GOD BLESS BLIP

This morning set off for the morning walk above Ottobeuren near the recently refurbished Observatory. There is a nice stretch mainly in the shade of the morning sun and a grass track so that Flash doesn't get too exhausted and can walk freely on his very sensitive paws.

At one point as one comes out of the shade of the trees, one has a wonderful view of Ottobeuren, looking to the north and the direction we live. The countryside is awash in yellow dandelions although I did spot the first field cut for silage. It's directly behind the two bell towers of the Basilica. The bees had better get a move on.

At this point there is also a Crucifix and thinking about my Blip yesterday and the idyllic scene of the Benedictine Basilica and Abbey (formerly also contained a school and a brewery), I thought I would combine them in a short video and post it to the closed Facebook group of the Old Boys of my former UK Benedictine Abbey and School and repeat the story of the Crucifix laws. What made the video was the very, very "kitschy" sound of cowbells from the herd at the bottom of the Blip.

This evening when I visited Facebook I was alarmed to see the first comment.


" Nice to see traditions of religious narrow-mindedness and bigotry being upheld in Bavaria :) - Thanks for posting George"


Someone else had replied to this along the lines of why such a comment and this had lead to a heated personal discussion between a few ranging from abortion to names such as "Adolfina Merkolva".



Help get me out of here. How do you get from cowbells to Hitler?



In the meantime the initial comment writer posted:


"Sorry, George, I thought you were posting the whole ironically. Apologies if I took it in a particular direction of my own "


All good but still the raging war amongst the others was unpleasant. I guess none of us chose where we went to school and which if any religion we were raised with but I had expected a different tone from supposedly educated people with a common past. I personally am not a Believer of any religion but I like to think that I try (and often fail) to follow so-called Christian values, most of which you will no doubt find in every other religion too, so long as you want to find them.



The Crucifix episode reflects exactly the fear expressed by the Catholic Archbishop of Munich and Head of the German Catholic church, Cardinal Marx (a fellow Bishop once said there was no difference in views between him and his Russian namesake). Marx said  when asked about the future dangers for religion:


"it will be instrumentalized for other reasons, for political reasons. That will be perhaps the great fear for the 21st century.”


Oh well, life goes on but thank whoever you believe in that we have Blip as a safe and friendly haven. I am very aware that I "test" many to the limits with my long and perhaps controversial thoughts and for your patience and kindness, I am extremely grateful. Luv ya Blip Community.


Lots of things done including "top-off" mowing of the horse fields. Our soil is much too acid and contains far too many buttercups which are mildly poisonous and cause the horses to have  diarrhoea.  They look lovely but the tops had to be cut off so that the horses could get through to the grass underneath.


The contractors for the electricity board finally arrived to fit a new anchor and waterproofing of the electricity line pole on the house. It should have been done last summer when the roof was finished in June. When they asked for three or four spare tiles as they had changed the way the tiles now lay, I couldn't help. Our roofer luckily answered his mobile and said they should take some of the tiles from the bottom row closest to the ground and he would find some and pop around in the evening. He didn't but I managed to fit them myself using some of the old tiles which have the same format.


Although windy but warm all day, we are due to have a day or rain tomorrow. Nature needs it and hopefully, it will also prevent the pollen storm everyone has been complaining about all day - everything is turning yellow from the dandelion pollen and keeping the pool clean a nightmare. Seems to me the goldfish like pollen.



Our PV has been churning out electricity this month at a wonderful rate. Already over 1,000 kWh of which we have used half and "sold" the rest. In  April we have not had to use the wood pellet boiler once for water (or heating) and have only had to buy a minimal amount of electricity on one rainy day.
Extra of the lads on the roof for my records only.