Monday 18 May 2020

A Chilly Day

Tuesday, the 5th of May, was a rather chilly and grey day. We took advantage of it by doing some household chores; among other things, we bought plants for the troughs in front of the cottage and planted them (that is, I helped O.K. choosing the plants and then watched and admired while he did all the work).

Late afternoon/early evening, the sun decided to come out, and the light was too beautiful to let it pass. We had just long enough for a walk around the outskirts of the village before sunset.

Horse chestnut at the village cemetery:

Poppies on a field border:

View towards the Black Forest with wind mills:

Sunset:

Back to the village through the woods:

Last viw of the sunset before descending to the village:

20 comments:

  1. I cannot ever recall seeing do much bloom on a horse chestnut tree. Way too early for poppies here. There is always something appealing about contra jour photos (I wanted to say that because I actually remembered the words for it 😂.

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    1. I'd not yet come across the term "contra jour", but I see what you mean, Graham, and you are very welcome to try out any interesting term in blog comments here :-)
      We get the chestnut trees in pink and white blossoms, I can not remember the differende (male/female?), but I am sure there is one.

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  2. For those of us who love the magic of simply walking, I wonder how very frustrating it must be to sit in an old folks' home looking out of the window, unable to enjoy the process of putting one foot in front of the other any more. Like a prison sentence.

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    1. It would make me deeply unhappy and probably be very harmful not only for my physical but also mental wellbeing. Poor folks.

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  3. That's an effective strategy for gettinng chaps to do all the work. My wife uses it all the time.

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    1. Thing is, O.K. doesn't actually want to be admired - I just can't help it :-)

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  4. What wonderful vistas and striking sunsets. Love the border of bright red poppies.

    Lucky you that O.K. planted the flowers...my DH managed a couple, then left the rest to me. Though he did replant some rather large banana trees that over-wintered in pots in the garage. Too heavy for me to lift.

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    1. Those bright red poppies were such a sight after a grey day, I simply had to take the picture!
      It is O.K.'s cottage; I do not live there all the time, so it is not so much luck that he did the planting ;-)

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  5. Lovely photos. Spring is still kind of on a halt here (caused by chilly weather). The chestnut trees are not yet in bloom. And the one and only pot plant I had bought so far for my balcony I had to take in to save it from frosty nights! It's still sitting on the window sill in my kitchen :)

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    1. Our spring (chestnut trees in bloom) and early summer (poppies!) seem to happen parallel to each other - I am almost expecting to see corn growing knee-high next week, and apples on the trees :-)

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  6. The verge pf poppies is a beautiful sight, sadly very rarely seen in Britain these days due to overuse of pesticides. What a lovely walk.

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    1. It was short and sweet :-)
      Generally, the farmers and garden/orchard/vineyard owners in the area seem to understand the importance of wildflowers and biodiversity. There are some bits where the fields look too clean and sterile to be healthy, but mostly, verges are left to grow as they wish.

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  7. Your pictures are beautiful. I especially love the woods and the skies.

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    1. Thank you, Bonnie. There is hardly any woodland around my home town; all the more I appreciate being able to walk (or run) in the woods when I am at O.K.'s.

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  8. My ex was good at picking out plants and enlisting me to do the planting. We have had several late frost I have not decide if I will buy any flowers on my own.

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    1. There were some frosty nights/mornings here, too, but the flowers in the troughs all seem to have survived.

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  9. No horse chestnuts here sadly, but of course I grew up with them in England and love them still. Collecting conkers in Autumn, tying one on a string and having a 'conker fight' with friends was always fun! The last time I was overcome by the beauty of those majestic English trees in full blossom was the spring I was visiting the Lake District - they were a sight to see.

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    1. My late husband told me of the conker fights when he was a little boy! Here, we played with conkers, too; we made little animals and figures with them, using matchsticks and toothpicks for legs etc.
      Ludwigsburg has many chestnut trees; the nickname for the inhabitants used to be Kastanienbeutel (chestnut bags).

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