Macartan and Heike's Place

Christmas Baking

2011-11-28T14:57:00.000+01:00

Macartan's 42nd Birthday

2011-10-19T22:18:00.000+02:00

with birthday candles and kids singing "Wie schön, dass Du geboren bist"

Odenwälder Herbstlauf

2011-10-03T19:53:00.001+02:00

I did the half marathon of the Odenwälder Herbstlauf today. I had been aiming for a time of less than 2 hours, but given that it was so warm (26°C), and some inconsiderate planner had put quite a few hills in the way, and my training partners won’t run a whole kilometre without piddling and sniffing (three whiney excuses) I was quite pleased in the end that I finished my first half marathon at all. The time of 2:03:02 gives me something to improve on for next year.

Yes, of course

2011-10-01T09:28:00.000+02:00

This puts my mind at rest. Any reservations about the Kurpfalzschule's ability to tutor my child in the language of Shakespeare are now banished :-)

Liam's first day at School

2011-09-17T14:17:00.000+02:00

My old mountaineering boots didn't make it back from Chamonix

2011-06-26T08:44:00.000+02:00

If you look closely, you can see the word "Made in Italy" on the sole.

Liam and Rosalie at the Naturkunde Museum in Berlin

2011-06-15T00:19:00.001+02:00

There appears to be a conversation going on in this photo.

Ice Cream in Marlay Park

2011-05-09T23:59:00.000+02:00

Kieran and his siblings tried out the playground in Marlay Park, Dublin. All went well until his grandfather decided that children need ice cream once the sun shines.
As the picture shows, Kieran's enjoyment of said ice cream is way ahead of his proficiency in directing it to the correct area of his face.

Liam plays Hirte Simon (Simon the Shepherd)

2010-12-05T22:55:00.001+01:00

As Liam told me he was to play a shepherd in the kindergarten church play, I automatically assumed that it would be a nativity play. However when he also told me that his friends were playing a thief and a wolf respectively, I began to suspect that there was more to it than this.

From 2010-12-05 - Liam plays Shepherd Simon

In “Die vier Lichter des Hirten Simon”, the protagonist searches for his lost lamb, and along the way dispenses light to society’s outcasts (thief, wolf and beggar). Liam shared the title role with another kindergarten child, which is an insurance against stage fright amongst five-year-olds. In this instance it was unnecessary, both shepherds withstood the pressure. Liam even ad-libbed a little – on picking up his lantern with four candles he claimed it was too hot, and took one with just one candle instead.

Feldbahn- und Industriemuseum Wiesloch

2010-10-03T01:28:00.001+02:00

From 2010-10-02 - Feldbahn- und Industriemuseum Wiesloch

The Feldbahn- und Industriemuseum in Wiesloch had an open day today, with their little narrow gauge railway trundling to and fro along a 200 metre line. Rosalie and Liam found this train very entertaining, as well as the guided tour of the little museum.

The full title for the event was "FUNZEL- UND LATERNENABEND", or Museumslichterfahrt mit Laternenprämierung, see http://www.feldbahnmuseum-wiesloch.de/ for details. The idea was that each child would bring a lantern, so that the train rides after dark would have more atmosphere.

Contrary to expectations, there were no prizes for “best lantern”, so the hectic hour of hedgehog and ladybird-themed lantern creation last night was somewhat in vain. Nonetheless the kids had a great time, as the pictures below show.

Assembling a new Swing and Slide

2010-08-08T21:19:00.002+02:00

Yesterday was a very busy day here, as Project New Swing and Slide moved from the planning phase to the Realisation phase. Fortunately Heike’s brother Hans-Günther was on hand with the appropriate power tools to get the job done.

There were one or two moments of incredulity as we realised that the instructions were not written in the traditional linear style. The essence of page 6 was that in order to get to page 7, you really need to re-do page 5.

Such problems notwithstanding, we did manage to get a functional swing for the kids before the barbecue started, and I added the slide today.

Below is a slideshow of the Saturday photos, and the finished product from today.

From 2010-08-08 - New Swing and Slide

Kindergarten Sommerfest

2010-06-15T23:41:00.001+02:00

On Saturday Liam and Rosalie’s kindergarten celebrated their summer fest, this year with a medieval knights & damsels theme.

Fortunately there was some help from the freie kurpfälzischen Ritterschaft, a local group of medieval fans who kept the children enthralled with stories, games and bouts of jousting.

Some pictures below:

Felsenmeer

2010-06-15T23:31:00.001+02:00

We visited the Felsenmeer (literally sea of rocks) near Darmstadt last Sunday. The boulder field gave the kids plenty of opportunity to climb around and have fun.

A few impressions are in the slideshow below:

Weather comparison between Dublin and Heidelberg

2010-06-15T23:23:00.001+02:00

The problem with easy access to information is that it’s just too easy to get jealous of other people’s weather.

Like when I looked at these two pictures this morning:

Not fair.

Tired Children

2010-06-05T21:54:00.000+02:00

We went for a walk today near Burg Frankenstein, and yes, it was Mary Shelley's inspiration. The effort was all a bit much for Liam and Rosalie though, for the last third of the walk they chose to get some sleep in the buggy.
It was a tight squeeze, but they didn't seem to mind!

Studio pictures of Kieran plus family

2010-04-14T19:00:00.001+02:00

We made the effort last week to get some photos made professionally of Kieran, and the results are in my opinion worth it.

Judge for yourselves…

Painting Easter Eggs

2010-04-03T23:46:00.001+02:00

Liam and Rosalie took some time out today from revering the new little brother, and did some creative artwork instead.

From 2010-04-03 - Painting Easter Eggs

Starting with some basic white eggs and food dye, and continuing with special edible paint concoction, they produced what a proud father can only term works of art. The Tate Modern displays stuff that looks worse.

From 2010-04-03 - Painting Easter Eggs

Here are the two creative geniuses hard at work.

From 2010-04-03 - Painting Easter Eggs

It has to be said that not all of the artistic materials were used for a higher purpose, some were used to prove a point to any parents who might dare to question the artistic direction.

From 2010-04-03 - Painting Easter Eggs

At the end of the day though the balance was positive: 24 brightly coloured eggs, many of whom had not been thrown on the floor in frustration.

From 2010-04-03 - Painting Easter Eggs

Imperial measures of Kieran

2010-03-29T22:33:00.001+02:00

3720 grams = 8.20119615 pounds

53 centimeters = 20.8661417 inches

Sources:

Liam and Rosalie visit Kieran

2010-03-29T18:10:00.001+02:00

Liam and Rosalie dropped into the hospital together with Anne from across the road. They were happy to see their new baby brother, but not all that keen to share. I’m hoping they learn that before they pull him apart like a rag doll.

Kieran Patrick Günther Cassidy

2010-03-29T14:30:00.001+02:00

At 08:11 this morning I was thrilled to be handed a slightly cheesy and blood-stained son. Kieran arrived Macduff-style, namely by Caesarean. Despite being more than 2 and a half weeks before term, he weighed in at a very healthy 3720 grams, and 53 centimetres, making him bigger than both of his siblings on their birthdays.

Here he is still covered in the cheese-like moisturiser so popular among new-borns:

From 2010-03-29 - Kieran Patrick Günther

and here with his mother, both tired after all their efforts:

From 2010-03-29 - Kieran Patrick Günther

I was able to dress up for the day too - here I am in my operating theatre gear (I ditched the hat and face mask at the earliest opportunity

From 2010-03-29 - Kieran Patrick Günther

The important news is that Heike and son are well, if somewhat exhausted by the whole procedure

From 2010-03-29 - Kieran Patrick Günther

Günther Schwab celebrates his 75th birthday

2010-03-28T08:34:00.001+02:00

Heike’s father Günther turned 75 yesterday, and the family congregated to help him celebrate. My pictures are in the Picasa slideshow below.

Careful observers will note that Heike seems more pregnant than ever. It won’t be long now!

Selva Val Gardena

2010-03-18T17:56:00.001+01:00

Liam, Rosalie and I joined up with my dad for a week of skiing in Selva Val Gardena (Dolomites) last week.

Heike was ordered by the doctor to stay home and rest, which was lucky for her as she would have gone mad on the drive there. Snow caused traffic chaos through Germany and Austria on that day, so that we were on the road a total 13.5 hours getting there!

Below are some pictures of the kids both in the apartment and on their sledges, and a video of Liam skiing.

Weekend in Berlin

2010-02-21T23:43:00.001+01:00

We are just back from a very enjoyable weekend visiting friends in Berlin. A highlight for the kids was the Museum für Naturkunde. In particular the brachiosaurus and diplodocus on show in the main foyer prompted much gushing from Liam about these being "my favourite dinosaurs".

