Pics

frühling lässt sein blaues band wieder flattern durch die lüfte ... der mond bald blink, der mond bald blass, der mond als runde zähre! -- mörike feat. holz

though i enjoyed this year's winter immensely, it was about time for spring to come round. it's a spring day and night here in leipzig.

in celebration of international women's day, here are four portraits of women from my family. my great-great-grandmother singer, my great-great-grandmother trültzsch and her daughters, johanne and gertraud, my great-grandmother and great-aunt respectively. when these four ladies were born, women in germany had not yet acquired the right to vote!

the work for equality for women is not over yet. not by a long shot. but! this country has sure come a long way since 1919.

here's to all the women of the world and their struggle for equality and a life in simple human decency.

the evening began with me starting to bother birgit with caps from starsky&hutch. she didn't complain. or, if she did, she didn't present a convincing front to the world in general and me in particular. and before you know it, one thing lead to another and we started fiddling around with the stills, tapping into each our creative sides.

in honour of today's storm, i composed an ode upon a brave pigeon digging its little claws into a trusty birch twig and swaying with the whole tree against the stiff breeze.

ode (in german), moving pigeon and music behind the cut.

frosty mid-winter is the most appropriate season for visiting the memorial.

buster keaton: not your stereotypical kind of classically handsome man. but, damn!, there was an aura about him that just makes you weep into your morning coffee. certainly not handsome -- but beautiful!!!

shoes are a girl's best friend!

observing the mid-winter growth of my potplants, i was delighted to see that the hibiscus is in bloom again. which never happened before during this time of year simply because our flat is a bit colder than average. so i'm rather delighted that the plant surprised me with an open blossom this morning.

edit: and thus, silliness ensued...

shoetossing doesn't stop. not for the die-hards. not even in winter. not in adverse conditions, like snow. so here's the latest sighting of shoefiti in leipzig.

sorry for the lack of colour. it's winter, as i would like to have you know.

here's a lovely toy to play around with on rainy or snowy days. (in other words: it's perfect for the next week or two!) it's a virtual polaroid camera tool invented by the crafty devils over at the Poladroid project site. it's a fun little gadget to pimp your holiday pictures that need just a little touch of off-colour.

five days away from christmas, in christian parley on the fourth sunday in advent, i thought i should finally get into the spirit of the season and make a day of it. so in the order of appearance, here's what i did today.

alley proposed, so who am i to dispose? three guesses who it will be this time. santa? naw! the tooth fairy? nope. (but he's got teeth alright!) the tramp? you're halfway there.

a couple of days ago, the fabulous eldivinomarques over from LJ and i got talking about vintage photography and how it looks very much different from what is being produced today. for starters, changing the paper on which the prints themselves are/were produced already is largely responsible for that. of course the old papers were incredible instable with their silver coating and the pictures fade over the years because of that. but the silver also brought out a wonderful translucient quality in the images. something that has been lost ever since.

monday just after i had finished teaching the second round of shakespeare's lusty world of sonnets, i was on my way to berlin to celebrate 20 years of the opening of the iron curtain together with birgit and christoph. at first it was wet. and then there were lots of people. and then we had a hunch that the people in front of their tellies saw much much much more and also heard what was being said. but still it was great fun! it's not every day that a nation gets to celebrate its freedom and invite the whole world to the party.

and then, shortly after midnight, christoph found himself in the arms of two obliging ladies who wished him a happy birthday.

before you continue with the content behind the cut, please, take the time to re-watch the original broadcast of the tagesschau with a very happy anchorman announcing the opening of the east-german borders.

walking home from the leuschnerplatz after midnight last friday, the official lichtfest was already over and the nearly 100,000 leipziger had already gone home to sleep. the city was empty and quiet again. but unlike twenty years ago this was not a quietness of dread, but of calm and peace. there's a unique spirit in this city which you can encounter every day. it's got nothing to do with being showy or over the top. it's being content with what's here and taking pride in what has been achieved. it's a marvelous little place.