The 'Blue' Forest Project

 This came up in regional news of Hessen today, and I have to relate a Brother's Grimm story to the news piece.

Most people have no recognition of the Grimm story of the 'Blue Light', so I'll lay out the basic six-line description.

A war has occurred, and this German soldier has been dismissed for ill health....sent home.  On this path leading home, he ends up at a witch's house (yeah, it has to be a witch involved).  

The witch hands out tasks for room/board, and eventually....he's sent down into her well to retrieve a 'blue' light.  The 'blue' light carries this gift status....a dwarf who grants free wishes.  

The story goes on....the soldier eventually gains control of the light, with the witch ending up being arrested for illegal witch activity (then later hanged).  Then the dwarf grants a few more wishes....some involving the king's daughter, and eventually....the soldier ends up marrying the princess.

As Brother's Grimm stories go....I kinda rate this as a two-star effort.  But around Kassel, where the Grimm guys were hanging out....it's a fairly well-known story.

So a open project came up in the city....where they could put 10-million Euro to a park project.  The pick?  A 'blue' pine forest in the center of town.  HR carries the bulk of this story.

The project centers on planting a number of pine trees, and having a blue-light unit shining up into the tops of the trees.  On the ground would be a misting machine which would lay out a fog-like atmosphere at night (with the lights shining on it).  All of this would bring out tourists....at night....to see the blue light and fake-fog....at least that's the idea.

Acceptance around town?  Well...NO.  You see.....tall pines tend to fall over because of the root system, in a good wind.  The term 'misty-art' gets uttered a bit in discussions as well.

I sat and contemplated this type of situation....putting out a lot of extra mist/humidity....among pines.  You certainly couldn't run the machine in the winter months, and there's probably some 'chief' of mist in this effort.....some guy who maintains the mist machine on a weekly basis.  

So it's a bit of a battle in the city at this point.....trying to sell the 'blue' forest to city residents, and no one really interested in spending 10-million Euro in this fashion.