Happy December!

Happy December to all my friends and readers

New Calendar picture with this
beautiful watercolour painting by Hanka Koebsch

"Auf dem Weg zum Nordpol"
"On the Way to the North Pole"

  I don't think Hanka Koebsch thought that so many people might want to follow the two characters in her painting on the way to the North Pole now. Who could have imagined last year that we would wish us to be anywhere but where there are many people around?

Usually, December is the time where the days get shorter, the temperature colder and wetter. But we can also look forward to lovely evenings at home with the family celebrating advent and Christmas or outside on Christmas markets and later welcoming the new year. I don't think there has been a new year as eagerly awaited since the end of the last World War. Let us all hope that it will be better than this one and that it brings us relief from Covid-19.

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At least it has done our environment some good. We still have a long way to go but let's hope that even the last climate change sceptics have learned it now (after at least half a century that really should be a discussion point any more). I think this year has shown us that we need to do something.

The "German Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation" (Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland) declared the broad-leaved marsh orchid (Dactylorhiza majalis) for their orchid of the year. Orchids are not my favourite flowers but these don't look much like those imported versions, they live in our wet meadows and are endangered because most of these biotopes are roded nowadays.

Let's hope they still bring joy to us for many, many years to come.

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I wish you all a very happy December. And don't be too sad if you have to celebrate Christmas alone. We don't think our sons can come this year, they both live in different countries, we all have different rules and regulations and even if it is possible, it's really too dangerous to travel. So, if you can only see your kids from time to time, think about me. We saw our oldest son in March, shortly before Corona started and then both boys in August when it was easier for them to travel. And that's it. But with the internet and all the modern possibilities to talk to each other, we are not in such a bad position as our grand-parents and great-grand-parents were a hundred years ago.

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And think about the Islandic tradition of Jólabókaflóð! Maybe a good way to spend Christmas instead.

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And one more quote from one of the books I just read: "Did it ever occur to you … that tolerance can reach a point where it is no more tolerance? When that happens, the noble-sounding attitude which most of us pride ourselves degenerates into weakness and acquiescence." Grace Metalious, "Peyton Place"

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Have a happy December with this beautiful watercolour painting by Hanka Koebsch. Stay safe!


You can find many more wonderful pictures on their website here.

You can also have a look under my labels Artist: Frank Koebsch and Artist: Hanka Koebsch where you can find all my posts about them.