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Betty MacDonald fan club fans,
thanks a million for your outstanding support.
Let's celebrate very exciting Spring with Betty MacDonald fan club fans from all over the World.
Thank you so much for sending so many very creative and original birthday cards to Betty MacDonald and Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.
We'll have several Betty MacDonald - and Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle fan club birthday events during March.
If you are interested in these events
or if you have very good ideas please join Betty MacDonald and Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle fan club birthday event teams.
You are very welcome.
Many more wonderful interviews by Wolfgang Hampel with Betty MacDonald's and Mary Bard's family will be published.
Wolfgang Hampel, author of Betty MacDonald biography and interviewer of Betty MacDonald's and Mary Bard's family and friends got first Betty MacDonald Memorial Award for his outstanding research and work.
International Betty MacDonald fan club events are the best opportunity making wonderful friends.
Great Vita Magica news!
Wolfgang Hampel's new Vita Magica guest was a very famous TV lady, author and singer.
Tatjana Geßler is an outstanding new Betty MacDonald fan club honor member.
Wolfgang Hampel already introduced Betty MacDonald fan club honor member - artist and author Letizia Mancino - in Vita Magica.
Other Betty MacDonald fan club honor members will follow.
Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mr. Tigerli is back.
Enjoy a new breakfast with Brad and Nick, please.
Betty MacDonald very beautiful Vashon Island is a magical place.Poland, Germany and Sweden are hot favourites according to many Betty MacDonald fan club ESC fans from 40 countries.
We are going to start Betty MacDonald fan club ESC contest 2016 in April and you can win two ESC tickets.
More info will come soon.
We are going to organize a great Betty MacDonald fan club ESC party in Stockholm.
Yours,
Rob & Britta
Don't miss this very special book, please.
Vita Magica
Betty MacDonald fan clubBetty MacDonald forum
Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( English )
Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( English ) - The Egg and I
Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( German )
Vashon Island - Wikipedia ( German )
Wolfgang Hampel - Monica Sone - Wikipedia ( English )
Wolfgang Hampel - Ma and Pa Kettle - Wikipedia ( English )
Wolfgang Hampel - Ma and Pa Kettle - Wikipedia ( French )
Wolfgang Hampel in Florida State University
Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel
Betty MacDonald fan club interviews on CD/DVD
Betty MacDonald fan club items
Betty MacDonald fan club items - comments
Betty MacDonald fan club - The Stove and I
Betty MacDonald fan club groups
Betty MacDonald fan club organizer Linde Lund
Rita Knobel Ulrich - Islam in Germany - a very interesting ZDF ( 2nd German Television ) documentary with English subtitles
The situation in Germany and Sweden with many refugees is rather difficult.
Betty MacDonald, Letizia Mancino, Mary Holmes and the second paradise
Betty MacDonald fan Club honor member, artist and writer Letizia Mancino shares her delightful story THE SECOND PARADISE.
Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mary Holmes did such a great job in translating THE SECOND PARADISE.
Thanks a million dearest Mary.
We are really very grateful.
I'm one of Letizia Maninco's many devoted fans.
Letizia Mancino sent this connecting piece to " The Second Paradise".
Yours,
Anita & Eartha Kitt II
DEFIANT AS A COCK
Copyright 2011/2016 by Letizia Mancino
translated by Mary Holmes
All rights reserved
That was how my friend Hilde Domin was, dear Betty! You would have liked her so much. She had also been in America. At that time you were a famous author but she was still unknown.
-Did she love cats like you do?
-Yes Betty, she sure did!! Otherwise how do you think she could have been a friend of mine?
-Oh Letizia, don’t boast! Hilde was famous!
-It’s all the same to me, Betty, whether a person is famous or not but that person must love animals
-Why was she as defiant as a cock?
-Well Betty, she was simply so!
-Like a pregnant woman in my “Egg and I”?
-No not so! Betty, Hilde was a whole farm!
- A farm, how was that?
- No Betty, Hilde was more! Almost a zoo! Even more. She was all the animals in the world!
-You loved her very much.
-As I love all animals.
You Betty, if I had known you, I would have loved you exactly so because you loved animals.
-But as defiant as a cock from my Bob-farm!
-Yes and no! (Hilde really loved this double form of answer). Listen Betty , I’ll tell you a story about how Hilde was. You would certainly have loved her.
