First onset of winter

What the hell was that this morning...???

;-)

When I raised the shutter of our bedroom window and looked outside this morning, I thought I still dream.

It was sleeting and on the hills on the other side of the valley the roofs and the more highly situated terrain was covered with a thin layer of wet snow.

Summertime - where have you gone???

Blue sky all Saturday long? --> No chance!

Even our last balcony tomatoes looked sad this morning... ;-)

But our Saturday morning breakfast made our day!

Toasty weekend for all of you!

Robby meets...

...Buchhandlung (book shop) Moritz & Lux, Bäd Mergentheim.

This is our bookstore. And our temporary postcard scriptorium.

...Espressobar Italia.
 

That's what we call a real street cafe... ;-))

Best coffee in town. Definitely.

Ciao Nello e Mara.

...Robby.

Hi buddy.

You've got a screw loose.

Bad Mergentheim spring weekend

Bad Mergentheim market place with parish church steeple,
taken from the second floor of the old town hall.

Flourishing cherry tree in the spa gardens.

Espressobar Italia.
For the Italian style of our attitude towards life.

Conference of "the Green Party"

winter versus harbingers of spring

As you were able to see in the recent posts winter came back to our corner of Germany with new snow fall and icy temperatures from the east. But fortunately in combination with great blue sky and sunshine from sunrise to sunset thereafter.
 

Last weekend we already had temperatures up to 17°C, so the very early spring flowers like crocuses and winter aconite (Winterling) already started flourishing.
Watch here: Welcome Spring. Goodbye winter.

But now most of them were covered by a layer of snow again.

Some lucky ones of them were able to break through it and stick their blossoms towards the sunlight.

winter aconite / Winterling [Eranthis hyemalis]

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But not only the spring flowers were dominated by the new snow - even the townscape / urban image and its "population" wears a new dress...

 

Statue of Knight Wolfgang Schutzbar, called Milchling, at a fountain in the marketplace of Bad Mergentheim; direkt in front of the church steeple and direct behind a wall of snow.

 

snow woman with suitable husband... ;-)

 

Fresh snow tonight...

Same neighbor car, next day, other weather phenomenon than yesterday: fresh snown!

(Oh no, not again... ;-))

We got up to 15cm new snow during the night,

so we had to put out the winter boots again!

For Rob: Your (S)chippendale did really a good job!

Kratz' mich - scratch me!

Rear window of our neighbour's car in the morning

at about minus 10°C!

Welcome spring. Goodbye winter.

 

 I was barely three days off from home. After my return yesterday I was really thunderstruck by the fact that the long German winter has vanished into thin (and warm) air.

Today we had great, sunny weather with moderate temperatures of about 13°C. 

In the weekend edition of our local newspaper I saw a photograph of our spa gardens with a bunch of flourishing crocuses.

One hour later I went to the spa gardens and was surprised by the flower carpet of purple crocuses.

I cannot remember having seen such a large sea of flowers there in the past.

Of course I took a couple of photos before I had to leave. 

Between all the violett blossoms I was able to find even some white species.

Welcome daily routine...

 

 Carnival / Mardi Gras / Fasching is (blessedly) over.

The next personal highlight is still a couple of weeks away.

Welcome everyday life.

Nothing to complain about.

We look forward to the next sunbeam.

And enjoy the next friendly smile.

:-)

Night shot of my hometown Bäd Mergentheim
one week ago from the seventh floor of the Hotel Victoria.

Towers from left to right:
Schlosskirche - castle church twin towers
Schlossturm Mergentheimer Schloss - castle tower Bad Mergentheim castle
Kirchturm Münster St. Johannes - church steeple priory / minster St. John / Johannes

Walter Sittler plays Erich Kästner

"Als ich ein kleiner Junge war"- "When I Was A Little Boy"

The biographical stories of Erich Kästner (written 1957)  focus on his childhood and Christmas.

The well-known German actor Walter Sittler played Erich Kästner in a wonderfully directed monologue, accompanied by 6 musicians at Bäd Mergentheim on 15 January 2009.

 

Newsworthy warning: Don't eat yellow snow!

Dear friends!

Even in our part of the world we actually have what you might call a "winter wonderland".

Although we are not used to have a lot of snow in our lowlands.

 

So we took the advantage of this rare opportunity and went for a stroll through the snow.

 

R., H. & R. together with a snowman we found in the spa gardens of our hometown Bäd Mergentheim.

 

Winter wonderland impressions I captured during our stroll.

 

Bäd Mergentheim in snow.

Seen from the "Ketterberg" in the north of the town.

Bäd Mergentheim winter impressions

Actually we really have something you may call "a winter feeling" these days prior Christmas in our part of this planet: a little snow, combined with arctic temperatures down to -20°C (-4°F) - even in the lowlands.

For Christmas the weatherman promised us much higher temperatures again in our parts of Germany so that we are in "good hope" to get the usual muddy weather we are used to have during December.

So enjoy the winter impressions of my hometown before the snow will melt again!

 

 

Bäd Mergentheim Christmas illumination

This historic fountain in the town center of my hometown Bäd Mergentheim is known as the "Kiliansbrunnen" - the fountain devoted Saint Kilian.

Saint Kilian was an Irish missionary bishop and the apostle of Franconia (nowadays some of the northern parts of Bavaria and a bit of Baden-Wuerttemberg), where he began his labours towards the end of the 7th century.

Why ever, the Bäd Mergentheim city administration, which is normally everlasting short of money -  have spent a new Christmas illumination to the three or four main fountains of the town center this year.

This is one of the results of their generosity.

The fountain of Saint Kilian is located on the "Gänsmarkt" (market of geese), direct opposite of the world's famous book store of Moritz & Lux, which is known pretty well far beyond the town boundaries of Bad Mergentheim.

Welttag des Buches - World Book Day

Welttag des Buches
in unserer Lieblingsbuchhandlung
Moritz & Lux
in Bad Mergentheim

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World Book Day
in our favourite bookstore
Moritz & Lux
at Bad Mergentheim, our hometown

Stefan Müller-Ruppert liest / spielt / durchleidet

Erste Kapitel

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Stefan Müller-Ruppert reads / performs / endures

First Capters

of literature