My wife and I are also familiar with many of the German songs. This morning while looking for them, I found the finger rhyme, and your question about the Pennsylvania German variation. This is the song my father used to sing to us – seven children. Pennsylvania German has many varieties of spelling, and perhaps you can sharpen up the spelling. (My wife, Mary, and I worked at the pronunciation and spelling of the Pennsylvania German Finger Song. Mary grew up speaking Pennsylvania German.) Here it goes…

Des ist die Daume

Des ist die Daume
Der schittelt die Plaume
Der laest sie ouf
Der traught sie Haem
Und des glae Bopplemaul
Bopplet alles mit’n ahnna da Haem.

This is the thumb.
This [one] shakes the plums,
This [one] picks them up,
This [one] brings them home,
And this little tattletale tells everyone at home.

It was always spoken, not sung.

Thanks for your work in collecting old songs.

Luke Martin
(Pennsylvania)

If anyone would like to give other variations of the spelling, feel free to in the comments below. Many thanks to Luke Martin for sending this version of the rhyme to us!

Enjoy!

Mama Lisa

Ayako wrote, "We walked under the flow of cherry blossoms in the park.  It was beautiful!"

Close up of the cherry blossoms.

Ayako continued, "Lots of people enjoy sitting and eating ‘bento’ (their lunch)."

Ayako wrote, "We hiked along the road hearing the twitter of Japanese Bush Warbler.
I like the feel of spring!"

I asked Ayako what the Japanese Bush Warbler sounds like and she wrote, "Hearing the twitter of the Japanese Bush Warbler is a sign of Spring in Japan. They sing like ‘Whoo Who ket kyo’!  It’s a unique twitter."  Later Ayako sent me this YouTube video below she found to hear the bird’s tweet.

Ayako wrote, "Small purple flowers in the park. They are pretty."

Ayako wrote, "Cherry blossoms in this school playground are really beautiful!  It’s common that there are lots of cherry blossoms in school playgrounds in Japan."

Thanks so much for sharing these great photos with us Ayako!

Check out these posts for more about Cherry Blossom Viewing and Festivals.

You can also hear 2 well known Cherry Blossom Songs on Mama Lisa’s World:

Sakura – Cherry Blossoms

Sakura Sakura – Cherry Blossoms (Song #2)

Enjoy the season and try to see Cherry Blossoms blooming near you if possible.  It’s worth the effort. 

Mama Lisa

I’m talking about the Loughcrew Megalithic Cairns in Ireland.

Michael from Newgrange.com sent me this:

"At the 5000 year old Loughcrew megalithic cairn T in Ireland, the rising sun on the mornings around the equinox illuminate the passage and chamber."

You can see cairn T being lit up on March 20th of this year in the photo below.

When you stop and think about it, it’s really amazing that mankind was able to work out the placement of the sun in this detail over 5000 years ago!

Check out Signs of Spring the Big Picture to see photos "from Stonehenge and Mayan pyramids to Dutch meadows and Texan beaches" that show different signs Springtime is coming in the northern hemisphere.

Enjoy!

Mama Lisa

It was fine day.  Daibutsu made a beautiful contrast with the blue sky.”

This is the Hasedera Temple that houses a statue of Kannon the goddess of mercy.

Below is the Japanese garden at Hasedera Temple.  Ayako wrote, “This is a typical Japanese garden. Typical Japanese gardens have a pond with a small bridge, a garden lantern, garden stones and old trees that show the four seasons.”

Ayako wrote, “Garden lanterns are stone lanterns for decoration in the Japanese garden, not real lanterns for practical purposes. Here’s a photo showing some Japanese stone lanterns…”

“This is ’smile Jizo’. Jizo is a stone statue of Buddha. The height is about the same as kids.”

Here’s the gate of Hasedera Temple with an old pine tree.

Ayako wrote, “This is "Kintsuba" which is a Japanese sweet I bought at Kamakura.
It is made by simmering pumpkin and sugar with small beans.  The beans are Azuki, a small red bean. It is used as sweets like “Kintsuba”.”

Thanks so much for sharing your photos with us Ayako and for telling us about them!   It’s all really neat to see and learn about.

-Mama Lisa

Here’s an excerpt of what he had to say approaching the Mardi Gras…

When one is called to Carnival, the first question will always be: what do I wear?

…You must simply find or make a mask, one that calls you to wear it, that dictates the costume that accompanies it, that leads you to surrender yourself to the spirit of the mask.

