Upon rising yesterday morning , I noticed a young mule deer buck with a nice rack nibbling on our shrubs in front of the house.
Deer pruning we call it, but I was not in the mood for pruning right now.
As I opened the door, the buck took 3 hops back , turned around and looked expectantly towards me.
So I told him , in German of course, to please not eat the shrubs .He kept looking and I kept talking, even Mitzi joined the fun by winding around my feet and purring loudly. It was peaceful.
Back inside , while getting my tea ready , I noticed yet another buck, also nibbling away on our shrubs. I went out again and gave him the same lecture. Buck # 1 found this so interesting, he came even closer to better understand. Amazing, theses guys are not only very used to having us around , but they also seem to have a particular liking to the sound of German.
Deer linguistics 201 on Horsecreek road.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
One Million People
What awesome time we had in Nova Scotia, home of my best friend and her wonderful husband and 999998 more equally friendly people.
And it is the mix of absolutely stunning surroundings and the people which makes Nova Scotia so spectacular!
Our friends greeted us at the airport upon our arrival , to help us find our way to their home, afraid that we would loose ourselves in the myrrh of Halifax' streets.
We spend a lovely evening in good camaraderie, reminiscing about our wild mountaineering , bicycling and skiing days out West ,and receiving good advice about our Cape Breton adventure which would start the following day.
Our B&B in Baddeck was lovely, everything just right and the rooms clean and romantic ,full of books and more books ,a fact Werner truly enjoyed!
The Cabot Trail , which we drove counterclockwise, to have the best views did not disappoint.
Ocean views and mountain views galore, inter spaced with tiny little fishing villages and gift shops.
We found beaches with perfectly round shaped rocks and beaches with perfectly flattened rocks , all made by the waves crushing onto the shores.Impressive!
I can't believe , I ever cycled this trail, there is hardly ever enough room for cyclists and cars -so I better keep my memories of this trip alive , there will be no repeat cycling of the trail!
We continued to eat our way through the delicacies this Atlantic province has to offer, fresh oysters for lunch at Aspy Bay, lobster dinner in Baddeck,marinated herring where ever we found it, perfect Chowder in little shanty's along the roads-divine!
Our absolute highlight was our side trip around Cape George-untouched by mass tourism, beautiful views, small farms , serenity exuding peacefulness-and the future home of our friends!
The following days were spend with us being whisked away to experience more of our friends live.
We went sailing and Werner got to be the helmsman under sail, tacking and all and he took to it like a true waterman. My father would have been proud, wait 'til I tell him about his son in laws adventures!
We did a walking tour of Halifax and visited the immigration museum on Pier 21. Although Werner arrived by boat as well, his and my arrival onto Canadian soil cannot compare to what theses immigrants of yesteryear had to go through. We spoke the language, had careers that already promised work and we had money, the refugees of the war and post war era had nothing!
As our last impression , we got to see the Bay of Fundy during low tide. Ships are sitting stranded down in the harbor, waiting for the water to return to carry them out to sea. The tidal wave for the bay is immense and can get dangerously high during times of storm and full moon cycles.
While the water demonstrates it's incredible power, the wine yards a few miles inland produce incredible reds and whites, which we were also fortunate to taste .
For a province so diversified and rich in different cultures , it is hard to believe that only 1 000 0000 people are able to hold it all together!
And it is the mix of absolutely stunning surroundings and the people which makes Nova Scotia so spectacular!
Our friends greeted us at the airport upon our arrival , to help us find our way to their home, afraid that we would loose ourselves in the myrrh of Halifax' streets.
We spend a lovely evening in good camaraderie, reminiscing about our wild mountaineering , bicycling and skiing days out West ,and receiving good advice about our Cape Breton adventure which would start the following day.
Our B&B in Baddeck was lovely, everything just right and the rooms clean and romantic ,full of books and more books ,a fact Werner truly enjoyed!
The Cabot Trail , which we drove counterclockwise, to have the best views did not disappoint.
