My Daily Banana

Photo of the Day:

A bumble bee nest in a rabbit hole.
 I found it on the footpath between Ragdale and Hoby

Event of the Day:

23rd June 2014

Lorena Gallo Bobbit severed her husband's penis with a kitchen knife. 
She did it because she thought him selfish always having an orgasm and not waiting for her to come. It was sown on again in a nine and a half hour operation and she was found not guilty due to insanity.

Birthday of the Day:

23rd June 1940

Stuart Sutcliffe is on the far left above the lady with the blue hat.

Stuart Sutcliffe the fifth Beatle.

He left in 1961 and returned to Hamburg where he lived with his girlfriend the photographer Astrid Kirchheim (she's the one who was responsible for the mop-top) . Stuart enrolled into an the Hamburg College of Art where his tutor Eduardo Paolozzi noted him as being a very promising student but in 1962 he suffered a brain hemorrhage due to an aneurism.

Died on this Day:

23rd June 2011

Peter Falk

You will all know his as "I have another question, not important, it's just for the record" Lieutenant  Columbo. Always dressed to kill in his grubby mack and with a cigar stub between his lips he acted the simple minded detective from Los Angeles who always got his man.

Thoughts:

A nice quiet day doing nothing but pausing. I uploaded my blog for Saturday, wrote and uploaded my blog for Sunday and now I'm writing my Monday blog, like John Jennon said when recording the song Helter Skelter on the White album "I've got blisters on my fingers".  That's at least four hours of research and writing, I think it was worth it though: what do you think?

Monday's my last full day of fun in England, how time flies!! I'm going to visit Sylvia and go around Lincoln with her, Andrea, Jimmy and Jerry. That sounds good, another nostalgic trip, all I want to do is soak up the atmosphere, so that I can survive the next six years without seeing the town I call "Heimat". It isn't home for me anymore but a piece of my heart always pines for the town.
Do you know what I mean Fraser?
On my stroll today I took pictures of some lovely flowers and I couldn't hold myself back publishing them. If the download takes a wee bit too long: sorry, it was meant that way!

Where's Moses?
the burning bush

An English Rose

You tell me!

Bye, more tomorrow. xxx

My Daily Banana

Photo of the Day:

Kerry, Lee and the happy couple Andrea and Matt
Thank you for putting me up and putting up with me,
have a good honeymoon on Corfu

Event this Day:

22nd June 1968

The song "Here Comes Da Judge" be Buena Vistas peaks at eighty-eight in the Billboard charts

22nd June 1981

Mark David Chapman

pleads guilty of murdering John Lennon on this day and is then sentenced to life imprisonment for second degree murder (may he stay inside until he rots)

Born this Day:

22nd June 1936

Kris Kristofferson

e

He wrote Me and Bobby McGee  (here sung by Kris himself) which was magnificently performed and recorded by Janis Joplin

The acting career of Kris also needs praising, I love his strong guy scenes in Convoy back in 1978 (cool)

Died this Day:

22nd June 1969

Judy Garland

always to be remembered as Dorothy Gale in the Wizard of Oz

Thoughts:

I'm not going to get used to driving in England. It sucks. My sat nav has problems finding it's way around, if I type in that I want to travel the economically best way it sends me through roads that are just wide enough for two bicycles or on dirt tracks. The road from Ragdale to Lincoln on the A46 (a main road at least five years old, even older if you see the state of it) most of the road doesn't exist; the sat nav keeps saying "If possible do a U-turn" ever though I'm on the main highway to Lincoln. Today I drove back from Grantham, Lincolnshire to Ragdale and in the village of Eaton in Leicestershire I turned a corner and a minivan was coming from the front; I had to break hard, we were both speeding at about 20 kph and I had to back up fifty metres to let him pass it was so narrow.

As you all saw yesterday we had a small family reunion. It has been so long since I have seen my sisters; Sylvia fifteen years and Andrea twelve. Not only did I see my sisters Andrea phoned Fraser and Mama up as well so I got to talk to them also. Mama was shocked, "Who are you?" she asked until it sunk in and she realized it was me. She sounded quite fit, well in head and mind I don't know how she is otherwise. And Fraser, it was the first conversation with him that I have had since 1984 when Heike and I were on holiday in Perth, Australia. What did I have to say? After thirty years I had hardly nothing to say, I was struck dumb, all I could think of saying was reminding him to look after his health  and to go to have checkups.

