The Quarry and the Odenwald Beyond

Last weekend we went for a walk around the quarry in Nußloch. Unfortunately I never got a picture of the Königstuhl. The mountains around it were covered in snow. You can see some of it in the pictures below.

Nußlocher Wald

A close up of the tree tops.

Intrepid Hikers

Binky and Vinnie

Andrea and Binky

The dog days of summer? Vinnie's owner passed on these photos to us from back in May. The photos were taken out in the fields around Nußloch.

Mid September we went to the Viking Festival in Adventon. The best part of this festival is the hobby warriors who come out and smack each other with swords. Each side of the field cheers for their champion. I embarrassed my family by cheering for our hero, Wulfgar. After a couple mock-battles, in which Wulfgar's warriors were repeatedly victorious, all the Vikings got together and formed a shield wall. Then, all-comers were invited onto the field to try and break the wall. First the adults charged; with me of course. We did a fair job. I lost my wooden clog, trying to run across the field. The ultimate was the charge of the children. I regret that my camera pooped out while filming this video.

 We enjoyed the show, though the size of the event was smaller than the previous year. Our favorite honey merchant from Poland was there with his ferrets. We bought cinnamon honey and a honey glaze for roasting chicken.

Burg Steinsberg in Sinsheim

Looking back down into Baiertal

Descending into Baiertal

We walked some 8-10 kilometers from Nußloch to Oberhof in Dielheim. We had long looked at taking this walk, since it connected up a number of paths that we had looked at before. It took us some 2.5 hours climbing over the ridge, down into the next valley, then over the next ridge. We took Anke and Ralf with us. Alan and Dorle met us in Oberhof for lunch. We drove home in the Foster's car and our car which we had prepositioned in Oberhof that morning.

Kathryn climbing into Schatthausen

Cats in Baiertal waiting for the cows to be milked.

View Larger Map

We actually cut off the part that goes over Maisbach. Google does not show the trail that runs around the gravel mine and across to Baiertal.

Ralf

Yours Truly

Goldregen - Wildflower or Weed?

Gravel mine in Nußloch for Heidelberg Cement

Anke

Rest of the Team

Meet Dot.

RATS!

Dot likes to ride on shoulders.

Winter has returned!

Our backyard had no snow last night.



The view over the Rhine Valley.


Taking Binky for a walk.



Quite the winter wonderland.

We ended up walking around the gravel quarry. I shoulda brought my skis!

Binky and Mama hiking near Three Oaks.

Went hiking in Gauangeloch. In this spooky pine forest we found mushrooms.


This is Amanita muscaria or fly agaric. In German it is called Fliegenpilz.



The woods were full of them!

Happy Halloween!


Scary Binky Dog


Carving Pumpkins


Scary Characters


Howdy Pardner!

The following are some photos from the visit of my father this year.



Kati and Ursula hiking.


The 4-castle landscape, Neckarsteinach. On the left, the Schwalbennest (Swallows Nest) clings to the cliffs above the Neckar. Another castle can be seen at the base of the hill. The other two castles in Neckarsteinach are behind the hill to the right.


Dilsberg across from Neckarsteinach is a walled-town atop a hil. Alan and Dorle joined us on the walk. We then had lunch in the town.


Walking with my father in Gauangeloch. The corn has been harvested.


A field of rape seed in Ochsenbach.

花見 in Schwetzingen

The cherry blossoms were in full bloom today so we went out to the Schwetzingen Palace for a hanami (flower-viewing) party. We made onegiri and had lunch under the cherry trees.

Ursula came with us on this walk. We walked between Schatthausen, Oberdorf, and Meckesheim. In a pond below a small farm, we found some frog eggs, waiting to hatch.

Here at the end of the month, we took time out to celebrate Thanksgiving. We celebrated with the Ami-Stammtisch at SAP. This year we had enough vegetables and more importantly, enough pumpkin pie. Unfortunately Andrea and I both came down with colds. The next day kicked off the beginning of the Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market) season.

Both Andrea and I had to drag ourselves out of bed and work for two hours setting up the booth for the PTA of the kids' school. We had enough time go home and warm up before we had to drive out there again and watch Ursula perform in her Orff Ensemble with her classmates. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at the bakery and came home in time to drive Kathryn back to the Weihnachtsmarkt for her to take her turn at booth duty at the PTA booth.

Sunday we celebrated the 1st Advent. We invited over the Plumleys. We sang a few Christmas songs, ate some cookies, drank some tea, and had some live performances. Ursula on her guitar, Kathryn on the recorder, and Pete on his trombone.

We went and visited the Breuberg in Hessia with Anke and Ralf. The owners of this castle went to war with the owners of the Otzberg, where Anke and Ralf live. The Otzbergers fooled the Breubergers into believing that they had enough food to survive the siege by choking the pig once per day. From the squeals of the pig, the Otzbergers soon believed that they were slaughtering one pig a day. That is hardly what one does when one is worried about conserving one's supplies in a siege. To this day, the Breubergers call the people from around the Otzberg, "pig chokers."