Mousy

Last week I saw a tiny mouse in our storage cellar! No, I didn't jump onto the table or cry in fear. I saw her and that was lucky. Usually the door to this room is open - now I closed it fast. Then I watched the little animal climbing everywhere and decided to take all food in paper bags into the next room. My husband put some peanuts into a live trap and we waited. 2 days later he saw the mouse inside the trap early in the morning, but when I went down to look, the trap was empty again! She's still a baby mouse and tiny!!!!

Although I had to be very carefully every time I had to get something out of the store room (freezer, fridge, tins, jars), we were patient with mousy. My husband wanted to feed her poison, but my daughter and I refused to kill.

Yesterday our daughter noticed, that mousy went in and out of the trap several times and we decided to get a different one. Luckily today our animal friendly child found mousy inside the trap and took her outside. She had no chance to take her into nature, as the little animal climbed straight out of the trap again. It found a cosy hideaway beside our terrace door where our daughter made some photos in remebrance.

Now we hope that our neighbour's cat won't come for a visit until our little friend has enjoyed it's freedom.

 

Medieval Times on the Road

Medieval festivals are very popular all over Germany. Many towns have small or large festivals regulary, although not always every year. Some try to show medieval life, others try to offer lots of things to buy. Some book famous bands, others rather take cheap newcomers.

More than 20 years ago someone started to organise a medieval festival in different German towns. Not authentic medieval, but a medieval fantasy festival, where visitors are also welcome in costumes of fantasy films or books.

I visited my first MPS in 2008 in Bückeburg, not too far from us. Some years ago I also visited it in two other places. Usually most stalls selling medieval things are the same, some are different. There are always 3 or more stages with bands and artists, more or less the same. Whereever one visits a MPS one can be sure that it's impossible to see and hear everything. It's just too much but always fun and the entrance fee is more than fair. Although there are countless offers for food and drink, one is allowed to bring ones own to have an inexpensive day. There's also free drinking water all over the place.

This year my friends of Dunkelschön played for the first time at one MPS near the Dutch border. It took place on an unused air field with plenty of space, but far from cosy as many other MPS premises in parks. As Bückeburg is close I went there some weeks later and now you can see the difference for yourself in my photoalbum at Flickr.

Photos of my MPS visits

There were some different bands and many friends I usually only see at Facebook, so I enjoyed both events. 

Homepage of the travelling Medival Festival

Everything happens at the right time....

Whenever my husband had to push or cycle my old bicycle he complained that I should get a new one. As the bike is still running smoothly as during the past 17 years, I refused to let it go. No bicycle my husband showed me in the WWW seemed any better than my faithful "donkey".

In June I slept in a small town I had never heard of before. As I arrived early for my check in, I decided to go for a walk. There was an interesting building belonging to a fun park, and an old and a new windmill.

But what really caught my eye while passing by, where some bicycles, that reminded me of my first bicycle that got stolen many years ago. Out of curiosity I went into the shop and learned that those bikes are Dutch bicycles, just like my favorite one. Suddenly I felt the longing for a new bicycle - but there was no way to get it into our car to get it home. Nevertheless I was offered a ride on one of the bikes and loved it!

Back home I started looking for a bicycle shop selling Dutch bikes. It took many phone calls and a day trip by train to find my new bicycle - and mind you, I'm very happy with it and love cycling even more than before. My old bike now enjoys transporting visitors and then runs peacefully beside the new one.

Kiveling Festival in Lingen

One of my favorite bands had invited a friend and me to a very special medieval festival. Both my friend and I have been to many medieval markets and town festivals, but this one is different.

First - there was no market with medieval goods, just medieval food and drinks and workshops for children. It's a festival to pay homage to the young men of the town, who fought for it's savety in medieval times. Nowadays the unmarried young men = Kivelinge organise the festival with parades. There are different "clubs" who have their different camps and different entertainments for the visitors. Two of the clubs had medieval bands: 

The Irrlichter

and Sonor Teutonicus.

After the open air church service and before the entertainment a heavy rain shower send all visitors into cafés or sheltering at the food and drink stalls. As soon as the sun took over again, it turned out a perfect day and we enjoyed the parades and concerts very much.

It was worth the travelling - luckily relaxed by train. 

More photos of the festival

Visit to Saalfeld

Traveling to concerts far away is a great chance to get to know new places. There are so many beautiful towns and areas. 

In May I visited Saalfeld in eastern Germany. Travelling 5 hours by train (or car) is rather long just to visit a town, but together with a concert of favorite bands, it's worth it! Unfortunately I didn't have time to visit the famous caves of the fairy grotto, as I had to look after my merchandise stall just in front of them. But the next morning I had spare time to walk through the town and find the castle ruins.

Saalfeld is very beautiful and worth a visit!

More photos of Saalfeld

Organising a Festival - a brave job!

Some weeks ago my friends played at a medieval festival in Reutlingen/Bavaria. During the whole week before the event heavy rainfalls kept the fire department busy to clear up fallen trees and clear basements of water. The park, where the medieval community wanted to meet lies at a small hill, but the place for the stage was at the bottom. Until the last day nobody knew if it was possible to build up the stage.

In the end the organiser, the merchants and medieval camps decided to go ahead. And yes, it was worth it, although rather few visitors came to the festival and heaven knows if the organiser gained anything?

Those who used their raincoats and went to the "Guild Market", found a very entertaining programm: jugglers and musicians walking the area, theater plays, wild birds and plenty of stalls selling crafts, medieval things and food & drinks. There was a huge medieval camp and a hand powered carousell.

Many thunder storms were heard in the distance, but none came near. Once a really heavy shower poured down, but the sun was back after a little while. I was save in my merchandise tent, having plenty of entertainment taking place at the pavillion oposite where many people took shelter during the down pour.

Luckily it was dry when my friends of Dunkelschön were on stage and I was quite busy selling their CDs afterwards. 

Hopefully the organiser will keep his faith and organise many more festivals!

More photos of the event