September

My next before last post covers Monday, the 1st of September; therefore, this post about the first week of September begins on Tuesday.

There was some rain on Tuesday (2 September), but the sun came out later, and it was very pleasant at 20C/68F. I try to get a massage for my back and shoulders once a week at the nearby day spa, and managed to have an appointment around lunch time. After work, a walk to Benningen was a good opportunity to take in the beautiful late afternoon / early evening light - and I spotted the first autumn crocus along the way! 

Checking back on my blog, that first sighting in 2024 happened only a few days later.

Wednesday and Thursday (3 and 4 September) were office days, and especially the Wednesday was quite warm at 24C/75F after a chilly morning at 16C/60F.

My boss brought plums from his garden for me and other colleagues; this is how he left his delivery in my office:

I walked from Zuffenhausen to Ludwigsburg on my way back, but didn't go straight home. 

On the fields between Schwieberdingen and Ludwigsburg

Instead, my sister and I were at our Mum's; she had prepared a very nice meal for us, and I put a small item of furniture together for her (it still needs some work with three of the screws, where I simply couldn't fit them together properly - not for lack of understanding how it was supposed to work, which was simple and straightforward).

A thunderstorm in the very early hours of Thursday brought more rain and high winds, but as far as I am aware, nothing was damaged in my neighbourhood. I didn't go for a walk after work but went straight home, feeling very tired; more than what was justified by the work day, which really had not been stressful, but the thunderstorm had woken me up way too early and I didn't get enough sleep that night.

On Friday (5 September), I was working from home and went for a nice walk to Lake Monrepos late afternoon. 

A bit after sunrise, seen from my kitchen last Friday.

The stillness of the lake and the prematurely turning of the leaves of some of the horse chestnuts (not really a good sign; the trees probably didn't get enough water in spring and summer) made for a beautiful early autumn atmosphere, while it was still warm enough not to need a coat.

Because of a committment with the village band, O.K. and I spent the weekend each at our own place. I spent Saturday (6 September) partly with my sister; we visited the secondhand book sale by the church in the middle of town (and of course did not leave empty handed), had a very nice breakfast at a cosy bakery café, and strolled across the farmer's market on the square.

Later, I cleaned my windows (finally!! They really were a disgrace, especially when the sun was trying to shine through.) and eventually went for a walk to Pattonville, where I had not been in a while. For my evening meal, I fried slices of zucchini with diced onion and chestnuts - maybe not the first combination that comes to mind, but trust me, it was good.

Sunday (6 September) was the third time this year that I set off on my Steinheim walk (or rather hike, pf about 18.5 km). Click here for my previous visit in May, which in turn links to the February one.

That particular walk for me is as nostalgic (a few tears flow nearly every time I am on this route) as it is important to mark the seasons, and the changes from late summer to early autumn were visible everywhere. The vineyards are about to be harvested, the grass has been cut for the last time this year so that the summerly scent of hay is still in the air; atumn crocus adorn the meadows and apples are ripe on the trees.

I stopped on a favourite bench of mine for my sandwich and a drink of water. 

The view I had from the bench. By then, sitting in the shade was quite welcome.

Next was "my" grassy path - and only for the second time in all the many years I have been walking there did I encounter someone there! It was a lone man with a camera around his neck. 

We greeted each other, and he said what I had just been thinking, that it was very rare to meet someone on this particular path. We exchanged a few friendly words - and then he started talking and didn't stop... It was all interesting and good, about his hobby (photography) and his work (he's a joiner), his family (he has a wife and a 25-year-old daughter and small granddaughter) and local history etc., but I really wanted to continue my walk, especially since I'd only just been sitting on that bench and didn't need another break just yet.

The start of the grassy path; just a bit further on I met the talkative hobby photographer.

Eventually, I managed to politely extricate myself from the conversation and walked on.

That tree was still upright last time I walked here.

This one is for my sister.

Steinheim church

It was warm at 25C/77F now, and I was glad for my sunglasses, bermuda shorts and t-shirt, and that I still had water in my flask. 

I reached Marbach train station with the train already there, and it left a minute after I boarded - just in time! Had I missed it, a half hour wait wouldn't have been a problem, but it was still nice to be on my way home after the long, beautiful walk.

Read in 2025 - 22: A Brush With Death

A Brush With Death

J.M. Hall

This is the fourth and latest book in J.M. Hall's series about three retired school teachers who solve crimes mainly by meeting once a week at a garden centre café and discuss the puzzling cases, always related to them one way or other, over coffee and cake. 

If you want to (re-)read my reviews for the first three books, you can click here for #3, where you'll find links for #2 and #1.

