November Sun

All of last month was unusually mild, and also the first week of December was not as cold as I feared. At 3 Celsius (that's 3 degrees above the freezing point of water), it has not snowed here yet, and as far as I am concerned, there is no need for snow until a few days before Christmas. On the 2nd of January, I want all snow (if there should be any) to be gone, and spring to start :-)

To show you what many days were like last month in my area, here are some pictures taken on the 23rd of November during a very pleasant Sunday afternoon walk down by the river Neckar, maybe a 15-minute-drive from where I live:

The village of Poppenweiler (administratively, it belongs to Ludwigsburg) on the other side of the Neckar.

This part of the river bank has seen some change for the better in recent years. After in the last century the river was straightened in order to facilitate the traffic of freight barges and ships, a few years ago efforts have been made to re-naturalize the original meandering banks. There are now some tiny islets between the shallower arms of the river, where people are not allowed. They serve as important and welcome retreats for all kinds of birds.

From this mini-nature reserve, a path leads along the river to the huge lock. The lock was built in the mid-1950s and consists of a double lock, a small water power station on one side and a weir in the middle.

The huge gates, the endless rush of masses of water down the steep walls and the churning at the bottom of the lock hold a strange fascination for me. I could watch and listen for hours; it almost has a meditative effect.

But we did not stay there longer than it took me to walk across the bridge and back, and stop for these pictures.
To get back to the car, we used a different route across fields that were still surprisingly green, in the sun that was warm enough to carry my coat instead of wearing it.