This pond is in the Steinbergpark, Berlin-Waidmannslust and it is close to where I lived. As my mother and I were strolling around this pond I started to reminisce. It was here that while I was swimming under water, holding my breath with my eyes closed, that I hit a pole and almost knocked myself out. I had not yet learned to swim and breathe. I was seven. Some years later while wading in the shallow, muddy water a crayfish locked onto the top of one of my feet. It really hurt and the foot swelled up afterward. It was on this pond where I learned to ice skate. Every winter we skated here and played hockey. And later, in the early fifties, when they re-stocked the pond with ducks, geese, and swan we watched the swan getting ready to fly. They usually swam gracefully and majestically to the end of the pond and when they took off it was something to see. They kept flopping their wings, gathering speed, lifting out of the water a little, the feet still dragging, and finally they got airborne. They used up the whole length of the pond and barely cleared the tops of the trees. While I was thinking about this, my mother commented on how beautiful the foliage looked on this rare, sunny day. While she kept talking about that, I was remembering what my brother had told me. That a good portion of the deciduous trees around Berlin were damaged by acid rain. And that was the reason while the leafs were brown. This photo was taken in October 1988 and later scanned. Thank you for the kind comments and suggestions about the flower. It is much appreciated.