The Front Porch Swing

[Statistikhengst]

So, Karneval is full underway, which means the streets in Germany are going to be full of very happy, often very drunk people who are going around in craaazy costumes!

My little one just had a kick-off party at her Elementary School: since High-Karneval begins at exactly 11:11 on Fat-Thursday (also known as Weiberfastnacht, which I posted above), most schools let out right at 11:11 today. And most schools take a break through Rosenmontag (which is next Monday).

Here are some photos from this morning:

She's dressed as the little mermaid today!!


And inside the gym, where they held the Karneval-party:

(My daughter helped to make that clown)

Little babies get all dressed up in costumes, too!!

And here's my little sweety inside the gym, waiting for her class to perform:

Teachers are not immune to Karneval, either:

That's one of my daughter's teachers. He is absolutely outstanding as a teacher. I could not be happier with her current educational situation. Those people are really good and they know what they are doing.


I also made a film of her class dancing at the party. Her group is called "Die Mäuse" (The Mice). Each class is given an animal name.

In the film there are three little girls all wearing the same Little Mermaid costume (color me totally surprised...) and my little one is good to see at about 1:09, 1:32-1:35, 2:07, etc....... just sayin, as a proud Papa!!

https://vimeo.com/87764254

If you notice that the marching bands at Karneval are sometimes sloppy and the dancing is NOT perfect, it's supposed to be that way. At Karneval, Germans are deliberately making fun of pretty much everything that was/is prussian.... with it's prussian drill and exactitude!! And at Karnevaltime, every politician near and far is fair game!


ALAAF!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Statistikhengst]

(00:53!!!!, 1:10!!! usw...)

Alaaf!!!​

 

[Statistikhengst]

Viva Colonia!!!


(Probably the most famous and best known Karnevalssong in Germany)





Did you all know that from today through Monday night, more beer will be sold in Cologne than in the next 7 months combined??

 

[freedombecki]

Building;

Seating;

Research;

Childrens;

Green cushions around the reading well under the skylight in the LHS image

Art Gallery and Coffee Bar;

WOW, what accommodations

So --- how often do people fall asleep in one of those big hand chairs?

but I am sure it has happened.

Interestingly enough the chairs are made out of a weed that clogs the waterways around here. A Vietnamese immigrant who was working to help clear the waterways then started weaving the weed and came up with these chair designs.

About half the population of our town are immigrants and so we have all sorts of interesting festivals. Diwali and Holi are celebrated along with Christmas, Thanksgiving and the 4th of July. For Chinese New Year we have our own Dragon that lives in the basement. It is a fascinating place.

Half the town? That library brings everybody together who isn't online, I bet! Kudos, Derideo. You must be proud of the outreach the community makes through your support of the library. It is truly amazing how people come together through learning to make someone happy.

[ame=http://youtu.be/jxF-FeOCxlg]Jimmy Durante - Make Someone Happy - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Mertex]

So, Karneval is full underway, which means the streets in Germany are going to be full of very happy, often very drunk people who are going around in craaazy costumes!

My little one just had a kick-off party at her Elementary School: since High-Karneval begins at exactly 11:11 on Fat-Thursday (also known as Weiberfastnacht, which I posted above), most schools let out right at 11:11 today. And most schools take a break through Rosenmontag (which is next Monday).

Here are some photos from this morning:

She's dressed as the little mermaid today!!


And inside the gym, where they held the Karneval-party:

(My daughter helped to make that clown)

Little babies get all dressed up in costumes, too!!

And here's my little sweety inside the gym, waiting for her class to perform:

Teachers are not immune to Karneval, either:

That's one of my daughter's teachers. He is absolutely outstanding as a teacher. I could not be happier with her current educational situation. Those people are really good and they know what they are doing.


I also made a film of her class dancing at the party. Her group is called "Die Mäuse" (The Mice). Each class is given an animal name.

In the film there are three little girls all wearing the same Little Mermaid costume (color me totally surprised...) and my little one is good to see at about 1:09, 1:32-1:35, 2:07, etc....... just sayin, as a proud Papa!!

https://vimeo.com/87764254

If you notice that the marching bands at Karneval are sometimes sloppy and the dancing is NOT perfect, it's supposed to be that way. At Karneval, Germans are deliberately making fun of pretty much everything that was/is prussian.... with it's prussian drill and exactitude!! And at Karnevaltime, every politician near and far is fair game!


