Mit diesen Photos von Knut und Gianna heute von ChristinaM möchte ich den heutigen und letzten Tag des Monats September ohne viele Worte beenden...-
...war nicht nur Gianna an ihren ersten Tagen im für sie neuen Gehege in Bärlin... Auch ich bin ganz schön außer Atem...Und Grund dafür ist Molly, unsere neue, leicht rotbesprenkelte Mitbewohnerin seit Samstag nachmittag, die Farbspritzer rühren von einer umgeworfenen Farbdose, (nein, es ist nicht dokumentiert, wer sie offen herumstehen ließ, noch wer sie umgeworfen hat..).Hier nach ihrem ersten Bad sieht sie so aus, als ob sie kein Wässerchen trüben könnte, aber dieser Eindruck täuscht...
...was not only Gianna during her first days in Knut's enclosure, me too, I am really out of breath...And the reason behind is Molly, our new, slightly red-spotted house mate, who came to us last Saturday, the red spots come from a tin of paint, (and no, it is neither documented who had left it open nor who had knocked it over.). However , here after her first bath she looked as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, a deceiving impression ...
Es war auch ihre erste Begegnung mit ihrem Körbchen...-
...von dem wir hofften, sie darin vor allem nachts friedlich schlafend zu sehen ..Um es kurz zu machen, Fräulein Molly hat die letzte Entscheidung darüber noch nicht getroffen, ihre Zähne mögen ihn, aber darin schlafen...?-
Diese 2 Fotos sind von Samstag, aufgenommen bei den Nachbarn, von denen wir Molly bekamen.Ihre Mutter war übrigens eine alte Bekanntschaft von Simba, eine Schwester von Molly aus einem Wurf von 5 Kleinen, wird weiter dort sein. Sie wurden an der Stelle geboren und verbrachten ihre ersten Wochen dort, wo Simba letztes Jahr starb...-
Nur ganz nebenbei, in nichtmal 14 Stunden hat Molly nicht nur gelernt Stufen herunterzurasen, sie fand sogar eine geheime Abkürzung zurück zu ihrer biologischen Restfamilie und ließ mich wie eine Verrückte aussehen, immer hinter einer Handvoll Fell mit fliegenden Ohren herrennend...Übrigens ist ihr Fell eher hellbraun, so wie hier, keine Ahnung, warum es bei uns zu Hause immer etwas röter herauskommt...-
Heute mit ihrem neuen Spielzeug, was sie den gesamten Nachmittag gejagt hat, mit einer solchen Energie und ständig in Bewegung, dass ich gleich 20 Aufnahmen löschen musste, alle verwackelt oder lediglich nur ein hin-und- herschwingendes Seil zeigend...-
Kleine Pause hier...-
"Dust may seem small, dark, dirty, and dull.
Concerning dust I am an expert. Who thinks that on tropical islands dust isn't an issue, is mistaken, as to me -and without asking for it-, sweeping has become my second nature. Especially the sweeping of various dust-dog hair-particle-mixtures...While Simba was still with us, there had been so many hairs to be swept off that I easily could have made it a fulltime job. Simba's death marked an incision in this context too. To begin I feared having been deprived also of an occupation, imagining a day without any more hairs of Simba to remove, felt simply bleak and dreary...Each single day after her death meant that it could be the first one without any hairs of Simba...And it's true, each dayI swept off less hairs of her, dust stayed. But to assume that Simba would disappear completely..., no way! Until today even in the smallest pile of dust, something red-brownish can be found, sometimes even shining in the sun. Somehow it brightens my days and cheers me up...And since I have found that children's book, which has explained to me that dust is something which never dies away and even helps to make the colours of the sky, I have been thinking about giving up sweeping for good. The idea that under my bed not only Simba is shining but also stars, is somehow convincing and fascinating. And who knows , maybe even some particles of dust from the zoo in Berlin made it already under my bed, considering how often Knut is masked with his special sand-mud make-up...Nothing gets lost, I like that idea...! 
"Dust may be small, but its impact is large. When the sun is low in the sky, its rays hit dust particles at an angle.This creates the the sunset colors we see. The sky colors change as the sun moves , striking the particles at new angles.The same thing occurs at sunrise, because the sun is low in the sky then as well.The more dust, the more colourful the sunsets and sunrises.When volcanoes erupt or forest fire burn, they send a lot of ash and soot into the air. This ash dust makes sunsets particularly colorful for weeks and even months , until the dust settles.These unussually colorful sunsets can occur hundreds, even thousands of miles from the fires or eruptions.That is because dust travels, ...it can circle the entire globe.... Dust not only travels, it lasts.It can stay in the air for hundreds and thousands of years. Inside your house you may find powder that Cleopatra put on her feet, ...on your shelf could be the very same dust that that Martin Luther King Jr. brushed off his coat...
