A Sunday Barbeque

Sunday, the 9th of August, was forecast to be even slightly hotter than the Saturday had been. We opted against running or hiking and went for a gentle walk around the village instead, in the morning before it became too hot.

There was a slight breeze, and it was actually a really pleasant walk, in spite of the heat making itself felt already. After about an hour, we were back at the cottage and thinking about lunch.

O.K.'s cottage is on the other side of a narrow cul-de-sac road from his parents' house, with a courtyard/driveway in front of their house and a strip of garden along the side. At that time of the day, it was still in the shade, and so we brought out the grill from the shed and had a barbeque for lunch.

Because of the wasps, we only grilled our food out there, but ate it in the kitchen, carrying our plates the few paces from the cottage's front door to the grill and back. It was much cooler inside, and no wasps! The grilled vegetables, sausage and rustic bread made for a delicious Sunday lunch.

We spent part of the afternoon resting, refreshing ourselves at the fountain a few times in between, and later had a cold evening meal on the balcony. By that time, the heat had become bearable, and we sat there long after sunset, admiring the beautiful starry sky. Even the Milky Way is visible from there - no chance of that in town, where I live.

Having decided to take the Monday morning commuter train instead of heading home on the Sunday evening made it all so much more relaxed and pleasant. All went well on the Monday morning, too, and I arrived home with 20 minutes to spare before my first conference call of the day.

Hiking on a Very Hot Day

Saturday, the 8th of August, was a very hot day (again) with the thermometer rising to about 35 C (95 F) during the day. Not exactly hiking weather - unless you know where to go.

We started relatively early and chose a circuit that would take us almost exclusively through the woods. The circuit is called Gertelbach-Rundweg and is relatively short at just under 10 km. Its first part is an almost constant climb, often rather steep, alongside a little stream that splashes and tumbles down over and between boulders and rocks. The sound and sight of the water alone made for a much fresher, cooler feel. See for yourself:

View from Wiedenfelsen towards a hotel popular for weddings:

There was a wedding party on the large rock, the bride teetering on her high heels in her gown, the photographer struggling for a good camera position.

It was almost precisely 12:00 - lunchtime! - when we reached the Hertahütte ("Herta's Hut"). At that moment, we were on our own, and decided to have our packed lunch in the shade of the open-faced hut, enjoying the beautiful view:

About half way through us munching away on our sandwiches and other good things, a family arrived. We said hello when they entered the hut, but only one of the women said hello back - the others behaved as if we were not there. Such impoliteness is annoying, but what can you do other than shrug it off - it is not worth it getting angry, especially not on such a fine day. We left soon afterwards.

One or two km from the hut is a beer garden and restaurant, Kohlbergwiese, in the middle of the woods. We stopped there for a shandy, and although the drink itself was a very welcome refreshment, the many wasps were not. More than once I jumped up from my seat and ran a few paces away, since they just would not leave me alone, whizzing around my ears and eyes and hair instead of concentrating on finding food and drink at someone else's table.

We managed not to get stung and walked on:

It was about 2:00 pm by the time we reached the parking lot that marks the beginning and end of the circuit.

Before we drove home, we took our shoes and socks off and played in the stream for a while - that was so much fun! It reminded me of when I was a child; my sister and I often went hiking with our parents, and whenever there would be a beck or stream along the way, we would stop and play there, building dams or just paddling about in the cold water.

We were seeing friends at a beer garden in town the same evening, but it was still early afternoon, and we decided to try and find a way to a castle (Burg Windeck) we'd seen on a hill on our way. The signs were clearly pointing us in a certain direction, but at one point, there were no signs anymore, and we ended up driving a road that was going uphill but obviously not the right hill. No matter, it was still a beautiful spot for a view across the Rhine valley:

Back home, we had enough time for coffee and cake and then a rest before it was time to freshen up and change into different clothes. We cycled the roughly 9 km into town to the beer garden where we were to meet with friends. I had feared the wasps would bug us there, too, but it wasn't too bad - probably because they were truly spoiled for choice there! And after sunset, they were gone anyway.

We spent a nice evening before riding our bikes home in the dark. Arriving at the cottage, we saw that some of the neighbours had brought garden chairs and drinks out and gathered around the fountain at the side of the village road; we joined them for one last drink before finally calling it a day.

A Gift and An Advert

It was my Mum's birthday on Wednesday. The weather was pretty much the same as it has been for a while now; very hot with daytime temperatures well over 30 Celsius and not really cooling off at night, making it hard to sleep and not easy to concentrate on work the next day.

However, this post is neither about the weather nor about the small but lovely birthday celebration we had - it is about one of the gifts I gave my Mum.

