cottonwood, military spy bases, and nazi schools

I have been sick all week and then some with a nasty cold. I couldn't go to work and I basically had to stay in bed all day, which is pretty relaxing and fun for the first day or so, but after that it feel like a tedious form of punishment. So when Luke suggested another day trip this Saturday to Teufelsberg in Grunewald, it was all the excuse I needed to get out of the house.

Perusal our destination looked very clear on the map but when we got there, we wandered vaguely in the forest for what felt like hours before we finally stumbled upon this place. The steep path up was canopied by ethereal cottonwood and felt very much like another fairy land. We were the only souls about.

Finally we saw the white domes and knew we had found the compound. Hidden in the middle of this dense forest is Teufelsberg, an abandoned spy base built by the US military to keep tabs on the former GDR. If that weren't intriguing enough, it was built on top of a man made mound of old World War II rubble, and at the very base is a former Nazi technical college that was too hard to destroy so they just built up. As a result, they created the highest point in all Berlin (the better to spy on you with, my dear).

The site has been abandoned for years and in a vain attempt to keep people out, it is surrounded by three fences topped with barbed wire. These measure are still not enough to keep out vandals, tourists, and other interested parties who are not afraid to use wire cutters and the cover of darkness to get in and do some real exploring. There were hundreds of cuts, and repairs to the fence that it began to look like a piece of war rubble as well.

We walked around the entire fenced compound for a long time, but did not go in. Luke did some sound recordings of the canvas on the domes flapping in the wind. Birds were singing, the sun was out, and the cottonwood swayed in the breeze. It was beautiful.

I hope you have some adventures this weekend too.
xokimberlee

winter days soon gone

While everyone else has been cursing it, I still love this winter. But I get it: the relentless snow and cold, people shuffling carefully on icy sidewalks, chapped lips, layers, layers, and layers of clothing and forgetting you have a body under there, slush and hardened crusts of old dirty snow covering everything. I just haven't had a winter in 6 years so I am still holding on. Next year, I am sure I will be singing the same tune as everyone else.

This weekend the sun came out and everything started to melt into urban slushy soup. Maybe spring is soon here? I feel a little disappointed.

I know NZ is the opposite now; humid, sticky, too hot. Its hard to imagine from all the way over here but I will say it anyway: Keep cool everyone.

xokimberlee

{k4}

Dress,
Drops.
Ah.
Even though everything is sticky and hot and humid, I knit.
Enjoyed this knit very very much - on 3.25 mm needles, my favorite size.
The fine alpaca drapes beautifully.

Artichoke. Flower.
The purple is really astonishing.
Luminous.


-Lies

Watermelon/play

Enjoy the weekend
-Lies

{k3}

Moutarde de Meaux
- mustard of Meaux, the outstandingly yummy French one -
is the color of my finished knit number 3 of the year.
A sideways knit cardy for Noor.
Pattern and alpaca yarn La Droguerie.
got it from this lovely shop.
It is really simple.
It is really perfect.
And yes those perty tomatoes and peaches are homegrown.
Ah summer!

<
O o oh this is magically beautiful : Froken O.
>

Have a lovely week now
-Lies

on the needles, w.i.p.

yes I am finally knitting again for the first time in years.
and it feels good.

The process of knitting still amazes me. Making a whole bunch of knots and loops with string and long pointy needles? Who would think that would work!?! but it does.

This is my first go with lace knitting, and thanks to youtube tutorials and this pattern, I may just pull it off. (I have modified the pattern so I am knitting more vertically than horizontally. because cast 238 stitches?!?! oh no.)

In other news I recently got a new visa for Berlin that allows me to stay for 3 more years. We may not stay that long, but yippeeee!

keep well,
xokimberlee