Jonny

So it might have looked I wanted to make fun of Jonny Robels with one of my last posts. I did not. In fact, I have been impressed with the guy´s music ever since I laid my hands (ears?*ggg* ) on it. It´s certainly not my favourite for "Saturday night-seek and destroy parties", but the dreamer in me simply covets the atmosphere of his songs.

I am even more impressed now, for I had the great privilege to meet the guy.

Yap, he´s completely off his rocker:-), but he´s also a "druid" bard in the OBOD.

By the way  is he married to a Protestantic Christian priestess, and he is as unwashed a heathen *ggg* as they come. It works, and it works well. He simply refuses to delve into those ugly discussions about the names of religions. He simply is above making war for different names. he just concentrates on what he can concentrate on with success: His own spirituality. He lives it out and has no time for children´s games like hate - preaching.

Ah yes, he certainly IS somewhat funny, and for his satires he might be mistaken by some for some Catweazle parody.

Believe me, he is not.

I will never be his disciple, and we are agreed on many things, but not on all, but I want him to know that I have the deepest respect for his view on the world and his way of life and spirituality.

Oh yes, and we did not have some solemn discussion in some ivory tower chamber. We sat in a café in a CERTAIN :-) city, had some (much needed, see another post;-)) Italian caffeine shots right into the right heart ventricle;-), made fun of "Burschis" and other reactonaries, laughed our heads off and talked an afternoon away. I think he does not like me slobbering his fame.

But I am not lying or slobbering  when I say that I am impressed with the guy and hope that one day we might call each other friends. For meeting him has enriched my life.

I guess I have to thank my personal dragon slayer again (hey, that´s my job, slaying dragons, I AM THE SMITH!*ggg*), for since she stepped into my life many threads are woven into a fabric entirely new, vibrantly colourful and alive. Meeting Jonny is part of the fabric. She has not woven it. Then who has:-)? We know, but we won´t tell anyone.:-)

There´s a morale hidden in there:-). It´s a game to find it. Enjoy.;-).

Life is good.

One minute silence

November has come and with it time for contemplation. Nature is running wild at the moment, what with blackberries and apple and plum blossoming, but make no mistake, winter is on the way. I rode out to the grocery store to get some goods, and I decided to make the most of the fine weather having my lunch atop a hill rather than in some stinking living room. So I rode to the top of the Harkortberg near Wetter. There I rested and basked in the sun, hungry for the last iota of warmth. Soon ice will cover the trails. Forage will be little to nothing, and snow will fall. Maybe I will ride, maybe not. Maybe I will get fat over the winter, maybe I will go hungry. But time will go on without my saying so.

It is another year that´s dying, and nature dies with it. The light shines with a tired intensity, enchanting the colours of some waning leaves still left on the trees to fairy gold. Just as it has been all the years of this life. I was young once, and stooooopid, and a part of me will always be this way, but another part of me has always been very, very old, and tired, too. Just like this part of myself, autumn has a tired air to it. I feel that all is said and done in autumn, all the harvest is brought in, all dreams fulfilled or calmed off. Old age might be similar to autumn, but that old I am not yet;-). Yes, I am still hungry for this life. The real life, not the one the lords of our world want to sell to us. A life,

where there is still a place for winter, for spring, for summer and autumn, too. Not a grey and featureless existence in the name of God Mammon, worshipped by all. In this, I want my autumn, and I want winter, too. I want death, for I want life, and I really want it. Death is just a part of the package, and that´s only fair. Death is necessary for life being great, being lovely and joyful. No death, no life, it is as simple as that. Nature Herself goes to sleep. Raven and crows are flying now, gone are goose and crane and all the songbirds twittering and singing along. The woods get calm, and this calm is a solemn one, like the slow breath of an old and wise woman on the last, sad height. Her grandchildren have children themselves, all grown up, all the harvest is brought in. Around her bed her family gathers; trees and earth and wind and water, and the fire, too. Slowly she breathes, in and out, and when her last breath is done, that wind will rise on a wicked winter wind. The sun will go down for the unfathomed light... and when the year is at its darkest, the light will be born again. And from the bosom of darkness, when there is no hope left, the virgin maiden will  rise again and plait flowers into her hair, and spring will come. It is the way it has always been. It does not matter what names we call it. The seasons flow into each other like the tides, and our life flows older with them.

