Veronika Wild

  Grapevines were introduced to the region by the Romans in the C8th A Wine Trail of   Different Sort The Wine Trail wasn’t so much about liquid refreshment as a self -guided educational experience. Wine has been grown around Stuttgart since Roman times and you can still see the style of cultivation which they brought with them. While you can practically walk among grapevines in the city of Stuttgart, those at nearby Esslingen , are some of the oldest in Germany. The vines are all on stony South – facing slopes to make maximum use of the available sunshine. Struggling up some of the steep steps, I hate to think what it must have been like for workers carrying huge baskets of grapes. At regular intervals there were cute little huts and you could open one of the shutters and look inside. Round about were little stories and homilies about wine and nature notes about the kinds of herbs and plants which grow on these hillsides and which add their unique flavours to the wine fro...

  My trip didn’t start out all that well. Almost as soon as I got to Europe I came down with a particularly nasty 'flu -Influenza A to be precise, which put me in hospital for the best part of the first week, despite having had a 'flu shot before I left. Although the hospital cleared me in time for the reunion and my granddaughter had to explore Europe on her own, I was often really tired and miserable and didn't manage to do half the things I'd planned. Nevertheless, it was lovely to see everyone again and I did manage to do a couple of side trips as well as a few excursions in the Stuttgart area.  This is about all I saw of Switzerland, apart from the train in and out I never want to see hospital food again, despite the appealing menu!  Coffee, Cake and Castles You won’t find many of the places I visited on any tourist map. Indeed, had relatives and friends not shown me around, I wouldn’t have seen them either. Some were to do with my early childhood –the  plac...

                  It  looked like the elves had gone out for the day  -Image with thanks from Ina Z.  Dear friends, I have been away for the last couple of months, something I hope to tell you more about later, but among the more positive experiences was an encounter with a Forest Kindergarten. These are really BIG in Germany, but have started to take off in other countries too. I came upon the Forest Kindergarten movement quite by accident when I stumbled upon one in a German wood. Being vacant at the time, it looked like elves lived there. It had a garden with thriving tomatoes, a swing made from a round log and ropes or twine, a well stocked toolshed with diminutive spades, places to eat even when the sun wasn’t shining, lovely mobiles made of twigs snd found objects and a path decorated with mosaics which led through the garden.  Visual Calendar of Activities -Image with thanks from Ina Z.  Forest Kinder...

Who would have thought the Peeling Peeling Paint Appreciation Society would have so many fans When I’m feeling flat, there are a number of groups which I turn to for a bit of inspiration. I am for example, a member of a lot of beautiful nature -based groups such as the Cloud Appreciation Society , Waterfalls of Tasmania, the Citizen Scientists, ones about Birds, Fungi, Auroras , Geology, Bees, Birds with Threatening Auras and the Moss Appreciation Society, There are also quite a few community groups and things like the Rail Trails and Abandoned Industrial Sites .  There are also funny ones like the Leunig or The Far -side Collections, or witty, pithy quotes and put -downs by former Prime Minister, Paul Keating and subtly funny ones like Mistranslations, Misheard Lyrics and funny signs, or those like the Grammar Police , to which I just signed up my sister. Oldest son is a member of both the Dull Men’s Club (1.3 M members) and the Canberra Lawn Fanatics. You’d be surprise...