Wednesday, 4th June 2025

Look who I found in the kitchen!

There were aurora alerts this week, but I didn't have any luck seeing one. It was still nice to go out and have some fresh air.

Saturday, 14th June 2025

It's that time of year! The ravens are getting together in big groups and cawing, looking for someone special to spend the winter with. When they're quiet again the cold weather will come. Then, in springtime, little ravens will be squawking to be fed. They don't even stop squawking when they're being fed, and it makes a funny sound.
In German, raven-mother (Rabenmutter) is a term for an uncaring mother, which does seem like a slander against ravens. They seem to be well parented on both sides. I would probably go crazy if I had a little raven yelling at me all day.

I have some grape tomatoes still growing, and a lot of them split after we got some rain, so I picked those ones and left them out by the fence for the birds. I don't feed them often, I don't want them to expect it, best they stay distrustful of humans for their own safety. But I thought there's no sense letting the tomatoes go to waste.

Last weekend I went for a walk and found a tree with bees living in it, and I saw a pelican.

Saturday, 21st June 2025

Winter Solstice!
The days are all longer from here. (oh no!)
To celebrate the winter I made some lentil soup with some grape tomatoes in; since the vine probably doesn't have much life ahead of it, I've got to enjoy them while they last. And as a challenge, I made some croissants.

They turned out better than I expected, but I did expect it to be very difficult and turn out very badly.
I read quite a bit about it beforehand, and everything I read seemed to have a slightly different recipe and a slightly different method, eventually I just had to pick one and have a go. The process wasn't too difficult, just a bit time comsuming, and while I did tear the pastry a bit while I was trying to roll it out they still turned out well enough. The layers are there, I didn't melt the butter and turn them into bread (the advantage of doing it in winter) or turn them into solid, inedible bricks. :)