In my previous post, I told you about how Thursday was a beautiful spring day with sunshine and very mild temperatures, followed by a return to the solid grey skies and rain we have been having for much of this year so far.
Last week started grey again - and very busy. It was only Monday evening when I felt so exhausted already that I was very much inclined to call in sick the next morning. Of course I didn't - I have never been like that, skipping work on the pretence of illness when really I just wanted time off. Decades ago, when I worked at the library, I had colleagues who would call in sick simply because they wanted to wash their curtains or prepare for a family event - and they didn't even try to pretend otherwise in front of us. Of course we would never tell our boss, but it wasn't right.
So I kept plodding on, and on Wednesday, a stretch of several hours without any scheduled meetings meant I was able to start my lunch break early and extend it, not only going for a walk on the fields with my sister, but even stopping at her place for a very welcome bowl of hot vegetable stew.
It kept snowing all day, giving the light a pearly sheen.
And then Thursday came along, and brought back the sun! It was VERY cold at -12C (10 F), but the sun made it bearable for a little while during the day. That was all I could carve out of my day's schedule anyway, and so I went out for a short walk of only 45 minutes in between meetings.
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| This one is to show you the road where I live - completely covered in snow. This is very close to the city centre, but only the major roads are cleared. |
The snow glittering in the sun and the crystal clear air were so good!
For the rest of the week and the weekend, the sun stayed with us. It was great to wake up to bright blue skies on Saturday and Sunday, and rest assured that O.K. and I made the most of both days, walking across the snow-covered fields and enjoying every minute.
Saturday's pictures (all taken by O.K.), visiting Hohenasperg, walking back via the small palace by the lake (Monrepos):
Sunday, walking in the same general direction but on towards the fields and not to the castle:
A quick look at the weather forecast tells me to expect a rather mixed bag this week. We shall see!
I admire your work ethic its good. Everyone can get fed up, bored with their job and tired etc,and this is where being managed well, recognised and motivated comes in. I've worked with and managed people who do what you describe, everyone knows its wrong but proving it is another matter. Sometimes employees feel hard done by for whatever reason, passed over on promotion, feel that they should be paid more, and so by taking these days off they see it as redressing the balance.
ReplyDeleteIf I felt underpaid and not appreciated at work, I would talk to my boss. I know not everybody feels they can do that; some bosses are difficult. But the former colleagues I have in mind were simply taking advantage of "the system" - they knew they were not in any danger of being made responsible for their actions.
DeleteHappy to see you not only had a sunny Thursday, but a sunny weekend, too, even if it was bitterly cold. Our temps haven't been quite so bitter, but pretty much hovering between 0c and -5c. Just not much sun. Some snow overnight Thursday. Freezing rain/ice storm on Saturday/Sunday, but fortunately not as much damage as anticipated. Clearly, the weather has a big impact on our psyches these pandemic days. Good that you were able to walk some of it off!
ReplyDeleteDaylight - and even better, sunlight - has a big impact on our wellbeing, and not only since the pandemic. Our modern lifestyles often seem to have us far removed from the natural world, but we can't deny it completely; we are, after all, just one among many other species :-)
DeleteOh the sun makes so much difference and really lifts your spirits! The blue, blue sky in OK's photos is lovely! Days to treasure for sure!
ReplyDeleteWe were very happy to have such a sunny weekend - especially after the one before, when all our walks ended in the rain!
DeleteMakes me happy that your sister is close by and that you two can walk together often.
ReplyDeleteI am very lucky, and now that we are both working (and walking!) from home, we can reach each other's front doors within 15 minutes.
DeleteWhat beautiful pictures and they show the varied weather you have had recently. Your first three pictures are what it looks like here now - all white, grey and snowy. The other pictures show such a bright and beautiful blue sky! I imagine it was wonderful to be out walking on such a day! I hope you are feeling better this week. Cold weather can wear on us after a while.
ReplyDeleteWhen I used to go to work by train, on days with nasty cold weather the trip alone felt draining, and by the time I arrived back home, I could have gone straight to bed! That's different now that I don't have to make that trip all the time, with all its insecurities about connections and waiting at wind-blown stations.
DeleteYes, bright and beautiful blue sky instantly makes for a better mood, especially when I have time to take advantage of it!
So wise to manage your time, wisely. So very, very important!
ReplyDeleteLovely photos.
We are getting more snow, now. Don't know how much, this time. But some places are getting wayyy tooo much. -smile-
"It sifts from Leaden Sieves --
It powders all the Wood.
It fills with Alabaster Wool
The wrinkles of the Road."
~Emily Dickinson
☃ ❄ ❅ ❆ ⛄
All our snow will be gone by the end of today, I guess - it is going to be much milder, if not to say warm, over the next days; up to 15C! That is more than what we sometimes have in May :-D
DeleteThe powder comparison by Emily Dickinson fits perfectly for the kind of snow we've had.
Darling Meike,
ReplyDeleteWhat a difference a day makes, especially when the sun is shining and the skies are wall to wall azure blue.
You capture the moment perfectly. We can breathe that sharp clear air with you and can sense the sparkle of snow. All so exhilarating, making the warm bowl of soup all the more welcome, no doubt.
We cannot imagine having time off work to wash the curtains. Indeed, we can confess to never having washed our curtains which generally have been left to disintegrate at the windows and then disposed of. Now we have shutters so perhaps our excuse would be to paint the shutters?!
These are difficult times and it is not easy to keep going and we admire your conscientious approach. Walking in such beautiful surroundings in such fabulous weather restores the soul. Enjoy it!
Dear Jane and Lance,
DeleteThere are no curtains in my flat, so I don't ever have the need to take time off to wash them! But my windows, the frames and sills are in dire need of a good scrubbing... with rain in the forecast, I doubt I will do something about them this week, though.