It need not even be a mask. My “mask” this year is a tri-corner, Asian-styled hat. I do not have the costume, but I already see the costume. When you can see the character in the object, when you can see yourself in the character, you will have found the one.

Without that mask, you can only be The Tourist. We see them at Carnival common as sparrows, and the camera is their mask. They come, take Carnival’s blurry picture and go home with fabulous hangovers… If you come do not choose to be The Tourist. Carnival is an occasion to be the spirit you know inside you. So take on your mask,… and enter through the gate The Tourists never pass, down the carriageway that opens into the courtyard at the heart of Carnival. It is filled with masks and spirits.

If reading the Toulouse blog gets you in the New Orleans mood, head on over to Home of the Groove to listen to some New Orleans music – (including some songs typically played in the Mardi Gras parade). You’ll feel like you’re in the heart of New Orleans. Bon voyage!

Mama Lisa

WWD Fashion asked designers to send in sketches for clothing designs for Michelle Obama and her daughters to wear on Inauguration Day on January 20th – when Obama officially becomes President. Check out the results at WWD.com.

The sketch above was done by Isaac Mizrahi for Michelle, Sasha and Malia.

My daughter and I enjoyed watching the slide show together and picking out the dresses we liked best!

My friend Ray Lee sent me this photo below. He took it from his office building when the parade was passing by. I love the photo and wanted to post it here. After the original picture, you’ll see a couple of attempts I made to crop it and enhance the color. It’s interesting to see such a mass of people wearing red!

Thanks to Ray for sharing his photo!

Mama Lisa

The Norwegian neighborhood is now a great place for Middle Eastern cuisine. There are many fine restaurants in this area. Many of the shops include Arabic in their signs. However, the Norwegians still have their annual Norwegian Day Parade there every May. May 17th marks the Norwegian Constitution Day celebration. This is when Norway declared its independence from Sweden. Swedish-Americans do not have any hard feelings about this. Swedes from Connecticut go to Brooklyn each May to participate in this Parade.

Back in the 1960’s many of the Catholic Churches in Brooklyn sponsored Drum and Bugle corps to keep their youth out of mischief. The people who played in one of these, The Ridgemen of Our Lady of Perpetual Help during the 1960’s have formed an “alumni” Drum and Bugle Corps and march in this parade every year.

Off Topic Note from Mama Lisa: Ed’s story about the bugle corps keeping the youth out of mischief was interesting. This must have been common in the past. It reminds me of the story of how Louis Armstrong starting playing the trumpet… (Click the link if you’d like to learn more!)

I was in Brooklyn, NY this past weekend visiting my mother, who is in her 90s. I took a walk through what a few decades ago would have taken me from an Irish neighborhood (Sunset Park) into a Polish neighborhood (Park Slope). The ethnic flavor has changed over the years. The current flavor is mostly Mexican. There are a lot of Mexican restaurants that look very inviting. The ones that I have tried have excellent food. On Sunday there was a block party on the street next to Sunset Park. At this event there were several young children performing Mexican folk dances. They were quite good and their costumes were stunning.

I thought you might like to see a few pictures of this…

I took those pictures on a walk to Greenwood Cemetery. There are a lot of famous people buried there and they have fascinating walking tours through this beautiful cemetery. Sunset Park and Greenwood Cemetery were also part of the Battle of Brooklyn. This was the biggest battle during the American Revolution. In Greenwood Cemetery there is a monument commemorating this part of the Revolutionary War. This monument includes a statue of the Greek Goddess Minerva who is looking out at New York Harbor. If you stand behind Minerva you can see that she is looking at the Statue of Liberty. Lady Liberty, in turn is looking at Minerva.

Here are a couple of pictures of this that you might enjoy.

If you come to New York City as a tourist, don’t miss Brooklyn. Take the RR subway to the 25th Street station, walk up the hill to Greenwood Cemetery and take the walking tour. When you finish, and go out the main gate, turn right and have something to eat at the Mexican restaurant, or cross the street and eat at the Polish restaurant. Then take the 5th Avenue bus to 60th Street and see the biggest church in Brooklyn which was founded by Irish immigrants but now has ministers for Spanish and Chinese speaking parishioners. Walk up to 6th Avenue and notice the minaret of a mosque a few blocks on your right. Continue to 8th Avenue to shop at the large number of Chinese stores. Don’t expect to see many signs in English. You should end your tour back at 5th Avenue and find a Middle Eastern restaurant between 70th Street and 90th Street. Catch the RR subway back to Manhattan on 4th Avenue.

Enjoy!

Ed Gawlinski