Tuesday, 6 June 2023

A Tale of Three Villages - Chapter 1.

 When I started my "ebook", "Reflections - Nachdenken/neknedhcaN"   - I realized that I would need several approaches to increase the awareness of people to climate change.

The Arctic is so far away from the experience of most people that I must create an "arctic experience" much further south, So this chapter, a tale of three villages and the flooding that  occurred here just over night, Wednesday/Thursday July 14/15 2021, intends to illustrate on a personal level what might occur "here", This is personal - you are invited to board the next "Ark" . Noah aka Irving Finkel

 

This chapter is also dedicated to Armin, long time neighbour, writer, and guide for the

second village, Odendorf.

 

I begin with another village, Heimerzheim. The village is the lowest of the three at 131m; it is also the youngest with an historical mention in 1074. I visited the town on Saturday April 1, 2023, nearly two years after the flooding to witness what had happened and what was happening.

Let me begin with my photo of our son's "Kindergarten" which he attended nearly 40 years earlier.


 It is the yellow building - I do not know if it has reopened. 


Here is an aerial view just after the flood with the building in the upper right, the pathway on which I was standing to take my photo being the gray "vertical" line right of centre appearing from the tree cover. The bridge is washed out.


 The photo is via Goggle - I do not know the source.

There is also a recording made from a drone at about the same time.

Zerstörung A61 und L182 nach dem Hochwasser | Drohnenaufnahmen von Swisttal-Heimerzheim

 

The Indigenous People remind us to plan ahead for seven generations. Less than 40 years have passed since our son went to this school.


Our walk on Saturday began at the foot of the hillside. A lovely Forsythia was in bloom


The stream, the Swist, is out of sight, maybe 200m away. The village lies ahead of us and to the right. The flooding reached the bush.  The rest of these photos would have been taken in very deep swift-flowing water on that morning. Fortunate to be able to stand in the gentle rain on this occasion.



The dark mark on this surviving building records the level the muddy waters reached - note that the car would have been under water - it would have been swept away had it been there  that night. In the aftermath containers were used to house people and shops.



It is difficult to imagine - even as I stood there in the street - that the water could rise from a typical depth of 70 to 80 cm to the depth here of 7 to 8 meters.




On this day April 1, 2023, the stream was comfortably in its bed while Koi swam with the ducks.




This was quite emotional for me - to witness and two months later to describe. I shall take a pause and resume with Odendorf on another day.


Thoughtfully yours,

WOB

Saturday, 27 May 2023

Busy as a Beaver

 I was surprised that nobody responded to the "holiday on No(t)ice.

Was Nachdenken too difficult for my German friends?

So yesterday we visited Hardy Lake and - guess Watt - I talked to at least one animal!



This is a long tail. Or tale - 1000 words per photo, for tax purposes! The part for the whole.






I think it was a young beaver, not at all bothered by a 

Wise Ol' Bird


Sunday, 21 May 2023

6 Days ago, 6 Weeks before

                                Reflections - neknedhcaN


                                     Wednesday April 12 2023 12 April Mittwoch




                            NO(T)ICE

 

Danke Katja:













Some impressions,
Maybe inspiration?
Through the looking glass?

 
What is real?



If there is no reflection or shadow?

W O B

Tuesday, 14 March 2023

Does a micro climate require a macro lens?

 I was playing yesterday - I don't think anyone was looking. Please don't tell.


It seems there was a dusting of snow yesterday, And in her hurry to photograph 

the wonderland, Vicki knocked off one of the 4 flowers growing from her Amaryllis.

She saved it in a red pot. And I felt I would like to try to photograph it - up close - using

my zoom lens, And then I thought why not use my macro. And while I am at it, try bouncing the camera flash off some white paper onto the ceiling to illuminate the flower. Otherwise I used natural light.


But I am not going to tell you what setup was used for each photo - just enjoy the flower.







I took 17 more photos - beware of comments!


WOB

Monday, 13 March 2023

Winter Triangles

Everyone has heard of the Summer Triangle  but few have thought about Winter Triangles?

So here goes:

 


 The triangle is in the middle - hope this obvious.



There is some snow - the white patches on the right side. It actually was snowing just a little for most of this session.



So lots of winter triangles - do you count the black ones as well as the white?


WOB

Sunday, 12 March 2023

I was wearing my hearing aids today - and my sunglasses!

 So much for hearing:




I managed to track him down . or rather up!


And then I was lucky. I could see the bird but it was late afternoon and the bird was in shade - plus I was wearing my shades:



Rather attractive setting.



Rather attractive bird


Wise Old Bird

Monday, 6 March 2023

Gotta pick a pocket?

 This blog is the last of 3 for tonight. And it is a recollection of last Thursday,

A friend offered us "cracked corn" to feed the Trumpeters and so we offered it to a friend and this was the result:





You would think they were long lost friends! How to win friends and influence

the 



Wise Ol' Bird!