17 November Jewish Cemetery Weißensee with Umweltladen Mitte

14 November Berlin Zoo between medical appointment and cinema?

10 November Birdwatching Tempelhofer Feld See separate post

9 November “Posterwall” See separate post

2 November Birdwatching in English with VHS in Hasenheide and on Tempelhofer Feld

Lovely walk in great company and the best November-in-Berlin weather possible. Saw many different birds – did not get a chance to photograph so many.

Bonus tip: We finished with a coffee in the very nice cafe in “Spore Initiative” – interesting place and architecture, close to U Bhf Leinestraße.

City walk with Eckehard Heiber, Empor Berlin, 3 November

Interesting as always, although a very large group in which there are always people who can’t keep their mouths shut while Eckehard is talking. Anyway, the weather was just as brilliant as the day before, if a little colder.

Here just a couple of unedited photos from my smartphone.

Afterwards, I went to Humboldt Forum to see the exhibition on Palast der Republic, which I found interesting.

Then an early dinner in vegan Vietnamese restaurant Sora on the way to quiznight “Let’s get Quizical” in Alte Turnhalle, where the team I was on came in fourth out of 22 teams. All in all, a perfect 72nd birthday :-).

IN PROGRESS

First, a multiple-panel I made for a photography course where the assignment was fall foliage, before that had really started appearing in Berlin:

5 October Moorlinse with VHS

My second (or third?) participation in this VHS birdwatching walk, led by Rob Crouch. I have also walked that route by myself several times, and once with a friend, since I now know it well, and even with my pathetic orientation skills do not have to bother with maps and am not likely to get completely lost. It is a very diverse walk with lakes, fields and forest.

There were not that many birds in Moorlinse when we got there mid-morning, but one great white egret I had not seen there before.

A bit later, while walking further on, we saw many geese arriving and descending towards Moorlinse, reportedly for a rest before continuing their travel south.

We also saw two herons circling (or were they actually storks?):

By the way, there were also some large caterpillars on the paths. Thank you to Agata for styling one of them for a photoshoot :-).

Stopped for a break at Karpfenteiche before proceeding towards Bogensee:

At Bogensee, I was lucky to get some photos of a great white egret. For a moment, I thought it might be the one from Moorlinse escaping from the onslaught of geese, but after the walk, I went back to Moorlinse and saw that egret still there, seemingly unperturbed by the geese.

Below are the kinds of photos I also find interesting, but I have included some pretty landscape photos above since those are what most people seem to like. (“Pretty” is not my kind of thing. I find most of it quite puke-worthy):

Somewhere along the way, we also saw a cow and a buzzard (the latter actually too far away to be photographed with my slightly limited equipment.

And finally, the view over Moorlinse after the walk:

And this youtube video, and this one.

7 October Tierpark Berlin

It may be a bit of a stretch to categorise a visit to Tierpark Berlin as a nature walk, but there are many different trees, bushes, grasses – in addition to the zoo animals. I went there in search of some ICM photos for the Blende2 assignment. Those will be posted in a separate post. Here are some of the more “normal” photos I took:

9 October NABU Spandau Bezirksgruppe – Vogel(stimmen)wanderung am Neunten, at Großer Spektesee

A super enjoyable walk in the most perfect weather.

The sunrise as seen from my balcony on 26 October

A walk along Landwehrkanal to Urbanhafen just after sunrise on 27 October

And a photo walk ably organised by DJ in InterNations Photography Group – a very nice event, starting with a cup of good coffee in Mehringdamm, followed by a walk around and to the top of Viktoriapark, and ending with a tasty meal in Mama Rosas Taqueria in Mehringdamm.

Photographed two white flowers on the way there.

One on 28 September with VHS Pankow in Freizeitpark Marienfelde, and one on 29 September, found in Umweltkalender, in Britzer Garten.

I am finding it a little bit strange that they would organise the one tomorrow on the day of the – fiftieth! – Berlin Marathon. For anyone living inside the route, not to mention those who live north of Berlin and somehow have to make it across the city, it might be difficult if not impossible to get there, since many bus routes are suspended and many streets blocked off. (And no, I am not complaining about the marathon like so many others – it is a feast, if you ask me, and it is one weekend each year, so either just stay at home or go out and enjoy the spectacle and stop whining).

Anyway, both walks were very pleasant. In Marienfelde, we saw a heron and a largeish flock of long-tailed tits, as well as a buzzard and a kestrel.

In Britzer Garten, we saw five jays at the same time in one tree, several types of woodpecker and tit, and a sparrowhawk. On my way out I saw a bird of prey being escorted to the nearest exit by two crows.

The concert took place in Johannische Kirche Blankensee. Philharmonische Orchester des Staatstheaters Cottbus, led by GMD Alexander Merzyn, played Bruckner’s Fifth Symphony. Lovely concert although I am now not sure why at some point Bruckner was one of my all-time favourites.

