As announced, the sun wakes us up this morning. Somehow I have the feeling that the topic of solar energy is becoming a challenge for Torgit. I want to cuddle up, you set up the solar bag. - The smarter one gives in, Torgit would say. - I had no idea at the time that I would feel guilty about this in the evening. - Because apparently today was a good day to soak up the sun. We have broken our previous record. While we had 530 Wh on St. Nicholas Day, today we even managed an impressive 580 Wh. Torgit now assumes that we would have managed a six in front. - I'll probably have to give up sex soon to get a six. What a time it was when electricity came so easily from the socket. - But when I hear that European countries are once again calling for nuclear power to be recognized as green electricity, I can only respond with sarcasm. As they used to say in the 80s, "Nuclear power is funny, it always radiates". - But back to solar power.
I was aware that we achieve slightly better values in Portugal than in Germany. But I would never have thought it possible that we would exceed the manufacturer's figures for midsummer. Because the sun is relatively flat here too.
Otherwise, we also enjoy the energy of the sun for ourselves. My morning ritual of first taking a dip in the Atlantic is nothing new. But when Torgit does yoga today, I'm suitably motivated to do something again. - Sit-ups, press-ups, squats, planks and various stretching exercises. - Afterwards, I go bike hunting, i.e. to Lidl. Yes, there's something like that here too. - On the way back, I meet up with Anja and Micha. - Micha has just come back from cutting asparagus. - There is actually wild green asparagus here. I had the opportunity to try it a few days ago. - Simply delicious. Maybe he'll tell me exactly where he can find it when he gets the chance.
Then it's time for the hammock. We decide to have our breakfast in the hammock - at around 2:30 p.m. it's probably safe to call it a late breakfast. So we sit, with lambskin on our backs, and have a leisurely breakfast. A group of hikers pass by and are visibly irritated by the sight.
As I ponder a little, I realize that every year, after the end-of-year conference, the topic of gifts has been at the forefront. I always based my selection on a poem by Joachim Ringelnatz....
"Give big or small,
but always dignified.
When the recipients weigh the gift,
let your conscience be clear.
Give heartily and freely.
Give as a gift,
what lives within you
in opinion, taste and humor,
so that your own joy beforehand
you will be richly rewarded.
Give with spirit without cunning.
Be mindful,
that your gift -
You are yourself."
Not infrequently, this time of "contemplation" was less contemplative than planned. - If I think, for example, of the gifts that we have chosen year after year for employees of our partner company, it has become more difficult year after year to please everyone and to remain true to the above-mentioned "principles". - Yesterday, for example, I reported on the FISH motivation book. - One year, we gave it to every employee who worked with us. Quite a lot came together. From the "little" clerk to the Management Board. In the end, the book was read the most in the so-called "poison kitchen", i.e. at administrator level. To my delight, there was a lot of positive feedback from parts of the company, which always came into focus in all questions of guilt. - It would have been better if the board members, divisional managers etc. had taken it into their own hands. The fact that I find this book here in the "dirty kids" section is actually quite telling. (Torgit's note: How many nights have I tossed and turned writing dedications in books? The first delivery was 60 and we ordered more books. The first dedications were certainly still easy to read, but at some point my handwriting left a lot to be desired 😉 )
Today I can just sit back and relax. Although I've always enjoyed giving gifts, this also has its appeal.
But Torgit also seems to be moved by the subject of Christmas...
In a wonderful article by Vabora Yoga from Bonn about abundance, happiness and slowing down, also in relation to Christmas, I stumble across the expression "in these last 2 weeks". - It's only a week until Christmas. She got that wrong. It can happen. And then the penny dropped for me with such force: there are still 2 weeks until the end of the year. For me, Christmas was always the deadline and the measure of all time. Because that's when our stress, our final sprint, ended. On December 24th, I closed the office door behind me and lay back and relaxed, thinking: everything is done. There's nothing more to do.
Only to start up again in horror: Do we have everything for Christmas? No, of course not. The guilty conscience immediately kicks in. Are the Christmas decorations pretty enough? Could I, should I, should I have made more of an effort? - My neighbor's decorations are much nicer. Why didn't I start preparing earlier? I actually like baking cookies. But when? And who's going to eat them? The new pants are already pinching again. What do I give to whom? I quickly buy a few presents. It's high season for my inner critic. And I have a guilty conscience.
What do we eat at Christmas? It should be something special. You treat yourself to something.
What are we doing and when? Who do we see when? When I was a child, Christmas was all about driving around: lunch at one grandma's, coffee and cake at another grandma's, dinner at great-grandma's. It was always very nice, but also kind of a chore and not without its stresses and strains. There were always arguments on Christmas Eve because everything had to be perfect, everyone had a different idea of how it should be and nerves were on edge.
Please understand, I love my family very much. Not just at Christmas. And Marc and I only argue about trivial things when we do. Our inner children fight in the sandpit over the mold. We always agree on important things. And that's what counts. Perhaps at some point we will create a contemplative Advent season, take time for Christmas and the people we love, without a hectic pace and a guilty conscience. Perhaps we will learn here on our journey that it doesn't always have to be "either - or", either stress in Cologne or peace and quiet on vacation* somewhere else, but can also simply be in Cologne or the center of our lives.
Some news arrives with a delay. - Six days ago, Rolling Stone reported that Bodo Staiger had passed away. - Now some people are probably asking themselves, who is Bodo Staiger? - Some may remember the movie "The Fan" with Desirée Nosbusch in the leading role. Bodo Staiger played the male lead, R, a pop star, in this German horror film. Not knowing the movie is no shame, even Bodo didn't see the end. The connection with Marius Müller-Westernhagen certainly doesn't ring a bell either. The two played in a school band with the illustrious name Harakiri Whoom. Nevertheless, there are reasons to know him.
"Upbeat, in time, in four beats, it should sound"
Correct - triadic dimensions are tactful, light play impressions are colorful. - Hue, semitone and synchronous vibrations.
Bodo Staiger was the head of the Düsseldorf band Rheingold. - 1981- I was thirteen and had my first stereo system. - Nobody had thought of Dolby Surround yet. Instead of computer games, there were video games, e.g. Activision Tennis for the Atari 2600 games console - if there was one song that fitted the times, it was this one. - rest in peace.
"Conclusion, departure, sequences, without limits"
Life goes, life comes. - What comes is news that makes this day something very, very, very, very, very special. My youngest nephew Tim's daughter was born today. - Congratulations to Majda, his wife and him. - But above all, congratulations on the brilliant choice of name. Emily Sophie. The fabulous world of the Spirit of Ecstasy. 😁 Naming your daughter after a legendary radiator figure is not cool, it's cooler.
"Light play impressions are full of color."
The genes cannot be denied, the child looks too much like his grandfather, my brother-in-law Achim. - Knowing Majda's family, photos proving the maternal line will soon appear. I'm looking forward to it.
The fresh air, the energy of the waves, makes me sleepy - suddenly I'm dozing off. When I wake up again, it's already cooled down noticeably. Time to put everything away again and do the dishes. Because of course there are also such mundane things to do here. Later we sit in Hector. We are cooking. We're having pasta again. It's funny how we never get tired of them. Sometimes I feel like it's done something to me that I was conceived under the Italian sun.
Ps: By the way, we discovered the van in today's start picture at the VW dealer. Note the Christmas safety regulations, with fire extinguisher in the background.
*I'll have to explain to Torgit on occasion that this is no longer a vacation. - This is our life.
Insight of the day: Life, bad news and good news. The mixture determines satisfaction.
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