#30 Boston - Two Cookies A Day, Not More - Dec 30, 2006

It was an event of gargantuan proportions - for those of you who could or would not attend “The Last Cookie Exchange” on Saturday – let’s just say the amount of sugar consumed would have made any dentist delirious and some of us could have used insulin injections to get us out of our diabetic comas. The table was bulging under the weight of the delicacies baked or bought by those sugar-addicted friends of mine, and very accommodating smells wafted through that little residence at 10 6th Street in Cambridge. All the home made cookies were judged on their tastes (presentation was secondary, as long as the stuff tasted good…..). I have to say some of the pastry chefs present turned out quite the pros – the honorable Chris Gibbs for example, who not only dazzled us with his “Coconut Chocolate Jumbles”, the man also brought several (color!!) copies of the recipes for those interested in replicating the tasty treat. Even nutritional information was included - not something I need to know. We know we exceeded the limit yesterday, don’t even go there!



Award Certificates and prizes were handed out after all delights were sampled – Chris’ “Jumbles” placed third; Ana and her daughter Beatriz snapped up second place with their “Extreme Chocolate Cookies”. Winner by a landslide was my friend and running buddy Elaine, who dazzled the crowd with her “Pumpkin Walnut Thigh Busters”. Congratulations to all and a big thanks to all the busy baking bees….. My house sparkled with your presence, your continuous friendship warmed my heart and your cookies expanded my waistline. As they say, a waist is a terrible thing to mind.



At the end of the cookie exchange my friends left for their homes with extended stomachs, and bags full of cookies. Not enough though, as I have cookies sitting in tins wherever I look, and I really should stick to just two per day (yeah, right – I already had two this morning to supplement breakfast….). I will go out running immediately after I am done writing here – you know the whole thing about energy in and energy out. Well, there definitely needs to be some energy out! I am actually so glad that I waited to write my diatribe until today, because you know what - something completely ridiculous happened, and you are not going to believe me anyway – I had nothing to report. Nothing, zip, zilch, nada! I did nothing all week. Came home every night, watched movies, went to bed. Granted, I had running group on Wednesday and Thursday I got a massage at the Chinese doctor’s, but that was it. Nothing! I was desperate and considered sending you an update with stories about the movies I have seen or have Oscar write the update (A Day in the Life of a Little Budgie, Living in Cambridge, MA), but he said he was too busy.



Well, it was necessary to have a quiet week, my stomach was a little upset, and couch time seemed like the perfect remedy. I have been enjoying reading the paper, some new books I got for Christmas and watch movie after movie after movie. I also got sucked into CSI – after renting the first season from the Boston Public Library and watching 23 episodes in less than a week, I have decided that the stuff is pretty much worse than crack. Plus I am officially declaring my crush on Billy Petersen. My friends Irene and Amy went to see him yesterday in Providence, RI in the theater production “Dublin Carol” and I was hoping they could talk him into coming over for some cookies. In the meantime, Season 2 is on order and I will have to have my friends check in on me and make sure that I do leave the house once In a while.



2006 is coming to an end and looking back, it has been an exciting year. I did fulfill my New Year’s resolutions – 10 4000-footers in New Hampshire and a Marathon – very content about that. I have made many new friends and deepened my connections to those who have been around. Love you much.

New Year’s resolutions: there are many. Mountains first, again 10 4000-footers must be climbed. Running- lots of 5 K road races, my goal is to beat 8:30 minutes/mile. Then, I have decided 2007 will be the “Year of Events” – I plan to host many of them for my friends – next on the list is the “King and Queen of Guacamole” – a contest on who can whip up the best guac and salsa!!! Some trips are planned already, including my annual pilgrimage to Amsterdam.



