Sunday & Monday May 11 & 12, 2008 (diary, travel)

It is the Pfingsten weekend. The weather is still beautiful. Sun in the morning and afternoon, then in the evening a light thunder storm with perhaps a few drops of rain before the sun returns for the rest of the evening. I feel exhausted these two days. The combined effect of the journey, the higher altitude (730 meters asl) and perhaps that largely subconscious deep emotional undercurrent. All day I sit on Wivica's terrace absorbing the million dollar view of which one can not get enough. The apple trees are in blossom everywhere displaying a multitude of sparkling bright white bunches of flowers. Each time I see one it reminds me of Vincent van Gogh. In the evening we eat out, on the Monday to the Wald Cafe, just 500m down the road, where we both have ox tongue. I have not had this for 45 years and it tastes still as good as ever. Most Recent - Next - Previous - Top - Page 1 - Photos - Index - Topics - Jazclass Links Tuesday & Wednesday May 13 & 14, 2008 (diary, travel) I am starting to get into a routine here now. Early in the morning I watch the sun rise above the hills. At about 8.30 am the cows are let out off their stable and wander past, a total of 36, not counting the calves. Soon after Frau Heitzmann comes within sight to open the chicken shed and collect the eggs. Both Heitzmanns (farmer and his wife) totally belong to nature, the earth they till. It is expressed in their faces, their body language, every movement they make. Later Frau Heitzmann attends to her vegetable garden (her great love) just underneath the terrace where I am sitting. She gives me a tour of her domain and I am most impressed with her intimate knowledge of plants and their reactions to the cycle of the moon. This is based on years of daily observation and empirical knowledge. Some rhubarb is collected for a cake, as with the present growing (?) moon they smell the best. She points out the wild garlic which only grows in early spring. I have never seen or heard of these before. Their green pointy leaves, an inch or two long (5 cm), indeed smell strongly like garlic and are used as a herb. For lunch I walk downhill into Sankt Peter, a half hour stroll, buy some lunch and sit on a bench facing a pond in the village. Later I shift station to the terrace of the Pizzeria on the village square to observe life there while sipping a Rothaus pilsner, another local Scharzwald beer. In due course I walk back up the hill, a good exercise. At about 5 pm the cows return to their shed to be milked for the second time that day, but it takes another 4.5 hours before the day gradually comes to an end. Most Recent - Next - Previous - Top - Page 1 - Photos - Index - Topics - Jazclass Links Thursday May 15, 2008 (diary, travel, concept, awareness) It is overcast today, but the sun manages to shine through the cover here and there, spreading a summer haze over the entire countryside. A good day to check out the daily morning market in Freiburg. The square around the central church is full with stalls, especially flowers, vegetables, meat wares and delicatessen. There are also 5 or 6 Imbiss stalls and I check the currywurst in one of them. Not bad, but the Imbiss in Altenahr still is on top of my list. On our way back we check out a camping store, but I am not impressed with the products they have. Awareness 18 continues from April 28 I am exceedingly lazy these days and can sit for ours in the sun, doing absolutely nothing. I find also more time to read and have just completed John Hardy's The Woodlanders. John Hardy is one of my favourite authors on two counts. To explain why I need to go back to Richard Dawkins' memes concept and broaden (or modify ?) it for my own purposes. Dawkins' memes pool encompasses all memes comprising the entire human culture. One can visualise it perhaps as a layer of memes (ideas, concepts, thoughts, definitions, etc.) surrounding the earth just like the atmosphere, into which we as individuals tap into and use or add to as the case may be. This memes layer however is not homogenous but varies greatly, forming as it were different meme environments according to : the geographical location (e.g. region, country, continent) the individual's position within the spectrum of human society, or perhaps more precisely the individual's position within the range of human awareness levels I. Obviously the meme environment in Germany differs greatly from the one in neighbouring France (or any other country for that matter), as it reflects a unique culture specific to that country. To enter into this meme environment it is essential to speak the language. I find that very strongly here in Germany. Once within the language you start to speak, think and behave differently. I am still the same person I was when speaking English, but a different aspect of me is coming to the surface. I find this most enlightening and liberating and it extends me as a human being.   I feel therefore motivated to perhaps revive my French from the dead and also continue my Spanish study in order to appreciate these countries better in case I do visit there in the future. II The memes environment one taps into depends of course also very much on one's inclination, taste, interest, social position, work environment and intelligence, etc. Personally I generally steer away from the common meme environment of the broader spectrum of middle class society. There is of course much of interest there, but as a dedicated memer I much prefer the outer edges of the meme environment for my inspiration, and intellectual and spiritual enlightenment. IIa On the one end of the spectrum my interests lie with the latest thoughts and discoveries of people like Einstein, Greene, Dawkins and others. Also in this area I greatly admire and absorb material from people who have been instrumental in break throughs of human awareness or culture in the past. Such as for example Pythagoras, J.S.Bach, Erik Satie, Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker in music; Hyronimus Bosch, Rembrandt and Impressionists like Camille Pisarro, van Gogh, Matisse, Modigliani (and others) in painting. In literature it is of course Hemingway who with his immediate, aggressive contemporary style has blown a fresh wind of renewal through the entire writers world. Thomas Hardy too is one of my favourite memers as he at the time was at the cutting edge (and pushing the boundaries) of moral values, especially male-female relationships in the suffocating layered social sytem of the 19th Century. IIb At the opposite end of the "awareness spectrum" I have a great interest in (and feel strong affinity to) the "ordinary man". The individual, often closely tied to nature, who relies heavily on his own observations, thoughts and perspective of the world and is little influenced by fleeting fashions and opinions of the general public. My affinity to (and high esteem for) these (extra-)ordinary people has dominated my entire life from early childhood, perhaps enhanced then by growing up amongst farmers in the Dutch countryside. In literature I therefore identify strongly with the writers Leon Tolstoy, John Steinbeck and (once again) Thomas Hardy, who showed a clear preference for these simple people in their novels. Tolstoy's Peter (in "War and Peace") and John Steinbeck's Doc (in "Cannery Row") are imaginary (outsider) characters which closely approximate my own person and attitude in real life. These two novels also portray quite accurately the way in which I (as accepted outsider) always am perceived and treated by these (extra-)ordinary people. Awareness continues on September 11 Comments - Most Recent - Next Page - Previous - Top - Page 1 - Photos - Index - Topics - Jazclass Links Copyright © 2008 Michael Furstner