For many, Advent is the most exciting time of the year. Even though I find that a lot of my American friends are not aware that the four weeks before Christmas are called that, and that “advent” is Latin for “He [as in our Savior] comes”. But a lot of them have discovered advent calendars […]
Across the Fence
Across the Fence: A Rapid Hike
Though my husband is a veteran, Veteran’s Day never finds him dashing off to get one of the countless freebies offered by so many appreciative businesses. An Air Force retiree, but still working, he is one of those lucky people to have Veteran’s Day off – which always calls for a special activity, just the […]
Across the Fence: A Musical Mission
The other day, I was invited to a Zoom house party by my friend, renowned TV and radio show host, author, and humorist Dorothy Wilhelm. It was there that I first met another Washington State icon who immediately impressed me, musician Linda Allen. She presented a video that made me even more curious about her […]
Across the Fence: Fruits of Fall
The skies have turned a different hue of blue a while ago. The first leaves started turning this year in August already. Starbucks and Co. have welcomed back customers for their pumpkin spice lattes. But fall, for me, somehow only begins when I see the first pumpkins paraded outside grocery stores. And everybody who knows […]
Across the Fence: Mail
Last weekend was a 3-day-one for federal employees. Because Monday was a bank holiday. Yet it seems that this doesn’t go for everybody employed by the United States Postal Service (USPS). I saw several USPS vehicles in different parts of the region on Sunday. And my heart went out to their drivers because here I […]
Across the Fence: Desert
What comes to your mind when you think “desert”? And no, American cheesecake, which I wrote about last week, is a dessert with a double “s”, stressed on the second syllable. Is it a specific place? Or a geographical concept? An experience of your own, maybe? My go-to online look-up place, Wikipedia, gives a pretty […]
Bacon’s Double Take – Sky
You may have realized that my other half of the Double Touble, cherished columnist and friend Joe Boyle, and I decided on a short summer break recently, but now we are back with more takes on shared topics, which we call Double Take. Joe actually inspired us both with some photos of skies shortly after […]
Across the Fence: American Cheesecake
Recently, a Facebook friend of mine posted a marvelous photo of a slice of cheesecake that literally made me drool. Me, who is known not to be into sweet things really! So, I asked her for the recipe. Only to be utterly surprised. But I’ll return to this later. You wouldn’t believe how old the […]
Across the Fence: A German Voice in America
The first time I heard about The German Radio in San Francisco was about a year ago. The radio station was looking for German immigrant stories, and my Californian Facebook-friend Karen told them about me. The connection was made, and a few days later I had radio host Pamela Lenz Sommer on the phone. As […]