Last Week

The first half of last week was sunny, and mostly mild. The second half saw a little rain, strong winds and many fast-moving clouds. The weekend was dominated by Carnival-related activities.

I arrived back home on the morning of Monday, February 13, with my trains being on time. The day was sunny, inducing me to an hour's walk on the fields in the afternoon. In the evening, a meeting with my volunteer group took place. (Our meetings are always a mix of serious work and good fun.)

Tuesday, the 14th, was once again sunny. I worked at the office in Weilimdorf and arranged to meet up with my sister after work, half way on our respective ways home. The original idea had been to walk from Zuffenhausen all the way home, something I've been doing many times. But because of my sister having to carry a heavy rucksack with her laptop etc., we decided to try a new route and get back on the train in Kornwestheim for the last leg of our journey. It was still a good walk and an occasion to catch up. 

Not my pictures but O.K.'s, taken on that day during his lunchtime walk near work.

It was really foggy that day in O.K.'s area - not here, though.

It was another day at the office for me on Wednesday (Feb. 15), followed by an excellent meal of home-made savoury pancakes with my sister at our Mum's. The pancakes were spread with a filling of creamy mushrooms, cheese and herbs, and then rolled up. The fresh leafy salad and the well chilled rosé wine were perfect matches.

Same place, same walk, next day. What a difference!

For Thursday, the 16th of February, my original plan had been to work from home. But the city of Ludwigsburg's electricity provider had left a leaflet in my mailbox, informing me of a planned power cut from 8:00 to 11:30 in the morning, due to necessary repairs. Without electricity, I can neither work nor heat my flat (I use gas but the actual controls and pumps are electric) - not even make myself a cup of tea or coffee. Therefore, for the third day in a row, I took the usual two trains to Weilimdorf. 

By the time I finished work, much of the day's sun had gone, but it was still good enough to walk home from Zuffenhausen, making a little detour to the cemetry and ending up with exactly 10 km. Not long after I arrived home, rain set in.

Friday (Feb. 17) was mild at 12C (53.6F) but grey, and again very windy. After work and my usual round of cleaning, I started my trip to Offenburg about an hour earlier than usual. The second of my two trains was delayed by over an hour, but a spontaneous change of plans allowed me to still arrive with only about half an hour's delay. Honestly, without the Navigator app on my phone I'd be lost when it comes to public transport!

The reason for my earlier trip was that this was the night of the traditional Preismaskenball in the village hall (literally "prize masks ball", meaning a Carnival themed dance where visitors can enter a contest for the best costume). Of course, this was the first Preismaskenball since the pandemic, and my third one. The motto was Hamburg, but we never go for the contest, we just go for fun, and made little effort with our costumes, merely borrowing sailor-style shirts and hats, since Hamburg's most dominant feature is its international harbour.

We dressed (and I even put on some lipstick) and walked up to the village hall, about 10-15 minutes from the cottage. The place was packed, and the general mood was cheerful and merry; it was obvious how happy people were to be able to go to such events again. We had a few drinks, chatted to people we knew, watched a few performances on stage by the carnival clubs, waited for the prize ceremony (and did not agree with all the decisions of the committee), danced a few times, and generally had a good time, going home at about 2:30 in the morning.

Back in 2018, I posted here about the ball. 

Understandably, Saturday (Feb. 18) started late for us. After "breakfast" (we're talking 2:00 pm), we took advantage of the mild weather (14C) and went for a walk around the village. Afterwards, we popped in at O.K.'s parents (their house is just across the road from the cottage) - unintentionally, just when O.K.'s Mum pulled her freshly made pizza from the oven, so we stayed for a few pieces before retreating to the cottage.

Hofweier's village church, St. Gallus

Sunday, the 19th of February, was the main carnival event for the village: a parade in costumes and with marching bands, one of those bands being the village brass band where O.K. plays the trumpet.

