Bambini Run

From the beginning Felix has been a regular onlooker at sporting events - Tour de France start 2004 in Liege (ok he was only along for the ride in my belly), faithful bystander at the Cologne marathon in September/October each year and all sorts of running and biking competitions in between (unfortunately only once involving Jochen - we both need to get in shape again!) The summer Olympics coverage the past weeks further expanded his horizons in terms of sports so far unknown: dressage, wrestling, diving, crew. It also emphasized sports in terms of what he knows already - namely winning and medals. Recently we saw an advertisement for a series of informal kids races locally and asked if he would like to take part - the answer was an emphatic yes...until the day of the race.

We took him anyway and the minute he got his start number he was rather, keyed on, so to speak. Jochen took him around the 2 loops that made up the 350m course to orient him before the start you can feel his quiet concentration/excitement.

However, the minute the kids were told to line up he didn't want to let go of Papi's hand.

They were out of sight for part of the loop and Jochen reported that he was flagging by the middle of the second round - but he brought it home. Go Piggy!

We're Back!

Hard to believe two years have gone by since the last post, but I've never given up hope that, at some point, I would take up the keyboard again. Pig remains my inspiration, but we're also eagerly anticipating Monchichi's arrival (due date 31 October) to round out the clan. The lost years will have to be dramatically woven into the storyline in the future a la flashback. Meanwhile, some recent pictures from Hsin-Yi's visit.

Hsin at Dallmayer's - where we all wished the portions were a big more hearty.

Here we are at the 20th anniversary Tollwood Festival, which started as a hippie/music happening in Munich. Today there's some music but a lot more food and beer tents, as well as tie-dye and incense stands.


On top of Germany! We just walked back from the Austrian side of the Zugspitze and there was whiteout as far as the eye can see. The weather got better a few hours later but as you can see from the picture not only the winds were howling...