Sunday Snapshots: Nosy Cows

Bavaria, 2016

“So anyway Sheryl, what I’m trying to say is… though I’ve enjoyed our time together, and I think you’re great of course, I’m really not sure if we’re….

can I help you, cow?”

 

Sunday Snapshots: Spring Chicken

Franconia, 2012

Literally.

Visiting the Villagers is lovely this time of year. And even though they’ve left this sunny homestead for a valley nook in the Oberpfalz, we’ll still find the occasional chicken scratching around the house.

Sunday Snapshots: Chickens and a View

Bavaria, 2015

Self-explanatory.

Sunday in Pictures

Yesterday was a fairly typical Sunday around here, so I thought I’d share a few pictures.

First off… these red things are all over around our house at the moment. Clean shoes beware!

In the afternoon, we were off to BV’s dad to have a little Sunday lunch. And by “little,” I mean absolutely enormous Schäufele for the guys, and two steaks for me. For some reason, no matter how many times I only manage one steak, two always show up on my plate. No pictures of food today though, instead I thought people may enjoy seeing what stares at us while we eat….

Yes, one is a Wolpertinger. Beware.

After they had all stuffed themselves silly with pork, BV and I returned home and decided to try to walk some of it off before the Packer game. We went my usual route around the village and it was a truly gorgeous evening.

We also made a quick stop at the cut-your-own flowers-and-grab-a-pumpkin stand to see if there were any spaghetti squash, but they were all out. I was a little sad to see how many gladiolas hadn’t gotten picked this year, because they are one of my favorite flowers. They still had great color… I’ll have to go by more often next year to get some.

The sky started to get dark, but it was still lovely.

We got into the village, and took a moment to stop and appreciate one of the fabulous gardens. They redecorate this well often, and the whole area around it is an absolute riot of color. Flowers, garden statuary, lights, they’ve got it all. The downside is that the windows of the house are right there, so I always feel like a creeper when I try to take pictures. Hence the blurriness.

We made a quick stop at the local restaurant for a beer (since we had worked off at least some of the enormous lunch), and after that we headed home for the Packer game. Marry die Katze was a bit out-of-sorts with us for leaving her alone all day, and here she is… doing her best to distract me from Aaron Rodgers and the rest of the crew.

Mow.

That was my Sunday… how was yours?

Weird and Wacky Wednesday

Wednesdays for me are always weird days. I think this has something to do with the fact that it’s the only day I’m working at the moment, and so any day that I don’t spend hanging out around the village seems weird. Thus, Weird and Wacky Wednesday, which will be a series that celebrates f-ed up stuff I see, and it will happen whenever I see that f-ed up stuff and make note. Having said that though, I do seem to encounter a lot of nonsense every Wednesday. One of these weeks I’m going to do a stream-of-consciousness post on my morning commute because there is absolute tomfoolery every week. But not today.

Today was actually even odder than a normally odd Wednesday, because I had a three-hour lunch break. My residence permit is up for renewal and I needed to get some new biometric pictures, so I took advantage of my extra-long lunch to run back into Nürnberg and take care of that. On the train back into the city, I noticed the first bizarre thing. I wanted to post a picture of this advertisement months ago and completely forgot about it. In the spring it seemed to be on every corner, but then it went away for a while. Now it’s been popping back up, so I’m wondering if the company is trying to cash in on the Dirndl look during the major festivals. First off, here’s a picture of the whole billboard, in all of its slightly sassy glory….

Yes, those ladies have mustard mustaches. I’m not sure what’s going on with the blank stares, but the middle one is practically begging for a sausage and it kind of freaks me out. Have you no shame, grandma-Dirndl girl? Although, I suppose if she had a low-cut blouse on, they’d probably have to slap a parental warning on the whole damn thing.

Again, this ad is everywhere at the moment. And when I was on the train early this morning, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, but my second ride confirmed I had seen correctly. Apologies for the picture from a moving train but check it out…

When I said it’s everywhere? I meant it. In fact, it’s everywhere twice. The trains do go pretty quickly sometimes, but is it really necessary to put them 20 feet apart in case you missed the first one? Or did the billboard man have some sort of a mix-up, and switch the second one with a Marlboro ad? Sooooo many questions. I pondered that one all the way back to Nürnberg.

Once back in town, my focus changed to my impending photos. In an effort to not look like I got up at 5am, I picked up some concealer, and popped into the photo studio. Getting the pictures took all of about five minutes (and while not great, they are a definite step up from my previous biometric photos which were scary as shit), and I hit the button to take the elevator back down to ground level. As I waited for it to arrive, I checked out some of the products available from the studio. And guess what BV is getting for Christmas this year?