I have still not decided as to how to ring in the New Year – I might attend “First Night” and roam the streets of Boston with thousands of my closest friends. It seems not to be chilly, yesterday’s snow has melted away and a parade might just be what I need. The city of Boston starts the New Year off with fireworks at the waterfront, New York drops the ball, and Eastport, Maine drops the Sardine! Huh? Yes, you read right, the town of Eastport, Maine (only in New England!) drops a 22-foot sardine from the Eastport Tides Institute and Museum of Art – sardines were once a key industry in this quaint seaside community. You think we are weird though? Try Atlanta – they lower an 800-pound peach; Lebanon, Pennsylvania - a 150-pound bologna; Brassville, NC – a live possum in a cage; Tempe, Arizona – a tortilla chip going into a jar of salsa. My favorite though has to be Key West in Florida – A conch shell, a live “pirate wench” and a drag queen named Sushi dropped in a high-heeled shoe!!



On that note - Happy New Year!!



Pet:)

#29 Boston - Ding Dong - December 23, 2006

Ladies and Gentlemen - I have a door bell! A functioning door bell!! Ding Dong - Have you ever heard such a sweet sound? It has a very nice chime, loud enough to hear too, which in my case is very good. Apparently my hearing is not too great these days. Rick, Denise and I today grabbed some grub at "Aram's House of Pizza" down the street, when Aram himself wished Rick "Happy Holidays" whereas I thought he said to Rick "half-an-hour". I thought it a tad strange that the food came with instruction on how fast or not fast to eat it, but then again, Aram ain't from around these parts.

The electrician came to visit this week to finish up at least five projects in the house - among them the door bell - and then left me with a nice pre-Christmas bill of 700 dallahs. Great eh?? Well, I am not complaining actually, they did solid work, they fixed everything we asked them for and they are good people, the Coleman's. Kevin owns the shop with his three brothers, they all look alike, hard to tell which one is which and they are all in their late 60s I believe. The store is one of the many typical family-owned businesses in my neighborhood. They are super reliable and what's even better they fix quite a few things that your average electrician wouldn't. Case in point - I used to hear little critter footsteps above my bathroom thinking somehow a squirrel had gotten in and spent some cozy time in our house. Turns out it was a bird who came in through the bathroom vent, and Kevin, the good man, fixed that as well. My carbon-monoxide detector is working, the hallway light has a timer, all the fuses are checked, loose wires are connected. One stop shopping right, can't beat that!

"Tis the night before Christmas" - at least here for me. According to German tradition the gifts are exchanged on Heiligabend (Christmas evening), so the night before Christmas for me is always the 23rd. It is quiet in the house, except for a few timid chirps from that sweet little bird of mine. Rick and Denise came by this afternoon for a little Christmas celebration. Knowing us, you probably guessed that a hike was part of the program and you are indeed right if you had imagined so. The merry little group headed out to the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain (http://www.arboretum.harvard.edu/). It has been around for quite some time, 1872 to be exact, and was made possible with some monies left by James Arnold, a pretty well-off whaling merchant from New Bedford, Massachusetts. This is a very cool place, it is part of the "Emerald Necklace" - a series of parks lined up like pearls on a string in the Boston area. It was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, a quite renowned landscape architect (Central Park in New York City was among his many accomplishments). Its grounds cover 265 acres (107 hectares) and the arboretum features more than 13,000 individual plants, some pretty interesting stuff for those of us who are botanically inclined.


After a lovely hike at the Arnold (pictures to come next week) and the above mentioned stint at Aram's where we introduced Rick to the miracle food that is gyros (and no, it is not pronounced "tschairo"), the group of three plus two (Phoebe and Oscar) enjoyed some nice tea and cookies, exchanged a few gifts or so, and listened to Ella Fitzgerald sing Christmas songs.

Rick and Denise also got a lecture in German Christmas traditions, for starters we do not have the whole reindeer and Santa Bit on Christmas as some of you may know. The "Christkind" (christ child) comes on Christmas Eve to bring the gifts, without the help of a sleigh. Don't ask, I don't know how the kid does it, never questioned it. The door used to open, we felt a draft (aaah, the spirit of Christmas), a little bell rang, and boom the presents were there. Worked for me.

