[Culturechat] Garden Gnomes

[Joan Herriges]

Aha!  These "garten zwergs" have been carry-on's on 5 trips home.  There are
15 lurking in our garden.  Their function is to remind us of happy times and
beautiful gardens in Switzerland, Germany and Austriai.  Some have names
that remind us of specific buying locations, such as "Thuner", "Landi",
"Vevey".  We have the "Boss" and "Marin Joe" (near Neuchatel).  We have
actually taken longer rail journeys to a super Migros near Marin-Neuchatel
to get the best selection.  They are whimsical, and everyone who visits
whips out the camera.

The best brand are Zehos, made in Austria.  They even ship worldwide.
Certainly believe in gender equity---but will have to ponder this situation
carefully.

By the way, the prestigious U.K. Chelsea Flower Show  bans gnomes in their
show gardens--can you believe it!

Thanks for the smile!  Cheers.  Joan.

I
----- Original Message -----
From: "Vance Roy" <giglisaw@aiconnect.com>
To: <culturechat@untours.com>
Sent: Wednesday, March 13, 2002 10:36 AM
Subject: [Culturechat] Garden Gnomes


> Many visitors to CH in the summer notice the gardens of vegetables and
> flowers. Some comment on the little statues often seen in these gardens.
> These little funny looking things are called "Zwerge". Exactly what their
> function is is a puzzle to me. Anyway, I have a couple of my own. They
range
> in size from 6 inches or so to a couple of feet and are dressed in colored
> garb like one would expect on a minature clown. There are an estimated
> 15,000,000 of these little guys across Europe, mostly in Germany and CH.
>
> It seems that now a german company has decided to produce a female garden
> gnome. I had never noticed them to be all males, but I guess until now,
they
> were. There is a Basel group called the International Association for the
> Protection of the Garden Gnome, and these folks are fit to be tied about
> this gender change in garden gnomes. They got so mad that they fined the
> manufacturer, an outfit called Griebel, the sum of CHF 100. They paid up
but
> defended their choice to make female gnomes. Apparently, these gnomes are
> decorative only. Even if you talk badly to your gnome, he will just sit
> quietly and nothing serious will happen.
>
> So, the next time your are cruising along the garden paths in Germany or
CH,
> tip your cap or wave at the gnomes and look for girls (gnomies that is).
>
> Vance Roy
> gigli.saw@dplanet.ch
>
>
>
>
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