June Is Half Over!

...and the first half of 2025 will be over in another two weeks, as hard it is to believe. What have I been up to in the seven days until the 15th?

Monday (9 June) was a public holiday in Germany (Pentecost Monday). It meant that O.K. and I had another day together, unlike our regular weekends when he drives home on Sunday night or I leave by train early Monday morning.

It was warm-ish at 23C/73F and very windy, but remained sunny all day. In the afternoon, we went for a walk on the fields, taking in the cemetery on our way to my Mum's, where we, including my sister, met for coffee and cake. 

Afterwards, we walked some more, this time with my sister. Before O.K. headed home that evening, we ate the Tabouleh I had made, accompanied by a leafy salad with crumbly feta cheese.

The weather was pretty much the same on Tuesday (10 June). I worked from home, and after a productive day walked to Pattonville, where I had not been in a while. Usually, I enjoy that walk, but somehow I felt tired sooner than normal and decided to return home maybe half an hour earlier than what I regularly do for this circuit.

On a recently mowed field close to the busy road between Ludwigsburg and Pattonville, I spotted a heron (not an unusual sight) standing in the grass, waiting for a mouse or other small rodent to appear. Not far from the heron sat a large hare, a bit twitchy every time the heron moved, but totally unfazed by the cars rushing by on the road. I was very much hoping the hare would not start running towards the road, attempting to cross it; that would almost certainly have resulted in its death. But fortunately, the hare eventually moved away from the road and further into the field. Phew!

No change weather-wise on Wednesday (11 June). I was back to my normal self again and after having worked all day at the office, got off the train in Zuffenhausen and walked home across the fields from there, which did me good.

Thursday (12 June) was warmer at a high of 28C/82F. Another productive day working from home was followed by my standard walk to Benningen, always a good idea.

It was hot on Friday (13 June) at 30C/86F, the sun shining from an almost cloudless sky. O.K. and I were invited to a Pinseria (if you don't know what pinsa is - not the same as pizza! - you can easily find out about it online) in Offenburg, which meant I finished work earlier than usual in order to arrive on time. I made it, and we had a pleasant evening with friends and very nice food.

Saturday (14 June) was the hottest day of that week, the thermometer reaching 32C/almost 90F. We spent the morning doing the odd job in and around the house, having a good rest in the afternoon, and later enjoying a small family BBQ in front of O.K.'s Mum's house, where by then there was enough shade to sit comfortably. 

Next to me is O.K.'s Mum, but I have not asked her permission to be shown here.

Thunderstorms and heavy rainfall were forecast for Sunday (15 June), and they duly appeared - not just once, but several times during the day, and from late afternoon onwards, it rained almost non stop. The rain was important, as it had not been raining all week, but it made the air so humid that even just a short walk mid-afternoon was enough to send me back to the settee for a rest.

We ended the week and our weekend together with a delicious meal of fried green asparagus (probably the last one for this year), grilled pieces of lamb and a salad of tomatoes and mozzarella (not a full Caprese, since we didn't have any basil). For some escapism, we watched a cheesy made-for-TV film, the kind where you know exactly what's going to happen, and to O.K.'s amusement I even predicted some of the lines the characters were going to say, sometimes down to the exact words. Every now and then, I love watching something like that - just not too often, or my brain will turn to mush.

First Week of June

The first week of June saw rain every day apart from Friday. It was much appreciated for the gardens, fields and woods, but put a spanner in the works of many an outdoor event. It also meant some walkless days for me.

Working from home on Monday (2 June) gave me the opportunity to have a massage at the nearby Day Spa mid-morning. I was at work until 7:00 pm and then practically ran outside for some much-needed stretching of legs, catching a rain-free window of a pleasant couple of hours. The weather was a mix of clouds and sun, and it was rather nice at 24C/75F.  

On Tuesday (3 June) I was still working from home, starting with a relatively early conference call. The early start meant I could afford to break up the afternoon for half an hour by getting a haircut at the hairdresser's literally just around the corner from my house.

There was no time for a walk after work, since my team and I were booked for the pub quiz that night. Unfortunately, a last-minute cancellation saw only three of us at the table, when our team is regularly five or six strong. Still, we didn't do too badly: Of 30 possible points (which none of the teams achieved that night) we had 25. No prize, but we enjoyed a fun evening with friends nonetheless.

There is hardly anything worth mentioning about Wednesday (4 June). I worked at the office all day and went home; both train journeys were fine (so there IS something worth mentioning, after all!). It rained.

Thursday (5 June) saw me working from home again. After a rainy morning and a bit of sun later, clouds were back in the evening but it remained dry at 21C/70F. I took advantage of that and walked to Benningen after work.

