Hot Week

The last full week of June was hot throughout with a little rain only once. Highs ranged from about 28 to 33 C (82-91F), but it cooled off nicely during the nights and was therefore very bearable, also because it was quite windy most of the time. Our meteorologists keep saying that on average, it is usually this warm in our parts only four weeks later, in late July and not in June.

On Monday (23 June) I worked from home as usual and took a beautiful evening walk to Benningen, wisely having sprayed myself liberally with mozzie repellant before setting off.

Path between fields leading to Benningen

The sky as seen from my Third Room / Study that evening, a few minutes before sunset around 9:30 pm

Twice this past week I worked at the office; first on Tuesday (24 June) and again on Wednesday (25 June), which is my regular day there anyway. While on the Tuesday I enjoyed walking home from Zuffenhausen, I went home directly on Wednesday and was therefore ready to go out when my sister spontaneously suggested we have ice creams in town, which was very nice.

Someone recently asked in a comment to one of my posts what I mean when I say that I have been "walking across the fields". Of course I do not literally walk ON the fields - that wouldn't be a good idea, the soil being carefully prepared for produce by the farmers, and not a very walkable surface anyway. But there are many lanes and paths criss-crossing between the fields where wheat, barley, rye, corn, field mangel, potatoes and many oder crops are growing, and it is of course on those lanes and paths I walk. To illustrate, I have added two photos from Tuesday here:

Typical unpaved path between fields, created by and for farmers; rarely used by cyclists but popular with joggers, dog walkers and horse riders, and last but not least, me :-)

Typical lane across the fields, meant to accomodate cars and farming vehicles; very popular with cyclists and nearly everybody else, but with me mostly after it's been raining and the dirt paths are muddy. 

It rained a little at about 4:00 in the morning on Thursday (26 June), which was certainly welcome in terms of water but meant for very steamy air that felt even warmer than it actually was. 

In the evening, I attended a meeting of my local civic society; it was warm in the building, but I put my fan to good use.

Friday (27 June) was rather pleasant and not too hot. I left the house early and travelled to Weilimdorf for the third time that week, but not to the office. Instead, I was there for a meeting with my fellow Data Protection Officers from the Stuttgart area. All went well with my and the others' presentations, and we had some interesting discussions. For lunch, we were even able to sit outsite in the shade. 

Once again, I walked home from Zuffenhausen, slightly varying my route across the fields from the one I had taken on Tuesday.

I didn't feel up to much on Saturday (28 June), but made sure to do my weekly cleaning as early as I could. By 8:00 am I finished and spent the rest of the day doing exactly nothing, resting, reading and playing when I felt like it.

My sister suggested a walk early evening; it was still hot but the sun was of course much lower and there was a slight breeze, which made it pleasant enough.

O.K. went for a sunset walk that same evening, only later. We facetimed for a while and he sent me these pictures of the sky almost an hour after sunset:

On Sunday (29 June), O.K. and the village band were booked for a fête at a village not far away from them, but my Mum, my sister and I had tickets for a concert that evening - the reason why the two of us spent the weekend separately.

I certainly didn't envy the musicians having to perform on what was a very hot day! I spent it mainly in my darkened living room and bedroom, after having done the ironing as soon as I was up and while it was still feasible to have the windows open, and I showered and got dressed for the concert only in the evening, just in time for when I was to leave the house.

The concert was the good-bye concert of a man who has been active in my hometown's music scene for nearly 60 years. Prof. Siegfried Bauer has founded several orchestras and worked as their conductor, on top of his work as a music teacher to many students.

One of them, Peter Schulmeister, is now Associate Concert Master at London's Covent Garden's Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. When he was 13 years old, he immigrated with his family from Siberia to Ludwigsburg, and studied violin with Prof. Bauer. You can read about him here.

