what's up deac?

baby, you're so last year...

2012-02-06T00:47:00.001Z

...and that is me actually, not the nice chap in the pics, who already complained that the announced blog entry was nowhere to be seen and it is just all my fault as i still haven't really sorted out the new blogger surface and the different buttons i have to key in nowadays.

but here it is, didi, and i'll email you straight away to let you know, cause it is a rather lovely memory of a short but sweet afternoon in hannover last summer, with the second half taking place in one of these corner cafes that also do their own bean roasting, serve twenty different blends and who do employ at least three dishy baristas and where i feel wholly inadequate cause i order tea all the time. but didi just told us that chances are he is signing a new publishing deal (or has signed by now???) and that should call for champagne anyway, so we just have to wait and see.

the first part of the afternoon nevertheless produced one of the best one-liners ever, and didi as a writer should take note: 

marienstrasse, 3pm, antiquariat gaertner

enter my husband. 

* good afternoon sir

^ good afternoon mr gaertner. long time no see. how are you?

* what do you mean?

^ what i mean? well, how are you? how you are??

* yes, but why are you asking that.

michael gove at aske's

2012-01-07T14:46:00.001Z

rike's school was in the news a few days ago when the minister for education, michael gove, addressed the pupils in haberdashers aske's hatchham college and subsequently the wider public to maintain this government's view on academies and other school policies. as a year eight girl our daughter escaped because of other duties...

happy 2012!!!

2012-01-07T13:44:00.002Z

a big hug to all of you and a happy 2012! 

we started the new year with a bottle watching the fireworks on bbc and in the neighborhood and braced ourselves for the day ahead and then had, as always, our lovely new year's day party, again with deac's specialty, cassoulet, and soup and apple-marzipan cake made by rike and me. 35 guests came this year, and we had a really great time. best way to begin any year, if you ask me...

(image stolen from rike's facebook, thanks, darling!)

a very happy christmas 2011 from all of us!

2011-12-31T22:55:00.003Z

christmas 2011 was a beautiful three days despite my shoulder still not functioning and therefore most work done by deac and rike, and me just fussing around the edges. as always we opened some (but not all) christmas presents on christmas eve (so does the royal family, we've been told - ha!) and were just overwhelmed by the sheer amount of things. for rike's list just check her facebook, i got books to keep me busy for months, and little deac sits around the house now in a rather majestic yukata and read and reads and reads...the cats got an extra portion of tuna and the horse an apple-veggi-string that disappeared in seconds. so all very happy and content, with a very nice midnight service in southwark cathedral with the added extra of doorkins magnificat, the church cat, making a stately appearance, much to our joy right in front of us in the middle of the prayers. as all good cats he is so famous that he features on several internet pages, check him out here:

christmas day was filled with more presents to open, a visit to the horse (of course!) and a delicious dinner that deac prepared while we were out: coq au vin (le vrai coq au vin, that is) and boy did we like it. boxing day the kramers came around and we had a great time, relaxed and easy, as always, with so much more food that i swore i would not eat for days.

how cute is that?

2011-12-28T00:17:00.000Z

unbeatable - thanx, niki!

merry christmas, my dear nephews

2011-12-24T02:28:00.001Z

this i have been told is the absolutely latest for savvy young men in london. hope you like it!!!

a few more highlights from last summer

2011-12-23T01:39:00.000Z

we still haven’t really given credit to all the lovely people and places we saw last summer and the german leg of our trip has been shamefully neglected, so here are a few more entries, not quite in time but still worth mentioning.

after frankfurt we took a turn to the east and saw andy and his family in halle and were at the mercy of this cultural maniac who had searched long and hard to present us with the most compelling sights and stories from his chosen heimat and after showing us halle and the magnificent himmelsscheibe he dragged the kids (we adults followed voluntarily) to naumburg, where we saw the absolutely splendid exhibition “der naumburger meister”.

that and a few more castles, namely burg saaleck and rudelsburg, were real highlights in an interesting part of the country that i still know way too little. and after finding turnvater jahn's home in freyburg even little deac was happy....

only fools and horses

2011-12-22T00:36:00.000Z

not sure who the fool is here, the horse because she spooked out of nowhere or me for riding her again although i should have known better. or maybe my husband who managed to take the pic? but it wasn't very funny as i was going rather fast when the *@*& horse ducked away right under me and my back is still painful three weeks after the fall and i have a broken shoulder. sob...

first ever dressage competition

2011-12-03T11:45:00.002Z

rike rode her first dressage competition at mount mascal's unaffiliated indoor winter dressage series in october and came out 15th which we all think is a very promising start. half of this is down to the fantastic mo of course as this horse is extremely well trained and responsive. the two of them made a beautiful pair while the ever so excited parents and some friends watched.

la monitrice d'équitation

2011-12-03T01:05:00.002Z

another stop over on our big long summer trip and not far from frankfurt where she works we saw katrin, this time not in the big city but in the lovely little village just outside of mainhatten and of course the smart girl has picked a place that is literally around the corner from the horses. now also working as a riding instructor we watched her giving a lesson, all very calm and super relaxed, as you would expect from her. lucky the horses she cares for, and london's loss, of course, and despite our nagging she's not coming back, yet. rumours though have it that we see her for a few days later in the week so we can work a little harder on our repatriation programme...

more mo

2011-11-29T00:42:00.003Z

quickly while i'm at it here's another one of rike and mo, taken just yesterday and you can see that it is still very sunny and warm for the last days of november (13 degrees celsius after all) and so we had yet another beautiful afternoon with the black fluffy. the two of them will ride another dressage competition on saturday, so there was some training involved, too.

also great to see was the strikingly unreal tree in the middle of the field at mount mascal, often occupied by a large parakete population, and yesterday in the low light truly bewitched....

Motown!

