Work had been busy as usual, and I was really looking forward to getting away from my desk and the computer screen, stretching my legs and resting my eyes and mind.
Unlike my Monday walk, I had no particularly clear idea in mind about which path(s) I wanted to walk, just the general direction. After a very familiar route past the nursery (shown several times before on my blog), on a whim I decided to walk straight on, past more fields belonging to a different gardener than the one who owns the nursery.
I followed that same path until I reached a road which I did not wish to cross or walk along, so that marked my turning point. For the way back, I choose a zig-zag course of dusty field tracks and paved narrow lanes, first unknown, then more familiar until I reached home again, a bit more than two hours after I'd set off.
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| The sign explains that barley for brewing beer is grown here. It also explains about how beer is made, and that it takes about 2 kg of barley to make one crate of beer. That equals four square metres on the field and costs about 40 euro cents. |
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| Only about 15 minutes away from home |
At one of the farms, a black and white cat was resting on a warm stone wall. We spoke briefly, and it came up for a stroke before I walked on and it went back to its look-out on the wall.
Back in time for the main TV news and something to eat, and later of course the customary week-nightly phone call with O.K. That was my Tuesday, a very average and ordinary - and pleasant - day.
This sounds great, and a very healthy thing to do after your day of work. This morning I read this article about "zoom apnea" and "screen apnea". https://mail.yahoo.com/d/search/keyword=apnea/messages/AO0o7qw-B5JVXxQ69Q1SKB9f89o?reason=optin_not_required. I hope this link will work for you. I love your brief conversation with the friendly cat.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kristi; the link requires a Yahoo mail account to work (the beginning of the link shows that it is "mail.yahoo.com") and I don't have one, but thank you nonetheless, I know about apnea but don't think it is the cause for my two-hourly rhythm.
DeleteThe cat was friendly but very dusty! :-)
Sorry but I hit the wrong keys.
ReplyDeleteSounds and looks like a pleasant end to a busy day.
It is what I need after such a day, and I was glad it did not rain.
DeleteEnjoyed your mix of photos. Lovely idea to have an evening walk after a day on the computer. Glad your temps are reasonable enough for you to do so. Walking is not advisable here as even a 8am it already feels like 30c--unbreathable with the humidity. Temps today expected to reach 38c with heat index of 42+c. No relief from the soggy heat in sight for the foreseeable future. Very grateful for air conditioning.
ReplyDeleteThat would indeed be too hot for a nice walk! I don't know anyone over here who has air conditioning in their private home. Not even all shops, restaurants and offices have it, but I guess it will become the normal thing to have as our summers have been getting hotter year after year.
DeleteAnother interesting post and walk. I loved the picture with the teasels because I have memories of them from my childhood. I've never seen a field of Alium before either (assuming that is what the blue pompoms are). And the last photo made put me into silly mode "In the land of the armless the one-armed woman is queen."
ReplyDeleteThe various shapes, colours and textures of the plants along the way were fascinating. I am not sure whether the blue pompoms are alium, but it looks like it is, doesn't it.
DeleteThe one-armed queen - instead of a crown, she is holding her iphone to take the picture of her own shadow :-D
Isn't it wonderful to get out for a walk after working inside all day! You have some wonderful pictures. I enjoyed seeing the barley pictures as it is something I don't see very often. I love that you stopped for a visit with the cat!
ReplyDeleteI love cat encounters on my walks, and when I have time and they appear friendly, I try to stroke them, but I am always careful and polite in my approach and leave them be as soon as they make it clear they are either frightened or not interested.
DeleteWalking after a day at the desk is really necessary for me to remain physically and mentally balanced.
Wonderful skies. Look after that field - it's doing essential work!
ReplyDeleteI know, Mike! Now I am trying my best to remember once and for all which one is barley and which one is rye - they both have 'spikes' but I always forget which one points upwards and which one hangs its head.
DeleteThis is a better link: https://www.tenpercent.com/meditationweeklyblog/zoomapnea
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kristi! Very interesting. Can't say it is happening for/with me, but I can certainly imagine it being the case with many people.
DeleteWhere we live there are fields of barley here in Suffolk, as we drive along we past such a variety of crops. Where we walk near to where we live its all wheat this year.
ReplyDeleteHello Christine, I am not sure that we have "met" before. Anyway, welcome to my blog, and thank you for reading and commenting!
DeleteOn the fields around here, there is plenty of maize/corn, wheat, beet, barley and rye; also a lot of rape seed, asparagus, strawberries, some spuds and occasionally oat. It is rather varied and the farmers usually make sure to change crops every year, plus in recent years they have begun to sow strips of wildflowers and herbs to support insects and birds.
Such beautiful fields of unusual colored flowers - if I had somewhere that lovely close by I'd certainly be outside, but of course it would have to cool off a bit! Temp. here this afternoon hit 104F (40C) just a bit too hot and humid to be walking farther than to the air conditioned car!
ReplyDeleteLove your shadow photo too!
Stay well Meike.
Thank you Mary, you too!
Delete40C and the high humidity in your area is certainly not walk-friendly. So far, it has been a good summer for walking; we'll see what the next weeks bring, whether August will be the hottest month or the weather will keep like this, a good mix of sunny days with occasional rain.
I too am interested in the field of blue flowers - globe thistles, alliums, a food crop? I like the explanatory sign in the barley field, what a good idea.
ReplyDeleteProbably not a food crop, as it was part of a border of mixed flowers and herbs along larger fields. Now that you mention it, I guess they are globe thistles.
DeleteYes, those informative signs are a good idea. Many people are out in the fields and have no idea what they are looking at - half of the time, I am one of them.
I was so happy to hear your message!! I'm saving it so that when I have a bad day at work, I can listen to it again. :) Thank you!
ReplyDeleteYou are very welcome, Jennifer!
DeleteI was not sure whether I did it right with the recording, as I think at the end you say to press a certain button to record the message, and I hung up just as you were saying that :-)
Wir Machen. Bier Im Feld.
ReplyDeleteSome people follow the money, I follow the beer.
As Karl Barth used to say in Basle, *Never more than two glasses!*
John Haggerty
I wouldn't say I follow the beer, rather the shandy - nothing as refreshing as that at the end (or during a break) of a dusty sun-filled hike! I mix my own at home, with Rothaus beer, made in the Blackforest. A few years ago, O.K. and I spent our September holiday only a few miles from Rothaus, and one day we walked through the woods to the brewery and visited the place for ourselves. Nice museum, huge shop, expensive bar and restaurant.
DeleteRothaus beer, from the Black Forest, is my next project!
DeleteLast year I was in our famous Glasgow bookshop, Voltaire and Rousseau. A Scottish Germanist (we have a Goethe Institute in Glasgow) told me of a shop which sells Baltic Stout: I did not know there was such a beverage. Ah, the name alone!
Now I shall purchase bottles of Baltic Stout (dark, aromatic and foamy) and bottles of Rothaus beer. Plus some luxury lemonade from Marks and Spencer, for a shandygaff.
Only two glasses, mind!