I always loved Christmas. I had to spend it by myself a few times, but it didn’t dampen my Christmassy spirit. I would decorate the tree and send cards long in advance. I would go around shops, look at decorations and listen to carols, buy gifts for friends, cook Christmas fare, dress up my dogs in reindeer horns, plan meetings with my girlfriends and have customary pre-Christmas lunches in UK. I would go to Christmas concerts and visit our local church to sing seasonal hymns.
This second corona Christmas is different. My family lives in California and I don’t want to visit them right now for fear of being stuck there if any regulations will change, which they do, with day’s warning. Or get stuck because it will turn out I have corona unknowingly and cannot board the plane either way. Or, after 12 hour flight I will drag corona to my daughter’s house and might give it to my tiny granddaughter. I even resigned from having Christmas with my 84 year old mother who lives in Poland, not too far from where I am. She refuses being vaccinated and if she caught the virus it might be me who gave it to her.
One of my closest friends is battling breast cancer, another one had a biopsy a few days ago and we will know before Christmas if her illness is serious. My sweet, little dog has died 6 weeks ago and I still grieve for her. I have enough reasons to not think about decorations which are sitting unpacked in the box I brought down from the attic week ago. I hanged a small wreath in one of my windows, but it looks very sad and lonesome there, and I only did it because all my neighbours have colourful, blinking lights all over their homes. I felt I had to do something to fit in. So, I woke up this morning and thought that I don’t have to do anything. I don’t care if people think about me as the female Christmas Grouch. If they do, so what? I don’t feel like Christmas and am calling it off officially this year. I hope that Christmas 2022 will truly be merry, enjoyed with my family, and everyone I worry about today, will be still with us.
Lucy came to me through Facebook. I found the organisation in Thailand called Soi Dog which saves street dogs (soi = street in Thai) and finds them homes around the world. Dogs travel to Europe or Northern America with volunteers who can take a bigger number of dogs in hold with them on certain airlines. I chose a little white and brown doggie from the photo but after a few days received a message that the dog I chose is already booked. I replied then that I don’t mind which dog I will get as long as it is black or dark and fairly small. Dark dogs have a harder time to be adopted. I then heard the story of Fleck who was rescued from a lorry which was taking 1500 Thai street dogs to Vietnam to be boiled alive and eaten by people. It is illegal to eat dogs in Thailand but there are many homeless dogs there, so easy picking for people who take them over the boarder for cash. When I heard her story I was then definitely set on Fleck whom I renamed Lucy, especially that I was told she was being bullied by other dogs and had to live in a smaller cage. I lived in UK then, so she had to go through 3 month quarantine and I expected her after Christmas. After a while I was contacted again and told that Lucy has a parasitic blood disease and needs to be treated first. In the end she arrived in April after my 6 months wait. I drove to collect her from a ferry which brought her from Amsterdam. She was scared and vomited in the car despite of Linus sitting next to her for a company. I thought it was one off episode, but she vomited for three years each time she travelled in my car. I adapted to it and always kept towels, wipes and black bags in the car. Her fear of car travel was probably caused by her being caught and then squashed in a chicken cage with other dogs who were dying around her during their horrific trip to meet their even more horrific death. When we arrived home, she seemed happy and learnt very quickly from Linus how to behave. She was the street dog so there was no problem with house training. She just wanted to do it outside.
Lucy at home in Surrey, UK . The photo was taken for the newspaper article about dogs from Soi Dog Organisation
I took her to my vet after the arrival and he assessed her to be at least 6 years old. He told me that she had many litters of puppies and had a scar tissue after demagogic mange and her front legs are bad, they just pop out of kneecaps. It is called luxating patella. He advised not to worry about it because they pop in back on their own. The first year with her was often upsetting. She showed me what she was terrified of, and it was a lot. Handbags, brooms, vacuum cleaners, visitors, especially men, sudden noises, big lightly coloured dogs, dogs barking at her. When she was scared, she would hide. I would then make everything go quiet and after a while she would stick her head around the corner, checking if it’s safe to get out. All her fears went away with time except of her being picked up. Until now she is terrified of it. I guess it was a horrific experience to be caught and lifted and then shoved on the track. After she was with us 1,5 years we moved to USA. I chose to travel on Queen Mary, so dogs would be safer than in cargo hold on a plane, and we could spend the 7-day long trip together. I can recommend this way of travel; it is luxurious and fun and not much more expensive than upper economy flight. Owners can spend long hours during the day with dogs and take them for walks on the reserved deck. I am sure that dogs were not thrilled about being on the ship instead of at home, but I felt that it was the best I could do while moving continents.
