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2000 - 2008
Flashlight
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Impressum
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06/24/2009,Wednesday,22:11, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia,Germany
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Awww! Part II
Good news: Lana is fine again! Yay!
On her behalf we thank you for all your Get-well-soon-wishes! We delivered all your hugs, kisses and all other extra signs of love you sent us!
And after two nights of holding her in shifts, a portion of carrot cookies we baked for her (first dog cookies we baked so far - we tried them, they tasted ok - and she really seemed to like them better than cheese), and lots of camomile tea (which she just wanted to drink out of our hands, what explains that we had one yellow hand each for several days) she hops around now again and is very happy. So are we!
P.S.: Maybe she was just polite enough to pretend that she liked the cookies because she wanted to appreciate our effort. Probably the next cookies will be better. She has a very effective motivation strategy!
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06/14/2009, Sunday, 16:14, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
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Awww!
Pooooor Lana has hurt her dewclaw... So we went to the veterinarian and he(prepare yourself for an internal scream) grabbed a gripper and pulled the whole claw out. Ahhh...hh...!
She got a compression bandage - in princess pink of course - and he fixed it with some sticky tape on her fur because this way she doesn’t try to get rid of it... For the rest of the day and night (!) she didn’t want to lay down, probably because additional to the claw pain the tape pulls out the hair if she tries. So the poor one just leaned on us or laid her head on our knees and tried to sleep while staying - and waked up when started falling down. Actually she just slept when one of us was holding her in our arms and comforting her. Finally, when the sun came up, three of us were falling asleep on the sofa.
Now she is a bit better but still very unhappy. And today we have to (prepare yourself for another scream) change the bandage including getting the tape off the fur...
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06/07/2009, Sunday, 20:52, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
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Love story or So you tell me that this is not an alien?! Part V
or
Today’s Elections in the European Union
Yes, I’m a supporter of democracy! I just like to live in states where people have the right to decide who is going to represent them!
And because sometimes to have rights mean to have duties as well we participated in the Elections in the European Union today.
Because my election invitation got lost somehow on the way to me two official ladies from a somewhat office came with it for a visit to check if I am really “me and here”. (What brings us to the philosophical question: Am I? Really?).
At least I am officially registered here, because there is a German law to do so if you stay longer than three weeks somewhere and I obey laws -even some physical laws- for several reasons. And I even got a stamp... So I didn’t expect any challenges according my election, especially because Andreas went through the exact same procedure and got his invitation several weeks ago.
Well, the ladies took my election invitation along back to their office to check even more if I am still inhabitant of Europe or something. And we never heard of them again...
Maybe it easier for me to elect on the sixth moon of the planet Jupiter! (I should check that out someday.)
That’s why I went today to do my duty as a believer in democracy - even without my invitation.
And after some “That has not have happened before...!” (how comes that I hear that so often?!) and “How do we handle that?!” from some very official people I finally got my election documents. And so I disappeared with a ballot paper which was literally longer than a half of me and definitely longer than the polling booth (yes, I tested that - I guess I confused some people even more (again)!) and finally did my duty!
polling booths
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06/04/2009, Thursday, 20:21, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
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Think both headline is fit very well - so you get both...:
There is beauty everywhere..., Part III
and
Love story or So you tell me that this is not an alien?! Part IV
Andreas made a ... um ... slimy declaration of love for me. Isn’t that ... um ... romantic...?!
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05/27/2009,Wednesday,22:19, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
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Love story or So you tell me that this is not an alien?! Part III
We have been at a strange-but-somehow-familiar-creatures-exhibition (the official name was somewhat different) and made some new friends.
The Love story part...
And my favourite: the Gongylus gongylodes, also known as the wandering violin mantis
Unfortunately we couldn’t attend a scheduled guided tour because it “was forbidden to have a tour with less than five people” and only the two of us were interested...
Oh, Canadian spirit, where are thou?! Well, yes, probably in Canada...
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05/23/2009, Saturday, 20:54, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
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Love story or So you tell me that this is not an alien?! Part II
And love is really blind... well, at least sometimes headless...
