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Advent Calendar Story: Day 19
The Laundry Ursula laughed out loud to herself as she hung out yet another set of sheets in the drying room above the hospital ward in the castle. She was working just as hard now if not harder than she had in the tower. And yet the work felt so much easier. It was warm,Continue reading “Advent Calendar Story: Day 19”
Advent Calendar Story: Day 18
The Letter Leopold sat down at his desk and looked at the letter lying on it in front of him. Bernard had given it to him as soon as he had returned from Regensburg. Leopold recognized Sigismund’s own spidery hand in the address. He shook his head. Things were not going well. He was notContinue reading “Advent Calendar Story: Day 18”
Advent Calendar Story: Day 12
The Toyseller It was hard to know what to pick. Ursula jingled the copper pennies in her fist and glanced back and forth between a little rag doll with a flouncy dress and button eyes and a wooden horse with wheels you could pull by a string. At last she decided that if it wereContinue reading “Advent Calendar Story: Day 12”
Red Pandas in snow
youtube.com/watch If your week is starting out like…you know…I think the odds that you can get it back on track by watching this video are actually quite good.
Advent Calendar Story: Day 10
Women Winding a Ball of Yarn “Don’t fidget!” snapped Aunt Elisabeth. The silence was what was making Ursula fidget. Usually her aunt gossiped away about the neighbors as they wound balls of yarn together for her knitting work, but not today. Ursula didn’t mind winding so much as spinning. True, her arms got tired fromContinue reading “Advent Calendar Story: Day 10”
Advent Calendar Story: Day 9
The Gaming Booth Ursula stood with a cup of glühwein warm in her hands watching two little boys play games in the Christmas Market. They were tossing wooden rings at a wall of pegs in the hopes of winning a little whittled cat with its barky tail curled winsomely around its belly. She couldn’t believeContinue reading “Advent Calendar Story: Day 9”
The Wisdom of Youth
I’ve been watching a lot of vlogs lately with 20-somethings dispensing sage life advice. It reminded me that when I was that age, I thought I knew everything, and at the same time, I was totally insecure about myself and my knowledge about the world. As I’ve gotten older, I’m more sure of what IContinue reading “The Wisdom of Youth”
Koharu Sugawara Dance Cover (“Elastic Heart”)
So, this is why I haven’t been posting a lot over the last couple of weeks: I’ve been working like a crazy person on this project–actually I’ve been at it for months, but really intensively for the last 4 weeks. And I think it’s a fitting note to end my Berlin sabbatical on. I actuallyContinue reading “Koharu Sugawara Dance Cover (“Elastic Heart”)”
Berlin is Awesome, Exhibit G: Street Art
When I was enrolled in my Goethe Institut German course, I had the opportunity to go on two great walking tours through Kreuzberg, a fascinating district next to mine with a really absorbing and dramatic history of settlement, neglect, squatting, redevelopment, civic rebellion, immigration, and revitalization. The second tour focused on street art, which IContinue reading “Berlin is Awesome, Exhibit G: Street Art”
The Rookery 