A rainy, sunny,windy weekend and a bite to eat

It was a sad Friday as I left work, the handworkers and some of the technical department was being out-sourced (I think that is the term that is used when someone is sold down the river). Quite a few had spent most of their working lives in the service of HRM and had now been told that theyeither went to the private facility maintenance firm or be given their notice.

I am one of the six remaining and have often enough said you cannot buy loyalty and in the main these chaps have been very loyal and are good trusty tradesmen, these are at a premium. But my voicings fell on deaf ears, the decision had been made by others of a higher rank than I and so let them reap the whirlwind.

So after the last Hof grill party, bratties,  beer and wine. I headed home to have a lie down before going for my 4 weekly game of kegeln (skittles), now this cheered me up no end as they are without a doubt the best pals one could ever wish for. I played football either with or against most of them (even my own team often said I was playing for the other side).

I had, had very little to eat so when I got home, I made myself a nice piece of rump steak and some new potatoes. I sat on the balcony in the barmy heat, opened a chilled bottle of Aldi pink and enjoyed my meal. I made a few phone calls and decided to have an early night. I had all of the doors and windows wide open, well about one in the morning there was an all mighty down pour that had me running around starkers shutting doors and windows. I dropped back to sleep but was a wake again at 05:30, so I decided to go out as I needed some LPG for my car. I drove to Wiedenbrück (the nearest filling station) the other part of Rheda-Wiedenbrück.  What I hadnot reckoned with was that I would meet so many people out and about that early in the morning, it was the Wienbrück schutzenfest and at 06:00 the last green clad stragglers where just leaving the festzelt.

As it was still very early I decided to visit the nature reserve out at Rietberg, I had a nice drive out and at this time in the morning the fields are full of wild life Roe, hares, geese, rabbits, pheasants.

a deer in the mist

Chalkies girls out for a walk

This years hunt

I saw a man clad in green coming towards me ( the hunting green in Germany is a dull olive green not the heavy Lincoln green of men in tights), I thought he is a long way from the Festzelt, but as he got closer, I saw he had a Weimariner at heel and a pair of binos round his neck. It was Herr Beschler the Oberforster (well ex as he has now retired and does more ehrenamtlich ( just for fun) than when he was employed. We had a nice chat, we often go game counting together and once a year we have a great shoot over our lands (British Military) that comes under his jurisdiction.

I  had a tour back to Wiedenbrück just in time to go to  the small market bought some vegetables and salad things a bit of air dried ham and some smoked black pudding for breakfast.

I next went to the Emssee and had a look at MY Great Crested Grebes, hmmm only one swimming serenly in the middle no sight of the female and the three chicks, may be they had already left? We shall have to have a look tomorrow.

The lone great crested grebe

I then went to my favourite Turkish butcheress  (they open early) and bought some lamb neck and a some fresh herbs.

I next went to the bigger Rheda market as I wanted some fish,  I really wanted some plaice but they where really small but the fish-woman had some nice gilt bream, so I bought a one. I then went to the Bio-bakers stand and bought a wholemeal stottie (well it is called a  fladen but it is just like a true stottie) and a couple of fresh white rolls. Went home and had breakfast, fresh coffee, rolls, air dried ham, smoked black pudding, sat on the balcony in the warm misty morning sun life can be nice.

I was out and about in Gütersloh (at another market) and sat out in the sun and had a good chin wag with a couple of mates. On the way home popped into my mate Hansi (he lives in a small holding without holding  any animals, but he can make and repair anything, his kotten (farmhouse) is like a museum, it contains all manner of wonders. We had a beer and chewed the fat for half an hour until his girlfriend came around for a BBQ, I could have stayed but I had a fish to cook!

I got home and started preparing my bream, I thought about pan frying it, but then decided to cook it covered in the oven. I picked some herbs from my balcony, (parsley, sage, marjoram and dill), I washed the  fish inside and snipped off the fins, I salted the inside and squeezed half a lemon inside and out, scrunched up the herbs and packed it into the cavity. I next rubbed the fish all over with a mixture of salt, paprika, pepper, rosemary, dried parsley and powdered onion., drizzled some olive oil, white wine vinegar and a few drops of rather expensive balsamico (Birthday present).

I  fried some speck (smoked bacon) and softened a chopped onion and a clove of garlic, cut a tomato into eight segments and the half of the squeezed lemon, placed all this in a roasting dish along with the bream and covered. put this into the preheated oven at 180°C.