Those events mean O.K. is busy all afternoon and evening, and also the following day. Therefore, just like in previous years, the family met at O.K.'s parents for goulash soup (very nice) and a drink. O.K. then had to go join the band for the parade, while the rest of us watched the parade from the side of the village road. We then followed the groups down the village road, chatting to neighbours and friends along the way, and then having another drink at one of the venues open only for that occasion.

I liked the little Witch walking with her Mum (or Dad)

You can tell that being part of a carnival club is very much a family thing.

Yours truly with one of the (male) witches posing for a "selfie".

The "Domino" is the village's oldest traditional costume. I find them scary, much more than the witches.

This group (there are actually 5 or 6 of them, all sisters) represents Hamburg's notoriously bad weather.

At 4:00 pm, O.K.'s sister and brother-in-law took me to the train station, and I was home after an uneventful journey at around 7:00 pm.

The quiet evening on my own was not unwelcome after the busy week and weekend :-)

Read in 2023 - 4: Starvecrow Farm

Starvecrow Farm

by Stanley John Weyman

Another free ebook I came across at Amazon’s Kindle shop, and although I can not really recommend it without reservations, it did make for an interesting and somewhat different reading experience.

Published in 1905, Starvecrow Farm is set in 1819, a year that saw much action from and against radical political forces in England. The previous decades of industrialisation had brought great changes to society, with few profiting and many suffering from them.

Lancashire and the city of Manchester were centres not only of industry but also of political radicals. The events of the French Revolution, barely 20 years ago, were still fresh in people's collective memory. Not only for radical ideas and plans of revolution, but even for offences such as poaching a person could be imprisoned, deported to Australia or even hung.

In such a setting 19-year-old Henrietta, of a respectable but unloving family, flees the prospect of an arranged marriage and falls for a radical who entices her to elope with him.

During an overnight stop at a country inn, the man vanishes, and her romantic notions soon follow – especially when she learns the truth about him. Still, she has disgraced her family and can’t simply go back to pick up her old life. Also, there is still the matter of the man she was supposed to marry…

The young woman is falsely accused of being an accessory in the radical’s crimes, and faces aversity from all sides. She shows remarkable courage and resourcefulness to set things straight, and eventually does not only manage to clear her name, she even rescues a kidnapped child and finds a husband.

All events and places are described in much detail, which made the book more interesting than it would have been otherwise. But dialogue is lengthy and sometimes of the kind that makes you want to shake the persons who are speaking, urging them to say what they mean, and say it quickly.

The roles of men and women, of various classes and wealth, are very much rooted in the time not only of the setting, but also of the writing oft he book. Characters are very black and white with few redeeming features for the "bad" and few true faults with the "good" ones. There is humour in the book, too, but how much of that a modern reader will actually grasp is hard to say.

Anyway – it was my companion on the way to and from work for several weeks, and I have read worse (but also much better) books; if nothing else, I learned a lot about the social and political landscape of the time.

More about the author is here Stanley J. Weyman - Wikipedia. A version of the book with its original illustrations can be read online here (Project Gutenberg).

Read in 2023 - 3: Ich bin hier, und alles ist jetzt

Ich bin hier, und alles ist jetzt

Dr. Edith Eva Eger

This book was a gift from Eszter, a lady I regularly go to for a back and shoulder massage. She is very good at her job, and a wonderful person with a big heart, great sense of humour and a bright mind. We often talk about all sorts of things, and some time in autumn she told me of a book she was reading. I expressed my interest but because she mostly reads Hungarian, lending me her book didn’t make sense – instead, she surprised me with the German edition on my last appointment before Christmas, along with a bag of her home-made Christmas cookies.

The author combines her autobiography with her psychological expertise and uses her own story to show how people can find happiness and peace of mind even under the most averse circumstances, and even after the most traumatic experiences.

Nobody will doubt that being imprisoned in Auschwitz ranks highly among the most traumatic things ever. Add the fact that the author was only 16 when she was sent there with her family, with only herself and her sister surviving – it would be perfectly understandable if someone who has had to suffer through all that would turn bitter and spend the rest of their days unable to feel true happiness ever again.

