Atmospheric phenomena

On our vacation, we saw two atmospheric phenomena and were able to capture them: a halo and a green flash. Actually, we saw both of them twice respectively. Read more on
asterythms.net - halo, green flash.

Horizons (the moon touches your shoulder ...)

THE MOON TOUCHES YOUR SHOULDER (Porcupine Tree)






All pictures taken by N. Leiter, June 2009. See more here ...

Fire bean news

The left pictures are all labeled with the photography date, the right pictures were taken today. I have put all the beans from the glass into the soil on the balcony which hopefully enables them to spread out more.

The picture below was an experiment with my "Super Macro" function of my camera.

"World Fire Bean Championship" :)

When I was a child, my favourite book was: "Linnéa und die schnellste Bohne der Stadt" ("Linnéa and the fastest bean of the town") which is a book about flowers & plants. The explanations about how flowers grow are child-oriented and the book includes a lot of ideas for having fun with plants. For example, "organizing" a championship with various beans and lentils, giving the names and then seeing which one is the first to sprout and fastest to grow. :) I loved the book and read it at least 100 times. I even typed parts of it on an old typewriter of my grandparents just for fun.

The title "fastest bean of the town" refers to a fire bean. As a child, I only grew the red kidney beans. Until a couple of days ago, I had not seen real fire beans. Since I want to have a nice green tendril plant on our balcony this summer, I purchased some fire beans. Don't ask me why on earth they are called "Lady Di" fire beans! I did not know that they have such a marbled look. So lovely!!! I have put some of the beans in a pot with soil on the balcony. However, I also wanted to see some of them "hatch out". :) So, here is my fire bean championship in a glass:

Some more tea reviews

Finally, I will review all the teas I have tasted recently. I have stopped taking pictures since I am both too lazy and think that the pictures all turned out rather similar anyway. I will only write down a few notes, primarily for myself. Soon we will be at the North Sea again and will purchase tea. We might also attend a real teatasting. When we are in Hamburg, we plan to visit the Botanical Garden, especially the Japanese garden area with a teahouse. I can't wait!
Here are my short green tea reviews:

JAPAN BANCHA - SUMMERLEAF (Green tea, Tee Manufaktur)
Looong ago, in February or March we tasted this tea. The Tee Manufaktur sent us a generous sample of this tea! Usually, a sample is enough for 1l, this sample is enough for at least one more litre. The green Bancha tea is a standard tea in Japan. According to the highly recommended book "Tea Classified" this tea is beneficial to the health of the teeth due to its high fluoride content. However, I think all green teas are beneficial to this purpose. My gingiva has improved noticeably since I have been drinking green tea. Be that as it may, the Bancha is among the stronger teas but, in my opinion, a rather mild strong tea. I think it is a tea good for drinking alone, for accompanying lunch meals as well as sweets or cookies. I guess that this is why this economically priced tea is quite popular in Japan. Another advantage is that it does not have so much theine, therefore it is an ideal tea for the time between lunch time and dinner. I am planning to purchase a Bancha when we are going to Sylt.

CHINA LIN YUN WHITE DOWNY OOLONG (Oolong tea, Tee Manufaktur)
This was our first Oolong tea which I ordered for drinking in the evenings since it does not have so much theine. It smells pleasantly smoked and has a slight smoked aftertaste. My notes say that it goes well with strong cheese. It's a nice tea but I would still like to taste some other Oolongs as well.

FORMOSA CHUN MEE - EDLE AUGENBRAUE (Green tea, Tee Manufaktur)
Chun Mee apparently means something like "Precious Eyebrow" ("Edle Augenbraue"). Because of this name, I expected more from this tea. I remember that I was not quite enthusiastic about this tea. It was ok though. The taste is slightly smoked, similar to the Oolong tea above but a little bit milder. My notes say that I liked the Oolong taste better.

SYLTER - GRÜNTEEPFUND (Green tea blend, Tee Manufaktur)
This green tea blend smells similar to my beloved Lungkaal blend (which has become a daily tea accompanying lunch by the way) but is a little bit stronger. Nonetheless, it is as pleasantly "milky" as my Lungkaal (I described the "milky" effect of Lungkaal here). My notes say that it is a welcome change. I might purchase this one.

CHINA GU ZHANG MAO JIAN (Green tea, Tee Manufaktur)
I have just tasted this one today and must say, I will not drink the whole pot! It is as strangely vegetably as the Sencha Kukicha. Not my cup of tea ... ;)

You can buy all teas (as always) at: Tee Manufaktur Sylt.

Maiglöckchen / Lily of the Valley

The German word Maiglöckchen can be translated as
"May bell flower".

Thursday, when jogging, I saw a few blooms of lilies of the valley peeking out of the green. As I saw them only in one place. Since the other long line of the edge of the forest showed the greater stitchwort flower (große Sternmiere) only, I later thought I had mistaken closed white buds of the stitchwort flower for the lily of the valley. Yesterday, I brought my camera along. And indeed! No illusion! There were a few lilies of the valley!!! :) I would love to see an ocean of lily of the valley blooms which must have been more common in the past. I might have to look for them at different places. I have also read that you could grow them in a pot on the balcony. Maybe next year!

Back in bl ... pink :D

pictures taken by Frank Leiter 2009

click on picture for enlarged version

The double cherry blossoms are back in bl ... uhm pink again. :D They are so lovely. As every year. And in the evening they spray a wonderful fragrance.

Cherry blossoms in recent years:
2008: 28 April 2008 (see entry)
2007: 15 April 2007 - cool just like this year!!! (see entry)
2006: 08 May 2006