The last week in the year.

To round off a very quiet and peaceful Christmas we had a link with my brother and his wife yesterday evening. It was a very enjoyable one and a half hours of catching up on ones news and with lots of laughs on both sides.
Christmas Eve day was spent like always setting up and decorating the Christmas tree, the custom being in Germany, that the tree is set up and decorated on Christmas Eve. Also the Christmas presents are given on Christmas Eve.
Father Christmas does not bring the presents but the Christkind (the Christ child)
The main celebration in Germany is Christmas Eve and a pure family one, very quiet and solemn entirely different then the English Christmas Eve. For the foreigner one would think one is morning the death of Christ not the birth.
The words in Germany for Christmas Eve are Still and Besinnlich.
In the afternoon I went out into the woods looking for some moss for our crib. This year my wife stayed at home because of the weather conditions they were rather bad due to the large amount of snow from a few days before.
Our meal for the evening was very traditional, potato salad with Vienna sausages, which we have every year washed down with a bottle of Italian Chardonnay. Afterwards we sat back and watched a very seasonal film on TV.
Christmas day like most families, the morning was spent mainly in the kitchen cooking the Christmas dinner. After the large meal of Turkey, roast potatoes and red cabbage and a bottle of wine we had a well-deserved afternoon nap.
The weather had once again turned around on us giving us fairly warm day and with it melting most of the snow. We can’t complain at least we had some snow for Christmas this year that for our part of Germany is very rare.
Boxing day is one of those days were one seems to loll around the house wishing that the Christmas holidays would soon be over and one can get back to normality.
Once again we have managed to celebrate Christmas without any mishaps, I wonder how many families have managed that?

Take care out there were ever you are. Tshüss

The photo is one taken with my wife’s camera on my way to the shops last Monday and I have done a little processing with photoshop.

Christmas comes but once a year..!!

I have just got back from the shops, (bought the last small items that we need for Christmas) and the shops are full, what with only one and a half days to go till Christmas everyone seems to be in a hurry and I would say most of them are in a stress situation as well.
The last week saw the start of the winter here. On Wednesday and Thursday it snowed and on Friday the temperature were 14 degrees below freezing.
On Sunday it snowed all day from eight in the morning till around nine in the evening, that gave us a round about 25 cm new snow. You can imagine what the road conditions were like? During the night from Sunday till Monday morning there were 1000 accidents alone in our county.
I myself haven’t touched my car since we’ve had snow.
My wife and I will be celebrating Christmas by ourselves; all though we are alone we shall be having the traditional English Christmas dinner Turkey, Roast potatoes and Red cabbage. It’s the only time in the year that I cook and on the occasion I cook the turkey with the roast potatoes (Smile ha ha.)
Looking back over the year we think it has been a good year all in all for us. We have bought a new car and we get our new kitchen at the beginning of January, but the most important thing is, we have not lost any money due to the financial crises.
Health wise it could have been a better one for my wife, what with her fall in spring and then the problems with arthritis in her wrists, which still bother her.
Never the less we can’t complain there are lot’s of people out there that are a lot worse off then we are.
On the Blotter side of things I know have slowed down considerably, my main interest now being focused on Flickr and my photography. This doesn’t mean that I shan’t be making a blog any more, it means that in the future they won’t appear as often as before.

I wish every one a Merry Christmas and a peaceful and healthy New Year.

Take care out there were ever you are. Tshüss

The photo is taken from our study window after the heavy snow fall.

Better late then never.

No I haven’t gone into Winterschlaf (hibernation) it’s just that life slows down in winter for us.
I have just got back from my evening walk with the dog and for the third time this week we are both drenched. The weather is absolutely miserable it’s raining most of the time and it’s far to mild for the time of the year.
The flu is on the march I’m glad that my wife and I have had both the normal and the swine flu jab.
We wanted to go to visit the local town Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas bazaar) on Friday evening but once again the weather put a stop to our plans, it poured down.
We are going to (if the weather permits) go to Düsseldorf on Tuesday or Wednesday evening to the Christmas bazaar there, it’s much larger and of course there is much more to see.
My wife is suffering at the moment with arthritis in both her hands; it’s causing her much pain and handy capping her movements a lot. She has been to see the doctor but I have the feeling when you get to a certain age they don’t seem to be very interested in helping you, they put it down to old age.
My wife has been surfing in the net for forums on arthritis and has found one or two interesting articles. One of them being, you take a tablespoon full of cold pressed Sunflower oil in the morning when you get up and chew it or move it about in your mouth for ten minuets then spit it out. There should be some positive affect after about four week.Will keep you posted on the development of this curious method.
Between rain showers I have managed to get out and about with my camera looking for interesting things to take photos of. I have decided on the next nice day I shall go into Düsseldorf for the day and see what I can photograph there.
Yesterday my wife and I backed mince pies; my mate Colin brought back some mince when he visited England early on in the year. We backed 41 pies and we are going to make some more later on in the week. We have given some to both our neighbours to taste because they don’t know what mince pies are, must say there was a positive echo.
Take care out there were ever you are. Tshüss

The photo speaks for it's self.

New Car!!!

