A (Mostly) Sunny Week

Last week was mostly sunny and really warm, with not a single drop of rain (a total contrast to this week). I had the chance for some good walks, making the most of the spring that felt more like early summer.

My trains from Offenburg to Ludwigsburg were on time on Monday (8 April). After an already mild morning, 25C/77F in the afternoon meant I went out in short sleeves and 3/4 length jeans to meet a friend for coffee and cake. It was very good to catch up with her - we'd not seen each other since last autumn.

A back & shoulders massage followed; after that, I met up with my sister for a walk in the palace grounds with the tulips and other spring flowers at their most beautiful, as you can see from the pictures.

Tuesday (9 April) was much chillier at a high of 11C/51F, but at least the forecast rain did not materialise for us. I only worked until lunch time, then my sister picked me up for the drive to a small town not that far away but hard to get to by public transport. 

We were there for the funeral service of our friend RJ's Dad - he was the fourth person in my circle of family and friends to have died in the first three months of this year, only three days after O.K.'s Dad. I hope there won't be another funeral for me to attend for a long time.

I had a brief rest at home before setting off to the pub where my team and I were booked for the quiz. It was good fun even though this time we did not walk home with a prize - we ended up with 22 out of 26 points, coming fourth.

A chilly 7C/44F warmed up to 14C/57F on Wednesday (10 April), my usual office day. After an unremarkable but productive working day, I walked home from Zuffenhausen across the fields in beautiful late afternoon sunshine, enjoying every moment of the just under two hours it took me.

I started Thursday (11 April) working from home, glad not having to be out on that sunny but very cold morning at 3C/37F. By lunch time, it was much warmer, and it was good to be on a train to Marbach, where I had a meeting at the Literature Archive. 

Afterwards, it was 14C/57F again, and in the beautiful sunshine I walked along the river until I reached the bottom of Ludwigsburg (actually, the suburb of Hoheneck). From there, I took a bus up into town and walked the remaining 10 minutes to my house. The roughly 8 km were a beautiful walk, but my work laptop is large and heavy, which was one reason why I opted for the bus for that final bit through town.

Schiller National Museum in Marbach (part of the complex of buildings connected with the Literature Archive, and therefore occasionally my work place)

 View of the museum from across the river

One of the many vineyards turned into orchards and allotments

Another ex vineyard, with a shed high up at the top of the steep slope

Nobody has been working this very steep vineyard in a long time.

Friday (12 April) saw the usual succession of work, groceries shopping and cleaning, changing the bed sheets and so on, with a rare addition: I cleaned my windows :-D They really were very dirty, and knowing that I was going to have visitors on Saturday added extra motivation for tackling my least favourite household task.

When O.K. arrived shortly after 9:00 pm, I served green asparagus with slices of ham, a salad of baby spinach leaves, yellow pepper and feta cheese, ciabatta and a crisp dry white to go with it. Even if I say so myself, a delicious and fitting meal for a beautiful spring evening.

Since I had postponed my little birthday party to Saturday (13 April), in the morning O.K. and I went to a large supermarket nearby for the drinks and crushed ice. After that, we picked up the party Brezel I had ordered from my local baker - made of 1 kg of dough and prepared with four different kinds of cheese and three types of ham, as well as slices of egg, radishes and lettuce.

There were only going to be eight of us, and with the drinks bought and part of the food ready, we had enough time to go for an ice cream in the afternoon. It was beautiful and warm at 25C/77F or more, and accordingly, very busy in town. But the long-ish queue at the ice cream counter moved swiftly, so that we were soon holding our takeaway cups. We found empty chairs on the market square (a small miracle on a day like that) and enjoyed our ice creams before crossing the road for a short stroll in the palace grounds.

Soon, it was time to get back and prepare the rest of the food, bring up the extra chairs from the cellar, set out glasses for the drinks and so on.

A close-up of the big party Brezel :-)

It was nearly as big as my kitchen table!

From 7:00 pm onwards, my guests started to arrive, some of which I had not seen in quite a while. As it was meant to be my birthday party (originally planned for the day after my birthday three weeks ago), they brought presents and cards as well.

