High Summer Week

The week after my Mum's birthday celebration(s) was very much what we call Hochsommer (high summer) here in Germany. We had sun every day, with only a bit of rain during the night/early morning on Wednesday.

Cool nights made the sometimes high temperatures during the day bearable, and gave an incling of autumn not being all that far away.

Monday (19.08.2024) was a typical working-from-home day. At 15C/59F, the morning was chilly enough for me not to sit by the open window in my study. It got no warmer than a very pleasant 23C/74F during the day.

My sister and I met up with a friend at a beer garden in the next town, walking there and back. It was good to see our friend after months (last time had been for my birthday celebration back in spring) and catch up with each other.

I worked from home again on Tuesday (20.08.2024). Weather- and temperature-wise, it was very similar to the day before. I enjoyed two hours of walking on the fields after work, without breaking a sweat, which was really nice.

This one is for Kay!

Click to enlarge - can you see the hot air balloon?

I took the usual two trains to work at the office on Wednesday (21.08.2024). The night's and early morning's rain had stopped by then, and it warmed up to 28C/82 F during the afternoon.

Once again, on my way home I stayed on the train for one more stop, got off there and walked to Benningen, taking another train back to Ludwigsburg. It was most enjoyable, not under any pressure (time, hunger, thirst, toilet...), just good.

In the morning before leaving for work, I had needed the light on in my Third Room for the first time in a long time.

Thursday (22.08.2024) started off really chilly at only 11C/52F. By the time I finished work, the temperature had risen to 25C/77F, pleasantly warm without being too hot. That suited us well, since my Mum and I were meeting at the Weinlaube, Ludwigsburg's annual wine fest. It spans a full two weeks, but for various reasons, this year this was our one and only visit.

We enjoyed the wine, the atmosphere and the conversation with the other people at our table (we didn't know them, but this is the kind of event where you get chatting to strangers, and it's all nice).

In the afternoon, I had taken an hour off work to walk the 2.5 km or so to Eglosheim, a suburb of Ludwigsburg, where I bought a new hose pipe for my shower. The old one (only five years old) had become leaky. Even though I spent very little money at the shop there, I was treated like a customer should always be treated - with polite friendliness and expertise. If I need anything for the bathroom again, I will certainly go back there.

Weather and temperature were similar on Friday (23.08.2024), with a chilly 12C/53F in the morning but 29C/84F in the afternoon. Like I have done over the past few Fridays when it was going to be a hot day, I reverted my usual pattern, doing my cleaning etc. in the morning and working in the afternoon.

My trains to Offenburg were on time, and at around 9:00 pm, O.K. and I were sitting on the balcony for a lovely summerly meal of salad, bread and cheese, accompanied by a well-chilled rosé.

Afterwards, we stayed on the balcony for some stargazing, which was beautiful - you just see so much more there from the village, where it is much darker than near the city centre where I live.

Saturday (24.08.2024 - four months to Christmas Eve!) was hot at 35C/95F, too hot for us to be up to much. We just hung out at the cottage, taking it slow and doing the odd little job here and there. For 6:00 pm, the family (O.K.'s Mum, his sister + husband, plus ourselves) gathered for a BBQ in the courtyard in front of the house, which was in the shade by then. We enjoyed the food, drinks and of course each other's company.

Sunday (25.08.2024) will get its own post with LOTS of pictures from a Black Forest hike we undertook that day.

Read in 2024 - 15: Alexander von Humboldt

Alexander von Humboldt und die Erfindung der Natur

Andrea Wulf

As most of my regular readers will know, I love reading non-fiction and really enjoy a well-written biography. This was one such book – an exceptional work about an exceptional man.

Should the following question ever come up in a pub quiz, I’d know the answer:
After which person are the most places and species on this planet (and beyond) named?
According to the biography I finished reading months ago but only got round to reviewing now, that person is Alexander von Humboldt.
Apparently, no matter the continent or country, you’ll find a street, a hill, a school, a museum, a library or even an entire town bearing Humboldt’s name.
If you happen to be interested in natural science, you may have come across various species of plants, animals and some minerals named after him.
And even two formation on the Moon and two asteroids are called Humboldt.
 