Three amigos in California.
We drove from New York to California and surprisingly Lucy didn’t vomit once during the 6 days it took us to cross the continent. I think she was happy to be on land again and close to me. She settled in California very well, after all she is the warm weather girl and loves to lie in the sun, be brushed and massaged. Just as she deserves. She was always more independent than my two other dogs, Linus and Charlie. Charlie was told in no uncertain terms to keep away from her. She didn’t react to his seizures like Linus who was a little nurse to Charlie. She just kept away. Maybe was scared. Linus she likes, after all it was him who was her welcoming committee when she arrived in Europe. I think the reason for her independence is that female dogs have to take care of puppies, feed them, provide for them and probably in her case, hide them so no one takes them away. She had puppies in the past because she loves to meet them on our walks. She also gets excited when she sees small dogs like Papillons. I am sure that she is part Papillon, she very much looks like one and is only bigger and has a shorter coat. After 3 years in California, we moved back to Europe and are settled in Germany now. Dogs had to fly back in cargo hold and it was nerve wrecking experience. I was lucky with my booking on Queen Mary the first time. Not so the second time. Spaces for dogs are booked long in advance – up to 24 months – and one can luck out if those long-booked spaces are cancelled. We all arrived safely in Frankfurt on Lufthansa, which apparently has the best record for transporting pets, and I made a mental note not to travel with animals long distance on planes unless they are allowed in cabin with me.
Lucy in the sun in Lebehn
We live in the small village now and dogs have lots of freedom to roam fields and dip their toes in the lake. Our Charlie crossed the rainbow bridge last year in August and Lucy is preparing to follow. She stopped eating about 10 days ago so I took her to a vet. She was terrified to be there and hid her head under my arm and I was her only comfort by being there constantly with her. The vet did ultrasound scan and detailed blood tests. The scan showed that she has inflamed, fatty gall bladder walls and a gall bladder stone. She was also diagnosed with the heart murmur and the obvious for years, leg problems. We were given 5 tablets for the morning, 2 for the night. She didn’t want to eat so I force fed her with a parrot feeder for 4 days, pushing mushed chicken breast into her throat so her stomach wasn’t empty while she was taking tablets. She loves being brushed and massaged, but that is how far she will go with allowing humans access to her body. She didn’t improve and after 4 days got worse. She started to lose balance when trying to walk, and she was terrified of me, following with wide open eyes as I moved around my study where she lives, waiting for me to force feed her and pushing tablets into her. I called the vet after then and told him that she didn’t improve at all, and he told me that I must bring her back. I then decided that I will let her die at home. No force feeding, no tablets, no vet visits, unless she will be in pain or discomfort. She is almost 13 and for a street dog who lived her first years supporting herself it is a good age. I want her to be relaxed and at peace before she’ll say goodbye to us. So that is where we are now. She drinks water with a bit of apple cider vinegar (it helps with gall bladder stones) and doesn’t eat, but I hope that by some miracle she will get better. She is at peace and sleeps mostly. I moved to sleep next to her in case she needs something suddenly and if these are her last days, I want them to be stress and pain free. It looks to me like they are.
Edit: My little girl Lucy died on 23 October 2021, at home, just as she wished.
