The tails of Yin and Yang

Here are Yin and Yang. Otherwise known as Ziggie and Goldie. They are related - not just sharing some labrador origins but they have the same mother (Sandy). They have different fathers, which is probably quite obvious and we won't talk anymore about that. They are about 2 years apart, Ziggie being the older step brother. Ziggie belongs to my parents in law and Goldie is our doggie. 

SMILE

Goldie was born in Austria, grew up in Budapest before moving near Hamburg. Here she is sleeping on the overnight train from Vienna to Hamburg.

Goldie is now on holidays in Burgenland, Austria before traveling to her new home in Frankfurt. She is a European traveller and fond of other animals. Here she is licking a sheep. I am sure she is just being friendly and not wondering what it might taste like!

She is also fond of the cows as they have similar colourings. She often gives them a good lick on the nose and cheek. They don't seem to mind.

She likes chasing the farm cats - but has toned down this activity in the last few weeks. I suspect the cats now taunt her a little. But they know all the escape routes. Anyone who knows Goldie will be surprised at this photos: dog and cat so close to each other.

In Estebrügger she was known as the "dorf hund" or village dog. She was regularly walked by various neighbourhood kids and was more well known than ourselves in the village. Here she is getting some love and attention she lacks at home. She is NEVER allowed on the chair at home - poor thing!

Ziggie is dearly loved in his home town and visits local friends for an extra snack or meal and in winter likes to visit for a cosy nap by the fire at someone else's house! Being part of the farm and B&B he is one of the reasons families return year after year as the kids just adore him and he soaks up the attention. Who can not resist those gorgeous eyes and his George Clooney salt and pepper hair?

Even Goldie wants to give him a kiss.

But most of all they love going for walks. There is a lot of jostling to begin with as they determine that Ziggie is still the boss. Then they get on with their business of sniffing, snuffling and marking territory. They love going through the fields where there are smells of little field mouses, birds to chase and simply lots of fun to be had.

Goldie is not fond of water (screwed up Labrador DNA) but is OK to have a drink en-route. Ziggie regularly takes a dip mid walk. Now that the water is so low in the streams he just sits down in the muddy puddles to cool off. The advantages of being a farm dog!

This is a typical scene from our walks. Side by side down the road, keeping under the speed limit and looking for mischief and a snack.

Exhausted after a walk, Goldie stretches out on the cool stones.

Ziggie is even more exhausted as his tongue flops out of his mouth and he remains in the following position for the next few hours.

This post is for Billie. A four legged friend of Goldie from her Budapest days. Billie is now in doggy heaven and will be terribly missed.

Este Moods

I grew up close to the sea. In Sydney you are usually just a walk away from water - be it the harbour or the beach. Water plays a huge role in Australia's image. From the land of beaches or deserts the size of small European countries. There are the water restrictions, but then floods. Its truly dynamic.

Three years ago we had the chance to live on a river and we jumped at it (and later in it). Although not Manly Beach or Sydney Harbour....it was moving water. And moving water has moods - I like that. There is nothing like watching water, there is always something to observe and enjoy.

Here is a winter mood. Huge ice blocks floating down the river and crashing into the sides and to the large metal palings by the bridge. Its a pretty loud crashing and crunching noise.

High tide in autumn and a couple of swans.

A spring afternoon walk - finally the sun appeared after more than a day of rain. I think it was worth the wait to see the sun push through the clouds.

Up close and personal - on the river in our canoe Molly.

Another canoe shot from our garden as they paddle upstream to Buxtehude. Goldie observes but is not interested in jumping in. Thank goodness we have a labrador that is not fond of water.

Fun in the snow and very cold in the water - only small pieces of ice on the surface. A snowman waving hello.

A huge barge on the river as the bridge opens to let it through. Fire station boat in foreground. Never a dull moment!

A moody autumn day at high tide and reflections.

A hot summer day and some cool customer in sunnies floats by!

Hot day, high tide and my kids dive into the Este.

And two crazy guys jumping from the bridge.....

We loved our piece of the Este, it was always changing - which is the only constant in life.
Goodbye for now.

The Bridge Jumpers

The recent warmer weather brought out the village idiots. Who is that climbing over the bridge to jump in the water....oh its the man that I married.

He was testing this as a new hobby? Well that is what he claimed. There were also some more swimmers ready to cool down from the heat.

Kicking around at high tide.

