Brown Jenkins on Walpurgis Night

Walpurgis Night, and the flowers I offered to my lovely Master for the anniversary of our eternal bond, on April 25th, are adorning our altar. A stem of white lilies and a blood red rose.

The golden thing in the bottom left is a glass of wine, not a x-mas bauble! LO

Inferno in the background. "Barlowe's Inferno", that is.

So I'm about to celebrate the Walpurgis Night with my Master now. But for the afternoon, I rode to the park once more, with carrots. LOL
I lately learned they're not muskrats after all! They're called Coypu, nutria, or beaver rats. They're bigger and look a bit different than muskrats.

Visiting my cute little friends...

Brown Jenkin here was so sweet and let me pet him. But later when I had no more carrots left he got pissed off and bit me. LOL

This little one was eating all the daisies in the lawn.

Sorry, no more carrots left, sweetie.

Selfie on balcony with new sunset colors in my undercut.

Brown Jenkin bit me and ruined my nail polish! LOL

Evil Friday & a beautiful dream

I celebrated Good Friday in the usual way, having some meat and wine, and dancing. The wine and dancing took place at home in the evening, and before that I had been at the park again as the weather was amazing for the season. Turned out it was just too amazing though, and along with it being a holiday, the park was terribly crowded and especially the many children were extremely annoying as they just couldn't let the muskrats be. So I stayed away for the rest of the weekend after that.

In the night to Saturday I finally had a beautiful dream about my beloved Master once more.

It didn't seem entirely real, as it seemed to be part of the Movie, although completely different from any scenery in the Movie, but somehow following similar rules. I was in some building, my Master was there, and some other people, and everyone knew he was a witch and they were wary of him and trying to avoid any physical contact since that would allow him easy access to their minds, much as in the Movie. So apparently they faked compliance while plotting to defeat him somehow. I was waiting for a moment alone with him to let him know all I knew about this. But right now there was only one other person in the room with us, and my Master was explaining to that guy the use of some instrument that looked like a jointed violin bow or something. He was highly skilled and proficient with it, as he always is. And yet it might have been only a scheme to distract the other guy somehow. I think it wasn't even a musical instrument, it was something else. I was quietly watching from the back of the room and waiting for my Master to finally come over to me. I readily closed him into my arms, allowing him to probe my mind while I enjoyed just holding him. Just a few moments of what  I wish more than anything.

Being asexual, it doesn't take much for the one I love to make me happy...
And I'm not sure how "real" it was. He didn't seem to know me in the dream, as if it wasn't really him but just part of a fictional story... but I do know my Master can be extremely stealthy and can make things appear any which way he likes it.

***

Today I returned to the park once more with another pound of carrots. Toward the end, a little shit came along again and scared off my muskrats. If harassed, they'll just plop into the water and swim off.
Nonetheless I was able sit and share the carrots with a few of them before and after that nuisance.

Those are Canada geese. The larger ones of the muskrats
are nearly the same size as the geese.

Nearly crawling into my backpack in search of more carrots.

The one who lost (most of) his tail.

Sorry, I've run out of carrots again.
But no, you can't eat my bike.

Back on the running trail

As for the dreams recounted yesterday, they might as well have pointed to something that already happened last week, at least as far as I am concerned. And today I went running again, different route partially, but down the same trail in the end where I had a little fuck-uppy a week ago. I'm extremely surefooted usually and don't even know how it happened, but somehow I had slipped on the uneven gravel trail, and the faster you run, the harder you fall. This is the aftermath, as it looks today.

Despite the little accident I finished with a time that's not even so bad - considering the steep uphill part and very rough terrain - 8 K in 43 minutes.

Today I ran 10 K in 54.5 minutes. Up the hill, down, up again & down again - I can't stress enough that there are steep hills included in nearly all of my runs, therefore the seemingly slow times, plus I don't wear a watch while running, so the time is from living room back into living room, from a second floor apartment. Of course, one flight of stairs is just about 5 seconds, but I have to unlock the front door and then my apartment door as well.

Poor muskrat I saw at the park last time was far worse off than me with my little accident, as you can see he lost his tail somehow. I wondered how this might have happened. This is a very big muskrat and my hunch is he's a fighter, and possibly it was some predator that tried to take him down but in the end failed. 

~*~*~*~

Such is a brave warrior's life - seen here embracing the fearsome Terror of the Deep with his deadly jaws.
... :D

Dreams of calamity and the falling Tower

I had some alarming dreams. The one of the other night was unsettling already. I was in a vast, largely deserted building. In a room I was met by a nurse who was to take a blood sample. I meant to ask her which arm to use, but raising my sleeve just a tiny bit on my left arm I realized that my arm was covered in blood from an injury I had forgotten. I rather wouldn't have her see that, so I presented my right arm which had some blood on it as well, but not as much.
So she inserted a needle into a vein, and then stood there helplessly and asked me how to proceed - she had no clue what she was doing! So I had to show her how to get a blood sample.