I need to organise myself well so that I can deliver what my clients pay for, without endangering my physical and mental health. Those walks are all-important.
Beautiful winter views. That looks and sounds like very wintry weather indeed for your part of the world. We had similar temperatures last week... The last couple of days have been grey and not quite as cold. Seems like we may get more snow again tomorrow though, before the weather turns properly milder again.
ReplyDeleteBefore corona, we did not get paid here at all for the first sick-day off work, to stop people from cheating. With the pandemic, that has been changed, as now it's all-important that people do not go work if they have any symptoms at all.
It has been the opposite yesterday here - from -12C on Saturday to +12C on Tuesday, and the forecast is for temperatures up to 17C this weekend! A veritable roller coaster.
DeleteThe rules about calling in sick at work here have been for a long time that one did not need their doctor's confirmation for the 1st day, and this has been taken advantage of left, right and center. As far as I know, under the pandemic regulations one can get that confirmation without actually seeing a doctor - making a phone call to the surgery and telling the doctor that one has symptoms of cold/flu is enough to get the signed document for the employer.
Your walks with O.K. are enviable; to move through such glorious landscapes and in such perfect weather, as well as with a perfect companion, what more do you want.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you are experiencing such bliss.
Thank you, Friko! Yes, I know I am fortunate having all this (and much more) in my life.
DeleteOh - those blue skies with the wintry scenes - so delightful! Rather like my walk last week in The Hope Valley. As a teacher I never took what we call "sickies" in my entire career and scorned anybody that did that as it made more work for other people and let the children down too.
ReplyDeleteWell, your walk in The Hope Valley was certainly more remote than our walks in the densely populated, highly industrialised Greater Stuttgart region - we are lucky if we manage to walk away from buildings and busy roads for short stretches at a time, and the next town or motorway are never far away.
DeleteSickies are unethical in my book. Our parents taught my sister and me to be honest and conscentious in our dealings with other people - be it our bosses, colleagues or anyone else.
Ella Fitzgerald sang Moonlight in Vermont.
ReplyDeleteThe lyric coins a lovely word, Snowlight.
Snowlight in Hohenasperg looks even nicer than Vermont.
And the clear cold skies, is there anything bluer than that?
I am listening to Jo Stafford, singing the song I think of as Ella's.
DeleteShe's good too.
*Shadows through the trees, snowdrifts shining in the dark,
Moonlight in Vermont.*
There is a lovely saxophone solo.
YouTube.
The word snowlight makes me think of the blueish light on a snowy evening or early morning, when the sun is not there (yet or anymore).
DeleteHohenaperg nicer than Vermont? I bet the citizens of Asperg would love that! The blue sky is never bluer than in the colder half of the year, I think. During the hot summer weeks and months, it tends to have a slight haze, not the crystal clear brilliance of now.
Hohenasperg or Hohenaperg? You spelled it two ways.
DeleteDoesn't matter. It could be a new word for a snow-cloud.
A snow-cloud approaching over a blue sky. Watching it from a green hill.
A name as lovely as Oumuamua, the interstellar space object which astrophysicist Avi Loeb thinks could be an alien spacecraft.
The H sound of Hohenaperg is a voiceless glottal fricative, as silent as Oumuamua's arrival and departure in our solar system.
Your skies reminded me of a book of poems, *Bluer Than This*.
The author John Harvey is a crime writer, but as a poet he is influenced by jazz and painting. The book's cover is from a painting by the great Howard Hodgkin.
See online: Bluer Than This/ The poetry dispatch and notes from the underground.
*Avi Loeb interview: Could Oumuamua be alien technology after all?*
DeleteNew Scientist online.
Video interview with Professor Loeb of Harvard University.
There are a number of YouTube lectures on Oumuamua.
Hohenaperg sounds like an ideal place for star gazing.
Oh dear, I made a typo! :-D
DeleteIt is Hohenasperg, with an s. Asperg comes from a mount (Berg) with aspen trees, I have read.
Speaking of reading - only yesterday I was reading about Avi Loeb's interpretation of Oumuamua. Of course I was watching the live broadcast of Peseverance's landing on Mars, and somehow the topic of Oumuamua popped up; I have the habit of looking up things on my ipad while watching TV.
PS: One can see the stars from there, true; but not very many. My area is far too densely populated and highly industrialised (we are talking Daimler and Porsche country here); too much artificial light at night to see much.
DeleteIt's a different matter at O.K.'s village - some nights we even saw the faint glow of the Milky Way from his cottage.
Ah, the faint glow of the Milky Way !
DeleteWe are stardust.
Hamel(d)
By the 1980s, there was only one real Italian deli in Soho, London, that did its own homemade pesto. Now gone.
ReplyDeleteThere was a Jewish sandwich bar in Windmill Street, near Piccadilly, where you could eat freshly made corn beef on rye, with gherkins and potato latkes. Gone.
Glasgow, Scotland, once had Italian delis like Capaldi's and Fazzi's.
Only a scaled-down Frazzi's, with a restaurant, remains.
Edinburgh alone has a great Italian deli and restaurant, Valvona and Crolla, in 19 Elm Row, Leith.
When you enter Valvona it has that real Italian food smell, an exotic wine cellar, and a restaurant next door, where you can have coffee and cake, or lunch with wine.
Hamel(d)
Meike, the above comment was meant for your Sunny Thursdays (and more) post.
DeleteYou mentioned red pesto and it touched off a memory.
Hamel(d)
John, this IS my Sunny Thursdays (and more) post - but I mentioned red pesto on the next post, not this one. Never mind, I got it!
DeleteMeike