Flowers on Easter morning
Meow Meow meowed at the door last night. I let him in, and he was wet from the rain. He stayed around for a while comforting me. Then when he was dry, he asked to go back outside.
Sounion
Category: Cats
Sad Day
Sunrise
Laurie called me early this morning because Marble Kitty was having problems breathing. She took her to an emergency vet, and Marble had fluid pressing on her lungs. The vet removed the fluid and Marble had a collpsed lung with a mass in it. A long story short, she didn’t make it. Sadly we lost one of the sweetest kitties.
Between back and forth with Laurie on Marble’s condition, Marina, Socrotis and I went out to buy bread, and then in the afternoon we went to dinner in a restaurant by the sea.
It’s been raining on and off all day, and the area has received “buckets of rain” over the past few months, so the vegetation is green and wildflowers are blooming everywhere.
Dinner
View from the table
Local black cat
Long Legged Buzzard
Assissin Bug
Local frogs
We heard a chirping sound that sounded like a bird, but it was coming from under a concrete slab, and Merlin Bird ID could not identify what it was. Marina looked under the concrete but could see anything. I took photos under the concrete, and after I processed the photo, I found the frog on the right-hand photo with its head sticking up out of the water.
Houses with a great view
Handicap access to the water
This sweet dog came out to greet us
Sunset to the east
Cool lights over the dining room table in the Airbnb I’m staying in down the road from Marina and Socrotis.
Back From Belgium. Gone To The Dogs!
It was raining in Geel this morning
You can’t have my cake or eat it either, Niki!
You can’t eat the Eurasian Magpie, either…
Or the Eurasian Collared-Dove…
Or the Eurasian Jackdaw..
Or the cute Common Chaffinch!
“What? Are you just going to let me starve?”
Herman took me to aother old church this morning.
There were several of these locked, grated grottoes around the outside of the church with lighted votive candles inside them.
A man driving a small utility truck filled with lighted votive candles in the back stopped and said hi to us and explained to Hermin in Flemish that his job was to keep the candles lit. He had done it for ten years and loved the job.
Nike was watching for us to return from his bed in the garage.
I got back in the late after noon, and returned the rental car. Then we went straight from Enterprise car rental to Trivia at the Irish Pub. There were a couple of Golden Retrievers that came to Trivia Night. The white one really like me, and I had to pet it most of the time. It would put it’s head in my lap when I stopped petting it.
Tristan snuck a picture of me petting the dog. We are not supposed to use phones while a trivia round is in play.
Germany To Belgium In A Spanish Car
Hi all! I’m Niki.
I drove from Germany to Belgium this morning to meet Herman and Niki. Herman and I have been following each other since 2013. You can find Herman’s blog at https://hopedog.wordpress.com. Laurie and I were planning on meeting Herman and Bowie in 2020 when we were scheduled to go to Antwerp to give papers at an international linguistics conference, but the conference was cancelled because of COVID. Six years, two cats later (Jimi was in between Mr. Bowie and Niki), I finally met Herman and lovely Niki. Herman is a wonderful and gracious host. We spent the afternoon visiting two abbies, both built in the early 12th centuries, and then we happened upon the War Cemetery (WWII) on the way home. Herman said he’d lived in Geel all his life and had never been to the War Cemetery. Most of the soldiers buried there were in their teens and 20s when they were killed in battle.
Dawn in Germany
Niki is very friendly and inquisitive
Espresso and the best cake in Belgium by popular vote. It was wonderful.
Niki liked il paparazzo’s hair.
Gate the the first abby we visited
The church has a painting of The Last Supper started by Leonardo da Vinci and finished by his students.
A Eurasian Moorhen in the moat around the abbey
The Last Supper
While we were in this building that has a reproduction of The Last Supper at eye level, a couple of women were counting the hands of all the people in the painting and couldn’t get a match. There are 13 people (Christ and 12 disciples) in The Last Supper, but the women were only coming up with 22 hands instead of 26. We all got involved in counting hands, and we were all coming up with different numbers. Then I asked about the feet, but the women were heading to the church.
Display that names Christ and the disciples, and the button turns lights on to illuminate the painting.
White pigeon
The new bridge over the canal that Herman’s great-grandfather helped dig around 1901.
Buildings that are part of the second abby we visited.
The old pipe organ
The new pipe organ with a rearview mirror. Hmmm. What might the organist need a rearview mirror for?
A modern monk
Herman treated me to a tradritional Blegium Fries lunch. It was great.
After we returned from visiting abbies and the war cemetery, Niki was more curious about camera.
I checked into the Corbie Hotel in Geel. I will have this lovely lady watching over me tonight.
Anime
Dawn
Koi in the Japanese Garden in Kaiserslautern
Not coy
Amine in the Japanese Garden in Kaiserslautern
“I’m being coy. Can I have a Koi?”
