Blue and Green 

Blau und Grün

 

The blue star flower, borage, an herbal ally, especially in the old days. In German: Borretsch. Also called: Liebäugelchen, Blausternchen, Salatkraut, Sternblümchen, Wohlgemütsblume. These names describe the characteristics of the plant endearingly and accurately: little lovely eye, little blue star, salad greens, little star flower, and good cheer flower.  Gut fuer Herz und Gemüt, Hildegard von Bingen empfehlt es schon vor eintausend Jahren. One thousand years ago, Hildegard already promotes its healing properties. Good for the heart and lungs, a helper against depression and so much more. Borage’s taste is interesting, a bit like cucumber, as tea or in salad. Borretsch is also one of the seven fresh green herb ingredients for the traditional regional recipe of Frankfurter Grüne Soße, a green sauce eaten in spring and summer with potatoes and hardboiled eggs. A tradition to mark spring’s greening force. Full of vitamins and minerals. In my recent overseas call to my brother Matthias, his grown son Janis picks up the phone and tells me how they just had Grüne Soße for dinner. He loves it – I wish I’d be there, I say.

 

So here is blue and green – blau und grün. My favorite color combination as a six-year-old child is green and blue. In school I crochet a simple square Topflappen (potholder), the teacher insists that it is not feasible. I am very shy, quiet, and scared of people, yet in this case I know the teacher is wrong. I argue bravely: “Green and blue are everywhere in nature. In summer from below a tree looking up into the sky, on a sunny day, you’ll see green and blue.” The teacher keeps pressuring me, threatens to tell my mother. That would be ok with me, I counter, Mama agreed for me to take these two yarns. So, determined I make my potholder in green and blue. How ugly, the teacher says. Nothing can deter me. Back then, as well as recalling this instance now, I am astounded by the teacher’s ignorance forbidding green-blue combinations. But of course, this is Germany in 1959, still extremely authoritarian. How completely different it is nowadays. Looking back though, I recognize the long green & blue threads winding and spiraling through my life. From a young age on: insisting, being very clear, single minded, stubborn, and fiercely protective about how I envision and imagine things I want to create in this life. A strange kind of knowing….

guided by a star....

Looking back, old now, i feel gratitude – this teacher, many other people and occasions taught me how to protect what is precious, they made me strong.