My Daily Banana

 

 

The Wedding Bell Banana

 

Photo of the day:

 

The happy couple 06.05.1950

 

Word of the day:

lascivious

 

Lustful, arousing sexual desire, sometimes common

 

Name of the day:

Waldtraut

A two part Germanic name meaning (Wald) wood or forest and (traut) belief, trust or strength

Event of the day:

6th May 1950

In Munkmarsch, Sylt, Germany

Fraulein Waldtraut Agnes Nickelsen and Master George Alexander Martin were married.

 

It was Mama’s 20th birthday and a day before Papa’s 26th.

They met 1946 or 1947 in Westerland on the Isle of Sylt; Papa was stationed there on the R.A.F. camp. Soon after they met Papa was demobbed and went back to Scotland; where he worked as a joiner for the Earl of Huntly. They kept in touch! Mama once proudly showed me a fountain pen that she treasures; it was the pen with which she wrote her love letters to George.

Westerland Friedrich Strasse about the time they met

Haus Seeburg; There was a dance hall in the cellar where they met

 

 

George and Waldtraut stayed apart for the next nineteen months until Papa enlisted again and got a posting to Westerland. It took another year and a half and they were married, had four loving children and lived together and were first separated when Papa passed away on the 11th November 1990 (that’s forty years of marriage).

 

Sylva

Raymond

Sorry I haven't any pictures of Andrea and Fraser as babies, pity!

Birthday of the day:

6th May 1930

In Keitum, Sylt, Germany

Waldtraut Agnes Martin born Nickelsen

Mama in 1956

Waldtraut was born in Keitum on the beautiful isle of Sylt, Germay. Her parents were Agnes Nickelsen (born Stegemann) and Karl Nickelsen. Oma and Opa couldn’t wait till they were married before they hopped into bed, so Mama was born shortly after they said „Ja, ich will". (Ha, how could this happen? Sylvia and I followed suit!) Mama had two sisters, Henriette and Karla and a brother, he was killed in a motor crash at one or two years old. The two sisters have unfortunately also passed away, so Mama’s the last of the Nickelsen clan.

Mama today

 

Died on this day:

 

6th May 2011

In Paris, France

Marlene Dietrich

Born 27th December 1901

In Schöneberg, Berlin, Germany

A German actress, that left Germany for Hollywood in 1931. She never returned!

Her most known film appearance is in the UFA film "Blue Angel" in which she lasciviously poses in a short costume showing her legs above her stockings. Nowadays not much; back in 1930 it was very daring.

Falling in love again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaZDiKRT1is
 

Marlene Dietrich

 

 

Cycle ride of the day:

Flies, flies and flies. While flying round the countryside I was constantly thrashing through swarms of flies. It’s not a nice feeling; they get everywhere, in the eyes, in the mouth, under the clothes, everywhere!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/493717961

 

I saw a spud planter again. The technic is very ingenious. Look at the tractor with its planting trailer. I was asking myself though, why do they plant so many spuds in a row? The potatoes are planted with no room between and sometimes two next to each other. If I were planting potatoes in my patch I would leave three to four inches between them. Is it so that they stay small? I can imagine if they don’t have any room in the earth they will stay small. Can anyone remember the potatoes when the were as big as a cooking apple? In the shops now-a-days they are just a bit bigger than large eggs.

Spud Planter being fed

 

Hope you enjoyed my blog today.
 

Andrea if you've got the time you can show Mama it on your iPad :-)

Bye, see you all tomorrow. Have a good day

 

My Daily Banana

 

 

 

Photo of the day:

Planting spuds

 

Ploughing the field

Planting? or Sowing the potatoes

The rows are heaped to stop the potatoes coming to the surface, where they turn green

 

Word of the day:

Paloma

Is Spanish for dove, it‘s also a tequila based cocktail

One part tequila

Three parts grapefruit soda

Served on the rocks, with a wedge of lemon or lime.

Name of the day:

Ozzie

Pet name given to someone with the name Oswald, Osborn

Event of the day:

5th May 1905

The trial in the Stratton Brothers case begins in London, England; it marks the first time that fingerprint evidence is used to gain a conviction for murder.

