England in 1819

An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying King;
Princes, the dregs of their dull race, who flow
Through public scorn,—mud from a muddy spring;

What Would Jesus Not Do?

I have been raised with Catholics believes, by a woman who had to hide in the Italian Alps during WWII because she happened to be half Jewish. She didn’t bother telling me about it, until there was not much time left to talk about it. She took me in and she made it happen that I could spent 12 school years in a elite boarding school in the South of Germany, five hours away from our farm in the Alps -even though we were rather poor.

Both Parties and Me in the Middle

“How many Trump voters does it take to change a light bulb? None! Trump will declare there is light and they will stand in the dark and cheer!

At first I smiled when I read the joke, but my smile quickly turned into sadness. How can such a harmless joke bear so much truth?

A little Girl and Audi

A little girl, cute as she can be, with the confidence of a toddler, leaning against an Audi Sport RS4. Beautiful picture that backfired, because we live at a time where any kind of normal is just no longer possible.

Don’t ever underestimate Grandma!

Don’t ever underestimate a Grandma. I know that better than anybody. I couldn’t help watching this and thinking about the woman who took me in and raised me when she was 69 years old. My Grandma, my teacher!

About Fruitcakes and Religion!

Every year during the Holiday season we get fruitcakes from our neighbors. We smile politely and hand out a tin box of cookies in exchange -always thinking they got the better deal. The fruitcakes end up in our fridge. It’s like during a rainy summer when you end up with too many zucchinis in your garden -all football size and bigger- and you try to come up with a solution to get rid of them.

What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander

I can’t help but smile when I think about all the Holiday geese who found their way into our kitchen. Roasted goose with potato dumplings and homemade red cabbage. A feast of the past, today a treat I rarely prepare anymore. It’s not worth the effort I have decided, but the smile on my face tells me otherwise.

Born a Racist -Changed by Life!

The first migrant workers arrived in Austria, following an invitation from the Austrian government.

I was born 4,500 miles away in a small village in the Alps. One foot one the Italian side, the other on the Austrian side my Grandma always joked. I met Gastarbeiter/Migrant workers), who were guest/gast in our country, invited by our government. Most of them came from the former Yugoslavia, a few Turkish men followed the invitation as well.

Lent Memories

Lent was a big deal in our Catholic boarding school. 40 days of fasting was the motto, which didn’t bother us too much, we were used to it. Boarding school food is a bit like hospital food, and fasting comes naturally.

I am not happy, or perhaps I am?

I’m not happy. I feel a genuine sense of heartbreak every single day. A lot of it has to do with me being hyper-observant and somewhat intelligent. Not meaning to toot my own horn, but there’s a threshold, I believe, where too much knowledge, too much awareness, too much understanding makes it literally impossible to attain a state of happiness.