Second spring

Thanks to the lovely warm weather, spring really exploded this year and many blossomcame and went early. 
Going up the Harz mountains, we realized, that spring happens more unhurried up in the cooler air. So we enjoyed a second spring with tiny leaves on trees and flowers that have already vanished down here.

This time we found the wild anemone like a carpet under the trees.

Visiting an extraordinary Church

A friend of me had an important errand in a small town in the Harz mountains today. As she has no car and there's no train station in that place, it's hard to reach. So we decided to go together and make it a nice day out.

The errand took only 5 minutes (after travelling 1,5 hours) and then we went sight-seeing. There's a wonderful wooden church in this town, newly renovated.

Inside I was most impressed by a clock surrounded by Jesus' life cut out of marble, more than 2 m tall!

All other typical church parts were richly decorated as well.

The back of the church was seperated with glass walls - maybe for services in winter to save heating costs?

Family Easter

Easter Sunday started with breakfast and service of the new free church in town. There I also played on my harp - much more relaxed than on Xmas. 

At home we had time to give the Ester Bunny a hand to color the eggs, although we had no time for hide and seak as we were invited to a family dinner of my husband's family.

Today, on Easter Monday, my family came for an Easter brunch. After 2 hours we were well prepared and all wished we could eat more....

Next the children hid and searched for their Easter eggs - in all shapes:

Natur in our garden gives us plenty of hiding places!

Our neighbour's dog tried to help, but didn't find any eggs.

We all had lot's of fun and enjoyed the day!

Getting ready for Easter

Beside the religious side and the fairy tale about the Easter bunny hiding eggs for children, our family always comes together for a family brunch on Easter Monday, a church holiday in Germany.

It started in my parents' home, but once we 3 daughters had our own homes with gardens, we started to take turns where to meet. This year it's our turn. That's why I'll be busy getting our house and garden ready for Easter.

When our daughters were small, they loved to color empty eggs and I got a huge bunch of birch branches to give them a home.

This year the birches are already full of leaves outside, so I'll only hang up the huge nest and hang the last treasures at it's bottom.

As my work mate is still on holiday, I had to work all week (and coming Saturday), so the outside is also still waiting for spring flowers.

Then I have to free the pottery bunnies from the attics, color eggs, do some baking and finally, clean the house.

Hopefully our table will look similar to this:

Appreciating Flowers - Das Buschwindröschen

Whenever I go out for walks I take my camera and with it I notice so much more of nature surrounding us. Now in spring nature changes so quickly that photos from the same spot look different after a few days - and you find different flowers along the way.

Some days ago I found a blog asking for photos of flowers, like the wild anemone. I've seen many of them 2 weeks ago, but going a slightly different way last Saturday I only came across one of them. Hopefully this will make it to a map of all sources of this flower in Germany.

Normaler Weise nehme ich immer meine Kamera mit, wenn ich spazieren gehe und dadurch nehme ich automatisch viel mehr wahr. Jetzt im Frühling verändert sich die Natur ja täglich und die gleiche Aufnahme ergibt ein paar Tage später ein ganz anderes Bild und es stehen plötzlich ganz andere Blumen am Wegesrand.

Vor ein paar Tagen fand ich auf dem Blog bildlich-gesprochen einen Aufruf, gefundene Buschwindröschen zu fotografieren und hier zu zeigen. Vor 2 Wochen hatte ich schon viele davon auf dem Schweineberg bei Hameln gesehen, am letzten Samstag war es nur noch ein Buschwindröschen am gleichen Berg, allerdings an einem anderen Weg. Nun hoffe ich, dass es den Weg auf die Landkarten mit Vorkommen in Deutschland schafft.

Germany turns Yellow

Usually the rapsseed is in full bloom at the end of April and the beginning of May. This year our part of Germany already is covered with yellow carpets at the middle of April.

It's a wonderful sight everywhere - although the reason is a bit sad. Rapsseed isn't used for food only any longer, but most of it is made into petrol. I rather cycle every day than to use food for travelling, but there are not enough people thinking like this. 

Soon everything outside will be covered with yellow dust, including my freshly washed windows - that's spring time!

Yesterday we walked in the suddenly green forest again and found the rapsseed fields at it's edge. 

See all my photos of yesterday just click this link

Or watch a video I made of my pictures: click this link

Mount Doggy

Last Sunday we went to an exibition near the highest mountain of this area. It's called Dogmountain, although there's no connection to dogs in any way on that mountain. It seems the name changed from similar sounding definitions.

Anyway it's almost 500 m above sea level and one has a wonderful view up there. On Sunday in was still a bit hazy, but we enjoyed our stay  on the sunny spot.

As the roads going up there twist naturally, this mountain is a famous meeting point for motor cyclists. There were definitely more motor bikes than cars on the hill!

Marketplace for motor cyclists.