How I outwit myself in Lockdown-times (my resolution no.3)

 
Dear You, 

you wrote that you fear to become a couch potato in these lockdown times, and I can understand that very well. But...

photo by Britta Hügel 

To stay fit you have to eat well. 

I eat each day what Gaylord Hauser called so appropriately "Sunshine Salad". 

I am a big fan of late Mr. Hauser (though "big" might not be the right word 😀) - but also a bit lazy: To cut all these carrots, peppers, courgettes, cucumbers, radishes and "all you can eat"! is Zen, meditative - but also a bit of a nuisance, sometimes. 

"Sometimes" begins around lunchtime. 

So here my lockdown rule number 3: 

I do that in the morning, right after breakfast - because I know myself pretty well:  around lunchtime a mysterious lethargy sets in - I just don't do it! 

So I have to outwit myself. 

I take the marvellous glas bowl (you see: it has a lid!), cut all the vegetables into pieces, put the lid on, back to the fridge (I know that I will lose some vitamins on that short run - but honestly: who wants to be perfect? And better 2/3 of all those vitamins than none at all!) 

So at lunchtime I only have to pick the salad to pieces, add pumpkin seed and feta cheese, and my homemade salad dressing 

(If you want to try it: 1 Tbsp Balsamico vinegar, 1 Tbsp Maple sirup, 2 Tbsp Olive Oil, a little dollop of Dijon mustard, salt and freshly ground black pepper, and, if you have, some herbs - lovely - it is the maple sirup that does it...)  And always remember: 

"Vinegar like a scrooge, oil like a squanderer"

Add it 

 - 

"et voilà!" 

Stay healthy, dear friend - and look after yourself! 

Yours Truly, 

Britta   XXX 

"If the Weather Permits..." (My Resolution no. 2 in Lockdown-Time)

photo by Britta Hügel 

Dear You, 

thank you for telling me how you overcome Lockdown-blues by cherishing memories of past journeys!  

My second resolution in Lockdown-time is to stay curious. It is so easy to become bored and, as the radius for walks diminishes, think: "Oh, I know it all... blah...."

No, one doesn't know it all. In Zen they recommend: Look at everything with beginner's eyes. Which of course I cannot. But when I take my camera with me, or try to draw something, I look more attentive. 

And if it rains, I just take a beautiful umbrella, and the world looks friendly again. 

And when I'm not sure IF it might rain - I take this tiny one, not heavier than a bar of chocolate, mere 100 gram.  

So: The weather (almost) ever permits. Give yourself a little push - and go out and walk, even if it  is everyday the same route - try to see what changes. 

Hope to meet you outside! 

Yours Truly 

Britta 

 

 

Imaginary travels in lock-down times:

 

Dear You, 

you might remember this curious "map" which hangs on my kitchen-wall. 

I bought it at "Dussmann", the greatest bookshop in Berlin, Friedrichstraße - a boulevard that seems as far away as London in times of an almost complete lockdown in Berlin... 

That map was "only" a gift wrapping paper which I framed - but I love to sit at the table in front of it, studying the drawings which of course are not true to the scale :-)  

and know that I walked through all (yes: all!) those streets on my month-long stays in London. 

I miss it. 

I miss London, I miss England (and Scotland too). 

Green is the colour of hope, we say in Germany - 

so: it has the right colour. 

You asked me how I cope with being so much alone (as most people are these days). 

In the following days I will write what I do to avoid to not become depressed. The order is of no importance - I just like to start somewhere, so here it is: 

1. safe-bet (for me): 

1. Make a bucket list of places you want to see again. 

Look at your photographs, or your diary, or call to mind what you especially loved. Write about your imaginary trip, draw, dream. 

Be thankful that you had the chance to see it at least once. 

And: - I try to learn taking nothing for granted and  

 be grateful! 

What are you dreaming of, dear friend? Which Fata Morgana runs through your head? And what are your best hints?  

