Too hot to handle....

Hi Everybody!

Today is the hottest day ever measured here in Germany. It was 40° here in our little town, and other places it was even hotter. The asphalt on the roads is cracking and blistering, and some of the tram-tracks are bending in the heat. I think people will have to re-think a lot of things if these temperature extremes continue. I took a photo of the weather page in my tablet PC, not very clear but readable:

And this pic was snagged from the RTL TV news, with a 42 on it for the hitchhikers....

I spent a few hours cooling off in various stores and in the beautiful glass museum. It's now almost 10 p.m. and it's still 37° outside so I'm staying home and not going on an evening walk - it's only 34° in my apartment!

I hope the weather will really break at the weekend and allow us to cool off!

I have another A3 mixed media journal page in which I once again tried to depict the Rhine and the houses and bridges along it. On a painted, textured and splattered background I collaged paper scraps and some chiffon material for the river. I bunched the material together and sewed it across the page adding scraps of silk, gold mesh, green burlap, threads and feathers. The birds were stenciled, and I sewed the edges with my usual crazy stitching. It didn't turn out quite as I would have liked it, but I suppose that never happens! But I enjoyed making it in the too warm nights when I couldn't sleep:

I am linking to Paint Party Friday and to Soma's wandering camera

I made myself a big salad with iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, red currants, cheese and cashew nuts - delicious!

And some more photos from Hofgarten and here along the Rhine:

I think the poor crow was feeling the heat, too:

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Midweek this and that

Hi Everybody!

Hope you are all managing to keep cool if you are plagued with the heat. It's extremely hot again, so I'm catching my walks in the early mornings and late evenings as it is then just bearable. Tomorrow is free entry at the Kunstpalast art museum, so I will be spending time there again, enjoying their art and air-conditioning, as tomorrow will be even hotter than today.

I am sharing a hybrid collage, made with parts of 'real' collages made at various times and digitally re-assembled to make a new one:

 And some photos of my walks in the past days, some just taken with my cell-phone, which never completely recovered after going for a swim in the loo -Pity, it used to take really good pics:

I love this cheeky raven in Hofgarten:

The buddleia always attracts the bees:

I've never seen a snail crawling up the grain before:

Yesterday evening, about 10 p.m., and still well over 30°. But the sky was wonderful:

The last fields of rye have now been harvested, the farmers were also up and working early this morning - the poor snail has probably been harvested, too....

Time for a break and a bottle of water:

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

T sTands for Tags and more

Hi Everybody!

Have a great week! It's heating up again here in Europe, we are supposed to break all temperature records again this week, and I am not looking forward to it! The whole world seems to be suffering from changing climatic conditions. We can only hope that governments and people in all lands unite to change the situation.

At Tag Tuesday there is still a week to join in Wendy's lovely 'circles' challenge. I made another tag using a photo I took last week, placed on a hand-painted background. It's a photo of a shop window on 'Königsallee' (King's Avenue) which is easily the most expensive shopping street in Düsseldorf. All of the exclusive shops are gathered there, with steroidal bouncers in too tight suits guarding the shops, always talking into the microphones in their sleeves. Old ladies taking photos of their shop windows are evidently very suspicious! They often remind me of the film 'Planet of the Apes' where the apes were dressed in suits.... I don't shop there, but I do go and view the shop windows from time to time and take my pics. I loved these colourful decorations, and took a selfie here with our challenge in mind. The text was added in my graphics programme :

Tuesday is also Elizabeth's T stands for Tuesday linky party, so here a warm welcome to all of the nice ladies who join in there. I drank lots of coffee again this week.

This was a cappuccino at a bakery in town:

Here I had a slice of vegetable quiche for lunch along with my drink:

The bakeries mostly serve good food, snacks and drinks and cost less than cafes, so for me, a good choice.

Cups and coasters in one of the shop windows here in our little town:

More beautiful china:

Silver and white:

This tiny cafe is by the Rhine gate, and also offer a selection of ices, drinks and snacks. It is the old guard's room, where the guard would have sat while checking on all who went in or out of the town. It's about 6' x 6':

And some more photos from my trip along Königsallee and in town last week. I am also hidden in several of the pics:

Hitchhikers please note the house number:

This bronze figure is one of my faves:

This strange column is in front of the Telecom building:

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!