Second October-Week

The week from 9 to 15 October was incredibly warm, the thermometer reaching 28 C/82 F on the Friday. It was said on the news that for Germany, this has been the warmest October on record. It was also sunny all week with only a sprinkle of rain on the Saturday and Sunday, which were both cooler.

I worked from home on Monday (9th of October) and afterwards went for a walk to Asperg and back via Eglosheim.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday saw me working at the office in Weilimdorf. 

I took advantage of not having any after-work appointments on Wednesday (Oct. 11) and walked home from Zuffenhausen (this usually takes me just under two hours). 

Almost back in Ludwigsburg, this was the sunset at 6:33 that day.

It felt like a final good-bye to the summer that did not want to go - I knew such walks after work across the sunlit fields were most likely not going to be possible much longer, with colder and wetter weather due to set in, and sunset much earlier. Simultaneously, I had a long mental conversation with my Dad during that walk, and tears could flow freely with nobody about.

Thursday, the 12th of October, was the first anniversary of my Dad's death. My sister, Mum's friend R and I met at Mum's place in the evening to commemorate him and having a meal that he would have enjoyed.

I was up early on Friday, the 13th of October, as I had to be in Stuttgart at 8:30 for an eye check. From there, I traveled to Weilimdorf for the fourth time that week - my employer was offering jabs for flu and Covid, and I had both. A quiet afternoon at home followed, with a bit of work, household things and then I packed my bag and left for the train station just after 6:00 pm.

My train to Offenburg arrived there with a delay of 9 minutes. We had a pleasant evening at O.K.'s with a traditional meal for that time of year: new wine and "onion cake", not a sweet cake but similar to an onion quiche.

On Saturday (Oct. 14), the weather improved after a relatively chilly and wet day (17C/62F) towards the evening. It was a rather sudden drop after the warm and sunny Friday (28 C/82F). Because of the rain, we only went for a short walk around the village in the afternoon and made a brief visit with O.K.'s Mum (his parents live just across the road from the cottage). The late afternoon/early evening light was beautiful.

O.K. drove the two of us the half hour or so to Oberkirch, were we were visiting a couple of friends. After starters at their beautiful home, we walked to the next village and had a good meal there at a traditional Blackforest restaurant. It was night by the time we walked back to Oberkirch, but the road was not in total darkness and easy to walk.

Sunday, the 15th of October, was the annual patron saint's fest at O.K.'s village. I have written about St. Gallus and that fest before; this year, we were lucky in that the few drops of rain stopped as quickly as they had come.

In the afternoon, O.K. and I walked to Diersburg for a glass of wine at the annual wine fest in the village hall. 

From there, we followed the road to Zunsweier and spontaneously stopped at one of the village's restaurants for a meal - we were lucky to get a table for two without reservation. The food was very nice, but by the time we arrived back at O.K.'s cottage, we had done a lot of walking (plus good food and some wine) and had made the most of the beautiful golden October day - I was so tired I went to bed just before 9:00!

Not a bad idea, since we were going to get up at 5:15 the next morning.