Older have I grown to write these words. I have made many mistakes in my life, and maybe have done some good, too, but that´s not mine to claim. It does not matter at all what names I have, what words I choose, how strong or beautiful I might be, how wealthy or proud I am. All I have to do is love the tide, love the virgin, the mother and the hag. Even the raven, maybe. For all is just a part of the Law of the Universe, the soul behind all words and names. It cannot be described, or better yet, the description of the sign never will be significant; therefore poetry and art is made possible in the first. Therefore creativity exists, and hence creation. I am therefore obliged to love the Soul of the Universe, that being beyond all description, beyond space and time, life and death, the light and the darkness, the being and the void.

Winter may come. Grey may come, too. But there is no victory over this. No human religion can ever fathom this, no human science explain it to death. It is not that one shalt not make an image of the deity, it is that one cannot.

I have the notion it will be a hard winter, and a hard time for the world might come, too. War, and hate, and greed, and violence, as it has been in all the aeons man has lived and fought through. But I want to never forget what light I was given only but recently, when all my hope seemed to have vanished. This time of year always sees me in melancholy and contemplation, and that is a good thing. For it teaches me the ebb and flow of the tides of time, and I now know that the light will never die completely. No matter how much preachers of hate might preach the ways of power over each other, the soul of the universe will not be affected. 

So it´s not that important what I write or write not, if I will get fat over winter or stay hungry, if it will get cold or even grey, how much snow will fall and whatnot.

Have a good wintertime and  never forget - hope is never far, even in a fix.

Soulriding with a wrecking crew attitude;-)

The rare occasion occured that I had nothing at all to do on Sunday. Worse than that, I even had no visits to do;-). Phoning had to do, but that´s another story:-). So what to do? Sleeping late. Okay. Done. Then I realised the weather was beautiful to boot. Going foraging? Toodling around on my bike? Yap, the latter, but I also wanted some people around, so I called Mockerocker-Stöffi to hitch the ride with them. Alas they started at 11 am, and it was twelve already, so we set a rendezvous point at the lake. Problem was, just 45 minutes left for a ride that CAN be done in 1 and a half hour, if you put the hammer down. Did it in 45 minutes. Period:-).Was completely off my composure after that, but the scenic vistas completely made up for that. I simply love the lake, it´s always so peaceful there. It has something to do with me growing up there, for sure, but it´s also very calm and beautiful there. Of course they took their time, and I stressed out for nuthin´, but no harm done, it felt really good to do some hammering again, I have been some kind of a slouch lately;-). It´s just like it is with many things: You do not know you´ve missed it until you do it again. It simply felt good to get good and fluffy by hammering along once again. Funny, it makes me feel alive, and actually gives back more energy than I invested... weird;-). Since me drunken bum said on a party I´d ride a race next year, I have to do some more training for next season... none too serious, but some gettin´good and grimy...

The weather and the vista did not hurt either, and I waited with pleasure there, watching cormorants and ducks and runners and other rare animals;-).

This is one of my most crucial bushcraft tools. Funny, but it is. It gets me places normally off limits for a hike. I can say that it is no problem to cover distances of roundabout 100-200 km (off road) with it if you take it slow and you have enough time. For ´crafting it could do with a rack (no basket on the bars, that would impair safety too much), but that would compromise my other riding too much, and for the terrain I normally ride (even if it´s "just" a foraging ride) doing a bunnyhop (that´s a jump you´re doing with no ramp over obstacles like roots, ruts or logs in the way by pulling and pushing on the bars in a ceratin manner)  is crucial for survival. You can´t do that properly with a rack and panniers mounted. I learned that this type of bike is very common in the UK. Over here it´s pretty much a novelty still, and I built it up myself with a (ever so slightly used Norco bigfoot frame I got cheap from Rocker´s bikeshop in Bochum. It was the first of a kind in my team, and I was mocked at a lot when I first build one up in 2001. 9 years later the picture´s a slightly different one, and the people that once mocked at me now ride one themselves and mock at me for having so little suspension travel and selling it as their idea;-). So it goes;-).