All this serves to emphasize how important the man was once considered – not so much he as a person, but his ideas and discoveries.
 
Born in 1769 and living through a rather unhappy childhood, nobody would have expected the seemingly thick boy, always lagging behind his older brother in lessons, to ever achieve anything much.
And yet, he became THE most famous person alive for a while, and not just in the Western world.
 
What made him so famous?

He was the first person to explore thoroughly and systematically how everything and everywhere on our small blue planet is connected, and wrote extensively about it, publishing a large number of books, some of which were hugely popular in their time.

He wanted to know everything there is to know, cramming his head with facts and figures, but also coming to the conclusion that facts and figures alone were only part of the picture - one needed to grasp things with all senses, and grasp them he did.

His expeditions lead him from what was then thought to be the highest mountain in the world, the Chimborazo in the Andes, to the endless forests of Russia. He collected literally tons of material for further research - plants and parts of plants, animals, minerals, drawings he and his companions made of buildings, statues, costumes and inscriptions of other (ancient) cultures, and more.

He worked feverishly all the time, rarely sleeping more than a few hours, and caring little for the things young, wealthy men enjoyed back then; balls, dinners, social gatherings, hunting for sport etc. were things he couldn't care less about.

In between expeditions, he worked on his books, wrote tens of thousands of letters, listened to and gave lectures at university, met with like-minded scientists and friends, and planned his next trip. 

What he saw during his expeditions gave him a deep understanding for our cosmos - a term he brought into wide use and in the sense we apply it today.

He observed how deforestation and agricultural activites changed landscapes beyond recognition, driving out species of plants and animals of their natural habitat, and ultimately threatening the very existence of the people who caused it all. 

Sounds familiar?

And yet, 200 years later, while we all know about the intricate web of life on our planet, we just keep destroying it at ever-increasing speed.

As a person, Alexander was not exactly a nice man. He certainly could turn on the charm when needed (for instance, to get funding for an expedition), but he had no patience with people who were of slower thinking (or talking!) as himself (and that was the case with 99 % of his fellow humans), and was infamous for making nasty, sharp-witted comments about others.

On the other hand, he was a loyal friend and great supporter of young scientists, and genuinely loved his brother and sister-in-law.

He hated the burden of fame, sometimes doing the rounds of several dinner parties and balls in one evening - all to serve the greater good of science, but nonetheless detested. True happiness he only found when he was out there in the wilderness, high on a mountain or deep in a forest, exploring, accumulating knowledge, grasping life in all its forms and with all his senses.

The book is VERY well written, highly readable without being condescending. Of all non-fictions works I have read so far, this must be the one with the most footnotes. 

I can highly recommend it; it has certainly been translated into English. The author is a German-British historian and writer. Her fascination with her subject shines through every page. Her wikipedia entry is here.

And if you want to read up on Humboldt without (or before) delving into the book, his wikipedia entry is here.

A great Thank You goes to my sister who lent me the book.

Read in 2024 - 16, 17, 18

Wait - have I forgotten about #15? No, I haven't. But that book deserves its own post, while it is no problem giving the following three reviews a little less room.

All three have in common that a) they are mysteries, b) they were free downloads from Amazon's Kindle shop and c) they were first in their respective series, designed to make the reader want to buy the following books. 

Only one of them was something I could imagine reading more of, but not to the point of buying the series.

Because I have such a back log of posts waiting to be written (among them, the review for #15), I opt for the quick and lazy way and copy the reviews you'll find on Amazon for each book, adding only a few comments of my own.

#16: One Left Alive (Detective Morgan Brookes Book 1)

Helen Phifer

When the body of a woman is found hanging from a tree in her front garden, rookie Detective Morgan Brookes is first on the scene. But Olivia Potter is past saving. And when her husband and daughters cannot be traced, Morgan knows there is more to this tragedy. And then she finds them [...] in the dark basement, [...] their bodies cold to the touch.