Ocean views and mountain views galore, inter spaced with tiny little fishing villages and gift shops.
We found beaches with perfectly round shaped rocks and beaches with perfectly flattened rocks , all made by the waves crushing onto the shores.Impressive!
I can't believe , I ever cycled this trail, there is hardly ever enough room for cyclists and cars -so I better keep my memories of this trip alive , there will be no repeat cycling of the trail!
We continued to eat our way through the delicacies this Atlantic province has to offer, fresh oysters for lunch at Aspy Bay, lobster dinner in Baddeck,marinated herring where ever we found it, perfect Chowder in little shanty's along the roads-divine!
Our absolute highlight was our side trip around Cape George-untouched by mass tourism, beautiful views, small farms , serenity exuding peacefulness-and the future home of our friends!
The following days were spend with us being whisked away to experience more of our friends live.
We went sailing and Werner got to be the helmsman under sail, tacking and all and he took to it like a true waterman. My father would have been proud, wait 'til I tell him about his son in laws adventures!
We did a walking tour of Halifax and visited the immigration museum on Pier 21. Although Werner arrived by boat as well, his and my arrival onto Canadian soil cannot compare to what theses immigrants of yesteryear had to go through. We spoke the language, had careers that already promised work and we had money, the refugees of the war and post war era had nothing!
As our last impression , we got to see the Bay of Fundy during low tide. Ships are sitting stranded down in the harbor, waiting for the water to return to carry them out to sea. The tidal wave for the bay is immense and can get dangerously high during times of storm and full moon cycles.
While the water demonstrates it's incredible power, the wine yards a few miles inland produce incredible reds and whites, which we were also fortunate to taste .
For a province so diversified and rich in different cultures , it is hard to believe that only 1 000 0000 people are able to hold it all together!
Monday, July 18, 2011
The Shining
Hold on to your gold crowns!
If you have not noticed , gold is shining brightly on the investment horizon. It now costs more than 1600 $ for a troy ounce of gold.
I remember that I wanted to buy gold in 2000 to invest as a hedge against inflation and my broker , unusually incompetent told me : "Nobody can make money with gold!" We soon parted ways , because I can only tolerate stupidity for so long, particularly if my own money is involved and went on to persue my own interests .
Slowly , but surely everything I had anticipated has come true and the story is far from over.
Economic uncertainty has mired the Euro and even more so the US dollar, even so the news so far has been pummeling the Euro instead of discussing the potential problems with US bankruptcy.
Well, the latest developments in the US shows that the mighty US dollar is in trouble and the rise in gold does certainly reflect this.
Gold mining stocks are trailing behind and are still a good buy, otherwise any pull back is an opportunity, and there will be pull backs.
Hang on to your old jewellery and gold crowns and wait for the party to get into full swing before you give it away.
The ski is not quite the limit, but it will be well up on the stair way.
If you have not noticed , gold is shining brightly on the investment horizon. It now costs more than 1600 $ for a troy ounce of gold.
I remember that I wanted to buy gold in 2000 to invest as a hedge against inflation and my broker , unusually incompetent told me : "Nobody can make money with gold!" We soon parted ways , because I can only tolerate stupidity for so long, particularly if my own money is involved and went on to persue my own interests .
Slowly , but surely everything I had anticipated has come true and the story is far from over.
Economic uncertainty has mired the Euro and even more so the US dollar, even so the news so far has been pummeling the Euro instead of discussing the potential problems with US bankruptcy.
Well, the latest developments in the US shows that the mighty US dollar is in trouble and the rise in gold does certainly reflect this.
Gold mining stocks are trailing behind and are still a good buy, otherwise any pull back is an opportunity, and there will be pull backs.
Hang on to your old jewellery and gold crowns and wait for the party to get into full swing before you give it away.
The ski is not quite the limit, but it will be well up on the stair way.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
On The Range
What populated place our home is at times!It makes me laugh to think , how we create a whole bunch of conversations , just by not exactly pronouncing right, not listening properly , or not seeing clearly.