It´s basically a long - travel hardtail frame. It has some 150 mm of front suspension (used Marzocchi ATA Air I got DEAD cheap from Achim in Schwelm) and none on the rear. I kept it small to aid in agility with the long fork. With the MAVIC Crossride wheelsets I went for some fairly light wheels with meaty rubber mounted. Components are quite standard Deore, Deore XT and ancient LX I found on my cellar floor;-). It does everything I throw at it: Foraging, hammering, stunt riding, singletrail riding, getting out with the kids, commuting, going to the grocery store and fuzzing around. I recently broke my Shimano three-piece cranks clean in half, and the wheels have a tiny bit of slop to them after 2 years of hardcore riding. Advice: Don´t mess up uphill staircase jumps, that´s  not good for you and your bike;-).

This is Jan, Stöffi´s brother, and Uwe, her Da´ approaching. I now know Uwe for 20 years of hard riding, and he´s still going strong. He ´s kinda weird, himself, but aren´t we all?*ggg* Now I ride with him and his kids again, and he´s stolen my apprentice, Kai, for he is a master locksmith, too, and works for Kai´s employer, too. Must I say that Kai has profited a lot from his tutoring? Those are the funny ways of life.

Anyway, Stöffi had a new bike, a BIG freeride bike for da licce lady*g*, and was whining around a bit of being so badly trained. She has won her share of races, though, and certainly knows how to put the hammer down. She (and her brother were on 17 kg Rotwild RED freeriders and rode up hills most freeriders would faint at the sight alone. So much for being in bad shape... And did they have fun? BOY did they! 

We set out to ride one of my favourite "GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIWANTTOKILLMYSELF"-singletrails, the Hohenstein stairs. Enjoyed making some photos and basking in the sun and taking in the scenery. No stress, just good - natured talk with nice people, and then some souly riding. Uwe, Jan and Stöffi rode some and obviously had some fun, and decided to keep some other stairs for later, and no worries, they will keep;-). All safe and sound and nice. One word to the wise: Never push it too far. I respect those more who can call it a day and come back later, even in front of  a crowd wild with progression. Progression is a good thing, but does not do you any good when it ends in the medics.

On top of the Hohenstein there´s this beautiful platform offering a breathtaking view of the valley below.

Stöffi´s new bike. Could do with some tuning the shock and fork still, but a monster freeride bike, and none too shabby it is, too;-).

The view down into that murky valley, and the valley in itself is one of my favourites, too.










Preparing for battle. For the trail it was crucial to lower the saddle to keep it out of harm´s way;-). That way even girls can have bigger balls*g*, just kidding, some girls whack the shit out of me when riding downhill. Anyway, it´s one of the best tips I ever got to lower the saddle when the terrain gets nasty.
We started nice and carefully, and noone fell. Halfway down the ride began to go downhill in another way; Jan got a pinch slab, and we helped out him fixing it. After doing so, just 50 m farther into the ride, my right shifter jammed. So I took a piece of wood, carved it to fit and jammed it into my rear derailleur to keep it fixed on one gear only, and we completed the ride down the stairs. Then it was some road riding, for after all that flat fixing and carving sessions it was getting late. I had to shift by jamming the piece of wood further into my rear mech or pulling it out. Interesting;-). We went uphill on some nasty climb, and Jan, that crazy bastard;-), chose to chase a motor scooter up that incline on a bike only slightly lighter than the scooter. Did not succed by a hair´s breadth. When I catched up with him, he grinned and said: "Damn it, I need a BIGGER chainring".

