Random Sculpture in the German Woods

Germany's forests are laced with small roads and paths.  Many of the paths are well-marked with symbols which indicate the trail system to which the path belongs; in fact, the European Distance Trail (which runs from northern Norway to south of Rome) goes right through the center of our village.  It's marked with the white X.  We've walked parts of it (but have no intention of walking the whole thing!)

The white X trail marker on our street in Gaiberg.  Follow it to Norway or Italy!

Trail markings on a pole in nearby Neckargemund.

We do enjoy walking and running the paths and have purchased several maps (scales of 1:50,000 and 1:20,000 are great for following trails) and also use Google Earth to check out where we want to go (and where we've been.)

A path near our house has become one of Andy's regular running routes.  One day I followed along behind him, walking half the distance while he ran ahead and turned around, and here's what I noticed:

Looks like a random, broken-off tree, right?

Let's walk closer.

A chain-saw artist has been at work!

Whooooo left this surprise for me?

(Sorry, couldn't resist.)

When I got home, I asked Andy if he had ever noticed the owl while running.  He hadn't, and it took him several more times out on the trail to see it, even though he had looked at these pictures.  It's just far enough off the trail that a runner would zoom by and not notice it.  

Sometimes it's nice to be slow.  

Slow Running

When I say I run, it is perhaps a slight exaggeration.  My plodding slowness, designed to gradually build up my endurance and my tolerance for the aches and pains of running, is only just barely "running."  The good thing about slow running is the opportunity to notice the world around me.  Here's a road I "ran" down in March (and walked back up on the return leg.)

At the time, I thought I was lost.  Consulting the photo I took of the trail map of our area, I realized I had made a wrong turn and was approaching a different village than I expected.  Okay, fine, I'll plod down to the next fence post, then turn around for my trip back up the hill towards home.

Hello, what's this?

 A field full of fuzziness!  Can you say, "adorable"?

But wait, there's more!

Squeeeeeeeee!  A baby, too!!!!  With a little coat on!!!!  Hi, baby!  You are the cutest!

Look how fuzzy.

We have a saying at our house, thanks to Tory.  "I want a llama!"  (The inflection while saying this line has to be just a teensy bit on the whiny side, but not enough to truly be a whine.)  The line is usually applied to rodents:  "I want a prairie dog!"  "I want a chinchilla!"  "I want a degu!"  We do, however, also love llamas, alpacas, and their relatives, so I was thrilled to see these darlings.

Plus, it gave me an excuse to slow my running even further. Always a good day when that happens.