2024年6月14日
There used to be a family in-joke when I was a child. It was when we were were looking at holiday photos. It was just one expression: "Nigel Not Smiling". I think I have improved in that department over the years. But in this photo - no - I am not smiling.
子供の頃、ホリデーの写真を見ていると、家族は「ナイジェルは笑っていない」と言っていました。
I am outside the Langen town hall (Rathaus) and I have just cast my vote in the European elections. There was a long list of parties......
私は日曜日に欧州選挙で投票しました。
Probably because I am a violin maker, I am very aware of the harmony of line and colour. I am a visual person. In other words, I observe.....How people design houses, what clothes people wear, how people furnish their appartments, nature, and the lines of the hills on a hike in the Taunus. I am also acutely aware of situation. Now I know I have already written about Nuremberg and posted this photo, but then thinking of the European elections, and finding this archive picture, I had to place it beside mine.
Take a careful look at these two photos of exactly the same place. I took the first one three weeks ago, on 26th May 2024,
バイオリン製作者なので、線と色の調和をとても意識しています。
This one was taken in 1935......
The European elections have a different feeling this year. Uneasily relevant.
今年の欧州選挙は、いつもと違う感じがする。不安なほど関連性がある。
Over to Frankfurt again......
A friend of mine took this photo outside the Alte Oper this week. The placard says: "I come from Russia, and I know what happens when right wing extremists come into power. No AfD!"
「私はロシア出身なので、右翼過激派が権力を握ったら何が起こるか知っています。AfDはだめです！」
photo: Mirjam
Well, by the time you read this the results of the European elections will be in the news....
Let's give nature a space here. I was on a hike at the weekend near Eppstein, Taunus. And this was a sight I have never seen before. Thousands upon thousands of foxgloves lined our route....it was incredible. Not just random groups of them, but whole swathes of woodland were coloured purple......
エップシュタイン近郊での週末のハイキング
It was hot 🥵 too, so I was glad that I had brought plenty to drink. We mostly walked under the shade of the forest, but took breaks like at craggy viewpoints like this......
Where some aristocrats were definitely not smiling......well, it was a serious business, this meeting.......
"........Here on the Staufen, in the autumn of 1838,
the brothers Friedrich, Heinrich und Max von Gagern
vowed to support each other faithfully and to dedicate their strength
to the unity and freedom of Germany....."
「……ここシュタウフェンで、1838 年の秋、
フリードリヒ、ハインリヒ、マックス・フォン・ガーゲルンの兄弟は、
互いに忠実に支え合い、
ドイツの統一と自由に力を捧げることを誓いました……」
I wonder what the von Gagerns would have thought of this..........drawn 5 years before they met on that hilltop.........little did they know what would hit the western art world a few decades later......
5年前……
Katushika Hokusai's Amidaga Taki....the Amida falls in Gifu prefecture 1833.
阿弥陀ヶ滝
Germany was split up into several kingdoms at this time, most noticeably between Prussia and Bavaria. There is even a von Gagern Gymnasium (Grammar school) in Frankfurt, named after Heinrich, who was the president of the first freely elected parliament in Germany, the Frankfurt Parliament.
I think our happy group of hikers were more interested in their sandwiches and selfies however.
What's the opposite of a selfie? a portraitie?
自撮りの反対は何ですか？ポートレートですか？😄
Small pleasures. The trickle of beans into the coffee grinder.......
小さな喜び。
The aroma of an espresso drifting into the workshop.....
コーヒーの香りがします.....
The sweet anticipation of a matcha for some special moment.......
抹茶かな
Oh, and by the way, I do smile occasionally........
あ、そうそう、私もたまには笑いますよ……。
..especially when strummin' that ol' cello......🎵....wow, get the vibe from those strings ⚡....
At The Towers, visitors are provided with either a violin, a viola or a 'cello. Don't do basses, sorry.......🤔
タワーズでは、訪問者にバイオリン、ビオラ、またはチェロのいずれかが提供されます。ベースはご遠慮ください。
And in the evening in the Towers, the `cellos gleam in the twilight..........
....and the views, well........
.....looking towards Frankfurt......
and to the East......
I once asked a friend of mine: "What do you do when you have a bad day?" As she was a music therapist I was expecting the answer to be something like "I play some music with friends". But the answer was simpler - "I cook" she said.
So this evening I had a go at Chicken Teriyaki.......The recipe was in American, so I had to guess a bit (what is a skillet?)............but undeterred......
かつて私は友人に「落ち込んだときはどうしますか？」と尋ねました。彼女は音楽療法士だったので、私は「友達と音楽を演奏する」というような答えを期待していました。しかし、彼女の答えはもっとシンプルで、「料理をする」というものでした。
I had most of the ingredients, although my ginger was a bit old. So I threw in some lemon juice to compensate.....I know this doesn't look like Teriyaki sauce, but I had no cornflour to thicken it.....
このソースは照り焼きソースのようには見えないけど、美味しかったです
...about twenty minutes later I sat down at the table, feeling like a king.....
...約20分後、王様のような気分でテーブルに座りました...
"itadakimasu" 🙏
🥢 Thank you for reading "..NNS..."
"....NNS.... " を読んでくれてありがとう
Feel free to share the blog with friends.
🥢 よろしければ、リンクを友達と共有してください
🥢 And and I enjoy hearing from you...!
コメントすると楽しいです!
THE END
👑
終わり
Comments