gummi sheep

I started my morning with a VERY windy run along the path of the little river that I used to ride my bike along when I was 8, and had the only visceral recognition of landscape when I came across the community gardens I remember riding my bike along. An elderly couple was picking up apples off the ground, and I also had a little frison of recognition of this couple, who called out something german and agreeable to me, presumably about the folly of running in the windy rain.

Then I poked around the town a bit, and tried to find the Schloss Favorite, which I most vividly recall for the big slipper you had to put on to schlep across the floors... that and the swan that tried to pull me into the pond, and the mating frogs my mother told me were "copulating" but I heard as "kuppenheiming," which was the name of the town. Confused me for years. But, I was lost today in a housing estate, and found myself on the road to Hugelsheim... which, though now twinned with Cold Lake Alberta, was kind of recognizable, including the church that I had my confirmation in. (The church of one of my monumental moments of confusion -- the bishop asked me my name, and I didn't know if I was supposed to say my "real" name or my confirmation name, so I said my real name, and was confirmed Catherine Elizabeth Catherine, instead of Margaret. One of the many epic moments of anxiety in my young life).

Then, drove around what was the base, and which is now a small airport and a hodgepodge of recycled buildings. The hangers covered in camouflage grass are a museum, and there's a BMW test track, and a weird tattoo studio with sculptures out front. The only truly recognizable building is the arena, which is now a curling club and eishaus. That tripped me up a bit, though -- suddenly had a vivid recall of black cat gum, of my sister inching her way across the ice on her 3 year old blades and then dropping the plaque for her instructor. A lot held in that space, 8 year old soldiering-on and parental distintegration.

After the base, I headed off toward Stuttgart... I had some notion of finding a place for lunch, and maybe buying a Freitag bag... but here were roadwerks, and roadwerks, and the charm of being on the autobahn wore thin even in german. I was in a tunnel, then I was spinning around a ring road, and as I was searching for the ausfahrt I was supposed to take, PLUNK I was spun outside the north of stuttgart. I contemplated turning around, but didn't have much heart for that choked up tunnel or the tailback that had been facing the other way... so I pulled over, figured out where I was on the map and set off for my ultimate destination, the airport hotel near frankfurt. I had some notion that I'd find the hotel then set off for some food.

Five hours after setting out, I finally found the hotel. It was a day of being lost, and not charmed. Was glad I didn't set out for some place further, because it took me about 5 hours to cover approximately 150 km. Tailbacks and confusion, basically, and having to steel myself to enter the PennyMarkt and utter caveman german to try to find my hotel, after spinning restlessly on the speed of low blood sugar around the wrong town for an hour.

Finally found the hotel... and it's basically an upscale prison. Not a single note of luxury -- a single murphy bed, one flat pillow, no headboard! There were, however, gummi sheep on the pillow:



After a day spent LOST on various autobahns, spinning around stuttgart and environs like there was a magnetic force field keeping me out, and then a dinner where I quaffed two glasses of wine and gobbled a lot of schweine, the gummi sheep made me laugh out loud. Repeatedly.