The wine tale

One thing that hubby and I noticed while traveling in Germany is that there are vineyards everywhere. When in Europe most people always think of French or Italian wines, but Germany has its fair share of vineyards too. It is so amazing where they put them. On the super steep hillsides where you would think that the people who harvest them would need to be part mountain goat!! These two pictures were from the Rhine River Cruise.

Rhine River wine is extremely tasty although that is probably not the correct thing to say for wine connisouers! On our cruise we even went to a wine tasting and tried the ice wine or eiswein. This is a very sweet dessert wine. The grapes are picked when they are frozen on the vine. The sugars from the grapes do not freeze, but the water does and therefore you get a smaller concentration of wine. Plus it also makes it more expensive!! The owner told us that there had been a few times when the grapes never did freeze or it froze really late which has happened even after the new year.
These next few pictures are on the Bodensee (Lake Constance). Off to the left is Austria, and straight across is Switzerland.

Grapes waiting to be harvested, and hubby checking out some grapes. We also bought some grapes and had them as a snack when we headed up north the following day. They were soooo sweet and good!

I had to laugh when I saw this truck when we were heading up north. I made sure that hubby got next to it so I could take a picture of it. The basic translation that I made from it reads, "Of course I am slower than you are. I am hauling your spanish red wine home." The google translation on this is funny! I understand why my cousins laugh when I translate something. One interesting note is that all trucks have to stay on the right side and can only go a certain speed somewhere I believe between 45-55. They only time they can pass is when they pass another truck that is going slower then they are! Pretty interesting.

So, you go from the vineyards to the truck to this waiting for us when we arrived up north.

Doesn't this look so pretty? My cousin Ramona did this for us. What more could you ask for......wine and chocolates!!!!!

Moon quarter

The other evening as I was walking down the hill after locking up the chickens (we close them up to avoid being targeted by wandering animals) I happened to be looking up through the trees and this is what I saw.

I ran down to the house, grabbed my camera, and ran back up the hill (pant, pant). I was so pleased to capture it especially with the trees surrounding the moon. (If you click on the picture it will show up really well) I had never tried the night feature on my plain ol' camera (along with zooming on the second picture), but I must say it did quite well.

Jaemors for peaches & apples

On the way up to the mountains of North Georgia or the Carolinas a lot of people will stop at Jaemors for peaches in the summer and apples in the fall. Right now it is the Georgia peaches or they also have South Carolina peaches. They are both really good, and they have so many varieties you would not believe it!
Here is my daughter taking some pictures outside of the roses. She forgot her camera so she used her cell phone camera, what a handy gadget!

The apple trees getting ready for fall.

My daughter took this picture with my camera. This is only a small part of the building. It is huge! Not only can you buy peaches and apples, but all kinds of fruit and veggies from local areas. Plus whatever can be pickled or canned you can also buy at Jaemors. I love the Chow Chow.

My daughter and I agreed that this was a nice little break, and we got her out of the house since she is slowly feeling better. Plus we got a nice little bonus....homemade peach ice cream! Yum!!!!

The lady and the man weather vane

While driving around in the Black Forest we came across this huge barometer. I have a smaller one that has been around forever!! As you can see it was raining that day and the man with his umbrella was out. I'd like to have a huge one like this outside, but I'm afraid the poor little lady would be grabbing the man's umbrella if she could to keep her in the shade!!

Veggies for a tasty meal

This year has been a little better than last year in the garden, but still not the greatest. Lack of rain and who knows what else.
Here are some radishes which I will need to re-plant more seed soon.

A variety, a few eggs, swiss chard, radishes, cucumbers, squash, and tomatoes.

What I made with our veggies. The last time we were by the ocean we bought some fresh seafood. So I made Red Snapper with capers in a mustard sauce. The veggies were the squash, swiss chard and some onions. It turned out to be a pretty tasty and very healthy meal!

Daylilies

Today I thought that I would show you a collage of a few of the daylilies and lilies that I have around the house.

I took a couple of the pictures at night since they would have been gone the next day!

10 minutes from home

The last few weeks have been a little crazy and stressful around here. My daughter had a recurring episode of pneumonia, but in her right lung. On top of that she was running a fever, bladder infection, muscle spasm pains in her back, and then hardly any sleep at all. To top it all off she had just started a new job; worked a week and a day, and now has been off for a week and a half. Still unsure whether she will have a job when she is over all of this mess. So I have been nursing her along and cleaning her house. Her hubby would make dinner when he got home unless I had already cooked something. Another trip to the doctor showed nothing had improved so stronger antibiotics were given. I have been loading her up with fruits, juices, veggies that are good for your lungs, and probiotics plus a few other herbs that can improve her immune system. Fortunately our doctor is super nice and has said that everything I have been giving her is a good thing. Hopefully this week she will improve, but the doctor did say it will be about six weeks before she feels normal again.
So, when hubby and our neighbors suggested a little fishing trip Saturday evening to the pond that is only 10 minutes away I jumped at the chance!

 

 

Neighbor Jan fishing and enjoying the view.

 

Well, I guess you are wondering if we caught anything, but the fish were just not biting that night. I didn't care though since it was very peaceful and relaxing, and by the time my head hit the pillow that night I was out with a good nights rest!!!

Bregenz

Just a picture "post card" from Bregenz, Austria. We were in a hurry as this was our last stop, but it was a quaint little town.

Lindau

One of the places my aunt told us to see is Lindau. It is a town with an island that borders on Lake Constance or as the lake is known there the Bodensee. On the other side of the Bodensee is Switzerland, and to the left of the Bodensee is Austria. It was definitely a very pretty area although we never made it out to the island, but here are a few pictures.
I believe this was the town hall.

The little cafe to the right is where we sat outside and had a very nice lunch.

A mime

A florist shop. I can never get enough pictures of flowers!

Such colorful houses through this alleyway/street.

A carriage house.

Check out the sculpture in the front.

At least we had a pretty sunny day!

There it goes

On our drive through the winding roads of the Black Forrest hubby saw this little auto, and wanted me to take a picture of it. A little 3 wheeler that zipped along!

Riding south on the autobahn

After we left Strasbourg we headed south on the autobahn to find our way to my tante's (aunt)house. Here are some lovely countryside pictures even if it is off of the autobahn!

A very important sign when you are on the autobahn

Parking the car for a rest, and the very important WC/water closet..translation..toilet!

Hubby resting at the picnic benches.

Me, ready to hit the road again.

Some apple trees

Back on the road

The town up ahead on the winding road.

Thank goodness for the GPS!!!!

Mural painted buildings in Strasbourg

While walking around Strasbourg we came across these buildings, and I saw a lot of people taking pictures of them. Can you imagine all the work that went into it?

The river ride around Strasbourg

One really neat thing to do in Strasbourg is to take the river ride. It is a little over an hour long, but you see a lot of things that you may not see when you are walking.

The boats lined up. These boats as you can see have a glass top. I apologize if any pictures from the boat may have a little sheen to them. The glass would reflect depending on where the sun was coming in.

Purchase tickets here.








These two pictures were when we had to enter a dike (actually two of them) so they could either add water or remove. Kinda cool. Hubby had not been in one since back in his "young" fish boat days.

Look at all the red geranium window boxes!
These next three pictures are among my favorites.

The water fountain, so pretty.

What a beautiful place to sit and people/boat watch.

Now this one is my favorite out of all of them!