A Full Week

Last week was not only the first full week of October, it was also a full week in terms of work and other things. Weatherwise, instead of "Golden October" it was more grey, but we had sunny moments and little rain.

On Monday (6 October), my journey home from Offenburg took about half an hour longer than usual, because my regular connection wasn't running at all and the alternative required a spontaneous change of plans. It wasn't the only train trip of that day; early afternoon, I was back on a local train into Stuttgart for my regular eye appointment. 

Being a bit early, I had time to stop at St. Fidelis, the unusual church I have shown on my blog before. They had this small, very tasteful arrangement of flowers and autumnal fruit on the altar steps for Thanksgiving:

As has become my habit, after my appointment I didn't take the first possible train home but walked from the surgery to Nordbahnhof instead. The last time I did that was on June 30, which was a very hot day; see this post for a few summerly pictures of the same park I am showing you here, the best way to get across that part of the city.

The Ferris wheel seen in the background is part of Cannstatter Volksfest, the 2nd largest such fest in the world - 2nd only to the famous Octoberfest in Munich (where I've never been and am not at all tempted to ever go!).

It was a chilly, mostly grey day, and later at home I heard the rain that started to fall in the evening all night.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (7, 8, 9 October) were all Office Days for me - a rare thing. My most regular day to work at the office in Weilimdorf is Wednesday, since we have our weekly department meeting that day. For other days, whether I go to the office or not depends on the appointments/meetings planned for the day, the weather and a tiny little bit on the menue at the canteen :-)

On the Tuesday, my sister and I were booked for a visit of the large construction site at what used to be our school. I have been following the progress of this huge project closely, often walking by the site and looking through the gaps in the fence, and back in February, I've been to the first of the guided visits offered by the city of Ludwigsburg. You can see the pictures I took then here.

In the 1970s, this was how schools were built!

The old radiators are still the same, as is the carpet... and it smells the same, too.

This was where I entered the building nearly every morning.

Before leaving school for good after their A-levels, some classes decide to leave their mark.

The caretaker/janitor and his wife ran a kiosk with snacks for us during breaks from there..

A lot has been happening here since my last proper visit!

The brick building in the background to the left is my old elementary school; I went there from 1974-78. Before being turned into a school, the building was part of a large complex of barracks and other military buildings.

Wednesday was the sunniest day of the week. I took advantage of it and left work early enough to walk to my Mum's from Kornwestheim, enjoying not only the walk but of course also the time with my Mum and the salad she had prepared.

This is what I saw upon leaving the office building.

On Thursday, on my way home from work I stayed on the train and got off at the stop near the deer park. Having thus skipped the least attractive part of the rouhte, I walked to Benningen and took the usual local train home eventually.

I was back once more at the office in Weilimdorf on Friday (10 October), but not for work. My employer offers flu jabs and other vaccinations to all employees and their family members every year in autumn, and I had booked mine for 9:30 in the morning. All went well, but instead of just the flu jab, the doctor suggested two other vaccines that I'd been neglecting for years, and I agreed. My right upper arm hurt a little afterwards, but other than that, I felt fine.

Returning home, I worked some more and then did my weekly cleaning etc. before leaving at about 1:30 pm in order to meet my Mum at a bus stop in town centre.

We were booked for an afternoon of ceramic painting at a venue in town. My Mum had been given the same event last year as a gift from a friend for her 80th birthday and had enjoyed it so much that she wanted to do it again, and share it with us. 

My Mum, my sister, myself and two close friends were booked among several other groups, including a birthday party of 8 or so children. The ladies running the venue are talented and experienced ceramic painters and gave us a few basic instructions. They were always around when you wanted help, but never intruded on you. Paints and paintbrushes etc. were on each table.

A nearby table (not where I sat), just to show you how every table was equipped.

The palette of numbered colours shows how the contents of each bottle of paint will look after burning - very useful, because sometimes it looks really very different from the end result.

The raw ceramic items (vases, bowls, dishes of many shapes and sizes, plates, jugs and much more) were stocked on large shelves with price tags, and everyone made their choices and returned to the tables with them.

Then the actual painting began... and I must say the first brush stroke was the hardest! I had not done any painting with a brush (watercolours or otherwise) since my school days (and those ended in 1986), and while I was quite good with a pencil, I was never really good with a brush. 

Thankfully, we had large sheets of paper like placemats where we could test the paint and brush before applying it to the item, and that's what I did.

Then something unexpected happened: Once I started to paint, I focused entirely on my work, blocking out all other thoughts. It was as if nothing else mattered for a couple of hours, almost a meditative process, and I enjoyed it immensely. 