Also popular were a row of Russian tanks and artillery on show a few minutes walk from our friends’ house in Karlshorst. The building where the German unconditional surrender was signed in 1945 is now a German-Russian museum. We didn’t bother going inside, the tanks were really all the kids wanted to see.

Kids love snow (shock)!

2010-01-09T17:26:00.001+01:00

The winter has finally delivered with a nice dump of snow, so the kids and I headed up the hills outside of Heidelberg for some sledging. Some pictures below…

From 2010-01-09 - Sledging at Lingental

BBC News - Road grit levels 'critically low'

2010-01-04T10:35:00.000+01:00

This is "leaves on the line" for roads...

BBC News - Road grit levels 'critically low'

Atheist Ireland Publishes 25 Blasphemous Quotes | blasphemy.ie

2010-01-02T13:32:00.000+01:00

Lots of blasphemy worth a 25,000€ fine to be found here...

Atheist Ireland Publishes 25 Blasphemous Quotes | blasphemy.ie

Google Chrome Extensions: Blog This! (by Google)

2009-12-21T11:07:00.000+01:00

Google Chrome Extensions: Blog This! (by Google)

a cool Chrome extension allows me to blog items with unnerving rapidity.

Baking Xmas Cookies

2009-11-23T20:31:00.001+01:00

Below Rosalie and Liam display their culinary skills as the family got together to bake the traditional Weihnachtsplätzchen. Rosalie manned the Fleischwolf, while Liam was responsible for cutting off the extruded cookies at the precise length required.

From 2009-11-22 - Baking Xmas Cookies

The end results look and taste pretty good, below are the Spritzgebäck they created:

From 2009-11-22 - Baking Xmas Cookies

Páid Cassidy's 70th birthday party photos

2009-11-02T06:36:00.001+01:00

As promised in the previous post I’ve uploaded my pictures of the evening and embedded a slideshow below…

Páid Cassidy's 70th birthday party

2009-10-30T12:45:00.006+01:00

Below is the speech I gave last night at my father's birthday party. Pictures will follow when I get around to docking the camera.

Ladies and Gentleman, girls and boys, it’s appropriate at a 70th birthday party to reflect for a few moments on the life and times of the birthday boy.
My childhood memories of Páid are naturally coloured by the fact that I had no other father as a comparison. It only occurred to me later that when I tried to explain his behaviour to friends, their bafflement must indicate that I was lucky enough to have a very singular father.
Usually the raised eyebrows started with names. Páid has lived all his life with a double persona, Páid in conversation, then Patrick J. as legal signature. Not content with his own brand of confusion, he gave all of his children unusual names, so that we have all learned to do some explaining when introducing ourselves. I had thought nothing of the tale that I shared a name with the school he had attended as a boy, right up to the point that someone commented that he must be reliving his childhood traumas through his son.
This of course couldn’t be further from the truth. Páid was always a great father, and that’s no mean feat when you have six children to feed, clothe and educate. I’d like to thank both Páid and Rosalie for the support and encouragement that enabled all six of us to complete a university education and find our own careers.
As for his qualities as a husband, I will always recall a particular quote from my mother: “If you become half the man your father is, you’ll be doing well”.
However I have a creeping suspicion that it was as a grandfather that he has found his true calling. Now rid of the responsibilities associated with feeding, clothing and educating, he can concentrate instead on the important aspect, namely play. And with grandchildren of every age from 11 downwards, there’s plenty of opportunity for him to crawl on the floor, paint faces and otherwise live up to his official family title of “grand-père mentale”.
Apart from his success in raising his family, Páid has of course had a very successful career as a civil engineer. As kids all we ever saw of his work were photos and plans from sewage plants, nothing that anyone could ever describe as glamorous. However I’m sure all of his colleagues here will attest that his 40 odd years of contribution and expertise in the Irish water engineering industry has been immense.
Nowadays everyone talks about work-life balance. Páid has for years been balancing his successful family and professional lives with a very active sporting and social life. Not of course sports involving running about after a ball, I think Peadar will concur that that sort of thing has never been big in his life. But whether it be bridge, sailing, Toastmasters, walking, pub quizzes, and in latter years skiing and alpine mountaineering, there is never a dull moment for this particular pensioner.
At 70, many people would accept their status as a pensioner and spend more time tending the roses. Páid is of course very grateful for the free bus and Luas ticket, which he fervently uses in order to reduce his carbon footprint. He is however far too stubborn to accept the biological laws of ageing, and has for many years now made a point of being in better shape than his contemporaries. As some of you know, Dad and I will celebrate our aggregate 110th birthday by attempting to climb Mont Blanc next year. Between the two of us, the smart money is on the Kilimanjaro veteran who also has the Tour of Mt Blanc and the Chamonix-Zermatt route under his belt, rather than the 40-year-old.
I’d like to wrap up by thanking the staff here at National for being so great, and my mother Rosalie for organising this party. I know she’d respond by thanking all of you for coming tonight.
With that I’d like to propose a toast to Páid.

The kids get a new bunk bed

2009-10-17T17:05:00.001+02:00

Liam and Rosalie were thrilled today when Dieter Schumacher of www.schumacher-kindermoebel.de/ arrived to assemble their new bed. With a fireman’s pole, climbing frame, crane, steering wheel and swing attached, it’s more than just a bed for sleeping in.

Couch Surfing

2009-09-27T14:38:00.001+02:00

I learned in the middle of this week that we would be having guests at the weekend. This is not unusual, as often I only register that a visit is upcoming when Heike reminds me. However what did surprise me is that our visitors were not previously known to us.

Heike has registered with http://www.couchsurfing.org/, a site which enables guests to find hosts. The idea is classic Web 2.0 reputation management – you prove yourself worthy by inviting strangers into your home, then impose yourself on others for short stays all over the world.

So how was it? Peter and Nadine were excellent house guests: playing with our kids, tolerating our barking dogs, and giving us an insight into their couch surfing experiences in Europe, Israel and India. I definitely recommend the project, and I’m looking forward to trying it out from the guest’s point of view.

Images of Corsica

2009-09-27T14:08:00.001+02:00

For the second year in a row we spent two weeks of September in Corsica. Last year we were in Tiuccia, this year about an hour further north near the town of Porto.

View Corsica in a larger map

The Marina Livia complex of bungalows provides simple but also charming accommodation just a couple of hundred metres from the beach at Bussaglia. This is a great location for our sort of “walk in the morning, beach in the afternoon” holiday.

One of our first walks was through the red granite of the Calanches. Just off the road and away from the tourist buses there’s a nice walk along the old mule path from Piana to Porto. The kids were happy to walk this, as long as the promised lollipops materialised.

From 2009-09-07 - Mule Path through the Calanches

Along the way people have built cairns as way markers. While some of these are mere piles of stones, some like the example below are veritable feats of balance and creativity.

From 2009-09-07 - Mule Path through the Calanches

The next day we drove north to the Fango Valley – a much flatter area than the mountainous area around Porto. Here the river gorge is famous for providing little pools to paddle or swim about in, which we promptly did.

From 2009-09-08 - Fango Valley

This was all very well for the humans, but Elsa and Tosca found the whole experience very exhausting, and just dozed off at the side of the river.

From 2009-09-08 - Fango Valley

The beach near our accommodation was pleasant despite being pebbly rather than sandy. One odd thing however was the establishment just up the road. We never figured out exactly what goes on there, but from the outside could be deduced that it is a business where camping and parking and dogs are forbidden. Not visible in the photo are the cows who grazed there, or the scrapped cars in the back. Answers on a postcard please.

From 2009-09-12 - Bussaglia Plage

The sea around Corsica is clean and warm, and the kids loved swimming there. Our guidebook complains about the fact that it gets deep relatively quickly, hence is not suitable for children. Our kids didn’t mind that – they found it all the more exciting that they could swim out to little islets in the bay.

From 2009-09-09 - Bussaglia Plage

The other good feature of Bussaglia beach are the sea cliffs which have been developed as Escalades. The kids and I spent a few afternoons climbing on these. Strangely these cliffs have been bolted, but all of the lower bolts have been removed. I’m not sure whether this was vandalism or well-intentioned removal of unsafe equipment, as the sea water makes the bolts rust fairly quickly.

From 2009-09-09 - Bussaglia Plage

Back in the Calanches we went for a walk which we had done last year, and photographed Rosalie in a cave she had been photographed in a year earlier. In case there's any doubt about her growth in the last 12 months, the right hand photo is from this year.

From 2009-09-11 - Chateau Fort

Another place we revisited was the Piscine Naturelle in the Forêt d'Aïtone. We were spared the hassle of last year when Liam managed to throw himself into the water, this year everyone stayed dry.

From 2009-09-12 - Piscine Naturelle

The water looks lovely from the picture but it comes from high up on the mountain and was much too cold for softies like us.

