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:
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| From 2009-02-23 - Kinderfasching in Kirchheim |
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| From 2009-02-24 - Faschingsdienstag Parade |
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| From 2009-02-24 - Faschingsdienstag Parade |
On Friday evening we helped Anne celebrate her 75th birthday.
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| 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)…
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 :-(
Behold my son’s artistic talent. Not only a marvellous example of snow sculpture, but a hip name to boot: Alfred the snowman.
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| From 2009-02-19 - Alfred the Snowman |
Rosalie looked on in amazement at this snowman-making business
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| From 2009-02-19 - Alfred the Snowman |
while Tosca romped about in the snow with best pal Trixie
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| From 2009-02-19 - Alfred the Snowman |
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.
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| From 2009-02-15_Orlaith_Nolans_Christening |
Heike is prominent in the photo below as she was the proud godmother on this occasion.
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| 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.
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| From 2009-02-15_Orlaith_Nolans_Christening |
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| From 2009-02-15_Orlaith_Nolans_Christening |
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| From 2009-02-15_Orlaith_Nolans_Christening |
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| From 2009-02-15_Orlaith_Nolans_Christening |
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| From 2009-02-15_Orlaith_Nolans_Christening |
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
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 :-)
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.
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:
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.
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| 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.
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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| From 09 23 - Tête Du Chien |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| 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.
I found this story brilliant:
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 :-(
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 the following conditions apply:
Hmmmm
