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A Visit to the Burg Frankenstein (a Fortress from Roman Times)

During summertime many visitors come to this castle for outings, sightseeing, great dinners in a romantic setting and for unforgettable concerts. The castle grounds were lighted with floodlights and the view to the south-west, across the fertile valley of the “Bergstrasse” (mountain road) was awesome and one could see in the distance the river Mosel with hill after hill of beautiful grape vines, producing one of the finest Riesling wines in Germany.

The streetcar brings the visitor from Darmstadt all the way along this fertile valley to the old, beautiful city of Heidelberg. On the way there are stations one can get off to venture by cable car up the hill to Castle Frankenstein.

It was a beautiful summer day in June, close to my 12^th birthday and my sister Friedl was fourteen years old. Our mama suggested we get tickets to the summer concert at Frankenstein Castle. It was a concert with overtures from famous operas, mostly Mozart, and the conductor was the world renown Herbert von Karajan. One of the greatest conductors of the 20^th century, von Karajan ruled over the Berlin Philharmonic and European classical music for more than three decades.

The cable car took us up to the castle ruins of Frankenstein, right to the large courtyard. The setting there was mesmerizing with all the floodlights shining against the rock formations, ruins and this most beautiful courtyard. The stage was all set up for the orchestra, and the guests were finding their seats and in anticipation of a wonderful concert tonight were ready. The music was beautiful and touching and Herbert von Karajan gave it his all to engage the audience fully.

After the concert ended, my parents, Friedl and I had reservation in the restaurant, outside the castle walls in a beautiful wooded setting, with a welcoming entrance and courtyard, many flowers in colorful, large flowerpots, tables laden with groups of candles burning, giving this outdoor setting a romantic atmosphere to evening dining under the stars. The dinner was superb, and we all enjoyed it. Our parents had praise for the excellent year of the wine they had chosen. It was a Riesling Spaetlese (late harvest) from the Mosel valley, not far from here. The dinner we all chose was a beautiful presentation, like Still Life, large tiger prawns in a fragrant lobster sauce with fresh shallots and fresh dill, chopped.  It was a special treat on a summer night with our dear parents in historical surroundings, never to be repeated.

Food for tummy and soul.

A Happy and Great New Year 2024!

A little story, a big gift, great blessings.

This Christmas of 2023 is the 6^th Christmas without my beloved husband, Hal.

It does not become easier, it becomes more depressing and sadder each added year.

But having to admit, there are rewards. Big gifts to me are my dear friends, such blessings! Such rewards! Such treasures! After six years I still get beautiful Christmas cards, calls, e-mails, wonderful visits and comments that touch my soul on Marcie’s website from so many dear friends.

I feel so blessed, so honored and loved. The gift of all this, outweighs by far, the hurt and longing I feel for my Hal. Not all dear friends are able to visit, some moved away, and some cannot come the distance at this holiday time, but I hold them in my heart.

I know, I should never complain, I have so much to be thankful for, being ungrateful would take all the deep joy I feel away.

Grateful, blessed, thankful are a big part of my long life and it becomes clearer to me with every added year, that I am very rich and have a warm and cozy feeling, that keeps me going.

Thank you, my dearest friends from the heart for your continued friendship:

Love is the best of all feelings.

                                                                              Your Ilona

Christmas Eve Dinner

Planning Christmas dinner for the Cole family has always been a pleasure for me, but this Christmas dinner will be a challenge, since my Hal’s father won’t be with us at the table, I must think of something very special for my Hal. His father had been very ill and is, after an operation, still in the Hospital. It will of course be a wonderful get together, if it is up to my Hal and me. We took extra care with our decorations, and they are beautiful. The tree, a tall  Noble fir is flocked, has big gold balls and our collection of clear glass balls with a gold star inside, an angel or a tree. A beautiful collection, all from our visits to Germany. Tiny white lights completed this ten-foot noble fir.

My Christmas eve dinner was a turkey with sweet potatoes a gratin, mashed potatoes, French small green beans and broccoli, sauteed in clarified butter, stuffing with pecans, and gravy. I made a nice crisp salad with grated cheese and cheese croutons on top to enjoy, as Hal was cutting the turkey. My Hal opened a wonderful, matured Burgundy to enjoy and digest this, rich in taste, dinner. The dessert I presented was Pumpkin Pie and an egg nogg with cognac tart. Very delicious! Some wonderful Blue Mountain coffee tasted great to end this Christmas eve dinner.

