An (Almost) Walkless Week

Very unlike me, last week I had only one proper walk. It was either too cold or too wet (or both), or I was busy until after dark, when a walk didn't hold much appeal.

Arriving home from Offenburg on time on Monday (10 February) morning, my election documents were in the mailbox. Some of you will know that Germany is holding a general election next Sunday; originally, it was intended for September as per the regular legislative period. But in November our government came crashing down. The endless bickering between the coalition parties was finally at an end, but it meant that the election could not wait until September. Instead, it was all rescheduled, and everything had to happen in a big hurry - organising the voting stations, having all the documents printed, the logistics of getting those documents to all potential voters on time, and so on.

My sister and I are once again helping at one of the polling stations in our town, but it is not the station where I am registered to cast my vote, and therefore I have requested to vote by mail. With only two weeks left before the election, the envelope had arrived, and I didn't hesitate in making my two crosses, signing the voting slip and sealing it in its envelope. Instead of trusting our mail services, after work I walked into town and handed it over personally at the city's office set up for the election. 

Before I went back home, I stopped at a shop that specialises in all things photography. They also offer an instant service to have biometric pictures taken, as required for all current ID cards and passports. My national ID card ("Personalausweis" in German, not the same as my passport, which is a little burgundy booklet) will become invalid by the end of March, and for a new one, I needed the photo.

One more stop before home was the pharmacy where I usually buy my eye drops (I need to take two for medical reasons and a third type to keep the eyes moist, which is not easy when you stare at computer screens all day).

I felt quite good about having gotten all these things done in a short space of time, but when I arrived home, the morning's rain had returned, and so I stayed in and did not go for an evening walk.

Oh, and before I forget, I had also been to my customary 25 minutes of back and shoulders massage around lunch time.

It rained all day on Tuesday (11 February) but was relatively mild at 8C/46F. I worked from home and afterwards went to my Mum's, where my sister, my Mum and I had a very nice meal.

Wednesday (12 February) was my usual office day, and again a day of constant rain.

By Thursday (13 February), the temperature had dropped enough for the rain to come down as snow, and it remained on the ground, too.

View from my kitchen at 9:19 on Thursday morning…

…and the same view at 11:30 at night. The snow-filled clouds made for an unusually bright night.

I spent my lunch break having a mammogram. Women of my age are cordially invited every two years to have that examination, at no cost to them other than their time. The radiology surgery where I go is organised very efficiently, and so it really doesn't take long from checking in to saying good-bye for another two years (depending on the result, which I will learn in one or two weeks).

The snow kept falling and was rather wet, so that once again I didn't go for a walk after work.

Friday (14 February) was cold and grey-white with more snow. I had to interrupt work in the morning for an appointment at the city hall, where I took the new photo I had made on Monday. This kind of service operates by appointment only, and I had booked mine online for 9:15. I arrived a bit earlier, as is my habit, and was called in almost right away. The friendly, competent young lady took the photo, verified that my address and everything else is still the same, I paid 67 euros, and left the building at 9:16!

My neighbourhood, as seen from my living room at 7:00 on Friday morning…

…and again the kitchen view half an hour later.

The mulberry tree in front of my bedroom…

…and the khaki tree next to it.

On the way home, I stopped at the hairdresser's round the corner from my house and asked if anyone was going to be available early next week. My neighbour who runs the salon asked whether I wanted to fill in the same day at 11:00 for a customer who'd had to cancel, and so less than two hours later, I found myself getting my hair cut quicker than expected - another thing done!

Between work, appointments, cleaning the flat and catching the trains to Offenburg, of course there was no time for a walk, either. It wasn't quite dark yet during the first part of the journey, and I enjoyed watching the monochrome world outside from my seat by the window. The light was of a pearly quality, and I only took out my book after Karlsruhe when it was dark and I couldn't see much outside anymore.

Saturday (15 February) was sunny but very cold. O.K. still has plenty to do around the house and garden of his parents; with his Dad being gone for almost a year now and his Mum (who will be 85 in August) not physically capable of doing all the work she used to do, over the past months he has forever been cutting hedges, removing shrubs, cleaning up overgrown corners and so on.

