First, I must apologize for my unscheduled missed blog yesterday. It was a national holiday here - kids were out of school and hubby was off from work. I just plain forgot. The day was Christi Himmelfahrt. This means Christ's ascension to heaven. As are most of the holidays, they center around religious events here in Germany. They sneak up on me since I am not used to these different occasions to have a day off. We celebrated by going on another hike. This one was absolutely amazing and will be the hike we take my brother and his family on when they come in less than two weeks. Although we got caught in a thunderstorm at the end of the hike, it was worth it. As the storm passed and we were driving down the mountain, we saw the most incredible rainbow (sets of rainbows actually) with the most vivid colors we have ever seen. Words just can't do it justice. Unfortunately, we forgot to bring the camera. Go figure!
I also found out that it was, in our region at least, Father's Day yesterday. I had seen something when I did the Mother's Day blog that said it was May 1st, but I have since been assured that no, indeed, it was yesterday. Again, we missed it, but we still plan to celebrate it here on the traditional date that it is celebrated in America.
My blog on Wednesday asked if the missing link was in Germany. Which missing link would that be? Well, lately Germany has really made the headlines for archaeological finds. On the day that I wrote about the oldest figurine, this news item was released about another find being called "Ida." This creature was found near Frankfurt. It is a primate that scientists believe may be the animal that bridges the lines that brought forth modern lemurs and similar primates and the lines that brought forth humans and the higher primates such as monkeys and great apes.
Although it has a tail, this primate has other features that are more human-like, such as opposable thumbs and forward facing eyes. The find is thought to be around 47,000,000 years old. Like the figurine, it was found in remarkable condition with very little of the skeleton missing. The History Channel and BBC will be collaborating on a show featuring the creature. If you would like to learn more about it and see pictures of the creature, please visit The Local at http://www.thelocal.de/sci-tech/20090520-19391.html for the article that gives much more information about the find.
The word for today is primate: der Primat (pree maht).
The question for the day is "What happened in Germany 60 years ago this Saturday?"
Auf Wiedersehen,
Frau Spitzer
