Soaring

For the past four years, I've attended a writers conference in Colorado Springs.  It's held in Glen Eyrie

castle situated near the Garden of the Gods.  There are few things that delight me more than walking around the grounds.  When the morning light eases into the day, it brings about wonderful tones and shadows. Song birds, wild turkeys, deer and a herd of big horn sheep are often seen.

It's impossible not to smile at that.

This year was especially wonderful. My room in the castle had a small balcony, and in a tree nearby was a robin we named Samantha. She was sitting on her nest, and she was at my eye level.  I couldn't see into the nest without some stellar gymnastic moves, but I did get a picture and I know there were at least two eggs. Samantha and I often had wee conversations during my stay.

I was finally able to join the "first draft club" and took with me a completed manuscript for a young adult novel. I didn't really start out with the intention of having something to submit for publication but it seems I might after all. It was wonderful to celebrate this success with others in the same club.  It was even better to be in a class when a friend got word that her book has moved along the publishing chain.  I loved the tremor of excitement that went through the room as we cheered her on. It's hard to get a book published these days, but she's doing it. I read an early draft, and I love her delightfully quirky character, Match MacGuillicuddy.  I'm pretty happy for him too.  If you have a pre-teen boy who loves adventure stories, watch for a book by Kay Day next year. I'm pretty sure he'll love meeting Match too.

The first morning, around 5:30 or so, I walked around the driveway loop. A deer trail parallels the road, and a young doe joined me.  We walked companionably for ten minutes or so, before her trail veered off.  She stopped to snack on a tree, and I realized how thin she is. Colorado Springs suffered from serious fires last year (this year too), and food must be scarce.

I was heading towards the eagle's nest for which the castle was named.  I'd already seen three fledglings as we drove in and I was anxious to photograph them with my new camera.  They are still too far away for me to capture them without a pro set-up, but it was still fun to try.

There had been much to think about on that first walk, particularly in regards to relationships.  I knew that I was facing a sad goodbye to a friend who has impacted my life in significant ways.  I was wrestling with this and it weighed heavily upon me.  There was no way to make things better, no avoiding the inevitable. I knew that it was affecting others too, and I struggled with how to be the best support for them. These thoughts bounced around in my head as I listened to the chickadees and robins wake up.

I started on the return loop home, my spirit unsettled. I looked up to one of the ridges, and thought I sighted an eagle perched there. I zoomed in for a picture, then looked at the picture on my camera, zooming in again.  Sure enough, a golden eagle was looking down at me too.  I raised my camera and refocused on the ridge.

At precisely that moment,  the bird took off. Doubts I'd had about attending this year vanished at that moment.

Sure, this picture is a bit blurry, but I don't care.  It captures one of those times when God spoke to me, a moment when I knew I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

"I'm so glad you came," he said.  "Let's fly together".

Weekend at the Lake

Sometimes it occurs to me that we don't travel often enough.  Most often, that is when I'm updating the blog to talk about a place we've just been.

This weekend found us at the lake with some very dear friends. It was a good time of rest for us both.   Oh there is healing power in laughing with those who love you, a special balm when parts of life have been difficult lately. My friend and I rejoiced in the gift that our husbands not only like each other, but each of us individually as well. Each of us has things to talk about and things to learn from the other three.  It's easy, and I'm learning that there is great blessing in such a relationship. It further delights me to witness how much they love each other, for I know some of the cost it took to find each other.

Coffees and breakfast casseroles, laughing at movies and because of old German gentlemen, enjoying the strains of familiar tunes delivered in a new way.  We caught up with loved ones, and were humbled by an elderly soul who prayed "Merciful Father, you are a God of surprises. Thank you for the unexpected blessing of sharing time with these friends today".

A God of surprises indeed. There was joy in the goslings, peace at dawn, comfort in faithful spring flowers and even more comfort in heart-felt conversations.

Some days, it's hard to imagine that life could be sweeter.

Magnificent Mosaics

Our trip to Aachen was cold and miserable.  It was challenging to stay warm, my fingers cramped up all the time.   At least we found a mall where we could have coffee at McDonald's, and where we saw this big guy.  We had a lot of fun taking pictures with him.

Later though we walked into a church to get warm.  It was one of the best finds of the trip.  We found ourselves in the Palantine Chapel of the Aachen cathedral.  There are double arches in this area, and a high domed octagonal ceiling.  Every single surface is covered with beautiful mosaic work.  The subtleties in colour and in style were nothing short of incredible, and I could only imagine how long it had taken hundreds of workmen to find or make the tiles and craft the mosaics.  The dome itself has Christ on the throne, surrounded by 24 elders of the apocalypse.

We stayed here much longer than we needed for warmth. We stayed for the imagining of who may have designed the panels, and for appreciating the hours that went into crafting them around 1870-73.

Sometimes the best finds are those you stumble onto--and I'm so glad it was a cold and miserable day so we did.

The Grey Bus

One evening while we were walking to our hotel after having a wonderful dinner at Mongo's, we noticed a cement school bus sculpture.  We thought that it would be fun to take some silly pictures there, but after we read the sign for the bus, we couldn't imagine doing it anymore.

