Skiing at Ochsenkopf

A new video I put together after spending a day at one of the local ski hills with some friends last Sunday.  I was using a new camera this day and didn't quite get all of the settings dialed in properly  I apologize in advance if watching this makes anyone nauseous!



Link to Larger Video

Having a wee bit of fun the day after Christmas

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas!  Dawn, Osu, and I had a great time in Dresden.  We now have a new favorite Christmas Market!  The Dresden markets were even better than we had heard and we really enjoyed exploring the different ones around the city.  We were a little surprised when we arrived in Dresden on the 23rd that there wasn't more snow in the city.  What little snow there was was dirty and rotten and not too appealing.  However, on Christmas Eve night, a new storm rolled in, ensuring that we would wake up Christmas morning to a new blanket of white.  We had a great walk around the old part of the city on Christmas morning, but didn't stick around for too long.  I knew that the drive home was going to take longer than usual due to the still falling snow.  My fears were realized when the drive that would usually take only 2.5 hours turned in to a 5+ hour ordeal.  It really wasn't too bad, just slow due to the condition of the Autobahn. 
Pictures from Dresden

On the 26th, we all decided to go have a little fun in the snow.  Here is a short video showing what we did.  (the video might take a bit of time to load - be patient!)



The original video can be found HERE

Quickly from Winter to Spring

This past weekend may have been the last hurrah for winter here in our neck of the woods.  It snowed nearly all day on both this past Saturday and Sunday which made for an interesting frozen-slush-on-the-road drive to work on Monday.  Ah, but how quickly things change.  Today temperatures reached the low 50's and there was a little hint of spring in the air.  Most of the snow on the ground is gone now, the grass finally reappearing after spending nearly four months tightly tucked under a cold, white blanket.  As we usher in a new season here in Germany, I'll fondly think back on this past winter, the first real winter I've experienced in four years.  Yes, I do realize that most people think I'm a bit off in my longing for cold and snow, but in a week or two, when the inevitable and nearly constant rains return, I'll inwardly chuckle at the fools who curse winter when their complaints begin regarding the dampness and 'bone-chilling' wetness that marks the German spring.  Ah, yes, it's springtime for Hitler in Germany, indeed.

A few pictures from last Saturday morning and one from this evening to illustrate the quick change in the weather.

Sunrise this past Saturday

   














Then the snows came and came hard

The front yard today (Wednesday).  Good bye snow!

and Three Weeks Roll on By..........

Yep, we've been a bit busy.  Well, more tired than anything.  Work has kicking both our behinds - and hard.  A few little side projects have eaten up pretty much any spare time we've had outside of work, hence, the lack of  posts on here recently.  Let me assure you, however, all is well.  We're just..........tired.  So, here's a quick rundown of what we've been up to, that is, if I can part this haze that has enveloped my brain this evening and remember that far back.

In no chronolgical order due to the difficulty I'm having thinking, here we go:

1)  Last week was spent in Berchtesgaden.  We didn't ski, but we did get out for a winter boatride on the Konigsee, did a bit of sledding and were able to take a few long hikes in the deep snow.  Overall, a really good weekend.

2)  I've started working on a website to help out other gout sufferers who like to lead an active lifestyle.  The template for the site is pretty much done, but there is still a lot of information to get down and reorganization to go through.  I hope to work on this some more next week and have it up on the internets sometime in the next month.

3)  I haven't done any writing or editing recently, but have been thinking a lot about it.  This may sound bad, but I'm waiting for Dawn to be away on her work trip in two weeks so I can come home from my day job and really start hacking away at the manuscript.  There is a lot to be done on this still and I will likely have to re-write a lot of it in order to achieve a more focussed direction and to make it more topical.  It all does kind of tie in with the website, but they can be worked on independently.

4)  Pictures.  I'm always working on pictures, reading about perfecting the craft and doing my best to adhere to practice some of the techniques and procedures I read about.  I also just started working on a photo website gallery today which took a lot of preparation time the last couple of weeks.  Here is a link to the preliminary site:  http://www.frozenriverphotography.com/  Many of the pictures will be changed - right now, many of them are just placeholders.

5)  Dawn has done a lot of baking the last couple of weeks using her new bakeware she just received.  She's made some darn good cookies and cakes as of late and luckily, she takes most of her creations to her office.

6)  Dawn has also been traveling for work a lot more recently.  This has really cut in to her free time and her time at home.  After a long drive to and from the office and a full day at work and then cooking dinner (she refuses to let me cook - I wonder why?), it doesn't leave a lot of time for much else.  Well, she has been putting in a lot of time planning our trip back to the States this summer and fighting my insurance company to get the money back that they owe me.  That has not been fun.

7)  We did our taxes

I'm sure I'm missing a lot in there, but I'm tired, dinner is almost finished, and we're going to spend tonight relaxing and watching a movie.  We haven't done that for some time now.  It sounds good to me!

The pictures from the trip to Berchtesgaden can be found HERE  Here are a few samples:


Our ski carrier

It wasn't hard to find an empty seat to eat ice cream at here

A bit of ice on the shore of the Konigsee

Dawn on the trail on the shore of the Konigsee