Prof. Bauer was born the same year as my Mum (1944) and has been living and working in Ludwigsburg and Stuttgart since the 1960s. He was highly influential in shaping the town's musical landscape; to him, music has always been vital in getting people together, in working for peace. With one of his orchestras, he has been performing around 50 concerts, not just in Germany but also in England, Sweden, on the Krim and in Israel. 

He was also the initiator and conductor of the "Sing Along" concert my Mum and I so love to attend before Christmas.

Now, at nearly 81, he conducted his orchestra for the last time. It must have been a very emotional evening for him and his musicians - it certainly was for the audience! Peter Schulmeister was the soloist at the violin.

Among the audience were the Prime Minister of Baden-Wuerttemberg and his wife as well as Ludwigsburg's mayor and some other local politicians. The church was packed and tickets (all proceeds going to a charity that Prof. Bauer had chosen) sold out completely - my Mum had gone to buy tickets half an hour after the sale opened and was lucky to get ours!

It was VERY warm in the church, and without my fan (I wasn't alone - many ladies had brought one) I wouldn't have been able to enjoy it as I did.

Standing ovations followed the concert, but it truly was a relief getting out of the church onto the market square where it was still very warm at 9:00 pm but much airier.

My Mum, her friend R (who had been with us all along), my sister and I crossed the square to the corner where "my" Irish pub is and settled at a table on the square, enjoying the sunset, the warmth, the air and the mood - and our drinks, of course. 

Ludwigsburg market square, as seen from my seat outside the Irish pub; the church is where the concert had taken place.

Eventually, we made sure my Mum got on the bus safely, then my sister and I walked home.

To complete a very summerly week, this was a great evening of wonderful music, confirming my belief that humans aren't all bad - we may never stop being horrible to each other and to the other species on this planet, but as long as we are capable of something as beautiful as this, all hope is not lost.

Summer Week

Last week felt very summerly. (Or summery? I never quite know which one is correct.) Not a single drop of rain fell, and max temperatures ranged from 25C/77F to 34C/93F.

My trains back to Ludwigsburg from Offenburg on Monday (16 June) were on time and not too crowded, which is always worth mentioning. Mid-afternoon, I interrupted work for just under an hour and spoke to Mary, my mother-in-law who lives in Ripon. She turned 91 in March, and of course my sister and I are going to see her several times during our Yorkshire holiday at the end of July/beginning of August.

The early starts on such Mondays often mean that I am not up to much after work; that day, I only felt like a short-ish walk to the lake and back, taking about 1 1/2 hours. 

The small palace by the lake, "Monrepos"

It was a beautiful day, but very windy.

On Tuesday (17 June) I was working from home and didn't have time for a walk in spite of it being sunny at a very pleasant 25C/77F. But we were booked for the pub quiz that evening, and it was the last quiz before the summer break - no way was I going to miss it or be late.

Our team of six unfortunately missed a few points; we ended up at 24 while the winning team had 27 (no team had a full score), meaning there was no prize for us that evening. Never mind - as always, it was good to see my friends.

Wednesday (18 June) was my regular day at the office in Weilimdorf. It was busy but not stressful. When I left there at 6:00 pm, it was still very warm at  28C/82F, and there really was no need for the cardigan I had thought a good idea in the morning. I took the local train into Stuttgart and walked approx. 25 minutes to a restaurant were a small group of Data Protection Officers from this area were meeting for a sociable evening. It was nice but I was rather tired and left after two hours. The walk back to Stuttgart main station did me good after all that sitting.

For my part of Germany, Thursday (19 June) was another public holiday - the period from Easter to Ascension sees quite a few days off. It's nice, but for many of us it means having to do the same tasks as in a regular week but in shorter time. I am not complaining, just pointing out that there are two sides to the medal, as with so many things in life.

O.K. and I were both working on Friday, and he was involved with the village band on the holiday; therefore, we spent the day off separately.

I had a leisurely morning and met my sister and my Mum at lunch time. We walked the short distance from our Mum's to the local gardening club; they were hosting a summer fête in their beautiful, large garden, well tended and well organised. There was music from the village band, food and drink, and we found a table in the shade of a large old cherry tree - perfect!

