Another Day, Another Lake, Another Walk

 

Most of my walks these days are short walks which among other things is due to my left knee that still hasn't improved very much. My orthopedist suspects that I have a torn meniscus and on Tuesday I'll start PT for that as well as for my sciatica, so there is some hope on the horizon. However, I have to keep my walks short since after about 30 minutes of walking my knee starts to become quite painful. I usually ice it  and it will be better for the rest of the day, but long walks like I used to do is stuff for dreams at the moment. 

Close to "my" lake there is another much smaller lake and this time I decided to walk here because I figured that it would take about 30 minutes for a roundtrip.

There were ducks and a swan on the lake, and on the shore ground squirrel chased around in abundance. Look at that sweet face - this will be for Nicole's Friday Face Off.

There are not many people on this side of the lake. The trail passes through the woods and looks rather romantic.

It's also very rough and uneven which might be a reason there are so few people here. I prefer this to the paved and gravel paths, but you have to pay attention.

There are crooked trees and beautiful views of the small lake through the foliage .

And the birds were happily singing along! Just listen to this one - it almost sounds as if the Red-winged Blackbirds and the Great-tailed Grackle were in a competition of who can be louder.

These photos of my walk show some of the beautiful landscape - perfect for this week's prompt at Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date which is "landscape". But I also have a dinner to share. A few weeks ago I found this recipe for Rosé Shrimp at NYT Cooking and knew that I had to make it. Last Friday finally was the day to make it since just a few days before I had received the piment d'Espelette which gives this dish its flavor. This was the first time that I tried this recipe and therefore followed it to a T, but when I'll do it again I will change it a little bit. 

If you cannot access NYT Cooking, here is the recipe.

Guess what we were drinking with the Rosé Shrimp? Of course a nice Rosé, a Sonoma-Cutrer Rosé of Pinot Noir.

Of course you know that this is for Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Tuesday. Cheers!

To everybody in the US, I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving.

Short Walk at the Lake

 

With Christmas just a bit more than a month away, my Etsy shop has become increasingly busy and I'm knitting up a storm. That means most of my blog posts will be shorter for the next few weeks. Today I'm taking you to the lake again.

Usually I see and hear a lot of birds there, so it didn't come as a surprise that I saw this beautiful Great Egret (Ardea alba) only a few minutes after I had started my short and quick walk.

I always enjoy this tree which has become a favorite. I love its crookedness and the beautiful view of the lake behind it. The red leaves at the lower part of the trunk is poison oak, so it's a good idea to stay away.

It didn't take long until I saw this beautiful buck, a proud Black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus). He didn't mind me at all, knowing that I was no threat to him. Unfortunately the picture of him is rather pixelated.

I always enjoy the lake, even if I just do a very quick walk.

Poison oak (Toxicodendron pubescens) always looks beautiful, especially in the fall when it changes its color to a splendid red, but if you touch it you will regret it because it causes very bad and painful rashes. Better stay away and admire its beauty from a safe distance.

Let's celebrate T Tuesday with Bleubeard and Elizabeth! Today we're having a Maitai in remembrance of beautiful summer days gone by. Cheers!

Let's Hop on a Train

 

This week Rain's optional prompt for her Thursday Art and Dinner Date is "trains".

How I miss trains! In Germany it is so easy to take the train and get to other places, whether they are close by or far away. They are a joy to ride since you don't have to pay attention to traffic; instead you can read a book, listen to music, sleep or look out of the window and, if you feel like it, wave to the people in cars being stuck in a traffic jam while you zip along.

When we were in München (Munich) last year in May we rode the trains almost every day. München has an excellent public transportation system of busses, trams, subway, S-Bahn that connects to towns and villages within the vicinity of the city and, of course, the Regionalbahn (connection to other towns and cities further away) and the rapid ICE (Intercity Express).

If you land at the airport of the Bavarian capital, the S-Bahn is the fastest way to get to downtown München (Marienplatz). It's affordable, clean and fast.

I wish we had something like this from here to San Francisco and Oakland Airports. The only thing we have is the "train to nowhere" that doesn't even get you into San Francisco (you can get to Larkspur from where you walk for 15 minutes to get to the ferry terminal from where you take the ferry to San Francisco; the whole trip takes 2 to 3 times as long as driving in a car via 101 and the Golden Gate Bridge).

The S-Bahn is red - here you can see it standing in a station on the way to Ammersee. 