From 2009-09-12 - Piscine Naturelle

Back at sea level, and in water above the freezing point we decided to give snorkelling a go. For 5 Euros a head at the local supermarket, Liam and I were kitted out in snorkel and mask – we already had the flippers. What I hadn’t expected was the number of small fish which had clearly been swimming around our feet all week.

From 2009-09-12 - Bussaglia Plage

Because the weather was so pleasant for most of the time we often stayed at the beach until sunset. This had the advantage that we could watch a few spectacular sunsets, to which my photographic skills don’t really do justice.

From 2009-09-12 - Bussaglia Plage

The nearby town of Porto has a magnificent Genoese tower overlooking the bay, with a little museum inside. Liam was thrilled to hear that the tower had been the scene of some pirate activity, and was rather disappointed that there were no pirates in evidence as we visited.

From 2009-09-13 - Porto

The Porto beach also sports a bolted crag where Liam could try out his climbing skills again.

From 2009-09-13 - Porto

Having tried roped climbing a couple of times, both kids were insistent on dispensing with all safety equipment on the boulders along the beach. Because it was physically impossible for me to stand under both kids at all times with hands outstretched, I tried to ignore them and only pick them up after a fall. This earned me some stern looks from more safety-conscious French people, but I maintain that if I let them be silly a couple of metres off the ground, then they’ll learn not to be silly when they’re higher up. Time will tell.

From 2009-09-17 - Bussaglia Plage

Unfortunately the weather wasn’t great the whole time. During the second week we saw a couple of spectacular thunderstorms, and we even managed to use some of the warm clothes we had brought with us.

From 2009-09-18 - Marina Livia

All in all it was a fun holiday, and despite the long and tiresome journey, Corsica remains a destination we’ll go back to in the future.

From 2009-09-19 - Homeward bound

Text from the Augstbordstafel Pass

2009-09-01T17:48:00.001+02:00

I received a text message from my father today – at 12:44 he was going over the Augstbordstafel Pass in the Swiss Alps. This is the last but one leg of his journey along the Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt.

A bit of googling told me that the location in Switzerland is shown with a red arrow here, and that it looks something like the picture below:

Homeopathic A&E

2009-07-10T11:59:00.001+02:00

There are people who occasionally tell me I’m a close-minded old curmudgeon because I have a particularly low opinion of the efficacy of homeopathic cures. I encourage them to enjoy the video below :-)

I remember the spice burger

2009-07-03T09:35:00.001+02:00

I stumbled across this article in the Irish Times this morning:

Spice burgers back on the menu due to popular demand

I especially like the description of the spice burger as, “one of Ireland’s few original contributions to world cuisine”, and “a delicious blend of Irish beef, onions, cereals, herbs and spices coated with traditional outer crumb”.

My old school canteen used to serve these things, and I loved them. I had no idea that

a. the spice burger was a uniquely Irish phenomenon

b. there is actually meat in those things.

I wish Walsh Family Foods well in their quest to keep the spice burger on the market.

Volkacher Lebensart

2009-06-15T22:26:00.001+02:00

Last weekend the Heidelberg Cassidys travelled to Franconia for the Volkacher Lebensart festival.

The idea is simple, and explained in the leaflet linked here (for German speakers). Nine wineries open their doors for the weekend, put on a different band in each winery, serve matching food and their own wine. We spent most of the evening at Weingut Erhard, and I can heartily recommend their blend of Scheurebe wine, Cuban food (tasted more like creole) and Latin American band „Frutos Tropicales“. As a result we’ve order a Probierpaket of 6 bottles which arrived today. As I write I can state that the Riesling is good too.

Some pictures below:

Richard Schlenk’s inaugural lecture

2009-06-15T22:05:00.001+02:00

Last Friday we used the traditional German Brückentag excuse to take a day’s holiday between the Thursday bank holiday and the weekend. There was a good reason to do so as we were invited to the University of Ulm to witness our friend Richard’s Antrittsvorlesung, or inaugural lecture to celebrate his Habilitation. There’s a lively debate on LEO regarding the correct translation of Habilitation, I won’t delve further.

Rechard’s speciality is leukemia, and I know from helping him translate one of his papers that it’s pretty depressing material. This time unfortunately I didn’t get far enough into the lecture to get depressed, as both Liam and Rosalie decided that an hour of medical slides was more than they could handle. Heike reported that the talk was interesting and well received.

Our pictures from the University, celebration lunch in Butzental Biergarten and a touristy stop in the picturesque little town of Blaubeuren are shown below.

Plestin-les-Grèves

2009-06-15T21:39:00.001+02:00

The Cassidy clan descended en masse on the town of Plestin-les-Grèves (Brittany) for the last week of May. Below are a few of our photos.

Peter Cassidy / Peadar Ó Casaide

2009-05-15T20:33:00.001+02:00

Below is a fascinating memoir of my grandfather Peter Cassidy, as compiled by my cousin-once-removed Peadar Cassidy. Although Peter lived well into my adulthood, a lot of the detail below was new to me.

This article is due to be printed in the Clogher Record, journal of the Clogher Historical Society, Peadar kindly gave me permission to reprint here.

Peadar Ó Casaide (Peter Cassidy) was born at Nafferty, Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan in August 1913, the youngest of four children: Rose, Mary, James and Peter.   His parents were Peter and Ann (nee Callan). They lived on a 30 acre farm, a mile from Carrickmacross.    In his family circle he was known as Petie.

He attended St Joseph’s National School, Carrickmacross from 1918 to 1926. He secured a Monaghan County Council scholarship and went to the Patrician Brothers High School from 1926 to 1932.   His parents died while he was in his teens, Peter in 1925 and Ann 1927.    He was in the care of his older sisters until they emigrated to the US in 1928/1929. His brother James, four years his senior, took over the farm as a teenager and was his guardian until Peadar (Petie) was 21.

He acted as pupil teacher occasionally at his old National School while preparing for his Leaving Certificate examination in 1932.   He was successful and was called to teacher training in St Patrick’s College in Dublin. His time in Dublin had a strong influence on him.   He heard speakers such as Countess Markievich and the sister of Padraic Pearse on O'Connell St. while the new Fianna Fail, Sinn Fein, Cumman na nGael and Eoin Duffy's Blueshirts fought it out, often literally, on the streets of Dublin.   In the lecture rooms his classmates included John D. Sheridan, Paddy Crosby and Sean O'Siochan.

He graduated from St Patrick’s College in 1934. For the next four years he lived mainly in his old home and taught for short periods in national schools in the vicinity of Carrickmacross, such as Lisdoonan, Magoney and Blackstaff and subsequently in Killybrone NS in north Monaghan. There he was appointed to teach Irish since the principal teacher, having been educated many years earlier, had little knowledge of the language.

He married Nora O’Neill of Lisgall, Carrickmacross in 1938 and obtained an appointment as Principal of Knocknagrave NS in 1939. They resided at Cornagilta, Tydavnet in north Monaghan from 1940 until 1948 when he was appointed principal of Aghamakalin NS and they moved to Emyvale.   His final appointment was to Ballymackney NS, Carrickmacross. in 1952.

Three of their four children, Páid, Mary and Peadar, were born in north Monaghan; and the fourth, Dympna, in Carrickmacross.   Their new home at Drummond Otra, Dundalk Road, Carrickmacross was their pride and joy, a welcoming place for extended family and friends. They took great pride in household decoration and comfort and they won prizes for their superb garden with its flowers, shrubs and vegetables.

Soon after his arrival back in Carrickmacross he resumed his involvement in amateur drama which had begun in Emyvale.   He was a prominent member of the cast in many plays but his most memorable role was the lead part in the Passion Play in mime performed each Easter for several years in the 1950s and 1960s. He also adapted the traditional Mummer's Play for the children of Ballymackney School, which they brought to a variety of drama competitions around the county.

As well as his successful career as a teacher Peadar was involved in numerous voluntary projects cultural and charitable. He founded, with others, Scoil Rois. the local Gael Scoil. He served on many local committees including Connradh na Gaeilge and Support for the Handicapped. With several other concerned individuals he was closely involved in the setting up of the Holy Family school for handicapped children in Carrickmacross, which was later combined with other local schools and was moved to Cootehill. The celebratory weekend for historian and folklorist Henry Morris in 1974 was his inspiration. He compiled and published a list of townlands in South Monaghan and their derivations and he left a wonderful legacy in the quarterly series ‘Macalla’ which recorded the folklore and traditions of Farney and which is now available in Trinity College Library.

He founded and managed for many years a small museum in the old High School containing artefacts and documents of local historical interest.   When the museum closed the contents were taken over and moved to the Monaghan County Museum. He also researched and wrote a history of St. Joseph’s Church, Carrickmacross which was published by Clogher Diocese.   The 18th century poets of Oriel were another of his interests and he was an active member of the Clogher Historical Society; and became President of the society in 1978. In recognition of his contribution to the county he was named Monaghan Person of the Year.
Peadar was strongly nationalist in outlook with fervent opinions on language and cultural matters. A soft spoken self effacing man, he was by nature optimistic and warm hearted with an understated sense of humour. He had a great affection for kinfolk and community and also professed a sincere devotion to spiritual matters and religious observance.