The next day saw more takers. Three crazy girls.

Racing each other across the river.

Splashing competitions

All wrapped up and ready for a warm shower.

Not to be outdone by the girls, the boys also decided to show them how it is done....from the bridge.

He they go and with an audience. They had mistimed the jump as the tide had turned and ended up having a tough swim against the current to get home and climb over the fence.

Then there was BBQ and beer and then we let the kids watch TV = happiness for all.

Feeling hot and bothered?

It was a long winter here in Europe. Spring certainly took its time coming. For a few days here and there it seemed as if spring was on its way. Then BAMM, another cold front arrived and the heating stayed on. Now we have had weeks of rain and some serious flooding in Europe.

Yesterday they had a call in session on the radio where people could speculate what the big yellow thing in the sky was....as it had not been seen for so long!

So now the hot and bothered people are coming out. Driving around yesterday, they were honking their horns whilst being stuck in traffic with the sun beating down on their car.

I came across these photos I took with my phone camera whilst walking at the end of February. It was a cold and frosty morning.

There was lots of eery mist, which I recall being around for most of the day. Don't you just feel cooler looking at the photos?

Here is my attempt at an artistic shot as I passed by the cemetery. There is a huge and beautiful tree in the middle of the local cemetery. I can't say I was anti-cemeteries but would not have chosen to walk through one. Walking through our local cemetery is a short cut between home and school, so I have been a local visitor! Rather than being creepy its actually quite relaxing. There are always a few people bringing some flowers or tending the plots, planting, trimming or watering the little gardens. Where there is death there is life.

Come on feel the chill...its the type that just goes straight to your bones.

These are our local whomping willows....name that book/movie!!!

And the first signs that a change is on the way.

Going for Ice cream

Today we decided to pop into Buxtehude for ice cream. Big sister was away on horse camp, so it was just Mum, Dad and a 4 year old princess.

We got out the canoe, popped on A's life vest, dug out the paddles, leapt over our fence and dropped the boat into the water. As we live on a tidal river, one needs to take advantage of the window of opportunity. That is, we want to go to Buxtehude when the tide is coming in. Then we eat ice-cream and have a coffee while we wait till the tide changes.

Today we decided not to "park" in the main part of the harbour but we wanted to see if we could get further. We made it to "Am Fleet" in the middle of the old part of Buxtehude. 

Here we are making our way up the Fleet. Its pretty narrow but we have a thin canoe ;-).

It was then only them a matter of jumping out in front of the coffee shop. We tied up the canoe by some steps leading to the water. This provided much amusement to passers by, probably waiting for me to fall into the water as I climbed out.

Our local parking spot and we did not even need to buy a parking ticket - that means an extra scoop of ice-cream.

Pizza, ice cream and coffee were ordered and enjoyed.

On our way back A insisted on paddling but did not want a paddle but a length of reed. We actually collected several of them as they don't last long. It was at this point that we needed to recall the importance of the journey and NOT the end destination. That is because there is no ice cream on the return trip. Luckily I had freshly baked chocolate cake to keep up the motivation.

On our trip we saw the local pair of swans, baby ducks, and just enjoyed being on the river.

Here we are just turning into the main bend with Estebrügge in front of us. You might be able to spot the church steeple just right of the middle of the picture. The water looks very still, but we hardly needed to paddle as the river narrows dramatically at this point. We were swept along by the tide.

This is the last bit of the trip as we enter the village and you can just see the blue and white painted swing bridge in the distance - our target.

Home sweet home. Taken just before we did our landing manoeuvre. Then we had to haul the canoe over the fence again...well Ron is so good at these things that I only needed to provide emotional support.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.

The Green Room

They say the grass is always greener, and it certainly was last weekend. Our oldest daughter was in the Snow Queen - a ballet by the local ballet school with over 200 performers.

This is the green room - literally. It's usually a classroom in the local high school but it is where the grass hung out whilst waiting to perform.  Here they are all lined up in the backstage corridor getting ready to perform.

As they were there for more than 3 hours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday for the grand performances, there was lots of grassing around. Hands up who likes grass?  

Although completely biased, I must say the grass group did an excellent job. They were 2 grass down but performed their dance perfectly -  it looked like no one was missing. Very professional. Each member knew their dance and so no one let the group down. Here they are on stage. They worked as a group, then broke out into 3 groups, back again etc. Excellent choreography, crappy photography.

Hand ups for the grass!