Urban farming – every bushel counts!

Amazing how many shades of gray this summer has to offer.

Lament of a Hamburg girl

I can't remember where I am, but it looks like I'm having fun.

Okay, from the picture I do remember now. It is the new exhibition of the "Hamburg Water Color Workshop" (hamburger aquarellwerkstatt) at Fabrik der Künste. Could somebody get me a glass of water now please?

Why go to the museum when you can see art from your porch?

  

    

And then Mr Hopper took her to a concert.

Local residents claim noise-induced hearing loss due to planting of vuvuzela tree.

What started out as a clever marketing idea to promote the arboretum at Hamburg "Planten un Blomen" park, now has resulted in a heated debate on flowers and football. 5 local residents claim they suffered hearing loss from exposure to the noise of a newly planted vuvuzela tree in the park. Despite the obvious damage, park management disclaims liability: "The tree is actually pretty quiet most of the time. It only hoots when Germany scores a goal at the world cup, which only happened four times in the first game against Australia."

Goldberg Variations vs Friday Night City Noise: 0-1.

Unfortunately the cold weather didn't have any influence on the migration behavior of the Hamburg giant slugs.

Evil on the rise: The breadification of a once culturally diverse neighborhood.

The bad seed has been planted: In November another bakery (blue arrows) will open 

on Grindelallee.  In the once diverse neighborhood yeast culture is yet growing stronger.

If there's anything we do not need in this neighborhood, it's another bakery. There are about 7 within a hundred yards - not counting the numerous cafes, grocery stores and newsstands that are selling bread, rolls and pastry just by the way. I was quite happy with the One-Euro-Store next to the head-massager-and-tabletop-fountain-store, but unfortunately it went out of business in September. Last week I first noticed the sign announcing the opening of a new franchise self-service bakery store. I'm confused. I'd like to think it's a conspiracy, but then it's too obvious to be one. To me it's becoming pretty clear that bread is taking over the city! Doesn't anybody see? Doesn't anybody care?? One night we'll wake up from a yeasty smell, and there will be dough all over the place, dough pushing open the bedroom door, dough coming through the cracks in the walls, dough creeping into our beds, winding its way under our blankets, covering our feet, legs, bodies, and before we can even scream it will fill our mouths and noses and ears and lungs and ... and... and... HELP!!!!!!!!!!

It's not gray, it's anthracite.

Hmmm... How to explain the Hamburg weather? It's not like the sun isn't there. You just have to zoom in a lot to find it.

This is my church. This is where I heal my hurts.

We went mushrooming today. I have never been mushrooming before and to be honest: we didn't find but one. But as with hunting and fishing I found the chase much more interesting than the catch. I shot some good ones! Just look at the head of the sex doll we found. Isn't she an angel? Singing her silent song amidst the trees - so sincere about her music. The forest was truly magical today. 

Always good to have a picture in store for times when you don't have the time to write a real post.

Thank you.

Thinking outside the red cube: German Social Democrats count on interactive poster campaign.

For today's European elections Social Democrats in Hamburg have come up with a modern approach to attract voters: the interactive offline campaign. "Analog is the new dialog. Everybody can launch an internet forum, but only we have posters that you can actually design yourself - with a pencil, a spray can or simply your fingernails. We even left the bottom of the poster blank, that's how we give people a voice", says a party official. The campaign proved to be quite successful in the run-up to the elections. Almost every poster shows signs of voters' creativity and involvement. Art techniques include collage, pastel, oil painting, pen and ink, chocolate milk, and tempera, combined with comments like "Impostor" or "I know what you did last summer".

Stuff white people like

I don't know. What do I think about this? As a part of tonight's "Long Night of Museums" the Hamburg Museum of Ethnology featured a couple of activities dealing with Native American culture. At 9 pm Stormy Red Door, a Montana-born Dakota/Assiniboin now living in Northern Germany, performed the ceremonial act of lighting the fire. The crowd watched attentively, bison bratwurst in one hand, Beck's beer in the other while Stormy Red Door was waving his feathers in all four directions. After the ceremony he asked the audience in a very low voice to "please respect the spirits" or - as the museum staff put it –"Well guys, don't throw your cigarette butts into the fire". Now I ask myself: Can a performance like that ever be more than entertainment?  The museum itself says "We, as a Museum of Ethnology, try to contribute to a better cross-cultural understanding by encouraging other cultures to play an active role within our Museum." But: Can this "active role" ever be more than a role in a staged spectacle? 

Next item on the agenda: music and dances of the Plains Indians with the "Elk Singers" and the "Northern Dogs". No doubt - a great show, but hey... what's wrong with white people? Why is it always easier to identify with a foreign culture or religion? Because we don't have anything in our own culture and heritage that we relate to and dare to identify with? Why do so many people who set out to find themselves look in the most distant places? Why don't they just ring their own door bells? Maybe they're at home already! Is that it? Do we forget that we are at home already? That we have been all the time? That there is no way we can get lost, because there is no other place than here and now? I don't know. I truly don't know.

New venue for cock fights in Hamburg opened on Tuesday.