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05/15/2009, Friday, 14:15, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
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Love story or So you tell me that this is not an alien?!
We took some hours off and went frog watching...
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05/13/2009,Wednesday,21:36, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
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There is beauty everywhere..., Part II
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05/12/2009, Tuesday, 21:35, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
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Squeaking...? Squeaking...!
Squeaking. There was definitely a loud squeaking when I opened the door to the basement today. And since it was a very loud and ongoing squeaking soon I found the origin of it a bucket in a lightwell in form of three shrews! They were definitely loud - and very cute!
Andreas and I did some internet research again and learned that they are probably old enough to survive on their own. So after a quick photo session we released them into the garden.
I hope they let our May beetle (05/08/2009) be...!
Shrews squeaking in the bucket...
The first squeaking shrew toddled off...
And the remaining two spent some time with ... um, yes, squeaking...
Did you know that:
Along with the bats and toothed whales, some species of shrew use echolocation. Shrews hold nearly 10% of their mass in their brain! Unlike most mammals, some species of shrew are venomous. Shrew venom is not conducted into the wound by fangs, but grooves in the teeth. Some species of screws are listed as critically endangered. Shrews must eat 80-90% of their own body weight in food daily. The word shrew is used to describe a woman with a violent, scolding, selfish or nagging temperament, as in Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew as well as to connote a nurturing and endearing emotion towards a spouse.
Well, I didn’t - now I do. Just love the internet...
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05/08/2009, Friday, 23:44, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
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Welcome to my world...! Part 2
Got a present today I never got before...
This morning someone we didn’t even know presented us...
... with a May beetle! Well, that (both) was a little bit strange...
... but pretty endearing! Even so we decided to release the beetle into the wild.
And off it went into a hopefully happy future!
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05/06/2009,Wednesday,15:20, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
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 Welcome to my world...!
Thanks for the feedback I got on my tick entry! It seems that I made some people think - what is always a good result. I love metaphors...!
And what I can say is: This is the world I live in... And some of you seem to join me thinking about solving little problems keeping a bigger background at the back of our heads.
It is not just about a tick - it is about the fine line between right and wrong.
It is about how much suffering or even death of an individual or a group justifies death or suffering of another individual or group.
I think about it when I read the news. I think about it when I get mail from people living in challenging situations around the globe asking for advise what to do.
So what would you suggest them to do?
How much suffering or death of an individual or a group justifies death or suffering of another individual or group?
And how do you rate someone else’s suffering? How do you compare someone’s physical harm with hurt feelings, consideration of religious beliefs compared with someone else’s death?
Where is the fine line between right and wrong?
Welcome to my world...! It is yours, too!
P.S.:
Oh, and two people wrote they have removed a tick and it has survived. Since my tick felt into the grass and I didn’t recover it for examination there is a chance that I did not kill it! Probably it didn’t like the procedure anyway. But thanks so much for the comfort!
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05/04/2009, Monday, 18:54, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
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I have killed an animal...
Today I killed an animal and I feel really bad about it!
No, not this one.
This poor fellow we found on the other one last night.
After quite some late night internet research we had to go downtown today and bought a tool to remove it. Otherwise it could have caused some bad infections...
Poor tick...
Lana is probably happy now she got rid of the tick. She didn’t make a single sound, even when we put some disinfectants on her.
Andreas is telling me probably true things about evolution and such - and I still feel pretty much guilty killing it - even doing it intentionally!
When I have gone to wash my hands afterwards the bulb in the bathroom lamp exploded. And I don’t mean, it made a little sound and didn’t work any more. I mean it made a impressing noise and literally exploded. Is there a deeper meaning in this?
At least we discovered the answer on the age old question of ”How fast can Meike leave a bathroom...?”.
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04/30/2009, Thursday, 18:23, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
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There is beauty everywhere..., Part I
I have found a beautiful Peacock butterfly and it was so kind to smile at my camera for a while.
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04/28/2009, Tuesday, 17:01, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
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Cherry blossom celebration
Finally I have time post some pictures of last weekend’s Cherry blossom celebration in Enger.
With background music performed by members of the local music school,
governing mayor Klaus Rieke helps to crown
the new Cherry blossom fairy Milena Fleer.