Now Santa, or St. Nick (Nikolaus) comes a bit earlier, December 6th. Now this my friends, is a scary experience. This guy, dressed up in a Santa suit shows up, accompanied by an even scarier dude, Knecht Ruprecht (he is called Schmutzli in Switzerland). They have this big black book, and believe me, in that book is listed pretty much everything bad (and good) you have committed over the course of the year. As a kid, this scared the living daylights out of me. How does he know? For the good stuff you got praise, but for the bad stuff - well that's where Ruprecht, the enforcer, came in, he had a bundle of twigs on him, and was not afraid to use it. Sheesh!!! When the whole ordeal was over you got a stocking full of stuff, but boy at what price. Scared me every year. Of course, our parents stopped the whole ordeal at an age when we could have figured out that Santa was some local guy that was hired to scare kids into behaving good (at least for a month or so after the holiday) and they were the ones who slipped him the 411 on our shenanigans. I think the Swiss take it even a step further, instead of being tapped with the bundle of twigs, Schmutzli threatens to stuff you into a sack and carry you off into the woods for a year.

Dear family and non-family friends, new and old, I wanted to wish you a very enjoyable holiday season, be good to each other, will you? Pray for snow, the only snow we have in New England at this time is on top of Mt Washington, but then again you can find it there in June, so really, it does not count.

I will be spending Christmas at my friend Stephanie's family in Norfolk, a 45 minute drive outside of Boston. Oscar will come along as well, and chirp a few tunes for the occasion. Merry, merry.

pet:)

#28 Boston - Rebelling Against My Chi

That is what my trusted acupuncturist said is the reason for my ongoing troubles with my stomach, and that I really need to get some calm and quiet in my life. Well, try that during Christmas season - even if you don't have a large family to shop for and a large meal to cook, it still is crazy everywhere you go and just a short trip to the store to buy wrapping paper can turn into a bona fide nightmare. You have to wrestle your way to the cash register, where folks with shopping carts full of useless plastic junk are ready to side swipe you in defense of their spot in line. Dangerous stuff. She (the acupuncturist) would be happy to see me today. I had a sensible breakfast with some stomach-friendly tea and it is now close to noon, and guess who is still wearing her pyjamas? I have read the entire Sunday Boston Globe, finished watching a movie and have no intention to engage into anything that resembles work.



I have no idea why the holiday season always turns into this preposterous circus - and that is just outside of work. Here is just a snapshot of what my week looked like - take Thursday for example. Spent all day at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, meetings, meetings and meetings, then host Novartis for an Oncology Pipeline presentation; leave a 5:45 PM to zip to my gym to attend "Cardio Dance" class - leave frustrated - people with epileptic seizures are more coordinated than I am - not an ounce of rhythm in my bones.... Hustle over to Charlestown to check out a washing machine - too big for my basement staircase - more frustration - head home and finally have dinner at 8:30 PM.



Saturday - Volunteering for Boston Cares at "The Home for little Wanderers" In Jamaica Plain (http://www.thehome.org/site/content/index.asp), a nonprofit that provides temporary residency and services to children that have been removed from abusive family situations. It is actually the oldest child welfare agency in the country and has been around since 1799. Our task for the day was to sort gifts (either general donations or child-specific) and wrap them (boy, was I the right person for that job - I can't wrap a gift to save my life).



Then head to JP to "The Purple Cactus" for delicious burritos and quesadillas with fellow wrappers Ellen, Patrick and Amy. Head home, and throw myself into the Christmas craziness at the store (just for wrapping paper), do two loads of laundry, wrap gifts and at 6:15 PM head to the Kendall Theater to meet Amy and her husband Dana for the new Pedro Almodovar movie "Volver". (Excellent, BTW). Zip home, finish watching "Coming Home" and fall asleep on couch.....