Peadar Cassidy (nephew)
21st April 2009

Bergtierpark Erlenbach

2009-05-10T17:58:00.001+02:00

We spent the afternoon today at the Bergtierpark Erlenbach, literally a zoo for species of mountain-dwelling animals. The goat family was very well represented here, but also a lot of other animals such as lamas, alpacas, wild pigs, monkeys, ponies, donkeys, yaks and emus.

The kids loved it of course, especially as they were allowed to feed the vast majority of the animals they saw. Some pics below:

From 2009-05-10 - Bergtierpark Erlenbach

I like Christian Pauls because…

2009-03-21T13:09:00.001+01:00

as well as being the current German ambassador to Ireland, he’s willing to throw out some undiplomatic truths now and again. He famously described Irish society as “coarse”, “chaotic” and “greedy” in 2007. On that occasion the public reaction was just enough horror at these insulting terms in order to avoid thinking about whether there may be a grain of truth there somewhere.

Most recently he had some thoughts about the Lisbon Treaty:

German ambassador defends Lisbon Treaty remarks

In this speech Herr Pauls touched on the delicate subject having your cake and eating it. Particularly those who “complain about other nations fishing in their waters. . . and forget who pays their milk subsidies” were singled out for criticism.

Of course the anti-Lisbon group Libertas were quick to label these comments as “unacceptable” and “insulting” to Irish voters. But aren’t they just obvious? Isn’t it clear that if Ireland rejects the Lisbon Treaty again, that there can’t be a continued stream of subsidies?

As an Irish citizen paying taxes in Germany, I am happy that a portion of my taxes are subsidising my native country. I’ll be even happier when the Irish electorate face up to their European responsibilities.

Skiing in Selva Val Gardena

2009-03-21T09:50:00.001+01:00

We spent last week skiing in the Dolomites, together with my parents. The weather was for the most part excellent, and the skiing fantastic.

From 2009-03 - Selva Val Gardena

This was the first time we’ve gone with self-catering accommodation for skiing, and we were very impressed with the Apartment Renata. The location could hardly be better, about 50 metres from the Costabella lift and not much further to the town centre. The apartment itself is brand new and very tastefully decorated. And as an optional extra, Frau Lanzinger will deliver fresh breadrolls from her bakery in the mornings. Highly recommended.

Liam went to ski school, and learned to snowplough, which was handy as his initial attempts didn’t include any braking manoeuvres.

From 2009-03 - Selva Val Gardena

The kids enjoyed their sledging in the afternoon as well, as the photo below illustrates.

From 2009-03 - Selva Val Gardena

On the down side I managed to pick up a concussion by unknown means on the last day, and spent three hours wandering about the slopes not knowing where I was until my father found me. This has resulted in me spending this week visiting a doctor per day, and undergoing the following tests: CT, X-Ray, EEG, ECG, MRT. After all this effort, the net effect seems to be that I’m ok.

My cousin Caoimhe Muldoon is running the women’s mini-marathon in Dublin on June 1st in aid of ISIDA

2009-03-03T14:44:00.001+01:00

Caoimhe lost her son Oscar in 2007. In today’s Irish Times she talks about the grieving process which goes on to this day. The link is here:

Living with the grief of sudden infant death

It’s a very moving article, which concludes with the message that anybody wishing to join or sponsor her for the mini-marathon can contact the Irish Sudden Infant Death Association (ISIDA).

Karneval, Fasching, Fastnacht

2009-02-24T22:16:00.001+01:00

While I was attending seminars in Düsseldorf during Rosenmontag and Faschingsdienstag, Liam and Rosalie were busy dressing up and attending the local events. Here some uncommented pictures:

From 2009-02-23 - Kinderfasching in Kirchheim

From 2009-02-24 - Faschingsdienstag Parade

Anne Müller’s 75th Birthday

2009-02-22T19:25:00.001+01:00

On Friday evening we helped Anne celebrate her 75th birthday.

From 2009-02-20 - Anne Müller Geburtstag

The location of Restaurant Carlos in Leimen was well known to us, as we celebrated Rosalie’s christening there in December 2007.

The pictures below show that everyone had a good time.

Not content with still photographic evidence, Heike also took this video of us murdering a birthday song (not for the faint-hearted)…

Irish Police catch up with serial offender, but still no conviction

2009-02-19T23:19:00.001+01:00

The Irish Times article is here. The Gardai have figured out that 50 speeding tickets issued to a Mr. Prawo Jazdy are not quite as clear-cut as they thought. It turns out that “Prawo Jazdy ” is Polish for driving licence :-(

Alfred is a good name for a snowman

2009-02-19T20:58:00.001+01:00

Behold my son’s artistic talent. Not only a marvellous example of snow sculpture, but a hip name to boot: Alfred the snowman.

From 2009-02-19 - Alfred the Snowman

Rosalie looked on in amazement at this snowman-making business

From 2009-02-19 - Alfred the Snowman

while Tosca romped about in the snow with best pal Trixie

From 2009-02-19 - Alfred the Snowman

Orlaith Nolan’s Christening Party

2009-02-16T23:39:00.001+01:00

We were in Dublin last weekend for Orlaith Niamh Nolan’s Christening party. She successfully had water poured over her head, as the picture below proves. This upset Liam however, who branded the priest as “mean” for upsetting his smallest cousin.

From 2009-02-15_Orlaith_Nolans_Christening

Heike is prominent in the photo below as she was the proud godmother on this occasion.

From 2009-02-15_Orlaith_Nolans_Christening

Together with Louis she will ensure that Orlaith receives an appropriately spiritual upbringing. Or maybe not.

After the ritual dousing was over the festivities went on next door in the parish hall. About a third of the 80 guests were children, so it never got quiet or boring. Some of our pictures are shown below, more are available on the Picasa web album.

From 2009-02-15_Orlaith_Nolans_Christening

Liam earns his “Seepferdchen”

2008-11-30T20:10:00.001+01:00

Last Friday Liam’s swimming lessons of the past 3 months paid off when he earned his Seepferdchen badge (literally seahorse) which shows he can

Jump into water from the side and swim 25m unaided
Retrieve an object with his hands from shoulder-deep water

This completes his trio of 2008 sporting achievements where he learned to ski, cycle and swim in one calendar year. His parents are very proud :-)

Electra

2008-11-19T10:30:00.001+01:00

As Electra disclosed in her earlier Last Walks post, we’ve known for some time that she has cancer. The tumours in her throat had receded recently, and we were starting to hope that she would get better. However, what started as a limp a week ago progressed quickly to an inability to use her real left leg. A visit to the vet yesterday revealed an aggressive and painful bone cancer. Heike made the difficult decision on the spot to put her out of her misery.

Below I’ve pasted some pictures of Electra which we’ve taken over the last few years.

O'Leary, O'Reilly, O'Hare and O'Hara, there's no one as Irish as Barack Obama

2008-11-09T22:25:00.001+01:00

Militant Atheists on their bus again

2008-11-08T11:27:00.001+01:00

You’ve got to love Jesus and Mo…

The Atheist Bus

2008-10-21T10:36:00.001+02:00

Today I donated 5 pounds sterling of my hard-earned cash to a worthy cause, the Atheist Bus Campaign. Ariane Sherine of the Guardian has been instrumental in driving this bus (pun pardoned), the full story is here.

Here’s how it will look on a London bus in the near future,

And here is a widget showing progress so far:

Parachute Jump

2008-10-12T22:53:00.001+02:00

I finally managed to cash in on my last year’s birthday present from Heike, namely a tandem parachute jump.

The video below shows me landing in the airfield at Lachen-Speyerdorf, although all the hard work was done by Karlheinz Heilig of www.skyfun-team.de, who expertly pulled all the right strings at all the right times.

From 10 12 - Parachute Jump

The weather was not as good as forecast, but there was nonetheless plenty of visibility across the Pfalz hills.

Heike was so impressed that now she’s talking about having a go herself.

Corsica Highlights

2008-10-11T00:21:00.001+02:00

We’re more or less recovered from our trip to Corsica, inasmuch as the washing machine is no longer running 4 times a day. Below I’ve posted a few pictures of our holiday, there are plenty more to be found in the gallery.

We were staying in Tiuccia, a seaside town just north of the Corsican capital of Ajaccio. The beaches nearby at La Liscia and Liamone are both good, with crystal clear water at temperatures of about 22°C. The accommodation was by no means luxurious, particularly with all family members on the sofa.

From 09 21 - Tiuccia

However the neighbours were friendly, as evidenced by this little guy on our wall. He’s a Tyrrhenian Wall Lizard, and found all over Corsica, to the great amusement of our children.