The three of us then walked to the cemetery which borders the gardening club's plot and visited our Dad's and friend R's bird markers.

Afterwards, we had coffee and cake at our Mum's.

A brief rest at home followed, and later, my sister and I met up once more for an evening walk through the deer park and the palace grounds. 

We ended this beautiful day with a visit to a beer garden in the centre of town, where we had home-made hibiscus lemonade; a bit on the sweet side, but very refreshing nonetheless.

On Friday (20 June), I adapted my schedule to the warm weather, doing my cleaning and shopping etc. first before it became too warm, and work later. My study faces north and is the coolest room in my flat, making it easier to cope with hot days.

Once O.K. arrived, we had Romana lettuce with Feta cheese, accompanied by bread topped with my Mum's home-made pesto, slices of Avocado and hard-boiled egg.

We both felt like stretching our legs afterwards and took a short walk into town before turning in at around midnight.

Because of a succession of noisy birds, neighbours and builders, we didn't get a chance to sleep in properly on Saturday (21 June). I felt slightly grumpy and rather tired for good part of the day. But we made the best of it and once we'd had breakfast went into town, then to the palace grounds, from there through the deer park and on down to the lake where we stopped for a shandy. 

The Lapidarium* (part of the palace) is always attractive, especially on a hot day, because it is nice and chilly there. And of course, its occupants walk around at night - I'm sure of that.

In the palace grounds, we found a bench in the shade and spent a pleasant time people-watching.

Next was Asperg. By the time we arrived at the top of the hill and the (surprisingly uncrowded) beer garden, we were hungry and had a large plate of salad each.

Walking back to Ludwigsburg didn't take very long, and we managed to reach one of the icecream parlours just in time to be served before they shut for the evening.

I didn't last long once we were home, and went to bed at 10:00 pm. O.K.'s smart watch had recorded him walking well over 17 km in the course of the day, and since we'd been together all day, that applied to me, too.

On Sunday (22 June) we had bacon and fried eggs on toast for breakfast. In the afternoon, we met again at my Mum's, and my sister drove the four of us to our neighbouring town Kornwestheim.

What do you do on a really hot day? You go somewhere cool - and for us, that meant going to the museum. 

We saw two exhibitions, but we had come here for the second one: "Clear Lines - Commercial Graphics in the 1950s and 60s". Three exemplary artists were featured; in those two decades, all three worked extensively for prominent companies in our area. My Mum was born in 1944, and so she had first-hand memories of almost all of the things shown in the exhibition, which was really well put together and beautifully presented.

I found some of the works at the first exhibition somewhat disturbing.

Sometimes I needed a closer look :-D

My Mum at the 2nd exhibition, watching an original 1960s commercial

After we had looked thoroughly at everything, we were all ready for some refreshments. My sister drove us to the farm shop/café just outside Ludwigsburg, where we sat in the shade on the terrace and enjoyed home-made lemonade and cake.

Back at my flat, O.K. and I had a rest before I prepared our quick evening meal of tabouleh, falafel and aubergine paste. For dessert, we had iced coffee with vanilla ice, and then it was time for O.K. to get into the car and start the long drive home. 

I wanted to catch the last of the evening light before sunset and went for a walk of about an hour. A true Summer Week was over.

* I showed the Lapidarium on my blog once before.

June Is Half Over!

...and the first half of 2025 will be over in another two weeks, as hard it is to believe. What have I been up to in the seven days until the 15th?

Monday (9 June) was a public holiday in Germany (Pentecost Monday). It meant that O.K. and I had another day together, unlike our regular weekends when he drives home on Sunday night or I leave by train early Monday morning.

It was warm-ish at 23C/73F and very windy, but remained sunny all day. In the afternoon, we went for a walk on the fields, taking in the cemetery on our way to my Mum's, where we, including my sister, met for coffee and cake. 

