Memories of Green

These photos were taken back in March, out of the (slowly) driving car on the (jam packed) highway back from German school. Can you see how green it was?

That beautiful shade is long gone. The green has faded almost completely and is turning brown. Or golden, if you want to put it the friendly way. This is California after all.

At least these hills have a fence. Two, actually. And cows. Because this is Sonoma Cow-ny!

I'm linking up to Theresa's Good Fences as (almost) every Thursday.

Trapped in a Churchyard

A photo, a story - here we are for Wednesday Wit and Wisdom over at Senior Adventures with Linda Kay! 

It has been two hours since she had left the car in the small parking lot in Widford and followed the signs along the hiking trail through the lovely Windrush Valley. It was a beautiful day for a hike - not too hot, the sun was hidden in the overcast sky, the air was rather humid. She had started her hike midmorning, and a while ago the tiny church of St. Oswald had come into her view.

It was a picturesque old church in the middle of nowhere. It had a small walled-in churchyard with a few gravestones. The area around the church was mainly meadows with the hiking path going right through the middle of them. There was no one around - except for a herd of cows uphill from the church. It was the typical English countryside in the beautiful Cotswolds.

She entered the churchyard through a kissing gate - it made a squeaky noise when she opened it to the one side, slipped in and then closed it again to the other side. She just loved these gates that you couldn't find outside of Britain. Slowly she walked around the churchyard and then entered the church. The old church smell that she met in each and every one of the old parish churches welcomed her at the door. She sat in one of the pews and took in the interior of the church until she decided that it was time to continue her hike.

When she stepped out into the churchyard she realized that her way out to the meadow was cut off - by the cows. While she had lingered inside, the cows had come down the hill and gathered right in front of the kissing gate.

She went closer, talking soothingly to the cows, hoping that they would run away when they saw her. But alas! - they seemed to be interested in her, stretching their big heads over the wall and trying to reach her with their long tongues. Usually she wasn't afraid of cows - on the contrary, she loved cows. But these were a few too many and she just didn't dare to open the gate and march right among them.

Slightly panicked she looked around, searching for another way out. There wasn't any. She imagined how she would be trapped for hours here, with no one coming by. Slowly she walked to the other end of the churchyard and decided then and there that she had to climb the wall. She knew that this wouldn't happen without any bruises, but she didn't really have a choice. So she scrambled - rather ungracefully - over the rough wall and walked down to the lower meadow, turning around every now and then and checking over her shoulder whether the cows followed her or not.

They didn't. But she couldn't shake off the feeling that the cows were whispering to each other about this strange young woman who hiked alone through their valley without any fear, but felt the cows were a menace. Only when she thought she was safe did she slow down and started to laugh hysterically.

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I'm afraid this is a true story...

We Remember

Today is Memorial Day in the United States, a day when we remember the men and women who gave their lives while serving in our country's armed forces. Two years ago I wrote a post how we celebrate the day in my town, and the ceremony is very similar every year - I guess it looks like that in many other places across the US today.

In today's post for Memorial Day I want to visually focus on the poppies. The poppy has become a symbol for the soldiers died in the battles in Flanders during World War I, representing the poppy fields growing among the graves of the soldiers.

I leave you with my photos of poppy fields in my native Germany. These were all taken in the Northeast of Germany in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern that used to belong to East Germany for 40 years.

Found Flowers by the Side of the Street

During one of our after-dinner walks around the neighborhood, the Geek and I found two black pots with geraniums by the side of the street in front of a house. I'm not a huge fan of geraniums, so we didn't really think much about it and walked on.

When I passed there the next day I saw that they were still sitting out there. The wind had blown them over and they were just lying there, their bare roots sticking out. I felt sorry for them, put them back in the pots and then saw the small white piece of paper that said "free". I continued walking, but on my way home I couldn't get the poor flowers out of my head. So I decided to drive over and if they were still there I would give them a home.

Of course they were still there. I brought them home and first gave them a good amount of water to revive them.

I knew I had three terracotta pots that needed to be cleaned out, so I quickly did that and then divided the flowers and gave them a new home in fresh good potting soil. They looked really wild when I was finished, so I cut down all the over grown stuff and the spent flowers.

At the moment they're sitting in the middle of the dead lawn where they get morning sun, but are shaded by the privet tree during the hottest hours of the day . I don't think they will stay there forever, but for the time being it's a good spot.

This is my Friday Find for this week.

Rusty Old Fence

It's actually not the fence that is old and rusty, but the chain that is fastened around the fence post across from what you see in the above photo. And "old" might not be quite right either...

The view from this side is not so very interesting. But let's walk around and take a closer look.

Already better.

Isn't this just a wonderful display of rust? You wonder why it is here, it doesn't look as if it was used recently. I'm not quite sure the lock is even working.

But it's the stuff for great photos!

That's why I'm linking this to Theresa's "Good Fences".

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The end of the school year is near.

A good time to show your child's teacher some appreciation.

Why not give him or her a handmade thank you card?

Available in my Etsy store now.

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An Evening in the English Countryside

Today I am joining Linda's Wednesday Wit and Wisdom for the second time.

This is my photo, taken 15 years ago:

Whenever I look at this photo I travel back in my mind to those single trips to England I took in the late eighties and early nineties. I was hopelessly in love with this beautiful island, its landscape and its people. I often flew to London for long weekends with my friends, and in June, when the days were the longest, I usually spent about three weeks in England - mostly in the Cotswolds and in Norfolk. I traveled on my own and that was exactly the way I liked it.

This photo was taken in Northleach, one of the less touristy villages in the Cotswolds. I stayed in a lovely Bed and Breakfast where I returned to every summer. My favorite time was in the evening, after I had dinner. The days were long, and I loved to walk through the Northleach churchyard and further on into the meadows. The sheep were here every day, and their calm "bah bah" accompanied me on my silent walks. I sat somewhere in the meadow and just took it in - the sheep, the quietness, the wind rustling in the leaves of the old trees, the birds singing their evening songs (I particularly remember the blackbirds). At some time the church bells started to ring - the beautiful change ringing that you find only on the British Isles. It is such a special sound! If you have never heard it, here's a short video. For me this kind of change ringing belongs to an evening in the English countryside. It gives you peacefulness, calms you down and just lets you be in the moment.

I remember feeling completely whole and at peace with myself. Those evenings were magical, and when I feel a bit low nowadays I can go back there in my mind and recall the quietness. I often only returned - reluctantly - when it was starting to get dark. I never feared walking through the cemetery after the sun had set, and I never had any worries being out there in the countryside, just me and the sheep. Sometimes I met a farmer and we talked for a while, had a lovely exchange. Something to feed my soul. Sometimes I would stop at a pub for a pint when I got back to the village, talking to the locals and playing a round or two of Jenga. It was my vacation, I had left all my worries behind, I didn't think about my work, I lived in the moment. I was blissfully young.

I was also invited to link to Two Shoes Tuesday - thank you for the invitation!

Take Me on a Boat Ride!

These two Canada geese were hanging out on the boats-for-rent at the small lake. Were they waiting for someone to take them on a boat ride?

They sure explored the boats quite thoroughly.

And when no one came to give them a ride, they seemed to be ready to take matters in their own hands... ehm feet... beak...