once upon a time ...

May 22
Once upon a time a young man and a young woman got married and needed to find a place to stay near Lorrach, Germany where they worked. What better than a little village of 24 houses (and probably more barns than houses). What better than a little attic apartment in the very last house in the village - house number 24! What better than to have a path lead directly into the Black Forest. That is exactly what God provided! And for two years it was our haven.

How do you go back to a place after 40 years and expect anything to be the same? Well, one little villages much is the same after that many years. But first we wanted to take a hike along the paths that we knew from so long ago.

Black Forest - Egerton

The farm road at the end of the village leads up the valley into the Black Forest.

Along the road and in the fields, every where you look, are wild flowers. Yes, more butter cups for Blanka's flower collection.

Not just flowers but butterflies and other critters as well.

I wish I had video taped it so that you could hear the variety of bird songs that filled the air.

Let me introduce you to four of our best friends. Without too much complaining, they take us whereever we decide to go; mile after mile.

A quiet little stream flows down through the forest.

Hansel and Gretel could have lived near by.

Deer and wild boar frequent the stream and the forests. We recalled several occasions where we saw a pack of wild boar charging through the forest. Fortunately we were not in their way.

This airy tree with its gossamer like wings wants to fly away.

The Black Forest really does look black from a distance, and when you are deep in the forest it is quite dark.

The sun does nice things to these fresh fir needles.

These little plants seem to make their own fireworks.

Wild roses grew prolifically along the edges of the forest.

Buttercups were everywhere, as were stacks of fire wood.

Fortunately for me, Blanka did not insist that I take close up photos of all these butter cups. And fortunately for you, I only post a fraction of the photos I take.

Looking back at a delightful walk down 40 year old memories.

The house that time forgot

Sure enough the house where we lived looked almost identical. Same art work on the wall. Our apartment was the very top attic window that you can see above.

From our window on high we could look out at the near by village, Nebenau.

Blanka looking up at our apartment from the lovely garden below.

This inhabitant of the garden has only been there for 15 years but he wants you to know that it is HIS garden.

Our landlord, Andreas Boehlen, still lives in the original family home.

Shown here is one of Max Boehlen's best known paintings with son, Andreas. A few years ago they added a museum to the property to better display more than 200 paintings.

We remember this restaurant from 40 years ago, only they have enlarged it and made it nicer. We ate dinner here and must say it was one of the finest meals we have eaten on our entire trip. 

The hostess took this picture of us in the garden. I would say we were having a very good time.