Kirchlengern is a small town in eastern Westphalia. We spent a weekend in the countryside near it with friends. It was a perfect spring weekend, cool and sunny, with puffy clouds. Now and then they would gather in promise of rain, but then would scatter again to let us see the blue sky. “It’s perfect for a walk,” The Family said late in the afternoon, and everyone agreed. So we walked past the last houses, and past meadows full of buttercups and late daisies to the stream nearby. It’s called Ostbach, and it drains into the Else, which joins the Werre, which falls into the Weser, which flows into the North Sea.
We crossed a bridge over it. The river is shallow under it, strewn with rocks. Looking at the quick flowing water, I guessed that it would be deeper and broader upstream. That was the way we walked. The river floods now and then, so houses are built further away, leaving a lot of moist land to turn into meadows. The result is beautiful. I took a few photos: I’d not seen a spring day like this for a long time. I took my phone out of my pocket to take a few shots. In places like this, you don’t even have to think about structuring your photos. Depth arises naturally from perspective and scale. You can keep your mind on the beautiful present.
Sure enough, as we walked along the water turned placid and deep. This was the home of coots and geese. The banks were overgrown with wildflowers. I recognize very few of these flowers of north Europe, so I just admire them in passing. The path faded into squelchy mud in about a kilometer,. A little before that a fallen trunk was covered with mold and moss, with a scramble cleared over it by previous walkers.
On the way back I noticed places where there were path down to the water, and benches at the edges. You could come here with a book and a bag full of berries. Or you could spend a few hours fishing. Or, like us you could just meet with friends and walk past the benches. Anything at all is pleasant on a mellow spring day like this.
Don't hold your breath 
