The Rose is but a Name.

 

Switzerland is amazing.

Duke Berthold V, Duke of Zahringen, wanted to establish a township along the river Aure on a level ground, allowing for transportation and commerce.

Duke Berthold V declared during a hunt that the city would be named after the first animal he shot (with an arrow, of course).  Drew the string, let fly the arrow, and hit a rabbit.  His fellow huntsmen retrieved it, Duke told them to get rid of it. 

He drew his bow again, let fly the arrow, and he hit a bear.  Much better, so the town was named “Bern or Berne” which means something like bear.

Let's expand the story with much more elaboration and some plot changes:

What about this version? 

 

  Duke Jim was married to a lovely woman, Adele, whom Jim’s brother Bob dearly adored.  Duke Jim and fellows of ruling class ventured out on a hunt, ready to kill just about anything.  Jim’s brother Bob attended, apparently with great reluctance since he really wanted to attend to Adele’s needs.

Duke Jim had also declared that first animal killed would be the name of the new city.

Through the rustling shrubs charged a huge boar, and, alas, Duke Jim was gored horribly, dying on the spot. 

Bob became so excited that he also declared the animal thing, and actually happened to kill a rabbit, but new-Duke Bob declared they should wait a while, before the naming the town Tote kaninchen or Dead rabbit.

Bob became new Duke Bob and married Jim's sobbing widow, Adele, and became step-father to her son, Tom.

What if we expanded some more with a whole lot of elaboration and plot changes:

2) Before heading out to kill animals with Duke Bob, his brother Kevin swore to his now lover Adele that he would take care of this any problems Adele had with Duke Bob, who turned out to be a lousy person all around. 

Jim’s son Tom was spying on them both, and realized bad things were going to happen.

Which they did, bad things did happen to Duke Bob, 

something perhaps involving poisoning or

 maybe a big falling cornice from the castle. 

Tom, being a minor, was passed over, and Kevin became Duke Kevin.

This and that happened, a few years passed, and Duke Kevin led his troupe of hunters ventured out into the woods to hunt, Tom joining them. 

Kevin pronounced that the first animal he hit would be the name of his new town.  Unfortunately, Kevin felt a bit wheezy and fell to the ground dead, stone dead.

All wept, the death declared to be a heart attack. All were ready to go home.  

BUT Tom strode to his uncle’s body.  “We must honor my uncle Duke Kevin's final desire!  And, I, as the new Duke, will do so.”

Tom was never good at archery, but he drew back the arrow, and zip-zap, off it went, getting lost in woodland.  While all were searching for the arrow, Tom's squire, Richard, picked up the bow and followed after.  

Richard heard growling in the shrubs, took aim, and hit something.

Richard ran to the sound, finding a bear, dead as dead could be.  “Here, my Lord!  Here is your arrow!”

Thus, a new city was founded and named Bern (or bear).

                                   

Expanding this anymore could grow beyond anyone’s attention span.

My apologies for length of this post.  

 

Who Let the Dogs Out, version 3

painting by John Emms

Countries all over the world have iconic structures, plants, and even animals. India has the Taj Mahal and sacred cows.  Ireland has Hill of Tara (and lots of other places), along with shamrocks (sham-rogue).
Bern, Switzerland, also has its own icons that stand out. This past summer was exceptional in representing: St. Bernards.  These are truly immense dogs made famous for rescuing people trapped in snow.  The brandy cask is wishful thinking, not accurate.

23 things to know about a St Bernard

During our visit to our daughter, we discovered an astounding number of St. Bernard artistic statues all over the city.  We bounded around trying to find new statues, photos in all of 20 massive dogs.

  

Skully

Bernadette

Timmy

      

Each monument was given a name.  My favorite was "Timmy", the cheetah above. Not so much for the cheetah paint, but for the name. Every Timmy I have known has been a boy, like in the show "Lassie".

We thought we had done so well with our twenty sightings, but we soon found out that there were one-hundred and twenty all over the city. They were even on roofs. 

  

This live St. Bernard was with his owner who was showing and explaining more about this magnificent creature along old town streets.

