Kate Bush ain’t got nothin’ me!

This is a good time of the year to be outdoors.  Not too hot, not too cold.  And lots of pretty things to look at.  At this time of the year my heart also turns to the kitchen.  The heavy cast iron pots come out to play.  The baking trays get a vigorous work-out.  And all those extra calories need to be displaced before they take up their winter lodgings on my bum.  So its off for a walk.  Want to come with me?  Best put on a jacket – it gets a touch cool striding over the moors…. Heathcliffffffffffffffffffffffff……

Some weird berries that probably have an exotic name – and seem scary, if only for the fact that as I child I might have been tempted to sample them.  This from the chick that pretty much lived off the nectar I could suck out of honeysuckle for a whole summer.

I like making a fuss of stopping and reading this sign that hangs on a fence.  It translates to: “If I catch you not removing your dog’s shit, I will take said property, and throw it in your mailbox”.  As I don’t have a dog, I enjoy seeing the curtains twitch when I loiter too long in front of his fence.

Brave me….takes the shortcut through the cemetery.  Not that there is anything at all scary about this place – more like a well ordered botanical garden.  Sometimes I think it is tidier than my living room.

Just past the cemetery we find the Schrebergarten – garden plots that turn into second homes in the summer.  Each allotment is fine tuned to meet all the requirements of its owner.  I can see the benefits of having a bit of land to call your own, in a country where so many people live in apartments…but as I have a personal aversion to ‘caravan park style living’ – not sure it is for me.

I tootle over the Autobahn toward the river and the more rural area.  At this time of year, even the Autobahn looks pretty.  Miss Nine (on the odd occasion I can convince her to come walk with me) likes to stand here and wave at the cars.  Contrary to reports of Germans being less than friendly…. they ALWAYS wave back!

About now you will need to pull out those earmuffs and turn up your collar.  There is an evil, ice-cold polar wind that ravages your fingers and nose, and it starts here.  This long farming road toward the river Sieg should come with a warning sign.

This little garden/orchard on the right is tended by a 90 year old woman… she does most of the work herself – except for the time I saw her 70 year old son giving her a hand. 

Gnarly ol’ tree.. I would like a little orchard at the bottom of my garden.

This was the original Bauernhof (farmhouse) for this whole area.  It is now owned and operated as the Annex for Organic Agriculture, Bonn University.  I remember when the property went up for auction… I would have liked to have seen out my days here.  Less the potato crops and the freezing wind from the river, of course.

At the end of the Ice (Truckers) Road… hang a right and walk along the floodbank.  The wind melts away and you can let your ears out to breath.  Mysteriously, on my last walk, I found a perfectly good pair of jeans hanging from a post… and for a second I considered taking them home and giving them a wash.  Then I spent the next few minutes wondering how on earth someone could get home without their pants!

Oohhh those clouds started to look a little ominous.  In fact, I have seen the weather change so quickly when walking here that I try to have all seasons covered…even a bikini!

Heading back into town now.  This is a pretty house, currently houses a dentist suite.

Does it get much cuter?  Part of the old stables, previously attached to one of the grander homes.  Now they are little mews apartments.

Those clouds are coming at us, time to scurry!

This picture has not been photoshopped.  Over my shoulder was a sparkling blue sky, but across the street, behind the Rathaus (Townhall) it was black as black gets.  Might need to hole up in a Kneipe (Pub) and drink a Kölsch.

This is the view from my bedroom window today…. It casts the most wonderful golden light over the house.  Did you enjoy your walk?  Feel refreshed?  Thought so. 

 

 

**I did this walk with my sister last Christmas and am not sure she will ever forgive me.  Two hours at –4 degrees  = Not Happy.