Here are a few pictures I took during that week.
After work on Wednesday, walking across the fields to Benningen. I made it just in time to the small station there before the rain began to fall:
After working at the office on Thursday, I got off the train two stops before Ludwigsburg and walked the rest of the way:
And again, I was lucky in that I had only just arrived home when it started to rain. The result was this beautiful rainbow; in reality, it was much more brilliant and clear, and the double rainbow much better visible:
That was the day Queen Elizabeth died. No need to say more about that here, as nearly every blogger I regularly read has been writing about her, and I have left my comments there.
No photos taken on Saturday; after my arrival at the village, O.K. and I had coffee and cake before setting out for a walk. That was cut short by more rain.
On Sunday, we completed the walk we had aborted the previous day and then spent the rest of the afternoon and evening at O.K.‘s neighbours‘, who had invited us for a barbecue.
Unlike most other weekends at O.K.‘s, there was no need for me to take the Monday morning train back home - we are off work for another two weeks. Maybe you remember from previous posts that we always take two weeks off in May and another two in September. This year, I also had a full two weeks in July - that makes six weeks off work this year for me, and it means I do not have a single day left for the time between Christmas and New Year. Of course, I will still have the actual holidays off, as these are due any employee in this country. For the first time ever since I have joined the working world (in 1986), I have used up ALL my holidays in the year they are due.
I find September a lovely time for walks, very peaceful, a time for reflection before the winter comes and, as others have said, the start of a new phase.
ReplyDeleteSeptember definitely is all that for me - a lovely time for walks and the start of a new phase.
DeleteIt's funny how difficult it is to capture the depth of certain colors that we see in person, but find them so muted when taking photos--like the rainbow.
ReplyDeleteMust say that the only year I did not purposely take all my work holidays was the year before my retirement. By carrying over those six weeks (lucky to have so much--many in the US only get two to three weeks off a year), it added to my final year compensation and therefore slightly increased my annual pension. Was fortunate a friend in human resource department let me know about it. But it was hard not taking any time off other than federal holidays.
As far as I know, Germany is among the countries with the highest number of days off for employees. And yet people are still overworked and suffer exhaustion (not me - at least not anymore!).
DeleteYou did well with how you used the days off in your final year.
Oh, I love to see a rainbow! It always makes me smile and feels like a message of hope.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to hear that your Dad is still in the hospital. Hope he gets to return home soon.
There was another rainbow today as I went home after another hospital visit. Like you, I love to see them and feel the message.
DeleteMy Dad is very well looked after in hospital, much better than what my Mum would be able to do for him at home, but of course he would like to be home. He needs to get much better before that is realistic, though.
I often visit your blog but don’t think I have commented before. Just wanted to say that I enjoy my visits
ReplyDeleteHoping that all is good with you
Siobhan
Hello Siobhan, thank you very much and welcome to my blog!
DeleteThe trains sound brilliant round you.
ReplyDeleteIf you mean that ironically, Anonymous, I fully agree!
DeleteGetting off the train two stops before Ludwigsburg was an inspired idea.
ReplyDeleteAnd walking across the fields to Benningden.
Oh, those skies ! Heaven lies about us in our infancy as Wordworth said.
A raInbow on the very day Queen Elizabeth left us : the perfect adieu !
I hope your eyes are well, Meike. You have not mentioned them in some time.
Jack.
Jack, I often get off the train one or two stops before my actual stop and walk the rest; it is the best way for me to wind down after a busy day behind a desk, staring at a computer screen for so many hours.
DeleteThank you for asking about my eyes. They remain good; it‘s a bit more than a year now since my last two operations, and I really can‘t complain. I take my three-monthly appointments with my doctor very seriously and forget to take my daily drops only very, very rarely.
The double rainbows were fabulous but so hard to capture faithfully with a camera. According to legend we might find a pot of gold at the rainbow's end but I hope that that particular rainbow ended upon your father's bed and gave him the strength to recover from his recent health issues to become something like his old self once more.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful and kind thought, Neil! Thank you very much for that.
DeleteThank you so much for your lovely words and thinking of my husband!
DeleteThe rainbow may have been hard to catch, but you did brilliantly with the other dramatic sky photos! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Monica!
DeleteSeptember/October used to be my favourite time for holidays for many reasons. Like you I don't think that I ever used up all my holidays in the year in which they were due except in some years when the children were very young and we used to go to friends in Berlin for the whole month. Of course I can't be sure when we took the rest of my holidays in those long gone years.
ReplyDeleteIn the past 6 years, my holidays were usually two weeks each in May and September with O.K. and - if possible - another 8 to 10 days in Yorkshire with my sister. The remaining days were usuall spent between Christmas and New Year.
DeleteWhen I was younger, most years we took four weeks off in the summer to be at the village in Sicily where my ex husband was from. Now I much prefer dotting the year with several times off instead of one long period away.