I’ll call my story “The Second Paradise”.
THE SECOND PARADISE
Copyright 2011/2016 by Letizia Mancino
translated by Mary Holmes
All rights reserved
The Lord God, one day, met Adam in Paradise and saw him lying under a palm.
And God spoke to him: Adam, my son, are you happy, are you content with Paradise ?
Adam answered: Oh Lord, it is wonderful!
And God said: But I will create a second Paradise and give you a wife.
Adam answered: Oh Lord, that is wonderful!
And God said: I will create the wife according to your wishes.
And Adam stood under the palm and thought hard.
And God said: Adam, are you ready?
Adam answered: My wife should be as lively as a bird but she should not fly. She should swim like a goldfish but not be a fish….. She should be as playful as a cat but not catch mice….. She should be as busy as an ant but not so small.
And God said: So shall she be: Like a bird, a goldfish, a cat, an ant…
Adam answered: Oh Lord, that is wonderful, but she should be as faithful as a dog.
And God asked: Adam, have you finished?
Oh Lord, cried Adam. She should also be as delightful and gentle as a lamb and as defiant as a cock!
….She should be as curious as a monkey and as pampered as a lapdog.
And God said: So shall she be.
And Adam said: My wife should be as courageous as a lion and as headstrong as a goat…
And God said: So, like a bird, a goldfish, a cat, an ant, a dog, a lamb, a cock, a monkey, a lapdog, a lion, a goat… and slowly and surely he wished to begin creating…
But Adam stretched himself under the palm and called:
Lord, Lord, she should be as adaptable as a chameleon but not creep on four feet.
She should have sparkling eyes like, like… real diamonds. She should be as fiery as a volcano
But … she should have crystal-clear thoughts like a mountain spring.
God, the Almighty, was speechless…
And Adam spoke: Also she should be as quick as lightening…
And God said: Man, have you finished????
No, said Adam! She should be as strong as a horse, as long living as an elephant but as light as a butterfly!
God found Adam’s thoughts were good and said: So, bird, goldfish, cat, ant, dog, lamb, cock, monkey, lapdog, lion, goat, chameleon, genuine diamonds, volcano, mountain spring, lightening, horse, elephant…. butterfly…
God wished at last to begin creating her…
Lord, called Adam… she should be as stable as steel, but as sweet as three graceful women in one…
And God asked: Should she also be a poet?
Yes, called Adam from under the palm…
And God said: Adam have you finished?
Lord, I wish that, in the second Paradise I shall be one and doubled:
So God according to Adams last words created:
HILDE PALM DOMIN
Very best wishes
Letizia Mancino
European Union Reaches Deal With Turkey to Return New Asylum Seekers
Turkey and E.U. Announce Migrant Deal
Turkey's prime minister and the
president of the European Union on Friday praised the agreement to
return new asylum seekers who arrive in Greece from Turkey.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS on Publish Date March 18, 2016.
Photo by Stephanie Lecocq/European Pressphoto Agency.
Watch in Times Video »
BRUSSELS — The European Union and Turkey
reached a deal on Friday to return new asylum seekers who arrive in
Greece from Turkey, a significant step in the bloc’s effort to deal with
the migrant crisis that has roiled the Continent.
The leaders of the 28 nations in the bloc and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu of Turkey approved the accord
after two days of talks and over strenuous objections from humanitarian
groups, who said the deal violated international law on the treatment
of refugees.
The
effectiveness of the plan, which will begin on Sunday, was also unclear
given that there are many alternative routes into Europe.
The
deal calls for Turkey to receive about $6.6 billion in aid to help
organizations look after the nearly three million migrants already in
Turkey, promises of visa-free travel for its citizens in most of Europe,
and the eventual resumption of negotiations with Turkey on membership
in the European Union.
The
European Union also will resettle one Syrian from a camp in Turkey in
exchange for each Syrian who used an irregular route to reach Greece.
Tens of thousands of people have been living in squalid conditions
in Greece on the border with Macedonia, which has denied entry to the
migrants. The deal reached Friday on sending back migrants to Turkey
applies only to new migrants who have arrived in Greece and excludes
those who are already there.
The accord with Turkey represents a moment of painful compromise
for Europe. Turkey has taken an authoritarian turn under President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Europe was forced to accept some Turkish
demands to gain its cooperation in stopping the large numbers of people
using the Aegean Sea to reach Greece.