Coffee and something sweet to get some strength for the day‘s physical work

Fennel and red pepper frying in olive oil

On Saturday, he tackled the climbers covering part of two of the walls. One is ivy, the other one we don't know the name of. It all looks nice and green in the summer, and the sparrows and other birds love it for nesting, but both climbers have grown completely out of hand and are slowly destroying the facade. 

A lot of cutting was done that day, with me holding the ladder. Not that I would be of much use should O.K. have slipped and fallen - I can not catch a grown-up man, of course. But the ground around the house isn't even on all sides, and it is better to have someone stabilise the ladder on the ground, especially when going really high.

Since I wasn't moving and both my hands and legs were in almost constant contact with the icy cold aluminium ladder, I got very cold after a while, no matter that I was wearing two pairs of VERY warm socks, winter boots, warm trousers, two padded winter coats one on top of the other, two pairs of gloves and a woolly hat.

Around lunch time I volunteered to go inside and prepare something to eat, which was my chance to warm up - O.K. wasn't quite as cold as I, because a) he was up on the ladder and in the sun most of the time, and b) he was of course moving up and down the ladder, and doing all the cutting. 

I fried fennel and red bell peppers in olive oil and boiled half a packet of spaghetti, which was a quick and easy meal, warm and filling.

After cleaning up, I braced the cold once more. Just when I thought I really had to break off and go inside, O.K. finished cutting, and now that I was able to help bundling up the cuttings and sweeping around the house, I didn't feel cold anymore.

O.K. made our evening meal while I retreated to the settee, wrapped in a blanket and waiting for food to be served :-D

It was good to sleep in on Sunday (16 February), and we were looking forward to a walk. The early morning sun was gone by the time we were ready to go out, but it remained dry, and we gladly walked for a couple of hours. Part of the route was the same I'd taken the previous Saturday, but now the snowdrops were out, and in some front gardens we spotted the first crocus. 

A visit with O.K.'s Mum followed, and Sunday evening was spent quietly with a nice meal and early bedtime.

Read in 2025 - 3: A Year Unfolding

A Year Unfolding - A Printmaker's View

Angela Harding

Some of you will be familiar with Angela Harding's distinctive artwork, for instance on the book cover of The Salt Path (which I have not read but seen in bookshops and read reviews on blogs).

Last summer, when my sister and I visited Fountains Abbey and, as always, paid a visit to the National Trust shop in the visitor centre, I saw this book and immediately wanted it. But... it's relatively big and a hardcover, and so I decided against buying it there and then, keeping in mind that I would have to drag my luggage across several train stations and foot bridges on the way home.

Instead, I took a photo of the book cover with my mobile phone. When some time in late autumn O.K. asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I sent him the photo, and then happily unwrapped this beautiful book on Christmas Day.

It's the kind of book you can read from cover to cover, but also just pick up every now and then, look at some of the wonderful pictures and maybe read a paragraph or two.

There six chapters; not just the usual four seasons, but one extra chapter each for early spring and early summer, since the author feels that these seasons are so rich and important in their own way that they deserve their own chapters.

Of course, I especially loved the pictures that had a fox in them, and the ones of places I know, such as Newby Hall, Richmond and Whitby.

Many pictures have an explanation of what the artist was trying to convey, what the picture is based on etc. Chapters are introduced with a poem, followed by a one-page description of what this particular season means to her. 

On a few pages at the beginning, the book contains an introduction to Angela Harding and her work, with photos of her studio and the views from it and the equipment she uses.

Of course there is loads about her on the internet; wikipedia has an entry about her, and on youtube you can find short and long videos, including this one which is ca. 3 1/2 minutes about this book.

I have greatly enjoyed the book, neatly dividing the time I spent with it when I wanted some cosy downtime after work in my yellow armchair, wrapped in my "Annie" throw (another find at the National Trust shop which O.K. kindly ordered for me as a present some years ago), a cup of tea and maybe some biscuits.

It was nice to arrive at the chapter about winter just when we had another snow fall. I am certainly going to return to this book every now and then, to set the mood for each season as the year unfolds.

