Grandchildren ~

. . . what an uplift !

Pat Answers ~

I told the old monk frankly that on all the great issues I had no solid stand . . . always torn this way and that. He looked at me and said: You are on the right path.

Visit to Dresden ~

It was the best we could do! His hotel was near ours. Being a U.S. citizens we were allowed in a the high security zone. All we got to see though was his limousine as it rushed by on the way to the conference with the Chancellor, Angela Merkel. But in the park Dresden celebrated his being in town until late into the night. This city we bombed in 1945 was now light-hearted and in high spirits . . . 64 years later.

Visitors At My Window ~

We keep eyeing one another.

June Is Bustin' Out All Over ~

It was one of those quiet beautiful Saturday mornings . . .

An Act of Hope ~

The Old Monk asked me:

• what I would do if I had a box for a long time in which I believed there was a great treasure but I had never opened it. When I finally did I found it was empty. What would I do? 
• I said I would get rid of it.
• He said no, I should hold onto it and keep believing.

Beauty in the Fields ~

Yesterdat they cut the first hay. This morning I walked across the fields glistening with dew, breathing in the fragrance.

Monk's Wisdom ~

"Don't you realize that life is essentially God's search for you and your search for Him?"

To Live The Life ~

Be constantly revising.

Change of Direction ~

Sometimes life is routine and monotonous that I thought I needed a spectacular problem to grapple with, just to know I was up to it— and alive.

One by One They Pass Away ~

He was 55. They found him yesterday in his room on the floor, dead. We had taught together for over twenty years. His subjects were German, philosophy and religion. Both of us had seminary backgrounds, something in common. He lived alone on a Black Forest hillside. Being together with young students was his life.

A Teacher's Delight ~

Those were the moments in the classroom: when you talked about Shakespeare, about a poem . . . and their eyes would light up.

And Thou Shalt Renew the Face of the Earth ~

The world seemed to me to be a better place this morning because one man is trying to make peace, not war.

Wise Old Monk ~

He was saying that in order to have something you must give it up . . .

Good Friday ~ 2009

They were talking about what it meant to suffer — and our inability to. How we immediately grasp for the pills . . .

Obama ~ Visit to Strasbourg, France

See how the young folk take to him.

Friend of Teachers ~ J. C. from California

He invited the English Department to dine in a cozy restaurant in this Black Forest village near the school where I taught. Even though I am retired, Jack thought I belonged.

Twenty-five of us sat at the table. Lively conversation. Older members talked about change and what it causes. I looked around and saw the young teachers, those who will be carrying the torch. They will be doing it their "new" way, not ours. It has to be that way. And it will work. . .

Undying Love ~ After 50 Years

He a young Soviet Officer, she a teenager in Leipzig. 1946. They fell in love. For disobeying orders concerning fraternization with the enemy he was sent back to Moscow. She wrote letters. He did too, but his were censored and withheld telling that he was married and had children.

After the opening of the Iron Curtain in 1989, some fifty years later, she traveled to Moscow to look for him—and found him. He had never forgotten her, never married.

The undaunted couple celebrated their wedding in 2001.

Why Ask Why?

It is her birthday today. Twenty-five years old. In the little town of Winnenden, Germany, not far from here, they are burying her. She was a young woman doing her practice teaching when the boy with the pistol came into the classroom and shot her through the head. And killed fifteen others. Then himself.

Party Talk ~

I told them one of the nuns in the 5th grade had a thick, wide paddle she would whack us with, and a thin ruler to swat our knuckles with. "Holy smokes!" someone said.

Piano-Playing Rewards ~

I learn something about myself, namely, if I let go, the brain shows me that it already knows the patterns that determine where my fingers should be.

When playing I feel I am in the company of the Giants: Bach, Mozart, Beethoven. . . partaking in their creative genius.

Follow-Up ~

Flight: Quint Buchholz

One week later Nikolaus sent me this postcard.

Black Forest Restaurant ~ Flight of the Crow

Nikolaus and I sat in this quaint restaurant and over cocktails hit upon a subject that fascinates both of us: crows. We found out that we both envy these birds passionately and would do anything to be able to be one with them in flight.

John Updike ~ The Polished Word

Our American craftsman with words — oh, to be able to say things with as much feeling insight as he had — passed away today, January 29, 2009. He said he polished words to make them come out right.

German Semantics ~

I keep hearing a new phrase they have coined over here in Germany: "The Obama Effect". They use this whenever they talk about the future and the hope of change for the better.

A Mother's Pain ~

Does the suffering of the mothers who have lost a son in war ever cease, or does the pain only end as she breathes her final breath?

Candor ~ Daschle Affair

On the radio this morning I heard the President say this: "I screwed up . . . made a mistake. I must see that it doesn't happen again." Amazing words. Amazing man.

