Lots of Tomatoes

The tomatoes really started coming as we were going on vacation, and we ended up leaving a lot behind for friends to eat while we were gone. We also managed to get a load into the dehydrator in between our two trips to Germany and Spain.

Diversity in Tomatoes

One of the things I really enjoy about growing heirloom tomatoes is the diversity. It’s not so much which one tastes the best, or worrying about growing one that isn’t as good as the others, it’s just really nice to have a mix of different kinds and tastes. I’m growing about 25 different ones this year, and while a few were a little disappointing, nearly all have something that makes them special.

Some of my favorites so far are Black Sea Man, Matt’s Wild Cherry, Brown Berry, Hillbilly Flame (the large one in the front of the picture), Emerald Evergreen (the green one in the middle), Nebraska Wedding and Taxi.

For those of you attending the Oxford meeting, I’ll probably have some seeds with me then. For anyone else who would like some seeds, send me an email and we’ll try to work something out. I saved some seeds from several of the varieties, although I’m not sure I have enough for everyone who might want some. I can’t send seeds to the US! If you live in the US, I can tell you where to buy seeds if you’re interested.

Festa de Grácia

Grácia is one of Barcelona’s neighborhoods, and by luck we were in Barcelona during their annual street festival.

The neighbors on different streets get together and decorate their street according to a theme.  I think there were around 10 or 15 participating streets this year, and we didn’t make it around to all of them, but a few of the ones we did see were really spectacular.

Here was one street that set up a machine to blow suds:

Grácia Festival

Grácia Festival

The theme of this street was laundry hanging out to dry:

Grácia Festival

This street was celebrating winter:

Grácia Festival

Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona City Beach

This is more of a beach if you are looking for a sun vacation. Above is a picture of Barcelona’s city beach.

Most of our holiday was spent in Spain this year. Steph and I both studied Spanish for a number of years, but hardly get to use it. We make a point of going to Spain from time to time, so we don’t lose it completely. We both like Barcelona, and there are frequently cheap airfares there. The official language in Barcelona is not Spanish, rather Catalan, but Spanish is widely spoken. Catalan is related to Spanish and often understandable if you speak Spanish.

If you go to Barcelona you can’t help but seeing some Gaudi. Here are two pictures from Park Güell, home to Gaudi for a while and where some of his art is featured.

Here’s Steph in front of the famous Gaudi Lizard:

Steph in Park Güell

Here’s one of the buildings in the park:

Gaudi Building

There was a neighborhood festival while we were there, and I’m going to put some pictures of that in a separate post.

German Islands

We’re back!

First we went a few days to the northern part of Germany, a region called East Friesland.  The province of Friesland proper and West Friesland both reside in the Netherlands, and we have spent a lot of time there.  The purpose of this trip was to have a look at the German side of the area that shares a lot of the same culture, history and natural beauty.  All through this area, on both sides of the border, are very friendly and easy going people.

By historical definition, Friesland extends through Poland, the Baltics and a small part of Russia across the border from Estonia.  Friesland also includes a small piece of southern Denmark.

The highlight was trips to two of the nearby islands, Heligoland and Norderney.

Here are some of Heligoland’s cliffs.

Heligoland

On both sides of the Dutch/German border the old languages of Fries and Low German are still spoken a bit, making it interesting for language buffs. The common greeting there is the Low German or Fries ‘Moin’.  By itself it’s a greeting, but if you literally translate it it can mean either ‘Good’ or ‘Day’.  That means you sometimes hear people saying ‘Moin, Moin’, meaning ‘Good Day’.  It’s a very funny word and sometimes bothers people who believe language must be something precisely defined, including many of their fellow countrymen.  This is one of the reasons Low German didn’t really survive as a language, because it is so loosely defined and very fragmented with lots of different dialects.

Fries is interesting as a language because it’s the only language spoken in modern times that has elements of old English and Scots within it.  An example of how closely related to English it is, is the Fries word ‘tjiis’.  This means cheese and it’s pronounced the same in both languages.  There is a Fries saying that goes ‘Bread butter and Green Cheese, Good English, Good Fries’.  If you use a search engine like Google, you can find the Fries language version of this that’s spelled differently but pronounced the same.

Very little English is spoken in this part of Germany, making it a bit of a challenge because our German is very limited.  It was only a three hour drive from Amsterdam.

Here is Heligoland’s harbor.

Heligoland

Here is a picture of the dunes next to the island.

Heligoland

This is the beach on the north shore of Norderney.

Norderney

On both islands, as well as the nearby mainland, there was loads of nature to be had.  The area is great for bird watchers.  As any northern European will tell you, usually without any prompting, the area is not good if you want a sun vacation.  The beaches were gorgeously clean and lightly used.  Walking along the sand you can feel fresh shells crunching under your feet that have recently washed up.  Not a speck of litter to be found anywhere.  While the temperature was very pleasant, it did rain from time to time while we were there.

Heligoland is a duty free zone, and is a popular destination for people wanting to stock up on their tax free allowances.  Tobacco and alcohol are significantly cheaper there, and the cost of the €30 boat ticket can be completely recovered if you return with your full allowances.  This made the island a little on the commercial side, and also meant the boat schedule didn’t allow for much sightseeing because most people weren’t there for that purpose.  The boat trip was 2 hours each way through rough seas.  Each table on the boat sat about 4 people and had a stack of 10 barf bags, which a few people were certainly using.

Norderney was a nicer island to visit, with a shorter and smoother boat trip.  It was also a much more popular and busier tourist destination.

As well as the islands we drove through the villages on the mainland which were also pretty and friendly.

Vacation

We’re off for a couple of weeks.  First a short visit just over the border in Germany, then a longer visit to Spain.  I might have occasional Internet access but please excuse the delays in answering emails and approving comments with links in them, which may have to wait until I get back.