Celebrating libraries

maipenquynh on 29. November 2024

For a long time, I didn't really realise that I had a heart for libraries. They were there and I went there. That's it, no more and no less. That's what I thought. The fact that I'm now a bit of a fan of libraries and want to blog about them - I wouldn't have thought it.

It's all the more amusing to look back and see in the photo archive that this interest was already there much earlier. I just didn't see it.

Nowadays it's completely different. I am very aware of libraries. Wherever I go, libraries are a sight worth seeing (just like bookshops, but this is another topic). Thus, I look for libraries and visit them subsequently. Or if I happen to walk past one, I take a quick look inside. I consciously look around to see how the library is organised, try out the seating possibilities and take some photos every now and then.

Thus, I want to celebrate libraries a little with some text and photos. Where will the journey lead to? I don't know. But it can only be good, right?

Fittingly, I wrote this text in a public library. Quite nice.

Rheingau and Rheinhessen: Wine life

maipenquynh on 11. October 2024

I don't want to trivialise alcohol consumption. But if I want to talk about the region in which I now live, I can't avoid wine and what goes with it. Slowly but steady, I am absorbing the knowledge and information about the way of life in this region. The following are personal impressions and supplied without liability; please understand and correct if necessary.

~

I'm beginning to understand the regions (plural!) here and what they are called. I learnt that Mainz is in Rheinhessen. This is very misleading, as Mainz is also in Rhineland-Palatinate (a german state, Hesse is another state). The Rheingau is its neighbour and is actually in Hesse. Just mentioning things rarely helps me understanding and picturing things so here is a map of german wine-growing areas on Wikipedia: map. Rheinhessen and Rheingau are marked there. Maps are very helpful so I recommend taking a quick look.

When the days get longer and the temperatures rise, there are wine festivals everywhere. And when I say everywhere, I'm not exaggerating. There's one happening every weekend. There are so many wineries around!

Without being able to make a geographical mapping of what belongs where or where it comes from - important for wine or grape juice: Spundekäs. Spundekäs is made out of cream cheese and our favourite way to eat it is with crispy salted pretzels. If it is not at home but outside our home, we love to sit on an ale-bench in a Straußenwirtschaft in the warm sunlight. It does have its own charm.

I have brought along a few photos of wine events I have attended. A little insight into my wine life in the Rheingau and Rheinhessen.

Straußenwirtschaft is tidied up as it had rained shortly before

Wikipedia is great: The (german) article about Spundekäs says that it's coming from northern Rheinhessen. „Straußenwirtschaft“ seems to be a term from Rheinhessen, though I have seen it in Rheingau as well.

Photo 1+2
Camera + lens: Minolta Dynax 7000i + Minolta AF 50 mm f/1.4
Film: ILFORD FP4 PLUS
Development + scan: ON FILM LAB

Photo 3
Camera + lens: Olympus XA2
Film: Kodak Gold 200
Development + scan: ON FILM LAB