Now to the past weekend. As you know a small crew of friends headed up to Rick's family's house up in Franconia, and we were rewarded with winter wonderland and tons of snow. I was as always markedly excited by the white stuff and could not wait to get out and play. So Saturday the group trudged up an old favorite, the Coppermine Trail in Franconia leading up to Bridal Veil Falls. It was picturesque, a bit on the chilly side, but the hiking group (and Phoebe the dog) certainly enjoyed it. We had to stop, of course, at the memorial plaque that Bette Davis had placed in Coppermine Brook for Arthur Farnsworth, the farmer that saved her when she got lost in the woods, and who eventually married her.



The evening was spent low-key with a fairly competitive Scrabble game (damn the letters V,C and J!) and the completion of a puzzle that took us into the late hours of this very pleasant day.



Some folks had to leave early on Sunday so it was up to Denise, Rick, Phoebe and myself to find a little adventure. We hurrried over to Crawford Notch and made our way up Mt Willard (2850 ft) - http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Mt%20Willard&btnG=Google+Search&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi. It was a splendid day for a hike, the sun was shining, and the path along a snow- and ice-covered brook was just lovely. The top of Mt Willard affords spectacular views, in particular over to the very icy Mt Washington (http://www.mountwashington.org/). On the way down Mt Willard we were once again reminded of how quickly conditions change in the White Mountains, and that you better be prepared. The sun quickly disappeared and after taking my gloves off only briefly to add a fleece, my fingers were so cold that I could have cried from the pain. Thanks to the foresight of Rick, who always carries extra gear and protective wear for three people, I was able to don some serious anti-glacial gloves (they definitely resembled over mitts) and pretty soon my hands were warm again. It does feel good when the pain subsides....



The hightlight of the weekend - no question. Rick had generously offered that I could cut down one of the trees on the grounds. Now, we are not talking Christmas tree farm here - the trees are not as bulky and often stand in groups, which restricts how full their branches are. We did pick a good one, but it does have a "Charlie Brown Tree" feel to it. The branches go off mostly only to one side, which makes it a very good "lean-against-the-wall" tree, or as I named it "The Anemic Space Saver Tree with Personality". It looks festive now, with red lights and some ornaments (most of them very light, as its delicate branches could not handle the heavier kind of decorations. I myself am proud of THE TREE, and proud of the fact that I did cut it myself. So, there you go.



The house is decorated nicely, tree branches everywhere with decor, and today there will be some more baking of Christmas cookies. The first batch was eaten up in Franconia, and I litterally have only one left. One lousy Christmas cookie..... Come to think of it, I am going to eat it right now.



Happy Holidays my friends, and don't get to wrapped up (no pun intended) in the craziness. Enjoy your friends and family.



Love you tons!



pet:)

#27 Boston - How to Spell Raspberry - December 8, 2006

To those contemporaries who have never been to one of the fancy coffee places like Starbucks or SFC, here is a little word of advice - the people in line behind you are serious coffee addicts and do not appreciate if you involve the barista behind the counter in a conversation on how to spell raspberry on the list of flavors that can be added to their caffeinated beverages. So just don't, will ya?

Granted I don't drink coffee, but it was bloody freezing out there (currently 9 degrees, or minus 3 with the wind-chill) and I had a little bitty budgie in the car, who probably did not appreciate my stopping in the first place. So much for my idea of getting a soy steamer with ginger bread flavor - I did the steaming myself and headed back to poor Ella whose windows started to freeze up.

It was a long haul up here to Franconia this time, 3 11/2 hours, bloody traffic everywhere, I ran out of windshield wiper fluid, and had cars riding my coat tails in the 45 mph zone. Generally known to be a bit of a sporty driver, my driving behavior changes in New Hampshire, where the cops are lined up along the freeway like pearls on a necklace and just wait for you to go just a wee bit over the speed limit.......

Well, Oscar and I got here, are comfortably situated in the living room listening to Christmas music and I think there might be some ice cream being served shortly. There is enough snow for downhill skiing and I think the slopes at Bretton Woods (http://www.brettonwoods.com/) might just be a tad unsafer tomorrow with yours truly stumbling down the piste. And as is the tradition, it needs to be followed by a nice cup of tea or hot cocoa at the most posh Mount Washington Hotel (http://www.mtwashington.com/hotelinformation/index.cfm).

