Snippet: "Serve Yourself Well"

 

In the book "365 Health And Happiness Boosters" by M.J.Ryan she asks: 

"Have you ever had truly gracious service from a waiter? (...) What if you treated yourself just as well right now? What if you gently required if there was anything you needed and then quickly went off to get whatever was required?"

Well, I had this service for three splendid days in the Park Hotel in Bremen. 

Such a lovely stay - they even served 3 days full of sunshine, which is VERY unusual for my dear northern home city Bremen. 

I felt pampered and really happy. 

And when coming back into pastorale Bavaria having a lot of digital trouble with the Bundesbahn (German railway) and I went so nuts that for a moment I couldn't remember my password for my email-account (I use it every day!), I suddenly thought of Mrs Ryans' question and asked myself what would help me in this (mini) crisis at once? 

Instantly I got the answer: "A nice cuppa tea - and please: not the usual elegant Darjeeling but a strong brick-red English tea with lumps of sugar and milk in it - as served in the novels of Barbara Pym for women under shock!" 

My normal tea is Darjeeling without milk and sugar, because I read in a health report that it is far more healthier to drink it that way - milk seems to disturb valuable health qualities. But now I thought: "Who cares! I need something very strong and very uplifting now!" 

And it did work. 

What do you think of this self-serving rule? Do you treat yourself well - as well as you would treat a friend? Do you? 

Britta Tried and Tested: How to Avoid Dehydration

 

Well, maybe you think: "Ah, that old chestnut!" 

Because we all know that we shall drink more water, that this is very beneficial for our health - and yet, the older one gets, the easier one forgets it. 

Well - me at least. I never drank much, and I am a non-believer in those huge amounts some doctors or health-gurus propose. 

I believe in the Japanese sight of things: drink water in moderation, listen to your body, when thirsty: then drink water. First. Or: with something else. 

But sometimes I just am lazy. Or forget it and do something else instead. 

Now my (simple) trick: I put a reminder,  "a fountain of water" on the kitchen table -  a glass pitcher and a tiny (!) glass always remind me to drink something (and the glass shows me if I did). 

It helps. Me, at least. 

Query: Do you drink enough? What do you do to reach standard recommendation? Do you feel an effect when you drink enough water? 

Orchids on Your Budget

 

Three years ago Michou, a friend of mine, gave me a tip for the right caring for orchids. It is simple: put them once a week for 10 minutes into a bucket full of water (and give them fertiliser as recommended) - and they will thrive. 

At least mine do - two in the Bavarian kitchen (window facing North) are flowering a second time this year, and that very vigorous on the photo above, a present from the Flying Dutchman, is doing that too abundantly in my East facing study. 

Do you remember the sleuth Nero Wolfe, a private detective created by Rex Stout (first appearance in 1933), all his adventures are told by his cheeky Assistant Archie Goodwin? When Wolfe had to think he went up (with an elevator because he was incredibly fat) into the large attic and spritzed a mist of water over his huge collection of orchids. They were very valuable. 

Since years orchids (at least the phalaenopsis) now have become very cheap. 

In Hildesheim where I lived for 20 years in my Art Deco house (still mine) on a half island I always visited with joy one of the oldest orchid nurseries of the world, Hennis Orchideen (since 1891, which always was a treat (now they also sell online too).  

In 1937 a little book was published: 

Orchids On Your Budget  

Or live Smartly on What You Have 

( by Marjorie Hills, a Virago Classic now). 

This book is full of wisdom how to economise and still have fun. Valuable tips as: Don't economise on butter, that will make feel you miserable - cut costs where it really saves money, such as moving from the place you live in now to a smaller one or a less posh neighbourhood or a smaller town). 

I love "Live Alone And Like It", the first book written by Hills, a Vogue journalist, and published in 1936, even more: 

"Whether you view your one-woman ménage as Doom or Adventure, you need a plan, if you are going to make the best of it."  

Both books elevate your spirits, make you laugh, but are deep down full of wisdom and can be given as a present to married woman also  :-) 

As orchids. 

Britta Tried and Tested: How to Feel Bright after a Nap

 

Yes, I want to try something new. A Wednesday special. With tips I discovered (through reading or by friends) that really work. For me, that is. So I want to share them with you. And I am highly interested what you think of them - if you agree or not, if it helped you too - or if you have another tip for the same situation. 

Here the first one (which I tried since half a year): 

If you take a nap and wake after half an hour (the experts recommend not more than 30 minutes, so I set the alarm button on my cellphone) I sometimes came back to earth feeling a bit grumpy. 

Then I read: Drink a small espresso before taking your nap. The caffeine needs about 30 minutes to get your body into motion. Hurrah - I feel as fresh as a daisy after that! 