Afterwards, we walked some more, this time with my sister. Before O.K. headed home that evening, we ate the Tabouleh I had made, accompanied by a leafy salad with crumbly feta cheese.

The weather was pretty much the same on Tuesday (10 June). I worked from home, and after a productive day walked to Pattonville, where I had not been in a while. Usually, I enjoy that walk, but somehow I felt tired sooner than normal and decided to return home maybe half an hour earlier than what I regularly do for this circuit.

On a recently mowed field close to the busy road between Ludwigsburg and Pattonville, I spotted a heron (not an unusual sight) standing in the grass, waiting for a mouse or other small rodent to appear. Not far from the heron sat a large hare, a bit twitchy every time the heron moved, but totally unfazed by the cars rushing by on the road. I was very much hoping the hare would not start running towards the road, attempting to cross it; that would almost certainly have resulted in its death. But fortunately, the hare eventually moved away from the road and further into the field. Phew!

No change weather-wise on Wednesday (11 June). I was back to my normal self again and after having worked all day at the office, got off the train in Zuffenhausen and walked home across the fields from there, which did me good.

Thursday (12 June) was warmer at a high of 28C/82F. Another productive day working from home was followed by my standard walk to Benningen, always a good idea.

It was hot on Friday (13 June) at 30C/86F, the sun shining from an almost cloudless sky. O.K. and I were invited to a Pinseria (if you don't know what pinsa is - not the same as pizza! - you can easily find out about it online) in Offenburg, which meant I finished work earlier than usual in order to arrive on time. I made it, and we had a pleasant evening with friends and very nice food.

Saturday (14 June) was the hottest day of that week, the thermometer reaching 32C/almost 90F. We spent the morning doing the odd job in and around the house, having a good rest in the afternoon, and later enjoying a small family BBQ in front of O.K.'s Mum's house, where by then there was enough shade to sit comfortably. 

Next to me is O.K.'s Mum, but I have not asked her permission to be shown here.

Thunderstorms and heavy rainfall were forecast for Sunday (15 June), and they duly appeared - not just once, but several times during the day, and from late afternoon onwards, it rained almost non stop. The rain was important, as it had not been raining all week, but it made the air so humid that even just a short walk mid-afternoon was enough to send me back to the settee for a rest.

We ended the week and our weekend together with a delicious meal of fried green asparagus (probably the last one for this year), grilled pieces of lamb and a salad of tomatoes and mozzarella (not a full Caprese, since we didn't have any basil). For some escapism, we watched a cheesy made-for-TV film, the kind where you know exactly what's going to happen, and to O.K.'s amusement I even predicted some of the lines the characters were going to say, sometimes down to the exact words. Every now and then, I love watching something like that - just not too often, or my brain will turn to mush.

First Week of June

The first week of June saw rain every day apart from Friday. It was much appreciated for the gardens, fields and woods, but put a spanner in the works of many an outdoor event. It also meant some walkless days for me.

Working from home on Monday (2 June) gave me the opportunity to have a massage at the nearby Day Spa mid-morning. I was at work until 7:00 pm and then practically ran outside for some much-needed stretching of legs, catching a rain-free window of a pleasant couple of hours. The weather was a mix of clouds and sun, and it was rather nice at 24C/75F.  

On Tuesday (3 June) I was still working from home, starting with a relatively early conference call. The early start meant I could afford to break up the afternoon for half an hour by getting a haircut at the hairdresser's literally just around the corner from my house.

There was no time for a walk after work, since my team and I were booked for the pub quiz that night. Unfortunately, a last-minute cancellation saw only three of us at the table, when our team is regularly five or six strong. Still, we didn't do too badly: Of 30 possible points (which none of the teams achieved that night) we had 25. No prize, but we enjoyed a fun evening with friends nonetheless.

There is hardly anything worth mentioning about Wednesday (4 June). I worked at the office all day and went home; both train journeys were fine (so there IS something worth mentioning, after all!). It rained.