Another very fast way of transportation is the subway, just as clean as the S-Bahn. They often share the same stations.

The ICE is the "jewel in the crown" - a very fast train that connects the main big cities with each other. When we went from München to Würzburg for the Bartz Family renunion we took the ICE. It's very comfortable, quiet and, of course, very fast - they can reach a speed of 300 km/h. In test runs the first ICE even reached 406.9 km/h. I'm a big fan of the ICE, however, they are more expensive and, like all the other trains currently in Germany, not always on time. But if you have the "Deutsche Bahn" app, you get all the information you need - the exact time of the delay, your alternatives should you need one, which platform the train leaves/arrives, what and where your connection is etc. It is really convenient, but not perfect.

When we returned to München from Würzburg we took the Regionalzug which is much slower since it stops at more places. But it's also less expensive and often has great offers. It doesn't always have a direct connection to the place you want to go to and you might have to change trains in between, but it's still a great way to travel. Here you can see the Geek and I on the upper deck of the Regionalzug (yes, they often have two decks). This is also for Nicole's Friday Face Off.

I wish we had an efficient railroad system across the United States. It would be so lovely if I could just hop on a train to visit my close friend Jo in Portland, OR. But instead I either have to drive and spend the night somewhere on the road or, even worse, I have to take the plane.

Before I finish this, I want to introduce you to a very special train that helds big importance for Germany's newer history. In early fall of 1989, many people of the DDR (German Democratic Republic or East Germany), especially younger ones, went to Prague and sought asylum in the West German embassy there. DDR citizens usually were not allowed to travel to any Western countries (it was extremely difficult), but they could travel to Eastern European countries like Czechoslovakia (as it was still called at that time), Hungary or Romania. At the end of September there were more than 2,500 people in the embassy (can you imagine that?). Then foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher, after many diplomatic talks and visits, went to the embassy and on the evening of September 30th he stepped out on the balcony and told the German people of the DDR that they can leave for West Germany. This moment still makes me cry, even after 34 years. For those of you who are interested in it, you can see it here (it's only 42 seconds). However, there was a hitch to it - the train with the DDR citizens on board had to go through the area of the DDR. This train was called "Zug in die Freiheit" (train to freedom) and there is a very good movie about it, a mix of documentary and scenes re-enacted by actors. I have seen this movie many times and I can highly recommend it. Here it is available with English subtitles.

40 days later, on November 9th, 1989 the Berlin Wall fell.

Finally - dinner! A couple months ago I "discovered" Korean beefless Bulgogi at Trader Joe's after another customer had recommended it. Both the Geek and I like it - we use it as a meatless substitute for beef in our meals. It is delicious. I use it in Asian dishes that I prepare in my wok as well as in pasta dishes. Recently I made it with "veggie" radiatori (also from TJ's) and fresh broccoli and carrots from the farmers market.

Visitors of the Feathered Kind

 

Last week I missed T Tuesday - I felt quite depressed about what is going on in the world that I didn't feel like writing anything at all. I spent time in nature - always the big healer - and in the company of good friends. Nothing has changed in the world, at least not to the better, but no one and nothing is being helped if I keep a moody attitude. 

Nevertheless, this will be a short post. A few weeks ago wild turkeys walked through our neighborhood. This is not something unusual, they do that regularly, but this time they decided to visit my garden. I had put a bird feeder in the Japanese Maple this year and that is what was calling them. 

I don't mind wild turkeys if they walk down the street and I'm even good humored if they attack my car (which had happened repeatedly), but in my garden is a completely different story. They actually have the ability to make a huge mess in a flower garden and can wreak real havoc. Therefore I wasn't too happy to see them turning up in my front yard.

That didn't keep me from taking pictures. I could see that they were mostly interested in the sunflower chips that the birds had dropped on the ground. However, stalking among the plants did leave a mark, especially since some of them thought they needed to check out the flower garden.

I guess the flowers were not too much to their liking since they quickly returned to the area of the bird feeder and when I finally ventured off the porch they decided to take off and check out the big porperty across the street.

Now let's see what kind of drink we have today for Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Tuesday. Sometime this year a new bakery and café opened in my town and a friend and I met there a few weeks ago. I had their hot chocolate with whipped cream on top - oh, so good. They also make the most delicious croissants - we sometimes have them during break at the German School. This was a good place to go to, but I still miss the lovely cafés you can fnd in Germany.