On Saturdays, we drive up north (yes, you can go further north than Hamburg!), onto a small peninsula called Eiderstedt and a village called Tating. We check for post, go for walks, try to clear the head. Just before getting into Tating is Garding, one of Germany’s smallest cities – Pat and I have endless arguments over this, she keeps calling it a town! This is all in the middle of nowhere, especially during the winter when there are no tourists. On the way, we often stop in Garding. During the summer, there is the world-famous Musikantenbörse when open air music takes over the whole city (or ‘town’, just to keep the peace:). During the winter, Lütt Matten (Rainer’s Pub – Rainer is one of the main organizers of the Musikantenbörse) is full of smoke, full of people, and full of music: it has live music inside on Saturdays, and sometimes Fridays too. So, we stop by for a pint. Which is where the problem starts. No pints. In a pub! Not even for Guinness. They do have 0.4l or 0.2l glasses yes, but the Guinness looks like cola – not my words, the bar woman’s.

So I asked her did they not have proper pint glasses? Maybe there was some German rule saying you could not sell beer in pints? Liquid had to be measured in liters? – I had completely forgotten that German rules did not apply on Eiderstedt. – She said they were just impossible to get. She thought for a minute and then she said that they had one (!) pint glass once upon a time that someone had brought over from Ireland all the way to Eiderstedt for himself. Then, after a few years, he moved away from Garding – and he took the pint glass with him!

End of story.

This morning Pádraig’s friendly hospital nurses took a different measure. They decided that it was hair-washing-morning. What a difference clean hair makes! Pádraig not only looks so much better, he must also feel so much better with clean hair. And, indeed, he is sitting up very relaxed in his bed, resting, taking in the Sunday feeling. – A friend brought over a set of different stones, together with a book on “Healing Crystals” by Michael Gienger. The set of crystals was very thoughtfully put together, the stones that were selected address very clearly all the areas Pádraig is fighting with at the moment. Not just his physical help but also spiritual well-being. I thought, instinctively, that the book had been written by an Indian guru, when I discovered that the author was German and published it first in Saarbrücken. So much for German lack of spirituality! The stones must work: Pádraig today opened both of his eyes, well – the left eye more than the right one, but he did open the right eye too – the first time in a long time. And there was movement in his left hand and arm; again, not that much – but there was movement.

02 June Run the Mini Marathon For Pádraig More than 30 brave runners have already signed up to run the Women’s Mini Marathon for Pádraig. (Will they run in miles or in kilometers?) Join them today or support their effort. Visit their Facebook site.

Today’s German Music Tip
Unheilig, Als wär’s das erste Mal (2014). This is another really well-know German group that has been around for 15 years. It was founded by ‘Der Graf’ in Aachen, a town at the Belgian border. Unheilig cam 2nd in the German competition for Eurovision this year.

What’s hot
Healing
What’s cold
0.2l glasses
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Jeder Jeck ist anders. (From Karneval in Köln)

Twitter: @forPadraig
#caringforPadraig
http://www.caringforPadraig.org