I never experienced the number of mozzies that we had just until recently. When passing shady areas big clouds of them raised from grasses and attacked humans and dogs. My dog Lucy has a very silky and soft fur, and they settled on her mostly and not on wirehaired Linus. I was bitten a lot too if I forgot to smudge some perfume on my exposed skin. Nothing else seemed to work. Thankfully the few unbearable weeks of it now ended, mostly because of swallows. There are hundreds of them in the village, flying gracefully like noiseless sci-fi mini jets, taking sudden turns and ups and downs. They took to sitting on the ledge next to my bedroom window and I hear their chatter often, especially that other birds already went quiet. Breeding season is over and they don’t need to protect their areas from other males. They are preparing to leave us soon, unfortunately. Only another few weeks and swallows will leave us too and then I get really sad. I worry about “our” birds flying thousands of kilometers to their overwintering destinations and about them being killed in Southern Europe. That’s the favorite pastime of some weird humans there – song birds’ killing.
Taken 21 August 2021
Now onto more cheerful things. My holiday flat is almost finished, I am only waiting for my cousin to install the kitchen. I am able to put together kitchen cupboards and will do it today, but am scared of cutting two holes, for the sink and heating plate, in the bamboo counter. I have tried woodwork a few times here but unfortunately whenever I attempted anything woody, it ended up wonky. Like my bed. It was left behind by the previous owner. I threw away 3 mattresses it contained (yes, the bed was 2,7m wide!), washed it in disinfectant and decided to turn it into a normal, double bed. I did it but it is uneven on one side, and I still have to fix it and am not looking forward to. The reason for it being the adventure of the big table (below), which was also left behind for me.
It was made to measure to fit uneven floors in the outbuilding, so when brought home where, strangely, floors are nice and even, it was wonky. I measured and marked it very many times before cutting. I already had the unfortunate experience of creating the uneven bed, so was very careful, but despite of it, still managed to cut one leg too short. The table stood for some time supported by two bricks to make it even . I will never understand how I managed to cut the table’s leg two bricks’ height too short? My cousin cut the brand new leg and the table is standing in my dining room and looks great as per the photo, but I completely lost my confidence as far as cutting anything made of wood goes, and the kitchen counter has to wait. Those very cool chairs were bought at Dänisches Bettenlager @ 15 Euro each. The Banksy’s print is sort of cheesy, but I like it because I tend to remember that “there IS always hope”.
I’ve been living in Mecklenburg Vorpommern for 2 years only, so don’t have much experience with local people yet. My excuse is that my German is very basic, and we were in the lockdown for a long time. My views can be considered as educated despite of it; I lived long term in a few countries and in my head at least, I am equipped to compare Germans to other nations. I also worked for more than 6 years for a Bavarian company while living in UK and met many west Germans professionally. I am still offering you my personal opinion of course.
When I moved here, I heard (and experienced it myself since) that there is a west-east divide amongst people. One can say that it is normal in other countries too. South and North of England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and London – each area is occupied by very different people. People from northern England have certain opinions about their compatriots in Surrey for example. City people around the world regard those born and living in countryside as country bumpkins. Until they move to countryside and come to understand that they were wrong. Not all city dwellers are not nice.
Back to Germans. I have a German acquaintance from Frankfurt on the Polish boarder who was surprised when I told her that I want to get to know Berlin better. “Why???”, I heard. “Because I like exploring and there is a big vegan community”, I replied. She shrugged her shoulders. She is one of those people who are OK with divides. She was telling me a little story about a couple from my village describing them as “those people from Western Germany”. She is a nice woman and I have nothing against her having her opinions. I have mine too. As to Berlin it is not the most beautiful or cleanest city I visited, but I suspect I don’t know it’s best bits yet. I will write the post about it once I know it better.
While getting my corona vaccine I have met a nice doctor at a vaccination centre. He is from Western Germany I assumed, because he was wearing a Bavarian type folksy top, which is never worn here, and when he heard that I moved here directly from California he laughed and asked me, “Why on earth did you move here!?”. “Because it is beautiful, and I have a lovely, old house by the lake” I replied. So, the divide is real, from both sides, but people live peacefully, side by side. I write side by side because I have met a few and heard about more retired western Germans who moved here. I understand why it is done. It is more peaceful than anywhere I lived, and properties are cheap, so win – win situation and very much like Brits retiring in Spain or France. Not sure if it is still done, but it was the trend when I lived in UK.