Common Shelduck
Bar-Headed Geese
Eurasian Moorhen
Last night
The Archer
The underside of a Eurasian Green Woodpecker
“The Woodpecker is way out of my reach!”
Eurasian Blackbird
Portraits of famous dogs in an Italian restaurant in Landstuhl
“Famous dawgs in Landstuhl? Not cool! Fool!”
Moon made an appearance between rain showers this evening.
Böser Osterhase Osterfest
We went to Sankt Wendel for the Bad Easter Bunny Easter Fesival this morning. The streets were full of people acting like bumper cars in a demolition derby. I’ve been in much denser crowds in Mardrid, Paris and Rome, and people did not bump into each other like they were at the Böser Osterhase Osterfest today. You would think Früling would bring out the best in people.
Atlas: “Oh nein! Nicht ein böser Osterhase!”
Sunrise
Common Chiffchaff
I saw Squirrel Nutkin on our walk this morning.
Eurasian Blue Tit
Carion! My wayward Crow. Where hast you been, and where dost you go?
Red kite
The sign claims the St. Wendeler Easter Festival is the most beautiful spring festival. It brings out a bumber crop of people.
A Red Kite was looking to make a meal of the Böser Osterhase.
Carion the wayward Crow fallowed us to Sankt Wendel.
Carion Crow clocking in.
Plank roasted salmon seems to be a staple at festivals
The Basilica of St. Wendelin
I missed the mice in at the alter of the church, but, fortunately, Tristan got them.
She also noticed a fishy doorknob.
WWI memorial
Stations of the Cross
The City Council building seems appropriately named.
It’s safe to look now, Atlas!
Fungus Amongus!
Freyja and I went on a long walk in the forest this morning.
There was lots of fungus among us. I believe these are called polypores.
There are so many trails, it can drive you nuts!
I could hear birds chirping, woodpeckers pecking, and what sounded like an owl, but I couldn’t find a single bird in the forest full of trees.
Our walk
Freyja was worn out
Atlas was putting on the cute, again
We went to an Irish pub own by a fellow from Romania for St. Patrick’s Day dinner.
Speaking of fungus amongus, the band played “Proud Mary” and “La Bamba” as part of their moldy oldies repertoire.
Paddy on bass. Herr Elton John on drums. Herr Traditionell spielen, singen und auf der Gretsch richtig Gas geben.
What was funny about the band is that it brought back memories of when I played in garage bands in the mid to late 70s. Way back then, we had to know three songs to play in clubs, for weddings, and special events: “Proud Mary”, “Brown-Eyed Girl”, and “La Bamba”. We didn’t stick around long enough to see if they played “Brown-Eyed Girl”.
The menu included Irish stew
Roast in wine sauce and mashed potatoes or
Shepherd’s Pie or Lamb Shank
and Apple Pie
Bis morgen! Tschüss!
Cathedral @ Trier & More
The snowpack on the Rocky Mountains is sparse.
If it weren’t for the clouds, I might have seen Dundee, Scotland. The map on the plane said Dundee was below us at that point.
The mainland. I believe we were starting to fly over the Netherlands.
Restaurant at the castle in Landstuhl
The neighbor’s chickens
Atlas
A tat of a cat named Atlas
The Cutest Chapel
Tristan Pointed out this really cute chapel…
…looking over Landstuhl from the Schlossruine Nanstein Castle
Landstuhl
Atlas thinks the chapel is cool, also!
Knight in the pavers
Fountain with a Camino de Santiago symbol
The oldest houses in Landstuhl are from around the 16th century.
Atlas wants to hire the maid on the van.
On to Ehemalige Festung Homburg
Homburg
With castle ruins comes more tunnels and stairs
A scratching of the 250-million-year-old ichthyosaur remains they found in the limestone in 1968.
The sign says it’s dangerous. I had to check it out. When I stepped on the floor and started to sink in the much, I decide the sign was not kidding.
Another danger sign
Where I would have come out if I have ventured past the muck
Atlas eared me that I was a wimp for not going through the dangerous tunnel.
I came across a wheelbarrow on a landing looking for the restroom at an Asian restaurant. I got confused. It could have been from jet lag, the Dragon Fruit drink, or the pole dancing. It’s hard to say.
Atlas giving me an ear up for getting lost trying to find the restroom at an Asian restaurant.
Leaving On A Jet Plane
Clouds relfecting in the twilight
Geese @ twilight
Dawn
I’m flying to Germany tomorrow. Spunk helped me pack.
Spunk posing for Laurie
“What do you mean I can’t go?”
Sunset
Beaver
A beaver swam in the shallows, while cranes were taking a break on their way north.
Beaver stopped in front of us to get a snack. He paid no attention to us.
Dusk
Off Center & Not Even 