The winter 2014 in Germany is rather
dully and grimly at the moment.
So far no snow or ice in the lowlands.
Even the hills in the uplands haven't seen much snow this season of the year.
Currently the colour of the hill tops
meanders something between a dark olive green and mud brown, depending
on the incidence of light.
Incidence of light? What kind of light
is he talking about??? We used to have sunshine even in wintertime here
in Germany, but that was ages ago... ;-)
Generally speaking I would say the whole
landscape is wraped in different shades of grey - and these shades of grey
are far away from being erotically at all... ;-)
Yes - GREY - is the new (?) and dominant
(!) colour of the winter season 2013 / 2014 here in Central Europe.
At the weekend the best bet is to stay
at home, to lie on your sofa and pull the blanket above your head...
...or: you take your camera and try to
find some fresh (grey?) air and some (other!) colours outdoors.
That's what we did on Sunday afternoon,
after we overcame ours weaker selves.
Our Sunday stroll started at Bronnbach Abbey, located in the north of the valley of the Tauber, in the north of the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
That's approx. 40 km away from my hometown.
We walked on the bike- and walkway along the river Tauber.
A first surprise and fortunate coincidence was our discovery of an old piety column out of the 18th century.
We have many of these piety columns and wayside shrines spread over the whole region.
That's the reason why our part of the country is (also) known as "Madonnenländle" - the (small) region where you find many pictures and statues of Madonna and many other saints.
This piety column was made from sandstone and built up in 1738 - so nearly 300 years ago!
And still in good condition, although sandstone is not very solid.
The first unexpected colour "explosion" we found in the middle of the grey was a shrub with bright red berries.
As far as I know / guess these are the berries of the Viburnum opulus - the guelder rose in winter time.
In the meanwhile we left the valley and climbed on of the hills above the river Tauber.
Behind the village of Reicholzheim we walked on the plateau of the hill, where the landscape looks like this.
Again we found vestiges of the past - this time an old station of the cross.
Quite unusually the stone crosses - again made from red sandstone - were embedded into a stone wall.
Continuing our way back to Bronnbach Abbey we found other colours and structures that attracted our attention...
...an impressive old oak...
...and a knobby old and moss-covered apple tree along our way.
The beautiful green colour of the moss we were able to photograph several times, especially in shady and moist areas of the wood.
On closer consideration / observation of the countryside we even spotted the beautiful structure of a scythed and ploughed corn field with its golden stubble.
That's always my experience:
No weather is too bad or no landscape is too dull - with a camera in your hand you become an explorer and you see and capture colours, structures or things that stay generally invisible for others.
To become an explorer you just need to conquer the force of gravity sometimes,
which is highest when lying on a sofa on a Sunday afternoon... ;-)
