A Week of Going Out

Last week, I was out and about four out of five nights. It was a bit much, but it was all good - and of course I could have said "no", but didn't want to. This week will be quieter - at least after work! ;-D

Monday (11 November) was grey and cold with rain in the evening. I could not have gone for a walk anyway, since I was in an online meeting all afternoon from 2:00 to 6:00 pm, and it is now pitch black dark here at that time.

I was lucky, though, to get an early appointment for a back & shoulders massage at the day spa round the corner from my house, and with my favourite therapist, too.

The round of nights out started on Tuesday (12 November) with my team and I playing our last pub quiz for this year. My town's Christmas Market starts on Nov. 26, and since the pub is tucked in one corner of the market square, it is a popular place for folks to retreat to after the market finishes at 9:00 pm each night, both stall holders and visitors alike. All through the Advent, Christmas and New Year's period, no pub quizzes are held there, but we'll definitely be back in January. 

With one of my team members currently travelling the world on a sabbatical (and he really knows a lot!), the rest of us did as best as we could. We had the third highest number of points, but because two teams had the second highest number, they had to answer a tie question for 2nd and 3rd place, and we left without a prize. No problem; we'd had a fun night with friends, which was just what the doctor had ordered after the anxious days following the US presidential election and the crashing of the German government.

The day had been off to a good start, too, when I met my friend for a morning walk before work.

Wednesday (13 November) was cold in the morning at 2C; that's just a little above freezing point. I worked at the office all day and then got off the train from Weilimdorf and walked into town centre for an event where I was meeting my Mum. 

Every year, a volunteer organisation dedicated to telling the life stories of ordinary people living in our town present four such individual stories. Usually, the people behind those stories attend the event, too, and each story is introduced with a piece of music chosen by them. The stories sometimes tell of hardships beyond my grasp; sometimes they have funny moments, but are always touching - and I believe there is no such thing as an "ordinary" life. Everyone has a story! 

This time, one lady whose story was read wasn't there. She died recently after having lived with a donated heart for 29 years after the operation, and her story dealt mostly with how she coped with the time leading up to it and the aftermath.

I was back at the office on Thursday (14 November), among other things giving a short lecture in data protection basics to a group of employees who have recently joined the company.

After work, I met my sister at the local train station half way to our destination for that evening: Wilhelma, Stuttgart's large and beautiful zoo. (I know - zoos are something most people, including me, have mixed feelings about.)

This time, we didn't come for the animals, but for the lights. For some years now, every year from mid-November onwards, the zoo's extensive parkland is turned into a "Christmas Garden". We'd never been before, but got free tickets from a friend who works there with the animals. 

It was Opening Night, access for employees and their friends and families only  making for an amazingly large number of visitors.

We followed the signposted trail in order not to miss anything. My photos can only give a superficial impression of how beautiful it really was. Clicking here will take you to the official website (in English) with more photos, including an areal view which of course I could not provide myself.

Is anyone else reminded of „Momo“?

 A life-size elephant made of lights

The enchanted forest was my favourite part.

I arrived home just as the bells of the nearby church struck 9:00 pm.

On Friday (15 November), for a change I did not board a train to Offenburg. Instead, after work (which finished unusually late for me for a Friday afternoon), I had only a bit of time that I used for a rest - the three nights in a row that I'd been out after a full day of work were catching up with me.

But I soon recovered, and took a train to Asperg, where I walked to a friend's house. She had alerted me to a dance party we'd visited together in the past (pre-pandemic years), where only music from the 1980s and 90s is played. I was a teenager in the 1980s, and so the music from that time is the soundtrack of my youth.

We had a fun evening, dancing whenever the music was to our liking (it wasn't always, of course), having a drink or three and chatting when we weren't on the dance floor. By 11:00 pm, we both had enough - something that would have been unthinkable in our teenage years, when our weekend clubbing rounds more often than not didn't start until that time and lasted well into the small hours.

Anyway, I had to decide between waiting for 20 minutes at the train station in dubious company or walk home, and you can guess what I did :-) (It's only 5 km and took me about 50 minutes to arrive home.) The full moon was beautiful, and it wasn't as cold as I had feared, and of course I was walking swiftly.

It was nice to sleep in on Saturday (16 November). My weekly cleaning and washing was next, before I finally walked to the station and started the journey to Offenburg. Believe it or not, the last of my three trains arrived two minutes early!!

O.K. met me at the station, and we decided to have a meal in town instead of heading straight home to the village. The first restaurant was packed and had no space for the two of us. The second was shut, but the third was welcoming, and so we settled for that one.

On Sunday (17 November), for the first time this year we met for breakfast in town with a group of friends we used to see more often, but we all know how these things go and before you know it, another year has gone without managing an appointment when everyone can make it.

