Mushrooms
Nadine grew her first mushrooms, and they were good.
Kestrels
We spent the whole day in the garden on the old pond area, the sand pit is now officially fenced in with robinia logs and all the uneven ground around it is filled up with topsoil, and on Monday I order the next 1.5 tonnes of sand for the sandpit itself.
Soapbox Race
Tilian had his yearly soapbox race, and over the past weeks he and Nadine built a rather good little cart together, light, with wheels that roll well and quick to steer, but they had no chance to field test it, and on the day it turned out the cart did not handle gravel well, which is what the loop around the kindergarten is made of. Bummer. With everything they learned this year it should be enough for a podium spot next year.
Race to (No)where(?)
Jasper sent me a post on AI enthusiasts and skeptics, the enthusiasts racing against time and the skeptics racing against entropy, and Jasper and I turned it into a funny metaphor about electric cars.
Hike
I went on a 15 km hike, I had the day off as it is a public holiday in Bavaria and I follow that schedule rather than the local Saxonian one. Half way through the hike Nadine picked up Aika, she deserved a break and I hadn’t had a single good shot on the Canon anyway - So I had to continue.
Stork
Saw mother stork watching over her chicks on my morning tour with Aika, someone local, can’t remember who, shared the fledglings already leave the nest for a few minutes at a time. That would make a great shot.
Rose
The battery of the Rose Reveal would not charge anymore, the same dead brick on wheels I wrote about earlier, so I finally brought it to a Rose service partner in Leipzig. I had not expected the verdict to be “there is nothing we can do here, here are your pedals and attachments”, the bike gets sent in and then we will see.
Water
I felt dizzy all day, so Nadine kept reminding me, loudly, to drink more water, and Tilian joined in by parroting her, slipping me secret notes that read “Mer Wasser!!!” (more water).
Markfest
We went with Nadine’s parents to the Kulinarisches Marktfest in Groitzsch, where the Kellin made it straight for the bouncy castle, had no interest at all in the clown show, and Tilian set off on his own little tour.
Starling
Tilian had another Nature Detectives day at the NABU, learning about herbs and finishing around the campfire with Stockbrot (bread baked on a stick). I used the time to photograph the local starling family while the everyone were busy. It took a lot of patience (which I am not very good at), but I caught the mother flying in to feed her young every minute or so. She lingered only a moment each time before setting off again.