This reminds me of a book that I read in German from Caleb Carr „Die Einkreisung". It was historic crime novel placed in New York around the beginning of 1900. Integrated in the crime story he described the methods of criminology in that time of history and the first usage of fingerprints to solve a crime. The book is well worth reading in English it’s called (now I have to use Google) „The Alienist"

 

The Fingerprint

 

The "Who Dun IT"

　

Birthday of the day:

5th May 1948

in Aston, Birmingham, England

Bill Ward, English drummer and songwriter (Black Sabbath and Mythology)

What a great music Black Sabbath played (when they were young). It was music to get high on, it’s very cynical with thunder, rain and sharp guitar riffs. The voice of Ozzi Ozborne still had its youthful touch not as broken and scratchy as nowadays.

Black Sabbath as I remember them

Died on this day:

5th May 2011

in Perth, Western Australia

 

born 2rd March 1901

in Pershore, Worcestershire, England

Claude Choules

The last British-Australian WWI veteran. Born in Worcestershire, England, his family with him immigrated to Western Australia in 1911, where he lived until died in 2011. He joined the Fleet at fourteen and seventeen he witnessed the downfall of the German fleet at Scapa Flow (the narrow channel between the northern point of Denmark and the south of Norway)

Claude when he joined up at fourteen

Claude Choules

Cycle ride of the day:

Cold, man it was cold. The round was good though, I even took a short detour.

In the last few weeks I’ve so much in my mind. This blog is an inspiration, I think of my life, I write (mostly English,; that’s something I haven’t done for years) and I’m always on the lookout for a motive to photograph. Sometimes it gets a little bit queasy, I concentrate more on my motives than on my cycling.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/493108531

Look at the bulge, that's what I'm fighting against

The Challenge:

Here we go, now it’s time to lay our cards down.

Challenger I Raymond weight 97.8 kg
(Howzat? 2.3 kg in one week.)

Challenger II Fraser weight 98 kg
(Fraser; you've got to combined your eating habit with sport, then it'll work wonders)

Challenger III Andrea weight 89.6 kg
(that's not much Andrea, you've got to try)

The prize of the week goes to ???

Bye, see you all tomorrow. Have a good day

My Daily Banana

 

 

One Wheel Cycle Banana

 

Photo of the day:

Family Petersen



Words of the day:

Spittoons

A vase made or brass or pottery, which is spat into.

Well known from all the western movies, in the saloon it was always on the floor at the end of the bar.

Western bar with two spittoons

German: Spucknapf



Name of the day:

Panzer

German for tank or armour

 

Armoured Tank invented and built in Lincoln

 

 

Event of the day:

4th May 2014

Welt Fischbrötchentag

(World Fish Bun Day)

No one other than the fish heads on the German Baltic coast will celebrate this day, but as they have called upon today to be their „World Fish Bun Day" let us honour it.

I haven’t eaten a fish bun for at least twenty years (it doesn’t fit in my diet, me being a vegetarian). Heike still eats the animal stuff, but some of the fish buns are too expensive. Imagine paying 3.90€ for a shrimp bun? In McDonald‘s you could by a whole meal for that price (or am I wrong here? I haven’t been to McDonald’s for twenty years either).

 

A Shrimp Bun cost: €3.90

 

Birthday of the day:

4th May 1958

Keith Haring

in Reading, Pennsylvania, United States

Died

16th February 1990

in New York City, New York, United States

Keith Haring (he died too early)

Graffiti artist, his work resulted out of the street culture of New York.

With very simple methods he brought life into his paintings. They are very bright and bouncy.

I have three reproduction posters hanging in my living room.

Unhappily he died at thirty-two from aids.

 

The Montreux Jass Festival Poster (this poster decorates my living room)

 

Died on this day:

4th May 1984

Diana Dors

In Winsor, Berkshire, England

Born 23rd October 1931

In Swindon, Wiltshire, England

The British equivalent of Marilyn. Blond and busty! She played the sexy comedian in many films, such as „Lady Godiva Rides Again". Also starring in Adam and the Ants musical video „Prince Charming" miming the fairy godmother.

 

Here is the video:

http://vimeo.com/77658143

 

Diana Dors young and pretty

Diana Dors trying to pose like Marilyn

 

Cycle ride of the day:

What have you got hidden in your barn? Well on my round I noticed a barn with its doors open, I couldn’t help but have a peek; and what did I spy? An old Mercedes Benz from the sixties. Nice piece of old iron. The way it’s been stored I’d say they’ve ruined it; the rust and the dust of many a day gone by will have eaten its way into car and the fluids will have chocked it from the insides. But it still is a work of art; I love those relics of days gone by.

