This is a
true story about my dearest Jessika, my caretaker and confidant and a puppy
named Momo.
Jessika
had searched for quite a while for a puppy to adopt, one of the rescue puppies
and not from a breeder. She received a text message about a male puppy two
months old from a kennel in Ohio. Jessika was so excited, she got herself an
Airline ticket and at her destination ordered a rental car. Her friend Faith
would meet her at the Airport in Pittsburgh and would accompany her on the
flight home. Jessika was a brave soul, and I was very proud of her. It was not
Charlie, the puppy advertised for adoption, but Charlie
One of my
heartfelt memorials. This church was there for many generations, but not after the
night of 9-11-1944 when the whole City of Darmstadt was destroyed by an allied
bombing raid. The walls of thick, grey stone survived partially. Without doors
and windows though, it looked ghostly and eerie. The congregation had decided not
to rebuild and leave this church as a memorial. It is seventy-eight years ago,
this coming September 11, 2022, that the allies ordered a bombing raid on
Darmstadt which destroyed the whole city.
After going
to the first memorial and listening to the powerful choir, seeing all the
candles burning and getting to see a most beautiful, tall, white marble cross sculpted
by an artist from the
Searching for the Landmarks Painted in Both of our New Paintings
Church De Madeleine and the Wide Boulevard
The Gates: Port Saint-Denis and Port Saint-Martin
It was a
beautiful sunny day in fall, and we decided to take a stroll through downtown
Seattle. As we walked up 5th Ave we noticed a display window
with great paintings of street scenes
and landmarks in Paris by an artist Antoine Blanchard. We looked around the
entry but did not yet see a name of the gallery. We entered and
Since we
have lately concentrated so much on friendship, I like to tell another little
tale about how some friends can leave you with shear amazement. After Julie and
Luc brought the beautiful books to me to distribute to, first, the five friends
involved in creating and paying for the books and second, to dear friends and
family members, I also thought of my dear friend Susan. We have been friends
since the 1980s and she is a friend who surprises you with wonderful deeds,
when you least expect them. She also is the friend, after hearing the complete
story how my friends fulfilled Jessika
The Bell
rang, we are dismissed, school is out, and summer begins.
Anemone
As much as
my sister Friedl, 10 years old and I, Ilona, 8 years old loved school, when
summer started, we always looked forward to our four weeks of summer vacation.
Especially the trip planned for us to go to the Isle of Ruegen with Mama, Mrs.
Kramer our governess, Friedl and I. The Island of Ruegen is on the Pomeranian
Coast, of the North Sea (Baltic Sea) of Germany and is the largest Island of
that country. It is a beautiful Island, white chalk cliffs, white sandy beaches
with beautiful hotels, homes, and little towns. Our
This last couple weeks, I have been deeply moved by how many of my dear friends and family members reached out to me or took me out to celebrate my birthday which was a little more than a week ago. It’s a “meh” birthday number, nothing special, not one of the biggies, and yet, my loved ones and friends sent love and greetings via social media, mail, email, ecards, phone calls, texts, and long-overdue in-person get togethers full of laughs, food, and drink.
I didn’t know how much I needed all that love and connection after a very long pandemic and a sense of isolation on my beautiful little island (Vashon, Washington). But it turns out I really did. I feel so much brighter this week as a result of that precious community (both online and in-person community connections).
Though I am still anxious about Covid and the risk of getting sick, or people I love getting sick, and though I am now angst-ridden and worried about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and fears for the Ukrainian people (and all of us!)–especially as a person whose childhood was flooded with the fears caused by The Cold War with Russia and the fears of a Nuclear War and the “Duck and Cover” drills we did in my elementary classroom (as if a plastic classroom table top would protect me from a nuclear bomb dropped on our school!!)– I realized how very fortunate I am and how much I have to be grateful for.
A few weeks ago, I was reading a cheesy but good mystery novel, and in one of the last chapters, the main detective said something like “Money can buy you space, but not comfort or happiness.” So I really thought about that.
Money can buy you bigger spaces, houses, cars, first-class airplane seats with much more leg room and maybe even a bed to stretch out in during overnight flights…but it can not buy you mental comfort or comfort of the heart…or love! Which is more important? Of course we need to have our basic needs met, a safe place to sleep/live, food, etc., but lots of money doesn’t usually make people happy–in fact, some studies show that the very wealthy are often very unsatisfied and unhappy. After our basic needs are met, then, like in the illustration above in Maslow’s famous Hierarchy of Needs illustration, we need a sense of belonging and community (love from without) and also self-esteem and actualization (self love and peace with the self) to be fully happy and self-actualized.
The older I get, the more I appreciate what I have and the more I am content with myself and my life and the choices I have made, and I realize more than ever that the most important “things” that I have are not things at all (though I do enjoy my things, wink): it is people! My loved ones, family, and friends.
I am rich indeed. Thank you for that, my beloved friends and family.
The city of Darmstadt was my home until 1954 when I came to
the United States. While working at the Northern Area Command Headquarters,
General Eisenhower
My father, a former cavalry officer, was so very proud of me
today. It was an equestrian exhibition, a jumping event I took part in and got
a ribbon for 1st place. I was the pride of my father, only fifteen
years old, a long way to the Olympic Games in 1948 I was being groomed and
trained for. I have been training for this, since I was six years old.
I own my second horse now, a Trakehner, a Prussian warmblood,
named
