Even though it is only the first day of Lent (and Ramadan, by the way).
This inspired a haiku:
Gray on gray for weeks
Overshadowing the days
This morning — pink clouds
Even though it is only the first day of Lent (and Ramadan, by the way).
This inspired a haiku:
Gray on gray for weeks
Overshadowing the days
This morning — pink clouds

Hard to believe, but I am wrapping up my Christmas preparations today, not on the 24th (or 25th or 26th, etc., invoking the Twelve Days of Christmas, which are taken seriously in Austria).
May you all have peaceful and happy holidays and a wonderful 2026!

My Facebook memories just reminded me of an exchange with colleagues in January 2010 that gave me great pleasure.
First post
I had to work late yesterday and missed going skating. So this morning I went for a walk even though it was snowing pretty heavily.
This haiku is the result (in German first):
Viel Schnee ist heute
In Pötzleinsdorfer Schlosspark
Aber wenig Leut’
… which translates into English more or less like this:
Lots of snow today
In Pötzleinsdorfer Schlosspark
Very few people
Later
As I was waiting for the tram to make its way back into Vienna I sent it by text message to friends and colleagues. One of my colleagues challenged me to write a limerick and I came up with this (long tram ride!):
Eliza went out in the snow
She had nowhere else to go
She slipped on the ice
Said something not nice
And now when she goes she goes slow. 🙂
As the year draws to a close, I would like to wish all my readers Happy Holidays, a good slide (as one says in German) into the New Year, and a peaceful and prosperous 2024. (And what would these wishes be without the annual haiku. 😉)


May you all have a happy and healthy holiday season spent with as many loved ones as possible and a happier, healthier New Year!
Rosehips are flowering
While the chestnuts are falling?
No climate change here!