Sunrise, Socks and Sartorial Snapshots

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while already know that my Mum calls herself a sock-knitting maniac, and that she sells her socks not only at small local markets (such as here and here, but also runs her own Etsy shop. If you want a pair of hand-knitted, warm and comfortable socks for yourself or as a present for someone, they are just one click away in the left sidebar of my blog. It's still early enough to get them to you in time for Christmas.

We did sell at the Advent market again this year:

10 % of all takings are given to a charity project the city of Ludwigsburg runs in a town in Burkina Faso. We stocked up our takings with personal donations and hope the money will be used well.

Part of the fun of having a table at this market is that we always meet people we know: former colleagues, neighbours, and other acquaintances. 

- - -

Usually, I am not a particularly early riser, and so it is only at this time of year that I get to see a sunrise. This was the view from my kitchen window a few days ago:

When it comes to clothes, this "winter" has not yet meant much of a change for me. The heavy woolly stuff was not necessary yet, and the other day I was able to wear an outfit I didn't expect to get out of my wardrobe again until next March or so:

For the office, it is still very much blouse-time and no need yet for jumpers. I found this dark green one and the one with the rabbits print at H&M two weeks ago and have worn them to work (not with the shorts though - they would be out of place at the office) already:

It is frosty today, though, and so I think something warmer is in order now.  

PS: Forgot to mention that I've added the solution to question # 3 in a comment to my "Puzzles and Riddles" post (two posts back). 

Read in 2015 - 35: The Cake Shop in the Garden

This was the second time I read something by Carole Matthews. Re-reading my review for "The Only Way Is Up" confirmed my overall feeling about the "Cake Shop": A nice, harmless read, but (sorry!) nothing I'd spend my money on or would actively go looking for.

The book was a hand-me-down from my mother-in-law, and I can see why she enjoyed it. Nothing challenging, a not-too-big set of clearly defined characters and a plot easy to follow.

What is it about? 
Fay lives in a beautiful if somewhat run-down house by the canal, caring for her elderly mother and making ends meet by having established a cake shop and café in her garden. Her father died years ago and her younger sister lives in New York and never comes home. Her days are filled with baking, working the shop and café (constantly interrupted by her very demanding mother upstairs) and spending quiet evenings home, sometimes joined by Anthony, her partner of 10 years who comes across as a rather stiff, middle-aged bore.

It looks as if Fay's life is firmly set in these routines for the foreseeable future. But then things begin to happen that make sure nothing is going to be the same ever again:

A stranger moors his narrowboat on the canal behind the house and asks for temporary work. The health of Fay's mother takes a turn for the worse. Her sister comes visiting. Anthony has a new member joining his handbell-ringing team. Fay finds out something about herself she never suspected, and her whole life as she knew it up to then comes crashing and tumbling around her.

What will she do - and who with? Where does her loyal if rough employee at the cake shop, a Latvian girl named Lija, come into play?

The overall plot was foreseeable. From the first moment a certain character is introduced, it is clear that this is who Fay will end up with. But some things happen that offer a little suspense here and there, enough to keep me reading on so that I could find out what happened next.

Although every character was fleshed out with enough detail, I felt rather indifferent about them - actually, I mainly wanted to know whether I was right in assuming where the story was heading (I was).

All in all, a cosy, light read with enough drama to make it not boring, but not so much so as to lose any sleep.

Puzzles and Riddles

Do you like puzzles and riddles? I like quizzes - especially of the pub variety, as you know. Every now and then, I also like to solve a riddle or puzzle coming my way, without ever actively looking for them. For instance, I'm not someone who buys books full of them, and I nearly always skip the puzzle page in my weekly paper's magazine.

Yesterday, my Mum had two riddles for me which she found in an Advent calendar that was a gift from one of her reading volunteers.

The riddles are fun and easy enough, and when later in the evening, RJ gave me a mental puzzle to solve, I had more fun and thought, why not share these three questions with you and see what answers you come up with.

1. Which word is always spelled wrongly?

2. Which birds hatch from eggs but never lay any eggs themselves?

3. Imagine three boxes of fruit. One contains only oranges, the second only apples, and the third both apples and oranges. You can't see the fruit, as the boxes are closed.
All three boxes are labelled ("Oranges", "Apples", "Apples and Oranges"). But none of the labels is on the correct box.
You have to label the boxes correctly, but you are allowed to lift the lid and take out ONE fruit of ONE box only (without looking at the contents of the entire box).
How do you go about it?

(I told you, they are all easy. I answered the first two instantly, and took about 20 seconds to figure out the last one.)

Post your answers in your comments - but in order to not spoil the fun for yourself, don't read what others have commented before you :-) (A bit like with Yorkshire Pudding's pub quiz post the other day.) Have fun!


Addendum: The solution to # 3 can be found in a comment to this post.

December Things

For most of the year, my flat is relatively clutter-free. I just love my clear lines and empty surfaces and walls. But there are two occasions when I do decorate: My birthday parties (as you've seen on my blog several times) and for the weeks from the 1st Advent Sunday to the 6th of January.

