alsatian

Just returned from a prolonged test drive of our new camper, H and I are very relaxed.  That really is the way to travel and my head is just swirling with impressions.  A curious storch visited us one late afternoon at our campsite but definitely did not come bearing a baby, and though we never saw anyone parading about for the tourists in traditional garments, the black bonnet that the women supposedly wear reminds me of this inflatable friendly spider headdress that I had for a Halloween costume, circa 1979.

The little villages were amazingly picturesque--one in fact won award a few years back for being the "cutest" town in France.  This cuteness did not fade, however, and probably gets better with age and spurs on the competition.  The last town we stayed in, Neuf-Brisach, right on the German border was really embelmatic of the whole region--one that switched nationalities and allegiances five times during the last 150 years.  It is a former garrison town, balustraded by imposing ramparts, and really impressive looking from a strategic perspective.  Though very much in contrast, it reminded me of the last place we visited during our last visit to France--to the site where the armistices were signed in the Forest of Compiègne.

männertag

Fathers are important but as a holiday, it seems concessionary, like an after thought.  In Germany, they have adopted the Anglo-American Mothers' Day, and observe Fathers' Day on Ascension Day.  I wonder how Joseph, the husband of the Virgin Mary felt on Fathers' Day.  It is referred to, however, as Männertag, man's day, and usually spent drinking and doing outdoorsy things.  H and I spent the day today fixing up our new camper in preparation for a tour through the Alsace.  We received this nice sunflower--I especially like how it flourishes in the sun or during a partial solar eclipse, is is OK to water it or to spinkle it with a vial of carbolic acid, and touching is permitted but never, ever feed it.

novel approach

Since the failure of capping the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico that's hemmoraging untold millions of barrels of petroleum into the environment due to giant ice crystals at the bottom of the ocean, and who knew there were such obstacles to progress lounging about around old spindle top horizon, there have been a few theories involing sabotage by environmentalists and a total media blackout on the North Korean submarine that blew it up to strike another blow to the American economy.  The public should not be alerted to this act of war until such time that the US can successfully retaliate.  Offers for assistance were fended off by the US government from the likes of Iran, but the Soviets took a creative tact no less than five times when faced with the same unstauchable problem, used as a torniquet a nuclear bomb that sealed the leak for good.

further or beyond

Happy Mothers' Day to all.  H and I spend the weekend leading up to it on a quest with my parents to retrieve our newly secured Volkswagon camper.  We made a round trip of nearly a thousand kilometers to Lake Constance and back and had a fun adventure, but we considered that most people choose Lake Constance as a vacation destination and spend a little bit more time there.  Owning a camper I think represents a major paradigm shift in the way we vacation, but I am really looking forward to it, especially considering that parts of European airspace are again shut down due to abrasive volcanic ash. 

Flying is faster at the end, but taking into account the time spend on research, price-comparisons, making reservations (for hotels, as well), driving to the airport to arrive there at minimum two hours before a flight, flight-time, security and then coming back again, puttering slow but steady down the road seems like a winning alternative.  Of course, the camper will be christened something--we'll have to break a bottle of champagne over the bough.  My father suggested naming it "Further" or Furthur (sic) after Ken Kessey's school bus.  The placard for the destination, the next stop reads simply further.  My mother suggested that we call it "Beyond."

shahzad! or Attack on the Rue Plumet

There are reports that the would-be car-bomber of Times Square had been on the US government's radar since 1999, listed as a person-of-interest on a so called travel lookout list--I suppose things were named more innocently before there was an entity known as the Department of Homeland Security with vested powers to disappear people.  If Jean Valjean had been an accused terrorist, I suppose Inspector Javert would have never caught him, even after twenty years on the run as a fugitive from justice.

discobolus

"Boomerang, toomerang, zoomerang!" as Lady Elaine would say.  I think a puppet theater would make much better talking heads than the usual fare.  Greece has been courting a lot of attention lately, as if it's been neglected and ignored and acting-out is settling for some kind of notice.  I think politicians and economists are missing some important fundamentals: Greece is not broke or broken--rather the Greek government is, and though it has done a pretty shabby job as a euro custodian, there is still wealth and value there.  Sovereign default is not anything new--Dubai just did so a few scant months ago and it's forgotten and no one is shedding a tear over them; Argentina and Russia did during the last decade and Asia before that.  Consequences were there but without a currency bolstered by a big bloc.  What I think should be more center-ring is the revolt of the Greek people and Germany's begrudging lend-lease policy.

disastrophy

While the US markets guffaw and rejoice over marginal gains at the expense of Greek sovereignty and nascent, crippled good news that's masked by more immediate situations and pressing realities--too fragile to stand up outside of the virtual marketplace, a major environmental tradegy is lapping at US shores and threatens to undo and destabilize, not just this shell-game propped up by shared illusions, contagious histeria of wealth and termity.   What is most serious and most repulsive is difficult to say: the environmental impact on the Gulf of Mexico and the death of a delicate ecosystem, the loss of livelihood for locals that will linger like the spectre of Katrina, the continued ill-preparedness of the US government in mitigating catastrophies, the oil companies' exculpability, the mean-spirited blame-game on ostensibly arguments of political ideology that demeans all other consequences.  At least the groomers and hair-dressers, along with locals who face the mothballing of their business in the meantime and for the foreseen future, are running a drive for down (feathers), hair and trimmings since these leavings are pretty good at sopping up oil.

strange blooms

How does your garden grow?  The geraniums on the balcony and all the greenery survived in our absense, and even the more unusual plants are starting to blossom.  There are two cactuses in the window, one that has these bright red drooping flowers alternating years and this other who sends out bizarre alien feeler antennae.  This other plant lives in a glass Bier Maß and leaves under the soil where daylight can get in. Also every other year, it sprouts weird, little and sticky white flowers.