2011-11-29T00:19:00.002Z

finally and after increased pressure from friends and family here are some pics of the latest addition to our circus: ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce to you the magnificent motown!!!

rike started riding this black beauty (if i got it right he is a welsh c cob 15hh, but i'm sure i'll get corrected on this one) back in september when an all day saturday engagement at the centre for young musicians meant she couldn't go riding with her mates in willowtree any longer. after we had cruised the near and far livery yards in kent, essex, sussex and dorset, it was by sheer luck that on the last day of holidays we saw taylor's yard and bumped into mo's owner who was just looking for a rider. rike disappeared for half an hour or so and came back with glowing cheeks. and, yes, the rest is history...

look at the picasa pics on the top right for more on mo.

a school boy and a half

2011-11-05T13:34:00.002Z

The highlight of the highlights this summer was of course the first school day for our youngster konstantin, my lovely nephew, now six years old and therefore just ready to start the lot. Once we had the invitation to be around we cut short our stay in switzerland and dashed over to frankfurt to see just how many sweets you can pack into a 'schultüte', that candy filled peculiarity the germans and some of the neighboring countries use to celebrate the day.

konstantin's bag was full of sugary things and some other little nick-nack and if i'm right rike was seriously considering starting school all over again in germany. but there were more serious moments, too. after a childrens service in the local church the whole family went to the school to have the boy registered and tagged. this was followed by a song-and-dance from the seven year olds who battled to get the kids attention away from the candy bags and cheerfully told the kids that it was normal to be nervous. i looked around. there were no nervous children, they were all way too busy munching sweets. no, the only people nervous were the parents, and - the aunties, indeed.

wassen and andermatt

2011-11-05T00:21:00.002Z

what do you do if your child has hardly seen any mountains at all in her life and your husband claims the rockies are the only peak worth climbing? admittedly we have seen some spectacular mountain ranges in the us, but let's not forget that i learned skiing at the tender age of 4 and that my then hometown was just a short hop into the alps. so i felt a certain need to take rike and deac into the white (and grey and green) world of the 3000er to wassen and andermatt this summer, just to show off a bit.

the hotel alte post in wassen on the gotthartpass, which already housed good ol' goethe on his way to italy, became our place and we were smitten by the friendly welcome. it was just when I mentioned that we would now climb onto the gurschenalp that they startet making faces: rike here gives a fine look of a mountain bison, and deac reminds me vagely of the alm oehi from "heidi". only me then to look prep and pretty and keep the family together!

but just like me they also truly enjoyed the glorious views from the mountain tops and a flash of pride when my europe sceptic husband muttered 'impressive'...plus spledid isolation at the peak - just us!

moulin de la pipe

2011-10-21T00:48:00.000+01:00

i mentioned our happy go lucky approach to accomodation this year already and there were moments on the trip that i had no idea what i had actually booked and what to expect. the print-out from the booking and a good sat-nav meant we were sometimes totally taken by surprise, and often just happy how great our places were. moulin de la pipe was one of those places where we were just lucky. a great old hotel now run by the jazz loving owner who holds concerts for 2000 people twice a month it has breathtaking scenery and a wealth of interesting places to go to. check it out!

magical moments

2011-10-21T00:26:00.000+01:00

Just back from a couple of days in Belgium where the days were sunny but the nights already close to freezing point and as we caught the last sun rays i had to think of what must have been the most beautiful moment of the entire summer, a long and relaxed lunch with dominique and michel in lagrasse, in a little farm belonging to their friend. After we conquered lagrasse on horse whe crossed the river over the mighty bridge and walked just along the famous abbey to an old farmhouse, where dominique served one of the best meals we ever had. i don't even really recall what it was - some roasted veggies, and a ratatouille, plus an apple tart for dessert, some wine...Deac said later he felt like being in a film, in one of these fantastic french films, where life is small but beautiful...sheer magic!

le plo

2011-10-03T02:38:00.000+01:00

le plo in montlaur is one of the places we dream of going to more or less all the time and as much as we try not to compare it with our beloved geronimo it is hard to resist. in the end i decided that it's better to list the things they have in common: very special people, fantastic horses, and spectacular landscape. it was beautiful to see that all the horses we rode six years ago were still there and happily coming on the trail, and after a little bit of checking deac got dulce, rike rode the gorgeous zuccador and i ended up with the lovely apache. day long rides took us deep into the corbiere mountains, to lagrasse, montagne d'alaric, and other places steeped in history and with stories to tell.

chateau floure

2011-09-28T02:01:00.000+01:00

france this summer had a number of surprises in store and actually only pleasant ones. after a lot of fuss about where to go and for how long to stay we suffered a little bit from the fact that practically all places we wanted to use had some restrictions simply because we left it too late to book. so literally two days before we left london we still needed to fill in some accomodation gaps and one was a couple of days in carcassonne that our barn wasn't available any longer. what we found was the aptly named chateau floure just east of carcassonne in the smallest village - really only a few houses around the chateau, but nevertheless very pretty, and a grand place it was.

coming straight from a long day on horseback we arrived in a cloud of dust and horse smell only to be treated like kings. a beautiful pool and a lovely restaurant made me actually try to re-arrange all follow-on bookings only to stay here longer, but guess what...spaced out again....

france II - arquette-en-val et carcassonne

2011-09-14T23:58:00.001+01:00

the most difficult decision this year was whether we would go all the way down to the south of france to see monsieur plo's horses again (and the beautiful corbiere mountains) which clocked up another 1000 kilometres on the car but felt right as it is just so pretty and we've never seen lovelier horses this side of the atlantic...

we stayed in a wonderfully converted barn in arquette-en-val which belonges to tony who could not be a better host and the whole place felt great, with lot's of space for just the three of us and our pet tortoise. carcassonne trips where on the agenda as much as a visit to the only major cathar castle we hadn't seen yet, montségur. extra bonus was our trip to lagrasse on horses right over the village bridge into the market place and the commotion it stirred, and simply the best ever lunch with dominique and michel in a farmhouse nearby.

uci downhill worldchampion 2010 masters 50+

2011-09-09T17:42:00.006+01:00

you think we are rather in the fast lane in london with that typical juggle of work and commute, child and husband, horses and cats, and all the hussle that comes from it and to me fast is probably doing 120 mph on the motorway but most certainly there are people doing speedier things than us. so boy was i impressed when i saw my dear old friend stephan in this clip. personally i'd rather try it on a horse but then i wouldn't try it in the first place. we are impressed!!!

watch the whole clip here

summer I - france

2011-09-06T22:44:00.004+01:00

we started in reims this summer and the beautiful sculptures on the cathedral would later cross our path again when we learned in naumburg that the same sculpturer or at least his workshop worked in both places.

in beaune deac tried in vain to find the marey museum but to his dismay it had been closed and the contents shipped to paris.

more success in lyon with the lumiere museum and a wonderful street market just around the corner took care of breakfast and lunch. what an impressive villa! lyon itself was a bit of a revelation as we learned about the importance of the second-largest city in france as well as it's rather grand splendour. fab shopping in the old part of town with all chic french labels neatly lined up in gorgeous shops. so we stocked up on groceries and not on shoes (shame!) before heading south to carcassonne.