Waiting for your answer 

Yours Truly

Britta 

 

In 

Autumn is Beauty

In autumn I always like to draw a little bit - the colours are so tempting...

BUT: the real thing is better :-) 

Abundance ... or  

Zen-like. 

Always a feast for the eyes!  

Surreal Impressions of Berlin

 

Dear You, 

Here I show you some of the photos I took on my very first ride in Berlin. (I never use photoshop). 

Enjoy my little pleasure trip as much as I did! (Or does that sounds like Hyacinth Bucket - eh, Bouquet - with her Waterside Supper with added Riparian Entertainments...?)

Somewhere I read: "Courage is fear that has said its prayer and decided to go forward anyway." 

Yes - it was a victory over myself - but no need to instantly build a victory column! 

 

I took my courage into both hands...

 

Dear You,

"I conquered my weaker self" - (the Germans are are bit more drastic - "I conquered my inner Schweinehund - "swine & dog")

My weaker self did not want to bicycle! You know, I did it (under protest and very wobbly) in the Netherlands. And decided: After so many years of abstinence - why now? Now there is a real risk - especially in Berlin. 

Then I went into my cellar. There it stood: my "new" (because I never used it) Kettler-bike. The proverbial quality of German workmanship. Almost as old as my son, who now became 37. 

The owner of a typical Berlin-Bike-Shop said: 

"Wonderful! Wow! I have fans who would buy it instantly!" 

He is a good guy. He could have talked me easily around buying a new one - I would have believed him. Or at least he could have sold me new tyres. But no: he just checked the bike through. "Everything utterly ok!" 

No wonder that the company Kettler, the manufacturer of this bike, went bankrupt - which reminds me of the movie "The Man in the White Suit" with Alec Guiness. 

But I was so pleased! Bought a bicycle basket and two bike locks from him. You need them in Berlin as I cannot carry the bike over the very steep basement stairs - THAT would be REALLY DANGEROUS! So it stands in the Hinterhof, the backyard. 

And I use it - hurray! (TBC)

Would You Entrust this Mail Box with Your Post Ballot?

  

Dear You, 

I read Joanne's vibrating post about the American election and that she distrusts the post to deliver the post ballot. 

Here in Germany we hear about that distrust a lot, and if I were you I would walk miles to the next polling location to give my vote personally to be sure that it counts. 

But what of the old people, the infirm, or people who have or fear to catch Corona? 

In the Sunday paper "Die Welt am Sonntag" I found an interesting article about the American postal system. 

The United States Postal Service was founded by Benjamin Franklin because the 13 British colonies strived for independence. "The postal system" so the journalist Matthias Heine, "thus was older than the 1776 founded country which it served." 

And, he emphasises, it is the office the contemporary Americans trust most. 

When president Trump and administration chief Louis Joy, who was assigned by Trump,  now remove many, many mailboxes and lay up post sorting machines, Trump's political opponents see that as an attempt to manipulate the election. 

Instead of 33 million Americans who voted 2016 through mail, now - because of Corona, so Heine, it could be the double number of mail voters. 

As literary scholar (and always loving "the little peculiar things") I was amused to read that

 William Faulkner and Charles Bukowski worked in post offices while preparing to become authors. 

Faulkner opened his store only if he wanted, he played cards in the back-room while people waited outside, read the letters of other people and threw away what he thought unimportant. 

Charles Bukowski (you can read that in his novel "Post Office") worked lazily, but stayed 11 years. 

They could not fire him. 

And the journalist Heine ends his article with the words: 

"Trump would find in the novel (= Post Office) a few more good arguments for his distrust of the Postal Service." 

But don't get that journalist wrong: he is not pro-Trump. Some lines before he writes: 

"Trump has manifold insinuated that through post ballot on a massive scale it could come to massive election fraud - against him, of course" (Matthias Heine, tongue in cheek). 

Yours Truly,

Britta