But [then] she realises that one of the girls is still breathing. As she holds Bronte’s fragile hand in hers, [...] she vows to find out who has done this.

Every day Morgan wakes at 4.25 a.m., her old insomnia now mixed with a new fixation on the case. But every clue about the murdered family leads to a dead end. Until, trawling through old files, she discovers a link to a cold case from years ago. Another family was found murdered [in a similar way].

When Morgan returns to the scene of the crime [...], she finds another body. With Bronte still unconscious in hospital, Morgan must act fast to solve this case before the killer returns for the girl left alive…

[End of Amazon's description]

The story WAS gripping, I must give it that. I just didn't really warm to any of the characters, at least not enough for wanting to read more and buy the series.

#17: Murder at the Mayfair Hotel (Cleopatra Fox Mysteries Book 1)

C.J. Archer

December 1899. After the death of her beloved grandmother, Cleopatra Fox moves into the luxury hotel owned by her estranged uncle in the hopes of putting hardship and loneliness behind her. But the poisoning of a guest on Christmas Eve throws her new life, and the hotel, into chaos.

Cleo quickly realizes no one can be trusted, not Scotland Yard and especially not the hotel’s charming assistant manager. With the New Year’s Eve ball approaching fast and the hotel’s reputation hanging by a thread, Cleo must find the killer before the ball, and the hotel itself, are ruined. But catching a murderer proves just as difficult as navigating the hotel’s hierarchy and the peculiarities of her family.

Can Cleo find the killer before the new century begins? Or will someone get away with murder?

[End of Amazon's description]

This is the one I could imagine reading more of. I liked the start of the series, the heroine and her way of interacting with the other characters. Not all was foreseeable, or at least it wasn't for me. The atmosphere at the hotel was well caught, I think.

#18: Shadow Falls (Detective Madison Harper Book 1)

Wendy Dranfield

Madison Harper’s heart shatters when she searches the bedroom of twelve-year-old Jenny Lucas, the sweet little girl last seen splashing in the lake at Shadow Falls [...] before she vanished. [...]

The girl’s parents are distraught, and the local police have no leads — they desperately need Madison’s help. She knows better than most what it’s like to lose a child, and she won’t let it happen again, even if that means pressing Jenny’s grieving family for answers.

Then [...] Madison discovers a disturbing portrait Jenny drew [...]. Was this girl more troubled than anybody knew? Was she in danger from those she trusted most? If Madison’s instincts are right, then the life of another innocent child could also be at risk — she must find Jenny fast…

[End of Amazon's description]

There is a whole lot more to the story than these few lines convey. For one thing, Madison is not acting alone. She teams up with a private investigator, and they both come with a LOT of personal baggage and issues. Every now and then, their past threatens to block out everything else, but in the end it makes them even more determined to solve the case. 

Add to that mix a stray police-trained dog who behaves very oddly around the missing girl's mother, and the stage is set for many more books in the series.

Gripping, but not a series I am going to actively look for.

The Rest of That Week

As described in my previous post, much of the week starting on the 12th of August had something or other to do with my Mum's 80th birthday. 

But it was also a regular working week for me.

On Tuesday (13 August), I didn't do anything apart from work. I was glad for the chance to work from home, not having to face the train rides there and back, or the non-existing A/C at my office. At 33C/91F, the day was not just hot, but it was also humid - an after-work walk held no appeal. By mid-afternoon my brain felt half molten, and I found it hard to concentrate.

A thunderstorm in the evening brought a little relief.

It was maybe 5 degrees Celsius cooler on Wednesday (14 August), and it was ok to go to the office. It even felt good enough for getting off the train in Kornwestheim and walking the rest of the way home, less than an hour and with the possibility of walking in the shade.

Thursday (15 August) was similar, with a clear azure sky and a max of 28C/82F. Again working from home, I felt like a good walk after work and opted for my standard route to Benningen.

Some trees bear a lot of apples this year.

