Time to Blog

Some of you blog every day, or almost every day. There used to be a time when I seemed to have a lot more time to blog, too; most of it happened in the morning before leaving for work. These days, I do not get up later or start work earlier (with some exceptions), and I certainly do not have less on my mind I want to blog about. And yet, somehow I can rarely bring myself to sit down and finally write this or that post.
For example, weeks ago, I finished reading a novel on my kindle. The review is more or less fully formed in my head - it only needs to be typed up and posted.

Some of this has to do with my eyes, of course. I already spend too much time looking at computer screens for work; I can hardly avoid that, but it tires the eyes, and although it does not endanger the healing process anymore (almost 7 weeks since the OP now), it does make things a little harder than they used to be.

Also, I have come to a point in my blog where I see less and less comments appear, and I wonder whether it is because my readers are so bored with what I post or simply too busy. There are a handful of you who still take the trouble to regularly visit and comment, and I thank you all - maybe you didn't know how much I really appreciate the dialogue with you that develops through comments (and is sometimes taken up by email and even "snail mail") and turns into friendship - well, now you do!

Anyway. It is the last day of May, and a holiday in my part of Germany. Since both O.K. and I work tomorrow, I did not travel to his place or he to mine, but are spending the day apart. The weekend will soon be here, though, and I'll be there again, with two birthdays we have been invited to and hopefully enough good weather for our customary Sunday morning run and some walks in between.

Last week Wednesday, I had another one of my regular check-ups for my eye. My doctor is again very happy with its progress; she now wants to see me again only in 2 months!

After so many trips there and back, I now know the way to the surgery by heart and can recall it in my mind anytime (as I do sometimes when I can't sleep). We are talking noisy, busy roads in inner city Stuttgart here - not the most idyllic walk, but usually by the time I have my appointments, the worst of the traffic has quieted down for the next few hours.
The walk from the train station to the surgery takes me about 15 minutes and leads past a Catholic church, St. Fidelis. 

From the road, you can see the court through a gate that is always open when I walk past. (I have nicked this picture from their website).

Last week Wednesday on my way back to the station, I decided to go through the gate and have a quick look around. After the drops in my left eye, I couldn't yet see well enough for reading, but I had no trouble walking along familiar roads, and to make out the features of the courtyard.

These angels are for you, Mum! They flank the large door leading into the church. I did not go inside, but from the community's website I gather it is beautiful, with a reduced, but not clinical style; serious but welcoming at the same time. 

The church was built in the 1920s. In 1944, towards the end of WWII, it was bombed, with only the outside walls remaining. The church was rebuilt during the first post-war years and the inside renovated first in the 1960s and then again in 1995.

It is a place that, even from the outside, appears like an oasis amidst the hustle and bustle of the big city.  We can all do with a bit of peace and quiet sometimes, can't we, no matter what religion we have or if we are at all religious.