Botanischer Garten Salzburgs

The Botanischer Garten Salzburgs (Salzburg Botanical Garden) is hidden behind a crop of trees about a ten minutes' walk from our apartment.  On a day when the sun and wind mixed to create the perfect weather, we spent a couple hours in the garden, admiring the plants and learning along the way.   

Above is a model of what is called a "historical farmer's house garden."  The trellis and wooden fence are traditional (and very charming), as is the vegetation.  Vegetables (Gemüse), spice plants (Gewürzpflanzen), healing plants (Heilpflanzen), perennials (Stauden), and bushes (Sträucher) fill the garden and serve their individual purposes.  It's difficult to imagine that, at one time, everyday people grew their own produce, or they at least grew some of it to supplement what they bought at market.  It makes so much sense to utilize the land we have to grow food, but it seems like most people ignore this in favor of green grass and flower beds.  Plant some seeds!  Eat (extremely) locally!  Have all of your vegetables and herbs at your fingertips! 

Soapbox dismounted.      

Near the house garden and the heirloom vegetable garden, we found these interesting structures, which happen to be insect nesting-aides (Nisthilfen), or insect hotels, if we want to be creative.  Each hotel is intended for a certain type of insect, and like the plants in the the house garden, each insect serves a purpose in the garden.  And, because we saw a humongous wasp emerge from the stone structure on the bottom right, we knew that, in these hotels, there were zero vacancies.  (So funny.)
Also, I was going to leave this out on account of my dear mother on Mother's Day Eve, but the iron hotel has swooping, aimless, fanged guests.  I believe in blogging integrity, so I had to mention it.  Sorry, Mom.   

Could this man be any deeper into his safari? 

Now, on to more flowery subjects.

I want to garden.  May I have a bit of earth?

Revising My Approach

Earlier this week, I had my first taste of writer's block in months.  An application called for a writing sample in which I explain why I'm a well-qualified teacher, but after going through the usual steps of my writing process, I kept coming up empty when it came to turning my thoughts into coherent sentences.  I couldn't think of how to best showcase myself while showcasing my writing.  I tried all of my tricks: writing on lined paper, brainstorming to make an outline, creating possible topic sentences for each paragraph, reading aloud, crossing out weak words, adding in synonym possibilities, arrows galore, etc.  

After three or four false starts, I decided to give myself a break until I could write something I liked.  It felt unsettling to go to bed without having it done, the deadline boring a proverbial hole into my confidence as a writer and a teacher.

I did the only thing I could do.

I went to the mall bright and early the next morning.

And, as I was finally free of my desk and the unwritten writing sample, my mind finally cleared, and I wrote the whole thing on that quiet bus ride to the mall: sub-headings, full sentences, illustrative examples, alles.

Lessons relearned?  Writing is difficult.  It's a process.  It involves starting and stopping.  It involves thinking and rethinking.  It takes time.  Even English teachers don't have poetry spouting from their pens or fingertips.  Writers will produce something they like as long as they don't give up and are willing to put in the work.  (Sometimes you just need to go to the mall?)

Because all blog posts need some sort of visual, here are some glimpses into life lately.

 
My first taste of Spargelcremesuppe (asparagus creme soup - so delicious), Ben amidst the flower beds at Mirabell, and a look up from our lunch table, respectively.  We can't forget that our time here is limited and that we have to make the most of it!

Also, here's what thirteen famous writers have said about writer's block.                     

Spring Flowers and Thirty Days

We've reached a milestone, people!  In thirty days, we're going to hop on a couple planes and return home; it's one short month away!  Although I'm looking forward to coming home, I know that I'm going to miss this place dearly.  Thinking back to September and my first few days here, I had no idea that I'd feel as comfortable and as happy as I do now.  It makes me think about the ex-pat lifestyle and the idea of normalcy.  What was normal for me one year ago doesn't feel normal now.  In thirty one days, what will be my new normal?  Humans are so adaptable and resilient, and I know that although the transition may be rough, life will feel normal again soon enough.  

Anyway, once we realized that we had around fifty days left, we started to take more time to enjoy ourselves here, and not focus solely on returning home and finding jobs for next school year.

This long-awaited spring in Austria has been beautiful.  It seems like a new flower comes into bloom every week, and new birds sing us awake every morning.

Here's to enjoying the season, and Happy National Poetry Month!

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.

Excerpt from "A Prayer in Spring," Robert Frost

 

 

Mirabell Gardens - Flowers, Swirls, and Dwarfs

Mirabell Gardens is part of the larger Mirabell Schloss, or Mirabell Palace.  We find ourselves walking through the gardens a couple of times a week because of the location, the flowers, and the ever-entertaining tourists taking pictures.  We, however, are not "above" taking photos, as this post will document.  You will not see us dancing around the Pegasus fountain or using the stairs for different musical notes.

These first photos were from a visit in September.  As you can see in the photo with Ben, they had dug up the flowers in the swirls (I have great vocabulary for gardening) and were about to plant a fresh, new batch of blooms.

On a visit in October, the light made everything look and feel surreal.  I didn't do anything to these photos.  Ben looks like he could be standing in front of a backdrop in a movie.  Ben and I have talked about how you can't take a bad photo in Salzburg, and we might just be right.

Also, note that the "swirls" have been filled in with yellow flowers. Wikipedia didn't really help me find the word, but trust me that I tried.

Oh, wait?  What is that dwarf doing amidst all of the flowers?  Well, our favorite part of Mirabell Gardens is the Zwerglgarten or Dwarf's Garden.  Tourists don't come there nearly as often as the large square with the fountains and Roman statues.  When we visited, there were maybe three other people there.  It was nice to have some peace and quiet in the middle of Salzburg, although some of the statues were quite alarming!

Is that really a goiter?