 

The Barn

Look what's hidden inside

 

Der Haupt Straßen Fest:

(The Main Street Festival)

Yesterday we had our Main Street Festival in Niebüll, it’s been a reoccurring festive event for the past twenty-eight years. A must to go to and see!

Bathing through the crowd we stumbled on Kirsty with her family. The big’uns were hungry, tucking into a portion of chips with ketchup. You can see the remains around their mouths.

 

Fentje and Martje tucking in

 

 

Gretje enjoyed the scene on her Papa’s arms. It was nice to see her awake; imagine she’s eleven weeks old already (time flies!).

 

 

Gretje with Papa

We stopped to watch a juggler cum jester appeasing the crowd with his talent. He was very good, but the star of the show was Peter Panzer. He’s one of the Mürwicker’s, they are disabled and part of our town. Well the show was about to start and he sat down on one of the jester’s requisites and stayed. He had his binoculars with him, to see what’s happening elsewhere on the Main Street. The jester included Peter into his sketch, great fun.

 

Peter Panzer sussing it out

The street artist with his audience



Bye, see you all tomorrow. Have a good day



My Daily Banana

My banana honours Joe DiMaggio.

 



Photo of the day:

The countryside that I love! Can you see the rain falling?

 



Words of the day:

 



fleapit

 



An old, dilapidated building, mostly an old cinema

 



Who remembers the Regal cinema (it closed in 1966) in the High street; where the British Home Store now stands?

 

The Regal

The cinema gave way for the bhs department

The British Home Stores

 

 



Name of the day:

 



Heather

 



English name coming from the word heather, a small plant that grows in multitudes on barren land and blooms in pink and white. The berries are incredible, black and sweet, you’ll have to be quick if you want to harvest them, the birds love eating and shitting heather berries.



Derives from the Olde English „hather“

 

Heather, in real life much nicer!

 



Event of the day:

 



3rd May 1936

 



NY Yankee Joe DiMaggio makes his major-league debut, gets 3 hits

Joe doing what he was best at.



Oh yes, whilst looking for a photo of Joe, I remembered he was married to Norma Jeane Baker better known as Marilyn Monroe.

Marilyn and Joe

 

I first heard of Joe in the Simon and Garfunkel recording „Mrs Robinson“.

 



They sing the verse



„Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio



a nation turns it’s lonely eyes on you



What’s that you say, Mrs Robinson



Jumpin’ Joe has left and gone away.“

 



The song was first written to celebrate Mrs Roosevelt; Paul Simon had it stored in his draw until the offer to compose a film soundtrack came around. He changed the name from Roosevelt to Robinson and scored a hit. The film was „The Graduate“ starring Dustin Hoffman and the unforgettable Mrs Robinson played by Anne Bancroft.

Film poster "The Graduate"

 



Here’s the trailer to the film:



http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2220688409/

 



and the song „Mrs Robinson“ recorded live in te Central Park, New York:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE1dz6_u2JI

 



Birthday of the day:

 



3rd May 1933

 



James Joseph Brown Jr.

 



In Barnwell, South Carolina, United States



Died 25th December 2006



In Atlanta, Georgia, United States

James in his prime

 



James was the Black King of Soul. His temperament on stage was uncontrollable and the songs he recorded knock outs. I found the most hilarious part of his stage act was the ending. As he was leaving the stage and one of his stage hands would try to put a cloak, towel or jacket over his shoulders. This he let fall and came back for a few more accords or verses of a song, well this happened again and again, at least five times before he eventually left.

 

When he grew old he looked like a "sheep in lamb fell"

 



Here’s a video of his most famous song, „Sexmachine“:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ajzpd-ONOdo

 



and here he sings „Please, Please, Please“ where he demonstrates his cape act:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n62J9-WP1A

 



Died on this day:

 



3rd May 2002

 



Barbara Castle

 



In Buckinghamshire, England



Born 6th October 1910



In Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England

Babara Castle

 



British Labour politician: Minister of Transport from 1965 to 1968. When she took over office in 1965 there was a civil uprising in the UK, a woman and she didn’t even have a driving license. She brought in the breathalyzer and the 70 mph speed limit on motorways.