No change in the weather on Friday (16 August). Because I like keeping all windows open while I go about my weekly cleaning (last but not least to have the freshly mopped floors dry quickly), but at the same time did not want to get too much heat into the flat, I switched my routine around: I cleaned and did other household things in the morning and worked in the afternoon.

O.K. arrived at my place at around 9:30 pm. I had prepared Tabouleh the day before, and found it fit the warm evening well.

For Monday, Saturday and Sunday of that week, see my previous post.

The Glorious Twelfth

In the UK and probably some other English-speaking countries with a similar climate, the Glorious Twelfth is anything but glorious for birds of the grouse species; traditionally, the 12th of August marks the start of the shooting season.

For me and my family, the 12th of August has an entirely different meaning: It is my Mum's birthday, and a week ago today, on Monday, the 12th of August 2024, she turned 80 - a truly Glorious Twelfth for us!

You wouldn't believe it looking at her, holding the huge bouquet of 80 roses in her favourite colours that my sister brought her. It was also my sister who decorated the living room with a "Happy Birthday" garland and various other things as well as bringing a sash and badge saying "Birthday Girl".

I worked from home until about 2:00 pm and then walked over to my Mum's for a couple of hours.

Back home for a bit, until it was time to set off again; Mum had booked a table for us at a relatively new restaurant in town where none of us had been before. They serve what they call Asian Fusion food, and it was very good. Service was friendly, too. There were tables outside, but as the day was hot at 32C/90F, sitting inside was more sensible.

On Saturday (August 17), the actual birthday do took place at a restaurant not far from where Mum lives.

A room was reserved for us, with beautiful table decorations and staff both friendly and professional.

Many of the guests I had not seen in a while, some not since my Dad's funeral in 2022. 

One of the ladies has been friends with my Mum since childhood but lives not close by. She and my Mum have kept in touch but not seen each other in many years - I believe she was there for my Mum's 60th birthday, but then with various things happening in both their lives they had not met.

It was good to see everybody, but with friends and relatives of my Mum's generation all visibly getting older (although most of them still looking great!) and having various health problems it was also somewhat bitter-sweet.

Of course, us "younger ones" are also visibly getting older and not free from issues of our own, but I suppose you understand what I mean.

The event started at lunch time with drinks and a short speech by my Mum. Lunch was then served, and as usual on such occasions, there was way too much food, but it was all delicious.

Next, a guitarist played for us. There were classic baroque pieces, but also some well known songs - not meant to sing along, though. Listening to the beautiful music was very relaxing.

Those of us who are able to walk then went out for a little bit. The cemetery where my Dad and friend R are is close by, and in small scattered groups we went there and back. One of the guests had a 4 month old dachshund with him - she was very well behaved but of course needed a walk, too.

Back at the venue, my sister and I had a surprise prepared for our Mum: a quiz, done in pub quiz style, with 14 questions about her.

Most of her guests did well, only missing a few points, and five of them got all the answers right. My Mum then had to draw one of the five as the winner, and that person received a prize.

Coffee and cake was brought in, and amazingly, nearly everyone managed a piece of cake - some even more than one. There was a choice of four different ones (as you can see, a Black Forest gâteau among them), all looking great, but I simply couldn't eat any more, and only had two cups of coffee.

Slowly but surely, the party wound down. We said our good-byes to everyone but a select few who met again at R's garden; she lives downstairs in the same house where my Mum lives on the top floor. Six of us sat there for one last drink and a chat before O.K. and I made our way home.

That was not the last of the birthday-related events of that week, though: We met again at my Mum's for coffee and cake (left-overs from the day before) on Sunday (18 August), seven of us this time. 

Rain that had begun late Saturday evening and lasted into early Sunday morning, then stopped only to return in the afternoon made a proper walk unappealing, and so O.K. and I just walked to my Mum's and back that day, staying in for a light evening meal before it was for O.K. to drive home.

It was a very special week with several events for a very special lady!

First Week Back

Hard to believe that I've already been back at work for almost two full weeks since my Yorkshire Holiday!