First Week of February

The first full week of February was cold, as you'd expect this time of year in these parts. There were sunny days but also clouds and some rain and sleet. I managed several walks, went to the pub quiz and attended a concert - definitely my highlight.

Monday (3 February) started dull and grey, but it didn't bother me, since I was working anyway. When the sun came out early afternoon, I resolved to wrap up work as early as possible and then go for a walk, and I did exactly that.

The ruined castle high above the river, on the outskirts of Ludwigsburg's much older suburb Hoheneck, was my aim. If you look at the pictures, you can see its particular attraction that day.

What's on these branches?

Catkins!! The first I have spotted this season.

I love this picturesque vineyard house. It is the club house of the local association of winemakers.

View from near the castle across the river and towards Neckarweihingen, another one of Ludwigsburg's suburbs that is hundreds of years older than the town itself.

One reason for me wanting to go there was that I had been thinking of my Uncle Rainer a lot since I had learned of his death the previous Thursday. I remember many of our conversations, and years ago he told me that at one point he had seriously considered buying the ruins, making them somehow habitable and live there. The idea never came to fruition, but the conversation stuck with me, and it was my small, personal way of honouring my late uncle (apart from it being a really nice walk on a sunny winter afternoon with early signs of spring).

Tuesday (4 February) was another cold and sunny day. I was working from home and spent the evening at "my" Irish pub for the quiz. Of the original team, three who had said they would be there had to cancel last minute, and so I was really, really glad that my sister had agreed to come (of course she is always welcome! But had there only been three of us, our results would have been meagre indeed). The four of us had a fun evening, no matter that this time we did not walk home with a prize (but still beat our eternal rival, a team by the name Lone Star!).

Let's test your skills as potential members of our team: 

1) What is the name of the scale used to measure wind speed?

2) How many cards are there to a deck of Tarot?

Answers on a postcard :-D

As usual, I worked at the office in Weilimdorf on Wednesday (5 February). The morning was frosty at -6C/21F, and I was grateful that one of my colleagues had remembered to turn up the heating in my room, which was empty since last Wednesday and therefore would have been VERY cold otherwise.

By the time I was home, I wasn't up to anything much, and it was too dark and cold for me to want a walk. But I got my old skipping rope out and did a bit of skipping at least.

Sleety rain fell on Thursday (6 February) morning, making me glad to be working from home. The day remained grey but the rain/snow/rain stopped late morning, and I went for a short-ish walk after work across the fields to Eglosheim and back, just to stretch my legs and clear my head after staring at computer screens all day.

Friday (7 February) saw a mix of clouds and sun; cold at a max of 4C/39F but not frosty. I finished all my work-related tasks by lunch time and therefore was able to go for a more substantial walk in the afternoon, to Benningen (and back by local train).

Just before 7:30 pm, my sister and I met our Mum at the bus stop opposite the palace grounds. From there, we walked the short distance to the "Forum", a venue for concerts, theatre and other events in our home town. The reason: Our Mum had bought tickets for the three of us for the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain!

Have you heard of them, maybe watched a video or two on youtube, or even attended a live performance? If you have, I am sure you'll agree with me that these guys are BRILLIANT!! Not only are they fantastic musicians and good singers, they are also super entertainers, all seven of them.

Please don't think that it's all just comedy and silliness. Yes, there are some deliberately silly bits. But their level of virtuosity is truly waaay up there with the very best (they ARE the very best, I think!), and everything they play just sounds great. Please go to their youtube channel for videos, and I guarantee they'll cheer you up (and can't we all do with a bit of cheer these days?).

Some of you will remember our dear late fellow blogger Pat, aka The Weaver of Grass. She learned to play the ukulele late in life and performed with a group of people visiting homes for the elderly and for patients with dementia. I always admired her for that (among other things), and it was originally because of her that I came across this band.

Anyway, I'd be hard pressed to name a favourite of the fantastic concert we attended on Friday, but if I had to, I guess I'd have to decide between "You Make Me Feel" and "Raw Hide". Thank you, Mum!!! This really was a super present.

