Thursday 20 April 2023

The Week After Easter

Another short working week with only four days, this one brought some family time, a few walks and a mix of sun and rain, most welcome this time of year.

Easter Monday, the 10th of April, was a holiday in Germany. I was still at O.K.'s and went to mass at the village church, where O.K. and the village band were providing the music for the service. The morning was chilly, but the day remained dry and with the sun out, temperatures got as high as 18 Celsius (64.4 F).

After church, we had a lunch of leftovers from yesterday's family meal and then rested for a bit before setting out for a nice long walk across the wooded hilltop (Hohhölzle) behind the village to the next village (Zunsweier) and back.

Tuesday (April 11) brought the early start for both of us that we usually have on a Monday morning when O.K. takes me to the train station. Because of the Easter holidays, my usual trains were not running, and I had to change twice instead of once. The planned connection in Karlsruhe did not work out, but I was able to make a spontaneous change and still arrived home at the usual time.

It was a sunny day with clouds drawing in later but remained dry, and so I took my standard walk to Benningen after work, with slight variations, enjoying every step of it.

Former entrance to the deer park at the outskirts of Ludwigsburg

entering Freiberg

approaching Benningen via a tiny protected area (no building allowed here)

row of fruit trees in bloom on the fields near Benningen
It was office time on Wednesday, the 12th of April. A busy but otherwise unremarkable day; rain in the morning, sun during the day and clouds later on. I got off the train in Kornwestheim and walked the rest of the way home.

I worked from home on Thursday (April 13) and then went to my Mum's at 6:00 pm for a delicious meal of pasta with two sauces: my Mum's home-made pesto and a tomato sugo. My sister was also there, and the three of us had a chatty, cosy evening. After a sunny day, it began to rain just as I was on my way there.  

Friday, the 14th of April, would have been my grandma's 108th birthday. Please read my Mum's guest post about her if you have not done so when I first posted it.

By the time I wrapped up work, I was extremely tired and would have liked to lay down for a nap. But the day was so beautiful with sunshine and somewhere around 12-14 C that I really wanted to be out there, too, and so I went for a walk on the fields with a stop at the cemetery, and was back home about two hours later.

Forgetmenots at the cemetery. As usual, I find them hard to photograph - the picture does not really do them justice.

My Dad's bird marker is the blue one at the far right, friend R's is the white one with the potted red primrose.
I made a point of visiting one of my favourite spots on the fields. A line in a song by Jamiroquai says "I know this corner of the Earth, it smiles at me", and that is exactly what this place means to me. It is nothing spectacular, but something about it "smiles" at me.

O.K. arrived at my place around coffee time on Saturday (April 15), which gave me all morning to do my cleaning, food shopping etc. From about 5:00 pm onwards, I was in the kitchen, getting a family meal on the way. My Mum and my sister arrived at 6:30, and after glasses of Apérol Spritz and cheese nibbles, we sat down for Yorkshire Puddings and oven-baked vegetables, a creamy sauce made with the same red wine we later drank, and fried sausages. 
Yorkshire puddings rising in the oven. You can see how uneven my oven heats, but the result was still good enough to eat.
On Friday, I had baked a Rocky Road cake (admittedly, I used a ready-made baking mix that only required me to add butter, egg and milk), and we had that for dessert.

Sunday, the 16th of April, was a wet day. It never really stopped raining, but let up enough for us to manage a 45 minute walk around the neighbourhood before dinner. Otherwise, it was a day of rest, sleeping until 10 in the morning and generally not doing much at all.

10 comments:

  1. I think forget-me-nots are always hard to photograph because the flowers are quite tiny - but I love them

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's less the flower's size and more their colour that makes it difficult. The human eye can discern colours much better; for a camera, the contrast between greens and blues is not as clear as it is for us.

      Delete
  2. I love reading about your daily life and your adventures with O.K. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Jennifer - my daily life may seem very boring to many, but it is what it is, and I am not embellishing it for the sake of this blog, just reporting :-)

      Delete
  3. I like your photo where the blue sky is peeking through the trees to match the lovely markers at your Dad's grave. So many of your photos have such a beautiful blue sky shining above. I have a bit of blue sky here this morning so I had better get out for my walk as clouds and rain will move in this afternoon. Thanks for your lovely post, Meike!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope you had a good walk without getting wet, Ellen!
      When I arrived at the cemetery, the early evening light was so beautiful. The German word for cemetery is Friedhof, which literally means "yard (or court) of peace". And this cemetery with its many trees and shrubs has something very peaceful about it. It helps.

      Delete
  4. Your daily life is interesting to compare with mine and how it might be if I had a partner. I do many things and make an effort not to sit at home.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Likewise, Rachel - your life with all your activities, your art and all that is very interesting compared to mine. If my partner and I were living together and not 150 km apart, it would be different again.
      And to be honest - some evenings I want nothing more than to sit at home!

      Delete
  5. Mimi in the Mountains21 April 2023 at 19:50

    Reading your blog always brings back wonderful memories of visiting my grandparents in Bavaria. Thank you for the trip down memory lane!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're welcome, Mimi! I imagine your grandparents' area was slightly different from where I live (Baden-Württemberg, not Bavaria), but we're neighbouring states and so I suppose there will be enough similarities to trigger your memories.

      Delete