Despite The Boring Weather, It's Hard To Beat The Place Where We're Camping Tonight On Beauty. That's

Despite the boring weather, it's hard to beat the place where we're camping tonight on beauty. That's Chanel's football at the lower right corner. It's in a net I made so I could strap it to the backpack. It was the first kind of toy I saw her enjoy, and since then I've only seen her get excited over sticks being thrown and footballs. She will prefer someone else's ball over her own. I had to chase her around a big field once when she found some kids brand new football and of course proceeded to bite into it. She seemed to find the chase simply fantastic, so it took me a while to retrieve their ball. Then I put it up a tree, between three branches, where the kids would be able to see it, and went towards our own ball. When I came back, the ball had fallen out of the tree (I thought), and the whole thing repeated itself. This time, though, as soon as I had put the ball up the tree, thinking I had pushed it firmly in place, Chanel ran up the side of the tree, bopped it out with her nose, grabbed it and ran. I finally got it so far up the tree that she couldn't reach it, and even though I got her to play with our ball, she'd still sometimes return to the tree and look up at the new ball, trying to solve the riddle of how she could get at it. I took a couple of pictures of Chanel and the ball tree, but they were on the phone when it broke, and hadn't been uploaded to Dropbox. So you'll just have to imagine it :)

I just felt like sharing how my view got gradually better at that place where I was staying a few nights ago. And the pictures really do not do it justice. It's one of the few nights where instead of reading or watching tv on my phone, I just sat with my tent wide open and watched the Rhine, listing to the sounds of birds and water and people, and smelling the fresh air and the wet grass. It had rained heavily a few hours earlier, and so there were fewer bugs and everything felt fresher.

The kindness of strangers. Everyone loves Chanel. This particular gentleman was convinced that I didn't feed her enough, which meant he would use every opportunity to feed her some of the food and treats meant for his own cat. But to be fair, the cat didn't really look like it was going to starve to death any day soon. This is Chanel's favourite kind of attention. I wish the picture could show how fast her tail was wagging.

Today all four of my weather apps said the same thing - rain all day, and lots of it. However, the rain only lasted until around ten, and then I didn’t see a drop the rest of the day. Even now, tucked into my tent, there’s nothing outside. Now the apps are saying the rain is coming tomorrow or tonight. So I’ve placed my tent on a slight ridge, and strung it up pretty tight. I hope it pours tonight, so I can walk in dry weather tomorrow.

Maybe the four-leaf clover I found this morning had something to do with it?

Also, I’m not sure if that lizard is local to the area, or an escaped pet off on a whirlwind adventure.

I should have delayed this walk even more than I already have. Then I could have walked happily through the Rheinland living of off grapes and apples and cherries. And maybe the weather would have been better...

My sister asked me to put more selfies on my blog, so here goes. The first picture is while hiking. I was almost at the top of a mountain I'd been walking up the previous twenty minutes. So I look quite sweaty. And just before anyone asks, I doubt there'll ever be a full-body picture of me in my hiking gear, especially all strapped up with my backpack on, because I look like a massive dork. Seriously. I would not want that on the internet. It's bad enough that the Germans, famous for wearing socks in sandals and tucking the waistline of their trousers up around their nipples, see me. Okay, I admit that's just a very Danish stereotype of German tourists. Most of the Germans I've seen have been fully capable of dressing like normal people. But since I've pretty much thought "lol, loser" every time I've seen another hiker, I guess it's just impossible to look good in hiking gear. The last four of the pictures are of Chanel and I having arrived at the campground. Chanel enjoys the sun without having to walk in it, while I enjoy my beer, and the chance to free my feet. If I look tired in the last photo, it's because I am.