I could write a book today, so much has happened the last three days. When I get home next week I'll need a holiday to wind down again. I love it!!!

We all went to the wedding of my great nephew Matthew and his lovely wife Andrea yesterday. For me and my sisters the day started off in the hotel in Grantham, "the continuous reunion" and then I went to the town centre with Andrea and Jimmy with their Ziehkind (grandson) Jerry. 

Grantham is quite an old town and sorrily it is looking its age; the town has loads of commercial property that is empty, be it industrial or retail property. It's a sad sight but when I watched the people in she main street they were the ever happy people that I remember from England. The area around the St. Wulfram Parish church seems to be the best kept in town. The church itself is more a cathedral than a church, it has a main ship that is at least twenty-five metres high and a spire that's more than forty metres high (the metres are guessed so please correct me if I've fibbed). I had a nice walk around, a cup of tea and a chat to the old ladies looking after the church. That was good, they gave me a short private tour of the church, it seems I attract old women they think I've a story to tell, they can't be interested in my body they're too old for that. Enough, enough, I'm getting silly!! 

After that we rejoined (Andrea, Jim, Jerry and I) had a pint in a pub in the market square and set off to the wedding. That was in the registry office in Grantham. Very solemn, the marriage vows are different from what I remember though. I can recall the couple to be wed saying "With this ring I thee wed" now it's not quite the same, it was nice how they pledge that they will forever love and cherish each other and it's still "till death do us part." Did I pledge that to you Heike? Unnecessary, I will do anyway. 

That'll do, I'm getting sentimental and tomorrow is another day; if I write too much today I dry up tomorrow and that's not the point of writing a blog.

My Daily Banana

Another traveling Banana

Photo of the Day:

Guess where I am?
Fraser are you jealous?

Event of the Day:

21st June 1879

The first Woolies opened

1920 the Woolworth's store opens in the Lincoln High Street

F. W. Woolworth opened his first store in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States
He called his shop "The Woolworths 5cent and 10cent Store" and sold everything for this price.
Back when I was a child and in my youth Woolies was an institution, the biggest shop in town. In the 1990's the company slowly died out in the USA, in Britain and Germany they went insolvent. The German company was taken over by Tengelmann (they also own KIK and T€DI) and now have 260 stores. The last time I was in Berlin I saw one, it was quite a surprise I thought they had all been shut like in Britain. It didn't look good though, like all the Tengelmann stores it looked like jumble sale shops and they also have that flair.


Birthday of the Day:

21st June 1944

Ray Davies

one of the founders of the Kinks

Lazing on a Sunny Afternoon

I found the group quite refreshing back in the sixties, they weren't as middle of the road as many others. The songs were swingy and the lyrics said something other than the wishy washy love songs of the time.


Died on this Day:

21st June 2001

John Lee Hooker

Blues was his name and blues was his music. Hard to imagine but although he was illiterate he composed many songs in his life.
He stared with two songs in the Blues Brothers film and because he never played and sang a song twice the same way, his performance was filmed and taped live; that isn't the practice when filming, normally it would be full playback. The part of John Belushi as Jake Blues was influenced by John Lee.
(Boom, Boom, Boom and Boogie Chillun the recording of Boogie Chillun is a version from 1948, because of the German GEMA restrictions the video can't be shown on the German YouTube site)

Thoughts:

I'm here, in England and this afternoon I'm going to see my sisters. I'm looking foreword to that, I haven't seen Andrea in about twelve years and Sylvia in donkey's years, that means I can't remember. Last time I visited Lincoln was in the last century (doesn't that sound like it was in another world or time warp?). I'm staying for a couple of days in Ragdale at Kerry's and Lee's house (thank you for putting me up and putting up with me!!!xxx). 

The countryside is magnificent, I love it; in Germany where I live it's beautiful also but it's flat and here it's hilly. I should have brought my racer with me, but the time is too short, thanks Lee for offering me your bicycle but it's not just the bike, I won't ride without a helmet and I can't ride without click in shoes / pedals (you could say I'm fussy, I know, with getting older I'm stubborn and funny in my ways).

