Das Unkrautland – Auf den Spuren der Nebelfee

Wieder einmal ein Volltreffer! Ich muss zugeben, ich habe mich von der Homepage der Geschichte  zum Kauf des Buches verleiten lassen, ohne weitere Kritiken gelesen oder hineingeguckt zu haben. Aber das Buch hielt, was die Homepage versprach. Eine spannende Geschichte, mit wunderbar ausgemeisselten, skurrilen Charakteren, erzählt mit viel Liebe zum Detail und einem ausserordentlichen Gespür für die Balance zwischen Spannung und reinem Spass am Erzählen. Die Geschichte fliesst mühelos in einem angenehmen Tempo und in überblickbaren Abständen finden die beiden Hauptpersonen Hinweise zur Lösung des Geheimnisses, dem sie auf der Spur sind. Die Informationen sind so in das Geschehen eingebaut, dass sie für den aufmerksamen Leser zwar als solche zu erkennen sind, aber trotzdem geheimnisvoll bleiben.

Das beste am Buch sind aber doch die Details und die Persönlichkeiten, angefangen bei Snigg, dem Kürbis Er ist zu einer unserer Lieblingsfiguren der Kinderliteratur geworden. Und auch die Rätselrübe ist mir sehr ans Herz gewachsen.

Zu bemängeln wäre nur die mangelhafte Korrektur. Es gibt eine Menge Stellen, wo die Sprache hinkt und Ausdrücke vermischt werden – etwas, das ein Korrekturleser hätte finden müssen. Schade. Die Kinder hat dies aber nicht gestört und da ich das Buch zuerst selbst gelesen habe, konnte ich viele der Fehler beim Vorlesen umgehen. Es tat dem Erlebnis also keinerlei Abbruch.

Ich empfehle das Unkrautland als Vorlesebuch. Wir hatten eine herrliche Zeit damit!

Der nächste Band soll im August erscheinen – das wäre es jetzt, aber genauere Angaben dazu konnte ich nicht finden. Wir warten gespannt.

Oca – Oxalis tuberosa

These are my Oca plants. They grew rapidly until late June – since then they have not changed greatly. I wonder why. No flowers visible at all – I wonder whether they are like the tubers and only begin to form when the days get shorter. Or when the weather is wet and cool, as it apparantly was this summer in Britain, where Radix has his plants – and those have flowers…

Here summer has been hot and dry.

(Check out Radix- my favorit blog! http://radix4roots.blogspot.com/ It is on my bloggroll but I cannot get that to be visible on this page)

A. has made the frame. I mean to cover them to shorten their days – as soon as I get the fabric for it. Which should be about now if they are to get enough short days before the frost…

Dogproof fence

This willow fence around our front garden is my latest project. It took some time for me to figure out how to do it so the result looks nice – but after a couple of tries I got it. I am very happy with the result, both how it looks from outside and what it does to the garden it encloses. It creates a room. Much more than did the lilac hedge.

We plan to keep the lilac in the corner under the cherry tree where it creates a cozy spot in the shade to hide out from the midday sun in summer. Along the flower bed we will remove the lilacs to let in more light and get a broader border.  We will let roses and clematises climb in the fence.

The gate will be a pine branch we found in the woods filled with willow weaving. That will make the fence dogproof so Lizzy can move freely in and out of the house.

Easter Pictures

Easter Decoration

This year we are going to have table meadows and a sprig of cherry blossoms – neither of the two actually being what it claims to be

The “meadow” is a tiny field of wheat and oat sown two weeks ago.

The flowers are paper cuts. They are from a Martha Stewart Magazine and really easy to do – an ingenious series of folds. But for effect I needed quite a great number and sat all afternoon. I used red tissue paper and white glossy wax paper on top of the red for the rose blossoms – I only have shock pink and wanted to use two shades of colour for a more lively effect.

My desk

This is where I study. As yet the prospect is somewhat bleak, but soon things will start to happen. Allready tulip and cowslip leaves are coming up. But I guess, once the weather is warm enough I will move out into the garden anyway

First signs of Spring

As much as I long for spring, it took me by surprise. “Mami, there are crocusses and snowdrops”, A. announced yesterday when he came home from school. And so there are. Not in our garden yet, though. Still, when I looked, I did find

    Don’t know what theese are…

                            

These are going to be some cultivar of Primula veris, collected on the neighbourhood compost two years ago

Studies in Horticulture

My studies are going really well – I found my stride and am able to muster the necessary discipline.  And I enjoy it immensely! I really do – so don’t get fooled by the picture

Frustrating

The ground conditions are so frustrating!! Ice and ice and ice – now covered with a thin layer of snow to make it utterly impossible to see where one can get a foothold and where not.  I walk the dog – or rather I tiptoe her – and that’s about as fast as it is possible to go… it’s not even real walking, much less running.

Multitasking on the running trail

Trailrunning is a challenge even in the best of weathers and when running alone. In these winter conditions and with Lizzy on the long leash it is high level multitasking:

You plan your next steps and set your foot, avoiding slippery snow covered roots, rocks and patches of ice as well as the leash snaking in front of, beside and occationally under your feet, at the same time scanning the breadth of the trail for broken roots and branches, rocks and frozen bits of earth on which the leash would catch and when they are spotted, whipping the leash over them without tangling yourself into it in the process and if this happens anyway, untangling yourself in mid-run. During all this, half an eye and half an ear are kept on the dog so you can run by trees and other obstacles on the same side as she did if she is ahead or if she is close calculate where she would be the next second and adjust your carefully planned steps if a collision is imminent. And if this leaves any room for thought there is the overall planning of your route, your speed or your running technique to consider, the bearing of your shoulders, the movement of your hips, the heel strike.

Consequently there is only a very limited brain capacity for thoughts about how far you have still to go or how short of breath you are or even why you chose this entangling hell of a long leash