getting ready

2011-09-06T21:50:00.001+01:00

the cats already know the tale telling signs: when annie appears in the summer it usually means the funny three people that normally live in the house and feed them disappear and they can look forward to endless treats and cuddles as annies still believes they might be hungry even if they're on the third can of tuna - one little miow will do the trick.

we on the other hand are ever so happy to leave it all to her as we are sad that we cannot spend more time together. but this year's cat sitting came with the strict obligation that we visit annie in göteborg in the next couple of months. let's just hope our employers are equally impressed by that promise...

atp open studios

2011-09-03T00:26:00.000+01:00

we have been rather unadventurous this year i have to admit and in almost all shows and places we have gone for the things we knew, tried and trusted. so to no surprise we spent almost our entire time in the recent atp open studios in nicola rae's workshop and admired her new work of visualized sonic frequencies. still hoping to comission our very own one day we opted for a slightly more affordable piece this year, or two as it turned out, blocks similar to this, and happily so.

but there is inevitable always one find and this year it was the work of paul malone who had been to our house some years ago to help nicola install her '10 british greys' which is still my alltime favourite. paul's work was an interesting discovery and it helps that he is now nicola's husband...so - guess who wants the train now!

kent county show

2011-09-02T23:59:00.000+01:00

(no commentary yet as rike has to write this entry - sorry)

where to start?

2011-08-22T21:18:00.003+01:00

where to start after all these weeks? tracing back to my last entry perhaps in chronological order the next thing was little deac's birthday and the question "where to start" pops right up again as my dear husband was showered with pressies this year - you name it he got it!

a few highlights from the long list: thanks to dd (darling daughter) who probably wanted it badly for herself deac finally got one of jeff soan's famous seals, and actually a particularly pretty one, we believe. he's now happily sitting on the dining table that came with it (the seal that is).

a good number of books next, but deac will hardly remember. books enter (and never leave) this household on a daily base, so nothing new.

but this year had more in store and because of a highly organized campaign there is a sparkling mandoline now in the kitchen - no, not the music instrument, but the razor sharp slicing devise that supposedly cuts all vegetables and fingers into paper thin layers in no time. well, we'll report...

this and all kinds of goodies plus a large cake made for a splendid birthday with a dinner in our favourite local indian. nice one!

brockley open studios 2011

2011-07-19T13:08:00.002+01:00

brockley open studios this year happened early for us as we admired the opening of the memorial gardens in norwich by artist and bos organizer paul de monchaux albeit from afar though we had a lovely invitation and it is just as always that work gets in the way of more interesting things. paul's sculptures have an eternal quality and are weighty statements yet light and uplifting even when reminding us of a sad past.

it was his and ruth de monchaux' studio that we spent most time in the brockley open and it is not only their art but their company as well that we seek. the works on display and the atmosphere in the studios are genuinly refreshing my spirits and i was only half joking when i askled whether i could move in.

deac and rike were more adventurous and found a few newcomers that they liked but in the end the old favorites won and jeff soans again has a few creatures less in his hut. no party this year as we didn't have enough time to prep but later in the summer we hope to invite a few friends.

speech day

2011-07-11T23:33:00.002+01:00

our first ever speech day and - wow - we are invited as the child gets a special achievement prize and we are so proud of her! she later thought both mum and dad were a bit embarrassing, all waving and crying, but honestly we can do a lot more if she'd really ask for it...

she has done well though and we think deserves the price rightly: all the sports, cyber mentoring, music, model making, and five million other activities together with a good academic record meant that rike had a great start into secondary school and can ever be so happy with herself.

handing out the prices and pictured here with her is no one else but her school's former ceo dr elizabeth sidwell, who recently was appointed school commissioner for england. and even mr skinner is wearing his obe badge proudly - what an illustrious round!

ashdown forest llama park

2011-07-10T00:19:00.002+01:00

as promised a few words on the ashdown llama park in kent which was new to us and quite a discovery as i didn't even know that llamas (and alpacas) live quite happily side by side in this country. and why not - they are well kept with great views of the surrounding country side, make funny little noises when they see a visitor and thank god didn't spit at all. extra treat was that the day before fluffy baby 'sky' was born (above), happily hopping around and with an enormous energy already. just cute...

lambeth palace garden party

2011-07-06T01:39:00.001+01:00

for the second year in a row I was able to sneak in with the musicians into this most beautiful city garden that lies behind the old lambeth palace and, once in, test-eat as much cakes and cookies as i felt like while my dearest two were playing in the band and therefore couldn't pester me.

rike though got somewhat suspicious as i saw her waving at me with this "get me one, too" look on her face but maybe not so i ignored it. the weather was not quite as splendid as last year, but the gardens were even wilder due to the hot spring.

southwark concert band delighted as always, starting with my favourite "slavic farewell", and i hope that the funny noises that occasionally came from the sax were only heard by me. in the break then i got a chance to capture the formidable scb conductor, bob bridges, who gracefully not only put up with deac and rike, but now with me as well coming after a photo. oh dear.

happiness is a new car...

2011-06-28T00:45:00.002+01:00

i'm trying to figure out now how long exactly it took between the old car was stolen and the arrival and registration of the new boy and from the top of my head i'd say a solid 2 1/2 months. 10 weeks at the mercy of london's irate public transport which kind of works ok if you go into town but is utterly miserable if you try to go across the boroughs.

here a few examples: brockley to clapham £26 by cab, or 3 buses or into town and out again. at night. or: brockley to grove park. 2 buses and therefore only £4.40 and only one hour twenty minutes for what is essentially less than 5 miles. but if one of the two buses you need steadily refuses to show up you might as well walk, which would have been faster in the first place. or: two heavy instruments from brockley to brixton and back at night. with a child. and, and, and.

yes, it's true: you can live without a car in london. and, no, i do not like it. it's messy, expensive, takes for ever and all the time you wreck your back with all the stuff you need. my husband probably disagrees. but, wait: wasn't he the one who took the car to the corner shop this morning to get his newspaper??

so the new arrival has made his maiden journey over (under?) the dover strait swiftly by eurotunnel only to be parked at the next bm-dealer until the great and good people at the dvla finally gave him the thumbs up. if you happen to need to know anything about exporting a car from germany into gb just ask me - there cannot possibly be a paper or form that i don't know about. plus opening times of all relevant authorities, including holidays. trust me!

BUT: it's here, it's taxed and already on the congestion charge register. so more to come about our trips soon, starting with kent and the llama farm yesterday.

centre for young musicians

2011-06-15T00:30:00.002+01:00

congratulations to our darling daughter (NOT pictured) that she auditioned for and got a place at the centre for young musicians where from september onwards her lovely instrument will add to the noise, we hope. well done!!!

