The week after my Mum's birthday celebration(s) was very much what we call Hochsommer (high summer) here in Germany. We had sun every day, with only a bit of rain during the night/early morning on Wednesday.
Cool nights made the sometimes high temperatures during the day bearable, and gave an incling of autumn not being all that far away.
Monday (19.08.2024) was a typical working-from-home day. At 15C/59F, the morning was chilly enough for me not to sit by the open window in my study. It got no warmer than a very pleasant 23C/74F during the day.
My sister and I met up with a friend at a beer garden in the next town, walking there and back. It was good to see our friend after months (last time had been for my birthday celebration back in spring) and catch up with each other.
I worked from home again on Tuesday (20.08.2024). Weather- and temperature-wise, it was very similar to the day before. I enjoyed two hours of walking on the fields after work, without breaking a sweat, which was really nice.
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| This one is for Kay! |
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| Click to enlarge - can you see the hot air balloon? |
I took the usual two trains to work at the office on Wednesday (21.08.2024). The night's and early morning's rain had stopped by then, and it warmed up to 28C/82 F during the afternoon.
Once again, on my way home I stayed on the train for one more stop, got off there and walked to Benningen, taking another train back to Ludwigsburg. It was most enjoyable, not under any pressure (time, hunger, thirst, toilet...), just good.
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In the morning before leaving for work, I had needed the light on in my Third Room for the first time in a long time.
Thursday (22.08.2024) started off really chilly at only 11C/52F. By the time I finished work, the temperature had risen to 25C/77F, pleasantly warm without being too hot. That suited us well, since my Mum and I were meeting at the Weinlaube, Ludwigsburg's annual wine fest. It spans a full two weeks, but for various reasons, this year this was our one and only visit.
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We enjoyed the wine, the atmosphere and the conversation with the other people at our table (we didn't know them, but this is the kind of event where you get chatting to strangers, and it's all nice).
In the afternoon, I had taken an hour off work to walk the 2.5 km or so to Eglosheim, a suburb of Ludwigsburg, where I bought a new hose pipe for my shower. The old one (only five years old) had become leaky. Even though I spent very little money at the shop there, I was treated like a customer should always be treated - with polite friendliness and expertise. If I need anything for the bathroom again, I will certainly go back there.
Weather and temperature were similar on Friday (23.08.2024), with a chilly 12C/53F in the morning but 29C/84F in the afternoon. Like I have done over the past few Fridays when it was going to be a hot day, I reverted my usual pattern, doing my cleaning etc. in the morning and working in the afternoon.
My trains to Offenburg were on time, and at around 9:00 pm, O.K. and I were sitting on the balcony for a lovely summerly meal of salad, bread and cheese, accompanied by a well-chilled rosé.
Afterwards, we stayed on the balcony for some stargazing, which was beautiful - you just see so much more there from the village, where it is much darker than near the city centre where I live.
Saturday (24.08.2024 - four months to Christmas Eve!) was hot at 35C/95F, too hot for us to be up to much. We just hung out at the cottage, taking it slow and doing the odd little job here and there. For 6:00 pm, the family (O.K.'s Mum, his sister + husband, plus ourselves) gathered for a BBQ in the courtyard in front of the house, which was in the shade by then. We enjoyed the food, drinks and of course each other's company.
Sunday (25.08.2024) will get its own post with LOTS of pictures from a Black Forest hike we undertook that day.
I notice that you often walk between towns in your activities. Although I live in a rural, farming area walking between towns is not possible. The roads are very bendy and dangerous with fast vehicles and do not have footpaths so are not safe to walk on. We have the old public footpaths across fields which were for the farm labourers to get to their places of work before cars but they are really not linking towns or villages, mainly just farms and they lead nowhere else. I enjoyed reading about your High Summer week.
ReplyDeleteThe lanes criss-crossing the fields here connect those towns and villages that border the fields. There are proper lanes/roads, re-enforced in recent years to carry the huge tractors and other heavy machinery used in agriculture, and regular cars (we have garden centers, farm shops and cafés out on the fields between towns, and many of their customers come by car). Then there are the grassy paths and cart tracks only walkers and farmers use, no regular cars and no bikes, rollerskates or escooters. Those are my favourites, because they mean a lot less traffic.
DeleteSeeing sunflowers always makes me smile! Sounds like you had a happy week with nice weather for your walks and fun times with family, Meike.
ReplyDeleteIt was a good week, Ellen.
DeleteI love sunflowers, last but not least because they are yellow, my favourite colour :-)
Oh, thank you for the sunflowers!! You know I love them!! Wish I could have been with you and your Mum sitting in that warm sunlight, not too hot, just right. And yes, I DID see the hot air balloon once I enlarged the picture! Cannot wait for the Black Forest Hike, I think I would really, really love that.
ReplyDeleteI am going to put the Black Forest Hike up today, Kay :-)
DeleteIf you had been there with us at the wine fest, what would have been your choice of drink?
Please may I have a sunflower too? Those in our garden wilted away this year.
ReplyDeleteOf course you can, Tasker. Just take your pick from the field in the last sunflower picture, or if you want the bumblebee with it, then take the first one.
DeleteMy sunflowers refused to show their faces this year. I nearly said 'this summer' but it's only been that in seasonal name.
ReplyDeleteFrom pictures on your blog, I remember your garden as beautiful, with flowers and of course the great views you get from your place. I hope you still had some of that in spite of it not being a proper summer in your area.
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