The very first Ferris wheel in Enger
These were the only cars here today - celebrating in the underground parking.
If you manage to angle 15 duckies you could choose any of the prices.
And one of the scariest attractions...
And, yes I asked, according to the carer nobody broke his neck so far.
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04/26/2009, Sunday, 22:48, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
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WGS support event:
Oh, what a night...!
The Avatar Orchestra Metaverse (AOM) performed a live concert in charity for the World's Greatest Smile Peace Project yesterday evening (or today morning, here it was both)!
In the name of the World's Greatest Smile I like to thank the Avatar Orchestra Metaverse for its entertaining performance! We have heard some great music and have seen some impressing visual effects, have met many wonderful people, and have learned a lot again.
Especially we like thank Leif Inge aka Gumnosophistai Nurmi, Börn Eriksson aka Miulew Takahe and Andreas Mueller aka Bingo Onomatopoeia for their support!
Thanks everyone for coming around! And thank you a lot for your donations for the World's Greatest Smile Peace Project - especially Paco Mariani, Luce Laval and Roxelo Babenco!
We hope to see you all soon again and are looking forward to the next great WGS event!
At AOM’s concerts as a listener you hear the music according to where you place yourself with respect to the performers. You hear the performer close to you better than you do the performer further away. So it is a constant moving forwards and backwards, and you can even stay on the stage if you like to.
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04/24/2009, Friday, 17:55, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
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WGS support event:
The World's Greatest Smile proudly presents
the Avatar Orchestra Metaverse!
The Avatar Orchestra Metaverse will be performing a live concert in charity for the World's Greatest Smile Peace Project!
The Avatar Orchestra Metaverse is a global collaboration of artists from Sweden, Japan, Canada, Italy, Germany, the United States, Norway and France that approaches Second Life® as an instrument itself. The average distance of the artists to each other while playing a concert is 6.800 kilometres!
The Orchestra build its own virtual instruments, making it possible for each individual performer in the Orchestra to trigger sounds independent from one another and to play together in real time. These instruments feature sound, visuals, and animations. A performance of a jumping, hovering, floating, dancing, and twirling Avatar Orchestra Metaverse is a truly spectacular event.
The Avatar Orchestra Metaverse will play live “Fragula” by Börn Eriksson aka Miulew Takahe and “Aleacitry” by Andreas Mueller aka Bingo Onomatopoeia!
Admission is free!
Venue will be the WGS-School.
So come around on Saturday, 04 / 25 / 09, 4:00 PM, San Francisco time, bring your friends and enjoy yourself!
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04/22/2009,Wednesday,19:37, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
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Castle sponsored by turtles...!
We had something to organize in Bielefeld and took off an hour to tour Bielefeld’s Sparrenberg Castle yesterday.
We are visiting Germany, so we have to visit a castle. Isn’t there a law in this regard? And the restoration of this particular one is even sponsored by 2002-2005 turtles! I wonder what happened to the undetermined 3, or have they just been hard to count?
two of the many, many stones with the names of sponsors
(Schildkröten = turtles)
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04/19/2009, Sunday, 17:22, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
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Open house at the Nordhof
Today we visited the scenic Nordhof, a tree nursery in the neighbourhood.
the entrance
some friendly pigs
charming interior
Find the paw.
Well done, here it is.
“Portraiture at the Nordhof” - Done!
“Please pee at the next car, thanks!” (Not done!)
and another adorable visitor
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04/17/2009, Friday, 16:04, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
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A windmill...
Andreas is still trying to enthuse me for his old hometown and is showing me around as much as possible as long as we are here. And, yay, it has a windmill...
Ok, seriously, it is nice here, people are friendly and say “Guten Tag!” (“Good day!”) whenever you meet someone - sounds like the Icelandic greeting sometimes - so it is not that different. I just miss the ocean so very much...
the Liesberg-Mühle
more of the Liesberg-Mühle
Andreas showing the Liesberg-Mühle
me taking a picture of the Liesberg-Mühle
and even more Liesberg-Mühle
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World’s Greatest Smile