What can I say about indigenous people then? They remind me of Brits. They are reserved, but once they see that you try to fit in, they are very kind and helpful. They are polite and like a good joke. I am not sure if they are very family oriented as a rule. I see some of my neighbours are often visited by their families, some less often. They are very good drivers and obey rules and regulations. They like gardening. It is very seldom that people are noisy with their garden equipment during the quiet time (13:00-15:00) or outside the very few hours allowed to set fireworks off during new year celebrations. The only difference to UK or USA is their relationship with pets. There are many resident cats, which spend their time outside. I guess they are treated as mice catchers mainly. They look healthy and have cat flaps leading to warm hiding spaces in outbuildings and are fed outside. There are a very few dogs here and even less are walked. When I walk mine people don’t pay attention to them, unlike in most western countries. Maybe it is because I live in the small village, as Berlin apparently is very dog friendly.
I need to add that there are many Poles living here. The boarder crossing is only 15 minutes fast drive away, and properties in Poland are very expensive, on par with western or southern Europe. People buy cheaper houses here and commute to work in Poland, which makes sense. Poles are not good drivers and too many of them don’t obey rules, which annoys me immensely. They are very pleasant, friendly people in general.
The very definite summer is here and I love it; its’ greenery, flowers, birds singing and bringing their babies to my bird feeders. I love sitting in the garden, listening to our local nightingale while drinking sundowners. Dipping my feet in the lake, walking dogs in dappled shade, watching sun going down (or coming up) and all of it so romantic and beautiful, but….
I battle to live a normal life in high 30s of Celsius. I know that the world “hate” is offensive to some of us, but when I have to battle in 36C in the shade and 42C in the sun I do not care. I really hate being hot and sweaty when doing any physical work. I hate dust storms I have to put up with when I cut the dry, yellow grass in my semi wild garden, despite of the lawn mower set up on high. I hate hot nights where my hair sticks to my head while I am trying to sleep. I hated it when I lived in Durban, South Africa and in California. It was easier to put up with in California because I find that the dry heat of the desert is more bearable, but by our lake it feels very much like in humid Durban. So, if anyone reading it loves tropics, the holiday by our lake is the right choice for you.
Heat was also the reason for the very sad story. I had four swallow chicks in the nest their parents built under the roof of the outbuilding’s veranda. They jumped from the nest, most likely because of the heat. I was searching for help on the internet after the first one jumped three days ago. I found it dead in the morning and was very upset. It was developing nicely; its size was perfect and he/she looked like a healthy little swallow, but it wasn’t to be a long life for him. I buried the little one in the garden and was watching remining three that were still in the nest. It was 36 C in the shade for days now and I can only imagine how hot it was right under the not too thick roof of the veranda. I was checking on them from time to time, removed panels hindering the air flow and kept the shed door open for some draft to go through, but despite of all of it I would see three little, tired heads hanging over the edge of the nest; they seemed half alive to me. They still moved and I was hoping that they will survive. They probably would if it cooled down. The next morning I found the three of them under the nest, dead. Despite of what I have read on various sites (swallows are apparently resilient and can put up with hot weather) they didn’t survive. I cleaned the nest in case there were any parasites in it, but it looked perfectly OK, no mites or other creepy crawlies. Probably too hot for them too. I don’t want to remove the nest, it is illegal to do anyway, but I hope that swallows will not try again to have babies in it. It would be almost the certain death for them, as the summer is only starting, and August is usually the hottest month here.
The first baby that died
Other than this very upsetting story my “do it yourself” works around the house are progressing nicely. I started to remove side panels of the shed’s veranda when swallow babies were still alive, and the task will be finished by the end of week. Panels are made from the cheap plastic and am happy to be getting rid of them. I used the place as a storage until now, but I made a few trips to the local recycling centre recently and the veranda will be finally what it is usually meant to be. The pretty place, full of flowers and comfy seating where one hides from the sun or watches rain with a cup of tea.
I know that summer officially starts on 21 June, but it is already here, and it definitely feels like it. Temperatures are in high 20s Celsius, grass is growing with the speed of light (almost) and birds are singing their hearts out. I pay attention to their songs; July is only around the corner when they stop singing. I especially love night chorus of nightingales and owls and who knows who else. I love birds but am not very good with recognising their songs. It is incredibly quiet at night here and listening to them singing in the darkness feels very mystical.