It was very windy on Friday (6 June), but no rain. After work and doing my usual cleaning, groceries shopping and preparations for the weekend, all that remained to do was waiting for O.K. When he arrived at almost exactly 10:00 pm, we had a light late evening meal of quiche (courtesy of my Mum) and leafy salad.

On Saturday (7 June) we were booked for a guided tour "Märchen und Wein" ("fairytales and wine"), my birthday present for O.K. Here in Ludwigsburg, there are many guided tours in and around the city; some focus on history, others aim at introducing culinary delights or explain architectural features, and this one connected wine-themed fairytales with wine tasting.

One reason why I booked this particular tour was that it promised a visit to the  castle ruin above Hoheneck. It is private property, not open to the public, but it regularly features on my/our walks (you have seen it several times on my blog), and I have always wanted to explore it from the inside.

Now was my chance!

Stopping for a story and a glass of wine

Our storyteller was great! She acted out the crucial parts of each tale.

The castle ruin, as I have seen it many times...

...and inside, as I had never seen it before!

View from the castle across Hoheneck, the river Neckar and Neckarweihingen on the other side.

This vineyard hut is within the walls of the castle and part of the private property. We were allowed to end our tour there with snacks, the last story to hear and the last wine to taste.

Our group consisted of 16 people - O.K. and I were the youngest :-D

We enjoyed the tales, the wines and the walk, but being allowed behind the walls of the castle was my personal highlight.

After the tour, we walked to the palace grounds where the International Street Music Festival was in full swing. Until its official end at 11:00 pm, we strolled in the grounds and listened to several bands - nowhere near all 40 of them, but we found one or two we liked better than the others, and voted for them.

After so much walking and being outdoors all day and evening, it was hardly surprising that I slept rather well and late - until 9:00 on Sunday (8 June) morning.

It kept raining on and off, so we took our time for a leisurely breakfast and decided to go for a walk only in the early afternoon. That was cut short when we ran into a shower; usually, we don't mind a few drops of rain, but because of the high winds, the rain was blown straight into our faces, and so we took shelter at my Mum's. We had planned to see her later anyway, and so the visit was just a bit earlier. (Of course the rain stopped as soon as we were there.)

Later, we walked into town where the "Brautage" ("Brewing Days", a beer festival) were coming to its end after ten days. It was Rockabilly Night, reflected by both the live bands and their audience. 

We had something to eat and a drink each, but it was getting chilly with the wind, and although I like Rockabilly, we were both quite ready to go home and spend the rest of the evening quietly, out of the wind (and potential rain).

Read in 2025 - 12: Das NASA Archiv

Das NASA Archiv

Piers Bizony

This was one part of the space-themed birthday gift I received from my sister this year, the other two parts being a t-shirt with the ESA logo on it and tickets for a visit to ESA's headquarters in Darmstadt, planned for September.

The book was put together in occasion of NASA's 60th birthday and covers the agency's activities from the Mercury era to the Mars rovers. 

It is as much about the science as it is about the people who contributed in one way or another to the various programs, and contains essays by Andrew Chalkin and Dr. Roger Launius as well as excerpts from books by Jules Verne and others, plus transcripts of radio communication with astronauts and speeches made by some of them, by NASA officials and others.

I have been a space enthusiast for decades, and therefore knew much of what the book recalls, but by no means everything. Also, the way photos and words were put together sometimes made for a new perspective, and some of the pictures I had never come across before. In short, it is a great book to delve into, and I have enjoyed it very much.

It will certainly not sit on my book shelf undisturbed for long; it is the kind of book you take out every now and then to re-read a certain chapter or look at some particularly great photos.

Thank you, sis, for this great present!

Last Week of May

The first week of June is nearly over, and I have not yet written about my last week of May, which was largely dominated by a 3-day-trip to Berlin for work and saw very mixed weather and the - I think - so far hottest day of the year.

From Monday to Wednesday (May 26 to 28), I pretty much repeated what I have described in my 2024 post "Berlin Week": I was at the same hotel, met (more or less) the same people, visited the same beautiful park and took part at the same conference. Here are my photos from this year (in reverse order again, sorry):

My meal for the way home

Menue for the Gala Dinner on Tuesday night, page 1

page 2

Venue of this year's Gala Dinner

The venue is called The Deep

Ceiling at the hotel lobby

Beautiful Volkspark Friedrichshain is just up the road

View from my hotel room, St. Bartholomäus

My room

My room

My meal for the journey to Berlin

The train journeys were long and tiring, but went well overall. On the way back, we rode through a series of thunderstorms with sunny intervals, which made for some spectacular skies, last but not least one of the most perfect rainbows I have ever seen. Taking photos through the rain-splattered window of a fast moving train wasn't feasible, though, and therefore you just have to take my word for it.

Arriving in Stuttgart with a 20 minute delay meant I wasn't home until 11:00 pm, and went to bed rather soon after what had been a long and exhausting day.

