Saturday, May 31, 2014

Rainbow within the sea

While floating at a windless day on the Als-Fjord/Denmark our daughter observed a interesting phenomenon: There was a rainbow on the water surface, apparently showing the reflexion of sunlight scattered within the clouds. 




Mjelsvig/Denmark - 05/24/2014


From Sønderborg/Als - Denmark to Mjelsvig/Als, 13 NM, wind 0-1 NE

Last weekend we made a short trip to Mjelsvig. Since we had no wind, it was mostly motoring, passing the Als-Sound  and Als-Fjord in northwest direction to the bay of Dyvig/Als.

We used the calm wether to try some stuff, while floating for a while on the Als-Fjord....



The little harbour of Mjelsvig belongs to a nearby farm and is surrounded by fields and pigpens. It is a very quiet and peaceful place, where we simply enjoyed the calmness of the evening.











Friday, May 30, 2014

Spot of the week - Schleimünde/Germany





Schleimünde is a peninsula at the beginning of Germany's one and only fjord Schlei. It can only reached by ship, since the land connection with the mainland is a bird sanctuary.




About 30 ships can be mooring in the habour. Who will not arrive on ones own keel can reach Schleimünde several times a day by excursion boat starting in Kappeln.

There is a little restaurant, "Giftbude", the House of the harbor master and the old pilots house. Schleimünde belongs to the Lighthouse Foundation, which is maintaining it and takes care of the nature reserve. The old pilothouse can be booked for seminars and workshops by groups.



At the beginning of the west bridge is  a statue of artist Jonas Kötz who graved the sculpture "Hannes Schlie" from an old pile which stood for about 80 years in the harbor of Hamburg.




Other than that there is pure nature and quietness around. The whole family loves the spot, because it is always very relaxed and peaceful here.


















To defend the land from erosion the beach at the seaside was filled with gravel originating from a danish gravel-pit. In this till many many fossils can be found.




The children have the best playground at the beach with huge piles of stones which serve for endless games on long warm summer evenings. There is a little beach at the harbor side where they can flounder in shallow water.




The evenings are of special beauty!



Thursday, May 29, 2014

Hedgehog


At full daylight we found this cute little guy in the garden....


Just a week ago we saw a hedgehog on the street in front of our house. He looked shaky and somehow not healthy and he was just about to run across the road. Therefore we picked him up and put him under some shrubbery. We anticipated him to die soon, but when we checked on him after a while, he was gone.

We assume that todays hedgehog is the very same. He still looks kind of weak although he is awake and curiously looking at us. We picked him up and put him in a box. After a phone call at the local hedgehog information centre we decided to take care for him. His whole face was covered with ticks. There were some extra ugly ones in his ears.....We removed like dozens of them... We found no other injuries. We weighed him: He has 620g today. It is recommend, that we should feed him until he has 800-900g, then he may be released.....
After the whole procedure he fell asleep. When waking up we fed him with some dog food. (Our dog looked not too sure whether he agrees...). The hedgehog seemed very happy about that, although his table manners are not the best....he was smacking loudly...
So most likely he is just too light weighed after hibernation and in urgent need for food  and therefore running around at daylight.

The children called him Kim.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Imbued by travel I


The landscape and architecture of Danmark is of ongoing inspiration:

Årø Fisher's Cabins I - 2011 - Oil on canvas - 80x60 cm - $500 at Saatchi Art Online

Årø Fisher's Cabin II - 2011 - Oil on canvas - 80x60cm - prints available at Saatchi Art Online

Sailor's Cabin, Dyvig - 2011 - Oil on canvas - 80x60cm - $500 at Saatchi Art Online

Aerosköbing Beach Houses - 2011 - Oil on canvas - 100x50cm - not available

Chinese lantern (Physalis alkekengi)


Beautiful nature architecture.....


Fruit of Physalis alkekengi.
It belongs more in the autumn, but we found it just recently in the garden and I was once more amazed how nicely the texture is woven.