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I haven't been on my bike for 11 days. It's been cold and we have had plenty of snowy days, as well. My new year's resolution was to not ride my bike in the cold and I am sticking to it. Not a hard resolution to keep since it isn't that much fun to ride when it's freezing cold. I'll feel comfortable when the temperature gets up past 40°F - at least. But I have been walking every day that I don't ride. This is a brief summary in pictures of the past week or so.  March 14: The path I like to take for my walk in the woods. It is very pretty in the snow, but I think I have had enough.  March 14: What is this? A snow horse - of course!  March 15: Joggers in the evening sun  March 15: Walking with Janos  March 16: Walk in the woods  March 16: Lots of puddles and mud, but it's not cold enough to freeze any more  March 17: Big snow flurries, I rushed out for a picture. This is an old water wheel on the Würm, not far from home.  March 17: At the end of a wet day I was happy to see the bright little clouds.  March 18: The most peaceful place I know - geese gliding on the water and bobbing for food, tiny snow flakes floating in the air and not a soul far and wide.  March 18: Idyllic scenes along the Würm  March 18: I spotted some Mandarin ducks  March 19: I took this looking out the bedroom window about ten minutes ago. Tomorrow is the vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere, good weather is sure to come. Our weather forecast said so, too, and I hope I will soon be posting pictures of spring blossoms and bicycles.
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First the good news - Janos got an appointment for his Covid-19 vaccination! After so much waiting and feeling so discouraged that we have heard absolutely nothing, he received an e-mail informing him that he could come on the following day at 2 p.m. and that he will be vaccinated with the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine. His follow up shot will be two weeks later. Couldn't be better. The bad good news - At the Vaccine Center he was told that the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine hadn't been delivered but he could be vaccinated with AstraZeneca. Furthermore his second shot was scheduled for June, that's in three months. AstraZeneca has been making the headlines and has a bad image: Severe side effects, less effectiveness. Without much time to think about it, Janos decided rather AstraZeneca than no vaccine. But his first shot left us both with a feeling of dissatisfaction, not the relief we had expected. (But no side effects by the way)   I accompany Janos wearing the prescribed FFP2 mask that we must wear in all stores, public transportation and doctors' offices.  The vaccination center is all set up to handle large numbers of people - but there is hardly anyone here, no waiting lines... We are left wondering why Germany has been so exceptionally incompetent and slow in procuring, distributing and implementing the vaccine which could save so many lives. Now for the bad news - For a long time I have been wondering why I struggle so to catch my breath when I hike, or even just take a walk. It has made walking unpleasant while at the same time I realized I needed the exercise in addition to riding my bike, where I don't get noticeably out of breath. At long last I made an appointment with a pulmonologist. After extensive testing the diagnosis was exercise-induced asthma, a constriction of the airways in the lungs triggered by exercise. I don't wheeze, I don't cough and I don't get asthma attacks, I just don't get enough oxygen. No wonder walking has been such an effort. The good bad news is it was a great relief to have a name for the condition and better yet a treatment. Asthma inhalers are effective. Already on the first day using the inhaler I noticed a huge difference and the full effectiveness of the medication should develop over three or four weeks.  Evening walk with Janos - walking easily and feeling incredibly happy Again I left the bike in the garage and set out on foot. It was a shorter walk today, just down to the Reismühle and back with Janos. A few drops of rain, gusty wind but warm with the temperature around 14° C.  Nice color and texture on the rotting logs along the road  Catkins along the Würm - ah-choo!  Fence for the Fence Challenge every week on Flickr  Some new birdhouses!  Another fun birdhouse  New but more basic bird dwellings  Lots of snowdrops this year  A selfie of Janos and me Just another walk - it's not cold but it's not that nice either. I flipped a figurative coin whether to get on my bike or take a walk. Why the coin said walk I don't know. It was a longer than usual out-and-back walk along the Würm starting in the park at Schloss Fußberg.  A stencil on the gate entering the park  Older and more classic  Not many hellabores this year, last year there were many more  Sometimes I encounter bikers here - it would be a bit too narrow for me.  They stopped diving for food for a moment so I could get their picture.  Spring - and pollen - is in the air.  Posters for Endangered Species Day  My very favorite and comfortable walking shoes from Decathlon On a late afternoon walk in the drab countryside of mostly brown and green, I had my eyes open for some color - and found it.  A rainbow garden house  A flying fish  I think it's witch hazel...  End of the day Several Celtic entrenchments are to be found in southern Germany, one of the largest is only a few kilometers from where we live - but we always rode by and never bothered to stop and have a look. As far as I knew it was not much more than a mound of earth and grass and nothing much else to see. But today we stopped. It is a mound of earth, but a big one.  One side of the square is 110 - 120 meters long. Here is a translation of the information: The importance of Celtic entrenchments was controversial for a long time, one thought of Roman defenses, cattle pens, etc. An investigation of the Celtic entrenchment at Holzhausen in 1957-62 proved its purpose as a place of worship. Traces of a small wooden temple with a covered walkway and 3 sacrificial shafts (with depths of 6.18 and 35 m) were discovered in which animal sacrifices were offered. These sites date from the Latene period (500-15 BC). "No statues there," I was told by a walker who had also stopped to read the information plaque. We got on our bikes and continued our ride.  Mounds of earth covered with grass  We are on our way The rest of the ride was on some forest paths that we hadn't ridden before and then finishing the loop through Buchendorf to home.  Buchendorf: our palette of colors in early March |
My blog...
... is up and running again. It is a space for notes on my daily doings - walks, bike rides, photo outings, travel. Thanks for reading. Archives
October 2024
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