It was really nice to see them again, and our sumptuous breakfast was good, too.

O.K. and I went for a walk afterwards and still had enough time back at the cottage for a little rest before he had to don his village band uniform. They were playing at a remembrance ceremony held every year on account of everyone who has died in the village. I opted to stay home, and once O.K. returned, we popped over to his Mum for a brief catching up. 

We had our customary evening meal of bread, cheese and salad and then concluded the evening watching a documentary about the Black Forest - a subject close to our hearts.

First Full Week in November

Last week was very November-ish with cold temperatures, cloudy skies and fog, but we saw some sun during the week, and Saturday was glorious.

My journey home from Offenburg on Monday (4 November) was uneventful. I spent the day working from home, interrupting at lunch time for a 25-minute back and shoulder massage at the nearby day spa. 

After work, my sister and I met at our Mum's for a delicious traditional Swabian soup, just the kind of comfort food one wants on a dark, cold November evening. There were a few little jobs to do, such as putting summer dresses up into the attic space and bringing down winter coats and knit dresses.

Tuesday (5 November) was the 15th anniversary of my husband's death. Of course I still think of him often and wonder what he would have said to current events - the US presidential election, and then on the same day the crash of our government here in Germany. Strange times, like something out of a film script.

The morning was cold at 3C/37F and foggy, but once the fog lifted, the sun came out, enticing me to take a good chunk of the afternoon out from my work day (I had no meetings lined up, luckily) and walk to Benningen. 

Sunset over the fields between Freiberg and Benningen

Back home after dark, I put in another couple of hours of work, finishing at 7:30 pm when my tummy told me it was definitely time to get something to eat.

On both Wednesday and Thursday (6 and 7 November) I worked all day at the office with no chance for a walk. On Thursday, I popped in at my Mum's, bringing her a little something I had spotted while shopping for groceries: My Mum's favourite brand of chocolates, only available in the colder half of the year. It had just arrived back on the shelves, and so I got a box for her.

Friday (November 8) was grey and cold enough for me not to mind too much that once again I didn't have time for a walk. After work, I got everything ready for the weekend, and O.K. arrived at around 20 to 9:00 pm. 

I had prepared Shakshouka, another dish I enjoy particularly on a cold dark evening, and I must say the Merlot went with it very nicely.

The sunny Saturday (November 9) saw us browsing the shops (and finding most of the Christmas presents I want to give this year) before we stopped for a snack on the market square, where the farmers' market was just packing up. Across the road to the palace grounds was next, where we caught the last of the afternoon sunshine, before leisurely making our way back home.

No trick - the sky really WAS this incredible sapphire blue that afternoon!

A (kind of) shepherd's pie seemed to be a good choice for food that evening:

The weather reverted to grey, cold, wet and foggy on Sunday (November 10), but we still went out for a walk in the afternoon, at least for about an hour.

Later, we met up with my sister and walked into town with her. My Mum had given us tickets for a guitar concert at Ludwigsburg's Friedenskirche ("Church of Peace"), which I have shown you on my blog before, for instance here.

The guitarist (his name is Volker Luft - it really was just the one man with his acoustic guitar) has been an acquaintance of my Mum's for many years. Originally, my Mum wanted him to play at her 80th birthday in August, but he was away at the time. Now we sat back and enjoyed his music for about 1 1/2 hours. Every piece was introduced with a poem and a short explanation by the guitarist. Some were his own compositions, but there were also some well-known pieces I remember having once learned to play on the piano or the guitar myself. The concert was called "Saitenpoesie", roughly translating into "poetry on strings".

Volker Luft's website is here. It is all in German, but if you scroll down a little, you will find two videos and a link to more videos - you won't need to understand German for them.

The concert was beautiful, but I must admit no matter how warmly we were all dressed, we felt cold after sitting still for such a long time in the large unheated church. Therefore, we didn't hang around for long after the end of the concert. 

My Mum went on with her friends to a restaurant where they had booked a table, while O.K., my sister and I walked across town centre, briefly stopping at the square where Ludwigsburg's synagogue once stood. In remembrance of the terrible events of the Reichskristallnacht (please look it up if you don't know the term) and the horror that followed, and the impact it all still has today, a gathering was taking place there, with speeches and music. We listened for a bit, but we really were cold through and through (and getting hungry as well), and so we moved on.

Not many restaurants and other places to eat are open in my town on a Sunday evening, but you can always count on "my" Irish Pub - and that's where we ended up, having our meals and drinks before walking home.

I was quite glad to change into cosy home wear, but O.K. had to pack and face the long drive home. All went well, though, and he arrived at his cottage 1 1/2 hours after he'd left my place.

