Paulena Georgena
One of several lovely young ladies of Ganse-Stadt is Paulena Georgena, the wine lady. Her family enjoyed the quiet country life, living near a small bubbling creek. They gardened a variety of fruits and vegetables and had a special gift of using each to its fullest potential. Their ancestors had owned several acres of vineyards in the old country and “Lena’s” parents brought their winemaking talents to this friendly little community.
As a young child, Lena was trained in the special, delicate practices needed for “country” wine making. She was always excited to try new combinations of fruits, vegetables, spices and flavoring extracts to develop new bouquets in the wine and she learned to enjoy the lengthy process, but was especially careful and mindful of the timing to avoid a vinegary result. Whenever Lena came to Ganse-Stadt with her family to sell their produce, as well as their specially bottled wine, she would enjoy the flower lady’s gardens. She loved to visit her friend, walk through fragrant beds of glorious color and often bargained fruits or vegetables to get a trade of seeds of some of the more unusual and spectacular flowers. She had learned that flower petals could be used to develop a unique quality and flavor in their wines. In addition, she would also visit the backerei as it was known far and wide for the specially baked treats including wonderful pretzels in summer and gingerbreads at Christmas time. The backerei was always decorated for the seasons, festivals and holidays, and Lena knew she could get news about upcoming festivals as well as information about the young men in Ganse-Stadt, especially the French fur trader. Lena loved the festivals where she could model the beautiful dresses the village seamstress had created for her, and dance every dance until she was exhausted. It seemed she could dance forever as she was used to walking the vineyards, picking grapes and also “stomping” them for the juice. She even enjoyed listening to the musician’s attempts at making music, although it was often just loud, strange noises coming from the hand carved whistles and tin horns. Even though Lena enjoyed and loved holidays, festivals and all the dancing and musical activities of Ganse-Stadt, she was also very content and appreciated going home to her quiet life in the country vineyards. |
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