Category Society
Oktoberfest?
The month is over and for the second year in a row I failed to take part in any Oktoberfest activities. Soon they’ll be revoking my honorary German status. The closest I came was last week in Munich, which, as everyone knows is the spiritual centre of Oktoberfest. Well, I wasn’t actually in the city, […]
No Partridge…
…but I did find a pear tree. Yesterday was a beautiful day, so I took a mid-afternoon break fro a walk through the vineyards at the edge of town, choosing to go west instead of my usual east. (East is closer and less hilly.) I had heard that it was zero Celsius back in Canada, […]
Notes From My Spam Folder
I try not to look too often in my email spam folder, the “junk” mail filtered out by my service provider. It usually is junk, though occasionally some of the mailings I subscribe to wind up there. I just checked it for the first time in a few weeks and discovered I have been missing […]
Dinner Time (Cultural Differences XV)
Came across another cultural difference , but not one between Germany and Canada as I have been documenting here from time to time. This one surprised me. We were invited to dinner in a village about a 40-minute drive from our home in Sulzburg. Our hosts were celebrating their new apartment. They came here as […]
Up In Smoke
Take a deep breath. On second thought, maybe you had better not. The second-hand smoke is likely to be pretty thick. Canada’s Liberal government has finally kept an election promise, albeit one that should not have been made. Today, possession and use of recreational marijuana becomes legal in Canada. Criminal lawyers are rejoicing. The business […]
Walnutty
If the tree is by the side of the road then the nuts are for anyone who wants them. Or so I have been told. Apparently, local municipalities plant walnut trees because they are low maintenance and people can be counted on to do the harvesting. I guess the grocery stores aren’t that thrilled, but […]
Fall Color
The leaves on the trees haven’t started to change yet – and I’m not sure if southern Germany gets the vibrant colors that we are used to in Canada. Certainly last fall was underwhelming. However, the city of Sulzburg has a number of displays around the market square with a Fall theme. I guess I […]
Now I Know!
I have passed by this contraption dozens of times in the past year as we walked through the vineyards on the outskirts of Sulzburg, and each time wondered what it was. Firewood was all I could think of, but why would it be so elaborately housed? This past Sunday the mystery was solved. Touring the […]
I Missed It
Friday night a tornado ripped through Ottawa, a very rare occurrence. I’m in Germany. The first I heard of it was when I woke up Saturday morning to read that 150,000 people were without power. Homes were destroyed, people injured and it was being described as the worst natural disaster since the 1998 ice storm […]
Talking Trade
When you get thrown under the bus, your first priority is to avoid the wheels. Once you have done that, you figure out your next move. These days Canada’s Prime Minister is doing his best to not get hit by the wheels. Last Monday the US and Mexico announced a trade deal to replace NAFTA, […]
random thoughts from lorne 
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