It was a lovely, fun evening with my friends and family (of course my Mum and sister were there, too), and I was glad and grateful for everything and everyone.

After the guests had left, clearing up didn't take long, and I was in bed before 2:00 am, the dishwasher quietly humming in the kitchen.

Sunday (April 14) was another warm day of wall-to-wall sunshine. After a leisurely brunch, O.K. and I walked to the lake, then further on to the casle on the hill (Asperg) where we had a shandy before completing our walk of about 13.5 km.

Field of rapeseed on our way to the lake

One of the paths around the lake

Up on Hohenasperg, the castle hill above the town of Asperg

Looking west across Asperg

Looking east across Asperg towards Ludwigsburg in the distance

The beer garden where we had our shandies

Back home at 5 pm, we had coffee and strawberry cake; later, I made another salad of baby spinach leaves and yellow pepper, this time with slices of avocado, and heated the rest of the party food. 

O.K. left shortly after 8:00 pm and was home less than two hours later.

That Sunday would have been my Grandma's (Mum's mum) 110th birthday.

Read in 2024 - 7: Bedford Square

Bedford Square (An Inspector Pitt Novel)

Anne Perry

When I came across my first novel by Anne Perry, featuring Inspector Pitt and his wife Charlotte and set in Victorian London, I liked everything about it - the setting, the characters, the language, how the story was constructed and the case solved.

Since then, I have read a few more books from the series, in no particular order. When not long ago I found a pile of paperbacks at the book stall of Ludwigsburg's Town Church, four out of the eight books I bought for 1 € each were by Anne Perry, and this one was the first from the pile I finished.

I enjoyed the book very much - again, it all came together for me: Likeable, plausible characters, a well-researched and complex setting, an equally complex case and a solution I found satisfactory, as well as beautiful language throughout.

The case starts with a dead man found on the steps to a respectable house on Bedford Square, London. At first glance, nothing links the victim (who was clearly from a different, much lower class) to the owner of the house - nothing except a snuff box found in his pocket. A burglary gone wrong? 

Then, anonymous letters begin to arrive not only at the house on Bedford Square, but other wealthy or otherwise influential men receive them, too. Nothing is asked from them, but the accusations are vicious and, although not true, impossible to disprove - each of the men and their families would end up ruined in the eyes of society if the accusations were made known.

Who is behind the letters, what does the sender actually want, and where does the dead man fit in? 

Another man dies before Inspector Pitt - of course greatly helped by his constable, his wife, their maid and the formidable Great-Aunt Vespasia - cracks the case. For me, the solution was impossible to guess, although I had certain suspicions along the way that proved to be true. 

Much of the charm of these mysteries lies in the Victorian setting; every time it makes me glad that I live today and not back then, when class was everything and formalities hemmed people in on all sides. Another big plus for me is that there is no focus on gruesome detail other than what is absolutely necessary to understand what happened. Instead, it is all about solving a complex puzzle.

Apparently, the series (or parts of it?) have been adapted for TV - I have yet to find out more about this. In any case, I am looking forward to the other three Inspector Pitt novels on my to-be-read pile.

PS: You can find two more reviews of Anne Perry's books on my blog by typing her name in the search box in the upper left corner. I have just looked at them and found that I have been somewhat disappointed by one that I had read in 2011.

From wikipedia, I only just now found out that Anne Perry died a year ago.

First April Week

Another short working week, with Easter Monday being a holiday, and seeing the hottest day of the year so far.

Easter Monday (1 April) saw us getting up relatively early so that we'd be in time for church; the village band traditionally provide the music for the family service that day. At 10C/50F, it was chilly. It was also wet and windy but cleared up late afternoon, allowing for an hour-long walk around the village before dropping in with O.K.'s Mum for a bit.

On Tuesday (2 April), just like the previous week I took the trains I normally take on a Monday morning to get home, and was at my desk at the usual time. I was very tired, had a bit of a headache and felt queasy in the morning. Resting on my bed for half an hour during my lunch break helped a lot, and so did the after-work walk to Benningen through the beautiful spring late afternoon and early evening, including a pale rainbow at the start that I just about managed to see before it vanished, and the first apple blossoms.

Click to enlarge and spot the rainbow!