From 09 21 - Tiuccia

These lizards were not our only neighbours, our friends Wiebke, Thomas, Greta and Marta were also in the same area. They were the ones who originally persuaded us that Corsica is a fantastic venue for a holiday outdoors. Below both families pose for the requisite tourist picture looking out of a cave near the Tête Du Chien rock formation in the beautiful Calanches area.

From 09 23 - Tête Du Chien

The following day we walked the lower section of the Gorges De Spelunca, an impressive canyon going up from Ota to Evisa. We stopped at the charming Pont a Zaglia pictured below, an old Genoese bridge which marks the point beyond which 3-year-old children no longer wish to hike.

From 09 24 - Gorges de Spelunca

The next day we struck out on our own southward, looking for menhirs and other prehistoric relics. Along the way we were somewhat unnerved as we ran dangerously low on diesel along what seemed like the most forlorn and remote stretch of road in Corsica. Luckily we managed to get as far as Filitosa on the last few drops.

The menhirs at Filitosa are pretty special in terms of being elaborately carved, and the site is very well equipped with recordings explaining the various statues and dwellings.

From 09 25 - Filitosa

As it was still early, we decided to drive the extra hour (to drive anywhere in Corsica takes at least an hour) on to the menhirs at Pallaghiu. In contrast to Filitosa, there is no entry fee here, and no attempt to provide any information. However the site is just as impressive in its own way, with extensive lines of menhirs in east-west formation.

From 09 25 - Pallaghiu

After all that time in the car, the kids were in need of something closer to home, so the following day we visited the (Europe’s largest!) turtle sanctuary A Cupulatta along the road between Ajaccio and Corte. Primarily set up to showcase the native Corsican species, there were also plenty of other beasts on display here, including the Galapagos and Seychelles giant, and the rather vicious alligator turtle.

From 09 26 - U Cupulatta

The next day saw us back near Evisa, this time walking along the Chemin de Châtaignes (chestnut path) to the Piscine Naturelle (natural pool). The chestnuts turned out to be far easier to peel than the kind we get here in Germany, but as a trade-off tasted absolutely horrible. Apparently they’re mostly ground down to flour, or eaten by the many semi-wild pigs that roam the forests until they end up as some farmer’s charcuterie.

The Piscine Naturelle is where Liam imitated Dr. Foster by stepping into a puddle right up to his middle. As thoughtless parents we had insufficient dry clothes, so I packed him up in Heike’s coat and carried him home. The walk back with 25 kg of children on my back was that bit more tiring.

From 09 27 - Chemin de Châtaignes

A bit of tamer sight-seeing followed in Ajaccio, birthplace and of Napoleon. Funnily enough he’s marketed locally as Napoleon I, indicating perhaps an expectation of more emperors? In any case Liam undoubtedly horrified the citizens of La Grand Nation by clambering all over the memorial to N.B. with what looked suspiciously like disrespect.

From 09 28 - Ajaccio

The following day found Heike suffering from Delhi Belly (or perhaps Tiuccia Tummy) so the kids and I left her resting at home and went donkey riding. More accurately, Liam and Greta had a donkey and pony respectively, the rest of us had to walk.

Soon it became clear how donkey economics works: tourists pay the donkey owner 40 Euros in order to give the beast a light workout and lead it to free food. Our donkey did nothing but eat vegetation all the way up and down the path to the delightful Lac de Creno.

From 09 29 - Lac De Creno

In search of further proof that there are no shortage of beauty spots in Corsica, we visited the Cascades des Anglais, reportedly a favoured destination for the Victorian English. It is beautiful there, but the real hit for our kids were the blackberry bushes up the hill, which are still producing sweet berries in early October!

From 10 01 - Cascades des Anglais

All in all, Corsica is a great place for a family holiday, especially for a family who traditionally have divided preferences for mountains and seaside. We’ll definitely go again.

Testing the Postal Service

2008-10-09T11:55:00.001+02:00

I found this story brilliant:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art-and-architecture/news/return-to-sender-artist-puts-royal-mail-to-the-test-955499.html

Illustrator Harriet Russell put the postpersons to the test by concocting puzzles hich resolved to addresses. From 130 letters sent, 120 arrived. The example puzzles are pretty good, I failed the colour blindness one :-(

Last Walks

2008-09-09T18:20:00.001+02:00

A guest post from Electra, along the lines of Randy Pausch's Last Lecture...

Greetings to all of you humans out there on the interwebs. My can-opening, Frisbee-throwing walk companions have finally given me permission to speak directly to you, my loving fan base.

Unfortunately the news I have is not good. Although the rumours of my demise are exaggerated, they are not greatly so. Today I visited the premises of the Tierklinik Hofheim, and inspected their fine equipment for radiation therapy. It all looks very high-tech and impressive, but unfortunately the vet's opinion there is that the melanoma in my throat is not suitable for treatment, and that it's more sensible to make my remaining time as comfortable as possible.

The prognosis is for my demise in the next 4 to 6 weeks. My human companions are understandably upset, but I think they also understand that the important thing is to look after my every whim in the time I have left. I fully intend to sleep in the bed, eat steak and go for forest walks as often as I like within the timespan left to me, and they'd better see to it that my wishes are fulfilled. The upcoming holiday in Corsica will be a good start.

So, dear readers, please feel free to comment with suggestions on how the humans can pamper me even more than usual in the time remaining. You know I'm worth it.

You know you're living in Germany when...

2008-09-08T18:23:00.001+02:00

You know you're living in Germany when the following conditions apply:

You visit your father-in-law in hospital, who won't eat the food because the chef may just come from Nord-Deutschland.
You drive halfway across the city to get a particular type sausage for said hospital-bound father-in-law.
You enter the shop 15 minutes before Feierabend, only to be told that the Wurst was packed away 15 minutes ago, and who do you think you are anyway coming in at this time?

Hmmmm

Pope spares a thought for crucified frogs everywhere

2008-08-29T17:25:00.001+02:00

I was fascinated to read that the Pope has been criticising the work of art below as blasphemous.

Local politician Franz Pahl has even gone on hunger strike to protest at the piece, and ended up in hospital.

Why does the head of a major religion have time for this nonsense? Is he concerned about frogs everywhere suffering at the hands of copycat killers? Apparently not, the official reason for outrage is as follows:

[the sculpture] "wounds the religious sentiments of so many people who see in the cross the symbol of God's love"

I'm not aware that wounded sentiments are a diagnosable medical condition, so I'd have to say that the actual damage caused by this sculpture is pretty close to zero. I wish people would take more notice of PZ Myers. As he so eloquently framed the great host desecration debate last month, "IT'S A FRACKIN’ CRACKER!", or in this case "It's a frackin' painted wooden frog!".

So please your popiness, stop getting excited about this trivia, and do something constructive instead. How about slowing down the spread of AIDS in Africa by recommending condom use? Now that could actually save lives and make you seem less like an irrelevant old fart...

A Walk up Ticknock Hill

2008-08-19T22:45:00.001+02:00

Although tired after his exertions on Dublin Bay, Liam agreed upon his return to come along with my dad, Heike, Davnet, Doireann, Rosalie and Alannah for a walk up to the TV mast on Ticknock Hill.

As is clear from the pictures below, Liam also managed to scramble up a few rock formations together with his very responsible grandfather...

Liam tries out sailing with his grandfather

2008-08-19T22:34:00.001+02:00

We extended our weekend in Dublin until Monday, so that we could do a little more than run straight to the airport after Saturday's festivities. Specifically, Liam and I joined my father for a trip on his boat around Dublin Bay.

The sun managed to make a short guest appearance at the appropriate time, and the wind was a very gentle breeze, which made it perfect sailing weather for a three-year-old.

Rosalie senior celebrates her birthday

2008-08-19T22:23:00.001+02:00

The Heidelberg branch of the Cassidy clan travelled to Dublin last weekend to join assorted sisters, nieces, nephews and cousins all celebrating Rosalie senior's 70th birthday.

A highlight was the cake which Fiona organised - it was made up of a collage of photos of my mother during her lifetime.

Rosalie on her new Puky Wutsch

2008-08-11T17:24:00.001+02:00

Heike has pointed out to me that I have neglected to post a photo of Rosalie on her new Puky Wutsch, so here it is.

Yes, she was as delighted to use it as she looks. For those who are not yet familiar with Puky's fine products I can heartily recommend them. Liam has the Laufrad, bicycle and tricycle, and has had enormous fun with all three. The Wutsch is great for kids who are even too small for the trike, and will keep Rosalie busy for a while yet.

The Website is down

2008-06-30T21:07:00.001+02:00

This tech support training video is hilarious (also available at http://www.thewebsiteisdown.com/). Who says tech and marketing people can't communicate?