What more can I say? You had to be there.

Bears vs. Dukes

Bears on the Clock Tower in Bern, Switzerland
When the clock chimes, the bears rotate.

Why is Bern, Switzerland, named such?  My daughter (who lives in Bern) told me that Duke Berthold V, Duke of Zahringen, wanted to establish a township along the river Aure on a level ground, allowing for transportation and commerce.

Duke Berthold V declared during a hunt that the city would be named after the first animal he shot (with an arrow, of course).  Drew the string, let fly the arrow, and hit a rabbit.  His fellow huntsmen retrieved it, Duke told them to get rid of it. 

He drew his bow again, let fly the arrow, and he hit a bear.  Much better, so the town was named “Bern or Berne” which means something like bear.

Let's expand the story with much more elaboration and some plot changes:

1) Duke Jim was married to a lovely woman, Adele, whom Jim’s brother Bob dearly adored.  Duke Jim and fellows of ruling class ventured out on a hunt, ready to kill just about anything.  Jim’s brother Bob attended, apparently with great reluctance since he really wanted to attend to Adele’s needs.

Duke Jim had also declared that first animal killed would be the name of the new city.

                                                       Legend worth reading

Through the rustling shrubs charged a huge boar, and, alas, Duke Jim was gored horribly, dying on the spot. 

Bob became so excited that he also declared the animal thing, and actually happened to kill a rabbit, but new-Duke Bob declared they should wait a while, before the naming the town Tote kaninchen or Dead rabbit.

Bob became new Duke Bob and married Jim's sobbing widow, Adele, and became step-father to her son, Tom.

What if we expanded some more with a whole lot of elaboration and plot changes:

2) Before heading out to kill animals with Duke Bob, his brother Kevin swore to his now lover Adele that he would take care of this any problems Adele had with Duke Bob, who turned out to be a lousy person all around. 

Jim’s son Tom was spying on them both, and realized bad things were going to happen.

Which they did, bad things did happen to Duke Bob, something perhaps involving poisoning or maybe a big falling cornice from the castle. Tom, being a minor, was passed over, and Kevin became Duke Kevin.

This and that happened, a few years passed, and Duke Kevin led his troupe of hunters ventured out into the woods to hunt, Tom joining them. 

Kevin pronounced that the first animal he hit would be the name of his new town.  Unfortunately, Kevin felt a bit wheezy and fell to the ground dead, stone dead.

All wept, the death declared to be a heart attack. All were ready to go home.  

BUT Tom strode to his uncle’s body.  “We must honor my uncle Duke Kevin's final desire!  And, I, as the new Duke, will do so.”

Tom was never good at archery, but he drew back the arrow, and zip-zap, off it went, getting lost in woodland.  While all were searching for the arrow, Tom's squire, Richard, picked up the bow and followed after.  

Richard heard growling in the shrubs, took aim, and hit something.

Richard ran to the sound, finding a bear, dead as dead could be.  “Here, my Lord!  Here is your arrow!”

Thus, a new city was founded and named Bern (or bear).

Bear Park

Expanding this anymore could grow beyond anyone’s attention span.

New Bern, North Carolina

My apologies for length of this post.  

An Encounter to Remember

Old barn at the top of the first rise.  Oh, I wanted to break in so badly. We caught our breath at this stop.

Since my brain is still dancing about, this post will be about life’s fine moments.

We visited our daughter (in Switzerland) in  2014; had a grand time, played with our grandson, and enjoyed beautiful scenery.  We stayed at an Airbnb apartment just outside the city in KÖniz.

Getting there required two train changes and one bus. The last train dropped us off at bottom of a fairly short but steep rise.  My husband once counted the steps.

It led to a farm where our journey evened out.  Greatest stop ever.  This farm girl reveled in fields of wheat, orchards of apples, and dairy cows.

The next portion of our walk was up an even steeper hill.

Okay, the above is fairly lucid but the typos were many.  Hope I got them all.

