Dear You,
today was the first time this year that I used the sun-roller blind of my large balcony. I think they put it up in the year the house was built - it gives me a certain 60s-feeling.
We had 21° degree Celsius, and sun. In the morning I was very active: made a chocolate pudding for the triplets, my daughter-in-law and me - Thursday is the day I cook for all of us, and I had prepared Ratatouille and fillet of pork and noodles, and because pots and pans were heavy, I drove them up the hill to them, though we are only one road apart.
Before I went to the fitness center - so, this morning I had a lot to do. Surprise: the chocolate pudding was devoured in no time - the main meal was appreciated, but not that rapidly eaten.
Yesterday I spent the afternoon in Erlangen at the university - each Wednesday I am a guest student (you see a lot of silver hair :-) and it was really interesting: a young professor talked about the psychology of perception, and I learned something (which I wouldn't have believed if you had told me, but I experienced it and thus my believe in being a very good observer was a bit shaken. I fulfilled the task 100% (ha!- so I AM a very good observer) - yet they had smuggled something else into the little video which normally would never have been overlooked - we did because we concentrated so hard on the task.(And Yours Truly felt a bit cheated - I mean: if you ask me to give you apples and then say: "Haha, but you haven't given me a banana!" I would look at you a bit petulant...)
But it made me think of witnesses and universal truth, of my own belief in being right (of course...), and perception in general. And of the highly delightful pearl of wisdom which (sometimes!) comes with age: sometimes (to be honest: only sometimes, but I hope it will grow with even more years in front of me) I am so wise to choose happiness instead of being right.
Well, the uni-lecture was refreshing.
The fine thing is that after two hours of intellectual nourishment those who wanted (about 30 of 120) went to a very nice café, and there we laughed a lot discussed on a high intellectual level.
Yours Truly, Britta
I know you wanted to discuss intellectual growth, but sitting in the sunshine under a blind and looking at a beautiful view sounds perfect. 21c isn't enough, but your summer is on its way :)
ReplyDeleteDear Helen, yes, all that beauty is appreciated!
DeleteOn the balcony (facing east-south-south-west) it becomes quite hot - the sun pricks more, and I used the awning to be able to read in a not so glaring light.
21° Celsius is fine with me - one can still walk long distances without melting away :-)
It's nice to know so many are keeping their minds busy.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Emma - I am always pleased if that happens in an entertaining way.
DeleteMy first house, purchased in the '60's, had the same sort of awning and made our deck completely useable.
ReplyDeleteI would have enjoyed that young professor's talk!
So my feeling about the design is right (it could be early Seventies too - when the dominating colours were orange, beige and brown).
DeleteYes, the use of the large balcony facing south is more complicated than I thought before: my many plants are not always amused and need more water than a more moderate direction would demand.
I am sure you would have liked that lecture, Joanne! It was the second in this summer term - every week another professor from another discipline reads (I am interested how much I will be fascinated by the subject "nano technology" :-).
Of course the pudding vanished in a trice, dear Britta, and not just for the appreciation of it being made by your own fair hand, I suspect, hahah!
ReplyDeleteYour lecture programme is such a terrific idea and how marvellous that this university offers it. If I was joining you at the après-lecture coffee, I would chime in to say that I fall more on the happy than right side of the perception equation (most of the time I should add, for although I do admit to taking delight in being Right - what woman doesn't?! - I freely admit to not always being the most observant person). It's not worth me dying on a bridge over something because I know that, deep down, unless I'm really interested in something or have been asked to pay close attention, I'm your classic unreliable witness!
Dear Pip, yes, the lecture programme is a good offer - all German universities do that (you have to matriculate and pay), for me it is different from the time before the corona pandemic when I was a "real" student of Dutch studies at the Freie Universität Berlin, where I beside studying made some friends, who (surprise!) are all a few decades younger than I.
DeleteThere, as a real student, I had (and did) exams - now as a guest we are totally without obligations - and the topics vary very much - from psychology to nano technology and so on.
Just a morsel to find out if you maybe want to deepen it - in another semester.
Yes, to be happy instead of being right - I learned that over time (hope to find a few pals who confirm that :-) - nowadays (most often) I do not insist on being right but choose the British answer variety: "How very interesting".
Let's go to the topic of observation. Observation and self-perception often do not correspond. When I read that you are "not always being the most observant person" I assume that this perhaps may concern things that are not interesting in your eyes (as nano technology for me - it is not the number one topic on my bucket list of interests) - because when I read your posts I see a very, very good observer.
("Am I right?" :-)
"Well, well ..." is another useful soothing & noncommital murmur.
DeleteYou are correct that the uninteresting for me corresponds with downright blindness sometimes. Even after 25 years, I cannot recognise the cars of my neighbours, cars being so far down on my list of fascinations, but can I recognise their jewellery and handbags? Why yes, at 20 paces, hahah! In spite of my blindness to all manner of stuffs, Mr P is often startled by my close observation of things that pique and declares I'd have made a good spy. Although, any dossier I could compile on a target would be an exercise in speculative fiction when it came to their getaway car :)
Yes, things we are interested in and things we are not interested in - why and when do we decide that?
DeleteAnd: can we changer decision?
Can I deliberately (and suddenly) glow for "Science fiction"? Or cars? (Cars I look longingly at - I take pictures of old cars or beautiful ones)
Close observation - final deduction- but then: the getaway car - at this time of my life I learn to take any vehicle that stands around - not disdainfully refuse the ridiculous "Messerschmitt Kabinenroller" (please google it!) and wait for the Aston Martin DB5 instead. Accepting what life gives me, "at least", and yet not forget about the dream car, try to get it if possible ...
These are interesting thoughts re: perception Britta. My own experience of sitting in a Magistrates Court and hearing different witnesses revealed just how many different views could be expressed concerning the same incident.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Rosemary! I can imagine what you experience in a Magistrate Court -(were you chosen as a lay judge?).
DeleteI would think it very difficult to judge, because perception really can be different without the intention of lying. My son is a prosecutor and my DiL is a judge - I am pretty sure that this would not be a job for me (at school all of us girls - though not the boys! - wanted to become teacher - I made a work experience of 4 weeks and found out that my heart would bleed every time when I would have to grade the work of little ones who present you their heart-felt work (I am not speaking of teenager, but the younger ones) - and then I should say: "You get a D!" - oh no, I changed my job aim and studies.
I was a magistrate Britta.
ReplyDeleteI am highly impressed! Then you know exactly how perception of people differ.
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