It’s sanni-licious

Steve @ AELOPE tagged me with his Google Earth Meme. His challenge is to google our childhood homes and tell five stories that are accompanied by Google Earth. I´ve introduced my beloved Granny Anni in my Part #1 yesterday. Most of my childhood memories deal with “Oma Anni”, because she was the one to take care of me while my parents were working. She lived in a residental estate in Dortmund, Germany - in an apartment with a great backyard. We´ve had lots of fun in this backyard - so my Part #2 is about a wonderful tree at the backyard.

Earth Childhood Recollection Meme - Sanni´s Part #2:
“My” Tree

When I was a little one we used to play outside as often as possible - whenever the weather played along all children of different ages met in the backyard.

It might be inconceivable for today´s generation to spend time without ipods, XBOXes and playstations - but that´s exactly what we did: having fun outside.

The backyard offered many opportunities to play: junglegyms, sand-boxes and some swings… but we had the greatest fun with nature itself: playing hide-and-seek, building “caves” in the coppice or just climbing on the trees like little apes. My favorite tree was a beech tree growing in the centre of the backyard.

I can remember one situation as if it happened just yesterday: I was aged 5 and wanted to climb up the beech tree so badly, because I considered the other older kids to be soooo cool when they climbed uo this tree. It was very difficult for me to climb up this beech tree and I tried and tried, but I was not able to make it. I guess you can easily imagine how uncomfortable I felt with my failure… so I waited until the other children went home and dared to give it another try. Just one! I had to go up there - to overmaster this old tree… I had to climb up the tree at least as high as the other kids managed it. And guess what!

I made it!!! I sat on an upper limb … beaming with pride. For about 30 minutes until I wanted to climb down again because I realized nobody was there to come along and celebrate my victory. Nobody? Oh, well…

… my granny who missed - I was way too late to come home.
… my mommy who wanted to fetch me at granny´s place
… my daddy who tried to “rescue” me
… granny´s neighbor who lended a ladder to my daddy
… other neighbors who owned hugher ladders
… oh, and a “few” firefighters who saved me

YUP… little Sanni climbed up the beech tree and sat near the treetop, on the last limb that was able to bear my little weight - in the dizzy height of round about 10 meters (395 inches/49 feet)… *Ooops*

My beech tree - although my daddy forbade me to ever climb up any tree again in my whole life I was never able to resist my beech tree… just like many many kids before and after me… it makes me very sad to tell you my beech tree fell prey to the severe storm “Kyrill” a few days ago.
R.I.P. - my good old friend

catch ya,

And now…
… our moment of Homer J.:

Mother Simpson: [sings] How many roads must a man walk down / Before you can call him a man…
Homer: Seven.
Lisa: No, dad, it’s a rhetorical question.
Homer: OK, eight.
Lisa: Dad, do you even know what “rhetorical” means?
Homer: Do *I* know what “rhetorical” means?

Google Earth
MEME
The Simpsons