Thursday (5 June) saw me working from home again. After a rainy morning and a bit of sun later, clouds were back in the evening but it remained dry at 21C/70F. I took advantage of that and walked to Benningen after work.

It was very windy on Friday (6 June), but no rain. After work and doing my usual cleaning, groceries shopping and preparations for the weekend, all that remained to do was waiting for O.K. When he arrived at almost exactly 10:00 pm, we had a light late evening meal of quiche (courtesy of my Mum) and leafy salad.

On Saturday (7 June) we were booked for a guided tour "Märchen und Wein" ("fairytales and wine"), my birthday present for O.K. Here in Ludwigsburg, there are many guided tours in and around the city; some focus on history, others aim at introducing culinary delights or explain architectural features, and this one connected wine-themed fairytales with wine tasting.

One reason why I booked this particular tour was that it promised a visit to the  castle ruin above Hoheneck. It is private property, not open to the public, but it regularly features on my/our walks (you have seen it several times on my blog), and I have always wanted to explore it from the inside.

Now was my chance!

Stopping for a story and a glass of wine

Our storyteller was great! She acted out the crucial parts of each tale.

The castle ruin, as I have seen it many times...

...and inside, as I had never seen it before!

View from the castle across Hoheneck, the river Neckar and Neckarweihingen on the other side.

This vineyard hut is within the walls of the castle and part of the private property. We were allowed to end our tour there with snacks, the last story to hear and the last wine to taste.

Our group consisted of 16 people - O.K. and I were the youngest :-D

We enjoyed the tales, the wines and the walk, but being allowed behind the walls of the castle was my personal highlight.

After the tour, we walked to the palace grounds where the International Street Music Festival was in full swing. Until its official end at 11:00 pm, we strolled in the grounds and listened to several bands - nowhere near all 40 of them, but we found one or two we liked better than the others, and voted for them.

After so much walking and being outdoors all day and evening, it was hardly surprising that I slept rather well and late - until 9:00 on Sunday (8 June) morning.

It kept raining on and off, so we took our time for a leisurely breakfast and decided to go for a walk only in the early afternoon. That was cut short when we ran into a shower; usually, we don't mind a few drops of rain, but because of the high winds, the rain was blown straight into our faces, and so we took shelter at my Mum's. We had planned to see her later anyway, and so the visit was just a bit earlier. (Of course the rain stopped as soon as we were there.)

Later, we walked into town where the "Brautage" ("Brewing Days", a beer festival) were coming to its end after ten days. It was Rockabilly Night, reflected by both the live bands and their audience. 

We had something to eat and a drink each, but it was getting chilly with the wind, and although I like Rockabilly, we were both quite ready to go home and spend the rest of the evening quietly, out of the wind (and potential rain).

Read in 2025 - 12: Das NASA Archiv

Das NASA Archiv

Piers Bizony

This was one part of the space-themed birthday gift I received from my sister this year, the other two parts being a t-shirt with the ESA logo on it and tickets for a visit to ESA's headquarters in Darmstadt, planned for September.

The book was put together in occasion of NASA's 60th birthday and covers the agency's activities from the Mercury era to the Mars rovers. 

It is as much about the science as it is about the people who contributed in one way or another to the various programs, and contains essays by Andrew Chalkin and Dr. Roger Launius as well as excerpts from books by Jules Verne and others, plus transcripts of radio communication with astronauts and speeches made by some of them, by NASA officials and others.

I have been a space enthusiast for decades, and therefore knew much of what the book recalls, but by no means everything. Also, the way photos and words were put together sometimes made for a new perspective, and some of the pictures I had never come across before. In short, it is a great book to delve into, and I have enjoyed it very much.

It will certainly not sit on my book shelf undisturbed for long; it is the kind of book you take out every now and then to re-read a certain chapter or look at some particularly great photos.

Thank you, sis, for this great present!

Last Week of May

The first week of June is nearly over, and I have not yet written about my last week of May, which was largely dominated by a 3-day-trip to Berlin for work and saw very mixed weather and the - I think - so far hottest day of the year.

