My favorite late-spring flowers are magnolias. We don’t have any in the garden ourselves, but there are some in a nearby park, and I love going there or just cycling past the park and seeing the pale pink blooms. With spring being so late here in Germany this year, it’s only very recently that they’ve been blooming. (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘Rike’
Magnolias
Friday, June 7th, 2013Earworm of the day: Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush
Wednesday, May 8th, 2013
Wuthering Heights is the song that originally awakened my interest in Kate Bush. I don’t even particularly like the novel, but there’s something magical and otherwordly about the song, and often it’s the first song I play when I take out my Kate Bush CDs. This video version is delightfully overacted. Enjoy!
- Rike Horstmann
How to celebrate Labor Day
Thursday, May 2nd, 2013
May 1st is Labor Day in Germany. It’s one of the two non-religious public holidays we have here (the other being Reunification Day, October 3rd), and everyone loves having that day off.
There are marches in some cities, but not in small towns like mine, so everybody in my neighborhood feels free to enjoy the day just as they like.
This is what I had been planning for yesterday: (more…)
My favorite werewolf: Monroe
Monday, April 22nd, 2013
As a rule, I don’t like werewolves, be it in books, in movies or TV series. Of late, there has been one exception: Monroe, played by Silas Weir Mitchell, from the show Grimm. (If you take a look at the video, he’s the bearded guy figured prominently in the trailer’s middle and end.) (more…)
Earworm of the day: Thursday’s Child by David Bowie
Monday, April 8th, 2013
My favorite CD right now is Best of Bowie. There are about 10 songs among the 20 on it that I could enter here as an earworm, but I have decided for Thursday’s Child. It’s one of those sneakily catchy songs that appear rather unspectacular when you listen to them, then grab you and don’t let go for the next 48 hours.
What are your favorite David Bowie songs?
- Rike Horstmann
AAR Goes to the Movies: Lincoln
Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013
Because Lincoln got rather mixed reviews in German papers and magazines, I didn’t go to watch the movie when it was first on here last autumn. After Daniel Day-Lewis had won the Oscar for best actor in February, it was put on at the local cinema again, and I went and watched it. And boy am I glad I didn’t miss it! (more…)
AAR Goes to the Movies: Howl’s Moving Castle
Thursday, March 28th, 2013
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones is among my top 10 favorite books, and may be the one I have reread most often over the years. It received the only A+ review I have written for AAR so far. Which is why I was both excited and worried to hear some years back that it was being made into an animated film by Studio Ghibli, directed by Hayao Miyazaki. (more…)
Grandma’s Baumkuchen
Saturday, March 23rd, 2013
I recently rediscovered my grandmother’s recipe for Baumkuchen. English translations for this delicous treat that I have found online are Pyramid cake and layered cake; if you do it properly you prepare it by adding layer after layer of dough on a spit turned regularly. In a less dramatic version, you add the layers in an ordinary loaf pan. That’s what I did last week, and the resulting cake was so delicious that I want to share the recipe with you. (more…)
Earworm of the day: Let the River Run by Carly Simon
Thursday, March 14th, 2013
Let the River Run is an old favorite. I also love the movie from whose soundtrack it is, Working Girl. The song gets me into an upbeat mood, so it’s ideal for phases with lots of work (but a weekend on the horizon).
- Rike Horstmann
AAR Goes to the Movies: The Master
Tuesday, March 5th, 2013
I wasn’t really too keen to watch The Master, but my husband persuaded me to come along as he’s a huge fan of P. T. Anderson, the film’s director. Well, it proved one of those films I was glad I’d seen, but which I probably won’t want to see again. (more…)
