How Quickly Things Can Change

Dear me! Last week was one of those times where you wonder whether all of this is really happening.

But let me start from the beginning - always a good idea.

I was lazily lying on our red couch when the phone rang in the early evening of Labor Day - a week ago today. Only. The call came from a woman I had known about 10 years ago, but we had lost touch. She told me that the German Language School was urgently looking for a teacher for their adult intermediate class on their campus in my town. Their teacher had just quit that weekend, and classes were supposed to start the following Saturday (which was last Saturday). Since I used to teach German she thought she give it a shot asking me whether I was interested.

Heck yea!!! I immediately called the Head Teacher and already had a meeting with the staff the following evening. I had a good feeling about that, and two days later had my interview. I got the job - and had a day and a half to prepare for my first class. I had no idea how many students would be in the class, I was warned that the level of German was very different - from really good to more mediocre - and I didn't really know what they had done up to that point.

Talk about jumping into cold water and swim!

So I did what I thought would be interesting for a first class and marched in on Saturday morning. The class is pretty full - I had 12 students, but it appears that not everybody was there, so I might have one or two more students. Everybody was really nice, and after I got over my nervousness  (yes, I was very nervous) the class turned out to be fun. We laughed a lot, and while it is true that the German skills are quite varied I have faith that we can handle that. I signed the contract and am now teaching German every Saturday morning.

Ain't I the lucky one?

I never got a job as quickly as this one! From nothing to a job I like in less than four days.

I also want to say thank you to all of you who came up with a name for the little hand knitted dachshund. I had also asked for a name on my personal and my business Facebook page. In the end, the dog decided Dax was his name - thank you, Elephant's Child for the suggestion. It was the mischievousness you mentioned that made it!

Dax is now up for adoption in my Etsy store.

You probably have heard about the terrible Valley Fire in Lake County. Middletown is only about 30 miles from here over the mountains. We sometimes go there to one of our favorite breakfast places, the Cowpoke Cafe, of which I don't know whether it has burned to the ground or is still there. There is huge devastation in Middletown and the surrounding areas. The fire is huge and incredibly fast and something most firefighters say they have never experienced before. I heard that about 1000 homes are already lost, and thousands of people have been evacuated. It is dreadful. The fire has spread into Napa and Sonoma County as well. We are hoping for rain, but so far we only have grey skies. There is some moisture in the air which I hope will slow down the fire.

And while we have stunning sunsets due to the fire, the devastation goes on.

Protecting Wilderness

For this week's Good Fences I have "outside the box" fences again. I noticed them while hiking in my favorite state park that is practically at my doorstep.

We have a great network of beautiful trails through the wilderness of the park. These trails are used by hikers, runners, horse riders and mountain bikers. It shouldn't be too difficult to stay on these trails.

At least one would think so.

Unfortunately there are people who feel some kind of weird entitlement that allows them to go in the park wherever they want - actually, it's mostly "bike wherever they want" - and thus creating new trails where they shouldn't be, disrupting the wilderness and disturbing wildlife.

In the following picture you can see one of those illegal trails leading from the center to the right side of the image.

You can see the deep mark it has left in the park. There's a clear sign that you shouldn't use this trail.

But obviously the park is visited by many illiterate people, so the rangers tried a different method - natural "fences".

A huge branch blocks this trail, and from the look of it, it seems to work.

Here's another one - the branch was laid out quite some time ago. You almost can't see the trail anymore, the branch has deteriorated - this has been successful, it seems.

Here mountain bikers have taken a questionable short cut beside the trail, probably because it's less rocky. By the way the branches and big rocks are laid across the trail I got the impression that the rangers were pretty mad when they blocked this part. I honestly cannot blame them.

I've been here so often, but only recently did I notice this rock wall. I have no idea what the purpose of it is except that it's probably home to a few rattlesnakes.

This is such a beautiful place, and it truly makes me mad that some people don't respect the wilderness and create new trails. I don't understand why they aren't able to stay on the trails that are already there.

I'm linking up to Theresa's Good Fences.

A Favorite Place

Recently when I went down our street I saw that my neighbor had cleaned out her garage and put some stuff for free at the side of the road. This little table caught my eye, and after I had examined it and didn't find anything major wrong with it I took it home.

I had been looking for a small table for quite some time. I wanted it to sit next to the green chair in one corner of my garden where I love to sit and read or knit. However, I never had a place to put down my glass of wine or cup of coffee. This table was about to change that!

I wiggled it in place until it stood straight and solid (the legs are a bit crooked). I have a lot of linen napkins, and this one I thought perfect to cover the little table.

A pot of wavy petunias was the finishing touch.