50 is the new forties

2011-06-11T21:55:00.002+01:00

it is of course the year of the fifties, i.e. when all good vintage 61 boyz and gals hit their half time and therefore some rather splendid parties have taken place already, some with some without me. the one and only not to miss was of course pam's birthday grandezza in the fantastically well suited kunstbar in cologne, right under the cathedral, where a cool crowd danced into the wee hours. pamela herself looked like the young jackie o and hardly ever left the dance floor. the hannover gang was well represented and mostly together, and the ex-pats had found their way back too. one moment with andy, conny, captain sensible and pam all dancing their hearts out it felt like the old days, and also: that we would all still be there in another fifty years. I drink to that! waiter, one lemonade, please, the one with the large cork...

(check the picasa link top right for some pics)

look what's missing

2011-05-20T01:08:00.002+01:00

hard to believe but some dummy stole the car and all of rike's orchester music for the entire band that was in it as well. no longer a beauty but still so reliable and just a neat runner with over 200000 km our good old 5er has been hijacked to god knows what place and duties but even though we don't drive nearly as much any longer as we used to the household is still not equipped to do all our errands on the bike. trying not to be too sentimental but that car was a great match - sad to see him go...

life's faster than a blog

2011-05-20T00:29:00.002+01:00

difficult to do anything on the blog when all other parts of your life tilt towards the messier side of things but as peaceful and as relaxed as we are here in the garden with andreas (claudia taking the pic) it wasn't meant to last. just about the time our lovely friends left all hell broke lose with first the car stolen and a few days later the computer thoroughly crashed it somewhat felt we were caught between a rock and a hard place... little did we know that afternoon of the fuzz awaiting us...

(check out more of claudia and andreas' adventures on the picasa to the right)

happy birthday, liebe marlies!

2011-04-25T22:50:00.002+01:00

the house of future projects

2011-04-25T22:41:00.001+01:00

the house has been given over to model making at a rather large scale as Rike has been assigned to build a 'house for the future' which currently takes place on the entire ground floor and large parts of the basement as well.

not content with the idea to do a little power point presentation or a nice drawing as most of her mates probably do she is determined to create a second dolls house with outbuildings and garden.

mom and particularly dad are assigned little runner jobs to keep us busy and her company and we may get the glue or hold a piece of wood to let it dry but other than that madame architect is happily doing it herself.

the finished model is about 4 ft high and weights a ton - it took us only three people to get it into school - along the line of teachers not believing their eyes...

a dime a dozen

2011-04-01T22:39:00.008+01:00

it's still early hours but somebody needs to watch over the birthday cake as there are too many little kittens in the house to steal the cream and therefore big cat is watching..

ah - footsteps on the stairs - not that many mornings that rike is up at 6.30

yeah - this cat needs a hug, too! she is so cute!

so lets see that cake. the icing is still intact but is the inside any good? mom was nearly in tears last night 'cause the meringe wouldn't set - at 4 am!

hmmm - not too bad. i have two, please...

and so to the real presents. rike made some five different lists in the weeks before the big day but at least there were choices this time - and not only "horse" on the list as for christmas...

so let's have a look: the ubiquitous tec gizmos which dad loves to buy only too much. the 'wales on horse' broschure - what does it mean? and books on end and chocolates en masse

looks like we're onto a winner!

happy 12th birthday my darling!

i know what you did last saturday...

2011-03-20T23:56:00.001Z

with march way into its course and the days getting a little brighter there's been a lot of plotting around the house of what to do for rike's birthday and where to go for the party. not that this needs that much discussion but after we sorted the birthday do (you guessed it) at the stables today i found our little darling and her friend happily on the phone discussing horse prices with a number of owners all too willing to get a commitment out of a not-quite-twelve-year-old. and on my desk is a beautiful list of livery charges for various london stables. you have to admire the skills even if you want to run away from the idea screaming...

spring concert spree!

2011-03-10T13:19:00.000Z

spring concerts everywhere and almost any night now our little darling is out with her horn or as a singer in some rather splendid concerts, so far by lms, scb and hahc, with more to come. it is amazing how well some of these young people and children play, sing or even write the music themselves. and always great when the conductor wears a cowboy hat that comes all the way from el paso (trust me...)

oh dear - another year...

2011-03-03T17:17:00.001Z

happy birthday, brother!

my own private fashion week

2011-03-01T01:44:00.003Z

with london fashion week in full swing and the streets around somerset house and the college awash with fantastic looking people i was acutely reminded that i too once dabbled in hot garments - or so. over to google and the results are above. no more traces of jane&john, the company i was 'chief designer' for (or untrained but eager to learn as i remember it) but this hopeful posting on ebay with one of the jackets i at least partly designed (the other part was probably stolen from a better jacket by a proper company). which means the jacket is also likely to be more than 25 years old as jane&john didn't survive their move from a small hand-to-mouth dye shop to much larger premises with 200 seamstresses around 1984.

it was good fun most of the times even if it included long nights since without formal training i had to try out the pattern I was expected to hand in the next day. and even then it happened more than once that the head seamstress, who had been assigned to make the sample from my pattern, would come with a funny looking piece in her hand, holding it up with a puzzled look, "is that really what you wanted it to look like??"

easiest way out of this dilemma was usually to put the blame firmly on the cutter, who as a musician had even less experience but was in desperate need of the money and who, as my flatmate, had organized the job for me. totally bored by the work and resolutely unwilling to co-operate he didn't last very long with jane&john but, folks, this was probably a blessing in disguise as good ol' kai later made it big as frontman of the german rockband fury in the slaughterhouse....

so for a while it was all fun and visiting fashing shows in munich and dusseldorf was great, and i'll never forget the pride when one of my master pieces was in the shop window of one of hanover's largest fashion stores. but once the routine started to set in it was clear that it wasn't meant to be. i didn't have the drive to push for new stuff all the time nor the willingness to properly learn the tools. nor the patience to discuss fashion every waking moment, and so i returned ruefully to my kafka seminars...

and the name is: john boy

2011-02-21T01:25:00.000Z

folks it's still raining cats and dogs, so it might be just as well to have another story from animal kingdom and announce the arrival of john boy, or so we think he'll be named if the happy parents in hanover's dieselstrasse finally can agree on it...

