"Fresh Linen"

Today, in Toledo, it reached 70 degrees! March 17th (St. Patrick's Day) and it felt like the first day of Spring! Although I spent most of the early part of the day in a courthouse on jury duty, I found myself daydreaming and gazing longingly out of the large windows to the glorious weather outside. People were in shirt sleeves rather than down-filled parkas. Strolling peacefully, no one seemed in a hurry to get to their destination. Then, I thought of Germany and wondered what the weather was like there. The last time I had been in Germany (1990), I recalled how the housewives would take their eiderdown duvets and place them over the windowsills to meet the sun's warmth. Airing out their linen was practical, I'm sure, but it was also charming. Each household had their bedding folded neatly on the window frame. Just another custom I will gladly adopt in my new country. How charming indeed.