Schwarz, Rot, Gold

2008-06-29T21:51:00.001+02:00

The excitement has been building in the last few weeks with regard to Germany's participation in the European Championship. Neither Heike nor I are particularly interested in football, certainly not enough to fly a black, red & gold flag from our cars, as most Germans seem to be doing. Apart from anything else, the extra drag caused by those flags no doubt translates to another few million tons of CO2 in the atmosphere.

So instead we decided to put a flag on the kids' bike trailer, as shown below.

In addition, Liam is super-proud to have an extra large (freebie beer advertising) flag installed on his bike.

The fact that a three-year-old is trailing a beer advert around is somewhat embarrassing, but the price compensates.

Family Barbecue in Kilmacanogue

2008-06-25T21:55:00.001+02:00

Although our main destination at the weekend was Cashel in Galway, we also found time on Sunday evening to get invited to a family barbecue in Fiona's house. This being the Cassidy family, there were plenty of people around, as the picture of the younger generation below shows.

The food was pretty good too.

David and Cliona's Wedding

2008-06-25T21:47:00.002+02:00

Heike and I were in Ireland at the weekend. After depositing the kids with my sisters in Dublin, we journeyed over to Connemara to help celebrate the wedding of our friends Dave and Cliona. As can be seen from the picture below, the bride was radiant, and the groom was very happy.

The priest doubled as Cliona's uncle Sean, and generated a laugh or two when Dave needed to be prompted for an "I do". To be fair, I don't think Dave or anyone else was expecting an "I do" in the first 60 seconds - I suspect Fr. Sean was deliberately trying to throw him with the hidden negative - "Do you declare that there is no impediment...".

The reception venue was the very pleasant and comfortable Cashel House Hotel, famed apparently for once housing Charles de Gaulle, and even having a wooden bench on the grounds named after him. The bench is pictured on the right, there's nothing that spectacular about it...

It being Connemara, the landscape was beautiful and the weather was terrible. Apparently there was a storm during Saturday night with trees and power lines down, but the sound was drowned out by revelry. Below is the view on the following day from the De Gaulle seat of Cashel Bay and the Atlantic beyond, unfortunately my photographic skills can't do it justice.

The honeymoon destination was at the time of the wedding a closely guarded secret, known only to the groom. Poor Cliona was left in the dark about what to pack and for how long - David had made secretive arrangements with her employer for the absence without her knowledge. There was naturally some speculation amongst the guests, and some discounting of destinations where shots and visas are required, but at the time of writing I am no wiser where they went.

Update on 30.07.2008: The current information is that the destination is Australia

The great thing about weddings of college friends is that you get to meet people you haven't seen in years, and so it was here. Below are some snaps of Caitriona, Dorothy, Heidi, Albert, Dara, Dermot, Rachel and Jebu proving that if anything they've only become younger and better-looking in the intervening years since graduation.

As is traditional on such occasions, the Best Man (ab)used his position of authority to chat up women, though not much is known about his success rate, nor even what he was boasting about below.

There was some singing and speechmaking in the first official language. Starting in the church with a round of "Ar Nathair" (spelling?), David was really belting that out. Cliona's father peppered his speech with more of the same, then if memory serves correctly Amhrán na bhFiann brought the musical entertainment to a close at about 1 am. My wife tells me that I was in the room by 4, so that leaves not much time at all where I can't explain my whereabouts.

Stadt an den Fluss

2008-06-09T23:55:00.001+02:00

On Sunday we joined our neighbours Ralf, Fabian and Anne for a cycle trip to the "Stadt an den Fluss" Erlebnistag to celebrate the coming pedestrian area on the Neckaruferpromenade. The plan is to build a 2.6 km tunnel underneath the current riverside road, and pedestrianise the entire riverside area. There were various stalls, bands and street performers available to give a flavour for pedestrian street life will be.

The weather played silly buggers, but fortunately in a quite innocuous manner. We managed to get our bikes locked before a sudden downpour drove us under some trees for shelter. Ten minutes of torrential rain later the sun was out again, and we enjoyed the bands, bratwurst and beer which make summer living in Germany a pleasure.

As usual Rosalie was in a good mood

and Liam was thrilled to have his friends Fabian and Anne on hand for climbing around the Altstadt.

On the way home we passed by the Heidelberg Globetrotter shop, and noticed that it was open - strange for a Sunday. Since Ralf knows the owner we dropped in, and were treated to a beer by the owner Sven. Now that's what I call service!

Préfailles

2008-06-09T23:44:00.001+02:00

Last week saw the Cassidy-Schwab household transplanted to the Loire-Atlantique town of Préfailles. Here we met up with assorted Cassidys, Nolans and Conneelys for a very pleasant holiday.

I can definitely recommend the accommodation if you're looking for a 9-bedroom self-catering place to house 12 adults, 5 children and two dogs.

The photos are to be found here. I like this one of Rosalie particularly:

Liam of course could not leave the country without his Laufrad. Here he is posing in front of his favourite cousin Alannah.

and my dear wife was also on hand to do some insane smiling :-)

For those who claim that Germans are immune to humour, my brother-in-law proved otherwise by changing the locks on our house while we were away. The humorous part was of course to not tell us, so on our return at 3am I had a chance to impress my family by breaking in. What fun and games.

More mischief

2008-05-26T22:53:00.001+02:00

Digging through recent photos it has become clear to me that my daughter is not not always the angel she at first appears. Take the photo below as an example. The photographer is pleading with her to be reasonable and not climb stairs at the tender age of 10 months, and all she can do is giggle her head off..

Mischievous Giggler

2008-05-26T22:49:00.001+02:00

I've known for some time that my son has a mischievous streak to him. It wasn't until I captured the photographic proof below that I realised my daughter has inherited the same sense of humour...

Bike Trailer for kids

2008-05-17T16:09:00.001+02:00

Transporting 2 children by bike brings a new set of challenges compared to a single child. With Liam alone we used a Römer Jockey child seat, as shown below (not actually ours, I grabbed the pic from eBay).

We have 2 of these, so theoretically we can bring both kids anywhere we want to cycle. However, for visits to the Freibad, where a significant amount of towels, floating toys, sandwiches and sand toys are required, or indeed any situation where the adult:child ratio is less than 1:1, this is not applicable.

Thus once Rosalie was old enough, and the weather sunny enough (=end April) we splashed out on a Chariot Captain XL, shown with contents below.

The kids love it, and I'm impressed too. It's far easier to pull it than I had feared, the suspension soaks up the bumps for them pretty well. Uphill is still a struggle, but fortunately there's not too much of that on our regular routes anyway. The luggage space is pretty impressive, all "necessities" for the swimming pool can be brought along, including the (deflated) life-size dolphin.

The only catch is that Liam is so keen on cycling himself these days that he refuses to be carted anywhere less than 5 kilometres distance...

Liam takes a cold bath

2008-05-14T23:07:00.001+02:00

As the weather has warmed up in the last few weeks, we've put out Elektra's paddling pool, which is filled with cold water. She loves to jump in to cold water on her return from a walk in the sunshine.

However we hadn't counted on Liam's enthusiasm for a cold bath al fresco. He spotted the water, and within seconds his clothes were off and he was in.

Footnote: we tried the same trick with Rosalie, but she was not having any of it - anything less that 30C is out of the question for her...

Facebook, but for real

2008-05-03T11:12:00.003+02:00

The video below is great - what happens when people transfer their online manners to offline situations...

Rosalie tries out her new Stokke Tripp Trapp

2008-04-25T22:21:00.001+02:00

The advantage of being able to sit up while eating is clear - it's even easier to smear your food around the house...

This is what happens when three-year-olds dress themselves

2008-04-25T22:14:00.001+02:00

Notice the detail of boots on wrong feet, the whole look is simply captivating. It's just bound to catch on.

Animoto Slideshow of Liam's birthday

2008-04-25T15:14:00.001+02:00

A remix of photos set to music, courtesy of Animoto

Pavement Artist

2008-04-22T03:40:00.002+02:00

About the same time as her brother was learning to cycle, Rosalie was using her artistic creativity to enhance the pavement outside our house. As the video below shows, the biggest issue was to first choose the right colour of chalk...

Liam learns to cycle

2008-04-20T22:20:00.002+02:00

Liam has been using his Laufrad since his second birthday, and his bicycle plus stabilisers since Xmas 2007. Today was lovely and sunny, so against Heike's advice, I let him have a go without the Stützräder.

A video of how he got on is embedded below. He was hesitant at first, and agreed after an attempt or two that it'd be wise to wear a helmet. Then he suddenly got the hang of it, and was off cycling towards Rosalie at top speed!

I think I learned to cycle about age 6, so it can't be my natural talent that he's inherited :-)

Liam's third birthday

2008-04-16T21:09:00.001+02:00

Liam celebrated his third birthday today, first at home with a candle-lit birthday breakfast, then with his classmates in the Kindergarten, then in the JumpInn indoor playground.