Back to earth and practicalities – we had enormous number of ticks recently. They multiply in wet weather, but like it was last summer dry weather makes hinders their activity. I must google where they go in hot weather. Maybe underground, where they wait for cooler temperatures. I still find one on my dogs from time to time, but thankfully they stopped running on me. I found a few small ones doing their ticklish walk on my arms, which thankfully is easy to notice. I never had a tick embedded in my skin.
Our lake is getting busy with both tourists and local moms and their kids coming in early afternoons for a swim. People eat their dinner here about 3pm, so swimming happens before that. I did not check yet if the water is warm enough, but my Linus swims each time we get anywhere close to the lake, which tells me the water is ok.
Lebehnscher See
I had a lovely visitor at home yesterday. It wasn’t so lovely for him. I heard strange screams in my garden and dogs were very loud. It turned out a baby raccoon was mauled by the dog next door and climbed over the fence to our garden. Luckily, my dogs are not blood thirsty beasts and they bark squeaky little barks when encountering representatives of the local wildlife. I locked them inside the house, asked children next door to lock their dog and put a thick autumn jacket and garden gloves on, so the little creature didn’t scratch me. I covered him with a towel (watching rescue videos of scared dogs being caught paid off) and put him in an apple crate. I was completely clueless what animal it was. Looked like a raccoon, but raccoons don’t live in Europe, I thought. I googled the information and it turned out that they live in Germany. They were brought here in 1920s to fur farms and after the WWII were let go into wilderness. There are about 1 million of them and they are considered invasive species. One cannot keep them or let them back to the wild. I established with the help of the internet that the baby was about 8 weeks old and what he needed to eat and raced to the local Penny to get a baby formula and raw chicken breasts. Brought the food back and used the bird feeding syringe (yes, I have it) to squirt some milk in the little one’s mouth, which at the beginning didn’t go very well. He was growling at me a bit when I touched him with the syringe, but once he understood that the warm food comes from it, he calmed down and started to lick. He loved raw chicken covered in milk too and I started to worry that he ate too much, but he just relaxed and fell asleep. I fed him again in 4 hours and added strawberry to his chicken. He ate some of it too, but chicken and milk were his favourite. While he was sleeping, I was searching the internet for local wildlife rescues which seem to not exist in this area. I found a raccoon rescue group on Facebook, whose members are located mostly in western and central Germany and someone from it pointed me onto someone who knows someone else etc. Anyway, that night I took the little one to a lady who took him to a person who already has two baby raccoons in her rescue and where “my” little one will live from now on. The outcome is both sad and happy. He will be safe, his wounds will be taken care of, but he will never know freedom. I was told by a few rescuers I spoke with, that I shouldn’t give him baby formula because they have runs afterwards, but the formula chosen by me kept his tummy fine. If anyone, ever, finds a baby raccoon and there is no goat milk or a baby cat formula lying around at your home, Bebivita Folgemilch nach dem 6 monat is the one to get. My French friend named him Ricky and the rescue agreed to keep the name.
I saw Charlie on Facebook, advertised by the rescue centre Friend in Ukraine. A few volunteers were driving past the place where he lived, took photos, arranged to get him out and I saw the story. I have decided to get him and find him a nice house in UK. I have just sold my house and knew I was going to California to live there permanently, but I just could not leave him there, to join other dogs at the rescue centre after the awful life that he lived until now. I organised for him to be delivered to Poland where I would collect him. He could travel to UK but it would take much more time, which I didn’t have. He came vaccinated from Ukraine, but because he arrived in EU he had to be vaccinated again. Below is the photo which made me to adopt him. The chain was so short that he spent his life jumping on two legs and the collar has grown into his neck. As a result he had a thick, hairless scar tissue circling his neck, which never disappeared.
