renovation rawness.
hi, hello, i'm back from a three week hiatus! i mean, yeah, hiatus is a big word when it comes to me, especially since i'm so bad with catching up and stuff, but alas, i stopped catching up for three weeks straight which throws me even more into a time lag, right? ah, well. life moves on and my lazy/busy ass just is not able to sit down and post twice a week or daily, or soon after i had some kind of happening or adventure. i often think to myself that i'm the baddest blogger you can think of, always posting about things that happened waaaaay back in the past, never any advice thrown in there, rarely posting anything different & certainly not offering something worthwhile for my readers! ( if there are any lol ) truth is, i don't have anything to offer. except documenting my life, kind of. i have no interesting hobbies or any nice skills to show off, my photography is mediocre at best and my knowledge about things only borders on the surface, as i'm interested in too many things and cannot, for the life of me, specialize in anything or go way deeper. i'm not even a good storyteller, rarely can i offer some interesting musings about zeitgeisty or philosophical subjects or write about crazy adventures or interpersonal occurences. i racked my brains for any ideas to liven up this space on the internet for a long time, but haven't come up with anything worthwhile.
other bloggers would ask their readers what they would like to see or read, but looking at the fact that i have no readers this is practically useless :P i also don't even know what i want out of the blogging experience so over the years i just decided to call this a diary of sorts. it's a very superficial diary, not much of my IRL is disclosed on here - simply because it's mostly uneventful and boring and involves a lot of swearing, working a job that's never been fulfilling to me, but keeps a roof above my head, insignificant dramas and a lot of frustration. maybe, for my own sake, it would kind of help to write about some of these things, but in the overall picture it wouldn't be of any interest to any possible reader. and since i have no specialized interests there's not much else to do than just document this ordinary life of mine.
anyways, it's summer now and here i am posting about winter shenanigans. then again, it's kinda nice to sit in sweltering heat and look at blue-hued winter pictures. in january i visited the river rhine a few times because it flooded some of the city meadows and i kinda like when it happens. when a river leaves its bed it feels like a break-through, like nature breaking the rules human beings have set up to tame it. for me it feels like some kind of revenge, maybe a warning even, that nature can't be tamed. it will find a way to cut down your presumptuousness.
on my way to the meadows in the city district of biebrich i passed by this reception building of a factory and was kind of enamoured with its timelessness.
high tide tourists.
the tiling of this building was quite remarkable.
the biebrich river meadows. every year in winter the river carries more water than it can hold in its confined river bed and therefore overflows the meadows on each side of the river bank. it's been like this for centuries and is actual what makes it so charming to me. a river is not here to be confined to being a canal, it's alive and moving and meandering around, it shapes the landscape it flows through.
as human beings are moving closer and closer to the river the danger of flooding increases. in my opinion it is not a bad thing at all, i feel that it shows human beings something very important: to not take themselves so serious. no matter how hard they want to try to tame nature to their likings, nature won't have it. it shows you how to not treat it - with striking back. the flooding of our rivers are something we all got kind of used to, unless it is so severe that a lot of damage is generated. then the cries are loud and unmistakeable, but instead of retreating and finding solutions of co-habitation in a less constricting way, people are shouting for even more confinement. i say: if you want to live near a body of water or a volcano or just in a place where a lot of nature is involved, you need to remember the fact that it always reacts in its own way and it will probably affect your life in one way or another. you need to work with nature, not against it.
the meadows are so vital for the river rhine and its natural surroundings.
near the new schierstein bridge. liked the contrast of the construction materials and the river flooding them.
flooded pathway.
in summer these meadows are used by us humans to frolick around and sunbathe and have fun, in winter you could actually take a real bath, if it wasn't so cold, haha.
swans enjoying the new surroundings.
floodings do make for interesting photo motives.
slide leading into the water. i think it would be really fun for kids to use!
i didn't only have eyes for the floodings, but also passed by some nice factory buildings. inside there's not an actual manufacture, but a branch of the hessian bildungswerk ( educational institute ). they have several ateliers & workshops here.
needless to say there weren't a lot of kids playing here 🙈
i think it is probably really nice to have a working space here, especially when you consider the view out to the river.
factory chaos.
in resorts you would welcome these waterparks, but here in germany? nope. especially not in winter.
sycamores getting soaked real good.
here you can see how near the water got to human inhabitations.
i did or did not sit down for a little rest on a bench right next to the flooded meadows.
i did! it was nice & relaxing, watching ducks swim by and listening to the burble of the water.
when i went back to my car i passed by this building again and couldn't refrain from taking another picture. it's too good! it's part of the rheinhütte pumpen - a factory for pumping applications.
asian lions graceing some pillars.
on a different occasion i also visited the meadows in schierstein. i think it was about a week later, but the high tide was still visible ( if only for what remained on the meadows after the water went back again ).
some ducks taking a bath in the leftover puddles.
it was like a tiny lake had formed on the meadows.
the tide was still high one week later, but at least you could walk on the pathways again.
gull surfing. every high tide brings with it a lot of driftwood. what better way to use it than for surfing?
sludgy path. you could still see the ripples that the water made in the soil after retreating to its bed.
i love when nature forms these patterns.
it's a hard knock life, especially when high tide is going strong. maneuvering a boat must've been quite the work.
ripple, ripple.
wild shores.
looking over the river here you can see the little town of budenheim.
normally these grounds near walluf are dry and meadowy. not back in january though.
my walk lead me to walluf, which is only three kilometers away from schierstein. i made a small stop at the harbour, greeting mrs. swan's little ones. i guess i was lucky to get so close, swan parents are known to attack people who come too near to their offspring.
it was the middle of january, and the local city christmas tree was still up, adding a slightly christmassy feeling to the promenade.
walluf's beach. i couldn't move further anymore as the river cut off the pathway leading along its shores.
on the other side of the rhine river you can see some industrial factories ( namely the chemical plant budenheim ).
really like this mid-century portal of the st. john the baptist church in walluf. the whole church was formerly a chapel, but over the centuries developed into the main church of the village. i think the first mention of the chapel was around 1200 a.d. the last additions were constructed in 1957.
tiny houses & winding lanes.
i really, really love this house in walluf. it's my absolute favourite. ❤ so much green. it's a true picture book dream.
returning to schierstein via the dike. the view onto the flooded meadows was beyond beautiful. so serene!
how come that mirrored landscapes are such a visual delight? ❤
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