A slideshow of Picasa photos is embedded below:

My choice for US President

2008-04-16T12:09:00.001+02:00

Everyone has an opinion about who to vote for in the US Presidential election. Apart of course, from Scott Adams, who considers himself not well-informed enough to vote, and me, who has not as yet made the effort to understand the candidate's policies.

Up to now I've been of the opinion that replacing GWB with just about any other US citizen would make a marked improvement. Indeed, opening the rules to allow Arnie into the White House would have my support, if only for the amusement value of a half governor, half cyborg combat chassis running the White House.

The candidates all seem agreeable enough on first inspection. McCain has been vocal in renouncing torture, Clinton obviously cares about the healthcare disaster, and Obama seems like a generally nice guy. But that's somewhat less than an understanding of their policies...

But now, thanks to an online questionnaire from Der Spiegel, I don't need to make the thinking effort - I have discovered that I support the policies of Barack Obama, followed by Hillary Clinton, then John McCain.

Here's my political profile:

Disclaimer: I'm disenfranchised enough already by being non-resident in my country of birth, and a non-citizen in my country of residence, so please don't point out the bleedin' obvious fact that this election has nothing to do with me ;-)

Uses for a butterfly net

2008-04-08T22:52:00.001+02:00

I was intrigued by this picture of Liam taken at his grandfather's house in Walldorf... Is it just me or does he look like he wants to catch those deer heads in his butterfly net?

Alannah's Christening Party

2008-04-08T22:47:00.001+02:00

We were in Dublin at the weekend for my niece Alannah's Christening party, or more correctly her welcoming party, as she didn't get any water poured over her.

Unfortunately my camera batteries died in the church, so I didn't get any pictures of her there, but we got a few of the party back at my parents house later. It was great to see all the assembled aunts, uncles and cousins again, there's nothing like a good family bash for that.

Liam and Rosalie had a great time too - Liam is always thrilled when he meets up with his Irish cousins. Here are Rosalie and Oran enjoying a bit of sofa time together.

Definitely a fun weekend, and once again congrats to Alannah on her welcoming ceremony.

Skiing in Montchavin

2008-03-23T22:48:00.002+01:00

We spent the last week skiing in Montchavin, part of the Paradiski ski arena, of which La Plagne is the most famous resort.

"We" refers to a rather large party, comprising myself and Heike, Liam and Rosalie, my parents, sisters Fiona, Sive, and Davnet plus brothers-in-law and offspring. Additionally our friends Albert and Caitriona Fleming with entourage were staying in accomodation nearby.

Some poorly composed snaps of the people above can be found on my Picasa gallery, including this one of Rosalie and Liam on their sledge:

From Skiing Montch...

The skiing was great - more snow than we were expecting haven driven through Switzerland in summer-like temperatures. The creche in Les Coches was a nightmare - it easily rates as the worst childcare facility I have personally experienced.

Below is a video of some of Liam's first skirmishes with snow:

SMS from Mount Kilimanjaro

2008-02-08T22:49:00.000+01:00

This morning I got an SMS from Patrick J. Cassidy The text reads:

"17 hrs to ascend and descend Kili.
Starting 23:30. shattered".

BTW, the photo below is not from Mt Kilimanjaro, rather from a ski trip to Austria last year :-)

From Skiing in May...

Congratulations!!!

Faschingsdienstag Parade in Heidelberg

2008-02-05T21:12:00.000+01:00

It was a wet day in Heidelberg today, but we set off regardless into the city centre for the annual Faschingsumzug. Liam was dressed in his crocodile suit as seen in a previous post (and for which he nearly won a prize at yesterday's Kinderfasching event.

From Faschingsdien...

The other kids were dressed up too, here's Liam's friend Greta

From Faschingsdien...

and his cousin Celina

From Faschingsdien...

also present were various Schwabs, including Heike's brother Hans-Günther, who got to ride in the first car this year in his new official position of 1. Vorsitzende of the Kurpfälzer Trabanten.

From Faschingsdien...

Despite the nasty weather we had a good time. Liam was filmed by local TV station RNF, but we couldn't find any coverage of it on TV this evening :-(

SMS from Mount Meru

2008-02-03T20:13:00.000+01:00

View Larger Map

On Saturday I got a text message from my father, sent from the top of the 4,566 metre high Mount Meru in Tanzania (not to be confused with Mount Meru in Algeria or Meru Peak in the Himalayas). This is his training climb for Kilimanjaro, which he's aiming to climb this week.

We wish him luck!

Geni Family Tree

2008-01-27T18:52:00.000+01:00

I've been a user of Geni.com for a while now, and my (recorded) extended family now numbers 134, due mainly to the efforts of my uncle Peadar. It's a great way to keep track of all the Cassidys all over the world, as well as a tool to show my kids the generations before them.

Although not generally accessible without invitation, Geni recently introduced a sharing feature, allowing me to show below my "immediate snippet of family tree.

View more of Macartan's tree | Get your own family tree at Geni.com

Anyone reading this and related to me who has not yet got an invite, let me know :-)

Liam the clapping crocodile

2008-01-27T02:41:00.000+01:00

Here's a video of Liam clapping along to singer Liane at the Kurpfälzer Trabantan's Prunksitzung.

He wasn't the only one who was impressed with the evening's entertainment. Rosalie outed herself as a hard-core Mickie Krause fan by squealing along excitedly to "Finger in Po Mexiko".

As well as the video clip, there are a few photos of the eveining on my Picasa gallery. I particularly like this one of Liam with a clown whom he didn't quite recognise as his aunt Tina:

For comparison, here she is without the clown makeup

It's not hard to understand his confusion :-)

All in all it was a fun night for the whole family.

Google Analytics

2008-01-13T19:26:00.000+01:00

As this blog nears its first birthday, I thought I'd share some of the Google Analytics statistics from the last 12 months. Although Google Analytics is far from perfect, as it misses all the RSS readers, and anyone like me who runs NoScript, it does provide a pretty graphical view of traffic.

The visitor overview below shows that throughout the year we're averaging about 10 visitors a day, with the obvious spike in interest after Rosalie's birth in July.

The dashboard view below for the last month bears this out with some interesting stats on Pages/Visit, average time on site etc. Of course, the accuracy of these figures are limited by the manner in which they are gathered - for example a single visit may be read for a while, but will always be recorded as 0 seconds if the next page is off-site, but these are standard deficiencies in web analytics.

One graph I always like to check out is the Map Overlay, below the city view is shown. This blog has been viewed on all continents, and from 52 countries. A warm welcome to all readers in Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, Chile, United Arab Emirates and Senegal. Just why there was a visit from Quantico, Virginia, USA is still a mystery to me - what interest could the FBI, Marine Corps or the Drug Enforcement Administration have in me? Surely not my harsh stance on copy protection mechanisms for Digital Media :-)

On a lighter note, it's fun to see what browsers visitors to this site are using. Internet Exploder remains the top weapon of mass distraction, but at just over 33%, Firefox is gaining ground.

BTW, it's not depicted here but the OS split is 94%, 5% and 1% for Windows, Mac and Linux respectively. There's still some work to do for Linux on the desktop ;-)

Secure your USB Stick

2008-01-09T22:15:00.000+01:00

If like me you like to carry sensitive data around on a USB stick you'll know the following two facts:

It's incredibly useful to have your data with you.
It's only a matter of time before you misplace the USB stick.

In order for this to be not a drama, you need to have the sensitive data encrypted. I've been using truecrypt for this purpose for a while, and it's a fantastic solution, with one major drawback - you need administrator privileges on the host machine - mostly not possible on client sites.

So I was glad to hear on the latest Security Now about omziff, a little non-installing app which can be used to encrypt and decrypt files. Simply download the exe, encrypt your sensitive data, pop the encrypted file plus the omziff.exe file onto your USB stick and you're good to go.

The feature set is not large, but what's there is done well. All the major modern open encryption standards are covered (e.g. Blowfish, IDEA, Rijndael, Twofish), and make no mistake, encryption with one of these algorithms is safe.

An extra feature which I really like is the shredder, which eliminates your sensitive files from the host machine after use, by writing random characters over the disk space multiple times. This is a program to help you sleep at night :-)

Apps for a new machine

2008-01-04T14:18:00.000+01:00

As mentioned in the previous post, I just got my hands on a new Lenovo laptop courtesy of my new employer, and I thought I'd post details on my priority apps that I installed asap. And to you, Mr Concerned-IT-Helpdesk-Guy, please look away now...

1. Firefox: Unlike 62.84% of visitors to this site, I do not like to use Internet Exploder for browsing. I appreciate that version 7 is improved, and it's not as unsafe as it once was, but I simply prefer the Firefox experience. BTW, extensions NoScript, Foxmarks, Googlepedia, PasswordMaker, Cookiesafe, GSpace and GUtil are as important to me as the original program.