In our 2+ week stay, I formed a relationship with one of the milk cows.  Morning and night she was in line for the milking machine. We exchanged in-depth eye contact. Although her ear tag is missing in this photo, it was #73.

I will never forget her.

Dinosaur Bones are the best bones.

"Sue", Chicago Field Museum

From early excavations of large bones in England by Rev. Wm. Buckland and Dr. Gideom Mantell, begun in 1820s, to contemporary discoveries world-wide, dinosaurs have remained a fascination for people then and now.  My family are among those who gaze at gloriously articulated dinosaurs at museums in absolute awe.

When "Jurassic Park" was released in the early 1990s, dinosaur obsessed people were ecstatic.  When #2 sequel came along? Not so much.  #3 was better. Then there was "Jurassic World" which we have watched three times, and are up to another viewing.

Real joy is now seen in our 3 1/2 year old grandson, Benjamin.  His collection of accurate dinosaurs is enviable, and he KNOWS scientific nomenclature.

In Bern, Switzerland, where Benjamin and his parents--Richard and our daughter Mary--reside, life-sized dinosaurs have been relocated from a remodeled museum to family parks throughout the city.

Amazement and joy shown below:

Is this real?

It's bigger than ...

It's pooping on me, Mummy!

A good day to be parents

Joy captured.

Other dinosaurs are scattered through the city in neighborhood parks.  I can only assume that dinosaur hunting will be another day trip for Benjamin (and his parents.)

Benjamin "getting down" with my own personal collection of vegan dinosaurs

So far away

I'm in the northern yellow, Mary is in the green

Living 12,000 miles away from my daughter sometimes hurts so bad that my shoulders droop and my heart breaks.  So far away, I am not there to teach her many things that my mother taught me: history of Mom’s adventures, stories from my childhood, how to make a pie—and, not there to rock her little boy and sing him songs my mother sang to me.

So we watch that little boy Benjamin play, talk, cry, and grow up over the computer and hear how our daughter Mary is doing in Switzerland.  

Recently she stepped in a pothole while crossing the street, fell and twisted her ankle.  Benjamin looked down at her right next to him, still holding his hand.  He moved so he could sit on her lap and pat her shoulder, and hug her.  It’s alright, Mummy.  It’s alright.

Facebook is good as a tool to see what they are doing.  Richard, Mary, and Benjamin went to a petting zoo recently, where the goats received more than they deserved, bags of goat feed to buy; those goats were well padded.  He patted their furry goat butts, and gave them all the love and smiles that weren’t mine.

To be so very far away and watch a two year old become a three year old is a year he grew up and I grew older. 

Dang it.

The Day the Lights Went Out

Source

Visiting Museums can go two directions: horribly dull or wonderful and stimulating.  I have been to both, so this is an area in which I feel qualified.

In Bern, Switzerland, there are many fine museums, including one based on Albert Einstein and his time in Bern.  The one we chose that day, since a two-year old was with us, was the Communication Museum.

This photo of Museum fur Kommunikation is courtesy of TripAdvisor

What made it wonderful was that Benjamin walked along with me, sometimes holding my hand, but always staying with me.  The wheels on the stagecoach were a big hit. And there were so many displays for little guys like him to touch and manipulate.

This photo of Museum fur Kommunikation is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Then we came to a room which posted that the film presentation was out of order.

Oh, well.  This will give the little guy some room to walk around…so I released his hand in the room designed to hold about 50 people.  He was so happy in the dim light.

The light got dimmer, and dimmer until it was total black.  Oh, God!  Help me!

This was taken a few months ago, but the laughter is still the same.

That is when I heard the giggles, squeals, and happy shrieks.  Something brushed by me, giggling.  Then the dim light came on, and I saw the little guy way in front, and he froze. Once the light went out, he took off again, gleefully running in the pitch dark.

It felt like I was in shallow ocean water with a very big fish/shark brushing by me.

Mommy came looking for us just when the light came on, and Benjamin was close at hand.  “Let’s go, buddy.”  He took her hand, leaving me in the dim light as it turned black.  

Source: One reason no child should run around...the child eater