Late autumn: the leaves are mostly gone, the climbers are still green (they will stay green for the rest of the year), the sky is a crisp blue and I’m looking up.
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Protective Frost
It hasn’t been cold enough yet this year so I had to go back about 18 month when the fruit trees had already started to flower and a cold snap was on the way. The way to protect the blooms is to put on the sprinklers and make the forming ice protect the leaves and shoots.
Here is a post from then with more photos: Ice, Ice, Baby
Breathless, yeah!
Weinheim, my home town, has given itself the monniker “The Two Castle Town”.
This is the Wachenburg, the younger one of the two, about 100 years old, built by student fraternities.
This is the Windeck, the older one, about 1000 years old, built to strengthen the influence of the abbey of Lorsch.
There are paths leading up to either, the choices are roads and paved paths as well as small, narrow footpaths through the woods. The latter are steeper but more fun to walk.
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IFO
Identified Flying Objects: Caution – Danger to Life! Flying golf balls. Private property, do not enter.
I can’t help but imagine little golf balls with wings whirring through the air shooting tiny but deadly missiles on trespassers.
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Plane Trees
Many squares in Europe are lined with plane trees. They look great in summer creating shade and a lovely greenish light. In winter they go bare and are usually cut back severely. This is what makes those clumps at the end of branches.
And in spring when they leaf out they look like this.
Gruffalo and Friends
More than three years ago, a Gruffalo statue was erected on the path leading up to the castle ruin which overlooks our town. The mouse was standing next to him but vandals took off her ears more than once. The town removed the original to the local museum, and decided to make lemonade out of the lemon. They saw the potential for an attraction, made a Gruffalo path with six stations.
There is the new mouse,
the fox,
the owl,
the snake,
and at the end, the Gruffalo himself,
who is now flanked by the Gruffalo child instead of the old mouse.
Every station has a QR-code on a sign where visitors can listen to our mayor or other personalities reading a part of the story. Furthermore there is a simple question and if the little ones present their answers to the tourist information they receive a small prize.
It was a really a fun walk (or ride) up to the castle, a bit steep but I have done it often. Which figure do you like best? My favourite is the fox, for very personal reasons.
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