I am not telling you here what I did, because if it turns out well after burning, it'll be my Christmas gift to O.K.; if I don't think it is good enough, I'll keep it. Therefore, you'll have to wait until after Christmas for a picture of what I made :-)

After a bit over 2 hours, the ladies in charge wrote down the items for each table, and we had to take a photo of our work. They then prepared everything to burn the items in the oven, and when we return to pick them up, we need to prove that we're picking up our own work by showing the photo. My sister has been to pick up all the items for the five of us today, and of course she has all our photos.

All of us agreed that it was a wonderful experience, and that there is nothing like creative work to unwind and relax a busy mind. Thanks, Mum, for this wonderful afternoon!!

Back home, I completed my housework and got everything ready for O.K. spending the weekend here. He arrived at about half eight, and for the first time this season I served shakshouka after a salad for starters.

During the night, I woke up with a stabbing headache and wet through, and my right upper arm hurt a lot more than it had done during the day - my body's reaction to the vaccinations.

On Saturday (11 October), the headache was still there when I woke up, as was the pain in the arm. Thankfully, the headache was gone once I'd taken a paracetamol, had coffee and a shower.

O.K. and I set off to Stuttgart (yes, on a local train again...) and visited a shop we like but go to very rarely; not only do they have nice (but ridiculously expensive) things, good when you need Christmas presents for instance, but they also have a café where they serve really nice food.

The dark modern building to the left is the seat of the government of my federal state (Baden-Württemberg). The palace to the right is the "Neues Schloss" (new palace), formerly Stuttgart's answer to Ludwigsburg's residential palace. It was heavily damaged in WWII (as was much of Stuttgart) but rebuilt after the war pretty much as it had been before.

Stuttgart Opera House

We spent a few hours (not kidding - but including lunch) at the shop and then made our way to the planetarium, where I had booked tickets for my sister, O.K. and myself from vouchers my sister had given me for Christmas. We met her there and then the three of us enjoyed the show, with the autumnal night sky projected on the inside of the large dome high above our heads.

The large and impressive projector; its state of the art technology allows for the precise projection of what the stars and other celestial bodies look like, no matter the time of day, night or year.

People leaving after the show, with the projector patiently waiting for its next job.

A career change for me :-D

It was the first time in many years that I've been to the planetarium, but I loved it just as much as I remembered it from when I was still at school.

Afterwards, the three of us walked to a restaurant my sister recommended and had a very nice meal there before taking the train back to Ludwigsburg.

Earlier, we stopped at this beautiful fountain near the opera house, built in 1914 in the Art Deco style and called Schicksalsbrunnen (fountain of destiny).

Despair - a desparate man hides his face in a woman's lap.

Goddess of Destiny, holding people's destiny in her firmly closed fists - not to be revealed prematurely.

Joy - the man's head is adorned with a wreath of victory, and his hand holds the full bowl of life, while his lady lovingly looks up at him, ready for a kiss.

Funnily enough, although I must have walked past the fountain literally hundreds of even thousands of times, I never looked at it properly. Now that I have and know the background story, I am quite impressed.

On a full stomach and quite exhausted with all the day's activities (plus the remnants of my body's reactions to the vaccine), I was so tired that I went to bed at 10 pm - not my usual bedtime on a Saturday.

I slept well and woke up feeling entirely myself again on Sunday (12 October). It was the 3rd anniversary of my Dad's death, and my sister, O.K. and I were due at our Mum's at 6:00 pm for a meal in his remembrance.

After breakfast, O.K. and I went for a walk through the deer park and back in a wide loop. We rested for a while at home and then left for my Mum's with enough time to visit my Dad's bird marker on the cemetery before the meal.

My Mum had prepared Dad's favourite food (meatballs and spuds salad - click here for the recipe), and we spent a nice, cosy evening together with some reminiscing.

An unusual thing had happened in the early hours on Sunday: At about 4:00 in the morning, I needed the toilet (that's not the unusual thing!). As is my habit, I did not return straight to bed but went to look out of the kitchen window. On these occasions, I usually open the window to briefly catch the sounds and scents of the night, and that time was no exception. The moment I bent forward a little to look out, something rapidly fluttered past my face, almost touching my nose - it was a bat! 

We have small bats around here, no larger than a sparrow, and they are very important for the ecosystem. I wasn't frightened or anything, just really surprised. Whether this bat was flying past my window anyway or I had startled it by opening the window while it was nearby on the wall or the tree, I don't know.