Landeier
One of the many, varied perks of the parents being in town, is being able to leave the house without a child. It is a luxurious feeling indeed, to sit… Continue Reading
Browsing Category: Travel: Germany
Settling In
It is like we collectively exhaled and out came 37 Ikea Billy shelves and piles of dresses I fit into a decade ago when I wore heels all the time… Continue Reading
Newness Knocking
April is out of control. Someone needs to have a word with her. Two days ago, it snowed, it really snowed. Big, fluffy, wet, cold flakes. Now, this is nothing… Continue Reading
Moving
Where did March go? It slipped by in a rush of going back to work, and getting out into the sunshine, and succumbing to winter’s parting gifts of tedious, low… Continue Reading
The Slow, Well-Lit Crawl
There isn’t much that is extreme about Kiel’s weather. It doesn’t get extremely hot during summer, nor extremely cold during winter. We don’t get extreme amounts of snow – although… Continue Reading
Home Stretch (?)
Yesterday we awoke to the most glorious sunshine. It fizzed through the apartment and zipped into our moods like Tinkerbell on speed. We were all so bright. The morning flew by… Continue Reading
Life in Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein
Grey
There is the Sky Grey, the Street Grey and the Naked Branches Grey. The Light Grey of Mid Mornings that dulls to Dark Afternoon Grey, a particularly heavy shade that… Continue Reading
Peruvian Mangoes & Needle Rain
And so we have arrived, cold, pale-skinned and severely Vitamin D deprived, in my most hated month of the Northern Hemisphere year; February. Ooh she is a cruel mistress, February…. Continue Reading
German Culture, Travel: Germany
What I Know About North Germans
Let’s open with this: to a real north German, north Germany is essentially Schleswig-Holstein (der echte Norden) and, at a pinch, Hansestadt Hamburg. The Schleswig-Holsteiners say Meck-Pomm is east Germany, and anything… Continue Reading
Quiet & Slow
Temperatures plunged, the roads turned icy, and any lingering resolve I may have had to go outside disappeared over the weekend. On Saturday we postponed plans with family because the Feuerwehr… Continue Reading
The Sick Season
I used to think the most intolerable part of a north German winter was the grey. The grey sky, the grey trees, the grey water, the grey air. Days of… Continue Reading
The Darkest Day
It is the shortest, darkest day of the year today. Winter solstice. And yet, there is blue sky, and the sun keeps pushing through the clouds, undeterred. There is a… Continue Reading
Bittersweet
It has become apparent that, at this stage of the proceedings, I am essentially existing off Stollen. I was inclined to ignore it myself, but as I ferried in another plate… Continue Reading
Plätzchen
One of my aunties emigrated from Switzerland to Australia in the 70s, drawn there by my uncle (who she met when her father gave him a job as a shepherd… Continue Reading
Heimat, Identity, Life in Kiel
Of Acorns and Squirrels
When I was a girl, courtesy of my mother’s own girlhood literary leanings, I read and re-read and read again, until the pages were torn and the covers fell off,… Continue Reading
Life in Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein
Herbstmarkt
Meine Güte the Germans know how to throw a good Markt. I can’t help but feel that perhaps hundreds of years of practice have resulted in perfecting all elements of a good… Continue Reading
The First Frost
It’s pumpkin season now, which means soup is very often on the stove and the other day, I found the most delicious thing at a bakery down the road; a… Continue Reading
The Sodden with the Gorgeous
Alright, alright, the leaves are turning. And yes, I got more than I could ever have hoped for with the warmest September in the history of Septembers, so I shall… Continue Reading
Life in Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein
Sunday Ausflug: Eckenförde
A truncated nap, a Sunday afternoon stretching ahead of us with two snotty kids, and rain that followed through on its threat the moment we stepped out of the apartment building…. Continue Reading
Spätsommer
Buying gumboots for die Lüdde last weekend, I lamented, as one does when making effective small talk, the state of the weather outside. It was a bit rainy, a bit… Continue Reading