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!
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
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!
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!
Saturday, March 13, 2010
The Comments Should Work Now
Have at it. Leave a comment to let us know what you're thinking or to at least let us know that someone is reading this! Thanks!
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
A bit of ice on the shore of the Konigsee
Dawn on the trail on the shore of the Konigsee
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
Sunday, February 21, 2010
A Little Fun from this Weekend
After the long trip to and from Switzerland last weekend, Dawn and I decided to stick around Parsberg this weekend. We both needed to recover from our illnesses and we had a few things backlogged at home that needed taken care of. Still, wed did manage to get out and have a little fun. Here are a few pictures of Dawn standing in a field covered with snow and a couple of animations, something new I decided to try out for fun.
Dawn in a Field
Animations
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Interlaken / Jungfrau, Switzerland
'm putting this post up a bit late for a couple of reasons. Reason number 1 being that both Dawn and I have been sick for the past few days which leads in to reason 2 - a delay in going through our pictures because we've been sick. Actually, Dawn was sick on the trip to Interlaken and then proceeded in getting me sick which made for a fun week at work. While Dawn battled with a stuffy head and plugged-up ears on the trip, I whined and cried about my back and some minor to middling gout attacks that decided to pop up and say hello in a few joints over the weekend. Still, even with these setbacks, the trip was great. Neither of us skied, but we got out and about and saw a lot while in Switzerland. The weather, once we got out of the fog-magnet that is Interlaken, was spectacular.
The entire area as a ski region is an interesting one. Although Interlaken is the biggest town in the area, it isn't really considered a ski town. It is more of a summer retreat for the rich and famous and people with way too much money in their wallets. Although the locals were down-to-Earth and very nice and helpful, many of the tourists were of the highfalutin variety, noses in the air and ten thousand dollar furs wrapped around their surgically-tightened necks. Basically, the pompous assholes that I generally can't stand (maybe I'm just jealous). The ski slopes themselves sat high above Interlaken, spread out below the prominent peaks such as the Wetterhorn, the Jungfrau and the Eiger (yes, that Eiger for you Clint Eastwood fans). To reach the main slopes, one could drive to either Grindelwald or Lauterbrunnen, each town sitting on opposite sides of the Lauterhorn, where a train would then be boarded to take skiers to the small town of Kleine Scheidegg which sits right at the base of the Eiger and the Jungfrau. Or, if one was so inclined, trains could be taken all the way from Interlaken to Kleine Scheidegg. One interesting thing to note - the ski passes for the area covered both the ski lifts and the trains, something that was entirely new to us. The trains pulled an extra open-air car exclusively for carrying ski and snowboard gear up to the slopes while the people rode in comfortable and warm enclosed cars. Not a bad way to travel from slope to slope!
On our first day, Dawn and I took the train to Kleine Scheidegg and with a ticket we had purchased in Interlaken, boarded the train for the Jungfraujoch, elevation 11,333 feet. Although this is more of a summer trip for tourists to take, we're happy we made it. The views from the top were outstanding. Many of the areas that are open in the summer were closed in the winter for safety reasons, but we still did manage to get out on the snow and ice to snap some pictures. The sun was shining brightly, almost too brightly, but it was cold and windy - oh, and did I mention cold?
On day two, we left our hotel early and boarded one of the first trains up to Kleine Scheidegg, We were very unimpressed with the breakfast at our hotel and were on a mission to find something a bit more substantial and satisfying. We hit pay dirt at a restaurant right off of the tracks in Kleine Scheidegg, gorging ourselves on fried eggs, cheese, a croissant complimented by a huge spoonful of strawberry jam and three thick slabs of country bacon (I cheated - my first meat in a month). We also received bowls, not cups, of coffee for me and tea for Dawn. It was the best breakfast we've had on the road......ever! Dawn has pictures I can post later. I'm drooling right now thinking about it. After breakfast, I set the tripod up to take some pictures while Dawn climbed a very large hill of snow next to us, proceeding to do some yodeling from its peak and then butt-sledding down in the soft snow. We had a lot of fun that morning!
Day three found us staying in Interlaken, walking around town with other ski club members, checking out the sites and touristy junk shops. We were also on the prowl for a good fondue restaurant, as the reviews received from others about their fondue experiences the night before weren't too promising. After asking a local on the streets, we eventually ended up in a fairly non-descript restaurant across from the Interlaken-West train/bus depot and enjoyed a fantastic last feast in Switzerland.
Overall, this was a great trip and I'm glad we made it. The bus trip was long, we both weren't feeling well, but it was great to get out of sleepy 'ol Parsberg and finally get back to the mountains during the winter. I don't think we'd ever go back to ski this area as it looked pretty boring to me, but during the Summer? Heck yeah.
