A Beautiful Week

Last week saw a continuation of the previous week's colourful walks (and two equally colourful car journeys), stormy weather with a mix of sun, clouds and rain and a birthday party combined with a mini-break.

My trains back from Offenburg on Monday (20 Oktober) were on time. It was raining for most of the day, and apart from my customary back & shoulders massage at lunch time with a quick food shopping at ALDI afterwards I didn't spend time outdoors.

Tuesday (21 Oktober) was split in two work-wise: In the morning I worked from home for my main employer, and after lunch I travelled to Marbach and spent a couple of hours there at my favourite client's, the Literature Archive. I'd not been there since April and was really looking forward to my visit - and the intended walk home.

Approaching the Literature Archive, the Schiller Museum can be seen through the trees.

View from the museum's terrace towards Ludwigsburg, with "the Rocket" clearly visible.

View from the same spot across the river Neckar towards Benningen.

Friedrich Schiller, poet and playwright, who was born in Marbach and is the reason for the museum and Literature Archive here.

Things went as planned with a constructive and pleasant meeting in Marbach, and then I started on the longish walk home. There is a comfortable lane along the river, and while I would not advise anyone to walk there on a weekend when it is overrun with cyclists and other groups of people, on a weekday afternoon it is the best way to walk between the two towns.

What I didn't know was that there are road works underway, resulting in a complete closure of a crucial part of the lane and signposted detours for cyclists and walkers. 

The detour's signs were pointing to high above the river, running parallel to it on paved lanes. Knowing the area relatively well, I was sure there was another parallel path leading between allotments and vineyards; unpaved but good enough to walk. Thinking myself cleverer than the people who had signposted the detour, I enjoyed wonderful quiet walking among gardens and vineyards in their autumn glory... until I reached a dead end, with fences and closed gates on three sides. There was only one way to go from that spot, and that meant backtracking for almost 1 km before I reached the point where I had deviated from the signposted route.

Viaduct across the Neckar linking Benningen and Marbach by train.

The Schiller Museum

That cost me maybe half an hour - but I wasn't angry, since I had seen those beautiful trees and hedgerows and shrubs along the way, and many birds as a bonus, as well as a rainbow which I would not have spotted otherwise:

From then on, I stuck to the signs...!

There's no escaping The Rocket when you walk in these parts!

Closer to home - the back of the deer park.

Three hours after leaving my client, I was home; happy but rather tired and in need of water and sustenance.

On Wednesday (22 October), I worked at the office and went to my Mum's afterwards. 

That morning at 6:00, I had hot water and the heating worked as usual. Half an hour later when I went to have a shower, there was only cold water, and the heating felt lukewarm with only residual heat remaining.

I didn't have time to look into the matter and check on the therm up in the attic, which provides us with heat for water and heating, but on my way to work I sent an urgent message to one of the two brothers who co-own the house with me. He replied almost immediately that he was going to go over and check on the therm and, if he couldn't fix it, call the company who had set it up originally and had done maintenance on it only last Thursday.

While I was still at my Mum's, he let me know that he had not been able to fix it but that someone was coming on Thursday at 10:00 am - another day at the office for me, so I wouldn't be there to let them in or learn what was wrong.

As planned, I went to the office on Thursday (23 October) and was hoping for the best. In the morning I had used the kettle so that I didn't have to wash myself with cold water. For centuries, that's what people did every morning, but I am so used to having a hot shower that I was glad for this being only temporary.

It was a day of high winds but mostly dry. I took advantage of that and did not go straight home after work; instead I remained on the train until the next stop after Ludwigsburg by the deer park, and walked to Benningen from there.

Back home, I was happy to find my flat warm and hot water coming from the taps, but I didn't know what had been wrong with our heat system.

Therefore, I rang the company on Friday (24 October) morning, but the secretary didn't know; she said she'd ask the colleague who had been to my house and would call me back... that call never came, but the co-owner and I have scheduled a meeting with them on Tuesday for a different reason anyway, and that's soon enough for me to find out.

