[Note:  see the section after the pictures of Cinque Terre for an update on the search for my Italian Stallion…) Well, boys and girls, I went, I saw, I took pictures.  And it was worth every penny and every hour of insane Italian driving!  Cinque Terre is….it’s stunning, that’s what.  And though my legs and […]

I’m off to Italy in the morning!  I’m being foolhardy and actually driving my car there, which means it may very well come back lacking some paint and a tire or two, but who am I to distrust my Italian neighbors?  I’m heading out with my favorite traveling companion, Mari Ellen, to see this: Cinque […]

I’m feeling–how shall I put it?–feeling tired.  Or as the southern might better say, “Tahred.”  Pretty much as wrung out as my buddy Spud, pictured here: The ICEC conference is finally over, but it was so much more than I expected it to be.  It pushed me into some decidedly unfamiliar or uncomfortable (as in: […]

It all began quite innocuously.  We were celebrating the last poetry class before Spring Break with the traditional Kickaboo-Joy-Juice-brownies and silly games about rhyme and meter, when I made a potentially lethal suggestion.  “Let’s go take some pictures outside,” I said, looking out the window at the sun we hadn’t seen in so long.  Had […]

It’s on days like today, after a week of irritatingly foul weather (pardon the previous snow rant!), that I come to profound realizations that go something like this:  “Huh?”  As in, “What have I ever done to deserve this?”  I was out on a walk this afternoon in the hills above Riedlingen, looking across the […]

There is something about snow that shoves me precariously close to the edge of sanity—that drop-off where relatively lucid and balanced missionaries turn into raving lunatics whose vocabulary and general countenance are anything but honorable.  I’m not sure where the pathological aversion comes from.  It’s not like I was once stranded in a blizzard in […]

Due date:  May/June ’07Gender:  Non-specificGestation:  7 monthsExpectant parents:  me!Pre-birth emotions:  fear, trepidation, excitement, anticipation, head-slapping, repeating “Why am I doing this?” over and over again…the usual, in other words! You know how expecting women see an ultrasound of their child and suddenly realize they’re really, truly pregnant?  Well, I haven’t seen an ultrasound of my […]

It’s a bird!  It’s a plane!  It’s a…..rastafarian clown hot-air balloon?? You never know what you’re going to see in the skies above Holzen.  This evening was no exception!  Mari Ellen and I were off on a culinary adventure when we saw this:   But the true “giggle moment” came when the happy dude descended […]

I’ve spent the better part of the past six hours composing a poem to my friends and relatives stranded in distant places where winter means temperatures so cold they ought to be called “Simon Cowell” (study up on pop-culture if you don’t know who that is), landscapes so barren they ought to be called “Sarah” […]

Well, I survived.  School retreat was everything it’s supposed to be: memorable, profound, ridiculous, scenic, and sleepless.  This year’s event took place in the enchanting city of Nuernberg, as historical as it is beautiful.  Its appeal is not dependent on the time of day, as attested by these two photos taken from my room’s window: […]