Tuesday, 9:05 am: Apparently I have too much free time, at least for the moment; therefore a few more blogs than I normally would write. As for this morning it is a cool 55° [F.]. Soon our garden will be planted. It is still a bit too moist to work in it. And as I mentioned last spring also, we’re working at removing more Red Dogwood. It’s very invasive and tough to remove - roots and all. By the end of my workday clearing brush I am covered in dirt and mud with an assortment of scratches. I look a bit rough around the edges, or could that be the way I normally look?

Yesterday we had some strong intermittent rain showers. The sky was spectacular with rainbows, which, unfortunately, didn’t photograph very well. I don’t think it was user error this time. However, here is a photo taken yesterday about 6:00 pm on the international bridge that connects Saint Leonard, New Brunswick with Van Buren, Maine. It was taken right at marker that indicates the international boundary. To the left is United States and the right Canada.

The International Bridge between Van Buren, ME and St. Leonard, NB

Later this morning we will drive to Madawaska and Saint Agathe for business and to visit friends. It appears chores have been put on hold, and if I’m lucky for the rest of the day. It doesn’t take too much arm-twisting to change my mind. Stay tuned.

Current values from our wireless Davis Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 54.5° [F.]

Barometer: 29.957 & rising rapidly

Humidity: 76%

Wind: NNW at 3 mph light & variable

Visibility: ca. 3 miles under cloud base

Skies: ca. 90% heavy cloud cover

Precipitation: None

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 49.1° [F.] at 1:09 am

High wind: 18 mph at 8:37 am

Memorial Day, 10:30 am: Back to normal weather blogging. Once again we have new weather conditions. It’s lightly raining at the moment, some would call it drizzle. I think there is a fine distinction between the two conditions. In any case, it was actual rain earlier in the morning, with .47 inch of rain.

A male Ruby-throated hummingbird giving me a stern look while
guarding his feeder on our kitchen window - yesterday

All is normal in Grand Isle. The big [local] news is; a cell phone provider is planning on erecting a new cell tower on one of our town’s many hilltops. Proponents and opponents are lining up to have their say. Personally, I am for the new tower. I like living in a relatively remote rural Maine community where traditional land use and life-styles prevail, but that doesn’t mean we need to exclude modern technology. We are, after all, a few years into the 21st Century and appropriate use of current technology will work to our advantage. As a related example; next time you travel to the Saint John Valley find out how many Wi-Fi hotspots are located in our area. Let me know, because I am still guessing. More shots over the bow I suspect.

A moose on Parent Road in Van Buren - yesterday

So much for local events that gets everyone pumped up to argue their case: I’m still reading my instruction manual for my Sony digital camera which is comprehensive [complicated] enough. Computer technology is challenging enough for me just to stay current.

As you may have noticed my never-ending innocuous saga of our trip to Germany has ended. Thanks for reading. Hopefully in another three or four years we’ll return to the old country – well my wife’s old country.

Current values from our wireless Davis Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 56.4° [F.]

Barometer: 29.821 & falling slowly

Wind: SSE 7 mph light & variable

Humidity: 100%

Visibility: ca. 3 miles under cloud base

Skies: 100% heavy cloud cover

Precipitation: .47 inch – rain

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 46.4° [F.] at 4:19 am

High wind: 20 mph at 2:34 am

Sunday, 5:45 pm: Weather wonders will never cease. Today it is a very comfortable 64° (F.). On our drive today to Presque Isle we saw three moose at different locations, and one accompanied by a deer. I don’t know what that’s all about – I think they are only friends.

The last and final installment of our adventures in Deutschland: Our last week was spent in Garmisch in the German Alps very near the border with Austria. Oberbayern, the part of Bavaria in the Alps, is a world to itself. It’s scenic, the people are picturesque and friendly, and if the reader is a pork eater the cuisine is great. Be prepared for healthy portions of all things pork. Their life is unhurried, unlike the large German cities where people seem to be maxed out with stress. No one shouts [honking is illegal] at drivers who make wrong turns – ask me, I know.

The day before we left, Garmisch had a Frühlingsfest [Spring Fest]. The main streets were blocked off and booths set up with all kinds of food, music, and, of course, lots of Bavarian beer. I haven’t mastered yodeling or the polka. And I probably never will, I’ll buy a CD.