Presenting the breathalizer
 

Slowing the traffic and saving fuel, 70mph 

 



 Cycle ride of the day:

 



Another day of grinding the pedals. I wasn’t in the mood for sport today, it comes over me sometimes and I have to force myself onto my bicycle. If I don’t I fall into a terrible self-conflicting mood; and who do I take it out on? Heike; you should ask her about sulky, he’s not a nice person to know. Well that didn’t happen today, I did my round enjoyed the endorphin rush and fell asleep afterwards watching a crappy crime series on the telly.

 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/491761267



The door's a fake. It's supposed to look lie wood and olde world, that's not the fact, it's plastic.

 

 The Challenge:

 

Na, my heroes! How’s life?

Well I must say losing weight this year is not as easy as I thought. It’s a process I go through every year, getting fat over winter and losing all my excess weight in spring. Maybe I should watch my eating habits all year around, but that’s near impossible because of my sport. In spring, summer and autumn until the frost comes I cycle and to cycle I need energy (food). When the pause from cycling comes I eat the same amount of fodder and as it can be imagined that’s too much. It’s a vicious cycle! Isn’t it nice to be able to sob at such a high standard? Others would laugh at my problems, but we all live in our little worlds and think of number one.

 

Bye, see you all tomorrow. Have a good day

My Daily Banana

Fritz's Banana Lastwagen

Photo of the day:

 

Isn't this beautiful? Apple blossom. It's spring, yippee

 

Words of the day:

 

Ee by gum

 

meaning the same as ‚Oh my God!'

OMG!

German: Oh, mein Gott!‘

The Inbred Band recorded a song called ‚The Inbred Song (Ee by gum!)‘, watch it it’s quite funny

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uTALssbCsA

Name of the day:

 

Friedrich

 

from the Germanic ‚frid‘ peace and

"rîhhi" mighty, ruler

Event of the day:

2nd May 1829

After anchoring nearby, Captain Charles Fremantle of the HMS Challenger, declares the Swan River Colony in Australia.
The city of Fremantle, Western Australia is named after him.

 

Captain Charles Fremantle

Fremantle Market; had some lovely grub there, in an international kitchen

 

This resulted in the grounding of Western Australia as a British colony on 1st June 1829.
The immigrants haven’t been there very long.
Perth was settled on 16th September 1829 and is now the capital city of WA.
Western Australia Day is 1st June and is celebrated on the first Monday in June.

The State of Western Australia

 

Birthday of the day:

2nd May 1913

Friedrich (Fritz) Schnier

my father-in-law

in Westerkappeln/Tecklenburg, North Rhine Westfalen, Germany

died 26th September 1987 in Bargenstedt, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany

A slight built man with eight children, from two marriages. He loved his job as a lorry driver, even after his pensioning he often went on a haulage trip with his son Knut (Moin Knut, wie geht’s dir?), never missing the chance of driving himself.

 

Fritz on his marriage day. Hi Giesela, hi Fritz!

 

 

Died on this day:

2nd May 2011

Osama bin Laden

in Abbottabad, Pakistan

Born 10th March 1957

in Riyadth, Saudi Arabia

Leader of al-Qaeda and 'the most wanted man in the world'

He turned sour shortly after leaving college in 1979 and joined up with a rebel group in Afghanistan fighting against the Soviets. In 1988 he formed al-Qaeda, a radical group who fought under Bin Laden and still do after his death in 2011 against the believers of infidel religions, mainly the Christians.

 

Most wanted man in the world, Osama bin Laden

 

He belonged to a very rich Saudi family, the owners of the Binladen Construction, who in the years 1979 to 1982 sponsored the Frank William’s formula one team.

Williams Fomula One car
 

The sponsor BinLaden Construction

Cycle ride of the day:

 

The wind has gone back to north-east and about four Beaufort. It's never two days the same; just like the back roads that I travel, today two cars and two scooters past me. One of the car drivers was cared of me, she pulled up on the green verge to let me pass. The road is four metres wide, the car about one eighty and me I need less than one metre, she gave me three and a half, thanks :-)

 

 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/490847219

 

The Drop of the Day:

 

I dropped my iPhone. Shit, the display is shattered. It can be repaired, but first I'll have to have a replacement. Well, I found a new iPhone (well nearly new, a display piece from a T-COM shop) for three hundred Euros. Like my current phone it's an iPhone 4s, not the newest model but good enough for me; I hope Apple supports the model for at least another two years then my new one will be the same age as the current phone and I can drop it.

 

 

Bye, see you all tomorrow. Have a good day