Saturday, April 29, 2006

EuroCar Saturday


As we wander around Europe, now and then you have a double-take on some of the cars they get around in. This met both double-take requirements: small and vintage. In this case, a '69- '72 Fiat 500L. A shot of the back here.

We took this on our second to last day in Paris. To fully understand the scale; the guy in the background was a few inches shorter than I am. After I took the pic, we jumped on over to do some shopping at La Maison du Miel. Yummy.

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Who wants a brown tulip?


Mmmmm, we make a trip to one of the best gardens in the world, down the street at the Keukenhof Gardens, when we notice that something just isn't quite right in the tulip patch. Notice the funky tulip on the left?

Well, if you still can't place it - try clicking here. (Higher resolution of the picture on the left here). We'll post more on the Keukenhof trip later.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Dutch road crews

It is sometimes the little things here that catch your eyes to remind yourself that, well, you are living in a foreign country.

I was heading to a meeting down the street at the Abby/School/Restaurant/Conf. Center at Rolduc, when I noticed that my friendly neighborhood Dutch government decided it was time that the grass in next to the highway needed mowing. Yep. They use sheep.

If you look at the picture (or closer one with baby sheep - awwww - here) you will see the movable fence. It is slow, but it works. Not sure if it makes fewer greenhouse gases, but it looks better.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Easter Bunny and the Magic Chocolate

A private video, so make sure and log in to YouTube as per the previous directions and then click here. After a week in Paris (post to follow), the next day was Easter and my B-day - so yes, that is how the house looks......

Friday, April 07, 2006

OA trying to stay on her Dad's good side

To see the video click here. If you haven't been cleared to see the private videos (different process than the private pictures) just email me!

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Easter is coming!


This week is the of pre-Easter play for IY-1 (International Year-1, AKA Pre-Kindergarten). OA needed an Easter hat, and well, you know MJ. A store-bought just will not do! A couple of stores, a hot-glue gun, some felt and a (store bought) pith helmet later - and presto! As you can see from her face here, OA really likes it!

You can see a high-res picture of the lead in photo here.

Housing slump (Gingerbread housing)


It is hard to believe that Christmas was over three months ago. Even more wonder that a Gingerbread house will last that long!

We wish we had made pictures of it when it was in its prime, but then you would miss the chance to see sugar flow downhill and how a chimney will lean over time..

MJ and the girls made it from scratch. I stayed out of the way. You can see a high-res shot here. Now, sadly, though OA did not want to part with it, The Netherlands is making mulch out of our house....but in 8 months or so...we will make another, bigger and better.

Sunday, April 02, 2006

Ski Bavaria

Well, I have been quite remiss in posting the last couple of weeks. I’ll get better.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. During the girl's Carnival holiday (yes they celebrate that here, the Northern most reach of the Catholic “Latin” culture, I’ll post on that later) on a whim we checked the US military owned, but top notch, resort hotel in Garmisch, GE - Edelweiss to see if they had an opening….and they did.

So off us four tropical types went to the Bavarian Alps to see if we can keep orthopedic surgeons fully employed! I last went skiing in November 05 at the same place while in Germany for work – but before that it was, well, DEC ’93. MJ had a chance to ski in ’94 and the girls, of course, had never been.

I was looking forward to the “100 mph in the slow lane” trip through the Autobahn, (yes, that is my Alfa Romeo - no wife or kids in the car, and I am in the slow lane. I will let you translate km/h to mph), but due to the blizzard, there were wrecks all along the way. The key was our Garmin GPS that let us take the side roads around the mess. And it was a mess.

Since November, the area at the foot of the Bavarian Alps has looked exactly like a Christmas Card. It wasn't terribly cold though. It was in the mid-20s to low 30s the whole time. Trust me, that isn't that cold here. As always, you can find the pictures of the girls imbedded in the hypertext (if you can't get the privacy controls to work, let me know), but most of the views are scattered through the post. Yes, it is that sublime. Funny thing I noticed, Bavaria is very Catholic, as Limburg is, and there are memorials everywhere - including the tops of almost every mountain. This one was at 1,680 meters, about 5,500 ft. Though not the American South; not all Europe is post-Christian as you would think. However, 10 feet behink that big 'ole Cross, you can get a beer. Then again, in Bavaria, you can get a beer about anywhere.

The first day was lessons (here, here, and here). In time, SJ got the hand of things, though a bit timid beyond staying close to dad and the easy slopes. OA, as usual, was very intent on going a bit further than she really should...but that’s OK.

Day two was playing tourist (and nursing sore legs) and ice skating at the same rink from the '36 Olympics. SJ was ready to go, having learned how to roller skate in VA and ice skating at Rockefeller Center in NYC. OA needed some help with a solid rubber penguin, but got a handle on it quite well after awhile.


We managed another day on the slopes (other scenes of the slopes here, here, here, here, and here) prior to heading back through the winter madness. Action ski shots of the girls here and here.

Yep, we're going again next year. Big advantage, we found out. SJ is picking up her German very well. At the ice skating rink, the restaurant, and the Abbey (we did a tour at Ettal), I turned to Savannah as asked her, "Could you tell him in German...." Half the time, she didn't even wait and plowed right in. And yes, the German Grandmothers thought that was the beyond wonderful...

Oh, one last thing. The European attitude towards advertising is a bit, well, different. Take a close look at this add on the lift waiting to head up the mountain.

If interested, the high resolution versions of the above smaller pictures are here, here, and here.
Happy Birthday Lisa!

counter create hit