I did my usual cleaning round on Saturday (8 February), and late afternoon made my way to the station and boarded the first of two trains to Offenburg. I arrived at 7:00 pm on the dot - why can't it always be like that? O.K. picked me up, and we drove a short distance to a German-Hungarian restaurant where he had booked a table for us. We enjoyed a very good meal before driving to the village.

Sunday (9 February) started sunny, but by the time we were up and ready to leave, clouds had come up. We still enjoyed a good walk, partly in the woods on the hill behind the village, through orchards and vineyards, before returning to the cottage for coffee and cake.

A visit across the road with O.K.'s Mum followed, and we ended the evening (and the weekend) with what more often than not is our standard Friday night fare: salad, bread and cheese, accompanied by a well chilled rosé wine.

Last Week of January

I know I say this all the time, but especially after the beginning of a new year, it feels as if time passes extra fast - can you believe the first month of 2025 is already over? Wasn't it just a few days ago that we celebrated Christmas and New Year? Outside work, which was busy but unremarkable, there were beautiful walks but also sad news.

At 11C/52F, it was still rather mild for January on Monday (27 January). Of the three trains back from Offenburg, the middle one was delayed so that I caught my connection in Stuttgart only running, and it began to rain just as I walked the short distance from Ludwigsburg station to my home. It was also rather windy, and although the sun put in a brief appearance later, I didn't manage more than an hour's worth of walking (which was perfectly alright). 

Tuesday (28 January) saw a similar mix of rain, wind and sun, but it kept dry all afternoon and evening, allowing for a good after-work walk, even though the strong wind (and my grumbling stomach) made me cut it short and turn home after less than an hour. My lunch break had been pleasantly spent on the massage table at the nearby day spa.

The hill in the distance is Asperg, where we went on the Sunday.

The now familiar Wednesday pattern of working at the office in Weilimdorf and then spending the evening with my sister at my Mum's was repeated on Wednesday (29 January). I brought Thai takeaway for the three of us, which was quite nice. The portions were so big that each of us had about half leftover; not a problem at all, since this type of food heats up very well in the microwave the next day.

It had gradually become colder, and by Thursday (30 January), the morning was close to freezing at 1C/33F. The sun came out, resulting in an afternoon high of about 8-9C/46-48F, and inducing me to walk to Benningen after work. On the fields, I spotted two herons, and as always when I see this type of bird anywhere (and I see them often), I thought of my Uncle Rainer - he and I had a sort of running gag going, with him saying how I saw herons almost everywhere I went. 

Thursday at 7:45 in the morning

Imagine my shock and sadness when at 9:00 pm, my sister rang to tell me that Uncle Rainer had died two hours before. He was my Mum's big brother, five years her senior. He'd had a stroke some time last year (or was it 2023?) but had recovered well enough to still be living at home with his wife. His mind had been clear all along, as I could confirm when we spoke on the phone. The last time he'd called wasn't that long ago, and although his voice sounded weak then, we had a little chat and I didn't think he was going to die so soon after that.

Our Aunt had also been in hospital and not recovered all that well, so to be honest I would have been less surprised if the sad news had been about her.

Anyway, Mum's brother and our Uncle is no more, and my personal loss is nothing compared to what his wife and my cousins are going through now. 

By the way, he was the one who told me about Monika Gwinner when I was a teenager, and my sister and I spent a snowy weekend with our aunt and uncle in 2015. For years, we regularly corresponded by email, and more than once he sent me photos he had taken and gave me permission to use them on my blog, such as the super moon and the "ice flowers" in this post. A picture of six-year-old Rainer can be seen in this post.

Friday (31 January) was my Dad's birthday; he would have been 83 if he were still alive. The day was beautiful and sunny, but cold. O.K. made sure to drive to Ludwigsburg directly from work and arrived just before 6:00 pm, about three hours earlier than usual. We walked to my Mum who had made my Dad's favourite food, and had a meal in his memory. Of course we also talked a lot about my uncle.