Almost at vanishing point, if you look carefully, you can still see the rainbow.

apple blossoms

A chilly and rainy day followed on Wednesday (3 April), just right for working at the office all day. At 6:00 pm, my sister and I met at our Mum's for a delicious meal of home-made vegetable soup and freshly baked mini naans. My sister had been to the south of France over Easter to visit our relatives there, and told us of her trip and how everyone is.

It was milder but still rather windy on Thursday (4 April) with a mix of rain, sun and clouds. After work, I walked for about 1.5 hours in a part of town I'd not been to in a while.

sunrise on that Thursday morning

It is always interesting to find yet another spot from where the giant ferris wheel is visible.

Sometimes I direct my walks to places that I knew well in the past, such as the street where my piano teacher used to live and where I went for lessons once a week in my mid-teens. The family name is still on the mailbox, and the house has the same, slightly neglected "bohemian" feel it had back then.

Friday (5 April) was considerably warmer at 23C/73F, and I took advantage of it by leaving my windows wide open all day. I am not sure how much the beautiful spring day had to do with it, but I felt like I was "back" and properly "me" again for the first time in weeks, my energy and ability to focus returning.

The day consisted of the usual succession of work, cleaning and packing my little red suitcase until it was time to walk to the train station. Both trains were on time. When O.K. picked me up in Offenburg, we first stopped briefly with a couple of friends before driving to the village. It made for a late supper at the cottage at 10:00 pm.

The next day, Saturday (6 April), came with record-breaking temperatures and wall to wall sunshine: We had about 28C/82F, but the nearby village of Ohlsbach was later given as the warmest place in our part of Germany that day at 30C/86F. It is not so unusual to have warm days in April, but this kind of temperature was much higher than average.

We spent it working around the house and garden of O.K.'s parents. I scratched the moss of a set of stone steps leading up to the patio; while the mossy stones look nicer than the naked concrete, it also made the steps slippery when wet, and dangerous for O.K.'s Mum who will be 84 in August.

I don't mind physical work at all - it allows the mind to wander and gives a sort of satisfaction rarely felt with the abstract stuff I do for a living. But I must admit that the backs of my legs and some other body parts are not used to kneeling and crouching for hours, and every now and then I had to get up and stretch a little. Sore muscles were with me for a few days afterwards, but that's alright.

O.K.'s sister suggested a BBQ at her place that evening, which was much appreciated, since it allowed us to work longer and save time otherwise spent on preparing a meal ourselves. It was still warm enough to sit out in their garden all evening - a pleasant end to a real summer day.

It was "White Sunday" on Sunday (7 April), the name given to the Sunday of the First Communion for Roman Catholic children in Germany. Since O.K.'s village is predominantly Catholic, it is an important day there, with the village band playing for the children and their families on the square in front of the church after the service. 

The warm, sunny weather made for a good turn-out, and it was nice to observe the crowd in their festive clothes. 

Back home, we changed into walking outfits (it was warm enough for me to wear my hiking shorts and a short-sleeved top!), got into the car and drove about half an hour to the village of Nordrach. From there, we walked one of the many tours suggested in a booklet I keep at the cottage. 

Amazingly, in spite of the good weather, we walked most of the tour entirely on our own, the only sounds being birdsong, a murmuring beck running along the path and our conversation - beautiful, and just what I needed.

pear blossoms

Along the way, boards informed about various fruit trees cultivated in the area, such as this pear tree.

Who would not want to have a little rest with such a view?

Baking houses are typical outbuildings at the larger farms here, and this one was open, selling home-made schnaps and other products from the farm.

typical Black Forest farm house

Old stable in Nordrach

Nordrach church inside...

...and out. It is nowhere near as old as it looks; what you see was built in the Neo-Gothic style in 1904/05.

It was neither a strenuous nor particularly long walk, just over 10 km I think, but perfect after the previous day's physical work. Back at the cottage, O.K. fixed us our favourite drink for a summerly evening (Apérol Spritz), and we took one up to the patio for his Mum as well.

For our evening meal, we grilled the rest of the meat and Merguez sausages left over from Saturday.

A busy (as usual) but good week altogether.