having recently lost the ever so lovely murphy and currently even without cats it is time that this household gets the critters back in. little john boy just fits the bill: heartbreakingly cute yet cheeky, you can actually see him gnawing on cornel's shoes or stealing the sausage from the fridge, just as every respected boy should do. and if there are a few tricks he doesn't know yet we're sure nino and leon will teach him. so - stick to the name, guys. after all your most used line can be "johnny - be good!!!"

coriander has one of her moments

2011-02-06T00:52:00.002Z

the sheer fact that i find a few seconds to write here is already a sign that things are on the up and that the darkest of all winter days are behind us. in fact we had a couple of lovely rides today with the horses playing up in the windy school (rike's horse selica nearly went through the roof when a piece of wood flew around outside) and later home i even spent a few moments in the garden, though more to inspect the damage rather than doing any work...

the cats have also already caught up to the sunnier days and have started to find those spots in the house again that get sunlight for a few hours. coriander (pictured) in particular has great talent to find the cosiest places and as you can see, defends her rights viciously against the other two.

rike was fast this morning with her camera and caught the little (or indeed not so little anymore) rascal in our bed. so pleased to see how relaxed this cat is now - she was after all left to die in a rubbish bin as a little kitten and barely alive when rescued.

such fun to have her - just don't try to get near that duvet...

un-bee-lievable

2011-01-11T23:16:00.002Z

great news from the school front: our little bee rike has participated in her first ever spelling bee across the 240 kids of year 7 and actually won it, therefore also adding another round of points for her house team. not only did she have the nerve to sign up for such a daunting thing but she managed to get a long list of words right that probably even her clever mum wouldn't have done that easily without a dictionary...must be from her father's side...

(or was it because below is her favourite training material??)

(click here for a nice training site from the times)

the empire visits britain

2011-01-11T01:03:00.002Z

what a great start into the new year with already a short but stately visit by the empire and her entourage aka pam and stef and as you can see even in only fourty eight hours there are practically no things you can't do in london.

after an elaborate round trip from paddington home on friday night, which is really north west to south east, we tried it the other way again on sunday with a full south to east to north to north west trip from blackheath to hampstead heath via hackney, whitechapel, clerkenwell, islington, holloway and highgate, where our visitors not only saw practically every landmark on offer but also more or less all the places i ever lived in in london.

leaves the questions of what we did on saturday, but that's an easy one: full north to south (or shall i say top to bottom) in selfridges and harvey nicks which left the empire with several new coats, dresses and handbags and more gorgeous stuff even if not in the sales. check the pics (thanks to rike and deac - great job!) on the slide show on the right.

guys this was great fun!

high up there

2011-01-04T22:59:00.001Z

not sure that the lovely horse in the picture is getting the full meaning of whom he carries, but let me tell you not many a horses are selected for this important role. nor are many doctors chosen to lead such a significant part of society either and our dear cousinchen is now a woman of real standing - well deserved and well done! congratulations!!!

guten rutsch!!!

2011-01-04T00:59:00.000Z

a great leap into 2011 with our traditional new years day party. master chef deac did it again - the cassoulet was irresistable - and a nice fish soup to round it up and as always a tasty dessert from rike (this year: creme caramel - hmmm). lot's of lovely guests too, with the kids clearly having fun in their own set up - in the basement...

happy christmas!

2010-12-29T20:49:00.001Z

no longer a white christmas but with wonderful moments, quiet as well as busy ones: midnight mass in westminster abbey and a drive through town on christmas eve (and some pressies already out as it is cusatomary in this mixed nationality family), more parcels to unwrap and an early pick up for diane and the boys from heathrow on christmas day, with a big turkey to come home to, a walk in greenwich park and more terrific food on boxing day kept everybody busy and happy. soo many things to look at and read and do (deac by now totally occupied with his kindle, rike trying out the new riding gear in the stables and me eating every pralinee in sight...)

HAHC christmas concert

2010-12-20T00:02:00.001Z

rike sang and played in several concerts in the last few weeks with her school as well as her orchestra and the southwark concert band but also had to abandon one or two because of the snow. a formidable line up pictured here at the annual christmas concert at goldsmiths college which reportedly drew a big crowd.

snow, snow and snow again

2010-12-19T23:44:00.000Z

views from various windows of our house into the garden and the street showing off that rare thing in london - clean snow!

after another day of travel misery we've now been told that slush is all we get for the next week, but yesterday we really had a winter wonderland. on my epic journey to highgate (to my beloved hairdresser tony) i ended up in hampstead instead and had to walk along the top end of the heath towards our old neighborhood - and even with slippery shoes and by then two and a half hours late it must have been one of the most magical moments in london ever...

and all things nice...

2010-12-12T19:30:00.001Z

in my very first own apartment, a large 3 bedroom victorian flat, unmodernised and with no proper bathroom, which i started renting at the tender age of seventeen in hannover's albertstrasse, i painted all walls dark brown and furnidged the lot with my grandmother's unwanted and faded masterpieces. i remember that i took great care not to have a single modern item in the kitchen, and even all spices, sugar, flour and salt had their own old glass containers, labelled in old german letters and adorned with little embroidered hats. a year later i was over that period and re-did the place in new wave garish...

i don't remember how much mocking i had to endure because of this but i was fairly convinced not to find another human being to be quite so determined, particularly as for the last ten years every little herb container had to be rummaged for in a box in a dark corner of the basement pantry, which meant that few spices ever saw the light of day.
how surprised therefore was i when with the new kitchen this spring dear husband demanded a proper shelf for his new chilli collection. and then one day i opened the cabinet to find this - some fifty neat little glass jars all properly labelled! just pinch me that i did not do it myself...

zoom in @ lambeth wide open

2010-12-02T00:53:00.004Z

© franek strzeszewski

just missed the chance to see some of london's emerging photographer talents at the lambeth wide open exhibition for zoom in but i should not fail to report that the very talented franek strzeszewski is represented there and most certainly worth to study closer. check out his interesting work also on his website on our artists list!

chinese ventures

2010-11-18T16:41:00.009Z

oh dear - we are an envious lot...these pics from anke and marlies from china made us reach for the tour operator on speed dial - strange we got the bank manager instead....

very happy to see and hear though that our travellers had a teriffic time and saw more or less the whole country - wild!

thanks for sending the pics - gorgeous!

cen jewellery

2010-11-16T16:21:00.000Z

great discovery the other day when we were shown the beautiful necklaces hand-made by the very talented daughter of our friends. claire has a selection of pieces on her blog and much much more at home and i'd be surprised if you can't find one you like (my favourite is on the pic - hint hint) but i think she even offers custom made pieces as well. have a look at her art - i clearly do some of my christmas shopping there!

revenge for the fish!