Following a stormy night, it was a beautiful sunny day, but I didn't go for a walk what with work, cleaning, washing, food shopping, cooking and getting everything ready for O.K. spending the weekend with me. 

His Mum grows butternut pumpkins among many other things, and a couple of weeks ago O.K. brought me one - you can see it in this post where I show my bit of autumn home deco.

I now used it to make a thick creamy soup, supplemented with a few spuds and one large parsnip, spiced with coconut fat and ginger so that it would have a slightly "Thai" kind of taste without overdoing that. I was quite happy with the result, and by 9:00 pm when O.K. arrived, it was good to sit down to a warm, filling home-cooked meal.

On Saturday (25 October), O.K. drove us to Pforzheim, a city about 50 km from Ludwigsburg. We were invited to a friend's birthday party there. She had turned 60 earlier that week and was celebrating with her family and friends at a building normally used by the city's Youth Association.

The drive there was beautiful through the autumnal countryside with a mix of sun and rain. We had opted to spend the night at a nearby hotel, not wanting to have to drive back in the night and (maybe) after a glass or two of wine. The hotel was nicer than expected, especially the view from our room on the 3rd floor over the river Enz and the city of Pforzheim.

The view that shocked us, stepping out of the elevator.

I must admit we were both a little apprehensive when the doors of the lift opened and we were confronted with shocking purple carpeting and a sofa and lamps that could have been props in a porn film, but thankfully, our room was much easier on the eyes (and spotlessly clean).

A fifteen minute walk took us to the party venue. It was good to see the birthday "girl" and her family. There were about 25 of us altogether, plus four dogs which got along well enough except for one who had to be kept at a distance from the rest.

Our hostess gave a beautiful speech, using parts of the manuscript for a speech her father had written for his own 60th birthday 30 years ago. He would now be in his 90s but died a few years back; it was amazing how so much of what he wrote about himself and what it meant for him to turn 60 was exactly what his daughter felt now, 30 years later. I found it really touching and a lovely tribute.

We had the most wonderful cake buffet - not classic cakes but pâtisserie of very unusual combinations of all natural ingredients, no artificial colouring. It was difficult to choose which ones to try, as there was no way anyone would manage to try all the different kinds. We shared between us so that we could taste a few more, but there is a limit even to the most delicious food.

Next were some games - all of them reasonably funny and short enough to keep the few children engaged as well. 

At around 6:00 pm, dinner was served, with a vegetarian and a meat option. 

It was all very good again, but after the lovely cakes and a rather large starter, I struggled to finish my main course. 

Astonishingly enough, I managed a sorbet for dessert nonetheless.

Conversation around the table was varied and interesting. 

Apart from when we were eating, people wandered, changed places, played pool or table football (all part of the regular equipment of the Youth Association) or simply chatted. 

Among the guests was a wide range of ages and interests, so that there was no shortage of topics.

Since the party had already begun as early as 1:30 pm, those with small children as well as the birthday girl's 88-year-old mother were gone by around 9 pm, and the rest followed not much later. O.K. and I were at the hotel by about 10 pm.

After a good night's sleep, we enjoyed the hotel's breakfast on Sunday (26 October) morning - quite amazing, considering the feast we'd had the previous afternoon and evening!

Morning sky, as seen from our room

Our overnight bags were quickly packed, and soon we were on the road back to Ludwigsburg, once again admiring the autumn colours of the woods and fields around us.

At home, we rested a little before going for a walk. It was another day of blustery winds, driving heavy clouds fast across the sky, and some of their wet load caught up with us occasionally. The walkdid us good, and roughly 8 km later we were back at my place for coffees and cakes - leftovers from the birthday buffet that we had been urged to take home with us.

We then went to see my Mum before it was time for me to start on our evening meal. I made a salad of Romana lettuce, pear, feta cheese and cashew nuts for starters, followed by pan-fried spuds and broccoli with diced bacon.

Having changed back from Summer Time that same morning, sunset came early at a quarter past 5:00 in the afternoon. When O.K. left for his home, facing a 150 km drive, I was glad I didn't have to go out again in the cold and dark.

