Happy October to all my Friends and Readers
New Calendar picture with this
beautiful watercolour painting by Hanka Koebsch
New Calendar picture with this
beautiful watercolour painting by Hanka Koebsch
"Gimpel"
"Bullfinch"
Hanka says to this picture:
"We photographed these small, beautiful representatives of our garden birds in the Marlow Bird Park before he 'stood' as a model in this watercolor painting."
"Diesen kleinen schönen Vertreter unserer Gartenvögel haben wir im Vogelpark Marlow fotografiert, bevor er in diesem Aquarell Modell 'stand'."
Read more on their website here. *
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September was finally a month where I could breathe. Happy, happy, happy to see my favourite season: Autumn!
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This is the time of year where a lot of us are starting to read more and I have a great German word to tell you about:
📖 Schmökern 📖
If you look up the word on Google translate, they give you "browse" but it definitely is so much more than that. Originally, it comes from the Low German word "smöken" (to smoke, see where you got that one from). Students used an old book by tearing out a a strip of paper to light the pipe.
But, over the course of the centuries, as so often, it changed its meaning. Not it means: to leisurely browse through books, immersing oneself in the content for the sheer joy and pleasure of it and delve into them without a specific goal.
One of my favourite words.
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My favourite book last month was "Remainders of the Day: More Diaries from The Bookshop, Wigtown" by Shaun Bythell.
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September was also the month of our annual holiday where both our boy met us for a couple of days. We went to Oostende in Belgium, just by the sea. It was beautiful. The weather was fantastic, we had a lovely apartment, everything was close by, especially the ocean.
To give you an impression of the beauty of our holidays, here's a collage:
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The old German word for October is Gilbhart or Weinmond.
The first word means "yellow" and "hard" and describes the yellow leaves in the autumn. Wein means winte and is self-explanatory, the month where the harvest in the vinyards started.
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* You can also have a look under my labels Artist: Frank Koebsch and Artist: Hanka Koebsch where you can find all my posts about the two artists.
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I do really like your explanation of German words. There seem to be an endless supply of interesting ones! One for *every* occasion I think... [grin]
ReplyDeleteWhen I was shunted into German back in 2007 (the Spanish classes being full), I was disappointed, but grew to enjoy the language. I'm afraid I've only maintained the classroom basics instead of developing fluency, though.
DeleteThanks, Kitten. I'm sure you are aware of Susie Dent, I love her explanations of English words and idioms. I won't attempt to do the same for German but I guess one word a month is better than none.
Delete@Stephen. I highly recommend Duolingo to get back into the subject, they are very good. And it's free.
Ooh, I like that schmökern word! I read the bookshop diary earlier in the year and have begun following him on facebook as a consequence.
ReplyDeleteYou and me both, Stephen. He is absolutely hilarous.
DeleteSchmokern is a great word! And I love that bird watercolor, too. :D Happy October!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lark. Both artists are great in capturing the little details in their nature pictures.
DeleteHappy October. We are in Corsica for the time being and feel a little bit of the autumn, but not as much as back home. Still sunny and lovely weather.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting word Schmörken, and its definitions. Perfect for dark autumn evenings. How nice to be able to meet your boys in Oostende. If you have not read Volker Weidermann's 'Ostende 1936, Sommer der Freundschaft' I can recommend it. It was a place where Zweig, Roth and other intellectuals met before darkness hit Europe. In English it is called The Summer before the Dark. It is a very interesting read.
I wish you a good October.
Thanks, Lisbeth. Enjoy Corsica. Sounds great. I'm looking forward to your descriptions and pictures.
DeleteYes, I love the word "schmökern", so German and so cuddly.
I have read "Ostende 1936 ..." but I had never been, can you believe it? Here's my review:
https://momobookblog.blogspot.com/2018/10/weidermann-volker-summer-before-dark.html
Thanks for your good wishes. The same to you.
Lovely travel pictures and you must have been thrilled to have such a perfect setting for a family reunion. Even the weather looks pleasant. Happy October!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Eva. It was a wonderful place to meet the boys and we all enjoyed it tremendously.
DeleteI believe that! By the way, I have no idea why the comments are not working for you on my blog. Another friend from Germany has the same problem, but no American or British people do. Could it be cookies?
DeleteI have no idea, Eva. With problems like this, we must all hope that it will pass at some point. At least I am not the only one, so there must be a glitch somewhere.
DeleteYes, sometimes those problems just disappear by themselves.
DeleteHow lovely to spend time with your sons! beautoful photos, thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteIt gets more precious every year, Sarah, and we always enjoy it tremendously.
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