Read in 2024 - 26: The Canal Murders

The Canal Murders

(A Yorkshire Murder Mystery Book 10)

by J. R. Ellis

If you have a series of books you enjoy particularly, you know how happy I was when I found out (once again through Monica's blog - thank you!) that the 10th book in the Yorkshire Murder Mystery series was available. (My review for # 9 is here.)

I believe I bought it at Amazon's Kindle shop the same day, but "had to" finish another book on my device before I started this one.

And the timing couldn't have been better: The story is set in and around Saltaire and the canal (as the title suggests), where a murder happens among the small community of people who live on canal boats that are more or less permanently moored in the basin near the famous Saltaire Mill, a UNESCO world heritage place. Most of the story happens in autumn, with descriptions of the stillness of the canal on a beautiful day but also the bleak feeling under a solid grey sky with rain pelting down on the water and the roofs of the canal boats.

At the same time, I was looking almost daily at pictures from Saltaire and the canal in all its autumn glory on the blog "Salt & Light", where fellow blogger "jennyfreckles" shows her readers the very places I was reading about in the book. Also, on my walks during the past couple of weeks, I experienced the colourful leaves and mellow golden sunshine myself. So it all added up, and I enjoyed the book all the more for that.

The story is a typical case for DCI Oldroyd, the genre known as a classic "Locked Room" mystery: A murder is committed, but circumstances make it appear impossible that anyone got near the victim, committed the crime and then got away.

In this case, the first murder happens on board of a canal boat, but forensic evidence shows no trace of a second person, and the victim very clearly could not have killed herself.

The woman was part of a folk band when she was young, and some of her former band mates also live on the canal. They are all friends, but when Oldroyd and his trusted team start to investigate, the list of suspects grows longer by the minute, including her friends.

Was it greed, a political motive, or a crime of passion?

Then a second person is found murdered, and the investigating team really need to pick up the pace. In the end, Oldroyd works out the "Who" only at the very last minute, even though the "How" is clear to him relatively early on.

It is a good read, and I enjoyed meeting Oldroyd, his team and his family again. 

One thing I found lacking a bit: Oldroyd's partner wants a cat, and indeed they get a pair of young kittens, which at first are described with their antics and how Oldroyd reacts to them. But then, there is no mention of them anymore, even though his daughter stays at their house as a guest for a few days, and I would have expected her to come across the kittens, of course. But that's just me, probably :-)

Hopefully, I won't have to wait too long for book no. 11.

A Wish Come True

Last Sunday (3rd of November), a big wish of mine came true: O.K. and I repeated a walk which I had wanted to do again in autumn, when vineyards, orchards and the woods would be at their most colourful.

Twice before we'd been on a panoramic walk 360 degrees around the picturesque village of Sasbachwalden, maybe a half hour's drive from O.K.'s village.

The first time was in May 2021, when we experienced dramatic skies and all sorts of weather apart from snow. The second time was in September 2022, when everything was still green and the autumn colours had not yet begun to appear.

But this time, we caught an autumn day like straight out of a picture book with (mostly) blue sky and mellow golden sunshine - the best we could wish for!

As we had done twice before, we parked on the relatively large public car park in the village and followed the well sign-posted path from there.

The first part of the walk is mostly uphill, which of course had me puffing and panting, but we were soon rewarded with views of the village and surrounding hills, some of them covered in vineyards and orchards, others in woodland.

After that, it wasn't long before we reached the bottom of the waterfalls. To reach the top, one crosses thirteen bridges and climbs dozens of steps.

As before, we visited the small private chapel, open to the public, with its beautiful stained glass windows.

On we walked, and by the time we reached the historic mill (no photos this time - you'll have to click on the links above to the May 2021 and September 2022 posts for that), it was 1:30 pm and we were hungry enough to take a break and eat our sandwiches. The wooden table and benches were partly in the sun, which made for a pleasant meal and warm enough to sit down.

After that, the walk continued along the familiar route. There were other people about, but never so many as to make things unpleasant.

The path meanders through the woods, then out into the open again, through those same orchards and vineyards we had a view of earlier.

Oh dear! I've shrunk!!

Sasbachwalden, as it nestles among the hills.

This is for my sister! 

We reached the car park about an hour before sunset, the afternoon light already having taken on that wonderful golden quality I so love about this time of year and day.

Instead of driving straight back to the cottage, O.K. took us on one of the hills around his village, where we got off the car and watched the sun go down. Within minutes, the glowing orb descended behind the Vosges mountains in France. We said "good night" to the sun and drove back to the cottage.

A delicious evening meal (some would probably have it for breakfast) concluded this beautiful day.