Erm?*g* Pardon me?*g* Most people on 17 kg- bikes whine about uphills being existent in the first, and if they even ride them, they always whine about their granny gear being not small enough....ANIMAL!!!!

Sick.:-)

Then it was downhill on the road towards Haspe city limit. There was another prey;-) erm scootie;-) slowly driving along with the sound of a lawnmower, and Uwe and I first wanted to stay in the winddraft, but that was boring, so we instead made some fun of the poor girl sitting atop the machine (we kept it friendly, though:-)) racing her down to Haspe. She lost;-). Stöffi and Jan took it a bit slower, and we met at Haspe city limits. There we wanted to ride off into different directions. We said goodbye, and as we rode off, Stöffi´s chain broke. Did I say broke? It almost exploded.

I fixed the chain, and we had some chatting still, and still no stress in sight. Then we finally said goodbye, and I really have to thank this crazy family for a weird and souly outing I will remember for years. Folks, it´s reallly, really great to have you around! Have to do that again sometime soon....

Process of making a custom knife: What I mean with tailor-made

Now I have ranted a lot about bargain and value, and the pros and cons of custom and production run knives.
Joel is a custom knifemaker trying to make a living from it, and I follow his blog, and, more so,  I like this guy and his family rather a lot. So I owe him a bit of a pro;-).

Plus, I want to illustrate what a custom design CAN do for you.

Read more on Joel´s blog

On bargain and value: What´s the difference between a Mora and a custom knife?

Now you all know my opinion on Mora knives. I simply love them, and they simply work great. And they have worked for generations of outdoorsmen. Period.

So why should anyone worth his wits buy a custom knife for a price ten or twenty times more expensive?

While Moras are a great, great value for money, there are occasions where production knives just do not "cut it". In most cases it might be a luxury problem, but that´s fine with me. Sometimes you just want a piece of art and craftsmanship, that´s one reason. Then you might have special tasks at hand and simply cannot find a knife or knife system suited for the task. For instance, a Mora clipper for 7 € will ultimately break if you constantly abuse it by batoning it through knotted hardwood and other such stuff. A full tang knife such as a Enzo Trapper or a custom knife will be suited much better for the task. And edge-holding capability of a selectively tempered knife made by a master will be much superior to a production knife. One more of many other reasons is that you want to have a  face behind the work.

It sums up to totally different motivations. Will I buy a Mora clipper or wait until I can afford a more expensive knife? Will I buy a custom knife in the first?

Most people I know own Moras. It was their first knife, and they used it until they could afford another one or the old one broke. There is no contradiction between sensibly saving money and wanting a custom knife. With a custom knife, however, you get a totally different product policy. First and foremostly, you get exactly the tool for your job. You can order anything that makes sense, tailored to your needs, with exactly the materials you want. You get an elongation of your hand, and a tool for the job.

But first and foremostly you can get something you can NEVER get with a prduction knife. You get someone to talk to, a face behind the craft. If it´s a good craftsman, you get a piece of art, a legend even. I am very amazed by the works of Jake Powning, whose blog I follow and whose works I covet. Now Jake makes swords, and little to no knives, but he serves well as an extreme example of what I am up to. Those works transcend the world of the mere functional, even if they are anything but wall - hangers. Each one of his swords is made with a deadly purpose, and would work excellently, this much I am sure of. But he does not sell function. He sells an atmosphere of myth. He sells a legend.

A knife is a companion in a surrounding that can as well be hostile as it can be beautiful and peaceful. Even in a city park you could die, as many sorry examples talk of, especially in winter, when many homeless people all over the world die of the cold, of hunger, ah, and of alcohol, of course. With a knife you are prepared to make a fire (if you know how to), you prepare your food, you build a shelter. It will guide you through the wild and not-so-wild. You can work with it, you can play with it, you carry it a lot of time, and if you happen to be in a fix, it should get you out. Most fixes are a bit testing on your good humour;-), if you ask me, and I have seen my share of them in my time;-), and for me it was always good to have something to remind me of the good things in life by my side. A knife is like this. A Mora can do that, too, but on an entirely differnt path. You use it, and it grows on you, and you remember the good times you had with it. Scratches on the handle become runes you can read when you need them to encourage you. A good custom knife has this function built in. It is, if not a myth, or a legend, but a good thing in life you can thoroughly enjoy. As I said, that is not to say a Mora cannot do that.

