Altweiber Sommer

aka:  Indian Summer

Altweiber means old woman but don't take it personally ladies - it just refers to the last days of summer, late in the life of summer and so, old. 

Yesterday and today were such days and we hope to enjoy more of these Altweiber days before they go away for real, and not show up again for the months of gray and wet (that maybe should be called old man winter - oh, it is!). 

One simply has to get out, and we do - along with about 95% of the population here and about - it gets crowded on the bike paths!!  After a lovely and typical German breakfast (rolls, boiled egg, sliced cold hams, liverwurst, and jams - y u m!) we outfitted the bikes and ourselves.  It's sunny, but not exactly warm - lower- to mid-60s - so a sweater or fleece jacket for us folks though we saw some more adventurous types wearing less.

There were lots of fall sights along our route today.  Just outside our driveway, the old beech is changing colors.

.... and rose hips are bright red and ready for picking,

... and hay is drying in the field, waiting to be stored,

... and lots of mushrooms are still available to pick in the forest, but DO NOT eat these - they'll make you crazy, 

... and a butterfly enjoying the asters,

 

... and the brilliant creepers, though only for a week or less - then the leaves fall all at once to the ground and all that's left are the naked stems!

... and somehow or another someone lost a heart along the bike path. Sad.

... and since EVERYONE is out and about, we get to run into folks we know and stop and chat and talk about how wonderful the weather is! 

Blooms

Some months ago while visiting Mutti, I noticed her African violets and asked if I could take a leaf to root. Sure, she said. You can make plants from the leaf??

Of course you can. It's fun to take a clipping of something and make a new plant. (It seems I am related to my mother after all.) It's fun too, to discover something growing in our little garden, recognize it's not a weed, and let it grow a bit to see what happens. There are a few things we now enjoy that just came up from wherever - serindiptous.

So, the African violets finally grew leaves, and finally got old enough to make flowers. Nature is pretty amazing. All this from two leaves. Wow.

Assorted KetchUp

I feel busy and not-busy, distracted and concentrated, lazy and - back to the beginning - busy. All at the same time and not. Do you understand that? Neither do I.

Of course, I think I am like everyone else and that everyone else is just like me so of course you understand. On the other hand, I often find that I am out standing in my field, and that I am all alone.

If you can't figure that out, it's OK. Werner and I can't either - and I'm writing it! . Here's the KetchUp.

Art KetchUp

Last weekend we made a side trip to Delmenhorst. We have biked there before - it's only 20K or so from here, but because it is cold and seemingly always threatening rain these days, we took the car. There's an exhibit of works from German Art Nouveau in the small city museum - always a pleasant diversion.

Here's Werner checking out one of the paintings.

And here is evidence that needlepoint has been around as a decorative element for some time (of course, much loner than this). I don't see needlepoint in museums often, and though I'm not tempted to recreate this pattern, it was nevertheless confirming to see that artists who create paintings also have inclinations to make our daily lives more ... artful. And that was the whole point of the exhibition.

Spring KetchUp

After the cultural refreshment, we took in some natural refreshment - and though it is still cold and wet (I did say that already, didn't I?) there's evidence that spring is coming. Color is so welcome and in the local park there were these snowdrops.

Then of course it was time for - what else - Kaffee und Kuchen. We found a local café and after a bit of refreshment we headed home to ---

Food KetchUp

We haven't stopped eating. We're in pause mode regarding dinners out at friends' but have had some pretty interesting dinners at home: Sauerkraut with Pinkel and boiled potatoes (don't knock it till you've tried it), tomato and fennel sauce with pasta (one of my absolute favorites) and the other day it was Tuscan white bean soup with kale.

I had to start this dish immediately after breakfast so the beans could be cooked soft before we went off to classes and such. When we got back we added the rest of the ingredients and had this wonderful - really tasty - dish for dinner. For a cool spring evening, I can't imagine much of anything that could taste better. A salad, some crusty bread, oh my oh my. Believe me, the time is worth it. And of course you make A LOT so there are left overs so you don't have to cook the next day! How great is that? The recipe is here, and you should really do it. Really.

Word of warning: I didn't EXACTLY follow the recipe. What else is new? I had some great local smoked bacon, so didn't need the pancetta. I used only kale and no escarole. I used fresh tomatoes because I had them and I didn't have celery but I put in more parsley. Doesn't matter, it was still wonderful.

Project KetchUp

We need more projects? No, but there was an auction the other week and I found these orphans. They needed a home. And I thought they'd like it here with us.

Like all the other things I've adopted over the years, they need some attention and work and a little love. They'll get a good work over from Werner and I already have new covers for them in my mind. They might have to wait a while though. But I think they've already waited a good many years and maybe they are patient enough to wait for me.

Not Yet Spring

It has snowed practically every day the past week; it doesn't stick so well - it isn't really cold enough. That sound's weird, doesn't it? But it's the truth. And then, there's the fact that the snow isn't cold enough and is sometimes mixed with wet and then we get raining mush. That's really not so much fun.

HOWEVER, this time of year, just before we become desperately desperate for spring, we force it. Branches from forsythia, cherry trees, gorse and other flowering shrubs are cut and brought inside to bloom early. It's the bridge from winter to not winter.

Consider this a bright sunny bouquet for Barry, whose surgery went well and who we wish the best of all recoveries.

Blooms

Remember when you sent me Cleome seeds for Christmas, Ginny - four years ago ? - and said it was a lifetime supply? Well, I planted some seeds the first year, with poor results. So the seeds just sat.

This year while cleaning up I saw them again and thought, here they are, they won't get better or stronger, so let's try again. Wow. These are POTENT SEEDS.

I'll save some of the fresh ones for next year, but I think I'll keep the old ones around, too.

Artificial and Natural
and vice versa

We've been really busy. There's so much to do before leaving for 2+ weeks and - AND - we don't want things waiting to be done when we get back here with two kids in tow! So, we've done some painting, I've (almost) finished the new stuff for the bedroom that Hunter and Hannah will occupy (a later blog post on that), we've again cleaned up the plants and linden trees and the deck and terrace and stuff. For such a small space, it seems to take a lot of time.

I've been nursing a boxwood since we moved here. It was a sprout that came up unexpectedly but for all that - because of that - welcome.

It grew and was happy but then we re-did the back. It was uprooted and moved and re-potted and moved and moved again. It's been in the same place now for a couple of years and seems to be really settling in. It's put out a lot of new growth and the topiary I had earlier envisioned is becoming .....

a PELICAN!

But that is the artificial stuff. There's the natural stuff as well. It's not unrelated - the boxwood started without any help from me. So did the foxglove.


It seeded itself between the rocks in the hard dry soil and just comes up and flowers all on its own. Wow. That's a wow.

Easter

Easter is a major holiday here - not quite a four-day weekend, but almost. Good Friday is a holiday as is Sunday and Monday (Easter Monday, though I don't think you'll find in on any Ecclesiastical calendar). And holiday here means the stores are closed, so there's negligible traffic on the street and in general it's just quiet.

We planned a relaxed weekend: a visit to a gallery in Worpswede, marketing and cooking and a movie or two. Inside was the operative word, since the weather gurus had predicted cold and wet.

Turns out they were only half right. Easter was glorious. We went for a bike ride, though it was only about 40°, but the sunshine demanded it. Here were a couple of sights:



our blooming camellia (I bought it two years ago and it's really grown well, though sometimes when it's FREEZING I bring it in for the night...)



an egg-decorated tree






and eggs on a flag pole.






And here's the other half of the weather prediction. We did get some cold and wet after all.