Sprichwörter von Jeni, und fotos von Teneriffe

now is the time to share some of jenny's sayings - 'Sprichwörter' - which crop up in our everyday and have entered my consciousness and which over time i have noted down.  they are not strictly speaking jenny's sprichwörter; they belong to the collective german consciousness; it is but through her that they have come to me.  finding english translations became interesting after the german expressions 'mir nichts, dir nichts' ('if it doesn't matter to you it doesn't matter to me') and 'mach dich aus dem Staub' ('make yourself scarce') became famous (and rendered incomprehensible) when literally translated into english (respectively, 'me nothing, you nothing' and 'make yourself out of the dust')


es ist wie es ist    'it is as it is,' expressing the buddhist practise of total acceptance of what is.  at its heart, it expresses a cool distant stance, declining to describe anything beyond 'as it is'; no adjectives, no moral or aesthetic valuations.

Jeder Jeck ist anders   equivalent to an acceptance of all people. from the cologne dialect, meaning 'every madman is different' or 'each to their own' (or in spanish 'cada loco con su tema')

es gibt kein falsches Wetter, nur falsche Kleidung   'there is no bad weather, only inappropriate clothing'

über Geschmack lass uns nicht streiten  'let's not argue about taste'

steter Tropfen holt den Stein   'constant drops hollow the stone'

gute Dinge muß Weile haben   'goods things come to those who wait'

der Klügere gibt nach   the cleverer one gives in

der Ton macht die Musik  the tone makes the music, or 'it's the way you tell it.'

kommt Zeit, kommt Rat   'council comes with time'

wer im Glashaus sitzt sollte nicht mit Steine werfen   'those who live in glasshouses should not throw stones'

wer schreibt, der bleibt   'he who writes, remains'

wer rastet, der rostet   'he who rests, rusts'  (you snooze you loose)

einem Geschenkten Gaul schaut man nicht ins Maul   'don't look a gifthorse in the mouth'

der Apfel fällt nicht weit vom Stamm   'the apple does not fall far from the trunk' (said by jeni to her father when he reproaches her for certain behavioural characteristics)

es gibt nicht nur Schwarz und Weis   'there is not just black and white', meaning 'there are lots of different shades and ways of looking at things', similar to

es gibt kein richtig und falsch   'there is no right and wrong'

schlimmer geht's immer   'things could always be worse'

es ist noch kein Meister vom Himmel gefallen   'no master has yet fallen from the sky'   (meaning you have to make an effort to do things well)

mit dem könnte man Pferde stehlen   'you could steal horses with him'  (meaning: he is a good friend (as thick as thieves))

wer anderen eine Grube gräbt, fällt selbst hinein   'he who digs a grave for others, falls himself therein'

was du nicht weist macht dich nicht heiss   'what you don't know doesn't make you - hot(!)  (what you don't know doesn't bother you, or 'out of sight, out of mind')

lob nicht den Tag vor dem Abend   'praise not the day before the evening'

alles hat ein Ende; nur die Wurst hat zwei   'everything has an end, only a sausage has two'


and now a little ditty, written possibly (and indeed probably) by jeni, expressing a certain state of mind:

Ich bin der Mittelpunkt meines Universums
Alles was mir passiert, passiert für mich allein,
deswegen ist es wunderschön;
also lass die Sonne rein. 

'i am the centre of my universe
everything which happens to me, happens to me alone
that is why it is wonderful
so let the sun in'


and another little ditty:

wenn du denkst 'das geht nicht mehr'
kommt von irgendwo ein Lichtlein her

when you think that all is over
a little light comes from somewhere


and now some more photos taken by brother kevin during a recent visit of his:

here is a photo hannah took on her handy:

and photos from jenny:

and now a few photos from angela:

 the window which jenny found on a shipwreck, which gave the cave a touch of class

jenny puts chiqui into the rucksack, one of the ways of travelling all three together on the scooter

recently deceased (jenny's dad) dieter, during a visit not so long ago, playing the hang drum the polish guy gave jenny,

shusha, dieter's dog and 'eternal companion' looks over there

jenny (back turned) does her thing

in the rise and fall of the cave's interior decoration, this was taken at a high point

detail of the interior floor jenny laid with abandoned fragments of tiles collected here and there

jenny, i and kevin sitting on a wall about to begin our thrilling descent into the breath-taking barranco de masca

and, for the interested landscape admirer, looking back to the 3,718m volcano and centre of the island, El Teide