December Chit Chat

Since nobody has started a thread for december yet, I thought it's my turn to do so.

I spent the weekend in Berlin with my family, it was a birthday present for my husband. We went to ba concert by Steven Van Zandt, also known as Little Steven, one of Springsteen's guitarists. Some of his songs sounded very familiar, quite similar to Springsteen's songs. Others were very different. It was really good - though not close to as The Boss himself. We stayed at a hotel in a district of Berlin nobody had stayed just twenty years ago, it used to have a bad reputation. Now everybody loves to go there, they've got restaurants from all over the world - we even saw a restaurant with Tibetan cuisine!

Today we decided to show our kids some of the recent history of Berlin since we had realized that they know in theory what it meant to Berlin to be a divided city, but they can't imagine it practically. So we first went to the museum at Checkpoint Charlie, the checkpoint for the members of the US Army. 'You are now leaving the American sector!'
Somebody started a museum soon after the wall was built, and it also shows how people tried to flee from the GDR - and many of them either were shot or imprisoned, together with their family members. They also had to give up their children for adoption, so I can't imagine the desparation of those who tried to escape knowing about this.

Afterwards, we went to a panorama, a reconstruction of a West Berlin street near the wall in the 1980s, and the view across the wall. Assisted by audio recordings of politicians: the president of the GDR who declined that his government would build a wall just weeks before they actually did. The mayor of West Berlin begging politicians from all over the world to watch and not forget Berlin. JFK's speech in 1963 with his 'Ich bin ein Berliner' ('I am from Berlin'). The president of the GDR who said that the wall would remain in fifty and even in a hundred years - just months before it was turned down.
We also saw pictures and videos of the building and demolition of the wall, people waving each their friends and families from the distance after it was built, not knowing if they would ever see each other again. Very impressive, and I'm sure that our kids do understand it much better now. Since it wasn't just a wall in Berlin but also a border which cut Germany in half, the border was situated just a few miles away from where I was born, and it was just by chance that I grew up in the west. I do remember that, during the 1980s, we always went to the border when youngsters from our British twin town came to visit. We visited an information center, and I usually had to translate it for our guests - I still remember the vocabulary 'self-shoot-devices'...

I'm really thankful that my kids grew up not knowing about this and just hope it will continue to be like it...

Sounds like a wonderful experience for all of you, carolhathaway.

And what a thoughtful husband you have.

Hi everyone, I'm hosting a Bid Whist group in the Los Angeles area.  All are welcome to join us.  You can sign up at https://www.meetup.com/spades-238/events/243693937/.

Hi carolhathaway......you have brought back some memories for me as I, together with my "fairly new" husband, stayed with my friend in Berlin in June 1990, just seven months after the wall came down.

She was working there and went to the wall on that 
emotional evening in November 1989.

We also went the the "Escapees Musem" and the one thing that I remember was that someone came across from East to West Berlin in a compartment made in the
floor under the passenger side of a Mini ! 
How frightening that must have been.

I've got some pieces of the wall that I picked up from 
the floor at CheckPoint Charlie, so I knew they were genuine. 

I found Berlin to be very atmospheric with it being 
so soon after the demolishion of the wall, and driving through what had been East Berlin very enlightening.

Hardly any buildings had been renovated after the
end of WW2 and some had bullet holes in the masonry.

Of course this contrasted greatly with the rebuilding 
that had gone on in West Berlin.

We attended a symbolic open air concert, sitting on the grass in "no man's land" which had been the separation 
between East and West Berlin. Many people had been shot trying to cross to West Berlin.

The concert was Mahler's Sixth Symphony performed by a youth orchestra made up of young musicians from 
both East and West Germany. 
It was Very atmospheric in that place where many had lost their lives trying to get back to their families and friends in West Berlin.

You've given me many more memories of my visit 
to Berlin.....not the least being at an open air concert 
given by Placido Domingo !

So....thanks for the memories.

Joanna,
that sounded like a great trip with lots of memories!
It's really impressive and also shocking to actually see what people risked to leave a country. I had a pen friend from Dresden for about ten years during that moving time. We tried to meet in East Berlin during GDR times, but I was hold up for hours at the checkpoint and couldn't contact her to wait for me, so she'd already gone when I finally got there. So when we first met - after the wall had come down, we found out why she often hadn't replied to my letters: She told me that they all had been opened by their secret service (she was actually astonished that this didn't happen in the west), and often parts of my letters were marked black. I certainly never wrote anything political or even critical, but it still must have worried somebody...

Most of my husband's family lived in the GDR although they lived just a few miles apart from each other. My oarents-in-law often told stories of what happened when they went there to visit (relatives were allowed to come to the GDR for a visit but had to pay a lot of money, so they usually had to save a lot to be able to go there). Relatives living in the GDR wrren't allowed to come to the west unless they had retired (many people then decided to stay in the west, so the GDR didn't have to pay for their pensions and health insurances anymore). My husband's aunt wanted to come to West Germany when her parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversaryand was imprisoned in the GDR. The reason for it was that she hadn't told the authorities that she had been adopted as a baby, so - according to their authorities - they weren't her real parents! And a friend of me always went to Hungary during the summer holidays because people from the GDR were allowed to go there on holiday as well, so they were able to meet with their relatives and spend their hokidays on a camping ground together. Apart from 1989, when the travel allowances were cancelled because people crom the GDR had escaped via Hungary, taking a ince-in-a-lifetime chance, not knowing that the border  would be history just a few months later...

For me who was born in 1969, it was normal to live in a divided country. We were used to it - which us probably the most frightening issue about that.
On 11/9, 1989, I was learning for an exam the next day, si I didn't watch TV or heard the radio. The next morning, I set on the radio, and the first news I heard was that the border had been ooened. One of my mother's cousins lived in Berlin and went to the wall to welcome people and buy them drinks to delebrate with them the whole night. I took my sisters and all the sweets we had in the house on the following weekend, and we drove to the border. We couldn't get any close because there was so much traffic so we just stopped the car in the traffic jam and gave the sweets and also little toys to every child in a GDR car. When I returned to the city I studied on Sunday, a lot of shops were open, and tgey all sold bananas for high prices - bananas were really rare in the GDR, so visitors bought them no matter how much they were. The churches opened to let visitors sleep there because there weren't enough trains running, and their cars needed a different sort of petrol our gas stations hardly offered.
When we first went to the GDR in early 1990, we were shocked about the bad conditions of the houses and streets, you're right: They looked like nothing had been done since the end of WW II. You wouldn't be able to tell a difference now.
That really was an incredible time...

To anyone in southern California, praying for you and your loved ones to be safe. I hope the fires don't affect you and can be put out before they cause much more damage.

Just an aside: Since the fires are so close to LA, I wonder if G&A will take the twins away for safety's sake. George's house backs onto parkland so, if that catches fire, his house could be in danger. It might be smarter to just get out until the fires are under control. Maybe they should have just stayed on vacation.

I think George will make sure that the babies and Amal are all safe. They may have just stopped to pick up the dogs.The winds are supposed to be bad through the weekend.

Damn....

Lizzy & 
annemarie....
Yes I agree with what you both say and we all know that they would soon get away if there was any sign of danger from the fires.

The arial shots of the fires look dreadful and very frightening.
We can only hope that the forecasts are wrong 
about the winds getting strong over the weekend. 

Are the military helping in any way ?
The firefighters are Real Heroes and must be exhausted 
already.

My LA friends are telling me that the winds are supposed to lessen in intensity/speed this weekend, but become more erratic in pattern. I don't think that's an entirely good thing, since it means less predictability.

Positive thoughts to the Universe...

Ladybug, You said you're in the LA area. Are you ok? Are you away from the fire zone? Please be safe.

I have a cousin in Valencia I haven't been able to contact. Do you know if the fires have reached there? She's often slow getting back to me, but not knowing if she's in a fire zone is making me worry.

Thanks for the info, Ladybug. My cousin got back  to me a few minutes ago, and they're ok. She works at a Walmart that had to close yesterday because they lost power, but all is back to normal today.

I'm glad you're not in harm's way and hope your new house doesn't get damaged by the fires. Malibu is a beautiful area. I hope you get to enjoy it.

It's always frightening to hear about these natural disasters, we're so helpless when we learn that we can't control nature...

I can only hope and pray that nobody is seriously injured or killed, you can always build a new house, memories are what really hurts. But if you loose a beloved one, that's the real loss...

Everybody on the East coast okay after the snowstorm?

PP - Was it a storm where you are? Here it was only a couple of inches - even less in most places - and pretty much gone the next day. The only snow around now is on tops of cars whose owners didn't bother to clean them off. It is cold, though.

Hope everyone in California is safe. The people I know out there are outside the fire zone - at least so far. It's frightening to know that the winds could shift and start fires in areas that haven't been affected yet. Praying for all to be safe.

There's a frightening video on Face Book, taken from inside a car, of the cars driving along the highway
with the fires ahead and alongside them.

It's scary on a scale to number 10 !

I'm just sorry that I can't post it.

Joanna, I’ve seen news reports on TV that show exactly what you described.  It’s looks surreal and almost apocalyptic.  These fires won’t let up.  Just awful.

Thought for the day.............
Male reindeer lose their antlers in the winter, and female reindeer do not. THEREFORE Santa's sleigh is actually pulled by a team of strong underrated women!

Lol I love it.

Just wanted to wish everyone who celebrates a very Merry Christmas! May you and your loved ones have a happy, blessed holiday!

Thank you
Happy holidays to all of you !!

May I wish All COH members a 
Very Happy Happy Christmas 
and a Good New Year 2018 

Thanks so much for the Christmas wishes.  I wish all our COH friends a very Merry Christmas with family and friends.  Enjoy the spirit of the holiday!  

Merry Christmas to everyone.

Matt Damons father passed away he was 74.

Oh damn

What a sad days....
Condoglianze

That really is sad. Matt's been having a rough time in the press lately and this just makes everything a million times worse. Losing someone you love is so hard, but losing them at this time of year seems worse somehow. My prayers go out to him and his family. I hope they can find peace.

It is so sad.  Matt’s father had been sick for a while. I wonder if he was with his dad when he passed away.  
Hopefully the strength of his family will get him through this rough time.  I’m sure he is in George's thoughts.

That's really sad!
And there are so  any others who have to spend the holidays mourning and missing a  beloved person.

To everybody who's celebrating:

Have a Merry Christmas!
Soend the time with the ones you love!

Merry Christmas to our European friends as it's already Christmas there.

And Merry Christmas to our American friends as it will soon be Christmas Day.

Great avatar Mel! Happy holiday!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Everyone!

melbert wrote:Merry Christmas to our European friends as it's already Christmas there.

And Merry Christmas to our American friends as it will soon be Christmas Day.

Thank you Mel....Lovely avatar you've posted !     

Hi, guys.

A few movie recommendations (in addition to our guy's, of course):

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri


The Post


Molly's Game

You won't regret the trip to the theater or the money you spend.

Here's to a happy and pResident-free 2018!

W
Thanks for the recommendation.... from an expert!

You won’t have long to go .... pResident Clooney is loading the Batmobile as I write...

Happy 2018....May all your wishes come true.....

Does anyone know anything about a YouTube channel "Life for Life"? I looked up George on YouTube and a couple of videos from this channel came up - with baby pictures of the twins!!!!!!!!!!!!! The videos themselves have no baby pictures in them but the pictures are there in the listing for the post.

Before you guys jump all over me, I don''t believe these babies (as beautiful as they are) are G&A's twins. From what I saw the site doesn't claim the pictures are the twins - but the implication is there. Why else have pictures of twins accompany your post? - Unless it really is them. What do you guys think? My head is about to explode!

No,Lizzy, don't let your head do that please! 

This seems to a series of videos that come from the same outlet at Wochit videos where the commentary seems to be stitched up in bits as if the commentator has a nervous tic - or they have literally taken a sound tape and stitched it together. Very weird and not very professional.

All of the script has been cobbled together from articles and dubious quotes spoken as gospel - dare I say it? Fake news!

Agree PAN.  Pretty cheesy stuff if you ask me.  The vocals sound robotic.  I’m pretty sure all those twin pics are stock photos superimposed in the post listings of these videos ... and used because this video site doesn’t have access to any real photos.

I wonder who those twins really do belong to, if they even are actually twins. They're cute, whoever they are!

Donnamarie - I've noticed the robot voice on a few videos lately. Maybe it's the result of some kind of computerized translation service?

https://www.closermag.fr/people/george-clooney-ma-femme-m-a-force-a-tirer-un-trait-sur-une-bonne-douzaine-de-potes-itv-770497 

A new interview with a french magazine.

I posted this article from HairyHound with translation under the proper location "in print".  Thanks for the find Hairyhound!


http://www.clooneysopenhouse.com/t8036-interview-in-closer-magazine-french#246279

Wishing one and all a Happy New Year!!  Have a great time however you celebrate!   May the New Year bring us all only good things!

Happy New Year To All.