Walter Panknin (1898 – 1977) and His Family Ch 8 Part 3

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Papa Panknin’s Comments on Gertrud’s Eating Habits

Some of my blogging friends are quite right in pointing out that just because Biene was a picky eater does not mean that she was anorexic. To summarize this rather sad development, I let Papa Panknin speak through his letters to friends and family between 1959 and 1963. Hopefully, not too much of Papa’s sarcasm and irony is getting lost in translation.

1959-12-20 “After many years, we are looking to a joyful Christmas. For the first time in eighteen years, I have been thinking about having once again a roasted goose on the table and a bottle of wine. But that thought evaporated into thin air. The kids reject any poultry with an expression of utmost disgust. My wife and I cannot eat an entire goose all by ourselves. So we are planning to have a rabbit dinner. There is no harm in having two eaters less at the dinner table.”

The Twins Gertrud (Biene) and Walter Panknin 1961

1961-12-06 “Gertrud is adopting an unnatural lifestyle. It is God’s plan that a young girl should work and be in constant motion from dawn to dusk. Instead, the kids sit on school benches all morning and lazily spend the afternoons on couches. Biene only eats apples. According to books and magazines, eating apples makes you slim and good-looking. Which woman and, even more so, which girl isn’t prepared to make big sacrifices on the altar of beauty. When fashion moguls declare that an old jam pot would serve as a fashionable head cover, it would be done without questioning. Of course, the industry would not do such a stupid thing and suggest something to reduce their profits. Mamma worries a lot about our daughter’s lack of appetite. Biene eats nothing, almost nothing, only fruits. Consequently, she has no bowel movements. Someone who eats nothing has no bowel movements. I know this from my time as a POW.”

Wednesday’s Photos

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The First Wildflowers at Fauquier BC

The first wildflowers that are neither weeds nor garden varieties have slowly spread over our backyard in the last couple of years. They are the sweet violets known for their delicate and pleasant scent. Last week, I saw just a few appearing near our spruce and cedar. trees. Now they are popping up everywhere in large numbers creating tiny carpets. You need keen eyes to discover them, as their stems reach only a couple of centimetres above the ground. I photographed them lying on my belly. Enjoy.

A brief composition I created earlier this year using Logic Pro.

Walter Panknin (1898 – 1977) and His Family Ch 8 Part 2

/ Peter Klopp / 6 Comments

Biene, the Picky Eater

Already in early childhood, Biene had developed into a picky eater. She was taller than her twin brother Walter and looked skinny and undernourished.  When she came down with scarlet fever, a bacterial disease that was quite common among young children of post-war Germany, she had to spend a long time in the hospital. The food was adequate for the hospitalized young girl, probably more abundant and abundant than for the family at home.  One thing among many other food items Biene hated the most was the blood sausage on her diet. She reluctantly swallowed down the vegetables, until only the blood sausage was left. Then she squeezed the sausage so hard between the metal plates and spread the resulting fatty cream that the nurse on duty would not notice anything. Back at home on the road to recovery, Biene refused to eat all the good things the doctor had recommended. No pleading, bribes or threats would change her mind. In the end, the doctor and parents agreed to let her eat whatever she liked, which was very little.

Papa Pankin and his daughter Gertrud (Biene) on the Island of Corsica in the summer of 1962.

A decade later, when Biene entered her rebellious teenage years, Mamma and Papa Panknin were getting really concerned. Being tall and skinny may have been an ideal image, as dictated by the fashion moguls of the day. Still, it was a worrisome indication of an impending case of anorexia. Having successfully managed to eat only what she liked for so many years, she has now become very clever in deceiving her parents into believing that what was offered on the plate had gone into her stomach. At school, she became quite popular, when she started handing out to her classmates the most delicious and nutritious lunches her mother had so lovingly prepared for her. Biene designed elaborate schemes at the dinner table to make undesirable chunks of meat and portions of green vegetables disappear. To her mother’s chagrin, such food items were later found strewn under the table. Often the defiant teenager would take a napkin and ostentatiously wipe her mouth and then quickly cover a pile of unpalatable food as if she had made it disappear by magic.