She had long been talking about wanting a new mousemat / mouse pad, and I knew just where to have one made specifically for her:

Good friends of mine in Yorkshire have recently started their own business, Illustrated Solutions LTD, printing whatever motive you choose on a vast range of products such as t-shirts, mugs, key rings, bags, coasters and - in my case - mousemats. They can do sublimation and 3D prints, and will print for you even if it is just one single item. Of course, they will happily print any number of items; for instance, if you run a small business and want to give your team and your best customers mugs for their tea and coffee breaks with your company logo, Nigel and Fiona are the ones to turn to.

Same is true for whatever other event or occasion you want to mark with a special memory, say a wedding or a big birthday party; you could create coasters for your guests as a take-home gift, or what about giving the members of your book or poetry club t-shirts with your club's name? The ideas are endless! If you are not sure about what to do, you can browse their designs or get in touch with them - two very nice and creative people will help you get your idea off the ground.

Have I mentioned face masks yet? All of us need them now, nobody enjoys wearing them - but you can make it more pleasant by having your own personalised mask, or give one as a small but very useful gift. Business owners can equip their staff with masks showing the logo, something I would definitely do if I were running a shop or café.

From the time I asked my friends about the possibility of having a mousemat printed for my Mum until I had the finished product in my hands took only a few days - and most of that was shipping time (they are in the Barnsley area whereas I live, as you know, in south Germany). They really offer quick and friendly service, quality products and neat packaging, all at very reasonable prices.

Here is the mousemat I gave my Mum. The picture is one you have seen a few times on my blog, the view from the area where my parents used to have their allotment, and where my Mum and I have walked often.

Find them here on Facebook and see pictures of their many products.

Read in 2020 - 17: The North Yorkshire Cook Book Second Helpings

The North Yorkshire Cook Book Second He

lpings

compiled by Emma Toogood, written by Katie Fisher and Kate Reeves-Brown

This was a Christmas gift from my sister, and made for a nice, but bitter-sweet read. Why? Unlike most cook books, this one is not divided into chapters by dish, such as starters, soups, mains, salads and desserts. Instead, it moves from one restaurant, farm shop or café to the next, one chapter for each of the 26 places in alphabetical order. One page introduces the venue, often with a bit of history of how the owners came about to run it, how long it has been in the family and so on. There are photographs of the team and of the place. One or more of their recipes follow.

The writing about the pub/bar/tea room is full of optimism, the owners and/or chefs describing what they do with passion and dedication - all of it was put together in 2019, pre-corona.

None of them knew or was able to foresee what 2020 would bring, what the lockdown was going to mean for them, their families, their business. But by now, things will have changed more or less dramatically for all of them. I imagine that some have adapted better than others, maybe offering pick-up and delivery service, while others may have had to shut their doors forever.

That, reading about how positive they were all going about their work, and knowing how the situation has changed since then, made me sad, hence the bitter-sweetness.

It is a lovely book, advertising not only the places that (used to?) serve great food and drink in North Yorkshire, but also giving the reader a chance to recreate some of their recipes and experience for themselves the great variety of locally sourced and influenced dishes.

Some of the places I know from visiting (The Wensleydale Creamery) or having read about them elsewhere (Jervaulx Abbey Tearoom, Roots York, Vale of Mowbray). Many of the recipes appeal to me, and I am tempted to try a few myself. Writing and editing are good, instructions clear, pictures appetising.

The book is part of the "Get Stuck In" series, which covers Bristol, Lancashire, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Edinburgh and other places. A great gift for someone who has a particular affinity to a city or region, which is of course why my sister gave me this one. You can find out more at www.mezepublishing.co.uk.

Last of July, First of August

This post will probably not require two mugs of coffee for Graham, as it is simply a quick summary of what the last days of July and first days of August were like.

Sunday, the 26th of July, saw us walking/hiking again. This time, we had chosen the "Durbacher Höfe-Weg", a circuit that starts from outside the small town of Durbach and covers several typical Black Forest farms along the way. The pictures show the old building (not lived-in anymore) of the first farm; the family now live in a building from the 1990s on the other side of the path (not shown here).

I did not take  pictures of the other farms; they were picturesque enough, but they are also the private homes of families, and there were either people about or it was raining.

Yes, raining!! We had checked the forecast, as we always do, and were sure that we would not get wet. Well, we were so, so wrong! Even under cover of the dense forest, we ended up completely soaked. Good job it was still warm, and the drive home wasn't long; we hopped into the shower and changed into dry clothes immediately. The hike itself is beautiful and I would like to repeat it some time under more favourable circumstances.

What I really dislike about my weekends at O.K.'s is early Sunday evening, when I know I will soon have to leave. O.K. takes me to the train station and I have to get on a train just when the evening light is at its most beautiful. But there is a solution to that: I stay another night and take the first commuter train on Monday morning. It means a very early start for me, but if all goes well, I am home just after 9:30, in time for my first call at 10:00.