Before we started dinner, I wanted everyone to have something for their heart and mind. I had on top of each charger a little “Table present” to give my Hal’s family a moment of pleasure and happiness.

For my Hal I had a small oil painting: an oil on wood by Dennis Ramsay, a British painter of “Still Life” and one of my Hal’s and my favorite artists.

This little gem was of a golden pear with the green fresh leaves still on the stem and in the front was a twig of Juniper berries. The pear looked good enough to take a bite out of. It was framed in a gold frame. A precious piece of art!  We will find a small spot for it or put it on an easel. We already owned two large paintings by Dennis Ramsay. On a black background, it had an antique copper flower vessel with the most beautiful, large purple Irises in it, beautifully framed with velvet and an ornate gold frame. A striking piece!

A second one, again oil on wood, an hourglass in the background, a dusty bottle of Bourdeaux wine, an old candle stick with dripping wax running down the candle stick, a glass of wine by several books, some open. It had a carved, light wooden frame with a golden hue. An awesome painting! This whole painted scene, to me, represented my Hal, so it went home with us. We also had the pleasure of meeting the artist, Dennis Ramsay, who moved with his family to Australia from England and did not bring his beautiful art to the United States any longer. Hal and I were delighted to own three of his paintings.

Having had a wonderful dinner, good wine and great dessert, everyone seemed happy for this moment and remembered Father, who could not be here tonight. But everyone’s thoughts and minds were with father for this evening.

With the tree lights shining, the good smell of the coffee, the tummies full and happy, we now started opening the Christmas presents. Another little moment of happiness stolen away from sadness.

Tomorrow, Christmas Day, we will go to the Hospital with presents, some special goodies if it is allowed and lots of love.

We will visit and honor our father.

Christmas Time in Germany

Christmas time starts with the four Sundays prior to Christmas day, called Advent.

On most tables in the dining rooms or even kitchen tables, beautifully decorated Advent wreaths go center stage. There are four candles on that wreath and each Sunday one additional candle gets lighted and by Christmas eve all four candles are burning brightly, as the family sits around the table having dinner and after, while hot chocolate, homemade cookies and delicious pastries are served, we were singing beautiful Christmas songs, or our Governess Mrs. Kramer would read wonderful Christmas stories to us.

With the start of Advent, the whole house would take on a beautiful aura. Every room, especially the foyer was being transformed into a wonderful “Winter Wonderland” a holy Christmas scene.

December 6^th is Saint Nicklaus Day. That is the only time Saint Nicklaus makes an appearance. He comes late at night into the home, looking for the children’s bedrooms and there by the door he will find a pair of slippers. He would leave little lovely presents for the good children and a twig, from a tree branch for the naughty ones. If you received this twig, you have ample time to be very good, exceptionally good by Christmas, so you too would receive the gifts you had wished for all year. The German Saint Nicklaus does not look like the Santa here, he does not wear a red suit with a big black belt, a big belly and a beard and a gruff voice. The German Saint appears in a beautiful garment, is slender and has a gentle demeaner and friendly voice.

The gifts around the tree on Christmas Eve are gifts from the Angels, who also bring gifts to the Christ child’s birthday on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Eve day every adult in the house goes on “overdrive” because there is so much yet to do. A beautiful, tall Noble Fur has not been decorated yet. Our trees do not come into the home before Christmas Eve, Christ’ birthday, then they are placed in the living room and the adults are decorating this beautiful, tall Noble tree. The door to the living room is closed and magic is happening inside. After the tree is finished, all the toys and gifts are placed around the tree and someone is lighting all the candles on that majestic tree, an important piece of Christmas history.

While this was going on, the children of the home had to get dressed up and in front of the closed door had to sing their little song or recite the little rhyme they had learned for this evening.

The door would open and there stands the most beautiful and awesome Christmas tree, shining bright with all the candles and a golden reflection off the flames onto the beautiful glass ornaments. Every year, every Christmas there is the same wonderous reaction from the children and adults. With all their wishes fulfilled, the family now is approaching all the presents around the tree, happy they did receive what they had hoped for and wishing this evening would be a bit longer. Bedtime on Christmas Eve always comes too soon.