Here is the first week, starting with Tuesday. For Monday (5 August), click here.

What I brought from Yorkshire: the gloves and the mug are gifts from the family, the books I bought at The Little Ripon Bookshop, the National Trust shop at Fountains Abbey and WHSmith in Ripon, and the socks I probably bought at FatFace in Ripon.

Tuesday (6 August) was my first day back at work. In all my email inboxes (with two employers and three clients), a total of 288 messages were waiting for me. Not to worry - I knew that some of them would not require any action on my part but were just for information, and others were invitations for meetings which I only needed to accept or decline. Still, there was of course enough left for me to do, and in any case, each and every message had to be looked at.

It took me until Friday before I was on top of all my inboxes again, but that's completely normal.

The day was sunny and beautiful, relatively hot at 29C/84F but good for my standard after-work walk to Benningen. It helped me to fully "arrive" back home.

On Wednesday (7 August), I was at the office for the first time since before the holiday. Some of my colleagues were now away, but it was nice to catch up with those still there.

A little rain in the afternoon made the 28C/82F pleasant enough for me to get off the train in Zuffenhausen and walk home from there, taking in the cemetery where I'd not been in many weeks and went to say hello to my Dad's and friend R's bird markers. A beautiful butterfly on R's marker made me smile.

Again at the office on Thursday (8 August), and then to my Mum's. I had not seen her yet since my return. She made a nice meal for the three of us (my sister was also there), and we had a general catch-up. 

The day felt much cooler at 23C/73F, a welcome respite of the higher temperatures and a chance to get fresh air into the flat.

It was still fresh on Friday (9 August) morning at about 15C/59F when I got up, but the temperature rose to 29C/84F during the day.

I wisely decided to do my cleaning in the morning, before it got too warm and I shut down the blinds, and work afterwards.

With it being the school holidays, train connections are fewer than usual, and so I had to leave about an hour earlier than usual when I travel to O.K. At least both my trains were on time, and O.K. picked me up in Offenburg at 8:00 pm.

After a leisurely stroll through the city centre (bands were playing at various spots), we had a good meal outdoors at an Italian restaurant.

It was dark by the time we arrived at the cottage, and we did some stargazing on the balcony for a while. With the village not being as bright as the city, we could even make out the Milky Way, which I can never see from my flat.

Saturday (10 August) was sunny and hot at 30C/86F. A few jobs around the house and garden were in order, but we also took a bit of time out for a rest and enjoyed a piece of delicious plum cake, made by O.K.'s Mum, in the afternoon.

O.K.'s sister and her husband as well as his Mum joined us for a family BBQ at 6:00 pm, with the area in front of the house being in the shade by then. I'd not seen them since mid-July and was happy to catch up.

Another hot day was forecast for Sunday (11 August), and it certainly was that at 32C/90F. Almost exactly four years ago, we had chosen just such a hot day for a hike along the Gertelbach waterfalls - a good place to be, with the shade of the trees and the running water making for a pleasantly cooler climate.

View from "Herta-Hütte", the shelter where we had our sandwiches.

To me, the big boulder looks like an ancient sleeping creature.

We found the same spot again where in 2020, we played in the stream for a while at the end of our hike.

Getting up to mid-calf into the cold water was so refreshing! But eventually, I had to put my socks and shoes back on.

We repeated that hike on that day. If you go back to my post from 2020, you'll see that we tried to get to a castle on a hill but didn't find the right road to it. This time, O.K. suggested we try again, and we were successful :-)

Windeck is the ruins of a castle that originates from around the year 1200. Like all such places, over the centuries it has changed hands many times and was the subject of fights and sieges as well as fire. You can read more about it on Wikipedia (in English). Nowadays, visitors can climb one of the two towers, which offers fantastic views of the area.

Back home, for our evening meal we grilled the merguez we had left from yesterday's BBQ, plus a basket of vegetables. At dusk, we walked to the cemetery to water the flowers on the family grave.

My first week back was over, and it had been a good High Summer's week.