To reconcile myself with the early start (and to have some breakfast, as I can not bring myself to have anything but a mug of coffee first thing in the morning), I bought a croissant at the station and enjoyed it on the train; a rare treat for me. Of course I still wore my face mask as required, but it is allowed to take it off briefly when eating/drinking.

The rest of the day (Monday, the 27th of July) was hot - 30 Celsius and no rain in sight. I went for a walk down to the river after work; it was nice enough but too hot for walking any longer.

On Tuesday (28.07.), I met with my sister after work for a walk in the palace grounds. Afterwards, we had burgers and chips at the Irish pub (yes, "my" pub, the one that is frequently mentioned on my blog). Sitting on the market square in the shade of large umbrellas was ideal, and the wasps weren't bothering us too much, either. The chips were hot and crips, the (veggie) burger nice, the cider well chilled - what more could one want on a summer evening!

Wednesday, the 29th of July, saw me at my bread-and-butter client's office for the first time since March 17. I had the room all to myself and spent the time between meetings at my desk. It was good to work face to face with some of the people I had not seen in months. The plan is to have regularly one day per week there, which is fine by me.

You can tell from this picture that the small room is usually packed with my colleagues and my boss - but they all work from home now, or at other clients' offices, such as in Munich:

Thursday meant working from home again, with a short-ish after work walk, as it was over 30 C. On the Friday evening, O.K. arrived for the weekend. The thermometer rose to 34 Celsius that day, so I made tabouleh for our evening meal. It turned out well, and I had enough left to last me for lunch on Monday.

Saturday, the 1st of August, was Yorkshire Day! Of course it does not mean anything to the people of Ludwigsburg, and we did not do anything particularly Yorkshire-ish, either, but we had a small gathering (all perfeclty socially distanced) with my parents and my sister and the friend who lives on the ground floor in the same house as my parents. Her garden is at the back of the house, meaning it was well in the shade and really pleasant to sit there in the evening, not too hot. 

We had ordered food from the pub to pick up, but we should have known better - by the time we had navigated the many construction sites and the inner city traffic and brought the food out to the garden, the chips were soggy, the fish was almost cold and the burgers dry.

Never mind, we still enjoyed the evening - my Mum's delicious rosé wine certainly contributed to that, as did the friend's cat, who kept us company for much of the evening!

We now plan to have my Mum's birthday next week there in the garden, too.

The moon that night appeared unusually big and bright. I took a photo but it didn't come out well; this one is from my sister:

Sunday saw almost a repeat from the previous Sunday, when we were soaked on our walk: A morning walk was under grey skies but dry; a late afternoon walk looked promising but ended up partly in the rain again, not quite as wet as last Sunday, but enough to make us shorten the walk. It made the night cooler and better suited for sleep, though, plus we really, really needed the rain (and need much more).

All things considered, I'd say that the last of July and first of August has been good in my small bubble of the world.

Read in 2020 - 16: Thinking On My Feet

Thinking On My Feet

Kate Humble

One of my blogging friends (some of you know his blog quite well) and I share a love of walking. We walk every chance we get, we write about our walks on our blogs and show pictures of them. It is therefore hardly surprising that he enjoyed "Thinking On My Feet" and posted this review back in March.

I commented on the review, believing it was my kind of book. And I was right!

It was the kind of book you look forward to returning to every night before going to sleep. It was the kind of book you are torn between reading on, and pacing it so that it lasts longer. It was the kind of book that made me smile, nod, and kept me engaged throughout.

The book is neatly set up like a diary, starting on January 1st and covering a whole year's worth of walks, hikes and runs. Many are close to home, some are much further afield. Some are strenuous, others gentle; there are short and long walks and hikes (one lasts for nine days). The places, the weather and the climate are just as varied; from New York City to Kenya, from fields and woodland behind the farm in Wales were the author lives to a carribean island; she encounters anything from snow to drenching rain to friendly sunshine and tropical heat.

For many of the walks, Kate is alone with just her dogs; others are with her husband, a friend, a small group of friends or someone she is meeting in the line of her work.

No matter what, though, all those walks have in common that there is something liberating about them; as the subtitle of the book says, the small joy of putting one foot in front of another.

This quote from the end of the preamble sums it up nicely:

Walking is the perfect way of moving if you want to see into the life of things. It is the one way of freedom. If you go to a place on anything but your own two feet, you are taken there too fast, and miss a thousand delicate joys that were waiting for you by the wayside.

Looking back at the few books I have read so far this year, I am tempted to say this is my favourite read of 2020. Of course, there have been other great books that stand out; the Leonardo da Vinci biography comes to mind as well as the novel about the Brontes. But Kate Humble's thoughts about walking are so similar to my own that it is a very special book for me. I can imagine picking it up again in a few years, reading it over the course of a year like a diary.

Until reading this book, I didn't know anything about Kate Humble. If you want to learn more about her and her work, you can find her on wikipedia and at www.katehumble.com.

Thank you, Neil, for this wonderful book!