baby, you're so last year...

...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

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!!!

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!

 

 

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?

unbeatable - thanx, niki!

merry christmas, my dear nephews

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

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....