Muttentalfest party on 24th of March at the Bethaus, Muttental

On 24th of March we will do a big party, the first of this year;-). At the Bethaus, we will celebrate the famed "Muttentalfest" from 11 am until 6 pm. The whole valley will offer a load of activities for kids, adults and families alike, and all of the museums will be open.

Good food, friendly people, and, hopefully, great weather ;-) will be abundant, and most important, Volker and myself will be there*ggg*.

Come around, have a coffee and a cake and a chat!:-)

Towards the Frauenberg ruin-the dreaming stones

 Back to Marburg, we visited the Frauenberg ruin, a very special place for my favourite magic troll. We drove there by car and passed the Elisabeth-chalice. After some searching, we arrived at the trailhead up to the ancient castle ruin, which dates back to the 13th century BC. There were Celtic hillforts before that, and the hill has had a a vivid history. It is situated between the Amöneburg and the Dünsberg hills, all of which have had a Celtic history of settlement. No wonder "Kalle";-), my magic troll, is fond of the region!

 We started the hike up the hill.

 Looking down into the valleys and over rolling hills.

 Kalle saw a tree*ggg*...

 ...the ruin.

 There was an abundance of herbs and important trees growing there, hazel, hawthorne, thyme, sage, and there was a very special atmosphere in the windy air.

 Those ancient places have a slow, deep, breathing atmosphere to them. There the earth itself, and the wind, and fire, and water are prominent.

 Looking across an ancient Celtic kingdom long gone.

 And on the pate of a really loved one!;-) Erich preferred to stay away from the stairs.

 The comtessa in the wind...*ggg*.

 We left with a feeling that was hard to describe. A feeling of content, but not all was content. To me, there also was a certain sadness, a grief lingering around the place... those are stones that dream.

 At the foot of the hill there was this restaurant. First comes morale, then the feast;-), so we had a delicious cuppa coffee and a piece of cake. I really loved the beamwork of that café, more of a castle actually!

It was kinda strange. I cannot quite pin what I actually felt upon that ancient hill. There were deep feelings involved, but they were so deep they were removed from my scrutiny.

What remained was the impression of wind over ancient stones...

... that dream.

At the Bethaus smithy-a great sunny Sunday on mother´s day

 My ol´mum ;-)was doing party somewhere else and had no time to get some flowers, so I met with Kai and Marie instead, and we did a tour of the Muttental. We came to Volker´s place, and I took some photos.

 This is Volker working with Pascal, who came by to have a go at some first blacksmithing experiences.

 Together they made a steel heart for Pascal´s mother. Every mum who visited the Bethaus that day, got a glass of Prosecco and a steel heart pendant.

 ...burning heart!*ggg*

 As usual, there were a load of kids having a go at blackmithing, and those were just the passers-by!

 ...pounding Pascal!

 Looking on and tech-talking...

 Master and apprentice...

 Those are Birgit and Renate, some more members of the staff, friendly people all!

Volker´s got some beeshives, too...

We had a delicious piece of cake, a big cuppa coffee, thought about our mums and then went on our merry way. Marie had a fit of arachnophobicphobia (fearing people who fear spiders*ggg*), and we talked a pile of rubbish, basked in the sun, and simply enjoyed the day.

Life is good!

Mill museum in Breckerfeld

Today, I had some time to spare after work and went to one of my favourite cafés, the "Mühlenhof" - museum in Breckerfeld. It´s situated on a hillside overlooking the rolling green hills of the Sauerland, and there is a mill from 1846. There are also many artifacts from that time, and the best thing is,

 you can drink your coffee while sitting in a chair from that time. Mr. Thorschmidt, the owner and landlord, is a craftsman himself. He makes bread according to ancient recipes, the infamous regional speciality bread "pumpernickel, a very dark rug bread that takes two days to bake, at a very low temperature, making for a very smoky and somewhat sweet flavor. Nowadays, Pumpernickel is often additionally sweetened with molasses. Mr. Thorschmidt still makes it the old way, one heavy chunk of hard, nourishing bread. It is delicious with another regional speciality, juniper smoked bacon, and a crucial ingredient of the "Bergische Kaffetafel", more of an event than a meal that takes the afternoon into the evening.There always are several pots of strong, brewed coffee from the tin can (the "Dröppelminna" = dripping ?how do you translate "Minna"? it´s a woman´s name alright, and not entirely free of sexist connotations, since it also regionally applies to a dishwasher or washing machine, Minna it is), loads of wafers with hot cherries, cream, and sometimes vanilla ice, rice cooked in milk, cakes, parsnips with three kinds of bread (pumpernickel, grey rug bread, white bread), raisin white bread and sausage and bacon and cheese and schnapps, with double-bread to take home.   

I really like those buildings, and this peaceful atmosphere. There´s a herbal garden, too, and a little store where you can get no mead, but Mettwürst(Hej!;-)), bacon, all kinds of extremely heavy bread, liver paté sausage and fresh eggs and cheese from local farms, all handmade and tasty to boot.

That´s the ancient mill, still functional, and that´s a sight to behold, when the millblades are turning, if you ask me.

Those beeshives are inhabited. Unfortunately by wasps, which can be a bit of a bummer in summer;-) when you sit outside and just want to have a piece of delicious cake and the wasps share your opinion on cake;-).

Now that´s a sleeping chamber, eh? Bushcraft in your own home. That box to the right is a bed.

Cozy...;-)

An old cart. Sorry for the pics being less than ideal;-) was some strange lighting in there, quite dark, but bright, when the sun came in.

Going upstairs. Mind your head, though, it´s kind of shallow;-). I was fond of the railing, which was cleft out of greenwood by axe and adze. You can still see the marks.

A hacksaw and farming implements.

Old and fusty, just like you were looking into your grandfather´s garden shed. I am sorry for the tools, but it adds to the atmosphere.

Smith´s tools. I try to talk Mr. Thorschmidt out of them for years now, but he won´t let loose. Stubborn sodbuster that he is;-).

A device for breaking flax and straw. Up front a more contemporary milling machine.

Farming tools. And a carved yoke for storing heaves.

I then went to the café and had a really BIG piece of cheese cake with a load of cream and a BIG mug of coffee and dreams of peace while specks of dust were dancing in the sun´s beams and the twilight. I felt very balanced there. Sometimes I just have to do some simple things like this to calm down a bit...

Been ranting enough...;-)