Author Archives: Lorne Anderson
In The Vineyards
The past month has brought an explosion of green, as suddenly the vines have grown at a rapid pace. The grapes appear to be coming along nicely. I wonder though how much will be harvested. News reports I have seen indicate that alcohol consumption is up during the period of COVID-19 self-isolation. You would think […]
American Amateur Hour
Somehow it seems appropriate that he made the announcement on Twitter. Rapper Kanye West says he is running for president of the US. I can’t take this seriously. Given the way the American electoral system is set up, his chances of even being on the ballot are slim. He has no experience, but that didn’t […]
Turkish Politics and You
With the world concentrating on COVID-19, you may have missed Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s latest not so subtle move to reshape his country. He wants to turn a museum into a mosque. Not just any museum though, but a UNESCO world heritage building, the Hagia Sophia. This is a popular move in a country where […]
Independence Day 2020
It is an election year in the USA, and for the most part I have been ignoring that in this space. I thought today would be a good day to start a series on the state of America in 2020, but have reconsidered. It is a holiday in the US, the anniversary of the day […]
Friday Thoughts
I’m not sure about the 650 million year part. And if you didn’t have a brain, would you be smart enough to hope for one? Today’s planned post was about masks. The City of Ottawa is supposed to be announcing today whether non-medical masks will be required of anyone entering a store. That this is […]
Too Close for Comfort
One of the biggest differences between Germany and Canada hit home again last week. Everything here is so congested. It isn’t that the cities have a denser population (though they probably do). Or that houses have much smaller yards (which also appears to be true). Or that a greater percentage of the population rents apartments […]
Birth of a Nation
July 1 is a holiday in Canada, the birthday of our nation. For me, a Canadian living in Germany, it is just another work day. But I’ve been thinking about my homeland, and what it means to be Canadian. That probably happens to a lot of people when they live in another country for extended […]
Isn’t Life Fun?
Today’s post has been hijacked by the IT people, who don’t share my opinion of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” I needed to install new software in order to take advantage of a new videoconferencing platform. I didn’t see anything wrong with the old one myself, but it was work-related, and I do […]
Peacock Time
Sunday afternoon we spent some time in the Kurpark in the nearby village of Bad Krozingen. It wasn’t what we had planned, but we ran into some neighbors on the bus who convinced us it would be worth the visit. It was. The park is more than 40 hectares, a mix of cultured and wild with […]
The Micro Church
When we first arrived in southern Germany we saw a number of small churches dotting the landscape. usually situated right beside some very large farm houses. Why would anyone build something like that? The friend who was driving us through the area explained that back when the weather was more extreme and roads less passable, […]
random thoughts from lorne 
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