Sunset from my Mum's balcony on Sunday.

Read in 2025 - 26: How to Solve Your Own Murder

How to Solve Your Own Murder
Kristen Perrin

In the summer of 1965, three teenage girls visit their village’s funfair and, just for a laugh, have their fortune told.
While Rose and Emily take it all as a joke, their best friend Frances can’t help but believe every word the fortune teller says.
From that moment on, her life is dominated by her fortune, no matter what everyone else says.
 
Frances does everything in her power to prevent the terrible fate predicte for her - being betrayed and murdered - and starts to collect information about each and everyone she comes in contact with.
When the apparently inevitable happens at last and Frances, now an elderly widow, is indeed found murdered, the two prospective heirs to her very real fortune and large estate have to find out who did it in order to inherit.
 
Frances’ great-niece Annie is one of the two contestants. She never knew her great-aunt Frances, but among the files she kept about her family members, nearly everyone in the village and other people she had dealings with, there is also a diary from that fateful summer of 1965.
Annie feels like she is getting to know Frances through her writing, regretting more and more that she never had the chance to meet her in life.
One of the three friends, Emily, disappeared the year after, never to be seen or heard of again. Rose is still around and is as shocked as everyone else when she learns that Frances’s prediction has finally come true.
 
More than one person has motive, means and opportunity to kill Frances, but why now? And how can Annie make sure she wins the race against time and solves the mystery before the (admittedly really attractive) detective or her (admittedly rather unpleasant) contestant?
When she gets close to the solution and hatches a plan that will help her to prove that she’s right, things take a dangerous turn…
 
This was a great read from start to finish, and I really didn’t guess the answers to the mysteries Annie finds herself confronted with – Emily’s disappearance back in the 1960s and Frances’ murder in the present.
There was humour, but also some food for thought. Some characters were a bit too only “good” or “bad” for real people in my opinion, but they fitted the story.
Annie’s actions didn’t always ring plausible, but who can tell how they’d react in similar circumstances.
 
The present-day story starts in summer (as does the 1965 part), and it was very nice for it to end on a beautiful autumn day when I was having just such a day in real life.
 
I was very pleased to see that a sequel already exists, with two more books either in the making or already out.
This one was certainly a very lucky find at the second-hand book sale of the church in town centre; if I don’t manage to find the sequel there, I guess I’ll “have to” buy it.
A first novel for the author, the book has one several awards – fully deserved. You can find the author’s website here.

A Week of Colourful Walks

If you've had quite enough of looking at pictures of gorgeous autumn foliage, you better skip this post, as it is quite full of them. But that's what it is like here in my corner of the world this time of year, and I have been making the most of it last week. Thankfully, the weather was playing along most of the time, too.

On Monday (13 October) I was working from home as usual, and also as usual was able to spend part of my lunch break by having a massage for my ever grateful back and shoulders.

After work, I went walking for a couple of hours. Taking a leaf (!) out of Monica's book, I chose the park-like cemetery which was looking particularly beautiful that afternoon; the rather dull sky made the colours appear luminous on their own.

The monument below, which I find most unusual for a cemetery, has featured on my blog once before, in the spring of 2018. If you want to see what it looked like then, and read what the statue is, click here.

Leaving the cemetery at the other end, I followed a path down a steep slope and was glad to see that the footbridge at the bottom, which was closed for a long time, is now open again. It spans a very busy road, and climbing a long set of stairs on the other side, one reaches a nice residential area where I sometimes like to walk.

At home in Autumn

I worked at the office on Tuesday (14 October). On the train home, I didn't get off at "my" station but stayed on until the next stop close to the deer park, and from there walked to Benningen, which I greatly enjoyed in the beautiful golden early evening light.

A shady figure can be seen lurking :-)

There's the shady figure again!

Wednesday (15 October) was my regular day at the office. It was beautiful and sunny, but I felt very tired after a series of meetings and didn't go anywhere but home.

On my way to work, I walk past this garden. It is at its most beautiful this time of year.