When I arrived from Germany last Sunday, Werner told me a lot about Archie Taylor. He kept explaining more and more and me being extremely tired just listened -until I could not help but ask , "Who is Archie Taylor?"
Turns out, Archie Taylor is the agitator from the seeder , Werner spend days to make it spit out the seeds properly and evenly.
Our daughter on the other hand overheard us talk about a Jamaican. Jamaican this and that and she felt compelled to remind us, that one should not refer to people by their home country , but by their names. Well , we did that, but a little laziness while pronouncing the name , made him the "Jamaican "!
Both Werner and I have many times raced to get the binoculars in order to spot some exotic animal more clearly, only to find out , that it is just a shrub or the wheelbarrow illuminated in a different way , to make them look like buffalo, moose , bears or wolfs. Crazy!
Even the landscape surrounding us takes on a live of its own. Driving along Grand Valley Road in the summer reminds us regularly of the hills of Tuscany , olive trees and cypresses and all.
Looking out west while sitting on our deck reminds us often of the African Savannah, and if we look closely, we even see the giraffes walking in the distance.
I can't wait who or what is coming next to our magic place.
When I arrived from Germany last Sunday, Werner told me a lot about Archie Taylor. He kept explaining more and more and me being extremely tired just listened -until I could not help but ask , "Who is Archie Taylor?"
Turns out, Archie Taylor is the agitator from the seeder , Werner spend days to make it spit out the seeds properly and evenly.
Our daughter on the other hand overheard us talk about a Jamaican. Jamaican this and that and she felt compelled to remind us, that one should not refer to people by their home country , but by their names. Well , we did that, but a little laziness while pronouncing the name , made him the "Jamaican "!
Both Werner and I have many times raced to get the binoculars in order to spot some exotic animal more clearly, only to find out , that it is just a shrub or the wheelbarrow illuminated in a different way , to make them look like buffalo, moose , bears or wolfs. Crazy!
Even the landscape surrounding us takes on a live of its own. Driving along Grand Valley Road in the summer reminds us regularly of the hills of Tuscany , olive trees and cypresses and all.
Looking out west while sitting on our deck reminds us often of the African Savannah, and if we look closely, we even see the giraffes walking in the distance.
I can't wait who or what is coming next to our magic place.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Grosse Baggerei-big digging
Nina and Kai took me just recently on a boat tour on the Rhine river and we sped past an old sign which announced "Grosse Baggerei".If you pronounce it in German it sound somewhat odd in English , so we had a nice chuckle. Nina had mentioned that she loves the word "baggern",digging in English, so I saw the connection.
Anyhow, little did I know that the grosse Baggerei would follow me home.
Here we are again , 4 years after a big renovation, which included digging down to the basement foundation, we have to do it again. Hopefully right this to time!
The very snow rich winter , followed by an extremely wet spring was too much for the precautions we took to keep the basement dry.
Mercifully there is no damage inside. But with the prospect of more extreme weather due to climate charge , we thought it would be prudent to be more pro active.
It comes at a cost of course, in this case , it means probably no asphalt in front of the garage and the house for now. There go my high heel dreams!
The walls on the north -east side of the basement have been tared today , and in a few hours we can begin to put down the weeping tile and fill it up with gravel. That way we don't get a moat going , should the weather forecast come true with thunderstorms and severe weather.
Can't wait for the grosse Baggerei to start in front of the house!
Anyhow, little did I know that the grosse Baggerei would follow me home.
Here we are again , 4 years after a big renovation, which included digging down to the basement foundation, we have to do it again. Hopefully right this to time!
The very snow rich winter , followed by an extremely wet spring was too much for the precautions we took to keep the basement dry.
Mercifully there is no damage inside. But with the prospect of more extreme weather due to climate charge , we thought it would be prudent to be more pro active.