From Monday to Wednesday (May 26 to 28), I pretty much repeated what I have described in my 2024 post "Berlin Week": I was at the same hotel, met (more or less) the same people, visited the same beautiful park and took part at the same conference. Here are my photos from this year (in reverse order again, sorry):

My meal for the way home

Menue for the Gala Dinner on Tuesday night, page 1

page 2

Venue of this year's Gala Dinner

The venue is called The Deep

Ceiling at the hotel lobby

Beautiful Volkspark Friedrichshain is just up the road

View from my hotel room, St. Bartholomäus

My room

My room

My meal for the journey to Berlin

The train journeys were long and tiring, but went well overall. On the way back, we rode through a series of thunderstorms with sunny intervals, which made for some spectacular skies, last but not least one of the most perfect rainbows I have ever seen. Taking photos through the rain-splattered window of a fast moving train wasn't feasible, though, and therefore you just have to take my word for it.

Arriving in Stuttgart with a 20 minute delay meant I wasn't home until 11:00 pm, and went to bed rather soon after what had been a long and exhausting day.

Good job that Thursday (May 29) was a holiday (Ascension)! It was cloudy and sunny at a max of about 20C/68F. At 1:00 pm, my sister and I went for a walk across the fields to Kornwestheim, taking in the cemetery there and saying hello to our grandparents who have a compartment in the columbarium.

A little after 3:00 pm we were at our Mum's and enjoyed coffee and cake with her.

On the way back, my sister and I made a short diversion to the cemetery where my Dad and friend R have been resting since 2022.

It was just the kind of quiet, peaceful day I needed after the busy first half of the week.

I was working from home on Friday (May 30), and because I had not seen my desk or checked my work emails all week, I had a lot of catching up to do and did not finish until 6:00 pm, which is very unusual for me on a Friday.

However, I was under no pressure, because O.K. and I were spending the weekend separately, meaning I neither had a train to catch nor things to prepare for him staying with me.

After a quick stocking up of groceries, from 7:00 to 9:00 pm I went for a walk to the lake (Monrepos) and back, which really did me good after having spent the entire day at my desk. It had been as warm as 26C/79F during the day and so the evening was still very mild and beautiful.

On Saturday (May 31), I made sure to do my cleaning early, before it was getting too warm - the day saw the thermometer rising to 30C/86F. I spent good part of the afternoon sorting my wardrobe, finally relegating the warm woolly jumpers and knitted dresses to the back and pulling out some things that needed ironing after having been folded away since last summer.

At 4:00 pm, my sister and I met at our Mum's again; it was too hot to sit on the balcony and so we sat inside with the blinds pulled down, which was very pleasant.

Later, I walked with my sister to her allotment to see how her flowers and vegetables were coming along. Sadly, much of her newly planted vegetables had been eaten by slugs, in spite of countermeasures.

By 6:00 pm I was home, an hour before the heavy thunderstorm descended on us that had been foretold, including a bit of hail (fortunately not very long and with only small hailstones) and plenty of rain.

Sunday (1st of June) was back to 26C/79F and saw a quick succession of sun, rain, thunder and lightning, and sun again. In the afternoon, my Mum and I met at the bus stop near the Torhaus (gatehouse) where I had celebrated my birthday in March. As I have mentioned then, it is actually a museum for local history, and every 1st Sunday of the month it is open to the public.

We had a look around at the exhibition and enjoyed coffee and cake.

Back home on my own, I finished the last bit of wardrobe sorting and then spent a quiet, restful evening on my own.

Of course, as is always the case when O.K. and I are not together on a weekend, we spoke on the phone at least twice a day.

During the night, heavy rainfall woke me; I went to the kitchen window and it was like looking against a wall of water, as if my house was behind or under a waterfall.

All that water was very welcome but I was of course hoping there wouldn't be too much damage in gardens and on fields.