Guten Tag Sweet Friends!

I guess Germany is the land of eternal spring, and I don’t mean that in a good way. Today is June 5 and it should be warm and sunny, at least in my limited experience; but no, it’s cloudy and still in the lower 60’s. It rained on and off yesterday and while we have not had rain today, it’s still overcast, dreary and threatening. The weather forecast calls for sun and temps in the 80’s this weekend, but I’ll believe it when I see it. Since I’ve been in Germany, it has not been above 68 deg. But hope springs eternal!

Last evening, I went to see the movie Malificent with Angelina Jolie. While I enjoyed it, it was one of those movies that couldn’t decide what it wanted to be, a black comedy or drama or kid flick. It tried to be all that and failed. I didn’t hate it, I just didn’t like it all that much. But it was very nice to enjoy the warm theatre, an English speaking movie and popcorn!

Afterwards, I met my friend Maggie for dessert and hot tea at Ecco, the vegan restaurant down the street. I’ve been wanting to try their vegan desserts so this was the perfect time! I got the Susse polenta with mixed berry sauce (roughly translated). It was most definitely a polenta covered in a vegan vanilla sauce and surrounded with mixed berry “sauce,” and it was most definitely delish! It was warm and the lemongrass tea was hot and spicy. As we sat inside, it began pouring down rain outside. It got so bad they had to shut the doors to keep out the rain and cold; so the hot tea was perfect on this cold and wet evening.

Maggie is a wonderful new friend. She is one of the ladies we met randomly at the restaurant in Rodenkirchen. Maggie wanted to hear all about my trip, so we met last night to swap stories and have dessert. As usual, she brought me several restaurant suggestions that offer vegan options, as well as two brochures outlining upcoming concerts and dance festivals. She’s a delight and has been so sweet to me; I’m very grateful to her. She told me last night that she is in the position of caregiver to her elderly husband who had a stroke six years ago. As anyone who has ever been a caregiver already knows, it is demanding and can suck the life right out of you; and yet, she goes out of her way for me with thoughtful suggestions to enhance my living here. I am greatly touched by her kindness and strength of character.

I also received a very nice email from my friend Sulamith. I met her outside in front of my apartment. I was roller blading and she was walking towards me on crutches. Fearing I might run her over as I have a stopping problem, I quickly made it to the sidewalk and sat down and waited for her to pass. We exchanged pleasantries in German; but when she realized I didn’t speak German, she quickly switched to English and we talked for about 30 minutes! She is an artist with a studio across the river. She also teaches English at a special school for special kids. She’s studying for the CAE exam, and I told her that her broken foot is a blessing in disguise as it affords her lots of time to sit and study! She found this most amusing, and so all her emails start off with, “it’s a blessing!” We met a second time for coffee – another chance meeting as we didn’t exchange names or phone numbers the first time we talked. I told her that meeting her a second time was my blessing! We’ve been emailing since then and we are meeting again tomorrow for coffee and to catch up. She’s so sweet and definitely stands out in a crowd – the kind of woman that always grabs my attention. She’s sweet, kind, intuitive and dresses with a certain flair that is fabulous!

I love random, chance meetings that lead to friendships. I love the way the Universe works to bring people together in a mysterious tapestry of woven conversations, chance meetings and happenstance. So while it may be eternal spring weather, this tapestry of friendships in Cologne, in Hawaii and in Memphis, keeps me warm, and I’m grateful.

Let hope and gratitude spring forth today sweet friends! Have a beautiful day!!

Oh, and I got my first hair cut in Germany from Deniz at the Cut and Colour. She’s born in Turkey but has lived here for 44 years. She’s beautiful and funny and speaks great English. Gives a pretty good haircut too, although I left my best hair designer in Hawaii 🙁