Cookies and hot chocolate for the children and champagne for the adults along with beautiful piano music by Mrs. Kramer our governess, was always a big part of that evening, (“Oh heilige Nacht”) Oh holy night.

It was always hard to go to bed, but as we got older, we realized that we had two more days to play and celebrate this so holy and beautiful Holiday.

On the second Christmas Day we had relatives and friends coming by and the centerpiece on the dessert cart was always my mama’s beautiful “Croquembouche” a pastry made from cream puffs, built up like a Christmas tree and covered with spun sugar. The puffs were filled with a delicious patisserie crème. Mama’s pride and joy on her beautiful Christmas plates.

Everyone should experience a German Christmas at least once in a Lifetime.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, HOLY NIGHT

FROHE WEIHNACHT, HEILIGE NACHT.

The Classic Carolers

My beloved husband Hal was searching for some unusual Christmas decorations for his library. We had seen at Molback’s Nursery’s gift shop these wonderful Victorian Carolers, dressed in garments from the 1800s, beautiful, handmade and nostalgic.

We were going to put together several adults and children, to have a large group of carolers. They could decorate some of the shelves or stand in a group on my Hal’s desk. It would make a colorful decoration for Christmas, but also would tell the stories from the 1840s, 1850s and up to the 1950s when caroling was very popular again here in the United States of America, but the original clothing, of course, had dramatically changed by then.

As we found out these beautiful, handmade figures were hard to find, but we found quite a few at Wright’s Nursery in their large gift shop. In order to get a nice colorful group together we kept on adding new ones every Christmas. We ended up adding children to the adults, which made it more complete, thinking that whole families are going out into the cold, crisp night to sing Christmas carols.

Many traditional caroler costumes are based on 1840s-1860s fashions with large skirts, puffy sleeves and a cape for warmth, but there are two other, equally delightful periods, perfect for caroling costumes: Medieval/Early Renaissance and the 1950s.

Each costume era has a different feel and provides its own creative and comfort advantages.

My Hal and I made it a special day, picked during the weeks before Christmas for “hunting.”

We made it a challenge that day to find at least one couple or maybe two children. We were happy when we ended the “hunt” with some more of these beautiful handmade figures and my Hal’s library looked awesome and festive with these lovely carolers on the bookshelves among all the books.

For Christmas eve and Christmas day, when we would have guests coming through our home, we would display them in a half circle on my Hal’s desk, opposite a white flocked Christmas tree or a basket with two beautiful large pink or white poinsettias in it. Playing old, original Christmas songs in the background made this scene from Victorian times complete and our guests, as my Hal and I did, enjoyed this warm and lovely scene.

I had given some away as Christmas gifts after I moved and downsized, but now it is time to gift the rest to friends or family members.

My dearest Hal is no longer with me, and these beautiful figures are a painful reminder of what no longer can be, so I will give the rest away this coming Christmas.

Another painful moment for me, parting with something precious, that was my Hal, my love, and my life.

Finding my Way Back: A Follow-up Story to “I Lost my Way”

I wrote a little story about how I lost my way during my very difficult times long ago, when I was young, a war raging and had terrifying effects on lives.

Trying now to find my way back after I did not believe for more than seventy years is the hardest task, I ever had to face during my lifetime of 96 years. I have a wonderful, dear friend, Karin who is aware of my struggles, and she dedicated herself to give me a helping hand by encouraging me, writing me e-mails with quotes and passages from the Bible. Karin gives me support and knows what happened to me and my dear sister Friedl during the difficult, heartbreaking and painful years in my, then young life.

Now, just today, something so endearing and touching happened to me. I have a lovely lady Janet, a neighbor here in our apartment building, I moved to, when I experienced my biggest loss, my beloved husband Hal. The lady, Janet, had a very tragic accident, a fall and she injured her leg, it was very severe, she needed surgery and after, a very long recovery and healing. Janet is doing fine now. During that time, I brought her a tea tray in the afternoon, something to spoil her and show her, I cared. On the tea tray I would leave one of my “short stories” which she enjoyed reading. I am a guest writer for a website and have been writing short stories for over three years now.