When I went to collect him from a Polish vet (with my mother and my other dog Linus), he was very scared and hiding behind furniture. I was surprised how very pretty he was. He was a smaller version of collie, but even prettier. His muzzle wasn’t as long as collie’s and he was a beautiful chocolate colour, with beige markings. I have put him in my car and he vomited after a short while. I was prepared for this, had the similar experience with my other dog, Lucy, who reacted the same way when nervous. We broke our trip and stopped at night at my mother’s cousin’s house. He had a very large garden and I was told it was well fenced and the dog won’t get out. Well, Charlie did. Very early next morning I let him outside and he disappeared. I have checked the property and he was nowhere, but I figured where he squeezed under the fence. I went outside and called him, then drove around the area and nothing. I was very upset but when I came back home there he was, sitting in the garden. So it looked like we were meant for each other after all. We travelled a few more hours and got to my mother’s house. We were in the garden when Linus and Charlie started to play, chasing each other. It was nice to see them both interacting so perfectly and I was happy for Linus who missed my daughter’s dog who was his play partner. Charlie slept that night in the middle of the floor on the carpet. I had a bed for him but he didn’t know what it was for. After a few days of observing Linus in his bed, he worked out what the bed is and from then on slept in comfort. He was very thin and had a bad dandruff, but from now on it was going to be perfect, I thought.
When I arrived back in UK it was very hot and I had no food at home, so we left dogs in the house and went shopping. We came back after about an hour and Charlie was in the garden. When I left I didn’t close the garden gate behind me and he was just hanging out there and was very happy to see us. I didn’t understand what happened. Did I really leave him outside? Am I that scatterbrained? I looked around the house for clues and windows and doors were all closed and there was no way for him to escape. After a while my mother, who was staying in the spare room upstairs, called me to show paw prints on her pillow. She has left her first floor window open and Charlie jumped out on a pergola overgrown with wisteria and then down into the garden. Happy that everything ended well I made myself a mental note to always close windows when leaving the monkey dog in the house. Within a week he settled into our routine of early morning and afternoon walks, napping in the garden and chases with Linus. My other dog Lucy ignored him completely. I booked a third kennel on Queen Mary II to New York for him a few days after his arrival in my house. He was going with us, I didn’t want to part with him, the sweet, graceful and grateful Charlie. About 2 weeks after his arrival in UK he had the first seizure. It was truly awful, especially that I never witnessed anything like this before. He would just seize and not move for about 5 minutes and after coming to, he would be paralysed for at least 2 hours. I took him to the vet and he did what he could, but blood checks and x-rays didn’t show any reason for seizures. I was referred to the clinic of Noel Fitzpatrick (the TV Supervet) and Charlie had a CT scan, the spinal fluid and other checks and it turned out he had granulomatous meningoencephalitis (GME). Small tumors were growing on his brain. The prognosis wasn’t good I was told. Dogs survive 6 months to 2 years. Some, oddly, just get better and live on. He was put on enormous amount of steroids for 6 months. His weight was just 12 kg and he took the dose normally prescribed for adult humans. It helped at first and I was happy he didn’t have seizures during our trip to New York and our drive across USA to California. Once we settled in California he started seizures again, but a different kind. He would shake, wee, spin on his side and foam at the mouth. As I was in the state where people strongly believe in natural remedies and weed is legal I was advised to try him on marijuana or CBD oil. I read up on this as much as possible and started him on the mixture of both. He would get completely stoned at first, so I was lowering marijuana (THC) and adding more CBD oil and arrived at the perfect recipe which helped for some time, but then stopped working.
In California
We never managed to be free of seizures. I would try everything I could find, or was told about by others with the same problem, but the improvement never lasted long. Sometimes he had 3 seizures within 24 hours and then be free of them for a few weeks. Sometimes he would have them every day for a week and be free of them for a month. I have tried protein only food, as apparently children who have seizures respond well to keto diet. It helped at first, but then, as usual, seizures started again. He definitely had them when stressed, like when he had to have some teeth removed. I don’t know if the bad mouth infection was caused by steroids or there was a different reason for it, but the vet was not amused and accused me of not taking a good care of my dog. Charlie was left with 7 teeth after the dental work and during our drive home from vets had yet another seizure in the car. It was truly draining on both, him and on me. I would wake up at night, clean the room after seizures, go back to bed and often he would follow that same night with another seizure. If he had just one seizure during 24 hours he would be fine. If it was more than two he would forget everything. He was scared of me and forgot my other dogs. As a result he was untrainable. With his initial seizures I would sit by him and cry, but with time I was just waiting in my bed for him to end spinning, change his bed and hug him to let him know that I am here and he was okay. His muscles were working hard during seizures and some dogs die during them from heart attacks. Because of all of it I was always ready for him to leave us, but I loved him more than if he was healthy and was very protective of him. Linus was another being who cared about Charlie very much. He adored him and was my alarm clock for Charlie. He always listened to noises Charlie made and even when he just coughed Linus would lift his head up and wait. When Charlie was seizing on the floor Linus would walk around him and make little crying noises. When Charlie was done Linus nudged him with his nose. It usually took two- three minutes for Charlie to unsteadily get back on his feet and Linus was always next to him.
