I realize this makes two bird posts in one week. Came around a corner this morning and had to hit the breaks for a long line of ducklings waddling down the road. They seemed just as surprised to see me and finally hunkered down near the shoulder as we passed. Do all mama's do this? Have this rush of adrenaline, mind racing thinking where is your mama?? (or farmer or whatever?) How long have you been out? There is another car coming. Omigosh I cannot look. I really need to DO something. I will drive over between them and the car….
Yeah. It really doesn't matter the species. I have permanent mama wrinkles in my being I think.
While driving to Burg Lichtenberg the other day we spotted a stork nesting on the roof of a home in a nearby village. It was no small feat to snag the picture let me tell you. Moira was not riding along so I had to plead with Alannah to hang out the window at the T stop and try to catch it. However this is a teeeeeeny tiny village with one road in so cars continued to line up behind us and there is no street parking. When the first shot blurred we had to drive another mile or so to turn around and line up again. She heaved a big sigh of relief when she finally got it. : )
A few more storks were spotted poking around the meadow on the edge of town, but the nest was empty the next time we came through. We were lucky to catch this one at just the right time.
One of the best park days ever was spent at the Homberg Stadtpark, known locally as the Pirate Ship Park. There is a large wooden pirate ship playground anchored in an enormous knee deep wading pool full of hefty rafts constructed in such a way that they can carry a heavy passenger load around the 'sea' despite its shallow depth.
Typical of German parks you assume all risk and personal responsibility. There are no gates, fences, staff. Just a giant ship and lots of shady trees around the edges from which moms and dads can keep an eye out.
unless of course Dad lands himself in the water too….
There is a story behind these pictures, one which has unfolded slowly over the past few years. My dear friend, Rebecca, first shared with me the story of Mary, Untier of Knots, some years ago. It came up again here and there and shortly before we left the States I found the prayers which accompany the devotion. I also shared the story with another friend.
Coincidentally, at a farewell party thrown for us on our last day in Colorado that friend slipped me a tiny medal with the image imprinted upon it. The medal came with me here, though I didn't think to investigate where the original actually resided.
Some time after arriving I began to research shrines and holy places I hoped to visit and discovered that the original image of Maria Knotenlöserin was kept here in Germany. Not only that but it was reasonably closeby, although further than a day trip. Our feis in Munich this summer would take us right by St. Peter Perlach, home of the image. So it was settled – this summer we would make the visit.
It was a bit of a painful pilgrimage, as I suppose all pilgrimages necessarily are. We had spent the better part of the day touring the Dachau Memorial and arrived in Augsburg to discover a festival in progress – right in the square before the church. That meant parking was not to be found. We circled further and further out and eventually parked in resident parking on a distant street (read: sorta illegally) and hiked up the hill as fast as we could.
The church stands apart from many we have seen locally. It looks more Mediterranean than Gothic, with its simple, whitewashed walls and tile floors. It resembles the mission churches of the American West and it felt like home there. (If I could even pin down where and what 'home' means anymore ; ))
The image is quite large in person. I knelt down at the front of the church before it for a few stolen moments, exhausted and relieved to be there. As I whispered a few quick but earnest prayers an elderly woman lit candles and slipped into the pew behind me, mouthing her own and smiling warmly. Our little band of travelers is clearly not German, and she may not have been either since the church is home to the Italian community locally. But, for that brief moment we were all just pilgrims, not so very different at all.
Knowing we still had several hours to drive, the visit was over much too soon and we were trekking over those cobblestones back down the hill once more with one last look back as the chimes sang out behind us. To date, it is one of most dearly beloved sights I have seen.
Now to be sure, I am a rotten videographer. Nonetheless, should you want to hear the chimes and walk with me for a second – or 21 – please join me here:
It came swooping across the valley out of nowhere the other night, alone this time. Once before we saw a pair lift from the pond together and cross the meadow out of sight, but this one was alone. My camera was on manual and not prepared in the least for midflight shots so I only caught a white blur as it sped by. But when it landed on the neighbors' barn I was able to capture these two before it disappeared again.
The family's first European Irish Step Dance competition was a huge learning experience for us all. Fortunately this one was in English which was a good thing because there are so many new procedures and rules to learn – including the one which prohibits photographing the competition itself. Sigh. So I contented myself with snapping some candids where I could.
This week's theme at Snapshots Around the World is 'Barn'. Sue was saying the German barn looked too nice for animals. The barns in this part of Germany DO look similar to the homes. In fact, many of them are connected to the farmhouses and form one long unit. I dug through my phone and files to see how many I had pictures of and came up with a few.
In the picture above the farmhouse actually is just offscreen to the left coming out at a 90 degree angle from the barn section.
The older barns are made of crude bricks like the ones above and below.
They are usually covered over in stucco and whitewashed or painted to match the house. (the house is off left of this pic below as well)
Many are used as garages today though others still house livestock. In fact the place two doors down from us has a little herd of goats in the paddock right now mowing their lawn. : )
This farm below has a separate barn (shown) which was huge but the same brick/stucco construction as the others. Unlike the others it is in the country. Darned if I wasn't happy to see those Oberhasli's that day. : )
Just over the border in France the farms look entirely different. Whereas here the farmhouses and barns are right in the villages and the farmers commute to the cropland and pastures, in eastern France little farmsteads dot the countryside much like rural communities in the states. They also have pole sheds there which are largely absent from this area. It is fascinating how different the world is.
Check out the other barns around the world linked at the Snapshots blog and leave us a link to one in your part of the world.
That is what we are looking for this week at Snapshots Around the World. Tucked into little hands, creeping out between rocks, climbing fences, gracing sketchbook pages, gathered into old soda bottles. Wherever you find them in your world.
Starry Sky Journal 