I made Lugra-Moros (Moon-Mare) some time ago. I made it for myself. I cannot afford custom knives, so I make them myself. Lugra Moros (not Lugra-MORA, mind you;-)) is one of them. It might be a bit weird to call a knife a name, it´s a thing after all. But it´s a sort of talisman for me, and even if its primary task is to cut the herbs and whittle the spoons and do all the other work, I know that memories and images of the mind have powers. I do not confuse  a symbol or a metaphor for an object, mind you, but just as I keep its edge keen, I also keep its mythological edge sharp. To get me out of fixes of the body as well as fixes of the psyche.

You can make scratches into your Mora by purpose;-), you can get a custom knife with two edges where there is just a single one in the first.  You know that I am all for Moras. It would be quite decadent if I would say they do not work. In other cultures, a Mora would be high-end. They make knives from mild steel scrap metal in Paraguay and elsewhere. They work for them as good as keeping them alive. It´s a bit of a fancy when a western European individual talks about survival, if you ask me. Preparedness is another matter, but I recently read about "survival" being a "sport". This is thoroughly wrong. Survival is a biological term. If you are dying, you did not manage to survive. That simple. And it´s bigottery to talk of bushcraft shows as "survival". It´s a surrogative for real life like so many other things in our modern world, a distraction, a way of making money. In our society, however, making money is a matter of "survival", or better, "getting along". We own loads of gear, and I, myself, own some 150 knives. I do not judge that, mind you, I just describe it, for it´s a fact. It´s okay, for it is a fact that our society is working that way, and if we want to change it, we have to start with ourselves.

It´s about the same question when people nowadays are shopping for a car. It goes vroooomm when you put the hammer down, and hopefully brakes if you stamp on the pedal. That´s the function. But you also want an eciting exterior, you buy an image, you want comfort and Bear Grylls also drives an SUV. It´s fine with me.

A friend of mine owns an ancient tool factory, making hammers, tongs, axes, hatchets, and everything you order him to. He is very modest, and polite, and calm. He does not do any marketing and tries to compete with Chinese big - term - manufacturers.

That´s not fine with me. He is a good guy, a family man, and always strives and struggles. He never complains and never would,  but he had a heart attack recently. He fights windmills instead of those processes that build them.

I wonder what would happen if he concentrated on his unique selling points instead?

The things that build the windmills, however, are to be found in the building of our society, and in the facts that enable marketing processes. In indigenous society, there are few tools, lovingly made, lovingly cared for and crafted with care and an eye for the artistical value also. Not many individuals in indigenous cultures could afford 150 knives. But if they did, they would last generations. There are excavations of stone knives dating to 15.000 BC in serviceable condition. Many Roman, Celtic and Germanic knives could be adapted to be used without modifications. In Japanese Buddhistic and Shintoistic culture knives are buried ritually if they are worn to crap metal.

The average product cycle for an outdoor product in our society is half a season.

If I were one for offering counsil, it would be: Buy a Mora if you cannot afford another one, and keep in mind that this is a value, too. Learn how to use it, then buy a custom knife that can teach you other things. This in itself is a path of development in my opinion. It is a kind of individuation process. You simply want to learn who you are, where you come from, and where you are headed. You are told some things factual, and many things fictional while you grow up. You learn to make decisions, and many of them might be false. But it´s your way you are walking. A production knife stands for the things you have been told. A custom knife stands for the things you decide.

