Friday, January 22, 2016

Wolfgang Hampel, Betty MacDonald and new surprising guest

Betty MacDonald in the living room at Vashon on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post.

Wolfgang Hampel - and Betty MacDonald fan club fans,

you already can send your special birthday card because of Betty MacDonald's birthday in March.

The sender of the  best and most original birthday card will be our honor guest of the next International Betty MacDonald fan club event. 


A Betty MacDonald fan club birthday exhibit with many very special birthday cards by Betty MacDonald's family and friends.

You'll be able to see wonderful cards for Betty MacDonald with very touching messages for example by her daughter Joan MacDonald Keil or her good friend Monica Sone.  

Will there be a Betty MacDonald fan club birthday event DVD available?

If so I'm very interested in receiving it. 

Betty MacDonald fan club newsletter January is outstanding with many Betty MacDonald fan club surprises.

Thanks a million!

Don't miss current Betty MacDonald fan club contest, please. 

There are several documents and letters in Betty MacDonald fan club letter collection you can use to answer the Betty MacDonald fan club contest question:

Tell us Betty MacDonald's favourite flower, please.

Deadline: January 31, 2016

International Betty MacDonald fan club events  are simply great and highlights for every Betty MacDonald fan club fan.

Wolfgang Hampel's new Vita Magica guest is a very famous TV lady, author and singer.

Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mr. Tigerl is beloved all over the World.


We are so happy that our 'Casanova'  is back.

Don't miss breakfast at the bookstore with Brad and Nick. 


I'd like to visit Betty MacDonald's paradise on Vashon Island.

I adore Betty MacDonald's Onions in the Stew.

I guess this song will be in ESC 2016 TOP 5.



Have a very nice Saturday,

Toni & Marina


Don't miss this very special book, please.



 
Vita Magica
Betty MacDonald fan club

Betty MacDonald forum  

Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( English ) 

Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( German )

Wolfgang Hampel - Monica Sone - Wikipedia ( English )

Wolfgang Hampel - Ma and Pa Kettle - Wikipedia ( English ) 

Wolfgang Hampel - Ma and Pa Kettle - Wikipedia ( French )

Wolfgang Hampel in Florida State University 

Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel 

Betty MacDonald fan club interviews on CD/DVD
 
 

Betty MacDonald fan club items 


Betty MacDonald fan club items  - comments

Betty MacDonald fan club - The Stove and I  


Betty MacDonald fan club groups 

Betty MacDonald fan club organizer Linde Lund 


Hard times for Merkel: Pressure builds over refugees

In the past six months, "We can do it" has been Angela Merkel's mantra on the refugee crisis. She will not budge from that standpoint, no matter how much pressure is mounting on her.