2010-11-15T01:01:00.004Z

you will not immediately see the connection between this fish commercial for mc-d and the need for revenge but believe me it is utterly necessary even though i wouldn't consider active violence - no, this is asking for more subtle methods...

the fish is just the last in the long list of objects my dear sister-in-law has employed with the help of our innocent child to torture her old brother and his poor wife.

it all started one easter many years ago when a large parcel arrived from the land of plenty, just the moment we were packing the car for a trip to the continent. oh well, it's from my sister, husband observed, probably for the child, throw it into the car so she's got something to do on the trip.

we did. and so did the child. the package contained a large teddy bear, one of those ugly creatures who make some dreadful noise when you push a button that the manufacturers call singing. rike pushed the button. eight hours long, from london to frankfurt. any attempt to grab the silly thing from her was met with vicious screams 'but it is from aunti niki'...

the bear was the first of many. not all worked. some failed to arrive. some were silenced with sheer brutal force. sometimes the 'no-batteries'-trick worked. but most succeded in their disarming stupidity...

where the fish comes in? well, after already giving rike a bear who trills that he loves chocolate in bennington this summer we somewhat hoped that the fish - rike had spotted him in a cvs-pharmacy in troy - was too big to travel, after all we had clearly demonstrated to niki that our suitcases were bursting already.

rike shed a few tears and left 'her' fish on the shelf. that's that i thought but i had seen a sparkle in niki's eye. i should have known better. we flew to texas, forgot about the fish, through the mountains and valleys, no mc-donalds, no garstly noice, remember, 50 miles from the next village, just us, and peace and quite - "there is a large package for you" our host greated us. "arrived three days ago. we had to pick it up from the post station. must be something valuable..."

now frankie the fish lives in london, in rike's room. since he's been put on motion detection he sometimes startles me when i pick up something from rike's desk. sometimes he scares the cats. one day niki will come and i get my revenge. that day will come...

checking on the competition

2010-11-09T01:26:00.002Z

hadn't been to cambridge for some time - say, 15 years - but it hasn't lost any of it's charm and is still a place just too good to be true. clever young things paraded in the sunshine on their bicycles and balanced organic food in brown paper bags on their saddles while a few mums and dads watched approvingly and almost bursting with pride.

we walked around the colleges trying to imagine how it would feel to work here and say in hushed voices something like 'good morning pricipal' or 'well done, mr. porter'.

everybody was incredibly friendly, from the sweet shop owner to the bookstore lady (great find: cambridge by nicholas chrimes) but in the end we decided that our own slightly rougher environment suits us better and whereas cambridge has that feeling of a soft-lens picture with an eternal longing for completeness we probably prefer the unretouched reality check of our london base. maybe for the child one day....

hotel dieselstrasse

2010-11-07T00:14:00.004Z

some people are really lucky, wouldn't you agree? while mum and dad slave away in the first weeks of their term our darling rike packed her suitcase already for the next holidays. having persuaded one of her uncles to take her in for a week she actually boarded air berlin flight ab486 all by herself as if it was a short bus ride. having said that rike has probably been more often on a plane than on a bus in her life but it all worked out and she stayed in hotel dieselstrasse having a fantastic time and i'm sure she was spoiled left, right and centre by conny, ulla and the boys.

so, not only was she allowed to ride on nala, ulla's pretty mare, but - never knowingly outsmarted - uncle berni gave them tickets to the great german classics show and rike was just amazed by the star studded line up with riders and horses she only knows from the telly.

that and a visit to the zoo and school trips and restaurants etc. etc. - how much can you pack into one week? no wonder when we picked her up from stansted her face was still glowing. dear family: thank you so much! ein dickes, dickes DANKE!!!

deptford painters

2010-11-05T23:54:00.001Z

ARCHgallery
DEPTFORD PAINTERS
30th October – 18th December
Open Monday – Saturday 10:00 to 5:00pm

ARCHgallery is pleased to present its winter group show of abstract paintings by
Anthony Daley, Arnold Dobbs, Paul Marks, Laurence Noga and Victoria Scott

ARCHgallery : 15 Resolution Way, Deptford, London SE8 4NT

http://www.archgallery.net/

a slice of reality

2010-11-04T23:22:00.006Z

photo by Chris J Dixon. the photo is copyrighted but also licensed for further reuse.

a wonderful surprise on a fine afternoon cycling along the thames path from greenwich to charlton with the family and richard wilson's "a slice of reality" was not only open (i.e. accessible with a proper ladder) but the artist was present and happily talking about his work, life on the river and the rather wild story behind his piece.

ever since the oil room at saatchi gallery we've been smitten by wilson's work - yet another piece that totally appealed to our 'forbidden fruit' syndrom - to touch when you know you musn't, to feel the suspension of want, coupled with a great sense for industrial ghosts...

nice to find out that wilson is an incredibly friendly man who happily talks to people just by chance bumping into his art....

back to business

2010-10-28T00:45:00.002+01:00

so it is back to business on all fronts and maybe now that christmas and therefore the next round of holidays is only a few weeks away that's easier to accept...well, the first in the house to find out about it really was rike this time, as her summer holidays were shortened by almost a week when she changed from primary to secondary school (don't worry too much about her - she is just on a two week half term break in germany).

big excitement because now rike will wear a uniform and we had to make friends with that very british institution of buying clothes that don't fit at shops that don't want to sell to you and nobody really knows what's going on, but in the end and with some trial and error the results look good, don't they?? saves the eternal question of what to wear in the morning.

and so the first day came and went and both parents got soo emotional whereas the kids all had that great practical instinct of sorting out their mates and hiding from the new authorities...

but it really has been a great start for rike and she is just so lucky to have scored a place at her school as apparently the number of pupils applying was higher than ever . great first school report, too - well done, biene!

we're hillbillies again!!!

2010-09-30T00:49:00.005+01:00

while our current life in london couldn't be further away from the range it is great and somewhat unreal to remember that these pics were taken less that 6 weeks ago. meris, diana, harry, clinton and seth did the full programme: long riding days, mountains, canyons, wall lake, shoot 'em again, taylor creek, and lot's a loping up ant hill, our favourite next to the mesa gallops, the meadows and all the other favourites as well. what do you do when you really don't want to leave?

(check out the picasa album on the right for more)

another year!

2010-09-28T23:59:00.000+01:00

not difficult to be cheerful when you are still young enough to hope to look older so the supermarket will sell it's fine chablis to you but anyway: meris we wish you a very happy birthday and we hope you're having a great time!

messin' around in mesilla

2010-09-25T23:30:00.000+01:00

to a hot chilli summer...

