Neetzendorf 2013

Neetzendorf, 19 October 2013
The autumn air was tickling in my nose when I stepped out of the train at Neetzendorf. There was no station building. Only a dirt plattform and a shelter next to a country lane that led to the little village Neetzendorf. I pryed across the acres next to the train station looking for cranes and other migrating birds, but the fields were quiet. However when I walked down the lane I heard the gaggling of gees and saw flocks of them flying through the morning sky. I followed there direction and found them on a nearby harvested acre. The sun was just rising above the tree line while bunches of bean geese and white fronted geese rested on the ground. Once a while a new flock arrived. When I walked along the boundary of the field to watch the birds. Just when I had passed the whole lot of them and reached the whole field of geese seemed to take off into the sky and headed south. Afterwards I saw other flock flying past me, but none stopped. They were journeying to warmer climate.

A thick cloud of smoke wafted through the air. A farmer making a bonfire from leaves and other things he wanted to burn. A field of withering sunflowers on my right hand side. After the geese left I returned to the village. I rejoiced in the colourful foliage of maple, oak and fruit trees. Red, gold, brown and still some intense green.

Shining red apples hanging from trees. It was hard to resist there delicious deep red shape. Bunches of fallen apples moulding on the ground. The village contained hardly more than ten farm houses. I passed a woman pushing a wheelbarrow before turning into a track road at the edge of the forest. It was quiet. Only a few birds were singing.

I turned into a muddy forest track that led to Röthen. A craw croaked somewhere in the treetops. The path was furrowed by tractor wheels. The rain of the past days was creating puddles in the dents, which made walking a slippery affair. Whereever I looked I discovered mushrooms of various shapes and colours, sometimes trampled down, but mostly almost intact. It was fascinating to look at them, so I decided to conduct the healthy way of collecting: by photo camera. No risk to poison myself this way.

There were giant mushrooms and small ones, all shades of brown, whitish, orange, purple, red with and without white dots. Hats up like somebreros or down like bobble caps. They were growing on the ground, on stumps and rotting logs. Each time I turned my head I seemed to discover a new species.

When I reached the outskirts of Röthen I turned back and walked past a couple of smaller tracks before I turned right and headed north in direction of the train line. After a while I came out of the forest and crossed an acre. Two kites were circling the sky on their search for mice or other little animals. I passed a pile of sugar beets. Some swedes lay around too,

On the other side of the railway tracks the track led to the estate Sueschendorf. I passed buildings which nowadays accomodate families, an osteopath and other small businesses. As I came to the path that headed back to Neetzendorf a young fallow stag crossed the trail ahead of me. He was gone as soon as I spotted him. I did not even hear the sound of his hooves. He passed in total silence....like a gost. There was no sign of him, when I reached the place where I saw him just three minutes later. After a quater of an hour I reached Neetzendorf again. A few cars passed me by. Probably people that returned from their Saturday shopping at the nearest town. On my way back to the railway plattform I passed a farm where a huge hill of potatoes were piling up in front of the barn. Finally I left the last half timbered house behind me and reached the shelter, where I could rest my feet. I only needed to wait a couple of minutes before the train to Lueneburg picked me up. Through the window I saw the country side passing by. Finally we reached the border of Hamburg and crossed the river Elbe. I always enjoy the sight of the port with its huge cranes and container ships, when I am returning home from Lower Saxony. Its an impressive sight.