Beekje's story

So now it's my time to tell all of you my story, right?

I'm Beekje and as I'm a sibling to Leentje, you might guess that I'm a sprite, too. My time of the year is fall or autumn, whatever you may call it. I was born in a crocus, just like Beekje. Oh, yes, there are crocusses that bloom in autumn! We don't have any in our garden, where we live now. I will see into that one day.
All we sprites have certain tasks in our season. Mine is to look after the apples and pears, that dangle on the trees. I have to sing sleeping songs to hedgehogs and other animals that sleep over winter time. I must admit that's my favorite task. I love singing!

All kind of seeds are part of my tasks. I have to see that they spread and find places to grow next year. Today I was shaking the poppies so that the poppy seed flies out. We will have lots of poppies next year, I hope. I brought the capsules home with me, they are so nice to behold.

And I have to care for the rose hips. They are beautifully red. Red is one of my favorite colors, just as yellow and brown. But I like pumpkin orange, too.

Next thing to do is coloring the leafs. You all know, the leafs change the colors because the trees withdraw the chlorophyll into the stem, but well, I have to start that progress soon. It's by singing, as you might have guessed.
Today I was also checking if the birds still would find water to drink. All is well.

So I can retire for today into our new lodge. Isn't it nice? We still need a rope ladder or such, but it is cozy which is more important, right?

Summervacation Part 5

This is the last vacation post - two weeks in Schobüll are coming to their end. No dolls this time but a firework of flowers. I spend a wonderful time in Nolde's garden in Seebüll. It was raining, which was good as it meant fewer people promenading through the garden.

Even if Nolde's attitude to the Nazis was questionable at least, his paintings are wonderful. And his garden is amazing, I wish I could have a garden like that.

The last evening the weather had cleared up and we were send home with a beautiful sunset.

Summervacation Part 4

South from Husum and Schobüll, on the peninsula of Eiderstedt, in Tönning there is the Multimar Wattforum. It is more than a mere museum, it is abouth whales and mudflat and the nature in this special part of the world.
Polly was curious to learn more about fishes and mammales of the sea.

The first stop was the exhibition about whales. This is amber, real amber. It was found drifting in the water, which happens from time to time.

And these are whalebones, that were used for example for corsetts.

The skeletons are real bones. The big whale is a cachalot, the small one a finback.

The teeth of a whale tells how old the whale was. It's build in rings like trees. There was a room where one can listen to the songs of different whales as humpbacks, dolphins, orcas...

They've got aquariums there, too. In the biggest one  live rays. So here is the riddle: where is the ray on the lower pic?

After three hours of intense fish watching, hearing, reading and learning Polly was tired and out. And so were we. It was a great experience and we will turn back one day.

The next day we returned to visit the town of Tönning. It is a small town with a famous storage house.

Every year they use it as an advents calendar.
Here are some impressions from Tönning:

Once there was a castle, but it was demolished on demand of a danish king.

This is a model of the castle. It is said that it was the most beautiful castle in the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein.

This is the lutherian church. After lunch we went on to the Eidersperrwerk. The Eider is a strange river: She starts in Holstein and takes her course to the Baltic Sea but directly at the border to Kiel she turns and crosses the land. At Tönning she reaches the North Sea.

The flood barrier shall keep storm floods away. On the sea side it was very windy, yes, even stormy. On the land side it was far calmer.

While we were watching the sea swallows, the bridge opened to let a ship pass.

The sea swallows were still feeding their offspring.

Between the flood barrier and Tönning lies the Katinger Watt, a nature reservation. It is important for many birds and flowers.

Cows hold the landscape open and munch bushes, which otherwise would overgrow the meadows.

Back on the farm I took Sirpa for a walk to visit the cows.

We went on the dike to watch out for the weather.

It was a wonderful evening with the sun breaking through and beautiful clouds.
Sirpa took the chance to climb in the little oak tree.