Monday 11 November 2019

T sTands for frosTy Times

Hi Everybody!

We had another cold and frosty night here, and it looks like it will rain later, but stay cold, so there might be icy roads and paths - time to be extra careful!

Today I am sharing another autumnal piece - a painted background with a scene composed of altered photos. One is the avenue which leads past the castle ruins, and  the night-watchman is a metal sculpture taken from another photo, and is on a house in a little, ancient town not far from here:






Today is also Elizabeth's T stands for Tuesday party, which always begins on Monday evening, so here a warm welcome to all of the lovely ladies of the T gang who visit here.

On the 11th of November here St Martin's day is celebrated. St Martin was a Roman soldier who cut his cape in half to clothe a freezing beggar, and was later Bishop of Tours. Children have lantern parades through the streets, and sometimes go from house to house singing, and are rewarded with sweets. Money is also collected to be given to the poor, as that was the message of St Martin, and the scene is re-enacted. This photo is courtesy of the Rheinische Post newspaper, showing the scene in Düsseldorf.


And people eat 'Weckmänner', tasty sweet pastries:


Have a bite!


I saw lots in the windows of the bakeries I went past last week, some small and some very large:




And they taste delicious with coffee. This is a special photo, as my fave  cafe has now closed for the winter holidays, and on the last day all regular customers get a coffee 'on the house'.


I was able to enjoy some cold and sunny walks over the weekend:

















And thanks to the clear and frosty weather I got some good moon shots:





Wrapped up well against the cold:


Have a great day, take care,
and thanks a lot for coming by!




Saturday 9 November 2019

Autumn weekend

Hi Everybody!

It's got very chilly here in Rhineland, winter is stretching its cold fingers out to remind us of what it has in store! Today was grey, but mostly dry and I was able to get out and about for my walks without getting wet, so it could have been worse!

Today we are remembering the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the 80th Anniversary of the 'Reichs Pogrom Nacht' - often called 'Crystal night', which sounds rather harmless. The Nazis started pogroms in almost every town and village in Germany, the synagogues and Jewish-owned businesses were smashed, burnt and looted, and 10,000 people arrested and imprisoned in concentration camps, just on this one night.  The father of Erika, whose photo you saw on my tag yesterday, was one of them. His family was forced to sell their business, house and everything they owned to pay the fine levied on him for being Jewish, and were able to escape three weeks later to South America. Many others were not so lucky, and I think you all know what happened to 6 million others....

Today I have another tag for Michele's 'Seeds and plants' theme at Tag Tuesday
The harvest image is from Gecko Galz, the other images from Serif and me. The quote is from Ecclesiastes chapter 3:



Some more autumnal pics:






















Enjoy your weekend, take care,
and thanks a lot for coming by!