Sorry, one day early as tomorrow is already full with another post which should have been posted on Thursday which is already full with a silent movie post, though. How can blogging be so complicated?
Anyhow, with no further ado ...
Uhm ... you may think this should be very easy, but for me it isn't.
Let's see how far I can get.
My birthday.
Now that was easy, wasn't it? Not that my birthday is such a special day for me. I have never celebrated it the way many others do (except once, but that's a long story), there's no party, small or big. I may have one or two visitors which I enjoy and I'm not averse to one or two gifts, especially small surprises, but I'm just as happy to spend the day all by myself (why do I have the urge to add a smiley to make clear that I really mean that?).
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| That's what I call a sustainable birthday card, I loved the idea! |
That doesn't mean I'm one of those people who have a problem with their birthday as in seeing the numbers go up, by the way. I'm just past the childhood excitement, I guess?
Fun fact - I have always taken the day off from work, no matter if I had something planned or not, so it was always "my" day.
Ice cream coffee.
"Excuse me, what?" I hear you ask.
The German word "Eis" can mean both "ice" and "ice cream". "Eiskaffee" is not the iced coffee that Americans know.
During my friend Jenn's second visit in Germany we went to a café and asked her if she wanted to try it. She vehemently declined because she thought we meant iced coffee and she was very surprised to see what we got. After trying it she immediately had to have her own and it became one of her favorites.
I rarely ever drink coffee, for years - iced coffee wasn't a thing in Germany then - this was the only way I had it at all.
A classic "Eiskaffee" is easily done. Put some vanilla ice cream in a tall glass, pour chilled coffee over it and crown it with some whipped cream and a wafer or a "cigarette russe".
It's usually served with a long spoon for the ice cream and a straw to sip the coffee.
You don't like coffee? Try an "ice chocolate" instead.
Summer memories.
Actually, summer memories have been a 10 on the 10th topic before. I have some good memories, but reading the post didn't help me for this one because those were things that won't be happening again, one reason being my reduced mobility - no summer fleamarkets, no travelling, no long walks in the woods, etc.
I still have the memories, though, some fun ones and some funny ones!
Summer rains.
After a scary hailstorm some years ago, I'm not as relaxed about thunderstorms anymore, but a nice long rain after a hot spell is absolutely the best.
When others rush inside, I'm going out there to cool down.
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| I love this old picture and I can hear, smell, and feel it. |
Trees, lakes, and ponds.
In my opinion, they are the best spots in the summer heat, hands down. Some would probably pick beaches, but I'm not that much of a beach fan which is convenient as there are none in the area.
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| Public domain via pxhere |
I don't know how good my chances are to get anywhere, but at least I made it to one of my favorite spots this month. Extra points for no people being there so early in the morning, except a biker who took a picture and left again.
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| The Lautertopf, the spring of the small Lauter river. |
Whining.
As you can see, I'm seriously grasping for straws here now!
I love to whine in summer. Well, I don't love having to whine, so in this case I guess "love" means I can't help doing it. Sometimes it may be more of a pathetic moan. Very annoying.
My fan.
I'm my fan's biggest fan and I don't care if people tell me that a fan is doing nothing. It does for me. If that's just in my head, that's fine by me as long as it works.
That's it from a grumpy summer hater.
Sorry, but I just couldn't come up with more than those quite weak seven because summer is my least favorite season.
(If you wonder why I didn't mention flowers, well, they are not summer-specific, are they?)
After a very hot week I told several people that I'm very much looking forward to September and my favorite season.
I even asked family to help me get to ten, but all we realized was that we are very different in some regards! 😂
I can relate very much to being fine spending your birthday own. I don't like a big party either.
ReplyDeleteA co-worker keeps asking me every year what I'm going to do and every year she assures me it's okay to be alone on your birthday. Uhm, I know, that's why I'm doing it.
DeleteHappy Birthday. For me it is always a time of reflection, about the last year and the one to come.
ReplyDeleteAmalia
xo
Thank you, Amalia, it's in two weeks and that reminds me that I still need to fill out my form for the day off!
DeleteI always used to take my birthday off work - now being self-employed sometimes I can't help but work, but I do still try! I don't like summer as my allergies are even worse and sometimes it's too hot to run safely, and we also have to take extra care of our parkrun participants! I do like long days reading in the garden, though!