Loving your pet is wonderful. I love our little kitty, and both BV and I are totally guilty of sending each other pictures of her being cute and fuzzy during the day. Example: I got this at work today…

Sorry this looks a little weird, BV clearly took this picture in our wardrobe mirror to avoid getting up. If you can’t tell, Marry the Cat is lounging upon my flip flops and slippers, which is one of her favorite activities. So yes, we are officially weird cat people. But a personalized Marry the Cat messenger bag might be overdoing it. Maybe.

The last Weird and Wacky Wednesday picture came as I was making my way across the square next to Lorenzkirche. I can’t even tell you the number of times that I’ve walked across that square, but somehow I never noticed something until today. When I first saw the red sign I thought to myself, “huh… since when is there a cafe back here?” Then I got closer.

I couldn’t tell on my phone that the sign got so washed out (glare sucks), but it says Musik Schule. That store is not a cafe, but a music shop (and school), with a window display full of gorgeous guitars and shiny brass instruments. Since when do people pop into music stores for some sheet music and coffee to go? I mean, if I’m going in there with the intention of dropping a few thousand Euro on an instrument, by all means, give me a free cup of joe! But it seems a little odd to me. I also avoid any take out place that advertises itself as Indian-Mexican-Chinese-Italian, for example. I figure it’s better to do one thing, and do it right. I do find it very intriguing though, so maybe next time I’m passing I’ll grab a cup and see how it stacks up to the other cafes in town.

 

Did you see anything weird or wacky today?

Breaking ze Rules: Ruhezeit Edition

Anyone that’s been here in ze Deutschland for more than five minutes knows that the Germans have a lot of rules. One of the most perplexing for us foreigners seems to be the one regarding Ruhezeit, or, quiet time. Quiet time is serious business.

This isn’t the case in every part of Germany, but here in Bavaria, all day Sunday falls into the Ruhezeit category, which is why everything is closed. At this point, I really like it. But the first few times I forgot to pick something up on a Saturday, panic! Thankfully when I lived in Nürnberg, there was the train station. Here in the village, it’s a bit more tricky. We have a Shell station, but they don’t sell toilet paper. Luckily BV and I have done pretty well at Sunday preparedness (knock on wood, press thumbs, etc.) at least, so far.

But it’s not just Sundays in Bavaria. Supposedly in the past, there was also quiet time every day from 12-2 in the afternoon, but that’s thankfully no longer in practice. Nowadays, the usual time is from 10pm until 5 or 6am, depending on who you ask. During those times (and Sunday), you aren’t supposed to engage in any loud activities that might disturb your neighbors. That can be anything from mowing the lawn, to running a dishwasher, or putting up a picture in your house. Sound inconvenient? Yep, sometimes.

A lot of this of course, depends on your neighbors, and their level of asshattery. When I had my flat in Nbg, all the apartments around me were empty, and my washing machine was in the attic. I had exactly zero problems with noise from anyone else, and no-one ever scolded me about yelling during Packer games. However, I’ve heard from plenty of other people about neighbors who complain about nearly everything. Here in ze village, BV and I are in the upstairs of a house, with no one living below us. So again, we can do whatever we want, even operating a saw on a Sunday. Nobody judges us, except the cat of course.

Look at her, with her judging face. And we hadn’t even begun sawing yet. Eh, at least we have a floor in the hallway now.

Last fall, when I moved to the village, I thought I was leaving the loud city life behind me (for a while, at least). I said, “Tschüss, bitches,” to the screaming kids in the park…. the ones who were usually so loud that I questioned if they were playing or lighting each other on fire.

I recorded this moment for two reasons:

1) It was lovely.

2) It was the quietest moment this park ever saw.

I also said, “Tschüss, asshats,” to the people who treated the park as an all-night party spot. Because what says “good times” like drinking on a ping-pong table?

Preparing for the all-night party, I’m sure. I particularly enjoyed it when the groups of kids would gather, and listen to music. On their phones. Do you know what makes techno music even better? Listening to it on full volume from a cell phone. All night.

But the village. The village would be quiet. The village would be lovely. There would be no violation of the Ruhezeit rules in the village… because people smile at each other here and say hello in the streets. It’s all civilized and lacks the anonymous rule-flouting that comes in the city.

I’m a moron.

Every Monday, at 5:54 am, it starts.

Normally I love our convenient train station-adjacent location. But next to the train station, you find this…

Yes, our friendly neighborhood recycling station. Those first five green/white bins are for old clothes and shoes. No problems there. But the six white/green/brown bins? Those are for glass. All the glasses that you can’t take back for Pfand, need to go in there. I fully admit that I have contributed more than my share of wine bottles to those containers, so they are useful. But they are emptied every Monday morning, typically starting at yes, 5:54.

