It was a lovely sunny day in Kappel. The clouds in the sky looked fluffy and friendly. I attended the Patrozinium on Sunday, June 30, 2013 in Freiburg-Kappel. It began with a children’s Festgottesdienst, whereby the project-choir was introduced. They sang wonderful spiritual songs.
 
Lunch was served by the friendly people of the Kappeler community, among others German grilled sausages and steaks and a variety of salads served in the exquisite Kappeler Valley Boat, and other stands where you could buy beer, wine, soft-drinks. And to think that all the people behind the stalls and those serving the food and drinks were voluntary worker. The children had their outsized plastic jumping castle and even a merry-go-round  and the music was provided by the Kappel’s Musikverein with its good-humoured, conductor. They even played my favourite song ‘New York, New York.’ This was followed by coffee and Schwarzwälder cakes, and at 2pm the Kindergarten St. Barbara also showed their talent. It might be noted that the MGV-Kappel works closely with the Kindergarten run by Frau Allgeier, but since the men’s choir is preparing for the Project Concert on July 13, 2013 they decided not to take part at the Patrozinium. A good many members of the men’s choir did attend event, and the most conspicuous MGV-member and voluntary worker was Ulrich Maurer, who was responsible for the sound system, as usual.
 
I had the opportunity to chat with Prof. Schröder about journeying to Nepal and Tibet. He’d expressed his desire to travel with me from Lhasa to Beijing, in China’s version of the trans-siberian railway, along the Tibetan plateau. I also had a chat with Hermann Dittmers about style in speech because someone used the hackneyed expression ‘and last but not least’ while thanking the elderly ladies of Kappel. A lot of Germans give a speech in the local lingo but can’t resist the temptation of using the above-mentioned English expression from the cliché corner.
 
I encouraged Thomas Rees, Kappel’s famous sculptor, for his comment in the Sunday newspaper on his excellent sculpture ‘The Rain Woman,’ which the concerned people in the deacon found inappropriate, as expected from conservative circles, even in these modern times. I advised him to just ignore ‘em and carry on with his creative work. The deacon isn’t the last instance, as far as art is concerned.
 
An artist or sculptor draws inspiration not only from Himmer and Erde but also mythology and influences of other cultures and hemispheres. ‘Die Gedanken sind Frei’ is a big motto since the Badische Revolution in our German society. Thoughts are free, and what Rees merely did was to transfer his thought of a Rain Woman in sculpture; on wood to be precise. I admire the aesthetic beauty of his sculpture as do all free-thinking people. Art shouldn’t be allowed to be put in a straight-jacket by so-called religious-minded conservative circles.
 
Recently, I went to a TV Nature Show in the Rothaus arena (fair grounds near the Freiburger airstrip to inform myself about the uses of Nature’s secrets in daily life. Which discoveries and inventions were inspired by Nature? That’s what moderator Frank Elstner and physicist Ranga Yogeshwar (of Indian descent) tried to explain. There was even a quiz-show and the participants were prominent people such as: Esther Schweins (actress cum director), the speaker of the Tagesschau Linda Zervakis, the sport reporter Marcel Reif and the star-cook Nelson Müller. The big question is who won the quiz? Esther Schweins, of course. You can watch the TV show on July 11, 2013 on the ARD at 8:15 pm.