Visiting a castle

Not far from us are two castles on a hill. Well, they don't look like castles in medieval times. The Paschenburg, on top of the hill, rather looks like an ordinary hotel and has a very good restaurant inside with a breathtaking view. Later it spring we'll walk up there.

This past sunday we visited the Schaumburg. Parts of it are destroyed and you can see some ruins. But some buildings are still kept, including the watch tower. During the warmer months the kiosk is open to sell coffee, cakes and ice-cream, but although the weather is very spring like at the moment, there was only the indoor café for a rest.

It was lovely up there with the wonderful view far over the country side, even further than in summer as the trees have no leaves yet. It would be great to play harp up there, but first I have to build up muscles to carry it up the steep hill.

 Two castles on a hill.

 Climbing up to the Schaumburg

 Medieval prison

 Kiosk

 View

 Stable

Gatehouse

Concert for free!

Last week my husband had won 2 tickets for an Irish Folk concert at a dance hall in a little village, abkout 20 km/14 miles away. As I was working on Friday we only arrived a few minutes before the concert - but got seats at a table in the first row.

It seemed, that nobody in the hall knew the band before, neither did I, but I knew the old jokes they made between the songs. I loved the jigs & reels, but found it hard to stay on my chair. The flute player was brilliant, while the two men just made music - it wasn't a concert like I'm used to by the bands I know. 

The menu was funny - they had tried to translate the drinks and food into English, but didn't use a dictionary.  




It was a nice evening out for free. 

Living at the end of the world

At the moment I have a friend from Berlin staying with us. Although she loves many things about the big city, she would love to move to a more relaxed place. Needless to say, that she fell in love with our peaceful and pretty village. Unfortunately there are not shared flats in this place and no free rooms or small flats to rent. It's the same with the next town, but we both are searching adds and asking friends and acquaintances.

Yesterday we went to another village, further from the town, less buses - and no shops in that place, except a farmer offering eggs, apples and potatoes in a little hut. It's very peaceful, plenty of horses and the birds make more noise than any traffic you might hear sometimes. But somehow it looks, as if the world ends here. With a car it's a lovely retreat - but without it?

The rooms on offer are nice, clean and the price is fair - but I'm not sure if it's the right place to stay........

Clouds and sunshine at the lake

Nature looks far more like spring than winter these days, although the wind is still freezing and a bit stormy. It's no fun to cycle, but the sunshine pulls me out of the house. Today was a lazy day and I didn't get out until the late afternoon - for a nice long walk, again around our lakes. This time with my camera.

Busy and exciting days will come again - until then I enjoy nature.

Laziness is no good.

Yesterday I went for a walk with a friend. As it was cloudy and dusk was near, I didn't take my camera. Of course the sky punished me for this laziness and performed magical views of the sunset over the lake. Luckily I had my mobil with it's camera with me. Usually the quality of the pictures doesn't make me happy -but this time the photos are worth showing.

Blue Sky and Sunshine

This morning we had brilliant weather. The sun was shining brightly and the sky had a wonderful deep blue. Just perfect for a walk in my favorite park/forest where I had also fantastic views in the clear air. Well, it was a bit windy, but I loved it! 

How lucky I didn't wait until the afternoon for my walk. After about half of my favorite round, clouds hid the sun and made the forest look gloomy. All afternoon the sky was changing rapidly - so the eary bird got the best pictures. 

Getting older......

Everybody gets older day by day - on some days we feel older, on other days happiness or excitement makes us feel younger. The date in our passport is just a number - still it counts. Once a year we remember the day of our birth. 

For the longest time of my life our family gathered for every birthday. Once I was responsible for serving the guests, I felt punished. Birthdays should be fun - and not extra work. Three years ago I started not to be at home on my birthday to have a relaxing day.

Well, this year I couldn't go away as there was an appointment with our daughter and with endless phone calls I didn't even find time to play my harp. Well - next year I will make better plans to get away again!

 At least I got a wonderful surprise as my husband got a very nice sticker made for our car. I better drive carefully now - this car might be remembered easily. 

From my Dad I got a huge box full of spring flowers: prime roses, daffodils and tulips. Even retired he's still a gardener at heart.

Do you remember?

How much do you remember of your childhood? How far do your memories go?

I only remember snatches until I was at school. Luckily my Mum loved to take photos even then in the 60s. There's a box with tiny black and white photos that look great once they are scanned into the PC. Later my Mum used slides and I remember slide shows on screens with family and friends. Today we're kind of back to it, using digital slide shows and a beamer. 

When I was in my twenties I looked through boxes of slides and got a little pile of paper prints - memories of my childhood. Those are real treasures. All the slides are gone for good - but those memories will be kept for a little longer, some of them even in the digital world.

As you can see, I learned to work at an early age.

It was a treat when my Daddy took me for a ride. (No savety seats back then!!!) As soon as I could carry flowers, I helped to deliver them.

Little Treasures

What do you do on an ordinary Sunday afternoon? Chill? Relax?

Yesterday it was a sunny Sunday. So I went for a walk with my husband. The afternoon was still sunny - so I met with a friend in town. Together we visited an exhibition of the night school, showing off interesting and wonderful pottery.

In the adds they had promised it as an medieval event. Unfortunately there were only 3 families in medieval clothes, looking out of space. 

Another exciting day

It was a very short night in Franconia last Sunday. After only 3,5 hours of sleep it was time for breakfast. Some other visitors of the Dunkelschön concert were staying in the same hotel and it was nice to talk about the past event during breakfast.

After packing I went to Schonungen again. I needed petrol for the way home - and had to collect my SDcard from the band to get my memories. By 1:00 PM I was on the road again and there was no hold up on the way.

Coming home at 4:30 PM I had time for a cup of tea and some cake before my sister arrived to drive with me to Hannover for another concert. Angelo Branduardi's music has accompanied me for almost all my life and I looked forward to this church concert very much. Due to all the travelling I had not bought a ticket yet, as a hold up on the motorway would have cancelled the concert for me.

We arrived on time in the city, but it took us at least 15 minutes to find a place to park the car! Still, we made it to the right church just in time. Can you imagine my face, when we were told, that there were no tickets left? NOOOOOO! That couldn't be - not after 400 km of travelling!!!!

The young man at the entrance was very strict and almost angry about my pleading for finding a way. While I still tried to comprehend the situatian, a woman asked the "gate keeper", if there were still seats on the balcony? She was told, that the sound wasn't any good, but there might be free seats. Well, I decided to follow her and have a look at the balcony. My sister was already upstairs and we found plenty of free seats with a perfect sight to the stage - and no one asking our business up there or if we had a ticket!

So we enjoyed a wonderful quiet concert, maybe with a less perfect sound than in the church itself, and I could take wonderful photos and videos to share with other fans.

Of course we are full of gratitude and donated money for other cultural events in that church.

To watch the videos click here

To see more photos click here