In the mean time I boiled some small potatoes, drained the fried some more speck and onions, and added the halved potatoes to the frying pan, next in went a handful of brown shrimps, heated all  through and set aside covered.

Fish out of the oven and poured off the juices into a small sauce pan added a slug of NZ sauvignon blanc bubbled up and added a couple of tablespoons of cream and another few brown shrimps.

Plated up fish, on with the tomato segments, the sautéed  potatoes, poured the sauce over the fish and out onto the balcony to enjoy it with a couple of glasses of the sauvignon blanc. And watched the sun go down.

A nice juicy gilt bream

That done settled down for the evening to watch abit of television and drink a glass of sauvignon blanc or two!!!

Was up again early on Sunday (06:00) and went out through the fields and green woods, I visited the roes at the corner of the bottom of my street, they are starting to fatten up nicely. I then went through the fields said my good mornings to the local Roe herd,  hares, rabbits, pheasants and geese.

The boss watching over his girls

Last years one pointer grazing

They walk like an Egyptian (geese)

Pulled into watch a kestrel chasing a small black cat, it wasn't his lucky day, then saw a sparrowhawk out hunting.

I next went to the  sandpit (they extract a very fine quartz sand from the Ems flood plains) this is fantastic area to do some bird watching, this morning just a couple of white ducks and a heron.

Eyed the blackberry bushes and some of the other woodland goodies, making a mental note to put a plastic container or two in the car for the next run out.

Blackberries coming a long quite nicely

And the elderberries not far behind

Never have found a use for the Guilder rose

I left the gravel road and turn towards town passing one of my neigbours farms they also have a small herd of goats and a flock of hens, it is from here that I buy my eggs and the true farm yard cockerals.

I next went towards town, parked up at one of the many free car parks and went for a walk through the rose garden .

two buds and a rose

 I joined our maid in the Rose Garden

not a rose in the rose garden

another not a rose

Still got the morning dew on the petals

On leaving the rose garden you pass under a pagoda that is covered with honey suckle that give off a heady perfume.

Then around the Schloßpark. I walk across the wooden bridge on the path that criss crosses the Ems,I saw with amazement two Aussies coming towards me (these two didn't have sawn off shorts and a floppy hat)

I next watch the ducks doing what they do best "ducking"

Up she rises early in the morning

I meandered through the formal part of the park which is dedicated to the Furst zu Bentheim-Tecklenburg family, quite a few urns (but no Morecambs) dotted around the place.

His

and hers

They seemed to be up bright and early clearing away yesterdays remains from the Orangery (they use it for weddings, concerts, art shows and receptions). Last night it had been the turn of the Jazz fraternity

 

I crossed the wooden bridge and stood and looked back at the wonderful mill and the weir. below a mob of this years  young ducks where swimming around as if they didn't have a care in the world, WE shall  be changing that in a couple of months.

 

The clock on the Schloß entrance was lying, as it does with the exception of twice each day.

As I passed the carp ponds I saw a carp, turning and just missed the shot, I think missus Princess must of heard me because I heard the sound of a window closing on the living quarters.

By this time I was half way round and the sun was up and it was warm, the ducklings where enjoying the morning sun.

I didn't need my body warmer now and a bit of a sweat was called for. The path takes a circular route, passing some beech and lovely old oak woods

I looked across the Feuchtweisen, literally the damp meadows, in the direction of the schloß, this area is a breeding area for the Bekassine (common snipe), I quartered the area with my binoculars but couldn't see any.

I watched a Sparrowhawk soaring and hunting and a couple of Roe deer grazing adjacent to the A2 motorway

If you squint and use your imagination, the Sparrowhark is that smudge above the clouds

In the middle!!!!!

I then followed the route as it crossed the Ems once again, taking some photographs of the Flora on the way.

Woundwort

Woundwort flower



I think this is the Willow herb



Sanicle



 

I now entered the area called the Bruchwald, this is made up of all manner of wet land trees bushes and plants. The water elm has made it its home, this is a tree that has very shallow roots and are often toppled during the autumn storms. The wet land is the habitat of all types of small mammels, reptiles and bird life.

    



I passed a moorhen on her nest (she really must try to get up a bit earlier) and arrived at the metal gates across from Steinweg (stone way) No. 1 

I was back at the start (the walk being a circular route doesn't have a real start or finish, more a beginning and an end at the same place), got into the car and saw that it was 09:00, been out for three hours and hadn't noticed it. went to the bakers got a few different rolls, home, a pot of coffee some tongue and local air dried ham rolls.

Now it was time to start slow cooking.