The following day, Wednesday (May 10), was very different from Tuesday.
It was much cooler, and the grey sky was in line with the forecast for a wet day. (It turned out to remain dry until the evening, but we could not know that.)
Because we were expecting rain any minute and had no intention to repeat yesterday's muddiness on another walk, after breakfast we decided to walk each and every street in the small hamlet that is Limpach. If you look at it on a map, you can easily tell that there are only a handful of streets, and the whole place is quickly covered. Still, we always find it interesting to look at people's houses and gardens, and I always try to imagine what it would be like to live there every day, and if I had the choice of any house in the village, which one it would be.
Arriving at the last house of the village, we walked further along the street with no particular aim; we just wanted to walk and agreed that we'd turn around when rain would set in.
There was hardly any traffic on the road, and so it was no problem. We passed farmsteads, fields and (you knew it) meadows and woods, and then this tiny roadside chapel which seemed somewhat neglected, unlike the well cared-for places we have seen many times during our walks.
Before dinner, we spent a couple of hours at our flat; I used part of that time for writing my post about the days between the May Fest and our arrival here.
Somehow, neither of us felt much inclined to visit the spa that afternoon.
After dinner, we watched the news on TV and then a documentary about a lady who, at 69 years, made her personal dream come true and travelled to the Himalaya, much of it on her own, by car. Definitely not something I would ever attempt!
Even with gray skies, it looks like a great area for walking! I love reading about your adventures with O.K.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jennifer. I often find that clear blue skies make for far less interesting photos, and skyscapes to look at.
DeleteIs that chapel still in use? Who is it for?
ReplyDeleteIt's rather common here to find such tiny places of worship in the countryside. They are usually not large enough to hold a congregation, however small, but are rather shrines, dedicated to a particular saint. Often, nearby landowners had them built in previous centuries as a sign of their faith and devotion, and to ensure that particular saint's protection for their land and their families. I can only assume that this is the case for the chapel seen in the picture. It contains a crucifix and a potted plant and not much else, but is obviously meant to hold more, such as candles and maybe pictures of some deceased love one, as is sometimes the case in such places.
DeleteInteresting!
DeleteYour May break flew by but you and O.K. sure packed in a lot of adventures! It's good that you also took time to relax so you didn't come home too exhausted!
ReplyDeleteThe plan was to relax, and it was really necessary after my last break had been back in September, and the two deaths in October and November. I can relax best when I can combine walking with good food and some spa time thrown in!
DeleteAh travelling the world on one's own - always dreamt of doing it but always knew I did not have the courage.
ReplyDeleteThe lady is a retired teacher and has made several films about her travels. For some parts, she had to have male protection - a woman on her own is regarded with suspicion in some of the countries she traveled through.
DeleteWe never tire of your meadows, trees & woodlands.
ReplyDeleteGrey skies can be dull or they can have all kinds of lovely lights.
G.K. Chesterton wrote an essay in praise of the colour grey.
Imagining life in a quiet place is a pleasure.
Peaslake in Surrey is a quiet village I visited thanks to YouTube.
It was the home of children's author Jenny Overton who had no internet presence.
She wrote Nightwatch Winter, Creed Country, The Ship From Simnel Street and
The Thirteen Days of Christmas.
I wish I had written her a letter asking to interview.
The tiny roadside chapel is the smallest I have ever seen.
It is a shrine as you say to a saint or a tribute to someone who died.
There is no metaphor for someone whom we loved and now remember.
Your last reference to Schiller caught my attention.
Pushkin Press published his only novel, The Man Who Saw Ghosts.
Youth Hostels in my youth had shelves of forgotten books.
The Gold of Fairnilee by Andrew Lang.
Bevis by Richard Jeffries.
Jefferies was described as half hawk, half man.
Correction.
DeleteRichard Jefferies.
*Landscape With Figures - An Anthology of Richard Jefferies's Prose*
is published by the Penguin English Library.
P.J. Kavanagh recommended him to me in 1974.
Jefferies, Edward Thomas & Margiad Evans were among Kavanagh's influences.
Kavanagh's early autobiography The Perfect Stranger is dedicated to his first wife Sally who died at the age of 24.
Half hawk, half man? That sounds like a character in Neil Gaiman's "American Gods".
DeleteI have seen chapels/shrines even smaller than that, but this one really was tiny. Its gate was locked, and I assume the nearby farmer is the owner and has the key.
Look at the list of Schiller's works on wikipedia:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Schiller#Erz%C3%A4hlungen
The "Geisterseher" which you mention is called a fragment there. I have never read it, but at school we "did" his plays. And of course Marbach, where my favourite client is, was his birth place. You can't be in Marbach without coming across Schiller left, right and centre.
Ah, we play that same travel game, where would we live here, which house would we pick, where would we eat, hang out, shop....maybe everyone does?
ReplyDeleteCeci
Possibly, Ceci!
DeleteI sometimes wonder, who can anyone live like that, when I see a particularly messy place, or one with a super-ugly front garden. But then, it is all in the eye of the beholder, isn't it, and we will never know what really goes on in someone's life, making them live the way they do.
Sometimes a good comfortable sit down is exactly what fits the bill.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly was on that day.
Delete