The last and final leg of our trip took us back to Zürich, Switzerland by car. After an overnight there we caught our return flight to Boston on Swiss Air, and a very long drive back to northern Maine.

Current values from our wireless Davis Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 63.3° (F.)

Barometer: 30.014 & falling slowly

Humidity: 28%

Wind: Calm:

Visibility: > 3 miles

Skies: Generally cloudy, ca. 70-80% overcast

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 31.9° (F.) at 4: 41 am

High wind: 11 mph at 12:05 am

Our rental cabin in Garmisch, Germany

Saturday, 2:30 pm: This spring has certainly been fickle. At the beginning of this week we had a light dusting of snow. Yesterday, the high temperature was 88.6° (F.) here. In the space of just a few days I’ve gone from a jacket and gloves to t-shirts and shorts. I’m curious what tomorrow will bring.

A German Alpine Valley

Meanwhile back to our recent European trip - part 4. When I left off last time we had departed Berlin driving to Frankfurt on the Autobahn. We spent the night in Wiesbaden and visited my wife’s sister for a few hours in the evening in Frankfurt. The next day we drove towards Kasierslautern and on to Baumholder to visit a friend, after which we drove to Heidelberg/Wiesloch where my wife’s niece and her family lives. I met Otto Futterer [related some way to my wife] who at 80 has great stories to tell. As a teenager he was captured by the Americans sometime after D-Day and spent the rest of the war in a POW camp. His fondest memories of the war was the time he spent as a POW in Virginia. He liked the Americans who treated him with some dignity. He also enjoyed helping local Virginia farmers with their harvest. Otto said he got better food then he got in the German Army and no one was shooting at him, and they showed him movies too. What a deal! His only complaints were, another older POW who snored so loud they called him “The Saw” and he spent his 18th birthday as a POW.

Deutscher Wetterdienst - Manfred Kristen, Meteorologist

Moving right along, we were in Munich overnight then on to the German Alps for eight days. In a rustic cabin at the [US] Armed Forces Recreation Center in Garmisch. The Alps are great! This is the part of Germany where idealized folk images on postcards are shot. We were in a bakery when a man came in [probably two sheets to the wind] and started yodeling. All the customers were amused, but not the woman behind the counter who took life much too serious. Before I forget completely, I listened to German radio stations and when they played American music they are certainly taken with Nancy Sinatra as she came up frequently on their play lists. Some of her songs I haven’t heard for 30 or 40 years were on Radio Oberland. She’s really popular on the radio there. Go figure!

Manfred Kristen and Charles Ames at the Garmisch Weather Station

I went to the local state-of-the-art weather [Deutscher Wetterdienst] station in Garmisch. I met the on-duty meteorologist Manfred Kristen who was very friendly and showed me their operation. A weather station has been operating in Garmisch for over 100 years. There is also an affiliated weather station atop the Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany on the border with Austria.

Current values from our wireless Davis Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 69.1° (F.)

Barometer: 29.784 & steady

Humidity: 26%

Wind: NNE 10 mph & gusty

Visibility: > 3 miles

Skies: Clear

Precipitation: None

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 60.2° (F.) at 7:56 am

High wind: 21 mph at 1:01 pm

Wednesday, 11:00 am: After two days “Down South” in Augusta and Bangor for business, we’re back home and I’m back to blogging. On Monday morning when we got up at 5:00 am we had a very light dusting of snow, which melted before we left at 6:00 am.

Back to our European trip [part three]: After leaving Berlin we drove south to Frankfurt on the Autobahn. High speed is the common denominator on the Autobahn, and is an adventure in itself and not for the faint of heart. Generally Autobahn driving is nondescript and a blur. However, since our last trip to the old country, four years ago, wind turbines have popped up everywhere on the landscape and add something new to look at while driving. Germany has embraced wind power in a big way and continues to reduce its dependence on nuclear power. Hmm, this sounds like an editorial.

The yellow fields you see below are Raps [English: rape seed]. This is used for making cooking oil. In the US it is commonly called canola oil. Raps is starting to be used for the manufacture of bio-fuel in Germany. Generally I object to taking photographs through the window of a moving car, but it was too hazardous to stop on the side of the Autobahn and snap a picture and I’m getting too old and life too short to chance it.

