Goldener Herbst

Unrelenting solar death rays--Day 6.  The cats won't even go Outside, the sun is too hot. I got some chicken for dinner at the Wochenmarkt in the Marienplatz this morning, and had to wring the sweat out of my shirt after trudging back up the hill.

Naturally the Biergarten is closed for the winter.  10 Celsius degrees warmer than when it was open in May, but why would anyone want to sit outside and be refreshed when it's actually freaking hot?! 

We had a nice weekend.  Saturday there was a local fall/harvest/church festival with nice roast duck, handcraft stalls, and discount beer.  Sunday we went on a drive through the country to peep at farms and leaves, and stopped at a small airport to watch two-seaters, gliders, and helicopters at a cafe right next to the Flugplatz.

Monday I gave Smokey a bath, which was as usual traumatic for both of us, but he smells better now.  He got his revenge yesterday by pooping on himself and getting it on the couch, which is made from some weird automotive-upholstery garbage that can only be cleaned with plain water--and apparently not paper towels, because now it's all covered in little white bits I can't scrape off.  I secretly admire Smokey.  I also hate that couch.

Then I hiked 3km (did I mention unrelenting solar death rays?) over to the Sichtungsgarten, a final visit before it closes to the public for the winter.  Still a lot of color in the fall plants (and a lot of "green as neutral"), and bees, and spiders..... No beer though--the cafe is closed on Mondays, because why would anyone want to sit outside and be refreshed on a Monday!?

The pictures are all awful because I still don't know how to deal with the angle of the sun.  But they would be some interesting inspiration if I ever stop being a lazy piece of shit and start making things...

 

That's enough for today. Need to go think about doing something interesting to write about later.

I am still alive, for some value of alive

Amazon Video blocked VPNs last month, cutting off my access to British Krimis and PBS costume dramas and 80s sitcoms.  I am left with German Netflix, which is 75% Scandinavian and Turkish content with German subtitles and the rest is Woody Allen movies (and "Friends", of which I would eagerly trade all ten seasons for a single series of Poldark) and YouTube. 

So I am listening to a lot of radio, like it's 1989.  Des Moines radio in the mornings, because the overnight robots don't talk, and German and British in the afternoons.  Radio is better for baking but two people can only eat so many muffins.

Also I have been hit with a cold--or possibly three different colds in rapid succession--going on three weeks now. Have run the whole gamut from sore throat to phlegm to more phlegm, but the constant symptom has been a nonstop choking death rattle.  I am mostly Not Letting Myself Be Stopped but if it's at all damp or chilly I can only walk about half a kilometer without struggling for oxygen.  Most of the foliage turned and passed while I was lying limply on the couch.

I have also gotten behind on the laundry, which makes me feel like a shitty human being.