2010-09-21T01:24:00.004+01:00

complaints over the last days that instead of showing a few recent pics we are still somewhat stuck in the summer holidays but my excuse is that it simply is too much fun to linger a little longer and going over the different places again so it'll just have to do for the time being..

and so the saga continues. leaving nyc behind we hopped via atlanta to el paso, texas and stayed in the great camino real again, where deac figured out that at least 10 cowboy boot outlets were in close range of - say- half a mile and so two days devoted to shopping. q: how many boots does one man need? a: you can wear three shirts on top of each other on your flight home but three pairs of boots may look a tad silly. so thank goodness for luggage restrictions, it was only four pairs in the end. per person. just kiddin...

however, even with that many boots there was still space to pack a ton of chillies or so and off to hatch which claims to be the chilli capital of the world. even from afar there seems to be a light red dust hanging over the town but in the coming weeks i'd sneak up to our bag full of anchos, colorados, anaheim and serrano just to get a quick fix. lovely lunch at a local cafe and great, great chillis

what do you mean - summer is over?

2010-09-20T01:22:00.000+01:00

last few images from this lovely long summer, i promise, but take just one look at our cheeky little fellow pictured here in our favourite wildlife park near frankfurt (the one with the three white wolves!) and you can feel the sun right through the damp that is lying over town right now

almost the entire family came together in diane's lovely house and what a great day it was, with mini golf and cakes and pasta and a lot of fun at night time - at least for the kids...

very, very happy to see katrin the next day and hear about her adventures

and - already on the way in - a stopover in cologne with aunti pam and captain retro as cheerful as always

guys we miss you all a lot!!!

niagara falls

2010-09-14T01:03:00.004+01:00

niagara falls must be one of the most photographed objects in the world and we too couldn't resist even so it meant our cameras drowned in the thick mist that covers every millimeter of air.

torn between the trip on the "maid of the mist" and the cave walk we decided on the latter as it allowed us to stand for as long under the falls as we wanted (kind of). truly spectacular and for america relatively unsecured walkways lead you right into and under the thundering downpour, with the water gushing around us, over our heads, feet, anything.

god knows why we even tried to stay dry in the hideous yellow plastic sacks they give out as they only look silly, make you sweat inside and give a real laugh to your neighbours.

but an experience of a lifetime and worth every wrecked camera, phone, handbag in the world.

nyc highway at night

2010-09-13T00:46:00.000+01:00

some very moody pics from rike in north manhatten if i remember correctly but then she was the only one truly awake, with mom asleep and the driver on auto-pilot and with square eyes. even though we spent actually very little time there this year nyc takes its toll...

click here for a really stunning picture of big apple in the guardian yesterday.

summer highlights

2010-09-06T00:21:00.006+01:00

it's very easy to name the one highlight of the summer that has outdone all else and that is meeting niki in troy, new york. the first stop on our multiple legs trip finally seeing her was by far the nicest and that's against a string of terrific sights and adventures...

well, klm managed again to lose my suitcase and this time with everything in it for four days but these are minor hick-ups and in the end my luggage flew from jfk to albany all by itself. we on the other hand took a car (eventually, after i forgot which rental company i had booked) and dashed off to troy where we met nik and together we drove around a lot and saw again albany, scenectady, watervliet and all those little places around that we hadn't seen for nearly 6 years, and also a little further to bennington, vermont and saratoga springs, where to rike's delight the horse racing season had just started and some very handsome beasts crossed the roads right in front of our car.

with nik and deac being old hares in troy (scusi, an old german saying) we saw of course the very best of this interesting and so very unusual 19th century town that is desperately trying to keep it's beautiful town center from dying...

and it was also just lovely to see rose again who became such a wonderful friend to big deac many years ago and on top of this we even met cousin melanie (or grand cousin, as rike named her) who once visited us in london...so take a look at the many pictures deac and rike took in the picasa pages on the top right.

(me - no clothes and no make-up for three days!!!)

almost in new mexico

2010-08-18T01:28:00.006+01:00

Wish that I was on old Rocky Top

Down in the Tennessee hills

Ain't no smoggy smoke on Rocky Top

Ain't no telephone bills.

Once I had a girl on Rocky Top

Half bear the other half cat

Wild as a mink but sweet as soda pop

I still dream about that.

Rocky Top you'll always be
Home sweet home to me
Good ole Rocky Top, Rocky Top, Tennessee

Once two strangers climbed old Rocky Top
Looking for a moonshine still
Strangers ain't come down from Rocky Top
Reckon they never will.

Corn won't grow at all on Rocky Top
Ground's too rocky by far
That's why all the folks on Rocky Top
Get their corn from a jar.

shoreditch or meatpacking district

2010-08-17T20:14:00.000+01:00

who says that london's shoreditch is about as trendy as the infamous (and now well gentrified) meatpacking district misses the point. yes, cool it (just) still is but it also is only about 16 minutes from our home (thanks to the east london overground) and it yet manages to feel so nyc as if you'd just said little west 12th street. plus it is the (work) home for our best friend jane who has neatly secured an uber-chic office in the famous tea building with views over the entire City and well beyond. jane is also quite likely our most knowledgeable friend for restaurants and usually knows all the good places well before anybody else does. being in a great mood the other day she finally agreed to take us (again) to one of her favourites which we'd never found without her, the lovely rochelle canteen, where you have to find the right doorbell in a secret little entrance before you are allowed to enter the - - back canteen of an old school building. great food and a beautiful lazy afternoon... nyc, eat your heart out!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NIKI!