It was frosty at -3C/26F on Saturday (1 February), but sunny again. O.K. and I went for a late-ish breakfast at our favourite café in town and then for a long walk, taking in the market square at noon with the traditional brass instruments being played from the top of one of the church towers, the palace grounds, the fields and the cemetery. We became very hungry and walked back into town to have Thai food at one of the shopping malls, which was nice, followed by a quick espresso at an Italian coffee bar not far away. 

Zoomed in; can you see the musicians?

Is a bluer sky possible?

Back home, we had a bit of a rest before our evening meal, a salad of baby spinach leaves with feta cheese and cashew nuts, accompanied by crunchy bread and Italian salami. A silly comedy on TV was just right afterwards.

Sunday (2 February) was true to its name, but as cold as the day before. We had a sumptuous breakfast at home and then went walking with my sister. She had not been to the castle on the hill in Asperg for quite a while, and O.K. had suggested it too, so Asperg it was. 

The blue sky and sunshine made for good views from the top, and provided a great backdrop for the old stone walls.

Looking across the town of Asperg towards Ludwigsburg from the top of the hill (photo by O.K.)

We chose a different way back, stopping at a café for coffees and cakes. After that, my sister went home and O.K. and I had a quiet hour or so before I prepared a tray of vegetables to roast in the oven to go with the schnitzel I fried in the pan (I am sorry to say that, although I had stuck exactly to the instructions, the meat turned out rather dry). O.K. started the long drive home just before 8:30 pm, and as always, I was glad when he called to let me know he was home.

Read in 2025 - 2: I Am The Messenger

I Am The Messenger

Markus Zusak

Lent to me by my book-loving friend who periodically exchanges books with me, I had not known the author before and started to read without any expectations other than it should be good, since so far everything I have borrowed from this friend has met my taste.

It turned out that I really, really liked this book, for various reasons. The setting is - unusual for me - Australia, in a part of town that has seen better days. Not that the Australian factor is over-emphasised, but it is unusual for me to read of a "typically hot November day" or Christmas spent in shorts and t-shirt and drinking cold beer in the shade of the porch.

The main character is Ed, a 19-year old cab driver, flanked by a cast of quirky characters like his three best friends, one of whom he is deeply in love with while she keeps saying that he is her best friend and therefore she doesn't want to spoil their friendship. There is also Ed's Mum and memories of his late Dad. The other love in his life is his old dog, very much a character in his own right.

With an unqualified, low-pay job and no real perspective or ambition for more than playing cards with his friends, walking the dog, occasionally visiting his Mum, Ed's life could go on like this for years and years.

But when he and his friends are accidentally caught in a bank robbery, and equally accidentally Ed manages to stop the gunman, everything changes.

After his unwilling 15 minutes of fame, Ed starts to receive playing cards in the mail, with cryptic messages on the back, sometimes more, sometimes less difficult to decipher. In any case, he has to act on them, and act he does.

I am not going to spoil things for you by telling you what he has to do and about the people he meets along the way, but by the end of the book, loose ends are tied up and Ed - as well as the reader - learns what it was (and is) all about.

An unusual story, quirky characters and the language to match - I can recommend this if you want a story that is mysterious but not a mystery as such (no murders, detectives or crime-solving), not a historical drama or family epos and neither romance nor comedy, but with elements of both.

More about the author can be found on wikipedia.

Weather Week

For me, last week was largely dominated by the weather: There was everything from icy fog to spring-like sunshine, with a range of temperature spanning below freezing to (for some) short sleeves. Strong winds were blowing, but we did not get storms such as had been forecast for the UK.

The week was off to an icy start on Monday (20 January) with a long-lasting fog at -5C/23F making me glad I was working from home. The only time I ventured out was for the approximately five minutes it takes me to reach the nearby Day Spa for a back and shoulder massage during my lunch break, followed by a quick pop in at Aldi's, just another few minutes from there. 

I partly made up for the lack of exercise by doing a tiny bit of rope-skipping in the evening - only 120 jumps/skips. At my fittest, when I was still regularly going for runs AND went to the gym AND did ballroom dancing most Saturdays, I managed 400 to 500 without needing a break. Those were the days...!

Tuesday (21 January) looked beautiful with the icy fog turning every twig and leaf into a crystal-covered work of art. 