Good job that Thursday (May 29) was a holiday (Ascension)! It was cloudy and sunny at a max of about 20C/68F. At 1:00 pm, my sister and I went for a walk across the fields to Kornwestheim, taking in the cemetery there and saying hello to our grandparents who have a compartment in the columbarium.

A little after 3:00 pm we were at our Mum's and enjoyed coffee and cake with her.

On the way back, my sister and I made a short diversion to the cemetery where my Dad and friend R have been resting since 2022.

It was just the kind of quiet, peaceful day I needed after the busy first half of the week.

I was working from home on Friday (May 30), and because I had not seen my desk or checked my work emails all week, I had a lot of catching up to do and did not finish until 6:00 pm, which is very unusual for me on a Friday.

However, I was under no pressure, because O.K. and I were spending the weekend separately, meaning I neither had a train to catch nor things to prepare for him staying with me.

After a quick stocking up of groceries, from 7:00 to 9:00 pm I went for a walk to the lake (Monrepos) and back, which really did me good after having spent the entire day at my desk. It had been as warm as 26C/79F during the day and so the evening was still very mild and beautiful.

On Saturday (May 31), I made sure to do my cleaning early, before it was getting too warm - the day saw the thermometer rising to 30C/86F. I spent good part of the afternoon sorting my wardrobe, finally relegating the warm woolly jumpers and knitted dresses to the back and pulling out some things that needed ironing after having been folded away since last summer.

At 4:00 pm, my sister and I met at our Mum's again; it was too hot to sit on the balcony and so we sat inside with the blinds pulled down, which was very pleasant.

Later, I walked with my sister to her allotment to see how her flowers and vegetables were coming along. Sadly, much of her newly planted vegetables had been eaten by slugs, in spite of countermeasures.

By 6:00 pm I was home, an hour before the heavy thunderstorm descended on us that had been foretold, including a bit of hail (fortunately not very long and with only small hailstones) and plenty of rain.

Sunday (1st of June) was back to 26C/79F and saw a quick succession of sun, rain, thunder and lightning, and sun again. In the afternoon, my Mum and I met at the bus stop near the Torhaus (gatehouse) where I had celebrated my birthday in March. As I have mentioned then, it is actually a museum for local history, and every 1st Sunday of the month it is open to the public.

We had a look around at the exhibition and enjoyed coffee and cake.

Back home on my own, I finished the last bit of wardrobe sorting and then spent a quiet, restful evening on my own.

Of course, as is always the case when O.K. and I are not together on a weekend, we spoke on the phone at least twice a day.

During the night, heavy rainfall woke me; I went to the kitchen window and it was like looking against a wall of water, as if my house was behind or under a waterfall.

All that water was very welcome but I was of course hoping there wouldn't be too much damage in gardens and on fields.

Read in 2025 - 11: Himmel über London

Himmel über London

Håkan Nesser

During our holiday in Austria, I browsed the hotel's extensive book shelves for a paperback to read while relaxing in the spa and in our room, and came across this one. I finished it on the very last evening and returned it to the shelf before checking out the next morning.

Himmel über London ("Sky Over London") is not my first read by this Swedish author. Decades ago, I read his "Kim Novak"-one, and then sporadically one or two of his books featuring detective Van Veeteren, but all this was either before I started my blog or before I started posting reviews of what I've been reading.

"Himmel über London" is a standalone novel, constructed in a way that keeps the reader thinking and wondering almost until the very end, where it all comes together and pieces fall into place.

There are several layers to the story, plus a "meta" layer, which is revealed only very gradually, making it a really interesting read, quite different from other books.

The main character is Leonard, a man who intends to celebrate his 70th birthday in London, where he lived during his youth. Since then, he has become very wealthy. Living in the US with his American wife, he now returns, terminally ill and knowing that this will be his very last birthday. His grown-up step-children are invited to the party, as well as two mystery guests. Only Leonard knows who they are, and why he wants them there.

While he continues with his preparations, a serial killer is on the loose in London, but what does this have to do with the story?

Chapters alternate not only between the main characters' perspectives (Leonard, his wife, the two step-children who have very special problems of their own, and one of the mystery guests). They also alternate between Leonard's present and his past, but it is always clear where and when we are, and who the narrator is. Add the meta layer, ultimately holding all the strings together.

It was a very intriguing read, seemingly straighforward at first, and becoming more and more complex - never to the point that I "lost the plot", but complex. I enjoyed it and really found it unputdownable at times. With one exception, I didn't like or relate to any of the characters, and when things turned out well for that one character in the end, I was relieved.

The author is very popular in Germany. Some of his books have been adapted for TV, and one of his first novels has become part of the reading curriculum in Swedish schools, according to the German wikipedia article. You can learn more about him on his own website.