All pictures from the trip can be found HERE
The entire area as a ski region is an interesting one. Although Interlaken is the biggest town in the area, it isn't really considered a ski town. It is more of a summer retreat for the rich and famous and people with way too much money in their wallets. Although the locals were down-to-Earth and very nice and helpful, many of the tourists were of the highfalutin variety, noses in the air and ten thousand dollar furs wrapped around their surgically-tightened necks. Basically, the pompous assholes that I generally can't stand (maybe I'm just jealous). The ski slopes themselves sat high above Interlaken, spread out below the prominent peaks such as the Wetterhorn, the Jungfrau and the Eiger (yes, that Eiger for you Clint Eastwood fans). To reach the main slopes, one could drive to either Grindelwald or Lauterbrunnen, each town sitting on opposite sides of the Lauterhorn, where a train would then be boarded to take skiers to the small town of Kleine Scheidegg which sits right at the base of the Eiger and the Jungfrau. Or, if one was so inclined, trains could be taken all the way from Interlaken to Kleine Scheidegg. One interesting thing to note - the ski passes for the area covered both the ski lifts and the trains, something that was entirely new to us. The trains pulled an extra open-air car exclusively for carrying ski and snowboard gear up to the slopes while the people rode in comfortable and warm enclosed cars. Not a bad way to travel from slope to slope!
On our first day, Dawn and I took the train to Kleine Scheidegg and with a ticket we had purchased in Interlaken, boarded the train for the Jungfraujoch, elevation 11,333 feet. Although this is more of a summer trip for tourists to take, we're happy we made it. The views from the top were outstanding. Many of the areas that are open in the summer were closed in the winter for safety reasons, but we still did manage to get out on the snow and ice to snap some pictures. The sun was shining brightly, almost too brightly, but it was cold and windy - oh, and did I mention cold?
On day two, we left our hotel early and boarded one of the first trains up to Kleine Scheidegg, We were very unimpressed with the breakfast at our hotel and were on a mission to find something a bit more substantial and satisfying. We hit pay dirt at a restaurant right off of the tracks in Kleine Scheidegg, gorging ourselves on fried eggs, cheese, a croissant complimented by a huge spoonful of strawberry jam and three thick slabs of country bacon (I cheated - my first meat in a month). We also received bowls, not cups, of coffee for me and tea for Dawn. It was the best breakfast we've had on the road......ever! Dawn has pictures I can post later. I'm drooling right now thinking about it. After breakfast, I set the tripod up to take some pictures while Dawn climbed a very large hill of snow next to us, proceeding to do some yodeling from its peak and then butt-sledding down in the soft snow. We had a lot of fun that morning!
Day three found us staying in Interlaken, walking around town with other ski club members, checking out the sites and touristy junk shops. We were also on the prowl for a good fondue restaurant, as the reviews received from others about their fondue experiences the night before weren't too promising. After asking a local on the streets, we eventually ended up in a fairly non-descript restaurant across from the Interlaken-West train/bus depot and enjoyed a fantastic last feast in Switzerland.
Overall, this was a great trip and I'm glad we made it. The bus trip was long, we both weren't feeling well, but it was great to get out of sleepy 'ol Parsberg and finally get back to the mountains during the winter. I don't think we'd ever go back to ski this area as it looked pretty boring to me, but during the Summer? Heck yeah.
All pictures from the trip can be found HERE
Monday, February 8, 2010
A quick update on my back
A quick visit to the post clinic revealed that my back problem is not disc related, thankfully. I was really worried about this. Although not positive, the doctor is pretty sure that this was a freak accident. I did do a lot of snow shoveling over the past couple of weeks and can honestly say that I really didn't concern myself much with proper shoveling technique as I tried to clear the driveway and sidewalk as quickly as possible before heading to work each morning. I need to remember that as I get older, I need to give these types of things more consideration. My body is a mess as it is, and although slowly improving, I still need to be careful. I know that Dawn really enjoyed pushing me around in a wheelchair at the hospital in Regensburg back in October, but I really don't get warm fuzzies from picturing her doing that for the next 50 years!
So, on the doc's orders, I'm at home right now working. I wish I could do this every day. It is sooo much less stressful than being in the office surrounded by the people I'm surrounded by on a daily basis during the work week. My productivity working from home skyrockets and in my opinion, the output is of a higher quality. It's so much easier to think and concentrate when I can have some music playing, the dog lying at my feet and I don't have to hear the incessant ramblings about who won American Idol or why Obama sucks.
