Seven in Fairytales I

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This is the beginning of my mini series within Seven for September. 7 was always an important number in western cultures. It is often considered a lucky number (not so in some East Asian countries, though). It is the addition of 3 and 4 (3 in Christian culture signifying the Holy Trinity, 4 signifying the four elements: fire, earth, water, and air). According to the Hebrew bible the world was created in 7 days, we still organise our modern life in weeks of 7 days. Adding the facing sides of a die always makes 7, and we had the 7 wonders of the ancient world (the modern wonders are only a copy).

And of course, 7 is often found as a special number in fairytales. I decided to have this series directly after yesterday’s seven-year-old. Although fairy tales were not originally created for children they soon became the main audience for them.

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Der Wolf und die sieben Geißlein

My first illustration of a Grimm fairytale is the story of The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats as depicted on a half-timbered house in Michelstadt im Odenwald which houses a toy store on the groundfloor.

Seven for September #11

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Liquid Treatment Plants

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I had planned something else for Water, Water Everywhere this week but I could not resist to share this picture from the weekend. There are usually fees for the use of public toilets in Germany; they are in turn mostly clean. At the Bad Dürkheim Wurstmarkt, billed as the largest wine festival in the world, the toilets are not only spotless, they are also customer friendly: offering a flat rate for their use. Remember: they sell wine or spritzer or any other liquid in half-liter or liter servings. Still – that’s a lot of liquid removal for 5€.

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Just Visiting

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I took this picture of a sparrow at the local bird park. He was only visiting and compared to the mostly larger, mostly more colourful and/or exotic he looked almost ordinary. But I find his long, thin claws fascinating and I adore the yellow base of his beak. In his way, he’s unique. And, of course, he’s free.

I learned to appreciate even the common sparrows from a friend, who is the current world record holder of having the most birds species logged (10,000 species this year). He’s seen the most exotic world all over the world, sometimes arranging a whole holiday around seeing one particular bird. I’ve been on walks with him and seen him getting satisfaction out of watching sparrows and wood doves and crows.

Monday Portrait

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