There is something about the landscape of the place in which we grow up – it’s edged in the soul, together with the people and the time it makes up what in German is called “Heimat” and for which there is no proper one word translation (essays and books have been written on this “most mystic of German concepts”).

As I live on the slopes, it is combination of rolling hills in the back and a long plain in the west, edged again by more hills.  I could say I live “on the edge” if that wouldn’t conjure up sharp ridges and drops which do the softness of the landscape no justice.

The upper Rhine valley is at this point bordered by the Odenwald in the east (my figurative backyard) and the Pfälzer Wald in the west.

The reverse view with forests and castles and houses is contrasted by the view to the west:

A closer look reveals the mixture of agriculture and heavily populated near the Rhine,  including large industrial sites (in fact, the world’s largest chemical complex is just a camera swipe to the left, on the other side of the Rhine).

It’s this diversity that I cherish, and that I call home.

For A Photo a Week: Landscape.