...

 

Santa, btw... US military lets you know where he is when here. 

Cause in 1955 a little girl called... oh, bet in the United States you know the story of Colonel Shoup and "Big Red One" - soooo sweet.  Santa´s sleigh is faster than the F-15-jets!

 

How I know? Ingo got this and lets me read first:

 

 "Chasing after Santa Claus with quantum physics" by Metin Tolan.

 

 Or is he?

 

Hey!!! I am here standing right in front of you! 

 

It's A Wonderful Life

My Dad insisted we watch this every 25th. (Miss you!)

 Angel Second Class - and every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings!

To Dad. Long gone. As anyone, it seems. 

No one is perfect, no one. And some years are hard. 

 

This was a hard year to me.

  

I was raised to be "the tough one". Is that fair? 

I feel like I need help. Love. 

 

Three attempts to eat yesterday - failed each time - enough fat on my ribs, haha.

 

To our loved ones. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

United? United!!

 

 

My friend fK sent me this from a visit home.

Zoni-Henry looks a bit grumpy and I cannot give an artist.

 

Many call former "DDR"-people "Ossis", I grew up quite near the "border" and there was a "zone" you could enter but didn´t want to! 

Ingo went through there a couple of times, having had family, and meep... I could tell stories.

 

I went through once and .. never again!

 

We called them "Zonies"... when the border, the wall fell... mixed feelings, it was too fast.

 

But I have friends I love by heart from there!

 

As said fK says, "there are friends for a reason, friends for a season and friends for a lifetime". 

Two  T´s I lost contact to, sadly.

 

With this Henry 🦁 and I join Sami´s Monday Murals. 

 

 My Nieces already have "one Germany" -  we are united now, yipeeee! (are we?)

 

The internet series: 

 

"Our everyday objects and their unusual origin stories

 

 

Clocks

 

 Today we often have more than one clock in our homes, but before their invention and before they were widespread and could be used as alarm clocks, clockless workers paid so-called "wake-up men" a small fee to knock on the windows in the morning."

 

Recon more to come! 

My Dad, amongst other, was a watch-maker and the ticking in our living room drives fK nuts.

So we usually sit in the kitchen with atomic clocks - no noise and the time made by "us", by the PTB in Braunschweig! For all in Europe! (I am a bit proud living in this City of Science)

 

As kid I hated the noise of ticking clocks, now... I miss my Dad so much I have clocks everywhere. 

When not on teams tick-tick-tick is all I have, and I am happy with that! 

 

Have a happy new week!