She has been chancellor for over 10 years and head of her party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), for over 15. She has seen government leaders throughout the world come and go. In May 2015, "Forbes" magazine named her most powerful woman in the world for the fifth consecutive year. She did indeed lead Europe in the EU's financial crisis and in the ensuing European debt gamble; there was no way of avoiding the German chancellor back then. And now?
Angela Merkel is now troubled, domestically and on a European level. How did things end up this way? Did the Chancellor misjudge the situation? "Europe as whole must take action; the states must take on responsibility for refugees seeking asylum," she demands, as she always has in the past. Yet the majority of EU states refuse to do so, despite the appeals. An attempt to share the burden has obviously failed and, with it, Angela Merkel's political plan.
Sweden, Austria and Germany were the states that have, until recently, taken in the greatest number of refugees . However, the Scandinavians and Austrians used the emergency brake and decided to restrict a further influx of people. And Germany? Merkel will not hear of a cap for migrants. She has argued that this cannot be achieved on a unilateral level and has also thought about the consequences: Must German tanks patrol the border and even shoot people who refuse to be sent away?
Merkel has always been successful with her objective and low-key approach to problems and the way she extensively analyzes them in order to find logical and transparent solutions. People say the physicist has no room for emotions. Yet, last summer, when a growing number of Germans got involved in refugee support measures and a "welcome culture" until then unseen in the country was spreading, it seemed that the chancellor had infected the people with her enthusiasm. "Germany is a strong country," she said. "We can do it."
September 5 and beyond
The chancellor would lose credibility were she to change her mind about that decision. At the same time, Merkel was aware early on that the arrival of large numbers of refugees could not be compared to any political challenge in recent times; it was a historical turning point. According to estimates, last summer 800,000 refugees were expected to arrive in Germany. "We stand before a huge national challenge that will be a central challenge - not only for days or months, but for a long period of time," she said.
Did the Chancellor already know that in five days, she would do what critics still rebuke her for?
Praise poured in for the German government, and especially Merkel, through social networks. She was immediately idolized and called "Mother of all believers" because she had "invited" Syrians to Germany and welcomed them with open arms. And, indeed, the next day many Germans were waiting to warmly welcome the refugees in places like Munich's central train station. Images of the volunteers quickly spread around the world but the Bavarian State Premier Horst Seehofer was grumbling that Merkel had made a mistake.
That marked the beginning of a political conflict that has made Merkel look much weaker than she would were her own party to stand behind her united. Seehofer's Christian Social Union is the Bavarian sibling of Merkel's CDU, and the two parties work together on a national level. The CSU's open disapproval upset Merkel, and she responded by saying that "if we now have to start apologizing for showing a friendly face in response to emergency situations, then that's not my country."
Ever since then, the two camps have become entrenched in their positions and no one has budged. The CSU, however, still has the strength to continue criticizing Merkel's refugee policies. The only difference now, compared to in autumn, is that the CSU has developed concrete proposals, such as not allowing more than 200,000 refugees to enter the country. Merkel's own party has also found advocates of such a cap.
But Merkel perseveres. At the CSU congress on January 20, the party expressed its disappointment over her lack of compliance. The CSU is now threatening to bring proceedings before Germany's Constitutional Court to allow border patrols. Merkel has until March to change her position. If she does not act, the CSU could, as a consequence, terminate the coalition with the CDU and then exit the government. Then, Merkel would no longer be chancellor.
Is Angela Merkel left with only with a choice between power and loss of face? Or will there be a European solution? Right now, no one has answers to these questions.

DW recommends





Egg & I Road and the Poetry of Western WA Place Names

Anyone who has driven up to Port Townsend has most likely noticed, with a neck swivel, Egg & I Road off of State Route 19 in Beaver Valley. The road is named after the best-selling book The Egg and I, which was written in the 1940s by Betty MacDonald about her amusing experiences acclimating to life on a chicken farm located on that actual road, later renamed after her famous book.

It’s not every day that you see road names like that. And yet, since moving to Western Washington, I’ve often found myself intrigued and delighted by the place names here, which outrank in humor, mystique, or just plain oddness much of what I’ve seen elsewhere.

Maybe it’s just my literary imagination, but I find Whidbey Island’s Useless Bay and Deception Pass irresistibly alluring. Marrowstone Island’s Mystery Bay is a good one, as are Paradise Cove in Sequim and our own Hidden Cove on Bainbridge Island.

Toe Jam Hill Road

Sequim is lucky enough also to claim Kitchen Dick Road, Jimmycomelately Road, and the impossible to forget or live down Schmuck Road. And here on Bainbridge we have Oddfellows Road and the widely beloved Toe Jam Hill Road.
I simply don’t know how to explain Zelatched Point Road and Go Onna Road down near the south end of the Hood Canal or for that matter Net for Dev Road west of Lake Crescent. Near Port Angeles, these doozies capture the imagination: Ediz Hook, Dungeness Spit, Tongue Point, and Goblins Gate.
Near Quilcene, places like Linger Longer Road are poetically pleasing. And lake names, too, are often worth lingering longer over: Lost Lake, Mud Lake, Silent Lake, and Dragon Lake.
Strangers Lake near Port Townsend makes you wonder, and up in Hansville so does Point No Point. To the west, Skunk Bay, Foulweather Bluff, Heart O the Hills Road, and Sourdough Mountain are fun, and Buck Knoll just sounds good. Whidbey’s Hide Away Lane, Get Away Lane, and Cozy Place are themed counterpoints to its lurid Spy’s Island and Gun Point.
Another poetic one is Embody Road along Route 19, practically right next to Egg and I. I could go on, but you and egg and I get the point—Tongue Point, that is.