The view at 7:00 am from my living room...

... and about half an hour later from my kitchen.

A bit of blue sky was welcome...

...and at about 11:00 it was even brighter, although the blue was gone.

The mulberry tree outside my bedroom window looked beautiful...

...as did this group of trees at the cemetery.

At -4C/25F, it was only marginally warmer than the day before, but I felt the itch for a walk and managed to put in almost two hours in the afternoon, visiting the cemetery and doing a wide loop back home, where I worked for another hour or so before it was time to leave for the pub.

It was my team's first quiz of 2025 (quiz nights picked up again after the Christmas market break on the 7th, but this was the first Tuesday nearly all of us could make it) - and fittingly for our first quiz of the year, we ended up coming first!!

Great fun and the win a rather surprising treat, to be honest - we finished the first half missing two of the possible points, and in the second half, we missed another point, but still had one point more than all the other teams.

The decisive point that put us on 1st place was gained by my sister, who was our guest player that evening - she was the ONLY person in the entire pub who guessed the breed of a dog right, shown on the big TV screen. It was, if you want to know, a Malteser.

One of the points we embarrassingly enough didn't get was the answer to the following question: What was Portugal's currency called before the Euro?

Would you have known...?´

As usual, I worked at the office on Wednesday (22 January). It was again an evening spent with my sister, as we met at our Mum's for a delicious meal.

Sunrise on Wednesday, as seen from my sister's flat.

Winter pastels at their best!

I was lucky to catch this view from my kitchen that morning, the sky changed so quickly.

During the night, it got considerably warmer, and by Thursday (23 January) morning, the thermometer reached 8C/46F. There was some rain, but it stopped in the course of the morning, and around lunch time, the sun made an appearance - enough for me to make me walk to Benningen, picking up work again afterwards.

Looking back towards Hohenasperg

The colours were a lot more intense in reality.

Friday (24 January) was special in that for the first time in months, I heard the unmistakeable spring song of a blackbird when I opened all my windows first thing in the morning. I can't tell you how happy that sound made me, a sign of things to come, even if proper spring is still two months or so away, and it was nowhere near the full dawn chorus yet that I so love to get up to.

After work and my usual cleaning round, I took the trains to Offenburg (not the fast, long-distance one that I had originally booked - that one was 35 minutes delayed) and that evening enjoyed a meal with O.K. at his cottage for the first time since New Year's Day.

Sunny, windy and not just mild, but warm - that's in short the description for Saturday (25 January). 17C/62F is definitely NOT our typical January weather, but that was what we had on that day.

O.K. worked until sunset in his Mum's garden and around her house, taking advantage of the daylight hours and warm, dry weather. I did a few jobs indoors, and then we both agreed that I couldn't be of much use with the trimming of hedges etc. but should go for a walk. 

And so it was that I found myself enjoying the spring-like weather, walking for about 2 hours before returning home and making coffee for O.K. and myself (he didn't even come in for that, such was his drive to finish the jobs he had set out to do).

Looking back towards O.K.'s village...

...and ahead towards the next village.

 This bench looked very inviting, but I wanted to walk, not sit.

Usually, this is one of the first places to find snowdrops, but they aren't out yet.

In the evening, we had a quick but delicious meal of ready-made pasta (a kind of ravioli, filled "all'arrabbiata") and a tasty rucola salad with flakes of grana padano.

Sunday (26 January) was cooler at a max of 9C/48F, but still mild and sunny. It would have been perfect for a hike, had it not been for O.K. and his fellow musicians playing at another band member's 60th birthday mid-afternoon.

We still managed a lunchtime walk of about an hour and 15 minutes around the village, which was pleasant and better than not being out and about at all.

The birthday do did not include partners of the musicians, and so we spent good part of the day separately. Still, it was good to be at O.K.'s for the weekend, having our meals and enough time to talk and laugh together, also popping over to his Mum's for a bit to make sure she was alright and didn't need anything (she'll be 85 this year and has only been home from hospital for a week).

We watched a documentary about Norway in the evening, a country I think I would really like to visit one day.