Making a knife yourself, however, leads into another direction, and on this I will rant on on another post.:-) 

Mora less the perfect knives;-)

If you are looking into going out into the woods, doing woodwork and bushcrafting, you might get a bit intimif´dated by all the latest paraphernalia. Those Grylls and Mears and Lundins running around and telling you what you need often might leave you with the impression you have to get a bank credit to even get started. And of course it has to be the latest Gerber Bear Grylls signature toolkit you need. Now I am a geardo myself, and I know that supplies might be short sometimes;-). I won´t tell you what you need. But I strongly suspect that it´s not necessary to spend a fortune on gear to get out into the woods and enjoy nature. Face it: Those guys make a living buying and selling, and NOT running through woods half-naked. That´s just for the show. Even if those tips are working, and it is not to be said that their shows are a fallacy. I have yet to learn a great deal of bush lore, and I keep learning from those shows, too. But they are entertainers, and marketing businessmen rather than "real" people. So you can question the gear money can buy a tiny bit.

These Moras are an example. The blades pictured you can get from 12-15€, the knives from 7-75€, and the most expensive version might not even be necessary. I simply love these knives. They cut well for a thin spine and a thin Scandi flat bevel. They are laminate steel that will rather bend than break. They get the job done. Period.

You can always do better. You can buy or make a different knife. If it will be better, remains to be seen. So when you first-timers look into buying a knife, look no further. Of course, if you have to sneak up on sentries all the time or kill alligators or lions, they might be a bit undergunned;-). But since I go mushroom hunting, collecting herbs, prepping food for cooking and snacks, do some carving and whittling, and build shelters, these are all you need for those tasks.

White Hunter - How a design becomes a tradition

 So many of you bushheads might have heard of the Puma White hunter knife design, which quickly became very popular in the 1950s. Originally modelled after a design by "Oberforstmeister Frevert", who is largely idealised by German hunters. By the way, that guy was an old Nazi, something to think about if you ask me. The knife, however, has little to do with that, but I think, one should keep that in mind. The design proved popular with generations of outdoorsmen and has proven solid as a rock. In fact, for a long time it was a unique selling point for the Puma corporation, resulting in the fairy tale prices they calculated. As is a tradition in Solingen, there are many corporations who copied it after the trademark license ran out. Boker Solingen was one of them with their "Explorer" lineup of knives, presumably made in Solingen, Spain and Argentinia (Arbolito). Those two knives above and below are from that lineup. I got them dead cheap in a Solingen surplus shop. Blade is 1.4116 steel. Above is an olive wood handle, below one made from ebony.

 The sheath are top grain leather. I really like these knives and would gladly use them if only I were permitted to carry them, for they are too long.

 This is a Weber Bundeswehr pilot´s knife, originally given to Tornado pilots as a survival device and to lever off the cockpit shell in an emergency. For that purpose, it has a differential temper from 57 HRC to 54 HRC tip - to - handle. Burned stag scales and brass bolster I made myself. I also added a convex bevel. It´s more of a cleaver, with a 6 mm spine thickness and 1.4116 steel.

And the original original, Pumaster crucible carbon steel from the first ever production run of the White hunter. I got this one from Mr. Rudolph Broch´s garage in Solingen, which is a paradise for any knifehead;-). Have to mount it sometime... but too many projects...







All in all I find it interesting. In the meantime, the original White hunter design has seen  hundreds of variations, not only in the Puma lineup, but all over Solingen, and even the world. I even saw a Pakistani replica of the knife or a damascus version from Stefan Steigerwald.

There´s a morale in there.

The world is round.

Last hammer - In of the season in the Industriemuseum Ennepetal

 Last Sunday it was time again to get out the ol´hammer and bash some steel again, so I made for the Industriemuseum smithy to meet up with Willi, Rolf, Daniel, and his girlfriend, Ramona, who made her first acquaintance with blacksmithing there. They just stopped by for a brief visit, for they had a booth at a mineral´s expo which was held nearby, resulting in plenty time to make some projects for ourselves.

 That mad bastard Kai dropped by, too, and that was great, period! He is currently working hard to embarrass me by trying to outperform me. He had some little viking style knives to forge and grind and mind you, they rocked. Forgot to take pics, but hope to provide them soon! They are getting not only "there", but beyond. Makes me proud, sort of... the fire keeps burning!:-)

 Willi doing some brutish work for a change. Note how he uses the hammer´s peen to drive out the material. Good for moving lots of steel at once...