And tonight will paint the sunrise of tomorrow..."
Dieses bemerkenswerte Kinderbuch über die Beziehung zu einem Schwan fand ich vorletzte Woche Samstag völlig zufällig in unserer Bücherei im Aussenposten. Ein leises Buch über Verbundenheit, Verlust und Trauer, über den Verlauf und die Vergänglichkeit von Leben und Natur, die grausam erscheinen kann und doch Teil des Lebens ist. Ein Junge fühlt sich angezogen von der Begegnung mit einem Schwan, den er immer wieder besucht, Annäherung findet statt. Der Schwan paart sich und es gibt Junge. Aber es gibt auch junge Füchse, die genährt werden wollen...Eines Tages im Winter geschieht das Unausweichliche, es kommt zu einem Kopf zwischen Füchsin und dem Schwanenweibchen, die ihre Jungen verteidigt. Der Schwan stirbt, doch vorher singt er...
Heute vor einem Jahr verließ uns Simba (rot-braunes Fell, das in der Sonne leuchtete)...Auch wenn sie nicht mehr bei uns ist, so wie auch diese Rose, die ihren Namen trug, wohl längst vergangen ist, Simba bleibt unvergessen. Die heutigen Posts sind irgendwie alle auch ihr gewidmet.-
I don't want to miss to say again thank you to a lady in Tübingen who named not only the rose above after Simba, but who dedicated her last year a very special video which is still important to me...
Bären-Drama im Stralsunder Zoo: Balou tötet Klara
"It was a year ago we received the tragic news from Berlin. It was a year ago the time stopped. It was a year ago we cried together feeling the kind of a sadness we never thought we could feel. We couldn’t believe our beloved zoo keeper Thomas Dörflein had left us. Writing these few lines is very difficult. What can I say that hasn’t already been said?..." These first lines from Mervi in her remembrance post are exemplary for my dilemma, how to commemorate the man not only behind Knut, but also care taker of 19 bears, 5 African wild dogs, 4 polar wolves, not to forget cat Muschi who adopted 9 years ago moon bear Mäuschen, at 41 oldest inhabitant of the bear's quarter and for who Thomas Dörflein had a special soft spot. 
I started to think about this September 22 at least one month ago, I wanted to be prepared, to be ready for this day which marked an end and a new beginning, but I am not.My hard disk is full of photos and little notes and stories which I had kept for today, but I come back to the very same ones I have already posted or looked at so many times during the past year. I started today by watching them all over again, I read the entries in Knut's Blog from last year, visited other sites of the Knut community, thought about Thomas Dörflein's family and how they might feel today. This year went by so fast, but it had not smoothened the memory of that peculiar moment of shock and bewilderment I felt learning about the news last year. Sitting at the same place as last year, I still can't help but feeling unprepared, for what happened and for what was to come when 8 days later Simba followed. It has been a year of mourning and remembrance, a year which made me learn more about the harshness of nature's course, but also a year which made me learn more than ever before about the beauty of moments meant to pass, transforming sadness and feelings of loss into the most intense reflections of what had been, yet not gone as they continue to live in us. 
We have been privileged to see a tiny little handful bear grow, a bear full of life, cherishing the wonder of each moment, no matter in which form the wonder materialises, salmon, grapes, croissants or jutebags, a ball, toy, log or a twig - Knut never ceases to surprise us with his way to live up to each moment, - well knowing that my laudatio won't be received as enthusiastically by some carps who happened to be in his moat last year in spring or by the turtle whose parcours for survival kept us for days in suspense...(and yes, she survived!).
However - this was the gift Thomas Dörflein shared with all of us, a gift which has kept me not only occupied in consequence with lots of other bears around the world..., but which kept me wondering and smiling ...
... ever since, from the very beginning of this unique relationship until now, sometimes,I admit, through tears, more of gratefulness then of sorrow...Danke Herr Dörflein...
Photos credits:Frau Schnatterliese (1), rbb (2), Jessie (3,5,6), ChristinaM (4,7)
Related: In Mervi's KWM you will find a lot of postings to commemorate Thomas Dörflein, please don't miss the long sequence on Doris' and Jessie's video showing Thomas Dörflein playing with Knut in autumn 2007, you will find the link also on the K-files wall, two other videos have been posted by Gudrun.
This is my new friend Koda, a black labrador from Utah....She is the owner of David C.Schultz whose photos you have already been enjoying during the past 2 weeks...Koda has not only the most interesting ears...Somehow she is a dog with an attitude...Two options given, she will without any doubt...
...go for......the 3rd one...
And now see here what happens when Koda gets a wake up call...
