Conrad's Here!

Conrad arrived this past Saturday for a ten-day visit, and typically, he's already seen and done a lot here in Munich. He and Greg went on a walking tour on a gorgeous sunny day Sunday, and later in the day Conrad went to the English Garden and back to the city center on his own. That evening we were all invited to Norbert and Sigrid's for dinner.

Today while I was teaching, Greg and Conrad spent six hours in the Deutsches Museum and seemed to have enjoyed every minute of it.



And here's a picture they took on the walking tour--I'm posting it to show that we do sometimes have sunshine in Munich!

A Visit to Salzburg

Greg and I had a wonderful trip to Salzburg, Austria last Thursday. It's only a 2-hour train ride from Munich. Above is a view of the Medieval shopping district. I really like the old-style signs--can you spot the McDonald's sign?

Here's another nice street view:



Mozart was born in Salzburg in this house:



Church towers and steeples abound:



If you want to see all our pictures from that day, click here.

A Couple of Finished Projects

The Christmas stocking is for Greg's sister Sigrid and her family; it's the first in the set I'm making for her in colors that she chose--burgandy, forest green and off-white. The pattern is from a knitting magazine from the 1990s, and the yarn is Lamb's Pride worsted weight wool.

This is yet another Stefanie Japel sweater from her book Fitted Knits. I made it before in the bulky weight yarn the pattern called for, but I thought it looked terrible on me (I gave it away to a friend who says she loves it!). I liked the style of this cardigan so much that I wanted to try it again, so this time I did it with worsted weight wool, and I lengthened the ribbing and started it just under the bust line. I also changed the short sleeves of the pattern to 3/4 length. Like all Stefanie Japel patterns, this sweater was knitted from the top-down in one piece. The yarn is Moda Dea washable wool.

Now I'm concentrating on finishing a nice warm scarf for me here in Munich--it's already very cold!

Back in Munich!

So the Germans are also a bit puzzled as to why Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize. Greg and I got a kick out of this front page picture in the paper. The headline reads: "Obama Is Not the Only One Surprised by the Nobel Peace Prize."

We took a beautiful walk through the city today, partially to help us both overcome our jet lag. It's still very green here and there are lots of flowers.



The trees are just beginning to change colors.



We discovered some interesting statues as well.



Soon I'll post a picture of the sweater I finished before returning to Munich--it's actually the one I have wrapped around my waist above.

An Odd Assortment of Books

Book news:

Shakespeare dringend gesucht, by Heinar Kipphardt, 1953. A satirical play about a theater director who is looking for the next Shakespeare. The play was a huge success in socialist East Germany in the 1950s in spite of its, or because of its, palatable social criticism. It's actually quite funny.

Black Elk Speaks, as told to John G. Neihardt, 1932. Even though I already knew that the European-Americans completely wiped out the American Indians, reading this book felt like learning about that fact for the first time. It's devastating to read, but very worthwhile.

Ehen in Philippsburg, by Martin Walser, 1957. Walser's first novel is about a young man who establishes himself in the prosperous German society of the 1950s. All the relationships, including his own, are unhealthy, to put it mildly. Walser's skill in writing ironic prose is fantastic.

An Introduction to English Sentence Structure by Andrew Radford, 2009. This sounds like it's easy to read--after all, it's an introduction. Well, it was very difficult as it is actually about Chomsky's Mimimalism. I learned a lot!

Labor Day and Some News

This cell-phone picture was taken of Karen and me over the Labor Day Weekend. Karen came for a visit from Butte, and we did some touristy things in Spokane, including attending the annual "Pig Out in the Park" held in our beautiful park downtown.

It occured to me that I don't actually post very much real "family news" here, so I am going to remedy that today. I wanted to let everyone know that Greg has quit his job at the VA, and he is planning to work in New Zealand from this coming December until next September. He will be employed by a hospital in Auckland.

Greg got the idea of working temporarily in New Zealand years ago from a colleague who had done this kind of work and who had a wonderful time. And I'm sure he's intrigued by the idea of getting to know New Zealand...who has ever heard anything bad about it? Probably the fact that it is an island and there are unlimited sailing opportunities adds to the appeal.

I will return in early October to teach again at the University of Munich. We plan to get a house sitter to take care of the pets and house while we're gone. Anyone interested?

No More Hats!

Well, this crazy beanie and hat knitting project is finally coming to an end. I'm ready to move on to something else for a while--like finishing several WIPs started long ago. Below are a few pictures of my latest frenzy.

Here are all the beanies and an ear-flap hat knitted for Greg. There's one beanie in the bunch that I haven't yet described--it's the one in the middle made of a purplish varigated all wool yarn called "Rhythm." The caps are being blocked on balloons, a technique I read about on another knitter's blog. They look like little balloon people, sitting there so nicely.



This is Greg's ear-flap hat knitted from a worsted weight blend that self stripes. It's called "Classic Worsted Tapestry" and was purchased at the yarn store (Ana-Cross Stich) in Anacortes on our recent vacation to Guemes Island. The pattern was written by one of the women who works in the shop, Fran Jepperson.



I know, I look kinda scary, but the picture shows the hat well!