Today, when I brought Janet, my little friend, her tea tray, she graciously offered to lend me her Bible to read and enjoy the beautiful stories about Jesus, which I had missed all these years.

This is a fine and precious Bible. Bound in a beautiful soft, dark brown leather and gilded edges on the pages. Such a treasure. I will of course begin reading. Going back in my life, when I was growing up and Jesus was always present, always my companion, my confidant and my protector.

In my parent’s home, in my bedroom were window seats by every window, overlooking a romantic setting, a garden, beautifully manicured with a big fountain, a rose garden and benches to sit and enjoy all, large flowerpots with beautiful plants and white crushed rock on the walkways. That window seat was my refuge, my sanctuary growing up. My favorite times were there, reading good books and especially the Bible with wonderful stories of Jesus.

I wished with all my heart, growing up, that I would become a woman with tenderness, kindness, respect and a big heart like Jesus.

And if I had a big lapse and got lost for a large portion of my life, I am trying very hard now, to find my way back.

My Most Interesting and Adventurous Job

My husband, Hal, and I, Ilona returned from a seven week visit to Germany and as I entered my favorite Drug Store in Bellevue, where we resided, the nurse behind the counter waved at me and asked me to talk with her if I had the time. She told me about an Executive, Mr. Crue who came by last week, asking her if she knew of a person who would speak good German, not a two-year German from school, but good and no dialect German.

She said she thought of me right away. I had resigned from my job before our trip since I could not get a “leave of absence” but wanted more time off than my vacation. I told the nurse, I might be interested, if I knew a little more about the Company and details of the job. She went to the phone and came back after a short conversation. I had an interview the next day at noon with Mr. Crue. The Company, Heisdorf and Nelson, were Poultry Breeders with satellite facilities in Cuxhaven/Germany. They were located here in Houghton, Washington and had their breeding facilities in California.

They were shipping three-day-old “Nick Chicks” all over the world by PAN AM airlines. Mr. Heisdorf, owner of the Company imported Haflinger horses from Austria which he planned on breeding with Arabian horses on his farm here in Hollywood Hills, Woodinville, Washington.

I was to synchronize movies in German into English about these horses and teach the Executive, Mr. Crue and the different department managers the German language and help them translating their speeches they would give, travelling to Cuxhaven, Germany for better relations, speaking the language.

It was a great and interesting job and of course, I said yes to Mr. Crue. There were many rewards. When I had to drive to Mr. Heisdorf’s home with paperwork or pick up a new film to synchronize, shipped from Cuxhaven, I had the chance to see and pet the horses Mr. Heisdorf owned and had on his immense property in Hollywood Hills in Woodinville.

I got to know and became friends with Lazlo, the trainer and groom, who would take me to the wide-open fields with roaming horses. I always had an apple or a carrot in my purse to feed the horses, especially the foals. After some visits they would recognize me and come galloping toward me putting their noses into my purse, knowing there would be a treat. It was always a wonderful experience for me and brought back cherished memories from my earlier life, a beautiful life long ago.

When Mr. Heisdorf modernized the accounting system, knowing that accounting was one of my specialties, he asked me to run accounting, learn the key punch machines and eventually get into programming, to become the “In house” programmer. Once the programmers were finished with all the software, I moved to a glassed-in area right by the comptroller and the accounting office with my desk and key punch machine.

German lessons, horses, film synchronizing and trips to the farm, became my secondary job I planned to do evenings and weekends. Heisdorf and Nelson, Poultry breeders had a computer, a large computer from GE on lease. At that time computers were not for sale and the smaller version, the personal computer as we now know, was not available then. I was looking forward to learning programming.

Regarding the personal duties for Mr. Heisdorf, I was willing gladly to keep up. Mr. Heisdorf was a wonderful gentleman, a great boss and the side benefit of seeing the horses, all this was for me the most interesting and adventures job.

Sadly, this great job only lasted until my Hal got transferred from North Bend to Longview, Washington in 1968 and I had to say “Goodbye” to the wonderful people at Heisdorf and Nelson.