To continue with the weather theme of this blog – here’s my weather:

Current values from our wireless Davis Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 53.4° (F.)

Barometer: 30.420 & slowly falling

Humidity: 43%

Wind: SSE at 8 mph light & variable

Visibility: > 3 miles

Skies: High & light overcast 100%

Precipitation: None

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 25.3° (F.) at 4:32 am

High wind: 11 mph at 10:55 am

Sunday, 6:20 pm: We’ve only been back in Maine about six days and already it’s rained, snowed and rained again. Somewhere along the way I lost count of the exact rotation of the weather. Currently it is lightly raining.

Plattenbauten- eastern Berlin

Continuing on our compact rental-car odyssey through Germany; some of the larger German cities rebuild after WW II look vaguely similar. Then I am no expert and I am fairly certain they would disagree [my wife disagrees]. Fortunately the old historic districts set the cities apart from one another. Above you see a not so fine example of post-WW II Soviet-era monolithic apartment blocks in eastern Berlin. They are irreverently called Plattenbauten because they were constructed using prefabricated concrete slabs. What they lacked in imagination was made up for in their immense size. There were a few basic designs which were easily modified to suit location and size. In the end they were utilitarian and inexpensive [by building standards] and not designed for curb appeal. One by one they are slowly being remodeled so they less institutional and more human.

Soviet-era mural in Dresden

While in Dresden, which was completely rebuilt after the War, I took this photo [see above] of part of a Soviet-era mural [lots of red] that graced the entryway of a public building. With the exception of the photo above and some street names, I couldn’t see very many reminders of their recent past efforts at communism. Okay, there are some Plattenbauten, but Dresden has taken great pains to connect with its past and reconstruct or restore their historic buildings. It’s a very scenic old world place. Lots of great pastry and many fine espresso cafés. Berlin has that too, but Dresden is smaller and more quaint, and quaintness catches my eye.

Dresden Opera House

You may ask, what has this to do with weather? Nothing, but this does:

Current values from our wireless Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 42° (F.)

Barometer: 29.681 & steady

Humidity: 100%

Winds: Calm

Visibility: < 2 miles

Skies: low overcast

Precipitation: Unavailable

Since midnight:

Low temperature: Unavailable

High wind: 10 mph at 9:02 am

Friday, 4:35 pm: We made it, we’re home from Europe. Our Swiss Air flight departed and arrived on time. Going through US Customs and Immigration went smoothly at Logan Airport in Boston. After retrieving our car, trying to leave Boston was a test of patience. Once we got on to Interstate 95 [north of Boston] the traffic thinned out enough that we could almost drive the speed limit. Now we’ve had a few days to decompress and recover from jetlag.

Ruth enjoying German Spargel (asparagus)

Back to Europe; our three weeks went by relatively fast. The first two weeks were unseasonably warm and sunny. Air-conditioning is almost unknown in Germany. The last week was spent in the German Alps, which alternated from sun to rain, and back again, throughout the week. It was a pleasant change from the heat; besides the Alps are always nice. When it is drizzly and foggy in the mountains it has an almost mythical quality. I expected some oversized character from a Wagnerian opera to come down with a large broadsword and a helmet with wings on it and start singing. Sadly I settled for a Russian show on satellite television, which was equally unintelligible to me.

Alexander Platz Train Station - Serious scenes of intrigue during the Cold War, now full of tourists

My wife had the chance to catch up on everything with her extended family in Berlin and other parts of Germany. We went to one of the many weekend flea markets [Trödelmarkt] in Berlin. The one we went to on this trip was in the Ostbahnhof district of Berlin. It had lots of great stuff from the former German Democratic Republic and the former USSR. Unfortunately I had to pare down my purchases due to limited room in my luggage.

To help people sort out their litter before dropping it in a can

I will keep this blog short, and will continue with our Deutschland escapades in my next effort.

Current values from our wireless Davis Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 41° (F.)

Barometer: 30.177 & falling slowly

Humidity: 86%

Wind: Calm

Visibility: < 3 miles

Skies: 100% low overcast

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 26.2° (F.) at 5:26 am

High wind: 13 mph at 11:44 am