When I've finished my blog I'm going to drive to Lincoln, take in the atmosphere of my old home. You can't imagine how I'm looking foreword to that. Sorry sisters but it's more thrilling for me than seeing you two again. I want to park the car down in Abbott Street area and walk up to the tourist part of town, I bet I'l have drunk five cappuccinos before I get up the hill. I want to feel the town, hope it doesn't rain. 

I'll be taking loads of photos, but I'll have to post them later, when I get back to Germany. My iBook hasn't got a program with which I can reduce the size of the files and my camera saves the photos in 14 megapixel; which means the photos are between five and eight MB. That's too big for the blog.

My Daily Banana

Traveling banana

Photo of the Day:

Bis nächste Woche Liebling xxxxx

Event of the Day:

20th June 1837

The first British stamp was issued; 

the Penny Black

20th June 1948

The Deutsche Mark was introduced in West Germany

My last shirt
I'm never without money in my pocket

Many are still pining for the old Deutsche Mark but it's gone never to return again. Have any of you got some stashed away? I still have my last shirt in the wallet, it's a ten mark note folded up as if it were a shirt. I folded it way, way back in time when I was a cab driver on Sylt, that must have been around 1989.

Birthday of the Day:

20th June 1909

Errol Flynn

The guy who is said to have a massive p…. was born on this day in 1909 in Hobart, Tasmania (did it belong to the Australian state then? Does it now? That's on the opposite side of the world and that's politicly a white spot for me.)

20th June 1949

Lionel Richie

The soft singer. I saw him back in 1977 in Dortmund when he was a member of the Commodores. At the time I didn't appreciate their music, I was into semi hard rock, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and some softies like James Taylor, Carole King or the Eagles. The Commodores were a very good group though, you have to give them high credits for songs such as Once, Twice, Three Times a Lady or Flying High my absolute favorite. I've linked the LP recordings because of the quality, the live versions lose so much and these are songs which have a very high standard of composition that only comes out in studio recording (especially Flying High)

Died on this Day:

20th June 1947

Benjamin Siegel aka Bugsy

a nasty mobster in the USA. He was assassinated at his girlfriend's apartment in Beverly Hills California.

I noted his death because I was desperate, nobody I knew of  or of interest died on this day and Mr Nobody can't come up too ofter.

Thoughts:

Today I had the day off so I went for a long, long walk. That was expensive, every couple of kilometers I had to stop for a cup of cappuccino. It's about time I started drinking something else, I'm taking in too much sugar (the milk and the cocoa powder on the froth) as well as too much caffeine. if I carry on like this I'll have to start off a new challenge to get rid of the pounds I'm gaining. Happily tomorrow will get back to normal, just sat around all day in front of the computer but then in the evening I've been invited to join in on a meal and that means excessive calories, shit I haven't got my bike with me, I need exercise.

One of the many

Aren't they sweet

And isn't the car sweet

My Daily Banana

Thoughts to start with today:

Today I'm reducing the size of the photos, I've got a bad internet connection and now know how long it takes to load them. Why didn't anybody complain?

Please give me feedback whether I should post the extra large pictures or like today reduced.

The Giant Rhubarb (Gunnera manicata)

The giant rhubarb is growing bigger every week.

I don't think it will grow any taller, maybe it'll get bushier there are still some shoots that have just started to grow.

Event of the Day:

19th June 1829

Sir Robert Peel, the home secretary (in 1834 he became the prime minister of the United Kingdom) at the time, formed the Metropolitan Police (Bobbies in England, after Sir Robert Peels forename, In Ireland Peelers after his surname)

Birthday of the Day:

19th June 1978

Garfield the Cat

The orange and black lazy fat but cool cat had his first appearance thirty-six years ago today.

Died on this Day:

19th June 1977

Lady Olave Baden-Powell

She founded the Girl Guides in the United Kingdom with her husband Sir Robert Baden-Powell

This is the biggest hotel in Niebüll
The Niebüller Hof
It's owned by the woman I wrote about the other day who is letting the old vestry house go to ruins.
She owns another hotel in Niebüll that she bought five years ago, she's letting that fall apart also. I can't understand why she buys so much property in this town if she doesn't use it.