Of course, Biene could not hide these tricks forever. The consequence was that Papa, who had almost died of starvation as a POW, was getting so upset over his daughter’s show of disrespect for the fine food that they could finally afford to eat. In the end, for the sake of peace and quiet, Papa Panknin had his supper at a different time apart from the rest of the family.

Wednesday’s Photos

/ Peter Klopp / 11 Comments

Breaking One’s Routines

Our Spontaneous Trip to the Rocky Mountains

When my wife and I retired, we had to make quite a few changes to our lives. We realized that we are no longer bound by the daily and weekly routines imposed on us by our employer. We spent more time in the evening doing things together, such as watching on TV ballet, figure skating, documentaries on scientific explorers, or the occasional good movie. With each other’s agreement, we also follow our individual favourite activities, blogging, working on photos and stories, corresponding with friends and family. It felt good to burn the midnight oil and not have to worry about getting enough sleep.

While we thoroughly enjoyed our new freedom to live each day the way we saw fit, we also discovered how our activities were still hampered by the habits that governed our lives during our employment years. In the past, most of our travel plans centred around the set vacation times, long weekends, statutory holidays like Christmas and Easter. That kind of thinking was still so ingrained that we were blind to catch an opportunity when it presented itself and learn to act more often at the spur of the moment.

Recently, I planned a pleasure trip to the Rocky Mountains, and I must confess that I have been and still am an inveterate planner. Prompted by nostalgic memories of a journey to Kicking Horse Pass and Emerald Lake twelve years ago, I decided to celebrate my birthday with my wife in the mountains. In the weeks before this event in the life of an octogenarian, I checked the long-term forecast. I was getting worried the closer we approached the date of our departure. The weatherman predicted extremely hazardous road conditions coupled with snowfall warnings and subzero temperatures, whereas only seven days earlier the forecast was for sunshine and spring-like temperatures in Golden and Banff. I told Biene I did not want such a dismal birthday trip. I read her disappointment on her face, and quickly added,  “Let’s have a glorious mountain experience instead”. So it turned out to be. Enjoy the video.

Walter Panknin (1898 – 1977) and His Family Ch 8 Part 1

/ Peter Klopp / 5 Comments

The Eternal Recurrent of the Same

The Challenge of Raising Teenagers in the Early 1960’s

Peter writes from the present post onward.

‘The children now love luxury; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are tyrants, not servants of the households. They no longer rise when their elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize over their teachers.’ This quote is attributed to Socrates. While it has not been authenticated, it reflects the idea, based on painful parental experiences, that, throughout the millennia, children have always been perceived as unruly, rude and disrespectful to their parents and those in authority.



Portrait of Socrates. Marble, Roman artwork (1st century), perhaps a copy of a lost bronze statue.

Papa Panknin wrote many letters addressing and responding to friends and relatives. His literary ruminations could easily exceed the volume of a 500-page novel. The correspondence entailed a plethora of topics, such as politics, the rapidly changing customs and mores, the ills of post-war West Germany, and the challenges of bringing up their two teenage twins, Walter and Gertrud (Biene).

I will focus only on matters relating to the history of the Walter and Elisabeth family and their children. Furthermore, to make the final chapters more colourful and authentic, I will at times deviate from the strictly chronological path. I will make extensive use of Papa’s correspondence and will try my best to translate the German passages to give all of you a genuine understanding of my father-in-law, mother-in-law, Walter and Gertrud (Biene). Biene and I, as some of you may recall, met on the Pentecost weekend at Lake Baldenay and four years later, got married in Calgary on the Victoria weekend in 1966.

Wednesday’s Photos

/ Peter Klopp / 9 Comments

Nature’s Art and Knotholes

Once again, while walking across the Fauquier Golf Course, I focused on the beauty of the little things nature is eager to supply for all people who have an eye for the natural beauty all around us. The golf course extends a little bit beyond Heart Creek. The golfer crosses the obstacle via a bridge constructed with rough lumber and plywood. On the railing boards, I discovered several knotholes whose textures, patterns, and shapes are truly natural masterpieces. The following photos are three fine examples of nature’s artwork.