I have decided to go back to Europe after 3 years in California. I was very worried about Charlie’s trip back because he was due for his every 3 year rabies vaccine before our departure. I always thought that the rabies vaccine repeated in Poland in July after he was done in Ukraine in May might have been the cause of his illness, and now he had to have it again. It was a relief when he survived the injection and seemed ok. Maybe the double vaccine wasn’t the reason for his condition then. I will never know. When we arrived in Germany I promised myself that I will settle here for good. No more moving and the stress connected to it. Dogs had a big garden to run around and Charlie loved it. He would bouncily speed along our fence and bark at passers by. Some people were annoyed with it, but I could do nothing about it. I told people about him and put a note on our fence, hoping that my misbehaving dog will be left alone and no one will shout at him. I like to think that he was happy here. We would go for long walks around the lake and he was always very excited about it. He had his brother Linus with him and sometimes both would share one too small bed to chew their toys together. His life ended in August 2020. He was with us just over 4 years then. He fell into coma and had the longest, but gentlest seizure. I put him in his bed and drove him to the vet to end his life. It is always very traumatic to say goodbye to my little friends, but with Charlie it was extra sad because his life was so full of pain and he started it with people who who don’t deserve to be near other creatures. I brought him back home after it was done and the first time ever buried my dog in the garden. I always had them cremated but I wanted to do it myself this time. Linus was with me and I think he understood what happened. He was very depressed for about 10 days and barely ate, but recovered and is his usual cheerful self; the excitable little terrier who once loved his buddy Charlie very much.
I am happier these days. I was vaccinated 12 April, which made me more relaxed. It was a very well organized operation in the old movie house in Pasewalk. Once we were shown inside the building by Budeswehr soldiers, all went very smoothly, polite and professional. The set up inside was designed very sensibly and I spent maybe 20 minutes there in total, including wait time after the vaccination. Hopefully it will work the same way when I am there for the second dose of Moderna vaccine.
We were told that from this week onwards the real spring is springing, plus the builder is finishing the holiday flat. We still had frost last night but that’s it apparently. I hope it’s true and my peach tree in the lower garden will perform well this year. I took this photo a few minutes ago and hope that those beautiful blooms are here not only to be admired but will bear fruit too. I wish I could get rid of the pine growing here (I cannot do anything about multitude of pines on the other side of my fence), but have no heart to cut it. It’s been here a few long years I assume, and hopefully will die a natural death one day. I am not fond of non indigenous greenery anywhere and there are too many conifers and other plants which don’t belong around here. To me they are waste of space.
My garden is still not very tidy. I don’t like to work outside in the cold and left it until now. I am intending to use part of it and leave part of it to wildlife to do their thing. When I walk along my fence checking new lilacs I planted early spring, I hear and see bees. There are many residing in little holes in the soil, so no lawnmower will ride over their homes. I’ll rake dead grass and cut it down by hand here and there.
Above is the view of the lake from the top garden. Peonies (red leaves) are coming out and irises too. They probably need to be thinned and replanted. Have no idea what the yellow flowers are, but it must be something exotic because bees don’t sit on them. I must say that Californian poppies are excellent here, although not indigenous. I just throw seeds around and they grow everywhere, in all kinds of colours and bees love them.