An Addendum to Story 157

“One Good Thing Leads to Another”

Eine Kleine Berg Kapelle (A little Mountain Chapel)

This is a little addendum, a story to tell my readers this special reason for this special and beautiful mountain chapel, by Julius Boehm’s home in Issaquah, Washington.

My Hal’s good friend Julius Boehm’s reason of having a beautiful chapel built on his property in Issaquah, at the foot of the Cascade Mountains in the State of Washington. It is a most beautiful and awe-inspiring little chapel and very much a love-inspired, precious vision to Julius, our dear friend. His chapel is also in memory of fallen climbers. It was completed in 1981 and is a replica of a 12^th century chapel in Switzerland.

Julius came from Austria, a beautiful country amid the Austrian Alps. He was an avid skier and mountain climber. He continued mountain climbing and giving skiing lessons, when he came here to our area, the foothills of the beautiful Cascade Range.

While growing up in Austria, he was used to seeing beautiful, precious chapels or just a shelter not necessarily a building while skiing and climbing the mountain peaks. They are a frequent sight for the climber who made it to the top. A welcome sight after a climb. Such a reward to enter these small buildings with Frescos on the wall, maybe fresh flowers by a large cross as backdrop. They are well kept, a shelter and a place to give thanks for a good and safe climb. Or pray, be thankful for this magnificent view one is privileged to experience. Anyone and everyone, visitors, skiers and mountain climbers are welcome to enter these chapels high on mountain peaks.

Julius loved the mountains, the Alpine mountains in Austria and Germany and here the beautiful Cascade Mountain Range and he loved skiing until late in his life, into his 90s.

When he purchased the property by Issaquah, he already envisioned his chapel. A beautiful chalet, to give him the space to live in and have his chocolate shop and the precious white stucco chapel. Inside there are beautiful Frescos painted by his friend Margaret von Wrangel. A steady reminder for Julius of the mountain chapels in his country of birth, Austria.

One Good Thing Leads to Another

After arriving in the United States in 1954 and getting acquainted with some of my Hal’s friends, like Fred and Marylou, two dear friends since high school, I was pleasantly surprised to get to meet some more. Fred was one of my Hal’s best friends and buddy’s and he told Hal about his friend Julius Boehm, an Austrian by birth, an officer in the Austrian cavalry. He wanted to meet me, the General’s daughter, after Fred told him about my father being an officer in the German cavalry during World War 1. Julius was very much intrigued with my father, in fact with my family, being that Julius came from the same background as my father, only Austria and my father came from Germany. Marylou and Fred planned a gathering in their home of all their friends and invited Hal and me to be the “guests of honor.” During this festive and pleasant evening, I not only met Julius, but also his companion Margaret Von Wrangel. She was a lovely lady, an artist. She was a painter, mostly murals and frescos.

Julius spent a lot of time with me, having many questions about where my father was fighting during WWI. I also told Julius that my papa was a prisoner of war by the British and spent two years after the war on the island Ceylon, now called Sri Lanka. Julius had a chocolate shop in north Seattle, close to Fred’s and Hal’s neighborhood. His plan was to build a complex of buildings on the property he had purchased by the town of Issaquah on the East side, right of the highway going to North Bend and the ski area at Snoqualmie Pass in the beautiful Cascades. A beautiful, striking Chalet with ground floor chocolate shop and workroom to make all chocolates and above on the second floor his living quarters. Most items that beautified this place Julius had ordered from Austria to keep things authentic and true. He had hand-painted tiles shipped, enough to build an “Kachelofen” a Tile warming stove or heater that filled a large corner in the living room in circumference and from floor to ceiling. This big, awesome heater would keep the tiles warm and heat up all the space on the 2^nd floor for days.

I had a call from Julius, when the chalet was finished and he wanted to open his chocolate shop, to ask me if I could help him in the shop until he could find the proper employees. I talked it over with my Hal and we decided that I could do this for our new dear friend. While I sold chocolate in the shop, Margaret Von Wrangel was busily working in the workroom, melting chocolate and dipping individual chocolates into the milk- and dark-chocolate ganache. Every morning when I arrived Julius was in his kitchen to melt big chunks of chocolate and poured hot milk over it to make hot chocolate, like the famous “Angelina’s” hot chocolate in Paris. Large cups and spoons. Margaret, Julius and I would sit by the big heating oven and had a lively conversation going until the opening of the shop. Julius always managed to bring the conversation to my father, or the Prussian race. So handsome both women and men, the military men. The beautiful women with chiseled features, high cheekbones, classic beauties. With this statement Julius was looking right at me.  If Margaret would not have been there, I would have been embarrassed, but we could change this subject quickly.