I am ready for the season, on the way up here I stopped at Eastern Mountain Sports for some outdoor retailing, getting decent skiing gloves and Stabilicers - http://www.32north.com/prod_stab.htm - we those babies I can walk on ice, snow and who knows what else (no, not water...... duh!). They weigh a ton, and maybe I won't be able to get my feet off the ground, but hey, at least I won't slip, that's a start. This is my favorite time of the year as you know, and if you live in New England you must know the four seasons - Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter and Construction. This year we unfortunately moved from 69 degree surfer weather to sub-zero in the course of two days. You gotta love it!!!

I can't believe this week is already over, it went by in a jiffy - work was just relentless, but with some good results; there was tons of Christmas shopping, shipping gifts off to Europe and starting down the slope toward Christmas-induced poverty and debt.... (just kidding, it is not that bad). Tuesday night was the Christmas Party for Boston Cares and Wednesday night the hospital running group took a jaunt along Commonwealth Avenue to see the Christmas lights (see attached picture), Thursday more Christmas shopping with my enabling friend Stephanie, and now we are here in winter wonderland! Wow!

I hope you stay warm, my friends, wherever you are and enjoy the Christmas season. Instead of adding yet another list of jokes about winter in New England (like the one about the fact that driving in winter is better, because all the potholes have filled with snow....... hahaha, if it wasn't so sad, because it is true....), I am sending a poem by former Franconia resident Robert Frost:

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.


See you soon!

pet:)

#26 Boston - Domestic Bliss, December 1, 2006

Something rare and unusual happened - I pretty much spent all weekend at home basking in pre-Christmas domestic and retail bliss. Yes, you read right - I have been cooking, ironing, doing the laundry, reading the newspaper, shopping for Christmas gifts to be send overseas, and am currently sitting on my couch watching a somewhat strange (but probably fairly realistic) film where a Kurt Cobain look-alike runs through the woods and hides out in a greenhouse, drugged out of his mind. It is actually a pretty acclaimed movie by Gus van Zandt, "Last Days" and based on Kurt Cobain's last days, so I guess I'll give it a bit of a chance.....

A little late my update this time, but as mentioned it has been a busy weekend, Friday night my friend Elaine came over for some home-cooked vegetable soup, a decent glass of wine, and a showing of "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane" - a must-see classic. Elaine are now the official cheerleaders for the "Run Blanche Run!!" fan club. The cooking mayhem continued yesterday - I had invited Ellen and Irene for a scrumptious dinner:
Artisan Bread with Olive Walnut Tapenade
Baywolf's Mushroom Barley Soup
Vegetable Quiche with Herb Crust
Mixed Green Salad
Vanilla Ice Cream and Lemon Sorbet Parfait with Sweet Pine Nut Sauce
Pecan White Chocolate Drops
Sheldrake Point Riesling and Assorted Teas
Sound good?

Needless to say my planned menu was a bit ambitious and I slaved in the kitchen all day, but I just loved it!! Oscar did too, since I was chopping and fussing around him all day, plus my friends, we got heat!! The furnace got fixed on Friday, and we can look forward to the upcoming cold season with renewed confidence. Of all the times for the furnace to break, these past three weeks were probably the most suitable, as Boston experienced a serious warm spell. Matter of fact, on November 30th, the 69 degrees we had at a little before 2PM broke an old heat record from 1881. The Boston Globe featured an editorial with the title "Jack Frost Call Home," asking the question "How holly-jolly can we be when the vinca vine and tea roses are still abloom?" ....the dogs still bring ticks into the house,.... the crab apples are blooming in the Boston [Public] Garden."

As every year fall and winter are our two favorite seasons, where we just looooove to grip about the weather, snow might be coming as early as late tonight or tomorrow morning, and I think we'll stick to the low 40s after that.