ALAAF!!!!!!!!!!!

How cute! Thank you so much for sharing.....looks like they really get into Karneval.....I never even knew they celebrated it in Germany....I thought New Orleans besides Rio, were the only ones that went all out.

 

[Pogo]

So, Karneval is full underway, which means the streets in Germany are going to be full of very happy, often very drunk people who are going around in craaazy costumes!

My little one just had a kick-off party at her Elementary School: since High-Karneval begins at exactly 11:11 on Fat-Thursday (also known as Weiberfastnacht, which I posted above), most schools let out right at 11:11 today. And most schools take a break through Rosenmontag (which is next Monday).

Here are some photos from this morning:

She's dressed as the little mermaid today!!


And inside the gym, where they held the Karneval-party:

(My daughter helped to make that clown)

Little babies get all dressed up in costumes, too!!

And here's my little sweety inside the gym, waiting for her class to perform:

Teachers are not immune to Karneval, either:

That's one of my daughter's teachers. He is absolutely outstanding as a teacher. I could not be happier with her current educational situation. Those people are really good and they know what they are doing.


I also made a film of her class dancing at the party. Her group is called "Die Mäuse" (The Mice). Each class is given an animal name.

In the film there are three little girls all wearing the same Little Mermaid costume (color me totally surprised...) and my little one is good to see at about 1:09, 1:32-1:35, 2:07, etc....... just sayin, as a proud Papa!!

https://vimeo.com/87764254

If you notice that the marching bands at Karneval are sometimes sloppy and the dancing is NOT perfect, it's supposed to be that way. At Karneval, Germans are deliberately making fun of pretty much everything that was/is prussian.... with it's prussian drill and exactitude!! And at Karnevaltime, every politician near and far is fair game!


ALAAF!!!!!!!!!!!

How cute! Thank you so much for sharing.....looks like they really get into Karneval.....I never even knew they celebrated it in Germany....I thought New Orleans besides Rio, were the only ones that went all out.

It's an old old European custom. Carne vale = "farewell to the flesh". Possibly related not only to Lent but to pre-Christian Roman Bacchanalia festivals.

Italy... Spain and Portugal... Germany and Austria... and France which transferred it to New Orleans and Mobile. Seems to carry on more in Catholic southern Europe than in Protestant north, but that's just a quick armchair observation. (Stats, do you see more of a Karnevale in southern Germany than in the north?)

 

[Statistikhengst]

How cute! Thank you so much for sharing.....looks like they really get into Karneval.....I never even knew they celebrated it in Germany....I thought New Orleans besides Rio, were the only ones that went all out.

Actually, Karneval started in Italy, in Venice. The tradition was established to let the lower class blow off steam, essentially.

One day a year, the "commoners" were allowed to dress as royalty and attend balls at the palace, but they had to wear masks.

Strauss' EINE NACHT IN VENEDIG (A Night in Venice) is all about this theme.

Germany then picked up on it long before it hit South America.

Karneval was one of the few things that Hitler could not ruin in the 1930s. Try as he might, he could not get Cologne to give up the festival and every attempt at censorship essentially failed. Cologne is like the "little Italy" of Germany. There, you get from one day to the next with good, sly improvisation!!!

Along the entire Rhein, Karneval is King. There are Karneval organizations that work the entire year around for the NEXT Karneval. Cologne, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Koblenz - those are the Karneval kings, but it will be celebrated all through the Republic, until the wee hours of next Tuesday....




And yes, I will be costuming up and enjoying the Monday parade.

ALAAF!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Statistikhengst]

So, Karneval is full underway, which means the streets in Germany are going to be full of very happy, often very drunk people who are going around in craaazy costumes!

My little one just had a kick-off party at her Elementary School: since High-Karneval begins at exactly 11:11 on Fat-Thursday (also known as Weiberfastnacht, which I posted above), most schools let out right at 11:11 today. And most schools take a break through Rosenmontag (which is next Monday).

Here are some photos from this morning:

She's dressed as the little mermaid today!!


And inside the gym, where they held the Karneval-party:

(My daughter helped to make that clown)

Little babies get all dressed up in costumes, too!!

