Gagala News (G-log #3)

For weeks, it rained and drizzled. Then, there was a gap in the clouds for one day. I watched the weather website minute by minute, and at 8 a.m., the rain stopped and the clouds slowly disappeared, heading south. I started the planned tour and reached the first mountain peak after 30 minutes. There were still some clouds, but I took some pictures. It might be my last chance because many trees are already without leaves. Then, I took the new route through the woods and took my first shot there. But then came the big disappointment. A quad with two women in green camouflage clothing appeared and informed me that the woods were closed for hunting. Great, just what I needed. I could only drive back and stopped where I had taken the first shots. I took a few more with more sunlight. Then, I took a few shots from the valley where I take my morning walks. That's all I could do. I was too exhausted to plan an alternative route. The next few days will be the same as before: rain and drizzle. After that, autumn will definitely be over. Better luck next year... See the shots at Gagaland.

After the exhausting attempt to take winter pictures during the day last Friday without a single shot, I tried again last night between 3 and 6 am. It was a bit disappointing because the sun was shining all day and melted most of the snow on the tree branches. The full moon gave enough light to brighten up the scenes. I hope you like the pictures I took, see them at GAGALAND.

It's been a few days since I took these pictures, but I just got around to editing them. These are the last shots I took this fall, unfortunately I couldn't get out of the house in time to drive around and find some nice motifs (I just can't afford it anymore). Maybe winter will bring some better opportunities.

It's my car's B-day, 20 years on the road. I bought it used in 2016 and it still runs great. It's making some new noises now, and the "stainless steel" muffler is starting to rust, the paint is peeling, and I can't afford new tires for this coming winter, but it still reliably starts when I need it. So far, I've only had one major repair that cost more than I paid for the car when I bought it. Thank you, my little French friend, for getting me this far, and may you go many, many miles without a breakdown for a long, long time. It's unthinkable that something bad would happen to it, I don't have the money for a new one.

Thanks to all my supporters for my livelihood, so I can still be on the road with Baby Blue, even if it's just once or twice a week.

P.S. a few new shots at Gagaland.

Last Thursday I was able to take some new pictures. If you are interested in landscape and nature photography, welcome to GAGALAND, 4k shots for free.

Right after shopping at the supermarket and having a cup of coffee at the bakery, I drove to this beautiful place. It's on the other side of the mountain, where I was two weeks ago, but this time it was hot as hell, summer has arrived. The sky was dull (which means nearly no clouds, which is boring for me), the wonderful fluffy clouds came too late, see the last picture at GAGALAND (shot after I was back in my apartment, totally exhausted).

14 new photos on GAGALAND, 4k and free.

Quote wsi.de:

Poverty thresholds are used to measure poverty. In a household whose net household income is below the poverty line, all household members are considered poor. According to the standard set by the EU, the poverty line is 60 percent of the median needs-weighted income of the population in private households. For a one-person household, this was 1,189 euros in 2022.

So, after checking my income from May this year, I am officially poor, my income is currently in the three-digit range.

Today I went to the supermarket, (I'm using my car only once a week) got my food supply for the coming week, then a crate of mineral water and then a little luxury, a cup of coffee and a croissant at the bakery. 60 € spent, this inflation is awful.

The only positive I can report is that my histamine intolerance has improved after more than 3½ years. Now I can drink coffee and beer again (yaaayyy!), also some foods I had to give up for so long, but still not everything. My hope is that in a year's time I will be able to have all the food I want again.

Unfortunately, I can no longer afford to drive around looking for beautiful landscapes and motifs for the camera, I can only look for something in the immediate vicinity, usually between my home and the supermarket, if my health and the weather allow it. I have taken a few pictures and will be posting them on the Gagaland site in the next few days.

But I do illustration work for you every day for as long as I can.

I am all the more grateful to all those who still support me. Big bear hug

1,5 km (1 mile) is the short distance I walked last Friday on the photo tour to the furthest point, the same place as last time. I was hoping for better weather conditions, but it was too foggy for landscape shots, so I made another study of trees in snow again. I have to admit that I'm obsessed with snow, I have to take every chance to shoot it, especially now that it's getting rarer and rarer. Since the last photo session on December 2nd, the snow had completely disappeared and came back a week ago, but due to my tight money situation, I only allow myself to use the car once a week (the place is too far to walk to), so I drove to the supermarket and then to a forest not far from the town of Winterberg. The parking lot hadn't been cleared of snow and my all-season tires didn't make it to the edge where I was supposed to be, so I parked my car in the middle of the lot. This time I had spikes on my rubber boots, but that was not necessary, the forest path was naturally covered with snow, lots of it. But my food intolerance attacked me again, I hadn't eaten enough, so my blood pressure dropped, and with no bench in sight, I lay down in the snow, my loden coat and lama wool hat keeping me warm. After 5 minutes I felt better. Next time I will eat something before doing another photo tour. Now it's Sunday and the frost is over, it will start to rain tonight. I hope Mr. Winter will come back, I still have some snowy landscapes to photograph. If you want to know where these photos were taken, most of them have GPS data in the metadata. With a program like XnView you can see it with one click.

Thanks to all my supporters for their support.

Take always good care of yourself and stay healthy!