Julius, for his age, still was very active. He still gave skiing lessons on Snoqualmie Pass, swimming lessons to children at the Y and piano lessons to private students. Like my Hal would say: “and an eye for beautiful women.” He also was well known for his charity work and still climbed mountains and skied while in his nineties. A very interesting gentleman, well educated, charming and well-travelled and most of all a dear friend to Marylou and Fred and now to Hal and me.

After all the buildings by Issaquah were completed, including a beautiful precious little chapel, Margaret started her work on the outside of the buildings beautiful, life size murals of Austrian scenes. On the inside the walls displayed great and awe-inspiring frescos, absolutely beautiful!

These warm and wonderful memories of our beginning of a great marriage, sixty- four years, and the start of forming lasting friendships is the foundation that my memories were built and formed and will always occupy a special place in my heart and mind, never to be forgotten.

Thank you, my beloved Hal, dearest Marylou and Fred, Julius and Margaret.

A Party for Hal and Ilona

This was the year 1954 and a big “going away” party was planned by my friends. I was leaving my home in Germany as soon as my visa and entry permit would be granted. My Hal had to leave already, which was a law, after marrying a German National. This celebration was in honor of Hal and me since we were leaving Germany for a “far away” land, unknown to Europeans, then still. A large part of the country is of course less developed, since it has vast areas of open land. On the East coast are some large cities, like New York, Washington, Boston and the beautiful New England area. In the State of Florida are some cities, right by the ocean. There are large cities like New Orleans and Miami. On the West Cost of course there are big, beautiful cities too, my Hal tells me, like San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle. Now, after air travel has become the mode of travel, it seems so much closer and it only takes hours, not days.

The United States of America is a highly industrialized nation that helped the British Empire win the war, which Briton could not have won on their own. The US not only contributed men, soldiers, to WWII but transported all materials necessary on ships to Europe, including planes, like the B17 bombers and fighter planes.

Such commitment, such fast industrialization, after the bombing attack of Pearl Harbor.

I was of course not concerned or worried about the travel time.  My worry was more:

“Will my Hal’s family like me?”

“What is the big state of Washington like?”

“What is Seattle like?”

 Germany just emerged from a brutal, uncultured and uncivilized war, that Hitler had started, every city involved in the bombing raids will have to start over, it is a wasteland.

Not having air travel, as we know it now, before the war, America was unknown to Europeans and tourism. I worked for Northern Area Command of the American Armed Forces, General Eisenhower’s Supreme Command Headquarters as secretary to the communications officer in Frankfurt, Germany. I heard conversations about some cities like New York, Boston or San Francisco etc. I realized how big and modern they are. They called San Francisco the Jewel by the Pacific Ocean.

It was the evening of the party, and the guests were arriving. Mostly friends of my parents, a few of my sister Friedl’s and my friends. My dear professor, Dr. Stern and professor Dr, Eckhart, both from the University I had attended and graduated.  Mr. Espenschied, the pastry chef of Café Espenschied, was a very good friend of my dear mama’s who no longer is with us. He brought for me a beautiful present he himself created. In a fine wooden box, five pink roses, long stemmed, beautiful green leaves, looked like they were real and had just been picked. They were of course of eatable material, sugar, finely ground almonds, water and color. They were beautiful! Some friends brought lovely gifts, small, easy to pack into my suitcase.

It was a memorable evening with wonderful piano music, champagne and… tears. Going so far away no one knew when or if I would come to visit again. This was 1954 February and my first visit back to Germany was September 1957.

So much had changed with rebuilding the cities. Friends had married and some had moved away. Time had passed and time moved on. But it was always wonderful to see my dear sister Friedl and her family, when my Hal and I planned our vacation and went to Germany. Years later, my sister, and sometimes her husband and their boys would spend time here with us and they loved it.

The evening ended with tears, goodbye is a hard word to say, especially when there is no guarantee of a HELLO, again.