Before the concert, there was time for a walk in the area.

Continued from previous post.

IN PROGRESS

Day five (29 August): Breakfast and katamaran ferry from central Hamburg to Helgoland in the morning

Lovely ferry ride appealing to my obsession with all things martime, and resulting in an overdose of photos below.

First impression of Helgoland: Duty free shops everywhere, and people from the ferry darted towards them as if their lives depended on it.

Secondly: don’t spend the night in Helgoland. Accommodation is GROSSLY overpriced and an even worse rip-off than Kassel during Documenta. Base yourself in Cuxhaven, take an early ferry to Helgoland, walk around the island, see “Lange Anna”, take the ferry to Düne and walk around there, then take the ferry back to Cuxhaven.

That is all the time you need. Beautiful as it is, there is no reason to linger in Helgoland. You will only find junk food (unless you have booked in advance in one of the two restaurants with real food), and bad coffee.

By the way, it is ironic that this island sells itself on its fresh air, and then it is full of chainsmokers.

Here some photos from the ferry ride and upon arrival.

Day six (30 August): Helgoland

First too many photos of the cliffs, and then too many photos of the gulls:

Day seven (31 August): A walk around Helgoland-Düne and later the Katamaran ferry to Cuxhaven

Day eight: in Cuxhaven

A funny thing about Cuxhaven: You are not allowed to eat between 9.30 and 12.30. At all. In the hope of getting back to my routine of only eating twice a day (of necessity, as outlined elsewhere on this site – not because it amuses me), I skipped breakfast, went out quite early, and started to look for a café around mid-morning. None were open. I then tried a couple of hotels in the hope that their breakfast buffets were still open, and everywhere the reaction was the same: “What – you want to eat NOW? But it is 11.00 o’clock!?! – you will not find anything to eat anywhere till 12.30 at the earliest”, looking at me as if I had just dropped down from another planet. Very strange. So the concept of intermittent fasting, a by now common weight (and health) management strategy especially for people over 50, has not reached Cuxhaven yet.

Another thing that has not reached Cuxhaven yet is that people need wifi. The one in my hotel was weak and unstable and close to useless. The hotel staff acted as if I just had to accept that as a fact of life (but life in which century?).

So my idea of spending a couple of weeks here some time in winter has been dropped. Instead, I will try to find out if Bremerhaven might have moved a bit closer to the the 21st century.

Anyway, I ran into some kind of kite-surfing festival and took a million photos.

Day nine, 2 September: Boat tour through the harbour to sandbanks with seals, then trai back to Berlin in the afternoon.

Many second anniversaries this summer.

Two years since diagnosis; two years since I was told I would most likely not need chemo; two years since final decision on double mastectomy without reconstruction; two years since Max my dog moved to his new home – that was schlimm but I had invaluable help from my neighbours Sabine and Frank, and I was so glad my brother and sister-in-law were here that week).  I am already past those anniversaries and coming up is the two years after surgery, and a week later final confirmation that all margins were clear and I would not even need radiation.

Another steep learning curve and meeting new friends in similar situations. Many thoughts still going through my head. Why am I so lucky when women much younger than me are not? About trying to live as healthily as possible with the dual purpose of a) avoiding recurrence (which they say is not likely to happen at my age – in other words I will have died of other causes, but as I increasingly see in other examples – cancer is totally unpredictable – positively as well as negatively), and b) mitigating the side effects of the hormone blockers which some call the evil, turbo-aging pill.

Thoughts about the inequality in health care – even between neighbouring countries like Denmark and Germany – from what I hear from women in Denmark, I am definitely in a better position and could not have been in better hands, and that is the sentiment I still feel. Excellent follow-up and support from both gynecologist and GP, and even from my ophthalmologist 😊 who, when I was a bit anaemic post-surgery advised against iron supplements and told me one spoonful of Molasses (who knew?) would have my iron levels back to normal within days. Small detail, but demonstrates an interest.

About being beyond flat and trying to find clothing styles that camouflage the concavities a bit, rather than wearing the highly uncomfortable and impractical, albeit health-insurance-paid prosthetics and wondering why nothing a bit more comfortable has been invented yet and why we who no longer have breasts but are alive have to suffer further from saving society the costs of complications, implant syndrome etc.

But also about people who I thought were friends who fell totally silent when told about my diagnosis, as in NOT ONE WORD, which I guess might be better than “if there is anything I can do …..” which usually does not mean anything anyway. And not only that, later, even now, I get questions like can I recommend an exhibition, or a restaurant. Just like that. Not even good to see you back on your feet so quickly, for example. As if nothing happened.

I will try to organise all of these thoughts in the following, but I am well aware that I might be repeating myself since much of it is already described in this and subsequent categories: https://www.hellemoller.eu/category/a-bump-in-the-road-summer-2022/.