Getting back to Normal

Thank you, thank you,

for all your kind words and thoughts regarding Jewel.

It has been a very sad time for us,

and your comments have meant a lot to Mike and I.

It has been a period of readjustment

of life without Jewel.

On the afternoon that Jewel died,

Mike and I were reminiscing about her,

when the wind started to blow the open window.

I got up to close it and as I looked down at the road outside,

I could see hailstones the size of golf balls,

not falling,

but catapulting into the road below.

They were coming down with such force

that Mike and I

dashed round the house

closing all the shutters on the windows.

I later mopped up a bucketful of water

from the balcony caused by the hailstones.

We later learned from friends

that not only cars had been damaged by the hailstones,

but houses too.

A few miles along the river,

the hailstones had weighed just under one kilogram,

about 1.9 lbs.

Car windscreens had been smashed,

bodywork had been dented.

But not only that,

roofs of houses had been damaged,

and in one unfortunate village,

the hailstones had caused so mush damage to the houses

that people had to be evacuated.

Some of these houses are having to be knocked down.

Added to that was the terrible hurt caused to animals,

many being killed,

and others having to be put out of their misery by vets.

It sounds unbelievable,

but we happened to take a bike ride

out that way and passed a different village

where several roofs had been covered with plastic.

We have also seen the damage done to cars.

A windscreen smashed of a car parked in our village,

and a back window covered over with plastic on a car that we followed for a while.

Our friend who has a car workshop

has been inundated with repairing windscreens.

We have never seen the like before.

Unfortunately,

that seemed to mark the change in the weather here,

which has now become cooler.

Typically,

some friends arrived on Tuesday.

I haven't been out yet,

but today looks decidedly cooler still, and dull.

September marks a busy time on the Mosel.

It's when the main wine festivals take place.

Last weekend it was Bernkastel's festival.

It is the largest in this area.

Mike and I went along on Saturday evening

to watch the fireworks.

They mark a battle which took place

when Napolean sailed up the river and fired on the castle.

The castle of course retaliated.

So the display focuses on the castle and the riverside.

It was lovely.

I heard a group of Americans saying how good it was.

The photo was taken last year

is of the castle overlooking the river.

A beautiful setting for the fireworks.

I have had to use a photo from last year

as unfortunately,

I have broken the camera,

again!

I haven't been using the computer much lately

and it will be a few days yet before I will be using it regularly.

But then I will get round to visit you all.

So in the meantime,

thank you once again for visiting

and your kind comments, they mean a lot.