2. Google Pack: A bit of a cheat this, as it includes many must-haves such as Adobe Reader, Google Earth, Picasa, Skype, Google Photos Screensaver, etc. A no-brainer, though I don't take the browser toolbar or the spyware stuff, as I prefer other options for those.

3. iTunes: I listen to a lot of podcasts, and it's simply the best PC experience to doing so. One downer is the migration of iTunes playlists and account from one computer to another - not as nice as it should be.

4. PureText: This little app is just so elegant, it's no wonder Microsoft never thought of it themselves. Don't you mostly prefer just to cut and paste text, and not the surrounding formatting junk? Especially between Office apps, this is great. Cannot recommend highly enough.

5. FreePDF XP: The kind folks in the IT department included a PDF generator in my software load, but it doesn't measure up. FreePDF simply works in a simple, intuitive and useful way.

There are other apps which I'll install over the coming weeks and months, but these are to me the important ones. If you know of further great apps and/or Firefox extensions, please let me know in the comments.

New Year, New Company, Old Job

2008-01-04T13:15:00.000+01:00

I wisely took holidays up till Monday 7th January, so I can enjoy the full benefit of my children's colds. When I do go back I'll be working for sd&m AG rather than Capgemini Deutschland GmbH, and yet I'll be doing the same job.

The key to this conundrum is that the Telco unit, of which I am part has been integrated into sd&m, a more technology-focussed subsidiary of the Capgemini group. The integration has been going on for a few months, the official handover happened on 01.0.2008.

It's going to be an interesting time ahead, merging a consultancy unit into a bespoke software development company. My feeling is however that the two companies have more in common than they realise, and that it'll end up enhancing both portfolios. Time will tell.

In the meantime, I'm glad to say that my laptop has been specced up considerably from the Capgemini model. The minor downside is that I now have a German-language OS and Office apps.

2007 - a review

2007-12-31T14:57:00.000+01:00

Since this blog is nearing its first birthday, I thought a review of 2007 would save me the trouble of reviewing the first blog year ;-)

One event which hit us pretty hard in January was Hurricane Kyrill, which damaged our roof. The roofer took his sweet time to do the repairs, but fortunately this was covered by our insurance company. January did have its upside though, my sister Fiona had her third boy, Oran, who has proved to be a most agreeable little chap.

In February we attended an assortment of Fasching events including the TraBü Ball and Albertus Saal Prunksitzung. I like to think that I'm well integrated into German society because I can withstand such punishment to my sense of humour ;-)

Skiing was not a family option this year due to pregnancy, but I did manage to get in a weekend with my father in Mayrhofen in March, which was fun. Then over Easter we visited Amsterdam with Hans-Günther, Tina and some other Kurpfälzer Trabanten. This was a lot of fun up to the train home, when Liam got sick after a dodgy sausage. Suffice to say he used up 4 sets of clothing on the way home, and Tina never asked for the towel back which we wrapped him in for the last hour.

Heike and Liam celebrated their birthdays in April. Liam had taken possession of his main present of a Laufrad early, but it was only by about his birthday that he really began to master it. Google "Youtube Liam Laufrad" to find video evidence of his antics.

By the time summer came around Heike was not enjoying the heat. So there was relief as well as joy when Rosalie arrived on the 16th July. The high point of this year for us as well as the traffic on this website.

In August Corina and Christoph got married, and over various weekends Doireann, Aedamair and my parents visited us. Then, after only six weeks, Rosalie's status of youngest grandchild was usurped by Alannah Conneely.

The last few weeks have been pretty busy -we were over in Dublin at the end of November for my 20-year school reunion, then two weeks later the whole Cassidy clan descended on Heidelberg for Rosalie's christening. Then Xmas, which was great for the kids, Liam got the hang of the whole present-opening thing pretty quickly.

These are just the highlights, I encourage you to trawl through the blog for further tidbits.

We wish you all a happy New Year!

Macartan, Heike, Liam and Rosalie

Rosalie's Christening

2007-12-22T15:28:00.000+01:00

From Rosalie's Chr...

Rosalie celebrated her christening last Sunday, and I finally got around to posting some pictures to the Picasa Gallery today, 6 days later. I am a miserable excuse for a parent ;-)

The whole weekend was great, especially as our normal sleepy existence was spiced up by house guests from Dublin, London, Erlangen and Barcelona. In the end 6 extra children, 7 extra adults and one extra dog came to stay. This was all too much for my parents, they wisely decided to stay at the nearby Hotel Heidelberg.

Thanks to all who turned up to help Rosalie celebrate, not least her Irish aunts and cousins who travelled so far. Also thanks to Ralf, who spent his time photographing anything that moved, as Heike and I didn't get much time to use our camera much.

Do you know this bird?

2007-12-09T16:47:00.000+01:00

From A Peahen who ...

This peahen found her way into our garden a few days ago, and seems to have made herself at home. And yes, those piles on the wall are hers. I'm not sure how to discourage her from this behaviour (short of letting Electra into the garden at the same time, and the results of that might be even messier).
Anyone have any advice on how to move on vagrants?

School Reunion

2007-12-02T16:05:00.000+01:00

I've just uploaded my photos of the 20-year reunion from the St. Michael's class of '87, they are to be found in full here. The statistics were good, 50 turned up from the year (of originally 90) and 20 from our class of 30.
I had a great time, and enjoyed catching up with all my old classmates, most of whom I hadn't seen at all in the intervening 20 years. As described in a previous blog post, they have all gone on to lead productive lives, and all seemed in good form.
One culture shock for me were the interminable speeches made by officers of the Past Pupils Union, blathering on about rugby and African missions. Those guys need to stop drinking the Holy Ghost Kool-Aid.

IPTV

2007-11-27T01:39:00.000+01:00

I'm halfway through a Capgemini seminar on IPTV, and thought I might sketch my thoughts.

The positive first. There's a lot going on in the group with regard to innovative video services. Capgemini has been involved in some ground-breaking work in developing the architecture and business models which are now hitting the European market. Personally I'm a late entrant, I've been involved in the T-Home workstream for just over two weeks, but my employer is well positioned to capitalise on the market demand.

The grim reality second. Everything we're doing is currently "classic IPTV" - more succinctly, a defensive play by telcos to capture back some market share from cable companies who are bringing triple play products to market.

Somehow I find this defensive position depressing. What is the value of a me-too service? I was keen to get an insight into the workings of Hulu, Joost and Miro. Instead I learned that IPTV "requires" the following:

Live "regular" TV.
Streamed and encrypted content
A closed network.

I don't believe these propositions for a minute. Let's take them in turn.

Live TV is an artifact from a broadcasting era. There is no good reason why you and I should both choose to watch "Desperate Housewives at 20:00. Video should be on-demand, any other model is an unnecessary encumbrance. In a model where delivery servers need to scale, simultaneous delivery is in any case suicide.
Streaming and encrypting is expensive. Why bother? Digital content will be copied and pirated regardless of any effort to the contrary, why handicap yourself trying? Instead, we should lower the bar to progressive download a la Apple TV.
A closed network is required to ensure Quality Of Service. A noble goal, one might think. However, turn the tables, and it means that your friendly neighbourhood telco will not give QoS guarantees for a third-party video service. Suddenly your promised 6 Mbit/s bandwidth becomes a number you're guaranteed not to exceed, rather than a goal to achieve. This fails the "Don't be evil" test miserably.

What's the upshot? As I've said before, the digital media market will continue to fragment. Telcos will find their niche, together with the Internet pure players, cable companies and other aggregators/etailers such as Apple iTunes, Walmart, Amazon, etc. The successful players will be those who add sufficient value or advertising, and established telcos will survive by girth alone.

I for one won't be signing up for a repeat of today's television experience, but thankfully I'm not representative of any known target group ;-)

Conservapedia Statistics

2007-11-27T01:30:00.000+01:00

Much love to Rebecca Watson for this tip about Conservapedia (here a link to my blog post from earlier this year for those who missed it).

Check out Conservapedia's usage statistics:

Most viewed pages

Main Page‎ [1,953,451]
Homosexuality‎ [1,827,374]
Homosexuality and Hepatitis‎ [518,416]
Homosexuality and Parasites‎ [460,254]
Gay Bowel Syndrome‎ [432,120]
Homosexuality and Promiscuity‎ [422,619]
Homosexual Couples and Domestic Violence‎ [374,478]
Homosexuality and Gonorrhea‎ [332,269]
Homosexuality and Anal Cancer‎ [294,892]
Homosexuality and Mental Health‎ [294,250]

Is it my imagination or do these guys have a bit of a hang-up about sexuality?

BTW, the further invitation to view Conservapedia's description of evolution is a little more depressing. People believe this stuff? And vote? Scary.