Last of October, First of November

With the onset of November comes the distinct feeling that we're not far from winter, and that the four weeks of Advent and then Christmas (all of which I love) are just round the corner. But in spite of a wintry chill in the air some mornings and nights, we still enjoyed mild days and a mix of sun and rain.

Monday (27 October) started rainy, but the previous weeks' high winds continued and soon blew the clouds away; I even saw a pale rainbow from my kitchen window:

I didn't have time for a walk - for a very good reason:

My friend A who first introduced me to The Thursday Murder Club and keeps lending me the sequels as soon as they come out (and she has finished them) was coming over for our very own Movie Night. She doesn't have Netflix and therefore had not yet seen the film based on the 1st book, and although I saw it on its premiere night in September, I asolutely didn't mind watching it again.

I prepared a few snacks that the members of the Thursday Murder Club would certainly have approved of, and A brought an apple pie. We enjoyed the evening a lot, and should there be more films based on the sequels, we want to watch them together as well.

My team and I were booked for the pub quiz at "my" Irish Pub on Tuesday (28 October), always an evening to look forward to in spite of the VERY noisy pub. I managed to fit in an hour of walking between finishing work and going to the pub, which may (or may not) have contributed to us coming second although there were only four of us instead of the usual six. 

As usual, I spent Wednesday (29 October) at the office in Weilimdorf. It was a lovely autumn day of golden sunshine, and so on the way home I decided to stay on the train until Freiberg and walk from there to Benningen. It's not far, only about an hour, but because it was already late in the afternoon, I didn't want to get off the train earlier and walk longer, as the last 20 minutes or so would have been in the dark on the unlit fields.

Sunrise on Wednesday from my kitchen window, 7:00 am.

It wasn't as dark yet as it looks here, but the sun was definitely setting.

Another day at the office followed on Thursday (30 October), and afterwards, I met my Mum at the central bus station. 

From there we had only a short walk to a café where were invited to attend a reading of short stories and discussion about Freedom. One of my colleagues has a friend who writes stories, and she had put together some of them under the topic Freedom. The participants were invited to note their thoughts on what freedom means for them individually and on a larger scale.

A good idea and an interesting setup, but unfortunately, the café was busy and very noisy accordingly. We weren't in a separate room and had the full "benefit" of the background music, chatter of all the other guests plus the hissing and rattling of coffee machine, ice crusher and so on. 

Still, my colleague (who read to us the stories her friend had written) did very well, and we could more or less hear the stories and talk about them among us. 

Friday (31 October) would have been my late husband's 57th birthday, and of course I was thinking of him.

The following four pictures were taken that morning from my kitchen window in the half hour between 6:30 and 7:00 am:

O.K. had the day off and planned to catch up on jobs around his mother's house and garden, making use of a day without rain, and more daylight than what is left by the time he gets back from work.

He did plenty and was on the go until evening with only one short break, and by the time he usually would have packed his weekend bag and driven to me, he was quite exhausted and we both agreed it made more sense for him to rest at home and drive the 150 km to me the next morning.

Saturday (1st of November) was dull and grey, but dry; there was a faint promise of sun but it never materialised for us. It didn't matter, though; soon after O.K. arrived at my place in the morning, we set off in his car again.

Sunrise on the 1st of November

Just over half an hour from Ludwigsburg is the small town of Maulbronn, famous because it has a Cistercian abbey which became a UNESCO World Heritage site in the 1990s. The wikipedia article (in English) about the abbey is here and gives you all the dates and facts as well as more photos than what I am showing you here.

I have been coming to this special place for as long as I can remember, my parents often made it the destination for a family outing on a Sunday. We nearly always combined it with a visit to the lake you'll see further down, and sometimes we took a guided tour or, when my sister and I were old enough to appreciate it properly, attended concerts. I have many memories of Maulbronn and was happy to visit now with O.K.

But actually, we weren't here (mainly) for the abbey, but because a circular walk found in a book my sister gave me years ago starts and ends there, and we intended to walk it that day.

Once we had left the abbey grounds behind and climbed uphill, we reached the woods with the autumn colours lighting up the otherwise grey day.

The description in the book mentioned a viewing point and showed it on the map, but we didn't see the path that was supposed to lead there from the main path, and had it not been for a couple of helpful cyclists who showed us where to go, we would not have completed the walk in the way it was meant to be done.

With the guide book having been originally published in 2014, it was obvious that a lot had grown in the past 11 years, nearly obliterating that particular path! But we did find it in the end, and since we were wearing sturdy hiking boots, a bit of mud and thorny brambles didn't stop us, let alone the trunk of a tree that had fallen right across the path.

The views were rewarding, and we found a bench in surprisingly good condition where we had our sandwiches and a drink. 

Continuing through the woods (at one point startling a deer, which ran from us only a few yards next to the path), we arrived at the bottom of the slope. 

At the top of the hill is the hidden place where we had our sandwiches.

This bright yellow field is not rapeseed - that only grows here in April/May. It is mustard.

On through a few residential streets of Knittlingen and across fields, we reached the lake "Aalkistensee", literally meaning "lake of eel boxes", referring to the wooden crates used in the past to catch eel, once upon a time very popular for eating.

From there it was not all that far to the parking lot in Maulbronn, where we changed into regular shoes and went to a café for coffee and cake. After a brief visit to the souvenir shop (where we didn't buy anything), O.K. drove us home.

For our evening meal, I made Kässpätzle; a dish I like in autumn and winter especially, because it is done in the oven and so makes the kitchen really warm and cosy. I have showed Spätzle (the base for Kässpätzle) before on my blog, and Kässpätzle, too; so if you don't know what it is, you can click here.

Sunday (2 November) was wet and grey, but we still managed a walk in the early afternoon. Later, we and my sister were at our Mum's and enjoyed her Szegeden goulash (a Hungarian recipe), another typical autumn/winter dish.

O.K. left for home, my sister and I walked to our respective homes, and I ended the week with a combination of watching TV and reading.