Sunday Scenes- June 12

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 Our Sunday morning photo shoot.

 We enjoyed eating our lunch outdoors in the enclosed back yard. I'm totally loving these outdoor meals without wind, flies or mosquitoes.  Although supposadly there really are bugs here, the doors & windows do not have screens on them, so I know they cannot be as prevalent as we have at home!

 After a Sunday afternoon rest, Frederik took Ruth and I out exploring on the bikes.  Neither Ruth or I had been bike riding for at least 7 years, so we were hoping we would manage!  I've mentioned all the bike riding we see here, well, it's not just the young ones.  We see lots of older people on bikes here, both natives & tourists.  (and hey, I may be getting better at this selfie photo taking?!)

 I like cows :)  And I've enjoyed seeing different ones than are common in our area at home.  I love seeing green pastures with cows.  It always makes me think they must be happy cows :)

 This place is open at times I believe for demonstrations. I think it was where they make wheels.

 It began to rain a bit, but the path we were on was covered by a canapy of trees, so we waited it out, and barely got damp. It was really perfect weather for biking, as we didn't get too hot.

 "The friendly cow all black & white...."  *EDIT* Woops....I goofed.  It's not black & white in the poem, it's Red and white!  Well, there are those here too.  :)

The friendly cow all red and white,
I love with all my heart:
She gives me cream with all her might,
To eat with apple-tart.

She wanders lowing here and there,
And yet she cannot stray,
All in the pleasant open air,
The pleasant light of day;

And blown by all the winds that pass
And wet with all the showers,
She walks among the meadow grass
And eats the meadow flowers.

Robert Louis Stevenson

 One of our destinations ahead....a castle.

 The castle, and the next photos are views to either direction of it.

 And not just a castle, but one surrounded by a mote and a drawbridge!!

 I loved seeing the mote & drawbridge up close! I've only seen one in pictures.

 The grounds around the castle, and all the gardens off to the sides were beautifully maintained.  I can't amagine the huge staff of people it would take to maintain this.  This castle is also occupied, so it is private and we could only view from outside the fenced areas.

 We continued our bike ride down another path to this bridge.  It is built across the highway, and the steps are steeper than what they look like in the picture.  There is an area to wheel the bikes up & along on each side of the steps.  I don't think it would have been so easy, and we didn't go that direction but it was interesting to see!

 I was impressed with maintained flower beds "in the middle of the fields"--all along these paths were beautiful flowers & flowering bushes.  It was looking rainy again by this time, and sprinkling on us some, so we didn't take time to stop for more pictures, we went back the other direction and headed towards a Mill.

 The outside of the mill--

 Look at the date on this!

 It was interesting to see the inside of the mill, and watch demonstrations of how the machinery worked.  Quite impressive!

 This was a model to scale on display so we could actually see the entire inside at once.

 You can see the pipe & the bucket near the floor? That is where the oil drips out. 

The outside of the mill from the front.  It was looking quite rainy by this time, and we needed to head back.  We were probably about 5 miles out from home.  Some of the paths were packed dirt (and a rather sandy soil like I have at home in western NE) but most were brick or cement.
I have no more pictures of the biking expedition...however it didn't end here.  As we were getting ready to leave this spot, I managed to lose control of my balance & direction while starting out and ran right into another older gentleman on his bike near me (I can still see the surprised look on his face when I was heading towards him....)  Yikes!  The brick is not so even, and I lost my balance & went off the bike to the ground in front of a group of 6 there.  I made quite a stir, and the ladies rushed to my rescue.  Of course I couldn't understand their actual words, but they were quite concerned that I was ok, which I kept assuring them I was.  One of them asked something to the effect if I was unfamiliar with the biking.....which I answered Yes, I was....HAHA! Yes, this was a group of ladies & men all who were older than me.  Thankfully I really didn't hurt myself (or throw my phone into the water....or tumble there myself.....)  Later I realized I had a sore wrist, and had probably landed hard on it.  I could see how easily I could have ended up with a broken wrist, but other than a very minor scrape to my elbow that I didn't even notice until later, I was quite fortunate.
Of course my pride suffered most of all, but as we rode away I thought "At least I won't have to worry about seeing them again".
So much for that theory, as several more miles up the road the group caught up with us & passed us as we were going up a hill  (I think their bikes were electric....SURELY!)  At least they could see I was still upright and in one piece, and really could ride a bike. HAHA!  (It's good to laugh at yourself, right?!)
We arrived home just in time to avoid the thunderstorm and heavier rain that had been threatening above us for the last mile or so.
Now--I was just looking forward to a good nights sleep and not to be TOO sore the next day--which as it turned out I wasn't, believe it or not.  My wrist was a bit stiff & sore, but with several applications of EO's over the next two days, it's feeling just fine again.
On to Monday, next post.