Monkey Business at the Zoo

The zoo yesterday with the girls was fun. Except: some of Nürnberg's main attractions are still missing. There are currently no elephants, tigers, lions or hippos. Everybody seems to be going crazy over "Flocke", though (she is a polar bear, adolescent, so not quite as cuddly as she used to be).

OT: Learned a few more valuable lessons in life over the past 48 hours. Question is: will I get to put them to good use?

The breaking-free of all hell

I am trying to mentally prepare for what is going to be a very tough weekend, work wise. Still nursing this cold that has retreated to my chest and head which feels clogged up and it's impairing my hearing. It seems so unfair to have a cold when it's so hot.

I suppose the best way to prepare for the weekend is to go by the book, start early, use checklists, delegate etc. and to get enough rest while I can.

I suppose it's also good to get my mind off work altogether from time to time and I plan on going on a few long walks with my daughters. We find the greatest flowers around Zeilitzheim on our walks.

A Heart and a Headstand

Heart and a Headstand sort of sounds like how I feel right now.

Stones 'n' Things - environmental art by an almost-3-year old

Our daughter Katharina has this knack of arranging things in order, be it in size, color - or both. Or any other degree of order, for that matter. That's the analytical gene pool she must have gotten from me. Not sure that's a good thing. But it it is what it is.

It turns out that today's arranging and ordering of items by color and texture yielded a rather artistic result. See for yourself.

It sort of reminds me of Andy Goldsworthy's work (in a very minimalistic way).

Summertime

Photo: Fuzzy quince in the castle garden.

Had a bad cold that kept me from quite a few things including blogging.

What's new? Katharina spent her second test Wednesday at the Stammheim Kindergarten in preparation of her going there starting in September. And I did get a new toy after all: iPod Touch. Very nice. And quite handy as I use it for e-mails, calendar and, most importantly, to-do lists in GTD fashion.

Summer has turned to that part where all the juicy fruit are gone (raspberries, cherries, strawberries) and the hard / sour fruit are on their way (plums, apples, quince).

Kindergartenfest

Now there's a German word: kindergartenfest. I suppose two thirds of it pass for today's English.

Anyway: that's where we went on Sunday afternoon. Katharina's friend Benno had a gig in the kindergarten's 25th anniversary (a singing part, I think. He was a grape - an ornament that adorned his head and was later traded in for this pretty yellow baseball cap).

Katharina and Benno had a good time. BTW: they know each other from way back. Katharina was born a few hours before Benno and they shared a hospital room for the first days of their lives. Maybe that's why they're so hip with each other.

no new toys

Everybody's talking about the new iPhone and the update for the iPod touch. Still don't have either of them but I'm really thinking about getting a touch to supplement my 160 GB iPod Classic. Don't need the phone anyway. I have a phone. And I don't get out much. So surfing using a touch via WiFi seems good enough. Especially fun: synching mobileme (mail, calendar, contacts, photos) to the touch. So, yeah, I may actually break down and get a new toy one of these days after all.

I just love stupid people

I do. I really do.

Two Weddings (no funeral)

Two weddings at the castle today. I'm not getting to see any of it because Kati is at work and I am playing single parent with the kids today. They are now in bed (which was a feat). I think they just sense that they have to kick in all the gears when the schedule is off the normal mark by just a bit.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow already. Tomorrow afternoon, that is. If the weather holds out that will mean playing with the kids in the castle garden. I'll also have some work to do, of course (carrying all the cases of empty bottles downstairs, bringing a reasonable amount of order back to the weekend's chaos to soften the impact of Monday morning. Just a typical weekend at the castle.

Isa - she walks (and runs) after all

Okay, maybe the "lazy" judgment was premature. Isa sure is walking (and running) now!

posterous

Gosh, how many sites do I need to keep track of?

Still, I couldn't resist setting up a posterous (blog) account for (more) inane short postings. The great thing about it: you just send your updates to your posterous blig via e-mail (from any e-mail capable app, browser or mobil phone).

I guess I was the first one to try posting to alexander@posterous.com so now my blog can be reached at http://alexander.posterous.com/

Isa - symbolic logic of walking

Isa has technically been able to walk for a while. It's just that she's pretty lazy in that regard - so far. Tonight she was all wound up after a visit from her grandmother that she didn't want to go to bed and decided to walk up and down the hallway from mom to dad and back, and forth. Preferably with a cap on, despite the heat. Logic. You can study symbolic logic in college and still there will be things you will never understand. Amen.

Bamberg

We spent half a day in Bamberg on our day off. It's always amazing how many miles you seem to be able to walk when you're in a city.

We stopped off for lunch at the famous "Schlenkerla" brewery and restaurant, then hiked up the hill to the rose garden of the "Neue Residenz" and took a look inside the cathedral (which was the first time the girls were inside).

I used the rain-free afternoon to mow the lawn in the castle garden and am now sufficiently exhausted to go to bed early - at least as early as the kids will let us.

The Birds

Mama swallow must be doing some cleaning in her nest because these two little birds were huddled together in the cold for a while. The nest is above our kitchen window.Actually there are several and we can watch a few swallow families of different ages grow up. Especially fun to watch: fly-by feeding!

Tell me why (I don't like Mondays)

Okay. I Lied. I *like* Mondays. At least compared to the stress of the weekend. Mondays are clean-up days. Bearable.

That meant a lot of office work for me today softened by an hour or two in the garden, watering the lawn.

Tired, now. Isa is asleep. Katharina is wound up.

Sandpit

This will probably be the last post on the sandpit - because it's finished! Won't be able to play in it with the kids today, though. We have a wedding at the castle today that starts with a reception in the garden. So the pit is neatly covered with a big tarp and is waiting for us to conquer tomorrow afternonn, when the hotel guests are all on their way back home.

See ya, Bill

Bill Gates is "retiring".

Yeah, right.

Wish you the best for your philanthropic adventures. Better idea: prime your successors to make a better product than apple.