Sachsenweiler - Day 11

Tea at Anita's
28 August 2008
The morning was a sad day because we visited cousin Bärbel in intensive care. We all put gowns on and went in. Bärbel was obviously very ill and weak but in good spirits. She had been reading a novel before we arrived. The last time that I saw her must have been in the early seventies and Sergeant Pepper was in her cassette tape collection. I had thought of her as a young and pretty woman just setting out on life and so how did she become so frail? Sylvia said that Bärbel's catchphrase used to be "Mein Englisch ist kwatsch" and while still not great it was much better than my German. This was to be the last time that we saw her as she passed away a few weeks later.

Back in Backnang we had a quick café lunch and then went to Sachsenweiler for afternoon coffee. This was at Anita's place and our group quite overwhelmed the flat. The children all went into another room and the adults into the main lounge and balcony. The sun on the south facing balcony was very fierce. The view was quite splendid with a distant tree topped ridge above the rooftops.

From holiday blog

Looking at the gardens they were less fussy than in days gone by. Many were now plain grass with an arbor instead of elaborate rockeries and fruit and vegetable crops.

The children got bored and then went outdoors to race around. They quickly made friends and they could run around too.

From holiday blog

We sat down for coffee. The table was set with the most exquisite bone china. The cups were very thin and richly decorated and had a base that seemed too narrow to keep the cup upright if the table were to be given a sudden transverse acceleration.

Anita had produced an huge amount of cakes and pasties and we tucked in. Some of them incorporated fruit from the garden such as blackberries. Then we looked at Anita's husband's [name?] extensive banknote collection with notes from most countries. Finally the ladies were presented with an hand made pin cushion and we were given the remaining cakes to take away.

From holiday blog

We then did a stroll of Sachsenweiler. We went past the kindergarten. There used to be a matrix of short clay pipes set into the wall through which you could peer in and out of the playground. The pipes were still there but they were now capped with cement and there appeared to be anti-climbing measures on the low roof.

From holiday blog

The little wood at the western end was pretty much unchanged. A small street with houses on the other side of the wood was new as was a sports court. The field at the back where we played among the hand tied sheaves of straw now contained what appeared to be allotments with some vegetables but mainly flowers and elaborate sheds being used as summer houses.

The forest at the other end wasn't changed much. There were notices about toxic acorns. I had a vision of doing a loop around the forest path. The old path ran along the top edge and it was still there. A long straight track through the centre of the wood was still there. It used to be heavily rutted and I could imagine the tractors struggling to pull timber out. Now it is too heavy with brambles and nettles to walk along so we reluctantly turned back. A bit further on I had hoped to see the big dragonflies that patrolled the bottom edge of the woods near the river. The ones that used to fly straight at you and then turn at the last moment making a purring noise. The forest paths are no longer kept clear and I suppose it is because less people visit it these days. We continued along the farm road to the eastern edge of the woods where the vista opens up.

From holiday blog

I found a frog and I managed to trap it and pick it up. I handed it around the kids before letting it go.

We admired the view and the next stop was back to Hilla with all the kids where Christel and Andy were there. The garden toys were uncovered and Rosie didn't get tired of the swing. Christel presented each of us a bottle of Mateus Rosé and Horst gave each kid a back-to-school drawing set.