Not so Edith.

She struggles to find her place in life after the war, eventually emigrating to the US. Things are not easy there, either; her marriage, her relationships within the family and with others are all affected by her refusal to face her past and deal with its impact.

But several crucial moments allow her to change her life completely, and much for the better. She studies psychology and soon is a much sought after specialist. While healing others, she also heals herself, and the stories of some of her patients are interwoven with her own.

If you ever feel sorry for yourself and think you can never be happy again (for whatever reason), I recommend you read this.

Much of it makes hard reading, and no doubt some unbidden mental images will stay with you for a while  – but they are nothing compared to what it must have been like in real life, and they are balanced by the optimism and kindness the author shows towards her patients, her readers and herself.

Dr. Edith Eva Eger is now in her 90s. Her wikipedia entry is here, and her own website is here.

I consider this an important book on more than one level and only wish I could have read it in English (the language it was written in), as I prefer the original language of a book (provided I am able to understand it, of course) to any translation, no matter how well done. Take the title, for instance: The original title of the book is "The Choice: Embrace the Possible", whereas the literal translation of the German title is "I am here, and all is now". Why the difference? I don't know who comes up with such ideas; why not simply translate the title? I know you can not always create a 1:1 translation that makes sense in the other language, but in this case, it would have worked well enough.

Again, it is an important book, well written, and can be helpful to anyone who chooses to read it.

A Sunny Weekend

My previous post ended with Friday, the 10th of February. On Saturday, Feb. 11, I woke up to another beautiful sunny day - and a nosebleed. (This happens every now and then, and I know there is a weak blood vessel in the left part of my nose that could easily be operated. But it is not bad or often enough for me to bother with such a procedure.)

I did my house work and packed my little red suitcase, said good-bye to the daffodils that were looking their best, and took the trains (all on time!) to Offenburg.

Having arrived at O.K.'s around lunch time, we had a quick snack and then went on a walk around the village before crossing the street to his parents, where we were invited for coffee and cake at 3:00 pm. O.K.'s Mum occasionally makes a raspberry cream cake, from the raspberries grown in their garden. It really suited the sunny day and the overall feeling of early spring.

His sister and her husband were there, too, and so there was lively conversation and some laughter at the table.

View towards the village from one of the surrounding hills

Sunday (Feb. 12) lived up to its name. There was no question whether we were going to go for a good long walk on such a day or not - the only question was where. We decided to drive the 15 minutes or so to Ortenberg and start on a panoramic round tour from there, a walk we have done many times in all seasons, often varying a bit as the paths cross each other winding along the vineyards and into the Black Forest.

You have seen Ortenberg Castle several times before on my blog, also close-up and the view from the tower, but this time we did not enter the grounds, just walked past it up the hill, and on.

It was warm enough for us to unzip our winter coats and walk without gloves and hats most of the time, but I kept putting my scarf on and off - as soon as you rounded a bend and were in the shade, or when the wind blew on the more exposed slopes, it was chilly enough to remind you that winter is not over yet.

We walked for a full four hours, only stopping briefly, drinking water and having an oatmeal biscuit while resting on a bench for a few minutes. The distance was somewhere around 18 or maybe 20 km, and I enjoyed all of it - even the uphill bits that I always find hard and which leave me gasping for air when I arrive at the top end.

It was 5:00 pm by the time we were back at the cottage; a little late for coffee and cake but we still had that before settling down for the evening.

Such sunny weekends with plenty of fresh air and walking in beautiful countryside do a lot for me and are the perfect balance to a busy week.

A Week of Sunsets

This post's headline means there was enough sun to see sunsets - and indeed there was! Also, I made up for not having walked much the week before and went on several walks. Because I don't want to make this weekly summary too long and bore you to tears, I shall end it with Friday and write an extra post for the weekend.