A common peony and a rose planted together

The allotments in Niebüll
Not many are interested in having an allotment these days,
it's too much work (I don't want one either, then I'd have to reduce my other activities)
It's a pity though, a lot of the gardens are overgrown with weeds and desolate.

A sign I saw stuck on the Lidl till. It tells the till attendant exactly how to treat the customers
We are Friendly!
Greet every customer individually.
Scan the goods at a speed that fits the customer. (Ha, ha that's a laugh)
Keep eye contact.
Say thank you and please.
When finished always end the transaction by saying "Thank you for buying hear. Till the next time"

Isn't it sad that people have to be reminded to be courteous?

Thoughts as an ending to this short blog:

I'm tired, it's been a long day and I'm on a business trip. The traveling and talking is very tiring. Am I getting too old? Yesterday I left home and travelled the first part of the journey, 600 kilometers and today the last 250. Then I had a long, long talk, that's new for me I hardly get my mouth open at home. I've got a wife to do the talking for me, in Germany they call me Mundfaul (that's directly translated mouth lazy) so next time you see me you'll know my new nickname.

Bye, see you tomorrow

My Daily Banana

Photo of the Day



Die Badene Nixe

Hi you all, I don't have much time to write today. Just a few photos from our outing to the open farm in Klintum in Sunday. It was a brilliant day except for the pollen and things that got into my nose and eyes. The stuff I got from my doctor is doing what it should and I'm feeling better than I have for months.

At the Italian Cafe in Leck
The cappuccino was so hot I burned my mouth

A calve at the farm, doesn't she look sweet?

The tractors are real monsters these days, I've seen even bigger ones

A Volkswagen Variant,
I learned to drive and took my test in one of these back in 1974

A pink rose for my love

A corn flower,
I don't see many of them in the fields now a days

Bye See you all tomorrow

My Daily Banana

 

 

 

Number of the Day:

The Challenge 

94.4

 

That's in kilograms and what I now weigh, I have reduced my weight by 5.7 kg's

And you two?

Have I won?

 

 

Photo of the Day:

 

4:0

Event of the Day:

17th June 1966

 

Peter Green replaces Eric Clapton in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers

A year later he and the drummer Mick Fleetwood form the group Fleetwood Mac. The magazine Rolling Stone ranked him 38th on the list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of all Time"

He wrote many of the early Fleetwood Mac's recordings including the monumental "Albatross"

 

 

Birthday of the Day:

 

17th June 1943

 

 

It's Barry (Mandy) Manilow's birthday.

His music may be middle of the road, but his achievements in the modern music world cannot be ignored and must be greatly honoured. The guy has sold over 80 million records, some good, some "so la la" and some rubbish. Still when I saw that it is his seventy-first birthday at least one tune came to mind "Mandy" How many baby girls have been named after this song? I wouldn't, at least not in an English speaking country, the nickname is not very flattering.

 

 

Died on this Day:

 

17th June 1996

 

Curt Swan

 

 

The artist mainly responsible for the Superman comics in the fifties through to the eighties. He drew many of the front covers during these decades.

 

 

Thoughts:

 

My hayfever is getting on my ...

It's so bad that yesterday I decided to go to the GP (general practitioner aka. doctor).

That's something that doesn't happen very often, I mean going to the GP, I hate it because it means waiting for between two and three hours. I was there once, with a bad bout of flu, after waiting two and a half hours I complained. That I should not have done, the doctor happened to be in the reception and I got a great big rocketing from him. The surgery was so busy (it was a Monday morning, the pensioners and work scivers were there "en masse") and he was stressed and here was I complaining, later I understood why he blew up on me, but at the time I wanted to bugger off and hide myself. Back to yesterday, it was half past five in the afternoon and Germany had their first World Cup match at six: can you imagine how it looked in the surgery's waiting room? Empty!!

Thank you Germany (the team) and you even won, I wasn't expecting that.

 

One of the reasons my eyes are itching

Bye. See you tomorrow xxx