PHOTO-A-DAY CHALLENGE

A Cat on a Plane

Week 36 of the photographic documentary of my daily life

I finished my course in Spain this week and flew back to Germany. Physically and mentally exhausted I needed some rest and time to recover from all the draining activities I was doing.

On Wednesday I started stressing when I wanted to book my appointment for the corona test. All the test centers were fully booked. Some for even something like two weeks in advance.

If I can’t get an appointment I won’t get a negative test result and the airline won’t let me on board. This would mean I would have to change my flight. All of that is these days everything else but easy.

In the end, my instructor helped me out and called a local clinic. He got the last open appointment for me and I could take my test on Thursday evening. Not even five minutes after taking the test I had the result already in my hands. What a relief. Despite knowing I wasn’t sick you still never know what the result will say.

After sorting out the problems with the test I could focus again fully on my course. Two days were left and I still had to do seven more jumps.

As I was walking out of the classroom this morning I saw the cat sitting on the bench. With the plane in the background. I had to get this shot. Running back inside and grabbing my camera in the hope the cat would not have moved.

And she didn’t. It’s a cat. They have no rush to go anywhere. Just sitting there and actually posing for the camera.

The last day of the course. Still, five more jumps left. And guess what? Now I know who owns the plane. The dropzone cat. Sitting on the wing of the plane she is observing the whole skydiving scene from above. Calm and in no rush to go anywhere. That’s her spot. Clearly.

Time to go home. This morning I quickly packed my bags and drove to the airport. Checking in my luggage and then it was time to take off. A short 3-hour flight through and above clouds is bringing me back from summery warm Spain to misery cold and wet Germany.

Today I moved from my bed to the couch and back to my bed. Everything hurts. Every single muscle. Especially my upper body.

I only stepped once outside the door to hang up the laundry. And saw these lovely flowers growing between the rocks. A viola tricolor. Tiny but powerful. If you want to you can grow anywhere. But you have to have the willpower to do so!

“April, April macht was er will.”

This German saying describes the month in which it can rain, snow, hail, and be sunny all in one day. April is doing whatever he wants to. As simple as that. And we experienced it today.

I had put my laundry outside and was typing on my laptop when I looked out of the window and said “it’s raining”. Before being able to get up and fetch my laundry I added “it’s actually snowing!”

So there I placed the drying rack back inside and grabbed my camera. The snowflakes were getting bigger. Not big enough to properly capture them on a photo. But it was snowing that much so one could see the snowflakes in the air.

The spectacle lasted for about half an hour. Then the sun came out. Later, the same evening, it rained again. Yes, it is April. Nothing is uncommon.

I woke up around sunrise and got up to just go to the bathroom. With sleepy eyes, I looked out of the window in the living room and saw the steam coming out of our neighbor's chimney.

The fields in the background are covered in frost. The houses shining yellow from the first rays of sunshine of the day. It’s freezing cold. Even inside our flat. I very quickly ran back to bed and curled up in my blanket.

Same today. This shot was taken on the way to the bathroom. Out of my living room window. As the first rays of sunshine were hitting our valley. Smoke coming out of the chimney.

And I’m getting back to bed.

This has been my week in photographs. 7 days. 7 photographs. Anyone can join. Once of. Or weekly. It doesn’t matter. We welcome anyone! Dennett was the one starting this photography challenge sometime last year and many have participated ever since.

Erika Burkhalter / Eileen Vorbach Collins / Dennett / Sasha Meyer / Tracy Aston/ Lisa Bolin / Juan O. Aguilera / David Wade Chambers / June Nguyen / Mia Verita

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Anne Bonfert is a traveler. Photographer. Writer. Teacher. Skydiving instructor. Adventure enthusiast. Nature lover. And fell in love with the African continent.