😅🤳✨️ Recently, a group of young adults walked past our front yard. They stopped at the carpet of Balkan anemones and wondered what kind of flowers they were. One pulled out his phone and proudly said, "Star aster", while a companion agreed: "Yes!" They were delighted at how easy it was to figure it out. I watched the scene from my window.

☝️🤓 However, asters have completely different leaves, grow in much sunnier locations, grow taller, and, most importantly, Aster amellus, the European Michaelmas daisy, bloom in late summer to fall, not now in April.

🧐🤳🌿 I, too, frequently use the internet to identify animal and plant species. Traditionally, I either have a hunch or figure out what it is by describing its characteristics. However, I know that there are often similar species, which is why I also take into account the season, local conditions, and frequency.

🤩🔎🪱 I'm often unsure about plants. My greatest fascination has always been creepy crawlies. But even with plants, I'm becoming more and more adept at narrowing down species. With all the cultivated hybrids, it's often not that easy. But you don't always need to know exactly - the fun lies in finding out.

🌱💫😊 There’s something kind of poetic about watching that moment from my window. Even if the conclusion wasn’t quite right, it shows how eager people are to connect with nature.

🤗 For a more nuanced discussion, please feel free to use the comments section, private messages or the anonymous contact form on my website.

🌸 Hilpertstrasse in Darmstadt was named after my great-grandfather. It doesn't just share my name, it's directly connected to my heritage.

🏫 I walked down that street because I had an entrance exam there. I'll find out next week whether I was accepted. I didn't choose the location because the street bears my family name, and because it's such a strange coincidence, there's an indescribable energy that comes with it. A strange synchronicity in the womb of the universe.

🧭 That was a moment in which the world felt a bit surreal. As if I'd briefly stepped out of the normal flow of life and perceived something bigger. Perhaps also a connection to my own history, to the people who came before me.

🌌 I feel neither bigger nor smaller because of it, but more deeply connected.

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⚠️ Today, the CDU deliberately collaborated with the right-wing extremist AfD. All other parties made their position clear beforehand. The @cdu cannot pretend to regret it!!!

The CDU's decision today to cooperate with the far-right AfD is a deeply troubling moment in German politics, and it feels like a significant departure from the principles on which the party was founded. As the great-grandson of Dr. Werner Hilpert, a co-founder of the CDU and a political prisoner in the Buchenwald concentration camp for over five years, I am particularly sensitive to the historical weight this decision carries. My great-grandfather and others risked their lives to establish a party that stood firmly against extremism and for democratic values.

By seeking support from the AfD, the CDU risks undermining the very foundation of those values. The AfD, with its radical positions, challenges the democratic principles that the CDU once defended so strongly - such as human dignity, equality, and the protection of minorities. This move represents a break from the firewall that was once firmly in place to keep extremist forces at bay. It’s hard to ignore the historical context in which my great-grandfather and many others built the party: a time when the fight against tyranny and fascism was literal, and their vision for Germany was one of reconciliation, freedom, and democracy.

The consequences of this decision go far beyond a simple political maneuver. It could embolden the AfD, normalize extremist rhetoric, and deepen political polarization across Germany. Once the line is crossed, the danger of a gradual erosion of democratic principles becomes very real. The CDU’s move today risks destabilizing the political landscape, and it may open the door for further compromises with forces that threaten the integrity of Germany’s democratic order. It’s a moment that should make every member of the CDU reflect on the legacy of those who built it and whether they are still living up to those founding principles.

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🚌✨️ Well, I'm sitting on a bus.
Like almost every day.

🥕 And in the right light you can also see that I eat my carrots regularly.

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Cloud spectacle in the evening sky 🥰

🌄 In a few days, on June 20th, it will be the summer solstice. That will be the longest day of the year. The sun will rise at 5:15 a.m. and set at 9:39 p.m.

🌞 Here in Oberursel we have four summer months, June to September, with average temperatures of over 20° Celsius. May is already very warm with an average of 18° Celsius. In October the temperatures fall to 13° Celsius.

🌇 The five big cities with the longest summers in Germany are Offenbach, Karlsruhe, Mainz, Pforzheim and Frankfurt am Main.

😊 Three of these cities are nearby. So I can count myself lucky to have so much of my favorite season, which has only just begun.

💫 What's your favourite season?

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These are the oldest handwritten notes from one of my ancestors. It was my great-great-great-grandfather who recorded the birth of my great-great-grandmother Margarete's eldest sister Magdalena in July 1815. The notes continued until 1882. In 1877, for example, the birth of my great-grandmother Katharina was recorded. It was written in a family Bible, and the writing is Kurrent script - an old form of German-language handwriting based on late medieval cursive writing. Thanks to artificial intelligence, I have now managed to decipher all of the notes and can add to my family tree.

Because it was a patriarchal system, the male heads of the family usually kept important records. I don't know his name, but it says "22. Julius was born our Magdalena. The newborn child is a female." (orig.: "22. Julius ist unsere Magdalena zur Welt geboren. Das neugeborene Kind ist eine Weibsperson.") so I know that the author was also a parent of my great-great-grandmother Margarete in 1830.

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Our grandparents visited me and my little brother in the children's home. Both loved animals and fed me lots of books and cakes. My grandmother was an artist and painted animal portraits with make-up on paper. She was a cousin of the German painter Rudolf Kortokraks. That's probably where my artistic streak came from. Both were politically active. My grandfather had a great sense of humor and was the son of the German founding father and humanist Dr. Werner Hilpert. Despite this, we grew up in simple living conditions. My brother and I lived in children's homes for about three years in total. My mother was homeless for 9 years. Life cannot be put into categories. The first children's home was privately financed and offered a little luxury (e.g. computer room, sauna, excursions, supplies), but we were always used as advertising figures (e.g. newspaper reports on company XY, which sponsors the children's home with a toy race track, etc.). The second children's home, where the photos were taken, was much simpler and was only able to afford modern equipment such as new furniture and computers - a few years after the fall of the Berlin Wall - thanks to a generous donation from the Lions Club. Instead, we often went out into nature together to pick mushrooms and berries and learned to haggle at every opportunity. Many of the residents of the children's home were mentally handicapped. Then I made friends and learned early on what the true qualities of being human are. It is being human.

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🌻🦥

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Just step outside and feel a warm breeze blowing through your light clothing 🥰

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𝗘𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴-𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗯𝗶𝗸𝗲 🚲
😊🌱🌼🌞🐦🎶

In Oberursel-Stierstadt I saw these 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗲𝗽 (I assume Heidschnucke).

And I show you the 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲-𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 in Germany. Originally it was a transformer substation, but a few years ago it has been converted into a residential building with 14 square meters.

The facade was sprayed by the Oberursel graffiti artist 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝘂𝘀 𝗝𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮 (1979-2017) based on the Alte Oper in Frankfurt.

🤗 For a more nuanced discussion, please feel free to use the comments section, private messages or the anonymous contact form on my website.