Short Trips – a week with the Larry

wolfsberg austria jauseIn an already busy year of visits and holidays, we had one last visitor to our town at the beginning of September, wedged between a trip to Crete and a holiday in India. At this time of year, the weather should be lovely… you would think. In the past we’ve often spent the first weekend in September in Italy, where it’s still warm enough to swim, but most of the crowds are gone.

Well… not this year. The weekend my friend Larry was with us saw it rain almost the entire time. Luckily she was fresh off the plane, hopped up with jetlag, and had been here before, so all she wanted to do was… well… whatever happens.

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Weeding – enough already!

weeding garden
Welcome to my mess

When I was growing up we always had a vege garden. My dad was head gardener and he’d spend a lot of his free time toiling outside to produce masses of pumpkins and beans and glossy red tomatoes. I loved helping him, and by helping him I mean, only doing fun things: planting seeds in an already prepared garden bed, picking snow peas and eating more than went in my basket, watching new shoots break through wet earth… that kind of thing.

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Summer storms in Austria – hot, wet and magnificent

Summer in Austrian is generally (when I say generally I mean, meant to be) mild: late 20s/early 30s. Last year was an exception (colder than normal) and this year also seems to be an exception (warmer than normal) but that’s beside the point for this post. Living amongst the mountains invariably equals summer storms – lots of them – and decent ones too. I love a good storm… I just don’t love being out in it. But when you’re safe inside and the storm isn’t wreaking havoc on you, or any surrounding villages, they’re super impressive and strikingly beautiful. So here’s a few of my random thoughts on Austrian summer storms. Continue reading