That’s right, six rounds of smashing glass, at an hour of the day that should not involve anyone doing anything. Ever.

Windows open, windows closed, it makes no difference. The smashing glass bores straight into my ears. And since it’s the government taking care of this, there isn’t much that can be done about it. I’ll assume that they are in the camp that Ruhezeit hours end at 5am. Grumble.

But they are not the only ones. Here is a short list of other Ruhezeit violators, both large and small.

1) Tomcats. As in many villages, we have quite a few cats roaming about. Their hobbies include killing mice and leaving them on my sidewalk, using our garden as a litterbox, creeping on me when I’m reading in the garden, and of course, trolling for dates at 2am. There’s a particularly fat Tabby, that has one eye and an ear on the side of his head. I like to think he’s the loudest one. And in true appreciation of their talents, Marry the Cat has slept through the show every time.

2) Construction trucks. Two kilometers down the road in the next village, there is a ton of new construction going up. Since our street connects that village to the main road (and thus the highway), we are on the main thoroughfare for allllllll the trucks. So again, starting about 5-6am, there are huge construction trucks rumbling and banging past the house. Quiet time aside, this goes on all day. And it scares the crap out of the cat almost every time. This road will be in dire need of resurfacing by the time they are done with all the new homes, and I told BV that we might want to think about moving before that happens.

3) Omas and Opas. BV disagrees with me on this one, saying that they are out and about at a reasonable hour, but I disagree. Our corner is often a meeting point for the old folks of the village while they’re out on their morning strolls. It may not be smashing glass, but their Kaffeeklatsch outside my window at 7:30 feels like a violation to me.

4) All-night train station party-ers. July and August were particularly bad on this front, due to the school holidays. To be clear, our train station consists of two glass shelters, and a building that is no longer used. But the kids still hang out there and party. Then they walk home, and have long-drawn out goodbyes on our corner, which often include stuffing beer bottles in our hedge. A few weeks ago, I went to catch the train and noticed that an entire wall of the glass shelter had been smashed. No idea when that happened, but hey, at least I didn’t hear it! Maybe that was one of the margarita nights… yes, I’m night-drinking to ensure solid sleep.

and finally…

5) Martens. What’s a marten, you ask?

Oh, hey… you sleeping?! Via

Cute, right? I do love a furry critter. I love them less though when they are having their own all-night parties in the forest across the street. There was one night when it sounded like there were at least 50 of them. They sound a bit like small dogs, which means that there is a lot of yapping and some squeaking involved. It seems to have tapered off in the last couple of weeks, but earlier this summer it was out of hand. If that was mating season, I shall be investing in some ear plugs for next year.

 

So, who’s the worse Ruhezeit violator in your neighborhood?

Meet Little Miss Marry

Whew. I don’t know about you kids, but it’s been busy over here. My sister paid us a visit last week and we did some touring, but that’s going to have to wait for another post. Today, I’m here to share something small and fuzzy with you…

Kitty in lounge mode.

Meet Marry, our new Katze. The name may or may not stay, but that’s what she came with. After much discussion, debate, and stalking of Tierheim (animal shelter) websites, we finally decided last week that it was time to settle down and bring a furry creature home with us. Because sometimes I get tired of petting BV’s beard, and I need something with actual fur.

Yes, I just said that. It’s weird. Go with it.

We got her last week on Friday and thus far we know the following things:

• Marry follows cat tradition and will sit in any available box.
• The shelter found her outside and thus considered her to be an outdoor cat, but to this point she seems quite happy to be inside with the occasional ‘sit and stare out the window’ session.
• She is an excellent hunter, at least when it comes to small stuffed mice on strings. I also don’t think I want her to get her paws on any real mice (at least, not in the house), as the tail on her stuffed mouse lasted about 10 minutes after we got her home. I don’t need any gory surprises between the bed and the bathroom in the middle of the night.
• She lays in odd ways. This was her pre-freakout playtime lounge position for about 20 minutes last night. She also isn’t much of a lap cat, but if you’re sleeping on your side in our house, you may wake up to find her perched on your shoulder for a while.

In summation, cats are weird. I had kind of forgotten the weirdness, but it’s coming back to me know. That’s about all I can say at the moment, but this should be interesting. Oh, and I may have to put aside my hatred for Twitter (better known as Twatter around here), because it turns out that my boyfriend is a weird cat person and his conversations with her are just begging for some sort of Twitter feed. We shall see.