First Week of September

Here in my part of Germany, the first week of September was still very warm. Apart from the light and some other signs, it felt more like summer than approaching autumn. 

All during the week, I took very few photos - there weren't that many occasions for it, or rather I wasn't inclined to take many.

In between working from home, on Monday (02.09.2024) I took a train to Stuttgart and went to my quarterly eye check-up. Everything was fine; in fact, my doctor said that the inner-eye pressure had never been so good. She encouraged me to continue the treatment we have started a while ago, with two different drops to be taken every morning, and one every night. 

For those lucky ones among you who have perfect eyesight or are otherwise unaware of such things, the pressure inside the eye is a determining factor for the optical nerve's condition. 

With my extreme shortsightedness, a hereditary condition I have been living with for as long as I can remember, especially in my left eye the optical nerve has not been "good" in decades. It needs careful monitoring, and an increase in pressue is to be avoided. I was very glad when my doctor told me that the new combination of drops is showing good results.

As almost always, I was early for my appointment and stopped at a church on the way to the surgery. I have showed you pictures of the outside of St. Fidelis before (click here for the 2018 post), but on that Monday I had enough time to venture inside.

And I am glad I did - it really is a beautiful and rather unusual church, only about 100 years old. The organ in particular struck me as something I have never seen before; it was renovated in the 1960s.

Angels outside St. Fidelis

The bright and airy inside

The organ is decorated unlike any church I have seen before.

Nearby Hoppenlau cemetery looked rather autumnal that day.

The weather was all over the place from rain in the morning to sun and clouds, at a high of 27C/80F.

On Tuesday and Wednesday (03./04.09.2024) I worked at the office. Tuesday was warmer than expected; on my way home from Zuffenhausen across the sunlit fields, I did enjoy the 2 hours of walking, but every little breeze was welcome at 28C/82F.

It rained both in the morning and evening on Wednesday, making for a combination of fresh and at the same time humid air. My sister and I met at our Mum's after work and enjoyed her home-baked Zwiebelkuchen ("onion cake" which is a specialty here, especially at this time of year; it is not a sweet cake but savoury and more like a pie).

Sunset last Wednesday

Once the early morning mist lifted on Thursday (05.09.2024), the sun warmed the day to 28C/82 F again. I worked from home and walked to Benningen afterwards, something I always enjoy.

The first autumn crocus I have spotted this season!

It was finally cooler, allowing for better sleep during the night, and still cool at 16C/60F on Friday (06.09.2024) morning. By mid-afternoon, it was warm again at 26C/79F; not an unusual range of temperature this time of year.

After work, I took the trains to Offenburg; my usual connection wasn't running but I still made it by 8:00 pm, when O.K. picked me up at the station.

We had a delicious meal of couscous and ratatouille at the cottage before joining the neighbours for a neighbourhood street party around the stone fountain on the small square in "our" part of the village.

Thankfully, this year the party didn't continue in our next door neighbour's garden until 4:00 in the morning, but ended at 1:30 - still less sleep than we'd have liked, but we did at least catch some. (This neighbour's garden goes right up to the bedroom window of O.K.'s cottage with only a wooden fence between the two properties, and when people are in the garden, it can feel as if they were sitting and talking right in our bedroom.)

We left before 10:00 on Saturday (07.09.2024) morning for the small and picturesque town of Zell am Harmersbach, where O.K. had an appointment at the optician's. I went along, reading magazines until it was time to help choose a new frame for his glasses. (And I had fun trying on some frames myself, just to make silly faces.)

It was lunch time when we finished, and we had something to eat at a café before strolling back to the car, stopping along the way to buy icecreams - very welcome at 29C/84F.

At 6:00 pm, we were expected in the vicarage garden: It was 100 years ago to the day - almost to the hour! - that the village band was founded, and the occasion was marked for the musicians and their families with a BBQ. Many were still on holiday, though, and so it was a relatively small gathering, but nice to sit and chat with the others.

Sunday was very different from the rest of the week: It rained intermittently nearly all day and was chilly at only 18C/64F. We didn't do much; even a walk we attempted late afternoon was cut short when rain set in once again.

But we met mid-afternoon at O.K.'s Mum's with his sister and her husband for coffee and delicious home-baked apple pie, which was nice.

A cosy evening with a meal of grilled cheese and salad plus watching a documentary about the Dolomites with great mountain views ended this first week of September for us.