Working from home on Thursday (16 October) allowed me to let the man in who came for the regular maintenance on our heating/hot water system. Everything was fine; he was very thorough and if all goes well I'll only see him again next year.

After work, I went to see my Mum and to pick up the crockery I had painted the previous Friday. My sister had kindly suggested she pick up all our things (there had been five of us at the painting afternoon), and so I was able to see everyone's finished results. They were all good, and the one my Mum's friend made was more than good, it was truly great and wouldn't have been out of place at a crafts exhibition or pottery market. 

I am happy enough with what I made to offer it to O.K. as a Christmas present - whether he'll like it remains to be seen! In any case I won't show a picture of my "art work" here before Christmas, as I want it to be a surprise for him. (And don't worry - O.K. isn't one to fake enthusiams when he doesn't like something! If that should be the case, I shall simply keep it myself.)

Amazingly, on Friday (17 October) my trains to Offenburg were on time, and we enjoyed our customary meal of salad, bread and cheese with wine to ring in the weekend.

Saturday (18 October) was "Golden Autumn" like straight from a picture book - wall to wall sunshine and relatively mild temperatures. The morning was spent doing some jobs around the house and garden, but in the afternoon we set off to the nearby small town/village of Ortenberg with its picturesque castle on a hill overlooking the houses. You've seen that castle many times before on my blog, for instance here.

We walked along the paths through the vineyards and bits of woodland, soaking up the sun and enjoying the beautiful colours and fresh air. 

The rosehips on this bush were big - almost half the size of my thumb!

If the Addams Family had a vineyard, I imagine it would look like this :-D (Does it show I have been watching the second season of "Wednesday" recently?)

11.5 km later we were back at the car, but not without having caught the sunset from the castle hill.

Ortenberg castle

View towards the Vosges mountains (France)

In O.K.'s village a restaurant has recently changed hands, and we wanted to see what it is like now. The new people are from Georgia (not as in Georgia, the state of the U.S. where my blogging friend Kay hails from, but as in the country in the Caucasus region on the coast of the Black Sea).

Neither of us had never had Georgian food before, and so we chose a different main course each and sampled each other's food. O.K.'s was pieces of crispy roast chicken in a creamy white garlic sauce plus fried balls of maze, which were very nice. Mine looked a bit like a pizza bread but wasn't really pizza. Between the top and the bottom of the flat round piece of dough was a layer of cottage cheese; it was nice and VERY filling (needless to say, I didn't manage to eat the whole thing).

Service was very friendly, and we both agreed that we liked our food even though it would have benefited from a bit more spice. Of course there was salt & pepper on the table. Next time we go there we'll try the typical German standards of Schnitzel with chips/fries or spud salad, which they also have on the menue.

It was time for the traditional Gallus-Fest on Sunday (19 October). Of all the traditions in the village, this one is my favourite (I say that every year, I know!), and this year it was even nicer with more people attending.

The village band were getting ready and then, as mass finished and the church doors opened, started to play on the square between the church and the vicarage. I have included a short video but am not sure whether you can play it; please let me know.

Every year, this fest is held to honour the village's patron saint, St. Gallus, who was an Irish monk (Saint Gall - click here for his wikipedia article) and may or may not have originally come from the region where O.K.'s village is, near the border between what today are France and Germany.

What I like so much about this particular event is that it's in autumn (and in the nearly ten years I've been coming to the village, the weather has always been favourable), that it's small and doesn't last for days and consequently does not take a huge amount of work before and after, and that it's so unpretentious - no bright blinking lights, no screaming from various "amusements", no cheap plastic toys or overpriced snacks. Just a village community coming together on a Sunday around lunch time, enjoying the music and chat while having a drink and snack, all cared for by volunteers and paid for by donations.

Afterwards, we had a bit of a rest at home and then coffee. Next was a visit across the road with O.K.'s Mum, and then we went for a walk around the village, a standard of ours which is about 7.5 km long. 

Back at the cottage, O.K. prepared a large bowl of salad to go with our bread and cheese, and as usual on a Sunday night, bedtime came early in view of Monday's early start at around 5:20.