Anticipation ~

Click on the picture

So bitter cold this week. Ice and snow. 

I stand at my window and think about my path along the edge of the woods. That will be happiness: to walk there, quietly, in the summertime, with the sun shining on my back.

Inauguration Day ~

Many of my German friends called today to congratulate me on our new President!

Not Knowing ~

cntraveler.com

Maybe it has its advantages. Had the pilot known what was about to happen would he then have been able to perform the Miracle on the Hudson?

Christmas ~

. . . and once again that deep nostalgic awareness I comes over me only when taking down the Christmas tree.

Castitas ~

I dared to ask the Wise Old Monk if living a life bereft of sex didn't give him the feeling that he was going to waste.

Yes, he answered. . . but added that it was that very feeling that kept him focused on God.

Findings ~

They call it a basal cell carcinoma. Located on my ear. Operated on it three different times until it was finally removed. The ear is smaller now.

I left the hospital and drove off making two mistakes: a wrong turn-signal indicating I was entering a driveway where the other driver was pulling out, and a full stop at a green light in a busy intersection where I was in the lane going straight ahead when I wanted to turn right. Much honking.

Lame Dog ~

This morning saw a little dog hobbling on three legs. I stopped and talked with the Swiss lady who had him on her leash. The little fellow laid down on the cold bricks and looked up at us the whole time, shivering.

The Horror of Auschwitz ~

Today I saw a picture of an old woman, bent over, with three small children in Auschwitz. Then I saw myself having to lead my own three grandchildren to the gas chamber.

Prayer in Darkness ~

When I wanted to become an altar boy the nuns taught me the prayers I had to know, in Latin. Right now I catch myself mumbling one of those prayers on my morning walks in the December darkness at 7:30 a.m.:

Spera in Deo, quoniam adhuc, confitebor illi: salutare voltus mei, et Deus meus.

Flexible Flyer ~

It is snowing. I stand at my window and look into the neighbor's yard. Two ungainly plastic sleds ---oh my, those great sleds we had as kids! Really sleek wooden designs with steel blades.

President-Elect Barack Obama ~ View from Germany

Who is this man on our horizon who has shown us his capacity to commit himself to an impossible undertaking and fight effectively to attain it -- and win? Who were his heros, his models he looked up to for such inspiration?

President-Elect Barack Obama ~ View from Germany

Just at the moment when everything seemed bleakest along comes this man determined to change things, to start anew. And we have shown ourselves eager and willing to place our fate in his hands. He has already reinstated in us the feeling that we can hope and trust.

President-Elect Barack Obama ~ View from Germany

I can see it in their eyes when they talk to me. The impossible happens in your country, they say, with Obama in mind. They are talking now about America like they used to. Makes me proud. I walk down the street a bit more upright.

Flight from New York ~

As the plane taxied on the runway I thought I should be heading west, to Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana. But instead I was flying east, to a foreign country. Will that same moment of uncertainty return to me on my deathbed?

Wedding on Long Island ~

Caught the train at Penn Station and headed out to Long Island. Two hours to Southampton. A Greek wedding. My niece, Alexandra, got married. This is why we flew over to New York.

Beach Party ~ Southampton

The next evening a memorable outing at the ocean. Moonlight shining on the water, the sound of the breaking waves, the white sand. Good old hot dogs, corn on the cob and lots to drink with family and friends.

Brooklyn Bridge ~

Just had to walk across that bridge. Stopped to read a plaque honoring its builder, John A. Roebling. He perfected the use of twisted steel cables, which made the bridge possible. He died from injuries while constructing it, his son Washington Augustus, a Union Lieutenant Colonel in the Civil War, came home from war and finished the project. These brilliant engineers came from my neck of the woods: Saxonburg, Pennsylvania.

Tiffany's ~

Walked into Tiffany's to buy a wedding present. Was treated like a millionaire but came out with a rather modest set of candlesticks.

St. Patrick's Cathedral ~

Early mass at the cathedral. Low mass. Two candles. Very plain sermon about God's love. It is He Who makes us able to love. We cannot do it on our own. Then we received communion. It was all low key. No cardinal. No pomp.

Penn Station ~

At five o'clock in the afternoon hordes of commuters swarm into Penn Station like bees into a hive.

Language ~

I think I heard as much Spanish in New York as I did English.

Columbia University ~

While staying in New York we wanted to get up the Columbia, walk the campus, see the young students. Kind of a tribute to Thomas Merton. But couldn't manage to cram it into our schedule.

Wall Street ~

We sat out in front of the New York Stock Exchange and picniced on ham sandwiches. Tourists stood looking up at the columns and and would walk away, somberly pacing. The financial crisis had just staged a Black Tuesday.