2013/Germany 2- An Autumn Visit

      Jim and I decided to take advantage of Justin being stationed in Germany and another trip was made to visit him. We went during the less busy 'shoulder' season for tourism, which happens to be one of my favorite times of the year October/November. We were a bit more adventurous this time and added the train to our mode of travel to get to Justin's. The German train system is very efficient and can get almost anywhere with it. We were able to get within 2miles of Hermersberg, Justin's village!

Jim relaxing while waiting for our train.

So clean and bright

With a little knowledge of the language; it is fairly easy to travel by train :-)

    After an extremely long travel day of planes and trains, Justin's house was a very welcome sight! For this visit we spent quite a bit of time at his house, since he was not able to get away from work as much as last time.

    For us that was not a problem, because of the wonderful place he lives. I don't think I could find  better lodging for vacationing.At this time of year the days are mostly cloudy and misty/drizzly, which made being nice and cozy in his bright and cheery living room ......

From this couch, you would have the view in the next picture. Jim usually sat and read at this couch.

with lots of windows and wonderful views a perfect place to be!

View of village and forest from couch

I was usually at this couch,crocheting or reading.

Justin would be at a computer facing the window in the nook behind the couch.

The room from my usual point of view.

   We arrived on a weekend, so Justin was able to keep us busy to help us overcome jet lag. He took us to a nearby village, Waldfischbach-Burgalben, in order to get on one of the many connecting walking trails. He had been on it before, but had troubles finding it this time. We wandered up and down the streets trying to find an entrance. May have been a bit frustrating, but with these attractive, winding, hilly neighborhood streets, we had a pleasant time.

Streets so narrow in these villages that the cars are parked partway on the sidewalks!

   We eventually found a hiking path and enjoyed the surrounding natural beauty that all these little villages are nestled in.

Kind of reminds me of Southern Illinois here :-)

    On a daily basis we would walk to the local market for groceries. This was always a pleasant walk whether or not it was drizzly or sunny.

A bit of a steep hill leaving Justin's driveway.

We mixed it up a bit and took different streets every once in awhile.

Frische Markt sign marks the driveway to the entrance of the grocery store.

   Leaving the market, we would always go the back way (shorter). We weren't the only ones that made a daily walking trip to the market....

    many had a more stylish basket for carrying their groceries.....we used my backpack along with Justin's canvas bag.

Heading back home was downhill.....

 with a relaxing view.

Watching the 'plumes' of mist rise from the landscape was always pretty cool :-)

View of Justin's house and surrounding area.

 One dinner's worth of local groceries :-)

The fresh bread was scrumptious! Also, the huge variety of Knorr packets was always fun to choose from :-)

    Besides being nice and cozy in the 'resort' house or taking walks around the local area...

 Jim did some artwork....

watercolor of Horbach....still in progress

This one is even more 'in progress'

Here are some of the views these pieces of artwork are from.

Here is an artwork piece Jim brings to work on when we travel.

This piece is part of a 'Turkish' series of pictures that Jim is doing.

Staying warm and dry by working from inside the house here :-)

   My extra time was spent doing a few more strolls and looking out windows enjoying the scenery......

and birdwatching :-)

European green woodpecker

  The opportunity to spend a good amount of relaxing time here was a very special treat!!

Out And About / Illinois State Museum, Springfield Art Association

    The Illinois State Museum (ISM) is a great place to view some wonderful exhibits. For quite awhile I knew they had several temporary exhibits that I was interested in seeing, but time was running out and I still had not taken the time to go see them!! Nathaniel and Geoffrey were still visiting for the Holidays, so we had a fun family outing to view these exhibits :-)

Phillip is missing....he was at work(and not interested)

 

Turtles on permanent display....caught my eye right before getting to the first  temporary exhibit :-)

  AUDUBON-SELECTED PRINTS FROM THE COLLECTION was the first exhibit we saw. ISM has 97 prints from The Birds of America in their collection. From these, the handful of prints being shown were of Illinois species that are now extinct, extirpated, endangered, threatened, or compromised. Two prints displayed, Ivory-billed Woodpecker and Purple Martin, are from the first edition of The Birds of America. Like the other 433 prints in the book, these two are etched, engraved and hand colored from Audubon's original paintings by Robert Havell and Sons.The making of all these plates were quite an undertaking and were made from the years 1827-1838. The rest of the plates displayed are from a later edition of the book, in which a new method of color printing was used.... chromolithography by Julius Bien. This edition was started in 1858 and was never fully completed,so there is only one volume. 

Ivory-Billed Woodpecker; Jim checking out the Barn Owl in the background

Comparison of Purple Martin prints; Chromolithograph on the left and on the right- hand colored etching with aquatint and engraving

Wild Turkey, Ruffed Grouse

Brown Pelican

Ruffed Grouse, Blue Jay, American Crow

I could have spent quite some time here; very cool to observe .......

Fish Hawk or Osprey

the very fine detail !!!

close up of Osprey's under wing

Carolina Parrot

The Ruffed Grouse in print form and then....

the Ruffed Grouse in the Hot Science Gallery's temporary exhibit; Distress Calls:Birds of Illinois. This exhibit is in memory of the 100 year anniversary of the extinction of the Passenger Pigeon.

Left- Ruffed Grouse  Right- Eskimo Curlew

extirpated....not twitterpated (like in Bambi)!!

This exhibit had a lot of data, which included the 40 year study of the birds in Sangamon County by David Bohlen. Too much information for the little time I had there....so luckily for me, ISM has his study available to view on their web site :-)

    There was another temporary exhibit that we looked at.....but no pictures were allowed :-( Sketches,Journal,preparations....Everything in Place. The last day to see this exhibit is Feb.15 '15. I enjoyed seeing the sketches, diagrams, studies, etc. that inspired and documented the creative process. I especially enjoyed the work of Virginia S. Eifert- a writer, illustrator, and editor for ISM. I still have a few days to get back and take a second look at all the work displayed in that exhibit!
     On our way back to the entrance/exit we pass through some of my favorite permanent exhibits.

Carolina Parrots, Heron

My absolute favorite....a wall of fossils!

Geoffrey was impressed by this creature :-)

Colorful gift store at the entrance.

Really like the snowflakes :-)

   Jim, Justin, and I did one other outing this month. The Springfield Art Association ( SAA), located at the historic Edwards Place, had the exhibit "Down From the Attic: Curiosities from the Permanent Collection" that sounded interesting. We went on the last day of the exhibit's showing.

The SAA maintains and gives tours of the Edwards Place-the oldest house in Springfield.

When we arrived, we found out that they had already started to take down the exhibit :-( They were under a time crunch to get the next exhibit up and going; Scholastic Art Competition of Junior and High School students.

One student's entry, has me very intrigued to see this new exhibit!

    The SAA were very nice and stopped taking items down ....

    and let us view what was still left. It was a very quirky/eclectic display.

Brought back memories of our trip to Egypt :-)

The figure on the left looks like how 'creaky' I feel before my yoga :-)

This figure has quite the balancing act going on!

Some of the info tags were missing...would be interesting to see how old that chair is.

My favorite was the clothing.

I would really enjoy having a jacket like this, beautiful style along with the fine crochet (or lace) and brocade trim!!

Jim's waiting on me :-)

This one reminds me of the booklets I have(but not made) for making ribbon flowers.

Slide projector

old-time 3-D viewer

This would be a nice box for Nathaniel's box collection :-)

Amber and petrified wood

This was a fun outing, which will lead to future outings to see the next exhibit and take a tour of the Edwards Place!!!