I wrote here two months ago, which is hard to believe. We had incredibly cold spring with almost nightly frosts until recently. Luckily the world is finally turning into a warmer, brighter self and all will be well again. It is very cold inside my house right now because I have decided to get rid of the smelly oil heater, so the only heating is provided by wood burners in my office and the kitchen. The boiler didn’t only smell but was also exceptionally expensive to run. Germany is the country with very pricey utilities. I never paid as much for heating, electricity or water elsewhere. I was researching alternative heating options and it seems that I don’t have enough of roof space and the wrong house positioning to install solar batteries for both heating and hot water, so am having someone next week to look at my other options with solar panels. I would definitely like to use the sun for at least hot water. Air heat pump will probably do the job of providing warmth to the house.
I have a Polish builder here working on the house slowly and I hope for the interior to be finished before summer. I would like to open the business for my customers sooner rather than later. Germany sped up covid vaccinations lately and the herd immunity might allow us to live semi normal lives and small businesses to operate and earn some much needed income again. I was vaccinated with Moderna this week and didn’t experience any side effects except chills just after being vaccinted, which went away the next day.
Some of my favourite birds arrived – “summer” cranes. They are less shy than those who come here for winter from the north, and fly now regularly right above my roof. It gives me such a great joy to observe them. I always worry when they leave in autumn. They fly far distances and many people kill them for fun. My tiny birds still depend on me for food because of the cold weather. My neighbour’s cat Magda comes here too often for my liking. I worry about birds but it was Magda’s house here before the previous owner moved out and left her behind. The house stood empty for a year before I bought it and people next door adopted Magda, so it is understandable that she visits and sometimes sleeps in various places in our courtyard. I just wish she would leave birds alone.
I love cooking, so kitchens are always important to me. When I moved here I have decided that I will live in the part of the house which was unused by the previous owner. There was no heating here, it smelled of dampness and all in all looked depressing. The original 1857 kitchen which was in this unloved part of the house was fairly small with the ladder leading to the attic which was used as storage. I used cupboards from the “new” kitchen that previous owners built (photo below). The fronts of cupboards were orange but the “bones” were good, probably better than Ikea kitchens.
Below is the original 1857 kitchen, which was extended long time ago from the arch towards the window and possibly had the double door in the arch originally (??).
Below is the view away from the window, so it shows how small the room was. The floor tiles were original, but too damaged to be saved. We tiled on top of them. The brown door leads from the small entry hall which leads to the garden. I removed it to gain more space; it was partially eaten by woodworm and smelled really bad anyway.
Below: This is the new view from the window. I had floors tiled with cheap tiles and used orange cupboards are painted grey. I kept the dishwasher and washing machine the owner left behind. They are good makes (Miele and Samsung) so will be with me until they’ll stop working. There is a small pantry behind the narrow doorway. I bought a nice sink and a pretty battery for it. They were not very expensive but look like they were. The cabinet underneath the sink is Ikea one.
The photo above: I love those floor tiles, they look like concrete and fit here really well. I fitted bamboo counter tops. Not very expensive, antiseptic and perform very well. I used those for many years in a few properties and they are easy to clean, last long and need oiling with sesame oil only every 6 months or so. The cabinet housing the oven is Ikea, we made the front for the underneath drawer from the left over bamboo and it ties it all nicely together. I used the mechanism from an old roller blind which was hanging here and glued my favourite oil cloth on it.
The wood stove above is the old Westfalia you can also see in the third photo above. I had it built up with bricks and tiles to keep it warm for longer. There is no other heat source here but this little wood burner performs very well. The chimney it goes to warms up walls and on warmer winter days I use it to warm the kitchen, the dining room and my office. I found the tin bucket I use for wood in one my sheds.
I am very happy with this pipe near the ceiling. The air from the hood is blown outside through it. I wanted something inexpensive that would look industrial and old fashioned and it does, just for a few Euros. Bought new handles for cupboards to make them look old. I painted walls with eco lime paint so walls breath freely. I like to use metro tiles in kitchens and the shower in the bathroom is also tiled with them. Had some left overs so why not use them? Although it didn’t cost me much to renovate it, I love this kitchen. If I was doing it again I would go the same route.
Lakehaus Lebehn 