It was still cold and grey on Monday, the 6th of February; it even snowed a little late in the evening. After work, my sister and I met at my Mum's and helped her stow away the boxes of Christmas things. Some of these boxes have been in use for decades and needed replacing, and so we sorted, threw out, re-packed and labeled, and finally put everything away.

My Mum had asked for our help - climbing up and down the ladder to the attic is hard for her now, especially while handling boxes - and offered to cook for the three of us. I suggested this soup, a classic that we've always loved and often had when we were still all living at home: Grießklößchensuppe, a vegetable or meat broth with semolina dumplings and either green peas and sliced Wiener sausages or just vegetables, which was the choice on Monday. It was delicious and just right for a cold February evening.

View from my kitchen window at 10:30 pm, one night after Sunday's full moon.

Tuesday (Feb. 7) was even colder (-4 Celsius, below freezing point), but finally, the sky was clear and the sun shone brightly all day - I believe it was also the day when we hit the 5:30 pm mark for sunset. Hooray! 

I worked at the Weilimdorf office and got off the train in Zuffenhausen on the way home, walking the rest (ca. 9 km) which took me about 1 1/2 hours at a brisk pace - the cold did not invite a more leisurely pace, and I wanted to be off the fields and in a residential area with street lights before it got too dark.

Almost home, just before 6:00 pm; this is the view from the street parallel to mine.

Something unusual happened to me that evening - I FORGOT to eat chocolate!! I nearly always have chocolate after my evening meal in front of the TV, being on my own during the week. By the time O.K. and I were on the phone (as is our habit before going to bed), I had already brushed my teeth and only then remembered that I had not eaten any chocolate. And of course, I did not start then, with my teeth freshly brushed.

It was cold (-6 C) and sunny again on Wednesday, the 8th of February. I was in Weilimdorf again, but only had time for a 40 minute walk between work and an invitation to a meal from work at an Italian restaurant close to the office. My short walk was in a housing area just across the road from the industrial estate where I work, and it was new to me. I might go back there and explore a bit further some day.

A few minutes before sunset, and half an hour before I was due at the work dinner.

Thursday (Feb. 9) saw me working from home, allowing me to take full advantage of the afternoon sunshine. I interrupted work for about 2 1/4 hours and enjoyed every minute of my walk. 

When my Mum gave me this bunch of daffodils on Monday, they were just firmly closed buds. By Thursday, they were greeting me cheerfully every time I walked into the kitchen.

The same afternoon, my sister went to the cemetery and placed a potted primrose under my Dad's and friend R's bird markers.

It was an early start on Friday, the 10th of February, as I had to take two trains to Weilimdorf for the third time this week - but today, not to the office. Instead, my boss and I held a meeting of our regional group of Data Protection Officers. Our Stuttgart group counts around 75 members now, with usually about 20 attending the meetings. This time, almost half of the members joined in; it was good to see them all, catch up and exchange knowledge and ideas.

Good job I had set off from home really early - the local trains were not running, or running late, or running from a different platform than usual, or ending where they usually don't end, and so on. Still, I made it to the meeting in time, but was glad for the lift home my boss gave me afterwards.

Here is where we met, with a fine view of the sunlit hill "Grüner Heiner" ("Green Henry") at one end of the industrial estate where I work.

The open laptop computer you can see on the table in the far right corner is mine.

We had breakfast and our afternoon coffees and snacks in the adjacent room with a beautiful roof terrace - but it was too cold to go out, unless you were desperate for a fag.

Because I knew it was going to be a long and exhausting day, I was only travelling to O.K.'s on the Saturday, not the Friday evening. The day had been beautiful and sunny once more, but I did not have the opportunity for a walk.

Next up will be either one or two book reviews or my post about the weekend.

A Windswept Week

Last week, it was windy, grey, cold and wet most days with precious few glimpses of the sun or opportunities for walks.

On the morning of Monday, the 30th of January, I arrived home from Offenburg after an uneventful and punctual journey involving the usual two trains - why can't it always be so?