I returned to Boston on Monday from my visit to my cousins in upstate New York. Post Thanksgiving was spend with tons of activities - went to the movies to see "For Your Consideration", the new Christopher Guest movie, shopped, spent quality time with the family. On Sunday, Barbara and I hopped in the car and hoofed it up to Skaneateles, NY (http://www.skaneateles.com/) where the whole town was dressed up and decked out for "A Dickens Christmas". It was wonderful!! Folks in period costumes paraded down the main drag, Marley and Scrooge included, and at 2 PM, everyone gathered from some fine singing of Christmas tunes, with a superb rendition of "The 12 days of Christmas" as the high note at the end. Skaneateles is a rather affluent little community located at Lake Skaneateles in the Finger Lakes region, and it is extremely quaint and charming there.

Monday Oscar and I took on the long drive home, and it was back to the old grind this week. Work has been very busy in a good way, and let's hope it stays that way. I went running with the hospital's running group (which I host once a week) on Wednesday, and Thursday I was up to my old ushering shenanigans, this time at the Lyric Stage Company. The performance for the night "Exceptions to Gravity" was given by none other than "Avner, the Eccentric" - a true old-style comedy master. A combination of Buster Keaton, Vaudeville, magic tricks and some serious balancing acts - this was a gem of a night!! It reminded of how a truly gifted stage artist can entertain a crowd with a few simple props and a step ladder. Boston friends, this one is a must-see. You will fall in love with Avner - http://www.avnertheeccentric.com/. Called once "master of small catastrophes" by a German critic, he IS the quintessential entertainer and now can look back on an illustrious career in theater and film (he was the Holy Man Jewell in "Jewel on the Nile"), and has certainly not lost one iota of his appeal.









I think I am going to sign off now, I would like to head out for an evening stroll (maybe with a few snow flakes???), plus there are more Christmas cookies to bake and pictures to upload. I am still not done with the Germany photos, but hope you have enjoyed the other two albums I have sent. Next weekend, I will join a whole mob of people and head to Franconia, New Hampshire - there might be first snow activities!! Yiiiihaah!

Until then, stay warm and stay dry!

pet:)

#25 Boston - Past Unadilla to the Finger Lakes - November 27 2006

Ever heard of Unadilla? Me neither until yesterday on my journey from Boston to upstate New York when I zipped past the lovely hamlet of Unnnnnadilllllla (this is how I pronounce it). Nothing particular happened there, but I took a liking to the name, and kept saying it over and over. I did that mostly to keep myself awake as I had started out in Boston on Thanksgiving morning at the ungodly hour of 5:30 AM - Oscar and tons of luggage included - to spent the holiday with my cousins near Ithaca. It had been a wise decision to leave on Thursday rather than on Wednesday when six million cars would be fighting for road space. To say I was tired would be an understatement, I was just glad that I did not fall asleep on a toilet during one of my rest stops or was found by highway patrol on the side of the road slouched over and drooling all over the steering wheel.

The car was cozy and warm, which was good for Oscar who seemed to enjoy the car ride very much, but the sauna-like atmosphere in no small part contributed to my comatose state of mind. Good thing there were no other cars around, at times I seemed to be the only one driving on I-88, which reminded me a bit of early horror movies where people drive along lonely roads and then get eaten by zombies roaming the countryside of rural Pennsylvania or New York State for that matter.

I got here in a jiffy, 6 hours on the nose, and had to take a little rest in the afternoon, as I had not gotten enough downtime the night before. Work had been busy this week, the post-conference follow-up was and is in full swing, there was a honorary dinner for my boss at the very swanky Harvard Faculty Club and just for fun I threw in an upper endoscopy. The results were good, I seem to simply have a mild gastritis and the docs are investigating to see if some not-so-friendly bacteria are at it again. The procedure happened the afternoon before the fancy schmancy dinner, which I thought was quite a good scheduling arrangement. Aside from tea for breakfast I had not been allowed to eat or drink anything since the evening prior, and come mid-day I was ready to eat my shoes. Having a four-course meal waiting for me seemed quite the appropriate reward for such serious deprivation.

