The weather today has indeed turned out nice like they predicted - beautiful sunny skies and the promise of a very warm (by German standards) afternoon. It’s just a matter of time before all the residents go flower crazy and hang those charming trailing geraniums from their window boxes.
Today, I am revisiting the story about the reintroduction of the wolves to eastern Germany, because in last night’s news, there was a story about one wolf they had to put down. Sadly, the residents who predicted that the wolves would become a threat to the local society were correct. Within the stomach of the wolf was found a lady who was small in stature and elderly in age. She had been reported missing the previous day, and family members feared for her life. Many recent wolf sightings had been reported in the tiny village of Horka on the border of Germany and the Czech Republic.
The elderly lady, whose name I can’t remember, lived alone and suffered somewhat from dementia. The family reported that she often wandered away, but had always made it back home. They last saw her on Sunday afternoon when they visited for the usual Sunday coffee and cake. Her granddaughter discovered her missing the next day when she went to check on her. It appeared that she had not been in her home since Sunday evening due to the remains of the dishes in her sink.
The granddaughter, who frequently travelled a path through the woods, has now been forbidden to walk alone in the forest. A statement from the woman’s son and daughter indicated that they are terribly saddened by the loss of their mother, but they were eternally grateful that her body could be recovered for a proper burial. Area residents are now demanding that the remaining wolves that had been re-introduced be removed immediately from the region.
Of course this is all shocking and somewhat incredulous – perhaps even to the point of saying April Fool’s Day!! I hope you enjoyed my modern version of Little Red Riding Hood and had a good laugh for the “holiday”. As in our country, the Germans do celebrate this day of pranks and jokes, often with fake news articles (called Zeitungsente here) and small tricks upon unsuspecting co-workers. I hope that you can take a moment and also let that little devil out to play today and enjoy some harmless jokes on those around you.
The word for the day is fool: der Dummkopf (doom kopf where the “o” is long and both the “p” and “f” are pronounced. It means, literally, dumb head.)
The question for the day is yesterday’s question that did not get answered: What is the G20 Summit and does Germany participate?”
Auf Wiedersehen,
Frau Spitzer