So here's my little corner. It's in full sun in the early morning, but later in the morning the shade of the photinia covers it and it's a lovely place to hang out for the rest of the day. Unfortunately I sit here not as often as I thought I would be since there is always something to do. But when I sit here, reading or knitting, I deeply enjoy it. The hummers always are around and I love to watch them. It's a great spot to watch the birds - and the squirrels, too!

Do you have a favorite spot in your garden?

The Cows

There's something about cows that draws me to them over and over again. Not only are they such sweet creatures, they also remind me of my childhood when I was visiting all those farms with my Dad where he was vaccinating the cows against foot-and-mouth disease (this was during the 60's when this kind of vaccination was still done) or clipping on the earmarks. So when I saw this fence with these lovely cows behind it, I had to stop, get out of the car and take pictures of them.

Aren't they cute?

This one was particularly nosy.

Anybody who knows me is aware that I just don't simply take pictures of cows. Oh no! I talk to them as well - and as a result they come closer and closer to the fence, pushing each other out of the way. All of them want to see that crazy woman.

Some are more daring than others and put their nose through the barbed wire to sniff and lick the hand of that person. Cows are just like people - some are shy, some are brave, all are curious.

Have you ever noticed the beautiful and kind eyes of cows?

This is where they live - on juicy green meadows close to Tillamook in Oregon where they give their milk to be turned into lovely cheese and yogurt - and yummy ice cream! Thank you, cows!

Linking up with Theresa's Good Fences. Please come and visit some other fences as well!

Moon Over Yosemite

I'm joining Linda's Wednesday Wit and Wisdom once again. The challenge is to post a picture, then write a short story or a poem about the picture as a writing exercise. My inspiration today comes from this photo of the moon over Half Dome in Yosemite.

They had spent the entire day outside - walking through the snow covered meadows in the valley, sliding down a gentle slope in the afternoon, walking up to Mirror Lake and finally, after a dinner of pizza and some wine, the rest of the family had gone to the open air ice arena that was close to their cabin in Curry Village. She, however, had chosen not to skate but go further away from the village and watch the full moon over Half Dome, the landmark of Yosemite.

She stood at the low fence by the meadow, taking in the moon light and the silence. Every now and then laughter was heard from the ice arena, and if she turned around she could have seen the flickering light of the fire in the huge fire pit right next to the ice arena. But she didn't turn around. Her eyes were trained to the top of Half Dome that glowed mysteriously in the light of the moon.

Suddenly a shadow emerged from the trees to her left, a low shadow. Quietly it was moving toward her. She didn't even have to look to know immediately what it was. She stood perfectly still, only her eyes were following the shadow.

It was a coyote. A lone coyote strolling through the night, avoiding the loud humans and following the white patches that the moon painted on the ground. 

She almost held her breath, afraid to make a noise and scare the animal away. Her spirit animal. She didn't feel any fear, just gentle curiosity and a deep fondness. 

Finally the coyote noticed her. However, he didn't stop, just moved a little bit to the side and closely passed her in no hurry at all - as if he knew that she was some kind of kindred spirit and he was safe with her. She looked after him until he had disappeared among the deep shadows of the trees.

She stood there for a long time, staring to the trees. Then she turned around, cast a last look to the moon and slowly returned to their cabin.

*******

Another true story...

Animals Stitch By Stitch

Meet this little dachshund who, unfortunately, is still nameless. He enjoys to be outside and never misses an opportunity to smell the flowers. He's pretty sassy as well, but in a very sweet way. However, he doesn't like that he still doesn't have a name, and he wonders and hopes that you might find a good name for him? He would be happy if you let him know in the comments.

I found the pattern for this adorable little dachshund in our local yarn store, but you can also find it here. Rebecca Danger has several other patterns for foxes, birds, bunnies etc. as well. Some of the patterns on her blog are free - I just downloaded the one for the birds and will start that one very soon. The patterns are easy to follow.

As soon as the dachshund has a name he will be up for adoption at my shop. And of course I will let you know which name he picks!

I also finished another knitting project, and I absolutely love this one. I'm already at the third one! I've knitted a women's and a child's size of this little guy.

It is super easy to knit! My biggest challenge was to sew on the eyes and ears - I hate sewing! Currently I'm knitting a grey one that I will donate to a holiday bazaar.

Any projects you recently finished? I would love to hear what you did - let me know in the comments.

Driftwood Fence

The remains of a driftwood fence is more accurate, I think. I found this one at one of our beaches - we have tons of driftwood, but then I discovered that this wasn't just driftwood - it used to be a fence. I don't know how long ago that has been, and it doesn't really matter, anyway. It looks pretty cool and certainly is a "good fence".

In some of the old posts the huge rusty nails are still visible. Look here - can you see them?

This is one of the nails up close:

Pretty impressive, right?

Some of the posts were rather hollow...

... but the wood on top looked beautiful - worn and weathered for sure, but beautiful.

I'm linking up to Theresa's Good Fences!