Admittedly, I have mixed feelings about zoos. On the one hand, animals in them are not roaming freely and lose lots of their natural instincts. On the other hand, it’s a way to preserve species and, in bringing them to the people, to have them understood and protected in better ways. I have grown up […]
Across the Fence
Across the Fence: Ice or Iced Coffee?
Ever since I was a teenager and had started to appreciate coffee, the highlight of a hot summer day in Germany came in the shape of a slim glass filled with ice coffee. We call it Eiskaffee (pronounce: ‘ice-kuh-fay) and you can order it at any Café, not just at an Eiscafé (pronounce: ‘ice-kuh-fay). At […]
Across the Fence: Planning a Trip
Do you like traveling? Or would you like to travel but can’t anymore for whatever reason? Or have you never dared to travel because you have never experienced how it’s done and it’s totally out of your comfort zone? As a kid one of my favorite role plays was that of a travel agency. I […]
Across the Fence: Cherries
One of my favorite fruits are Morellos, a very tart cherry species that are used in compotes, in red wine gravies, for juices, and in Black Forest cakes. In my childhood, the arrival of tart, dark cherries marked the arrival of summer. Sitting in the top branches of a cherry tree with a book, while […]
Across the Fence: The real remote deal
The sun doesn’t have to be out, and it doesn’t even have to be really warm; the only prerequisite is calm air. That’s when my husband packs one of his planes into the trunk of the car and drives out to a venue for other model airplane aficionados, an airfield somewhere in the very scenic […]
Across the Fence: Building Character
The other day, while I was just finishing my first lap of power walking around Waughop Lake, I was chatted up by a gentleman who I had encountered about ten minutes earlier. After another lap in lively discussion, I came away with some huge inspiration and signed copies of three mind-blowing books. The gentleman I […]
Across the Fence: Tiny Sound Islands
When it’s getting warmer, my husband and I sometimes set out in our little boat to explore. And what’s better to explore than places you usually cannot reach on foot or by car?! Because they are so very small and out of the way. Our South Puget Sound tiny islands. One of these islands you […]
Across the Fence: Creation of Many a Nation
Strawberries marked the beginning of summer in my childhood days. They were only available during their season. Well, maybe there were already hothouse grown ones from Holland that you could get in winter. If so, my mother never bought them because they were probably quite expensive and way less flavorful than those harvested in their […]
Across the Fence: A Maharaja in England
It must have been a TV show about famous precious stones that made me look up the giant diamond in the British royal crown, the Mountain of Light, better known as Koh-i-Noor. You know how it is to look up something on Wikipedia? You start getting diverted to other topics, and that is how my […]