2010-08-16T15:00:00.000+01:00

big big birthday kisses from your favourite niece and her old parents!!!

you're twisted

2010-07-25T11:04:00.003+01:00

cool chic from the homeland arrived a few weeks ago where the family clearly worried about our scurvy-like appearance and had the fab idea to get us to eat more fruit with this classy bowl. now we really buy a lot more fruit and decorate it daintily - just don't touch the display!

brockley open studios 2010

2010-07-11T23:35:00.005+01:00

as every year is it a real event in brockley to see so many artists and interesting work in the brockley open studios that the only drawback is that there is never enough time nor money for it all. our street was again crowded with participants and i counted no fewer than 12 artists. there are a few perennial players that we always visit (and there is always a fish to buy from jeff!) but we also try to see something new. so this year we went to

gill hickman
ruty benjamini
vicky scott
paul de monchaux
ruth de monchaux
gillian golding
mimi soan
jeff soan
bill watson
angela kerkhoff
carol edgar

bird books by bill watson

and our own garden party

2010-07-11T23:04:00.008+01:00

traditionally our own garden party takes place during the brockley open studios because it is always very interesting to discuss with friends the artists and works they have just seen. with spledid sunshine and very special guests we had a terrific time. way too busy to take pictures so here are some statistics:
guests: 44
of which children: 10
sardines: 30
sausages: 40
cakes: 2
beer and wine: don't remember
bottles brought by guests: too many!
waiters: 3 (and they were great!)
chef de grill: 1 (and boy was he busy :)

lambeth palace garden party

2010-07-08T01:41:00.001+01:00

the great side effect of rike playing in no less than three bands is that as accompanying parents we get access to a lot of places we usually would never dream to see. lambeth palace, the home of the archbishop of canterbury, and its stunningly large garden in the middle of town, was such an occasion and the garden party was a lovely treat after a long and hard week.

southwark concert band delighted with two sets of great favourites and the homemade cakes and ciders threw the diet straight out of the window. that and a large range of interesting herbs and other plants to look at made for a great day. thanks, rike!

humboldt-abi 1980

2010-06-23T00:40:00.006+01:00

some people are convinced the most traumatic thing next to your school years is your school reunion party but i politely disagree. though a little nervous seeing at least some of my schoolmates after 30 years and having my dearest pam chickening out a few hours before the event with some dubious excuses it proved to be a rather lovely time and i was surprised how much i actually enjoyed seeing the lot again. a beautiful walk through hanover's beekestrasse where the party took place in a rugby club and where i have (mis)spent at least several of my teenage years at the super cheap ice-cream parlour and a sight of my old school on the cab ride in did the rest for a true trip down memory lane. bliss!

(click on the picasa slide show top right to see more pics)

humboldtschule hannover abitur 1980

foto festival in hanover

2010-06-22T23:23:00.003+01:00

you sometimes wonder whether my little brother feels obliged to deliver some form of cultural event when i'm in town but his idea to visit the lumix fotofestival worked out rather splendidly. A huge line of young photographers from all over the world displayed their works spread over the vast expo 2000 area which is now in parts occupied by an arts college. interesting material plus a lovely afternoon in the garden, with good old murphy snapping up treats...

(see pics on the top right)

a day in leeds

2010-06-21T23:35:00.000+01:00

early morning train from king's cross to leeds where i am an external examiner at leeds university. first time and interesting to see the leftovers from what was once a really important trade centre. huge buildings in town housed banks, law firms and trading companies and are now mostly (big) pubs and restaurants. leeds uni is a large campus spread over the north western part of town with some lovely old white elefants (parkinson building) but some terrific modern architecture as well. shame all the museums close so early so that after 5pm there was little left but to hit the leeds branch of harvey nicks which was rather boring, although the victorian gallery is a treasure.

what to do in london

2010-06-09T00:23:00.025+01:00

there are a number of things tourists and visitors do in london, like parading up and down oxford street, taking pics of buckingham palace or crowding the markets in greenwich. those in the know will of course only smile at this, but even most seasoned travellers should admire the hardcore programme our dearest pam chose to undertake while here a few days ago: horseback riding in lee, at the famous infamous willowtree stables, with wild alice as her mount and one half of the fearful twins to lead.

that and an unscheduled long trip through the urban wilderness of stepney, hackney and leytonstone could only be balanced by a full day's worth of shopping at harvey nicks. tired and with big bags dangling from the wrists we crashed out on the 5th floor after pam made a very friendly sales assistant at marc jacobs very happy indeed for the day. proof? you got it!

tally-ho!

2010-06-08T23:17:00.000+01:00

finally i was able to upload the little clip rike took of pamela in the riding school a few days ago. i fear we've been after her for years by now to join in on the horses hoping that one year she'll come with us to the ranch in new mexico so even if this will not happen this year we all think it's a good start. well done! and you never know: one year....

your daddy's rich, and your mom is good looking...

2010-06-05T01:27:00.003+01:00

A gorgeous early summer day in christine's garden declared as a reunion party but actually more a cake feast with the usual suspects. we still haven't figured out to which magic spell christine owes the long list of 'rights' - right time, right place, right people, very right cakes...that make all her parties seem effortless style and fun. while the kids were having a waterbottle fight and came back looking like drowned little mice the adults had one of these very special tea afternoons that make life look a little gentler, indeed a bit more english...

all pics by martha! thanks for sending!!!

so cute!!!!

2010-06-03T22:03:00.000+01:00

many thanks to anke for sending this absolutely lovely picture of maternal bliss from her stable. wish we could be there right now!

ladies and gentlemen:

2010-05-23T23:02:00.001+01:00

the formidable southwark concert band
(playing dulwich last week)

遨

2010-05-18T22:49:00.001+01:00

there are many ways to get real about your age. one way is to check on your birthday and find that in all questionaires you are ticking the 48-to-64 group. one way is simply to look into the mirrow on a normal day. but the thing that really drives down the message is when you look at the kids of your friends and find that they are more or less ready to conquer the world. young, bright and adventurous they do all the things at the age of sixteen that you thought you might do later in life, like after retirement...

well, let's not get too upset about this. andy and carmo's beautiful daughter joana (bottom right) and her school mates are just preparing for a fantastic trip to shanghai's expo in a sort of young diplomat's way and will promote their town and meet pupils from a chinese high school to exchange ideas. fluent in english, mandarin and hopefuly german this will truly be an intercultural experience. like we did in the seventies, just that for us it was the village over...

read the whole story here

don't look now

2010-05-17T12:16:00.004+01:00

i wonder if i can claim the fame of being the first casualty of the new london overground (east london line) which opened a few days ago. eager to try this fantastic new service from new cross gate to town i quite happily went into work last tuesday telling everybody about our great new connection.

but - as they say where i come from - when the donkey gets too comfortable he walks onto the ice. on the way home i already felt quite familiar with all these sparkling new steps and curves and racing down the stairs to get my train without paying much attention delivered a little reminder: always look where you're going on the tube.

five days later and my ankle is about as black and blue as it gets. blood on the tracks, already!!!

the perfect ambiente

2010-05-13T10:42:00.002+01:00

This incredibly pretty picture of our beautiful aunt arrived a couple of days ago with yet another birthday party we wish we had been able to attend but how she does it, i mean, looking younger every year, is a mystey. Alles Liebe, Marlies, und bleib, wie du bist!!!