 He had this folder project with him, with an interesting take on the tang, which wraps around the handle. Blade is silver steel. handle is birchwood burl.

 Some of my projects;-). That day was not my best, I have to admit, I ruined a knife by testing, so I stuck to some little projects like a leaf-handle knife from silver steel, the Athamen / Sgian Dhú blade and the little laminate full tang I made some time ago, aaaand.....

something else:-)....

 Toolbox by Willi;-).

 This is a ´hawk Rolf made from an old locksmith´s hammer.

 A reworked Krenzer bush hatchet. We have encountered some problems lately with this otherwise great hatchet. They tend to crack and splinter all over the place when being tempered, something to do with being forged at a temperature too low and inhomogenous, if you ask me. This one came along nicely, though.

 A bigger Krenzer / Rolf Moser viking axe. C 45, as usual.

 A laminate hatchet Rolf made.

 a detail on the house... slight flaw in it, but no harm done...

 Another ´hawk Rolf made. I look forward to the finished hatchet!

 Damascus knife blade Rolf made. Full tang, Zwissler "monster" damascus.

 Kai forging a viking style tang on a spring steel knife.











Grinding...

 A kitchen knife for Serrano bacon Willi made some time ago. Silver steel, 2 mm thin. Props!

 I also did some work on this little EDC Hubertus 440 C blade. Kambhala wood, homemade mosaic pins and  a lanyard hole.








The leaf tanged knife I made from silver steel.

Cars were there, too... and some pretty ones, too: Opel P 4

Mercedes...

Porsche...

Fiat Cinquecento...

must I really explain this;-)...?

...or this...?;-)

Historical motorcycles galore;-)...

...

Ah yes, proper man (and even some women might like it;-)) food....

BRATWÜRST!!!!!!

I took it easy and even had a lunch break, mind you! Had some Bratwürst*ggg* and cake, and a gallon of coffee... nice;-).

In the meantime, this Opel Blitz arrived. This is a car I´d covet, if I were one for coveting cars;-).

Ah, and a "Döner knife" blade for slicing Kebap Willi made some time ago. File steel, 1,5 mm thick. Sick.




It was a great day with great people and less of a stress attack, even relaxing. For next year Willi gave away three identical crap hatchets he got from the grocery store (!) for 3 € and we will do a contest who can make something useful from it the best... I will keep you informed!;-)

I am ABSOLUTELY normal - relatively seen, that is;-)

I have been knowing Jonny Robels´music for some time now (around 15 years or so). I loved his music for the atmosphere and for his skill... It was drui:-) (Drui is schuld, nanananananaaaaa*ggg*) again who brought him up again.

She showed me some of his newer songs, and I nearly pissed myself laughing:-). This guy certainly has some cogs turning differently than others*ggg*, and although I do not completely agree with him on all topics, he certainly is a mad guy making some weird music:-).

It´s German, though, but I guess you´d get the picture nonetheless...*ggg*

This autumn breeze

This autumn breeze

So gently blows,

I know: The trees

So wearily undress.

This autumn breeze

A gentle shadow

Over a sunny day´s smile

That beguiles me in that wood.

This autumn breeze

So gently blows;

We go along this ancient road

That we trod in times gone by.

This autumn breeze

Is in my breath, and death

Is master of this life; and yet,

Along this little ancient path

I know that I belong.

And winter comes,

With domes of ice 

And snow, and light

It fades and wanes.

And thus I breathe,

And close my eyes,

And in awe I savour

The picture in my heart.

Some interesting forgework

 In a certain park:-) in a certain city:-) I recently visited:-)))))))))))))))))))))), I came across this blacksmithing work: It´s a tree sculpture symbolizing an annual event, which is a bit silly, if you ask me, but the forgework was executed with great ideas and minute precision...

This snail I found very inspiring and thought I´d share it with you folks out there... I am thinking.....:-)