Memories of Spring elsewhere

I wrote to my former landlady, Hilda, yesterday. I miss her terribly. I miss Germany terribly, especially at this time of the year. Things were so regular in Fischbach. I knew what to expect every season of the year beforehand. Spring brought changes in Hilda’s garden. First pansies since they’re more resistant to frost than most delicate flowers. Then she worked on her wild roses…and the annuals in the upper garden. Soon the rock wall separating the lower and upper gardens would be covered in ivy that would bloom purple flowers.

She and Franz, her husband, would spend the days weeding and cultivating what is and will always be the most perfect garden in my mind. I could spend hours staring at it. The memories abound…Hilda and her mother seated in the garden taking in the afternoon sun; her mother, sickly and delicate, protected by a baseball hat. I’d see them as I walked our old dog, Muttley, down the street. Watching Franz, with his failing eyesight, cut the grass at the top of the hill and water the gardens down below. Later Derron started cutting the grass for them. We’d work on it together since they had this silly little electric lawnmower that’s bag needed to be emptied every five minutes!

Sometimes, they’d invite us over for a drink in the garden. We could walk across our back patio to stairs behind their house…then up the stairs to a small patio outside their kitchen. From there it was a steep stair climb to the upper garden patio. The patio was idyllic…shaded with ivy and trees. I always loved it there.

They’ll enjoy a few more weeks of Spring before the Summer sets in…so hot and made even hotter with the absence of air conditioning…nevertheless, I’d swap my A/C here for another day there.

This is the little patch across from Hilda's house.  This was probably taken the first year we lived there.  Later on she planted roses here.  I saw it everyday from our upstairs windows.

Hilda's garden.  You can see the little shed in the upper garden.  The ivy in the foreground is mainly green because this picture was taken in the Summer.  In the Spring it was purple!

This was our house.  After nine years there, it really did seem like home.  I even miss my little red Ford Focus hatchback!

And finally the pub up the street, the Kolsterhof.  I miss the food, the wine and beer, and just knowing there's a place to go to feel like a part of the family only 600 yards from our front door.