I was glad to be able to escape my house this time, as the heat is still not working, and efforts are ongoing to determine what little sensor in the heating system is the culprit. I have the meekest of heater fans in the kitchen directed straight at Oscar, so that that little tropical companion of mine does not freeze to death, I myself huddle underneath a blanket with a hot water bottle. Fortunately, we have not yet experienced the for New England typical glacial temperatures, and I am hoping for at least a couple of mild days next week until the heater is back in action.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving yesterday with my mom's cousin Barbara, her husband Frank, her daughter Emily and husband Peter from Oregon, her daughter Rebecca and youngest son Dawson, her daughter Maria and fiancée Dave, and of course the menagerie of Stanley, the dog, Goblin and Thurman, the cats, and Oscar, the bird. The food was perfect and for once I did not eat so much that I had to open any buttons or buy pants a size larger the day after. I crashed pretty much at 8 PM, with that little sleep and that much food there was no way my body was not going to collapse into a stupor. I think I must have slept somewhere between 10 and 12 hours last night, and despite my restraint at the table, the amount of delicacies I ingested must have affected my sleep, as I dreamed I was attending a Republican convention and seemed to be obsessed with searching for some decent ice cream.

We had a fabulous day today - tons of sunshine, tons of fun activities, the highlight being a visit to the Sheldrake Point Winery (www.sheldrakepoint.com) where Maria's fiancée Dave is the resident winemaker. It is located most picturesquely at Cayuga Lake near Ithaca and was built on the grounds of a former dairy farm. Barbara and I learned tons about Rieslings (their forte) and the very distinguished ice wines, explored the wine bottling machine, and got a lesson on how to correctly taste wine (there was quite some spitting involved). We tasted some still-fermenting Riesling (just like the Federweisser in Germany, excellent). This wine tasting business (with the spitting-out part) is actually not bad for those of us with reflux issues and sensitive stomachs. You get a little of the flavor and the stomach knows nothing of it. However, try to explain that to the police officer who stops you and smells the wine on your breath..... "I swear officer, I spit it all out.....". (Well maybe I did not spit it all out, at $60 dollars a split (half-bottle) and out-of-this-world taste, ice wine should not be spat out, period.)

Following the tasting, Barbara, David and I took Ella for a spin over to Seneca Lake (http://www.fingerlakes.com/seneca.htm) to visit "Dano's Heuriger" (www.http://www.danosonseneca.com/). A rather non-descript venue from the outside, you enter into a tastefully decorated interior with cheerful colors, and a spectacular view of the lake. Featuring Hungarian-Austrian cuisine, chef Dano Hutnik dazzles with an Austrian style tapas menu, and in particular the spreads (pumpkin seed oil, gorgonzola, horseradish -walnut) must be sampled. The deserts were in an equally celestial category - do try the Linzertorte if you go there! Promise?

It is evening now, I just returned from two jogs, first a couple of miles by myself and then a little tour with Stanley who is amazingly spry for a 17-year old dog and who only once in a while gets a little distracted by a good smell or two. Oscar is chirping behind me along with Van Cliburn playing Mozart's Kleine Nachtmusik. He seems to be amazingly unaware of the dangers lurking in this house, in particular Goblin the cat has been staring at him, and a couple times was found with his nose right next to the cage. Oscar has been constantly surrounded by his human bodyguards and today had the run of the house by himself while the cats where sent outside for frolicking in the sun.

I have to go now, dinner awaits - have a nice weekend everyone! Walk off those calories will ya?

Pet?

#24 Boston - Nothing Works! November 19, 2006

Nothing works - least of all my brain - I am jetlagged, tired, hungry, and have six million things to do. That's why my update is horrendously late this week, and that is why it will be horrendously short, too.

