Well, I decided today that it was time to get back to blogging. I learned of the November blogging challenge where you blog for 30 days in November. I may be optimistic, but even I think that that would be utopian for me at this point. But I want to get back into blogging. I even thought about starting anew completely, and making one blog again out of my two as the other one is even more neglected than this one and it is not always possible to keep the babbling apart from serious thought. That decision hasn’t been made however. We’ll see. I only noticed earlier today that I have indeed written interesting pieces for that other blog in the past and that they seem so distant now.
I am in a weird place in my life right now. When I think about where I was a year ago it absolutely seems like the life of another person. I was busy, I had a social life and I was living my life somewhat independently. More so than I do now, anyway. Unemployment doesn’t treat me well at all and I feel like my life isn’t at all in my hands at the moment. On top of it all my love life is completely screwed up… I haven’t yet lost my optimism completely, though 
There must be a place for me somewhere and I am determined to find it.
I thought I’d try to sum up what I have been up to since I last wrote with some pictures. There was the trip to the Externsteine. It was cold and rainy, even though it was late July. I spent hours with a friend sitting up there just talking, first on the back on the far right and later on top of the small rock you can just make out on the left.
The Externsteine
The lake at the Externsteine
I was at an amazing zoo with friends, of which I only have one picture at hand right now:
me in the so-called "Bush"
And then on a weekend trip at the North Sea and on Helgoland
some people are photogenic... some ... not (on the car-ferry on the Weser)
on the ferry again, this is the Weser, a river, not yet the ocean. But from that shore over there the majority of immigrants to the USA departed in the 19th century
on the dyke in Cuxhaven
a container ship coming from Hamburg, presumably... this is the mouth of the river Elbe
On Helgoland, the ships, we came with the one in the far back
Helgoland's most famous landmark, Die lange Anna (the long Anna) and the cliffs
it is a truly charming little island and worth a visit!
Then our little city hosted a big festival with around 10 000 guests and a beer tent that beggars all description.. it was just so huge… It is called Bundesfest and it is the annual festival of a big umbrella organisation of traditional clubs, Schützenvereine. It is hard to explain, I guess it has to be witnessed. I have a weird relationship with those festivals as I grew up with them and usually feel kind of at home in that atmosphere but on the other hand it’s just one more excuse to party, drink beer and exclude all that smells foreign.
my sister, on the right, getting ready for their performance
in the parade, I think they came from around Cologne, poor little girls got drenched 
trying to capture the size of the tent
And that’s about it. I have some more pictures to share, hopefully soon. I made them with my dad’s analogue reflex camera so they still have to get developed and the film isn’t full yet (how retro =D ). But there also was some knitting:
a new beret =) first time Noro Noro Kureyon which I got on ebay. I love the colors. ^^
Salem Hooded Jacket which I love. The details escape me tonight but it was a Merino blend if I remember correctly. I knit this while studying for the oral exams which I found funny because one of my topics in History was witchcraft persecutions and trials in the USA ^^
Catkin, which I simply couldn’t resist a few weeks ago. The pattern is so gorgeous, knitting it was tiresome but worth it, I love it! =)
On the needles at the moment are two secret Christmas projects, gloves, a hat (in a crazy, unicorn-colour yarn that was a present and that I just had to try ^^), a scarf, a shawlette that I only needs its ends woven in … and of course some hibernating projects pictures will follow
