Karin Bartsch's Journals

This picture was taken on the eve before our Golden Wedding Anniversary on March 25. 2007.

We invited for an outdoors party at 2 PM in our camping resort Tierra del Sol in Florence, Arizona.

Our fellow residents made it all fun for us with a mock wedding, greetings, dance with live music. We provided the cake, lots of food, beer and wines. We had a wonderful day! We had about 65 guests.

I close my eyes and listen to music special made for us by two of our friends and performed live. I am also tired after that very active and fun day. We just had our last dance. Dieter and I had uncounted glasses of Red Wine after starting with champagne. Thanks, all friends of our close-knit community "Tierra del Sol" in Florence, Arizona.

Dieter and I are born Germans.  We both had to flee from our homeland in 1945, which was East Prussia for me and for Dieter Silesia, which is Russian and Polish Country now - respectively. Our new home was Haltern/Westf., where we both met and where we started being a family with 3 children, two boys and one daughter. They have their own families in Germany, good jobs and wonderful spouses and children - five overall. We have also one greatgrandchild. Since we are living so far away from them and are not able to visit often, we certainly miss them. We once chose to live here in the United States and saw the entire matter of being apart not the way we see it now. Our thoughts are always with our extended family even when I do not mention them, because our children are not for exposing names or personalities on the Internet. We are very proud what they achieved in life and Dieter and I love them dearly. We are glad that in our modern days the communication is easy.

We decided to immigrate to the United States for personal reasons in 1984. We aquired US citizenship in 1990. My husband constructed a wonderful and huge property in Pennsylvania. We decided to sell it because the high property taxes would have prevented us from traveling, which we love. The winters had too much snow, the falls too much oak- and maple leaves. We were both retired - Dieter from construction business and I from working as a nurses aide. It was hard to give almost everything away, we could only take a few necesseties onboard a Fifth Wheel. But we said Goodbye to PA.

We saw almost all states, except the easternmost states north of NY state, but we also travelled with our 34' motorhome we owned at that time in 2003, to Alaska, and most of the Canadian Provinces on that tour. It is so wonderful to open your miniblinds in the morning and you see a beautiful landscape in all 4 directions - a different one with every stop. We sleep in our own bed, use our own toilet and shower and cook our own food. We love it! It is soooo convenient. And we meet so many nice campers, hear their travel stories and have a glass of Red Wine with them. You get the picture.

 Please, friends, don't laugh about this topic. I post this because I am interested. I found out that my personality correspondences astonishingly with all the traits assigned to the Sun Sign "Scorpio", the fixed element is water. This is for fun only. Whether you believe in astrology or are interested, I can recommend a book I have in front of me, which I use for this topic.   The title is:  The Astrology Bible   by Judy Hall.                                                           

Karin, the Scorpio.   

Positive personality traits: Intuitive, emotional, passionate, exiting, intense, energetic, creative, competitive, focused, penetrating, determined and forceful, loyal, couragious.

Negative personality traits: Jealous, resentful, compulsive, obsessive, obstinate, secretive, fanatic, vindictive.

Interested in: Occult studies, change, ego-death, rebirth, transcendence, mysteries of life, self-mastery, breaking free of illusory limitations, sex. The Scorpio is self-contained and something of a mystery to the rest of the family. Very loyal in a relationship, but revealing little. Life path: The path of mastering power. The soul is learning how to use it's conciderable power for the good of all. This is also the path of self-mastery.

The book states further: Like all signs of water, you are a very deep, mysterious, infathomable being, sometimes inaccessable and uncontrolable. The unconscious is so strong and so rich that psychoanalysis seems to have been invented for you. Your imagination is powerful and very fertile. When you were very young, you had thoughts which exceeded those of other children your age. With you there is no chance of either dullness or mediocrity.

Fortright to a fault, the Scorpio sarcasm stings. Strong desire for personal space and privacy. Sharp penetrating mind. Do not even make the mistake of braking your word to a Scorpio, you will regret it. Scorpio's make the best of friends or the worst of enemies. Their emotions simmer just below the surface.

You probably won't forget an encounter with a Scorpio. When "wishy-washy" won't do, enlist the aid of Scorpio. It represents the most intelligent sign of the Zodiak. Scorpions don't miss much, since they are highly attuned to the vibrations of others. The Scorpio can be both: a saint or a prostitute. She can change from either to the other in no time flat. The Scorpio sees through hypocracy and sham with it's curiously tuned nose to undercurrents.

My husband Dieter, the Aries.

My loyalty and my deep-seated love for him made our long-time marriage a success, from my standpoint of view, eventhough the above mentioned book states thar Aries and Scorpio are not really compatible, because Scorpio is a water sign and Aries, or Ram, is a fire sign. Can you imagine what the both of us sometimes go through? Well, my mother was an Aries and my father was a Scorpio - just the other way around. They have had their Golden Wedding Anniversary also. There are some bumps within our paths of life together, but LOVE obviously always wins. But now to the book again:

Positive personality traits: Assertive, idealistic, energetic, self-assured, dynamic, independent, optimistic, very outspoken, loyal, fearless, generous.

Negative personality traits: headstrong, egoistic, aggressive, manipulative, restless, selfish, obsessive, pushy, loud.

The book states: It is impossible to ignore Aries! This is an assertive, idealistic personality driven by a very powerful ego. Subtlety doesn't play a part in it. What you see and hear is what there is, and Aries always speaks out. Headstrong and dynamic, the ram charges through life. The aim is to win, no matter the competition. Aries believes that he is always right. He is a couragious and enterprising pioneer. He wants everything NOW. And he likes sex. Shunning all notions of rest and recuperation, Aries is happiest when active, usually in exhausting bursts. Mororcycling, Racing or Flying would be of his best liked sporty activities.

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You might say that it is all humbug, but if you know both of us personally and intimately, you have to agree with all of the above. The statements are in black and white, leaving out all the shades in between. You have to know us to see all the gray and the rounded corners and edges of our personalities. Wasn't that fun? By the way, we have a common lucky number: 9 . Will it ever play a roll in our lives? Not sofar, but our lives are still lived.

I just deleted the daily horoscope widget. I thought it would be fun, but it was more a nuissance. I would have been able to make that "wishy-washy" thing more interesting.....

 My Chinese Sign: The Pig

Mantra: Honesty opens all doors.

The pig is true to his goals and beliefs. Their natural simplicity makes Pigs popular and loyal - once a friend, they will be your friends for life. Pigs can be stubborn, but they will give in for the sake of piece. A Pig is happy to share but needs to be one taking the initiative in giving and wants to be rewarded for it. Sensual and energetic, she is persuasive and perceptive. The Pig sees and remembers everything.

Germany is one of the major industrial and economic powers in Europe. Berlin is the capital.

Population: 83 million people.      Size: 138.000 square miles, which is slightly smaller than the USA state of Montana, which only has a population short of one million.

Germany is divided into 16 federal states. Each state has its own German dialect, customs, traditions and architecture.

The borders of Germany were newly determined in the Potsdam Conference in Berlin after WWII.

The climate is moderate

German Flag:

The Photo Gallery gives you several possibilities to view the pictures. The simplest one is to click on an album, then click on a photo, and it will appear in normal size. You can comment underneath each picture (comment box). When you opened up an album, you can also choose "Slideshow". Just study the available buttons, one is the full size screen.

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