My Christmas decoration is nearly always the same. But this year, I have something new - a little glass fox my sister bought me at the Christmas market. I simply had to have him:

He is actually meant as a pending ornament, but he sits well without falling over, and has found his place on the top of the chest of drawers in my bedroom. On the wall above the bed is the bauble wreath, picking up the colours of the candles and the fox.

In Germany, it is very common to have an Advent calendar. Most years, I have more than one. This year, I have two, both filled with chocolates, and both gifts from my Mum and Dad. This one is new, sold at Ludwigsburg's tourist information and showing the market square with the fountain and the founder's statue in the middle:

Of course, I have placed my collection of Christmas cards under the glass plate on the desk in the Third Room:

All the ones I like best make it there - but please don't be sad if you don't see your card! It's not about who sent them to me, only about the card's picture or motif.

Advent wouldn't be the same without traditional German Christmas cookies! A good friend and my Mum gave me a tin full of their home-baked cookies each. You see why I don't need to do any baking myself ;-) (I really am spoiled, I know!)

Happy 2nd Advent Sunday!

More Than a Week Ago...

...Ludwigsburg's Christmas market opened.

Opening day is always the Tuesday before the first Advent Sunday, and this year was no exception. My Mum and I love the Christmas market and wanted to go as soon as possible, so our first visit was just in time for the Mayor's opening speech.

He didn't test the audience's patience too much; I think he only spoke for little more than 10 minutes. Of course he reminded us of all those people who have recently come to Ludwigsburg as refugees, and no doubt will keep coming, and how we should not forget about them in all our festive joy.

A girls' choir sang after the Mayor finished his speech, and after one or two songs, a group of people dressed up as King Friedrich I. of Wuerttemberg and his wife Charlotte (an English princess, by the way; daughter of King George III) took the stage, as well as their guards and some other characters from back when there were regular audiences held at the Royal court for the citizens of Ludwigsburg. 

The real Friedrich:

This life-size painting is in Ludwigsburg's palace, in the big throne room (there are also two smaller throne rooms, for more intimate audiences). Friedrich was 2,11 m (6'11'') tall (really!) and weighed around 200 kg (31,5 st), and his portrait measures exactly 2,11 m, too.

They re-enacted a short scene where two or three citizens came before the King to put in a request, and how the King (assisted by his wife) decided. The first one was a woman who had found a baby and wanted to know what to do with the little one. At first, the King ordered to have the baby sent to the town's orphanage. But the woman begged to be allowed to keep the child, and after the King's wife whispered something in his ear, he agreed to let the baby stay with the woman and give her the money that would have been spent for its upkeep at the orphanage.

The girls' choir sung once more, and then the opening ceremony was over, and we could go and have our first favourite food and drink which we always have at the Christmas market.

Here are some more impressions - sorry about the quality, but that is the best my camera can do at night:

Someone has put a Santa's hat on the raised hand of Ludwigsburg's founder, Duke Eberhard Ludwig

During the first week after its opening, I've already been 4 times to the market, usually to eat, but i've also bought a few things that will go into my Christmas parcel to my Yorkshire family.

November Sun, Continued

In my previous post, I said that it was only two Sundays ago when we went walking on that wonderful sunny and uncharacteristically warm day. That was an error; actually, it was three Sundays ago. Still, it was November, and I never expected it to be so much like spring or even summer.

Here are the pictures from the second half of our walk.
We went back down to the river and followed the path for a little while.
 

From below, the vineyards looked wonderful in the sun.

There were some former vineyards, too, with all of their old stonewalls still there.

We came past this intriguing place tucked away in an old quarry. I would have loved to further investigate, but we didn't dare getting too close and intrude on someone else's private property.

Shortly afterwards, we took a steep road uphill. On top of the hill, it was really warm and sunny again:

The same former vineyards we saw from below:

Now we were on the path leading along the top of the hill. Looking down across the vineyards into the valley where we'd come from:
 

Back through the woods, and eventually to the car.
 

We had coffee and freshly baked apple cake at our parents' place afterwards. The best possible ending to such a lovely walk!

I am glad we made the most of the last of the warm, sunny Sundays for some months to come.

November Sun

As I was putting together this post, I realized that I have used the same title twice before: Once in 2012 and then again in 2014. Well, good things come in threes, don't they? And so I have decided to give this post its most fitting - if a little repetitive - title: November Sun.

Look at what it was like here two Sundays ago:

Even the little lambs were out, enjoying the sun :-) (This super-kitschy deco was near a restaurant we walked past on our way into the woods. I found them so kitschy they were almost cool.)

It was less sunny on the steep path leading through the woods down to the river, but plenty of sunshine again at the bottom:

 Another more shaded path took us uphill along the river.

We stepped out of the woods to find this beautiful, almost alpine landscape:

 Round the bend, and back down to the river again we went:

And once more uphill, past former vineyards:

We arrived at the edge of an orchard and were ready for a break. The sun was so warm now, we had taken off coats and jackets, and I even did some sunbathing - in November! Temperatures were at about 20 Celsius (68 F), and probably even more on the ground where we rested.

I looked up in delicious drowsiness to see this right above me:

It was one of those moments when life seems perfect and you don't want to be anywhere else.

I'll show you the second half of our walk in my next post.