Good morning dear readers, we already hit the 35 degree mark last week and the heat wave is continuing. The tomato plants love it, for the rest of us, we have to do everything a little slower and with more deliberation. My first dahlias are about to bloom, I'm observing the progress every day with lots of anticipation! Nature walks are hardly possible, the humid heat is just too extreme, but every now and then, when my physical state allows it, I leave the house in the very early morning hours to visit a little sunflower field not far from our home and once a mild summer rain surprised me and I walked barefoot back home, wading through the just accrued puddles, feeling relieved from the burden of the heat for a moment. When I enter the garden, I feel the most imaginable gentle embrace. While I water the thirsty birches, I sit on the well and enjoy the shadow play of the leaves on the mossy ground before my feet. I preserved the first zucchinis and made some more jam and I fill little paper sachets with seeds for the coming year. All has its order and rhythm. Soon I have enough new clay pieces to fill the kiln. They just have to dry some more. Hopefully you enjoy the heart of July and you are absorbing summer with every pore of your being.
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11 comments:
Hallo Claudia,
ich bin gespannt auf Deine neuen Keramikstücke. Hier ist es heiß und schwül. Der Ton trocknet schlecht. So viel wie letzten und diesen Sommer habe ich sonst noch nie geschwitzt. Wenn es nicht gar so heiß ist, dann ist der Sommer echt toll mit dem vielen frischen Obst und dem ganzen Grün draußen.
Was für Samen hast Du geerntet?
Hier dauert es noch etwas mit der Samenernte. Ich hoffe noch auf Cyclamen- und Hostasamen. Das Wetter war übrigens super für Sansevieriensamen - ich hatte fast 100 % Keimquote!
Liebe Grüße!
Liebe Silke, ja, das schwüle Wetter verzögert das Trocknen etwas. Ich habe Salat-, Dill-, Akelei-, Kamillen-, Färberkamillen-, Jungfer im Grünen-, Senfblatt-, Spanische Mohn- und Kornradensamen abgenommen. Wenn mal was dabei ist von meinen Pflanzen, was dich interessiert, einfach Bescheid sagen!
Komm gut durch die heißen Tage! <3
Hier ist es endlich mal etwas länger sommerlich und es wird täglich wärmer.
So wird es hoffentlich auch bald besser mit so manchem Gemüse, welches doch die Sonne so liebt.
Das klingt bei Dir Samen technisch sehr schön und ich bin gespannt...
Hab weiter so besonders schöne, kühle Morgenstunden ☺️
Liebe Grüße
Nina
Oh I loved this post, reading your description of walking home barefoot just reminded me so much of childhood and when I used to live in a rural area. There's nothing better than being barefoot in summer, and I love the way the air and earth smell after a rain shower during a heatwave! That said, 35C is very hot, uncomfortably so, and I hope the heatwave eases to more manageable temperatures soon. Lots of love to you, I'm looking forward to seeing your new pottery pieces once you've fired them.
@Nina: Das freut mich für euch, genießt es!
@Stéphanie: Oh yes, the smell of summer rain is so wonderful! Where did you live as a child? Is is far away from where you are living now? Working with ceramics is always connected with so much waiting, but I guess it makes it extra special then when you finally are able to hold the finished pieces in your hands! Have a calm & nice Sunday! <3
I lived in a few places as my father was in the air force. We lived in Berlin near the Havel / Kladow from when I was 4 to when I was 8, which was a magical place to spend my early childhood. We moved there in 1990, on the anniversary of reunification, but I went to a British school on the air base so sadly I didn't come away from those years with strong German language skills. Before that we'd been in Bordeaux and London. Later on we moved back to England and to rural Cambridgeshire, then the countryside just to the north of London. So most of my childhood was spent in the countryside with a huge amount of freedom to roam and be wild. Now I live in the English Midlands, but even living in the city I still love getting out to the countryside, it's where I feel most at ease. I've always wanted to try ceramics. I've made some things with air dry clay but I'd love to one day try throwing on a wheel and finishing properly with firing / glazing. It looks so much fun.
