Week Three — Summer Happiness

The photographic documentary of my daily life

And another week has passed. Another week of working hard, sweating in the sun, and enjoying the beauty of nature.

Summer in Germany.

This is my third week of the photo challenge started by Dennett. Seven days. Seven photographs with a one-word description. Which is the part I always struggle with. I tend to describe my photographs with more than just one word. All photographs are taken with my Canon EOS 750D.

This first picture is the result of last week’s picture of the “working colony”. I put the leftover of an apple outside on a piece of stem and forgot about it. For two days wasps have been sitting on it eating it down to the bone.

And this is the result. Nothing but the skin and bone is left on it. I know that an apple doesn’t have bones but that is how I call it now. And that is how it looks now.

Living in a region named forest (Odenwald, “Wald” is the German word for forest) it is obvious that there are lots of trees in my neighborhood. Walking through the forest I walk past lots of piles of wood. Wood for the fireplace back home. Winters can be quite cold over here.

The piles of wood get stacked up during the year and the pieces of wood will dry out nicely during the hot summer months.

One farmer was very creative when he stacked up all his wood and created a small house with it. Placing a bench underneath it offering a place to rest with a stunning view.

This is what I call creativity.

My mom came to visit this week together with my grandma. We had a wonderful time together. Despite it being so hot we went for a walk through the woods. In the forest, it is remarkably cooler and pleasant.

My grandma has such a beautiful smile which I had to capture. A smile full of wrinkles, life experiences and open eyes. A smile that tells so many stories. Stories about a long life.

We spoke about different trees growing in this forest, watched birds flying away, and ate lots of blackberries.

The first blackberries this year I tasted two weeks ago when my dad came to visit. But I made a grimace when I got the sourness onto my tongue. They just weren’t ready yet. Blackberries have to fall into your hand when you touch them. Then you know that they’re ready.

And they are ready now. The forest is filled with them. I just need to walk a few minutes and can pick boxes full of them. Or just fill my stomach.

I love picking berries in the wild. It’s such a fulfilling activity. You live off nature. You taste the beauty of our world.

My neighbor’s cat is always around. Whenever I open up my door in the morning she runs by. She waits on the steps when I swing on my bicycle on the way to work. Or she sits on top of the car when I come home late at night. As if she needs to know that I got home safely.

This morning she was on the roof of the garden shed. She wanted to catch the first rays of sunshine. A morning bath in the sun. Cleaning herself gently she comfortably enjoyed the early morning.

Only when the dog started to bark at something she looked up and gave him the death stare. It’s her quiet time. Her peaceful time of the day. How dare you to interrupt it by barking at something trivial.

These flowers are blooming a few houses up in my street. They are growing in the shade of an old hazelnut bush. But that doesn’t stop them from blooming in full glory.

The Blue is so intense. Almost too intense to be natural. But this is nature. Full of surprises. Breathtakingly beautiful.

These ground-cover plants remind me of my rock garden at my parents' place. Years back when I still lived with them I got a small piece of land in the garden plot and created a rock garden in it. I planted lots of plants that remain all year round and cover the ground. Most of them don’t bloom a lot but that makes it even more special when they do.

I loved working in the garden looking after my small stretch of land. I pulled out lots of weeds but also had lots of wildflowers blooming in between my favorite plants when I didn’t come often enough to “clean up”.

This has been my week. It was really hot. Every day we reached temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius and on some days we even got to 40 degrees. I don’t remember having such hot and dry summers in Germany.

I’m enjoying it. Driving my bicycle or scooter to work feeling the warm sun on my skin. Summer is a happy time for me. I don’t need to wear layers of clothes. Only layers of sunscreen.

However, doing physical work outside in these temperatures can be quite draining. I struggle to drink enough water since I’m sweating a lot.

In the evening I come back home, brush my teeth, and fall asleep. I no longer write in the early mornings or evenings. I need my sleep for another hot day at work.