Wild and Precious

A lovely photo I took last year in Germany, while we were visiting with Bodecea.

Lately I have discovered the beautiful poetry of the American writer Mary Oliver. She writes so joyously and so compellingly about nature; its myriad, minutiae activity and its huge importance. I have Why I wake early from our local library. Have you read her poems?

This image is from http://davidsheffield.wordpress.com/2011/10/31/999/

Some wonderful thoughts from Mary, which give me so much to think about in just a handful of simple but beautiful words.

This print is from http://sarahlondon.wordpress.com/2011/03/14/what-is-it/

All a tremulous heart requires

Often while on holidays, surprising things happen. Now, I knew there was water between Germany and Denmark. But I had not really thought through how we would cross it. I just took it as read that we would. But as our train chugged along from Hamburg, I was rather surprised to be told our train would be driven onto a ferry, we would get out of the train and onto the ferry, make the crossing and then continue on to Copenhagen on the train. There is nothing like this in Australia. If you go to Tasmania, you fly or take the ferry. No trains. No train and ferry combos. And the ferry? I was expecting some utilitarian vessel which would take us over the water in practical and spartan surroundings. Uh, no. Restaurants. Shops. Lounges. All very interesting!

This cake, consumed in a cafe at the Tivoli, was covered in molten (and melting) chocolate. It was horrible. Just kidding! And the hot chocolate? Well. None of this namby-pamby-break-it-to-you-gently sweet stuff. This hot chocolate was serious, with just the right touch of bitterness. Lovely.

I don't do rides but I'm happy to watch other people nauseate themselves...

Dreamy...

And sometimes on holidays you do things that you wouldn't normally do. For me, one of those things was going to the Tivoli amusement park in Copenhagen (http://www.tivoli.dk/) It is in fact much more than an amusement park (oops, I sound like an ad for it). There are restaurants, shops, a lovely aquarium and a really terrific exhibition about the Titanic (though I did wonder about the Titanic souvenir t-shirts...who wears that??) It really seemed to be the place to go in Copenhagen for locals and tourists alike - far more so than, say, Luna Park here.

Holidays. You just don't know, do you?

Green tour of Europe: Part 1

One thing that I did take a lot of photos of while we were away is plants. So beautiful in their variety and also good practice for the amateur photographer wielding a macro lens! I couldn't resist one more photo of the German forests...

A delicate rose growing behind one of the large cathedrals in Heidelberg...

And something not quite so cultivated but no less beautiful, spotted while out walking. Is it an elderflower?

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I was so sad to see when we returned home, though, that the people living in the house behind ours had cut down a large and beautiful hawthorn tree in our absence. It was often covered in lovely red berries and attracted a wide assortment of birds, most particularly white cockatoos. Unless a tree is about to smash through your roof, I can never understand why people chop trees down. It seems like the ungrateful return of a wonderful gift.

Holiday Tales: Germany

The light in the forest in Germany seemed to be completely different to the light I would later see in Scandinavia.

Beautiful Fachwerk buildings...if this one ever comes on the market, someone should let me know :)

One way leads to the Mediterranean, the other to Scandinavia! A country road in Germany.

As always when travelling in Europe, I was struck by the charm of the many beautiful little villages, especially in Germany with its gorgeous half-timbered Fachwerk style. I would love to live in one of these little houses - so very uniquely beautiful and (and this is the historian speaking!) so important to preserve these living time capsules.

The other thing that I love about these villages is their incredible proximity to the forest - you can just walk out your back door and into such lovely countryside! I have to say I love the European countryside...but I am now going to make a concerted effort to love the Australian countryside more and get out there and do some bushwalking more regularly. We went on so many beautiful walks while we were away - I want to keep it going here (though maybe when it's not raining and 4 degrees!)

Back Home

Why I fell in love with Norway in one photo...the quiet, mysterious stillness of the forests of Mt Floyen, Bergen.

This beautiful little heart is carved into the wall of a hut at Oslo's open-air Norwegian Folk Museum.

Hello! I am back from my six week holiday in Europe with my dear, sweet husband and getting used once more to the more familiar surroundings of the Yellow Wood! I have got beyond the just-back-from-the-holiday stage of home seeming like a bit of a novelty but it has certainly been a week of settling in. I would like to say I am glad to be home and of course all holidays must come to an end or they wouldn't really be special, magical holiday things but just, well, every day stuff, but we have returned to some very cold weather and we did have a lovely time overseas so it is a little hard not to be wistful...

On the up side though, the holiday did give me lots of good thinking time as holidays always do and I have clarified a few things in my own mind as to what I'll be up to for the next little while.

But! The Holiday. Well, first stop when we left Australia was Singapore which was as gorgeously tropical as ever. We were only there for a short time on our way to Europe so I'll come back
to that in a couple of days time, when I tell you about our week there on the way home. First European stop was Germany, where we were kindly hosted for a few days by my penpal Bodecea and her partner. Next on the list was our first foray into Scandinavia - Denmark. We stayed in the beautiful capital, Copenhagen, and then moved onto the oldest town in Denmark, Ribe. From there we took the train and the ferry to Sweden, stopping in Gothenburg, and then to our main destination of Norway. Oslo was our first Norwegian port of call and then to the beautiful, beautiful Bergen. I am still dreaming about Bergen! We spent another week in Oslo then and...our time was nearly up! Back to Singapore and then back home.

I've got lots of beautiful photos to show you (yes, it's the cyber equivalent of a slide night) and lots of travellers' tales to tell you. So, next post...Germany and Denmark!

Dumplings!

I am a big fan of many things German and Austrian. I think I may have mentioned this before in my ramblings through the Wood. I am trying to learn German, I have travelled through Germany and Austria and I've spent ten years of my life researching and teaching German history. I also love German and Austrian food, and I've collected a number of cookbooks on this very topic. But. But. But. Cooking German and Austrian food scares me. It looks complicated. It looks hard. It's got things like yeast in it which you have to heat and knead and cajole into doing the right thing by you. So imagine my surprise and delight when I successfully made Austrian-style dumplings on the weekend. And they were easy. Equipped with my Specialities of Austrian Cooking cookbook, I figured I'd just give it a go...no harm in trying...I can just throw them out when they don't work...and then they worked!

500g flour
40g melted butter
300 ml milk
1 egg

Mix it all together. Make little dumpling balls. Drop them into boiling water and when they bob to the surface, you're good to go. I added sliced chives to the mixture and a little bit of salt.

Love doing things I didn't think I could do. Going to try some sweet ones tonight, with apricot sauce. And sorry, no pictorial evidence...they were gobbled up in ten minutes...