As stated in my review for the 3rd book, I found there was a change in tone and atmosphere - and not for the better, in my opinion. Still, I was determined to buy the next one, and I did; once again, of course I bought it at The Little Ripon Bookshop, my sister and my favourite and "must visit" when we're in Ripon. (By the way, J.M. Hall mentions it explicitly in his acknowledgements on the last pages of the book.)

A Brush With Death was a delightful read, and I felt none of the slight disappointment or unease the previous one left me with.

As before, Liz, Pat and Thelma have things going on in their home lives, continued from "A Clock Stopped Dead". Still, they get involved with what by all accounts was the natural death of an Ofsted inspector, when his ex-wife doubts the verdict and approaches her former colleagues, having heard of their previous successes in solving mysterious cases.

Without revealing too much, I can safely tell you that in this case, no actual murder is committed - but one is planned, and three people die before the book is over.

Holiday Lets play a role this time, as do school inspections, much dreaded by all involved, something the three friends can of course fully relate to from the years they spent teaching.

Thelma has a "dark" secret, Liz has the "sugar police" coming after her in the shape of her grandson, and Pat is in for a big surprise.

Again, for me a lot of the book's charm comes from places and things mentioned I know so well, it being based in and around Thirsk and Ripon.

The underlying theme of an uncharacteristically hot summer - we're talking North Yorkshire here! - is cleverly woven into the story, and each chapter begins with a quote from a website, radio show, newspaper or other media, ranging from tips to beat the heat to the weather forecast. It is no coincidence that the heatwave breaks as the story is wrapped up - I like it, and am already looking forward to #5 in the series.

Covering New Ground

Like I said in my previous post, I left O.K.'s on the Sunday morning instead of Monday, and was going to tell you why in an extra post, which is this one you're currently reading about Monday, the 1st of September.

Sunrise on the 1st of September, as seen from my kitchen

For my birthday in March, my sister gave me not only the book about NASA which I have reviewed here, but also a visit with her to ESA (European Space Agency) in Darmstadt. (The post about my birthday is here.)

ESA's headquarters are in Paris, but Darmstadt in Germany is an important location as well. You can read about ESA as a whole on wikipedia here, and about its Darmstadt facilities here - and of course, ESA and its many facilities have their own official websites, too.

Neither my sister nor I had ever been to Darmstadt before, and we knew very little about the city. I booked our train tickets after we had found a slot for a guided tour on the 1st of September at 2:00 pm.

We arrived with about 40 minutes delay at Darmstadt's main train station, but of course being seasoned travellers by public transport, we had allowed plenty of time for just such a case, and weren't in any hurry to get to ESOC. Still, we walked the short distance from the station to the complex of buildings right away just to make sure we knew where it was, and then had a bit of a walk around Darmstadt, which admittedly we found rather uninspiring.

In contrast, the tour was great!! It was fascinating to see the places and props I had read about so much for many years, and it was equally fascinating to see my sister's curiosity and interest in everything - so far, she had never been much interested in anything to do with space, satellites, astronomy and so on, so this was really new ground for her in more than one sense. Her enthusiasm enhanced my own experience of the tour, plus we had a very good guide; he knew his stuff but did not flood us with a monotonous stream of facts and numbers. Instead, he explained things in a way everyone was able to follow, and showed us around the grounds and some of the buildings.

Wall clock outside mission control, showing GMT (it was 15:08:53 on our watches and phones)

Model of Europe's Ariane launcher

Model of the ISS suspended in a staircase

German astronaut Alexander Gerst welcomes all visitors (...and shows them the way to the toilet) ! :-)

I loved the flags of all ESA-participating nations on top of the main ESOC building

We were even allowed to look into the main mission control room, although the glass doors were closed for us; a simulation was going on and of course visitors would only disturb the important process of preparing for all sorts of issues that can happen during a satellite flight or probe's mission in space.

One and a half hours later, we left ESOC and walked back into town centre in search of food, and found an Italian place where we had a very late and welcome lunch. 

After that, we walked on and up a long, slight hill to a quarter of town called Mathildenhöhe ("Mathilda Heights"), famous for its beautiful architecture from the Art Nouveau era, called Jugendstil here (clicking on the word will take you to its wikipedia entry, where you'll see photos of some of the same places that we saw and which I am showing you here.

"Wedding Tower"

Angels guarding a golden door

We would have loved to have more time here - just walking among the gorgeous buildings for a couple of hours would have been nice, but we had to make do with a rather short glimpse before it was time to head back to the station, which took us little more than half an hour, I think.

Sunset at Esslingen train station where we had to change

Our trains home were on time, and we said good night happy to have had such a great day out together, loosely planning on a future trip to Darmstadt with a longer visit of Mathildenhöhe.