Confirmation
of the deal came from Donald Tusk, the president of the European
Council, who oversees summit meetings. There was “unanimous agreement
between” all leaders with the Turkish prime minister, Mr. Tusk wrote on his Twitter account.
More
than a million migrants arrived on European shores last year, and there
has been no sign of a letup. Almost 155,000 people had arrived in
Europe already this year as of Thursday, the vast majority of them in
Greece, according to the International Organization for Migration, and the numbers could rise as the weather turns warmer.
Putting
this massive and delicate operation into effect over the course of a
single weekend will be difficult. European officials wanted to quickly
put the measure in place to prevent a rush of migrants seeking to reach
Greece before the deal goes into effect.
European
officials have struggled to develop a coherent response to the migrant
crisis, and the agreement that was struck on Friday is complicated by
the fact that Greece currently
lacks the infrastructure to ensure asylum seekers are given a fair
hearing before they are sent back to Turkey, according to European
officials.
“The
weakest link in this agreement is Greece,” said Mujtaba Rahman, the
director for Europe at the Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy.
It “does not have the financial or administrative bandwidth to implement
this agreement, so it will need substantial support from Europe – far
more than is currently being talked about.”
The agreement was welcomed by Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, who helped develop the plan at a time when much of the Continent and a substantial portion of her own country had turned against her policy of taking in almost unlimited numbers of migrants. But even she was cautious about its prospects.
“Let
me be very clear: I am under no illusion whatsoever that what we agreed
today will not meet with setbacks — there are after all enormous
logistical challenges that we have to contend with,” Ms. Merkel said at a
news conference.
One
of the main goals of the deal was to dissuade migrants from attempting
the trip on the Aegean Sea, Ms. Merkel said. “When you embark on this
perilous journey you’re not only risking life and limb but you have very
little prospects for success,” she said.
She
emphasized that refugees arriving on Greek islands after Sunday “will
not be simply returned” but will be subject to “a procedure that looks
at each and every refugee individually,” though she acknowledged that
would be a big task requiring help from European officials.
Ms.
Merkel also had a message for the migrants currently in Greece who
would not be subject to the terms of the new deal but could eventually
be moved to other parts of the European Union if they qualify for
asylum.
“There
are better possibilities for shelter that the Greek government has
provided now for these refugees and this is why my plea to the refugees
there, in Idomeni, is that they should leave this place,” she said,
referring to the Greek city on the border with Macedonia where many
migrants have set up a camp.
The negotiations hinged on incentives for Turkey,
which is not a European Union member, to take on the job of housing
more migrants, many of whom are fleeing the bloody conflict in Syria.
A
sticking point was ensuring that Cyprus did not veto a deal. It needed
reassurances that there would be no immediate resumption of negotiations
on European Union membership for Turkey, which has occupied the
northern part of Cyprus since 1974.
As
the talks stretched into Friday morning, Mr. Erdogan intervened from
Ankara with a warning not to press his government too hard to provide
better conditions for the far larger numbers of migrants currently in
Turkey.
“At
a time when Turkey is hosting three million, those who are unable to
find space for a handful of refugees, who in the middle of Europe keep
these innocents in shameful conditions, must first look at themselves,”
Mr. Erdogan said in a speech broadcast on television.
Although
the deal represents a meaningful step in the effort to bring the
migrant crisis under control, it is unclear whether migrants will look
for other options, rendering the agreement as just a temporary fix.
“The
bigger headache will be when the smugglers start rerouting migrants to
Italy through Libya because you’ve got a failed state there so no real
government to make a deal with,” said Guntram Wolff, the director of
Bruegel, a research organization in Brussels.
The
debate over how to deal with the migrant crisis has divided Europe, and
the search for an agreement gained new urgency this month after four countries — Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia and Macedonia — effectively shut down the route used by many migrants as they move on from Greece.
Most
of the migrants hoped to reach Germany, but the closing of the
so-called Balkan route left increasing numbers of people trapped because
they could not leave Greece, had no desire to stay and either could not
or would not return home.
Passage into Macedonia was being limited to a small number of Syrians and Iraqis
each day, while people from other countries, including Afghanistan,
were being treated as economic migrants and therefore ineligible to
apply for asylum.
