Life on the Vine

Palm Sunday in Stuttgart, Germany has been a spectacular day.  A beautiful blue cloudless sky, sunshine and a nice cool breeze.  Except for Friday, when it was overcast and cool, the past week plus has been idyllic springtime weather.  I will miss this kind of springtime weather once I'm settled in southern Arizona.  All around spring is starting to emerge from winter's rest.  The majority of trees are still bare but many are starting to blossom.  Small pea green shoots are beginning to open and new growth is expanding the circumference of trees.  I thought today would be a perfect day to go for a walk with my camera and capture some of spring's beauty.  Now I'm no botanist, arborist or floriculturist so I don't know the names of many of these trees and plants.  If you recognize something though...let me know and I'll change the photo caption.   I think this is a magnolia tree.  One of my favorite neighborhood trees. ...

Here you notice quickly that Germans live very active lives.  Hands down - they walk and ride their bikes way more than we do in America.  It's recreation, transportation and just a way of life.   I don't think it matters where you live in Germany, whether in the country or in the city, within a short distance of your front door you will find wonderful systems of trails.  I thought it would be fun to take you all on a walk.  Just here around our house.  By doing this periodically I thought it would be a nice way for you all to experience the changing seasons. I took this walk after work just a couple weeks ago so this would be late summer.  This first picture was taken on a pedestrian bridge just a block away from our apartment.  Our neighborhood is off to the right. Something I really like are the fields of flowers, mostly sunflowers, gladiolus and dahlias, where you can cut your own fresh flowers. The fields have posted signs an...