Now last night I first was at a store with the mother, but at least she didn't cause trouble this time. We were picking up some grandma too, not my grandma though, just a very old lady with curly white hair who was very frail and walking on crutches. I remember waiting at a bus stop with her, the old lady was quite friendly really, although burdensome as she was so frail.
Then I was on the bus, apparently on my own with just the fellow passengers.
There was a weird, very tall building which was a famous landmark for that town, and as we were riding past it, one of its several spindly towers started toppling over (possibly due to hard wind?), taking down with it another that was counterbalanced with it. I think there were 4 towers in all, some of which looked more like construction work cranes to begin with.
The remaining towers were collapsing too, and one seemed to come falling right on top of the bus I was on! "Father, Lord Satan," I started praying, expecting the worst. But the bus then just narrowly escaped the falling tower and continued on its way.
Apparently the bus was behind schedule though and the driver decided to try and make up for some time and was going very fast, until at some point he lost control of the vehicle which didn't make a bend in the road and sped down into a field. "Father, Lord Satan," I started praying again, as I was sure we were going to crash. But the driver then somehow regained control of the still fast moving bus and managed to steer it back onto the road, and again we were safe for now and back on our way.

If that wasn't a warning, I don't know what... especially the last one, even incorporating the very symbol of the falling Tower, as in the Tarot. But warning of what?

I talked to my Master about it, and that the first thing on my mind these days is an unanticipated dilemma that only he can make a decision about. The fact that he can't answer me directly is at the very heart of it.

A strange coincidence about the Falling Tower is the breaking news of this evening about the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on fire, I learned about it as many of my friends on Facebook posted about it, and one of the first posts I saw said, "Watch as the Spire Collapses."

Finally I made some local friends...

...as long as I bring them carrots, that is.

Yes, the muskrats again. I love them.

"Hey you, give me a carrot!"

 In the end I got bitten by an angry swan. Unprovoked! LOL

Skipped the gym, but not the workout

The weather was actually nicer today than it was for my little excursion yesterday, so I spontaneously decided to do my workout outdoors, as I know a great place for it in the woods.
First exercise: Getting my ass up that hill on my bike, and that's a very steep climb for a mile or so!
Then into the woods, and then there'll be this:

That means doing various chin-ups (different hand positions), 6 sets or so. And swinging along the length of that ladder thingy and back once, monkey style.

Handstand push-ups against the back wall of that little hut.

Next station, which is about half a mile from the other thingy. Dips on the double bars, and overhead triceps push-ups on one bar.
At one point, a group of three women with four little girls came along and the children occupied one set of bars, but they didn't bother me and I kept using the other set and the tree. As I was doing dips, one of the girls tried unsuccessfully to copy me.

Push-ups with feet on one of the lower set of bars, a few more sets of handstand push-ups against the trunk of the big tree (wouldn't have needed to use the hut for it, note for next time), two sets of archer's push-ups on the ground. (Archer's are like regular push-ups but alternatingly going down to one side while keeping the other arm straight.)

And being on my way again...

And that's what a warrior's hands look like afterwards. (Workout gloves are for pussies. LOL)

But I always keep my nails neat! And yes, they're my real ones, I just shape & paint them. :)

Carrots for the muskrats

Having a day off regular workout once more, I decided to ride to the Rheinaue Park again, bringing some carrots for the muskrats whom I lately discovered to have made a home there.
The Rheinaue is really nice, reminding a bit of Vondelpark in Amsterdam, with its ponds and a multitude of water fowl species using it as a permanent or temporary home, but the Rheinaue is a lot vaster with much more open spaces, it includes a section of the Rhine riverside, and the southernmost of three bridges across the Rhine river within the city limits of Bonn also crosses the park.

Canada geese and other species of wild geese can be seen sharing the lawns with people.
And here come the muskrats!

This one quickly gobbles up a carrot I gave him.

The swans were even less shy and came really close.

Right next to my bike.

At one point I overheard a passerby saying to his companion, "Those things can be damn aggressive," as in warning them to stay away from the animals, but I'm not sure whether he was referring to the muskrats or the swans. Swans are known to aggressively defend their territory, and a few were hissing angrily at times, both at the muskrats and at a guy's dog, and especially that brown and white mottled swan seemed to be very dominant and chased some of the others at times. He and one or two others stayed right next to me.
A couple with a little boy were also nearby, the boy was about 4 years old, and at one point the mother lifted him up and carried him when two of the swans were coming too threateningly close, standing taller than the boy.
I was sorry to have nothing for the swans, but I wouldn't know what to feed them. Many people feed them bread, but I learned this is really bad for them and can have devastating health consequences for birds.

The boss. LOL Object to the left is the handle of my bike.

One muskrat is still gobbling a carrot, the other one
coming back for more. 

The muskrats were also quite aggressive once they learned there was something to be had, they came right up to me and would walk their forefeet up my leg. And once they grabbed hold of a carrot there was no chance to get it back. It was quite astounding how strong these little creatures are! When I didn't have a carrot they would at times come clawing and grabbing my fingers with both their agile little paws and  their orange colored rodent teeth.

My foot in bottom left.

Here's another cute hell-rat. I was sorry to have run out
of carrots so quickly.

Then I saw these wild geese (ducks?) with their fluffy
little chicks.

Goslings.

Cute, how the one to the far left raised its stubby little wings.

The gray geese also had goslings.

Proud parents. One of the couple of gray geese - presumably the father? - aggressively chased some other adult geese out of the way as the couple walked their four goslings to the water.
A lot of other people were also taking photos, and some were BBQ'ing in the park. It was a really nice afternoon, but to me it quickly got very cold at barely 60 F.