It comes at a cost of course, in this case , it means probably no asphalt in front of the garage and the house for now. There go my high heel dreams!
The walls on the north -east side of the basement have been tared today , and in a few hours we can begin to put down the weeping tile and fill it up with gravel. That way we don't get a moat going , should the weather forecast come true with thunderstorms and severe weather.
Can't wait for the grosse Baggerei to start in front of the house!
Sunday, July 3, 2011
To whom the bell tolls
To whom does the bell toll? Good question , when you are awake in the middle of the night and the bell tolls once for every 15 min and the exact number of hours every hour. Sleeplessness as a count along.
Hearing the church bells is something I so dearly miss in Canada, even if it keeps me awake at night.
I love this sound representing the passage of time . The bells are heard calling for worship, they are sound for weddings , baptisms and for burials. But they are never heard on Good Friday, as they travel to Rome to be blessed.
Hearing the bells throughout my trip ,made me belong and I felt welcome.
Who knows , may be the bells tolled for me after all.
Hearing the church bells is something I so dearly miss in Canada, even if it keeps me awake at night.
I love this sound representing the passage of time . The bells are heard calling for worship, they are sound for weddings , baptisms and for burials. But they are never heard on Good Friday, as they travel to Rome to be blessed.
Hearing the bells throughout my trip ,made me belong and I felt welcome.
Who knows , may be the bells tolled for me after all.
Grimm's Sister's Fairy Tale Week
Saturday was Rhein In Flammen! (Burning Rhine)
Talk about finishing my week in Style!
The Rhine river was closed to all commercial freight traffic and a convoy of at least 20 pleasure boats slowly wound it's way from St. Goar to Bingen to enjoy a series of firework displays done by the various communities along this stretch of the river.
We sat right on the edge of the fireworks firing area in Bingen and the most magnificent fireworks happened right above our heads. We even felt the debris rain on our heads and we smelled the gunpowder or sulfur .
The best part, that this evening started with a boat ride along the promenade to the local wife beater wearing camp ground .What joy to ride the waves and what fun to scream with each jump! We also had a lovely dinner at a local Strauss wirtschaft(seasonal wine bar and restaurant).
And that was only the last day of an unbelievable fast and event filled week.
Arrival last Sunday to Total Valley event with Blues Festival, visit at my parents grave before admission to hospital on Monday, Tuesday successful knee operation, Wednesday meeting my friend Monika stay with her for 2 days, continuous excellent recovery with good friends and good food, Friday arrival in Neuwied , visit with lots more friends and a good visit with flowers to the cemetery .
And than the before mentioned finale.
Unbelievable, fast, successful and eventful.
It felt like I was reading the story of a crazy trip to Germany, but I lived it all-what fun!
Talk about finishing my week in Style!
The Rhine river was closed to all commercial freight traffic and a convoy of at least 20 pleasure boats slowly wound it's way from St. Goar to Bingen to enjoy a series of firework displays done by the various communities along this stretch of the river.
We sat right on the edge of the fireworks firing area in Bingen and the most magnificent fireworks happened right above our heads. We even felt the debris rain on our heads and we smelled the gunpowder or sulfur .
The best part, that this evening started with a boat ride along the promenade to the local wife beater wearing camp ground .What joy to ride the waves and what fun to scream with each jump! We also had a lovely dinner at a local Strauss wirtschaft(seasonal wine bar and restaurant).
And that was only the last day of an unbelievable fast and event filled week.
Arrival last Sunday to Total Valley event with Blues Festival, visit at my parents grave before admission to hospital on Monday, Tuesday successful knee operation, Wednesday meeting my friend Monika stay with her for 2 days, continuous excellent recovery with good friends and good food, Friday arrival in Neuwied , visit with lots more friends and a good visit with flowers to the cemetery .
And than the before mentioned finale.
Unbelievable, fast, successful and eventful.
It felt like I was reading the story of a crazy trip to Germany, but I lived it all-what fun!
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