I just spend quite some time tonight loading the pictures from my Prague/Germany trip from my new digital camera (getting to know you......) onto my computer at home, but as with every program one has to learn things, how to upload this, that and the other, and how to resize the pictures, and I just don't have my wits about me to even consider it. I promise I will send a selection of photos tomorrow and then will post the whole lot of them (I think there were around 300 originally, but I promise to weed them out and get the online feast down to a digestible size) on one of those websites such as Shutterfly or O-Photo. As soon as I can find someone with a brain to help me.

You got the Prague update, so I am moving on to my time in Germany. As mentioned, I arrived just in time for the official commencement of Fastnacht, the Karneval /Mardi Gras season that officially started on 11/11 at 11:11 AM. While the main celebrations of Karneval, parades, general merriment and such take place during the two weeks preceding lent, the official start is somewhat earlier to allow all the different Karneval guilds to get ready and prepare. The whole hoopla ends on Ash Wednesday - with a couple of exceptions such as the Morgenstreich in nearby Basel/ Switzerland, where on the Monday and Wednesday of the following week at 4 AM all hell brakes loose. Apparently conceived by Protestants to annoy the Catholics, this strange custom starts with a blackout in the old center of Basel at that ungodly hour, and the Karnveal cliques armed with mostly piccolos and tambourines wake up pretty much everyone in the tri-state area. There is lots of drinking, raunchy poetry is being recited and on occasion unprepared tourists are kidnapped and forced to hop along for a while. (http://www.vtour.ch/fasnacht/morgens/morgens1.html)












That day in my little home town of Neuenburg http://www.neuenburg.de/servlet/PB/menu/1121136/index.html), there was a congregation of all sorts of Karneval guilds at the main town square, assembling at the "fool's fountain" for the official kick-off; the "Guggemusik" was playing their music somewhat off-key (which is the intent here) and everyone was having a grand old time, despite the crappy weather. I'll refer to my photos when it comes to a description of the garb the different guilds such as the "Rhiischnogge" don for the occasion, the costumes are handmade, the masks hand carved and needless to say with lots of love and crafty skills.

Aside from Fastnacht, the week in Germany went buy in a jiffy, had to see tons of people, celebrate birthdays, walk in the woods a couple of times, and get lots of sleep. A highlight was a trip to the "Schauinsland" (literally translated "look into the land"), with its claim to fame as being the 11th highest peak in the Black Forest (yippee) - it tops out at an elevation of 1,284 m (3281 ft). It has spectacular views to the Swiss Alps and also toward the Black Forests sister mountains in France, the Vosges. It has tons of hiking trails, one can walk up, drive up or, as yours truly, take the gondola to the top (2.25 miles of gondola fun!). It is known to be quite windy on occasion up there, and one of its most striking features are the "Windbuchen", beeches that have been bent by the wind into bizarre forms. We hiked a solid 11 kms on a most gorgeous day, sunshine, not too windy, and not enough benches to sit on despite a sign that promised them.

There was a visit to Freiburg, of course, my old college town (http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Freiburg&btnG=Search+Images). It started out as a settlement in the 11th century, was founded by Duke Konrad of Zaehringen (yeah, remember, Konrad??), and thanks to its close association with the Habsburg Dynasty received its freedom in the 13th century. It is a city packed with history, and as the entry gate to the Blackforest, it is tourist central. Its population is a tad above 200K, with a substantial chunk of that going toward the student category. Thus, lots of culture, and things to do. Its most distinctive feature are the "Baechle", a gutter system that once used to be source of the citizen's water supply and now simply contributes to the city's charm. Local legend says that if you do step into a "Baechle" (which does happen quite frequently to the unsuspecting visitor), that you are destined to marry a local boy or girl, aka a "Freiburger Bobbele". Freiburg's main square features a gothic cathedral - the Freiburger Muenster, the Historical Kaufhaus (which happened to be the financial center of the region in the early 16th century) and a farmer's market every day of the week except for Sunday, of course. Amazingly enough I can still go there and find the same market vendors I said goodbye to 18 years ago.... nice to see that some things have not changed...

My friends, it is time to go to bed - you may look forward to the pictorial supplement tomorrow.

pet:)