Today is Sunday and it started off weather wise quite nice with blue skies and sunshine, quite different to yesterday were we had rain all day I was out in the woods by nine doing my 10 km run, didn’t run yesterday because of the rain. November is in my mind a horribel month, will be glad when it’s gone.
A week ago Friday we the opportunity to buy a car, not that we were actually looking for one, our intentions was to buy one next year in March-April. Sometimes things happen and you have to make a quick decision so to say on the spot.
The car I’m talking about stood in front of our house with a for sale sign in the side window. I had been with our dog for his evening walk and was just going into the house when the sign caught my attention.
The car, a Ford Focus Ghia, silver in colour 21,000 km on the clock 2 years old for 9,000 Euros. I rang the doorbell of our flat and told my wife she should put a coat on and come outside and have a look at the car. After having a look we decided to give the guy a ring (there was a telephone number on the for sale sign)
After taking to the guy I made an appointment for the next morning so that I good check the car out properly and have a test drive. The guy who owns the car is a second hand car dealer and the next morning when we met my first question was why was the car so cheap and had only 21,000 km on the clock.
Apparently the first owner was an old man of eighty and the car had stood in his garage for nearly a year without being driven and he had decided to sell.
Well to cut along story short I asked to see the documentation of the owner and of the car, I also had a test drive and found nothing wrong with the car as far I could tell.
My next question was how much for my old car? I asked for 1500 Euros he offered me 1000 and all the cost for registration and TUV (which is the German road ability test) it also went through a technical examination with a written report and no faults were found.
We now have a super car with hardly any kilometres on the taco and for 8000 Euros and both my wife and I are thrilled to bits about it.
The only negative thing is, my winter tyres (which are good ones) don’t fit the new car, which means I have to buy new ones and also new hubs as well.
I have been out and about with my camera over the last two weeks when I find time and have put quite a few of my new shots in Yahoo Flicker. If you want to have a look at my photos go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/trills/ and there you will find my photo stream.
Tomorrow is first outside clearing leaves, and there’s a lot still to clear and then at 20 past 11 dentist appointment, half yearly check up.
In the afternoon it’s the fitness gym with my wife to get her signed up for 50 hours of fitness training for her back, the national health pays for them.
Take care out there were ever you are. Tshüss
The photo is of a very old Akazien tree, which has cancer, those are the large deformation you can see in the photo. I thought B&W does it justice.

The new kitchen

Late Sunday afternoon just come back from a walk with the dog. The weather is cloudy and dry, but extremely damp both my wife and I hate this damp weather it just seems to get at ones bones the older one gets. Yesterday was a big day for us. We have been talking about buying a new kitchen for sometime now and yesterday we went and bought one. The planning for the kitchen, as been it process for the last few weeks and last Friday someone came and measured out the kitchen. Yesterday morning we spent three and a half hours with a designer putting the kitchen together. No easy job I can tell you. The delivery date is the third week in January but before the kitchen can be fitted I have to do a lot of alterations, such as retiling, redecorating and fitting new power points, also the sink drainage as to be altered all in all a hell of a lot of work. My wife is suffering at the moment with arthritis in both her writs and fingers and she is in a lot of pain, of course the weather is not helping her. If the attack doesn’t ease in the next week she will have to go and see the doctor. I did a bit of photography last week nothing outstanding testing one or two features in the camera. Took one or two shots in RAW but to be honest I don’t really know what to do with them. My biggest failing is my lack of knowledge in Photoshop, it is of course the darkroom of digital photography and with out it you are absolutely lost if you want to compete with others. In the East and South of Germany they have had heavy snow falls last week with up to half a meter, two days before people were sat in beer gardens and the temperatures were around 27 degrees. It makes you think doesn’t it? Take care out there were ever you are. Tshüss The photo is of a old hut not far from were we live, actually a old man lives in it. I changed it to black and white gave it a touch of colour to make it look old.

Autumn.

Well another fortnight has gone by with nothing really exciting to write about. Last Friday evening I had a link with my brother, we had a good chinwag catching up on each other’s news and as always it was an enjoyable hour.
My wife is having problems with her teeth at the moment and is running back and forth to the dentist. The thing that is annoying us both is that there is no consultation what so ever about the problem, it’s more like do or die attitude but that is how our medical service works due to one reform after the other over the last few years. If you are privetly insured you get the best of treatment that is going but if you are insured with the Krankenkasse (like the national health) then you get only limited service.
I have been out and about photographing over the last fortnight. I went out doing night photography the other evening but made a mess of things due to the fact that I had the camera settings wrong on nearly all the photos I took. I can tell you I was so frustrated with myself because some of the images were really good. Never mind I shall try again in the near future. The nights are closing in on us fast now and the days are getting colder, yes autumn is upon us and the trees are shedding their leaves it’s a lovely time of the year I think.
Take care out there were ever you are Tshüss.

The photo is of the Gasthaus across the way.

Photography.

I haven’t vanished from the face of the earth, not yet anyway. It’s just that nothing really has happened over the last 10 days worth mentioning. I have done quite a bit of photography over the last week and placed them in the Webb. I have a photo-stream in Yahoo Flickr and have joined 4 groups in which there are discussions about photography and also forums. I must say it’s what I have been looking for; some were to share my photos. I’m not good compared with many but on the other hand I am better then a lot, which gives me inspiration to carry on and improve. My link to Flickr is http://www.flickr.com/photos/trills/
After a slow start with the Canon G 10 I am now getting to know it’s capability’s better, there is a lot more that I have to learn but that makes it all the more interesting. I also must learn more about Photoshop, I must say I find that not so easy as I thought I would.
I was up on Saturday morning at six and quarter of an hour later I was out on my bike with my camera and tripod. I cycled five km to a near by lake hoping to get some early morning photos but alas no such luck. I took about half a dozen but none of them were good enough for my liking so I deleted all of them
On Saturday afternoon I went for a run. I have changed my routine instead of Sunday morning it’s now Saturday afternoon. Yesterday I choose a new route it’s a round course 10% tarmac and the rest tracks or paths that go through woods. The distance is about 8 to 9 km but I shall confirm that when I have done the course on my bike.
Take care out there were ever you are. Tshüss

The photo is one I took a couple of days ago, it’s called Red & White