One other note - I'm thinking of switching from the German doctor back to an American doctor for my gout treatment. I know what I need to do now and what path I must follow. It would just be so much easier to go to the clinic on post instead of having to drive back in to Parsberg for appointments, sometimes waiting two to three hours extra to be seen. I really like my German doctor and would still see him for acute attacks and my knee problem, but as far as getting blood drawn to monitor my uric acid levels each month and refilling my prescriptions, going to the clinic makes a lot more sense. Plus, doc Warner is a great guy and a real pleasure to talk with.
Alright, the programs I need for work are installed - time to get back at it. The harder I work, the faster the time goes and the sooner I can talk to my wife tonight :)
So, on the doc's orders, I'm at home right now working. I wish I could do this every day. It is sooo much less stressful than being in the office surrounded by the people I'm surrounded by on a daily basis during the work week. My productivity working from home skyrockets and in my opinion, the output is of a higher quality. It's so much easier to think and concentrate when I can have some music playing, the dog lying at my feet and I don't have to hear the incessant ramblings about who won American Idol or why Obama sucks.
One other note - I'm thinking of switching from the German doctor back to an American doctor for my gout treatment. I know what I need to do now and what path I must follow. It would just be so much easier to go to the clinic on post instead of having to drive back in to Parsberg for appointments, sometimes waiting two to three hours extra to be seen. I really like my German doctor and would still see him for acute attacks and my knee problem, but as far as getting blood drawn to monitor my uric acid levels each month and refilling my prescriptions, going to the clinic makes a lot more sense. Plus, doc Warner is a great guy and a real pleasure to talk with.
Alright, the programs I need for work are installed - time to get back at it. The harder I work, the faster the time goes and the sooner I can talk to my wife tonight :)
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Another Weekend has Slipped on by.................
I've got to keep this semi short. After a great, very early morning of shooting pictures with Dawn and Osu in the fog and the snow on Saturday, my back went out on me. Sure, I had no problem breaking down boxes, packing up the recycling, helping dawn carry a 27" TV to the car. However, just trying to move the already placed TV a bit further back in the RAV resulted in an extremely sharp pain and me crumpling over immediately. After coming back home from dropping things off, I carefully laid on the couch in the most comfortable position I could find. Later, I tried to get up. It was nearly impossible and horribly painful. We eventually did track down a doctor on duty (rare in Deutschland on a Saturday) in Velburg, driving there quickly so I could receive a shot of something and a prescription for some weak German meds that have done nothing to really alleviate the pain or help my back. After a restless four hours of sleep last night, on the couch none-the-less because I can't walk upstairs, my back does feel a bit better today but not much. I'm going to try to go in to the clinic on post tomorrow so I can maybe find out what's wrong. The German doctor offered no exam and no diagnosis - just the shot and the prescription. I know that the problem is not muscular and it's not nerves. Been there, done that. I'm afraid this is something worse. I know pain, unfortunately all too well, and this is bad. I'm pretty bummed about it. The gout and arthritis has slowly been improving, my knee has felt better with rest the past few months - now this. I'm falling apart. I joked with Dawn that marriage has broken me :)
Anyway, we did have a lot of fun out in the snow in the early morning fog and we were able to take some nice, moody pictures. After doing some chores after our jaunt down the road, we had planned to go back out so I could take some pictures of Dawn in some specific settings I had in mind. The snow, the dark woods in the background, low hills off in the distance. It would have been nice. We may have to wait until next year now. Dawn left on a work trip just a bit ago and won't be back until Friday. Then, if I can walk, we leave on a trip for Switzerland with the ski club (I'm not skiing, obviously). The snow is quickly melting away outside as the sun has made its first appearance in some time today and it's relatively warm. It would be great to go out and take some pictures, even without Dawn here, but the three stairs leading down to the driveway look like Mt Everest right now. There will be other days.
Anyway, here are a few of the pictures I shot yesterday. The entire set can be seen HERE on my Flickr page.
Anyway, we did have a lot of fun out in the snow in the early morning fog and we were able to take some nice, moody pictures. After doing some chores after our jaunt down the road, we had planned to go back out so I could take some pictures of Dawn in some specific settings I had in mind. The snow, the dark woods in the background, low hills off in the distance. It would have been nice. We may have to wait until next year now. Dawn left on a work trip just a bit ago and won't be back until Friday. Then, if I can walk, we leave on a trip for Switzerland with the ski club (I'm not skiing, obviously). The snow is quickly melting away outside as the sun has made its first appearance in some time today and it's relatively warm. It would be great to go out and take some pictures, even without Dawn here, but the three stairs leading down to the driveway look like Mt Everest right now. There will be other days.
Anyway, here are a few of the pictures I shot yesterday. The entire set can be seen HERE on my Flickr page.
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