Posted by John Kuhn Bleimaier on December 24, 2007, 3:17 pm
Christmas 2007
This is the only truly universal holiday. Yes, for Christians, Christmas has a religious significance: the celebration of the birth of the Redeemer. And for Muslims, Christmas is the birthday of a Prophet. However, for folks of other faiths or for atheists, Christmas commemorates a Teacher who promulgated the concept that one ought to love one’s neighbor as one’s self; and the even more revolutionary notion that everyone, whether Samaritan of Israelite, are our neighbors. That’s why I don’t feel uncomfortable wishing all my friends and neighbors a very merry Christmas. Ours is the ultimate inclusive celebration, after all! So please accept my warmest good wishes for a happy Christmas and a wonderful new year!
In 2007 my navigator, Dr. Marina Pushkareva, and I won our class in the Rene Dreyfus Memorial Rallye of the Porsche Club driving my faithful old ’73 model 914. We missed taking overall honors by a scant five seconds! Helping with a very different sort of navigation, Marina for the first time joined our hardy crew for a sail along the northern coast of Sardinia and the southern shores of Corsica with my cousin, Captain Martin Pluess, at the helm. This pleasant interlude before the mast took place in June.
It was an enormous and unexpected thrill to have shot on the LC Smith squad which won the Hammer Gun Challenge against a formidable Parker team at Deep River, North Carolina. When the smoke cleared from the field of glory the shooters firing wonderfully archaic LC Smith side-by-side shotguns with exposed hammers had carried the day and broken the highest percentage of targets. Our whoops of excitement could be heard across all of Dixie.
In 2007 the new editor of THE STAR invited me to become a regular columnist for this fine automotive publication, which reaches some 30,000 readers. I have called my contribution, “Silverphile,” a play on words harkening back to the classic days of motorsport when the Mercedes racing cars were called “Silberpfeile,” or silver arrows.
Falkenhorst has been blessed with a string of delightful house guests this past year. From dear relatives and friends to church guests and professional colleagues, it has been a treat to host a sparkling company of Renaissance folks. I am grateful for the tolerance of good people who are willing to put up with my idiosyncrasies, my restrained chaos, as well as my predilection for turning down the thermostat and throwing on more logs.
It’s now time for me to throw yet another log upon the fire here at Falkenhorst. I hope that the New Year will bring you every happiness and that we will have occasion to gather and celebrate our friendship on many occasions in the coming year. Very best wishes for a very merry Christmas!