And here's my little sweety inside the gym, waiting for her class to perform:

Teachers are not immune to Karneval, either:

That's one of my daughter's teachers. He is absolutely outstanding as a teacher. I could not be happier with her current educational situation. Those people are really good and they know what they are doing.


I also made a film of her class dancing at the party. Her group is called "Die Mäuse" (The Mice). Each class is given an animal name.

In the film there are three little girls all wearing the same Little Mermaid costume (color me totally surprised...) and my little one is good to see at about 1:09, 1:32-1:35, 2:07, etc....... just sayin, as a proud Papa!!

https://vimeo.com/87764254

If you notice that the marching bands at Karneval are sometimes sloppy and the dancing is NOT perfect, it's supposed to be that way. At Karneval, Germans are deliberately making fun of pretty much everything that was/is prussian.... with it's prussian drill and exactitude!! And at Karnevaltime, every politician near and far is fair game!


ALAAF!!!!!!!!!!!

How cute! Thank you so much for sharing.....looks like they really get into Karneval.....I never even knew they celebrated it in Germany....I thought New Orleans besides Rio, were the only ones that went all out.

It's an old old European custom. Carne vale = "farewell to the flesh". Possibly related not only to Lent but to pre-Christian Roman Bacchanalia festivals.

Italy... Spain and Portugal... Germany and Austria... and France which transferred it to New Orleans and Mobile. Seems to carry on more in Catholic southern Europe than in Protestant north, but that's just a quick armchair observation. (Stats, do you see more of a Karnevale in southern Germany than in the north?)

The Rhein and every city of any size attached to it, it Karneval King and I would say it is pretty evenly divided between Catholics and Protestants these days. Hell, even Muslims like to have fun on Karneval, but they don't drink. We Jews like to celebrate it, too, kind of like another Purim!!

Now, in the former East Germany, where Karneval was essentially killed off by the DDR-regime, it took a little while to get it going again after the reunification, but now they can party with the best of them.

 

[Connery]

Good afternoon all!!!

 

[Statistikhengst]

Good afternoon all!!!

Outstanding pic!

 

[Wolfsister77]

Cool pic Connery. I have to go find some of Spring. Maybe a wolf/Spring avie of some kind. I really need to look at something green. This winter bites the big one this year.

 

[Pogo]

His light's out...

Of course I'm sure he's been told that in many different ways

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

It's Raining!

BTW...about tie cutting traditions....in the Navy we do that when a student aviator completes their first solo flight.

Thank you! I thought there was another tradition concerning the tie.

 

[Statistikhengst]

His light's out...

Of course I'm sure he's been told that in many different ways

rofl....

 

[Statistikhengst]

It's Raining!

BTW...about tie cutting traditions....in the Navy we do that when a student aviator completes their first solo flight.

Thank you! I thought there was another tradition concerning the tie.

So, you see, a Rabbi and a Priest lived next to each other.

One day, the Priest drives home a new cadillac.

Not to be outdone, the Rabbi went out an bought himself the same Cadillac, right down to the color and the tone of the seats.

Three days later, early on a Sunday, before Mass, the priest goes out and sprinkles holy water upon the new Caddilac.

Enraged, the Rabbi stormed out to his garage, got a chainsaw and.....















































...cut 7 inches off the tailpipe of his own Caddilac.





(just a joke, chill, no insults intended, and please, do not throw any rotting fruit. I hate rotting fruit!!!)

 

[Michelle420]

Hey everyone, just wondering whose turn it is to cook dinner, I'm hungry !

 

[Statistikhengst]

It's Pogo's turn. He's the chef for the night. Make sure to tip him well!!
[MENTION=41527]Pogo[/MENTION]

 

[katsteve2012]

Hey everyone, just wondering whose turn it is to cook dinner, I'm hungry !

Lol! I heard it was your turn

 

[Derideo_Te]

Hey everyone, just wondering whose turn it is to cook dinner, I'm hungry !

If you have to ask,
then it is your task!

 

[Mertex]

Hey everyone, just wondering whose turn it is to cook dinner, I'm hungry !

If you have to ask,
then it is your task!

Quit belly aching about what's for dinner........here, I fixed it for all of you....