april: spring in the country.

outside of wiesbaden, in the so called 'ländchen', there are several little villages, situated peacefully at the foothills of the taunus mountains. i refer to the region as 'the shire', you know, as in the place where the hobbits live in 'the lord of the rings' :) on one of my spring walks i discovered that auringen was in possession of a real hiking trail, approximately 8 km long. i had tried out the trail before, but failed miserably at following the correct paths, and ended up somewhere near medenbach ( i think i wrote about that in my last post. ) so of course i needed to return for a new try. the weather also was much better than the last time i visited, which made for a really beautiful walk. one of the downsides though, was the fact that the trail is badly signposted. i walked into dead ends at least twice, but i was determined to finish the walk this time, so i didn't give up.

tiny creeks are my favourite.

it's so great that every year the flowers begin to bud out of dead leaves again - it warms my heart every single time. and i just love the contrast.

passed by a pond. reflection time!

i'm so happy i managed to capture this eurasian jay so perfectly! they're such nice birds. in german they are called 'eichelhäher', because they hide acorns and caw with a rasping voice.

blooming blackthorns.

allotment gardens.

the mill of auringen is actually a really nice building.

and ducklings greet you at the gate.

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may '20: seeking modernism.

super pink rhododendron buds emerging! i start off this post with some flower images to appreciate and praise the time of spring, especially the month of may, which is the most abundant spring month to me personally. all the blossoms, all the fresh greens amass during may, and my heart and mind are hardly ever able to not frolick & gush about it all! for this post i am returning to one walk i did with the sole purpose to find a special mid-century villa in königstein ( which would ultimately prove to be a failure - i did find it, but i couldn't approach it properly to have a good look at it and only ever saw a tiny bit of the garden/forest side ). the whole walk was not a letdown, though, as i did find some other mid-century & brutalism gems and thoroughly enjoyed walking through the old spa town in the taunus mountains. rhododendron shrubs yield all kinds of different blossoms in myriad colours, they are easy to breed, therefore a wide variety can be found all over the wor...

july '20: lake petersdorf discoveries and a plea against genocide.

the green wild meadows of malchow's sandfeld. in the west of malchow there is a big chunk of forest that spans towards plauer see, a widely 'uncultivated' area these days, but it hasn't always been this way. in my last post i mentioned the nazi munition factory that had been built in these woods, away from prying eyes of their enemies and where they also built an external subcamp for the concentration camp ravensbrück. exactly these woods we explored on a pretty sunny day, betraying the darkness that happened around these parts. isn't it weird that there are places in this world that were built or used by dark forces and horrible regimes and you vist them 80 years later and they are the most peaceful places you can imagine? sometimes my brain can't cope with the contrast of knowing what was in the past and what the present looks and feels like. it definitely leaves me with a strange impression often, kind of like a little sting in my heart and brain that is not ...

november: thuringian forest.

the day we visited the thuringian forest near luisenthal we would also receive the death notice of my cousin. while the day in luisenthal was pretty magic - i even found a goat skull to take home for my not so fast growing skull collection - the time we got home and received the phone call of my grandmother, everything went dull. we always had hoped for him to recover - over the course of his sickness there were multiple times we'd thought he was on his way up, but that also counted for the times it was clear that the cancer was severe and probably not defeatable. in the end he fought four years, but he couldn't conquer. his constant optimism & general good will wasn't enough as his body decided to give up on him. i'm still thinking a lot about him, he was such a good natured guy, always seeing the good in everything and everyone. it's so strange to know that he's never going to be on any future family party gathering again. we discussed so many things whe...

ghost of nature.

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