 

Sheer Willpower

 

There are some days I feel like that flat tyre on the photo above. 

I took it today, when I walked down the hill (notice the double meaning, haha) and saw that a rural neighbour, lets call him Onslow, had put a lot of ancient farming rubbish a few metres further from the spot he put it on last year.                                                   

"Picturesque", I mumbled - but then I am only a romantic city-plant... 

I have been in Berlin for a wonderful week - though this time very much engaged to cultivate my friendships rather than hurrying from one cultural event to another. 

No, we hurried from one restaurant to another - and if you fear now that Yours Truly might have become fat more portly (I saw that the publishers of Roald Dahl picked out anything that might aggrieve somebody - and am still discussing what I think about that within myself) by so many meals, I can reassure you: NO WAY! 

 This (nothing eaten till after taking the foto) is the meal that our famous vegetarian Chinese served me - not Business Lunch (which is always cheaper) but a regular serving at a quite horrendous price. 

New was: only two-third of the normal portion (ah, the price of gas!). 

New was: "We have to charge 2 Euro extra, if you want rice to your meal." 

New was: I - and that is really new, because I am a person of small portions - I was still hungry when I had finished the mix of onions & paprika & a few chilis (which I did not eat), a few nuts and a minimalist copy of two vegetarian chicken-chunks. 

I translated a huge English cookbook for a German publisher and I can cook and I can do arithmetics and know the price of these few ingredients, and how long you have to stir them in the wok (can't be the price of gas, noway!). Chop, chop - that's what I will do with that restaurant... 

As to the flat tyre above: you know that normally I am quite active. 

But after a few days of sunshine and hope and Lebenslust it became very cold again, look at this gloomy landscape today: 

                                           

But I went out for a long walk - whether I wanted or not. (I didn't, but my internal Slavedriver painted pictures of decline and immobility). 

That gets me going. Always. On Autopilot. 

 

Snippet: The 2-Minute- Rule

 

I love helpful tips that enlighten my life. Or to express it one size smaller: bring a sort of "aha"-moment. Tips that are easy to follow - and work. 

For me "The 2-minute-rule" really does that. (Of course I sometimes forget it). 

It just says: "If a thing you have to do will take no more than two minutes - do it now!"

Interesting how much one can do in two minutes! Interesting that one's brain is so much lighter if one follows that rule! Just thinking about what you still have to do consumes so much energy - and takes much longer than two minutes. 

Seldom two minutes are not available to put the cleaner back into its place (looks so much more orderly), rinse out the used pan immediately (nice if it doesn't greet you first thing in the morning) or soak your oats in the evening for your morning porridge. 

"A stitch in time saves nine" as my Grandma used to say. 

  

A Short Visit to Potsdam

When you are in Berlin, it is easy to visit Potsdam, the Hauptstadt of Brandenburg. Now it is a beautiful little town (184.154 inhabitants) - I write "now" because I have seen it before the turnaround/Wende - the beautiful old buildings were derelict and decayed, grey, and very depressing. 

Now they almost overdid the renovation - so very colourful and sweetly pretty that you might think you are in a charming scenery of a theatre.

 

For me the most outstanding parts are the Castle Sanssouci of Frederic the Great, and his oh so wonderful park Sanssouci. I would go from Berlin on foot if it were the only chance to see it - but no: you can comfortably use the S-Bahn and be at the main station after a cheap, nice ride of 29 minutes. 

Other views: 

Red brick houses in the Dutch quarter - King Frederic welcomed many Huguenots. Another time I will show photos of the castle, park and town - this time we were there for the beautiful museum Barberini: 

We wanted to visit the exhibition "Surrealism und Magie. Verzauberte Moderne" (Surrealism and Magic. Betwitched Modern Era").  

I have to confess that we were neither bewitched nor enchanted nor spellbound. I quarrelled with myself, scolded me that maybe an impostor  of dear Emmeline Lucas (Queen Lucia by E.F.Benson) had crept into myself...

"... while she herself, oblivious of the passage of time, was spending her last half-hour in contemplation of the Italian masterpieces at the National Gallery, or the Greek bronzes at the British Museum. Certainly she would not be at the Royal Academy, for the culture of Riseholme, led by herself, rejected as valueless all artistic efforts later than the death of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and a great deal of what went before."

No, I do love modern art and know that art doesn't have to be beautiful -  but these pictures were mostly really bad, second or even third rate, often Kitsch. 

Only some Yves Tanguys were accepted.   

  

But we were very happy that there was the other exhibition in the same museum: 

"Impressionism. Masterpieces of the collection Hasso Plattner" 

                              Beautiful pictures of winter.

The following one is from Alfred Sisley, "Snow Effect in Louveciennes" 1874 , from his participation in the First Impressionist Exhibition in Paris, which I loved so much: