Author Archives: Clare Dunkle
This morning, as I was drinking my coffee and reading the paper, I came across an ad for Katzenstreu. That got me thinking about Streu, which relates to an old word in English: to strew. Die Streu is anything we …
The Month of the Dead
In Germany, November is the month of the dead, a special time to remember lost loved ones. German Catholics set aside the first two days for this purpose: Allerheiligen, the Feast of All Saints, and Allerseelen, the Feast of All …
Being sick gives a person little motivation to change the channel, so the other day, Joe and I watched an entire television program about toast. The highlight of the show was the making of what was then the world’s largest …
The Big Sleep
When we place a city on the imaginary globe in our minds, we tend to think first in terms of weather. Kaiserslautern, Germany, has a wonderfully mild climate: the average daytime temperature in winter here hovers several degrees above freezing. …
Yet Know I How the Heather Looks
Where I live in Texas, we have only two seasons: blazing hot and “I wonder if I should take a sweater.” The chance to watch four seasons unfold is a precious gift to me. A month ago, I wrote a …
The Witching Hour
The Passing of a People
At the end of October, nature is preoccupied with death. Leaves fall, plants decay, and even we modern humans feel a shiver pass down our spines and race out to purchase plastic skulls and polyester costumes–which, sadly, will last long …