ReplyDeleteWe only have a small garden and it really depends on the noise around me if I can concentrate on a book. Some days it seems as if everyone is gathering in the street, but I definitely have become more sensitive about noise in general with age.
DeleteAnd there absolutely have to be shadows for me to sit in and it can't be too hot. If I have that and only birds and low noises, I enjoy reading outside.
Summer isn't my favorite season either so I can relate! "Eis" is a word I can't see/hear without thinking of the first lesson in an old German primer my dad had, in which Tante Inge takes her nephew for ice cream and he orders Nuss-Eis. Tante Inge doesn't order any for herself, prompting the boy to ask "Ist Eis denn Gift?" It was weird to me as a young child to learn that the German word for poison is the word in English for a present (such as for one's birthday). I Googled the phrase "Ist Eis denn Gift?" and amusingly, it told me: "Nein, Eis ist generell kein Gift." LOL I then refined my search and learned that this was an "infamous" lesson titled "Beim Eismann" from primers in the 1960s-70s. What a throwback! It's so weird how well I remember it from perhaps 1980 or so.
ReplyDeleteFor us it was the other way round, why would "Gift" mean "present"?
DeleteIt's amazing what things we remember and what triggers those memories to come back up again.
Happy Birthday to you, dear Cat! I often spend my birthday alone, as I do not like parties, a lot of noise. crowds, etc. I prefer things calm and quiet! I often spent my birthday at home alone with my cat (now I have a zebra finch), no more cat. I got my zebra finch almost two years ago, 6 months after my last cat got sick and died. I really don't mind spending time alone.
ReplyDeleteI think there are more of us than you would think! Thank you, Linda!
DeleteHappy Birthday, Cat!
ReplyDeleteI love spending my birthday with family.
Our little tradition is dining at my favorite restaurant together.
It always makes the day feel special without needing a big party.
Thank you in advance, Veronica!
DeleteThat's a lovely tradition. When the ex was still in the picture, we would always have a little outing in the area, nothing special, just cruising around, having something to eat somewhere, I always liked that, too.
From one summer disliker to another, I agree with almost everything here except the beach! I really don't like summer yet I did when I was a kid. Maybe some of that was school was out, and I could do anything I wanted. The ice cream coffee sounds good. It almost sounds like coffee flavored ice cream...not that I've ever had that. I didn't know your birthday was coming up. I never took my birthday off because, as a teacher, it was so much harder to write lesson plans for a sub than to just go to school. I can understand being alone because I love being alone though I rarely am. I'm so glad you played along even if it was on the ninth! After all, I did it on the 13th last month!
ReplyDeletehttps://marshainthemiddle.com/
Yeah, it would be hard to have a sub for a day as a teacher.
DeleteEiskaffee is not like coffee flavored ice cream because the sweet taste of the vanilla ice cream and the unsugared coffee don't combine in the same way. That's also why the coffee has to be cold, you don't want the ice cream to melt in it right away.
I know I have told you that I also hate summer. It makes me so sick ...the first hit of humidity and I'm a wet noodle, sometimes even if I get the house cool.
ReplyDeleteI hear you on not being able to do stuff anymore that I used to be able to do. My mobility is not what it once was.
The coffee treat looks very good. I always liked a tiny bit of coffee with my milk and sugar and now I can't have caffeine/coffee at all. At least US coffee.
I love to feel the rain in the summer too. Last summer Little Miss and I danced in a rain storm and it was so much fun. I mean I can't really dance with my legs the way they are, but I sort of did. Ha!
We just have to work around our issues, but it definitely helps if you are not one of those super active, sporty people in the first place. I have a friend who has to walk, walk, walk, and it would be terrible for her not being able to do it anymore. I'm quite happy with a book and a cat.
DeleteHang in there this summer, Lisa!
I am sorry to hear about your limited mobility. I hope you do get to spend some time outside during the cooler days. Ice cream coffee does sound amazing. That might be just the thing to excite me during these months. Not a summer lover here either. A Very Happy Birthday to you!! I love that you take the day off!!
ReplyDelete-Soma
Thank you, Soma! I have never been an enthusiastic hiker, but it would be nice to be able to do some things spontaneously. On the other hand, that would mean that the train, and after half a lifetime of commuting and other train rides, I rather had enough of that 😉
DeleteI'll just hope it won't be too hot this summer!