Dear Stéphanie, even though it must have been interesting to explore all those different places as a child, it also must have been very hard to not be in one place during your childhood. I don't think that it would have been easy for me, but as a child we have to adapt to the circumstances our parents present us. Which place was your most favorite and have you been able to keep friends from that time? I also feel the most at ease in the countryside, even though I don't regret that I lived in Vienna for so long. I have a old pottery wheel from my parents, but ended up enjoying the pinch method a lot more, but let's see what the future might bring. I hope you can get your hands on clay sometimes, too! It is really fun and useful, also you could do a lot of plant pots for your houseplant collection. The possibilities are endless! Sending much love!
Probably Germany, because I had so much freedom. Living on a military base is weird in many ways, but one of the benefits is safety and security because it's a small close knit community with controlled access. I was allowed to walk to school on my own from the age of 5. That wasn't possible in England even in the countryside. I had the biggest culture shock returning to the UK and suddenly having to be accompanied to school by my mum, and discovering that my English non-military friends (we lived in the community in England, not on base) didn't play outside in the street, but rather in private back gardens in a very much 'safe' (to me boring) and supervised way. In Germany I used to play on my bike on the street from dawn to dusk, and spend hours alone in the woods climbing trees. In many ways I had a 50s / 60s childhood in the 90s! You're right though, it was tough, forever being uprooted and making / leaving friends. I started boarding school aged 9 to give me some stability but I'm not in touch with anyone from early childhood, or any school friends from later on apart from my husband. We met when we were 16 at highschool. I loved the English countryside too but always felt like an outsider and like I didn't fully belong there. That's a feeling I've never fully been able to shake.
What was Vienna like? It seems a beautiful city, were you there for studying or for work?
I can imagine that the change from Germany to England was huge for you as a child! The life you had in the community sounds really adventurous and full of freedom! Yes, the roots, I can imagine that it feels like your roots are scattered. Originally I did never want to go to Vienna, most go there for studying and I choose studies where I was able to stay in the little city I grew up, but when I was finished I did not find a job in the surrounding and at some point expanded my search and found something in Vienna and then when it was clear I got the job, it went really fast, I moved within a weekend into a little flat and had not really time to prepare and work started on Monday. It was very exciting and although I never wanted to live there in the first place, I loved it. I loved the anonymity and possibilities! But after some years I got really sick for many many years and my longing for nature and the countryside got bigger and bigger. I was so fed up that you could not be somewhere in nature alone, that everywhere have been people all the time. And because of being so sick I had to give up my job anyway and worked from home and was not attached to the city anymore in this way. I have not regretted moving to the countryside a single second since, but I also do not regret the experience of living in Vienna and sometimes I miss the last flat I had with Ronald there. It was a really nice one, with high ceilings and lots of sunshine. Yes, the most I miss the high ceilings! :) Here I live more rural than in the city I was born. It is a really small village with only about 300 people and we are living on the edge with no direct neighbor. But sadly a loud street in front of the garden, that is also the reason why I love to be a lot on the little field at the other side of the house. But that is just how life is, I think it is almost impossible to find a place with no downsides. It was really nice to get to know about your past! Have a good day! Today it feels almost cool here (we get 27 degrees), on Saturday they will climb up to 34 again.
I'm sorry to hear that there was a period of time when you were so ill, it must have felt like a time of great change to shift from city life back to rural and change jobs too, but at the same time it sounds like you lead the perfect life for your personality and temperament now. I love the convenience of living in a city. I love having a good swimming pool I can go to, and specialist food shops for all sorts of cuisines on my doorstep. I love being able to walk everywhere and not need the car much (English countryside is impossible without driving everywhere, as public transport is rubbish in rural areas). That said, like you were in Vienna, I am fed up with the noise and not being able to be alone in nature. We're hoping to move out of the city centre soon and to a quieter suburb where we could have a bit more space with a small house and garden. I agree with you, it is impossible to live somewhere where there are no downsides. Everywhere is a compromise of one sort or another. It is 27C here today, one of the hottest days of the year so far for us! Wishing you cloudy skies and a gentle breeze.
Yes, I think also it was good as it was, even though it have been very hard years, but I guess life is pushing us sometimes really in the directions that are better for us. Oh, yes, we had a wonderful organic market directly near our flat and the. beautiful Schönbrunn castle park area where I spent a lot of my free time to feed the squirrels and crows. Public transport is also quite bad here! I know what you mean! It would be lovely if you and your husband could make the move to a little house with garden in the future! Wishing you a nice summer day! <3
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