Without Lifting A Finger

Goodbye, Baby Blue. My last pics are dated Dec 7th and I'm afraid he's gone. Little Blue Heron @ Bolsa Chica. #rlswihart #bolsa #bolsachica  #huntingtonbeach #heronsofinstagram #littleblue #littleblueheron #babyblue #nature #beauty #poetry #goodbye 😘#readmorepoetry2023 #ukraine 🇺🇦

Read two of his novels in the German Library years ago: Tubby Schaumann ("Cake Stuffer") and Horacker. Recently reread the shortstory "German Moonlight" and another shortstory (first time): Elderflowers (grabbed me, especially because of its setting: Prague's famous Old Jewish Cemetery).  Anyway, at least in terms of English translations available via Kindle, I've run dry. Now, because I've got the time (retired) and will (unfortunately, not the German -- there I can only crawl), I'm tackling one of Raabe's novels from his "darker period": Hungerpastor, via a free copy in German (Kindle) and my Google Translate App. A bit tedious but perhaps I'll learn a bit and enjoy the novel. Bit by bit. Excerpts (from the beginning): Vom Hunger will ich in diesem schönen Buche handeln, von dem, was er bedeutet, was er will und was er vermag. In this beautiful book I want to deal with hunger, with what it means, what it wants (wills) and what it ...

Now he saw clearly what all the terrors he had seen came from, and what ought to be done to put a stop to them. The answer he could not find was the same that Christ gave to Peter. It was that we should forgive always an infinite number of times because there are no men who have not sinned themselves, and therefore none can punish or correct others.

The General belonged to the learned type of military men who believed that liberal and humane views can be reconciled with their profession. But being by nature a kind and intelligent man, he soon felt the impossibility of such a reconciliation; so as not to feel the inner discord in which he was living, he gave himself up more and more to the habit of drinking, which is so widely spread among military men, and was now suffering from what doctors term alcoholism. He was imbued with alcohol, and if he drank any kind of liquor it made him tipsy. Yet strong drink was an absolute necessity to him, he could not live without it, so he was quite drunk every evening; but had grown so used to this state that he did not reel nor talk any special nonsense. And if he did talk nonsense, it was accepted as words of wisdom because of the important and high position which he occupied. Only in the morning, just at the time Nekhludoff came to see him, he was like a reasonable being, could understand wha...

Where the hermit-thrush sings in the pines trees Drip drop drip drop drop drop drop But there is no water (T S Eliot) Well, I haven't heard the drip-dropping yet (not sure Eliot even saw the hermit thrush) but I've seen him atop a magnolia tree and foraging under a tree for berries. Good enough for me, he's as cute as can be. And besides: Snowy's getting all the publicity thus far in 2023. Make a little room for this little guy. Drip drop.:) #rlswihart13 #happy2023 #huntingtonbeachca #urbanforest #thrushesofinstagram #hermitthrush #nature #poetry #beauty #smallbirds #readmorepoetry2023 #ukraine 🇺🇦🥳

 "Why don't you pray, old chap?" asked Nekhludoff's driver as he replaced and straightened his cap. "Are you unbaptized?" "Who's one to pray to?" asked the old man quickly, in a determinately aggressive tone. "To whom? To God, of course," said the driver sarcastically. "And you just show me where he is, that god." There was something so serious and firm in the expression of the old man, that the driver felt that he had to do with a strong-minded man, and was a bit abashed. And trying not to show this, not to be silenced, and not to be put to shame before the crowd that was observing them, he answered quickly. "Where? In heaven, of course." "And have you been up there?" "Whether I've been or not, every one knows that you must pray to God." "No one has ever seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him," said the old man in the sam...