The Grey Bus is a monument to the mentally and physically handicapped people who were annihilated by the Nazis during WWII.  There is one bus that is permanently located in Ravensburg.  This photo is of the second one that travels the route to Grafeneck. Cologne is on that route, and the bus arrived here in 2011.

We returned to Canada on December 14th, the same Friday that so many children were killed in Newtown, Connecticut.  Pictures of the Grey Bus now will always remind me of this tragedy too.

Neither event will ever make sense to me.

Snow Day

We had the most delightful sight to look at each morning and evening out our window. We faced the Rhine river, and looked out towards the grand Cologne Cathedral and the Hohenzollem bridge.  It's a beautiful sight, and it was a pleasure to watch the trains cross the bridge, or the cruise ships and barges going underneath it.  There was a lone kayaker some days.  Even the night lighting added a bit of beauty to it. It lacked a little something on snow days though.  All four of these pictures were taken from our window.  What a difference a day made!

We were undaunted.  On this Saturday, we chose to leave the crowded city of Cologne, where no less than 15 river cruises had docked near the market.  We knew that it would be overrun with people, and well, we're not really the crowd-loving type.

The snow and the fog made for a magical morning as we rode the train.  The country itself is lovely, but there is just something about fog blanketed trees that speaks to me.   I love the mystery of it all.

We travelled to Koblenz, a city whose name means "at the merging of rivers".  Koblenz is situated at the point where the Mosel river (on the right) meets the Rhine river (on the left). The old part of the city was delightful, and it is where the market was held.  We walked on centuries-old cobblestone, drank glühwein with the locals, and peeked at some of the crafts for sale.

After that, we walked to the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial, a monstrous statue but a lovely lookout point.  We saw one of the river cruise boats navigate the turn, and it was quite interesting to see how they did it.  We walked to the point along the Rhine, and back again along the Mosel.

During the time we were there, this lovely gentleman played traditional Christmas carols for us on his accordion.  He was really quite good, and I appreciated his efforts very much.  What I especially loved was that he did it just for the joy of it, he wasn't accepting any donations at all.  Now, that's the Christmas spirit!

Love locks on the Hohenzollern

Hohenzollernbrücke is the train bridge that goes across the Rhine river.  From our hotel to the cathedral is roughly 1.5 km, and the entire bridge is covered by locks of all shapes and sizes  (though I did notice that there are many Abus aluminum locks, probably because they come in jewel-tone colours).  

Some of the locks were engraved with names and dates.  Others, like ours, were simple padlocks labeled with sharpie markers.  Almost everyone tried to do something that would make their lock stand out--I thought that adding a green ribbon to ours would make it more visible but apparently so did 2500 other people.    The strangest locks included an actual door panel riveted to the bridge frame, some large aluminum hearts chained to the fence, and some bicycle chains that were piggy-backed by all the locks attached to it. Someone even chained a small grinder to the bridge. 

We walked that bridge at least twice a day, and it never ceased to be interesting. We always saw couples adding a lock and tossing the keys into the river.  We saw people searching for a lock, older people leaning on each other reading the inscriptions, young people taking pictures.  I found myself wondering if anyone ever came to take a lock off the bridge if things didn't work out. 

There were far too many locks, in my opinion, that had Martin's name.  It's a real comfort though to know that only one matters.  It's on the hotel side of the bridge, right where the bank is, on the panel with the frog lock in the top right corner.  I don't know if I'll ever get back to Cologne, but I want to remember where to look. 

Cologne in December

We have been in Köln, Germany for a couple of days. It's been wet and cold and drizzly and rainy and sleety and damp and can't-quite-warm-up weather, but it's been fantastic. We have come mostly for the Christmas markets which we are enjoying. It's quite a culture, and it's all about being together, even though there is also a significant commercial aspect.

There are six markets here, of which I have seen four. Each market has its own character. There is one based around gnomes, another has an angel, the largest is based around the cathedral, and the fourth features Grimm's fairy tale characters. Many of the characters are placed on the roofs of the little Christmas villages. There is an ice rink in one, and all of them have carousels with horses and carriages.
It's a feast of smells too. Grilled bratwurst, currywurst and Weisswurst cozy up to the biggest vats of sauerkraut I have ever seen. People wait in lines for fresh potato pancakes and applesauce or for crepes and waffles, or mushrooms sautéed in butter, garlic and caraway. More people line up for souvenir mugs of glühwein, and each market has their own mug design. It is possible to take them home, or return them for a refund. There are spiced cookies, spice stalls and spiced nuts. Pretzels of all kinds are everywhere.

It"s a friendly atmosphere too, where the idea is to mingle and wish a happy Christmas to other revellers. Cozy on up to the table if you can find a spot, say hello, raise a toast and enjoy. There is quite a bit of Christmas music, some of it live. My favourite so far was the children's choir we heard on the first day. This morning the sun is warming the old cathedral with tinges of pink. It looks like the clouds are moving in again, so I must go.

As much as I like it here, I have had enough of being wet...but, at least I am learning how to order my coffee because of it.