An ocean away - but the forests unite

My 28th Christmas in the US, and I still miss Christmas in Europe. Especially Christmas mornings with my dad. My mom wouldn't let anybody near her kitchen, so Emil (my dad) and I would go into the forest. We'd check the feeders for the deer (hay) and the boar (corn), and replenished salt blocks. Unlike in the US, this is not to make it an easy hunt by killing the animals at their feeding grounds. Rather it is to keep them in a certain area and most importantly, away from the Autobahn. If you go 150 mph you certainly don't want to encounter a 200 pound boar ambling into your path!

Once done Emil would check his watch and inevitable say "way too early, we can't go home yet, let's have a Schnaps at the Jagdhaus". Make no mistake, German Schnaps has nothing to do with the American sweet stuff. It is distilled fruit brandy, or -in Emil's case- high octane home made brews with blood root, sloe, or other herbs. We'd sit there amicably and sip his concoctions in the Jagdhaus, a hunting lodge that was build sometime in the 1800s, until it was the acceptable time to go home. 

So, while now there is an ocean between us I still go into the forest and I feel a deep connection to him. Luckily, I do have Emil's Schnaps here, and it does warm my heart. And while out with the dogs today I remembered what he wrote in my Poesie-Album when I was a kid:

You think the hunter is a sinner,
because he rarely goes to church.
In the green forest, a view to the sky,
is better than a false prayer. And luckily, Emil is doing well. He will turn 90 in February but still goes into his beloved forests several times a week. Just recently he shot a 150 pound boar with a "Blattschuss" (a shot directly into the heart). It's what my parents, brother and nephew will enjoy for Christmas dinner, cooked in a wine sauce with wild mushrooms and served with Knoedel (home made dumplings). JP is salivating...