I had enough work to keep me busy all morning. The afternoon was dedicated to an online conference with my professional association, and then it was time to meet with my volunteer group. That was the best part of the day; my sister was there, too, and apart from talking "business" we also had time to catch up with each other and share a few laughs.

My Dad would have been 81 on Tuesday (Jan. 31). I worked at my Weilimdorf office, co-hosting and moderating a workshop, something I always enjoy. Participation was good, and we had no major technology issues to battle with.

In my Dad's honour, my Mum cooked his favourite meal that evening, and my sister and I joined my Mum and her close friend who lives in the same house. Surprisingly, I had only one tearful moment all evening.

On the 1st of February (Wednesday), I worked in Weilimdorf again and, although it was very windy, cold and grey, on my way home got off the train in Kornwestheim and walked the rest (about 5 km). 

For the 3rd time that week, I was in Weilimdorf on Thursday (the 2nd of Feb.). It was chilly in my room, and I was glad that I was going to work from home the next day.

Friday (Feb. 3) was here, and I was able to start and finish work early enough to take advantage of the last couple of hours of daylight. 

No rain was forecast, and there was even a spot of sunshine around lunch and early afternoon, but by the time I was out and on my way to Benningen, there was nothing left of that. Instead, the wind blew me about quite a bit, and for the last km or so, rain was coming from all sides. Luckily, I had not entirely trusted the forecast and had zipped the hood on to my padded coat.

O.K. arrived a little earlier than usual, and we started the weekend with glasses of Apérol Spritz (we like to mix it ourselves, with more soda than Apérol) and a meal of home-made creamy mushroom and onion sauce on ham and toast, covered with cheese and baked in the oven.

For me, the highlight of that week was definitely Saturday, the 4th of February. Not only did the sun manage to come through (although it was still windy and chilly), but O.K. and I went for a good long walk to Asperg and the castle on the hill (you have seen it on my blog several times).

Mark the spot on the far right of the wall on top of the castle hill of Asperg.

This is the open space on top of the hill...

... and this is the spot visible to the far right in the first of these six pictures, a popular viewing place.

Looking across the town of Asperg towards Ludwigsburg

Looking across Asperg in the opposite direction

We went back through Eglosheim, stopping at Katharinenkirche (Catherine's Church), built in 1497. Typically for a protestant church in Germany, it was locked, so all we could do was walk around it.

We did not choose the most direct route into town, as it would have taken us  along a very busy road, but instead walked through the deer park again:

Schloss Favorite ("Favourite Palace") - the sunlight was very clear and sharp and brought the colours out so brightly it almost hurt the eyes.

On into town we went, across my hometown's beautiful market square and home for a quick coffee and a rest. All in all, I walked about 14 km that day.

At 1/4 past 6:00, we were off again, but not far - only to the Indian restaurant around the corner from my house. I had booked a table for four, and my Mum, my sister, O.K. and I had an excellent meal. It was VERY noisy in the packed restaurant, making conversation rather exhausting. Still, we enjoyed the evening.

No sun, no walk on Sunday (Feb. 5). 

My order of freshly baked croissants and rolls was delivered, according to the automatised notification email, but - for the 2nd time since we've started to order from the bakery more or less regularly - the bag was not there when O.K. went downstairs to pick it up. My front door is not easily visible from the street, and only people who live in the house or have something to do here walk past the cars and actually know that there is a second front door past the first house. 

I sincerely hope that nobody in the house stole my croissants, but it has happened twice now and I really wonder whether I should keep ordering. Delivery is usually shortly after 6:00 - I am not willing to get up at that time on a Sunday morning only to make sure my paper bag is not nicked.

Oh well, I still had a few slices of toast and served it with eggs sunny side up for a decent breakfast. 

We spent all day indoors, watching silly movies (Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo, anyone?) just right for a day like that, having coffee and cake in between and later eating my home-made Kässpätzle (as seen on my blog a few times before) before O.K. packed his bag and left shortly after 8:00 pm for the long, rainy and windswept drive home.