Copernicus' Lament

Copernicus misses being able to go outside whenever he wants. This video was taken on the front verandah of our old house in Melbourne. He used to love to lie there and bask in the sun.

Poppy is a high stepping kitten

Unlike Copernicus, Poppy loves going for walks. Note the happy tail position. Normally she breaks in to a trot and we can actually cover a fair bit of ground. Last week she tried to climb a tree. She's a quick little bugger.

Apart from the joy of taking Pop for a walk, I love how she asks to be taken outside. She gets into a fever pitch of purring and swishing her tail at the harnesses and then sitting underneath them as if to say, "Come on, take me for a walk NOW!"

Marriage - the first quarterly report

wedding_self_portrait
Originally uploaded by heliospheric

Shareholders,

It is with great pleasure that I am able to bring to your attention the strong performance of H&R Inc in their first quarter together as a company.

Highlights:

• A fabulous wedding, attended by family and friends
• Frenzied, but utimately successful preparation for international relocation
• Arrival and negotiation of red tape in Germany
• Survival of the cats, despite one half (non-executive director) of the company threatening to downsize the corporation

Outlook for the second quarter:
Things are looking extremely positive for the second quarter, as the company moves into its new Bretzenheim headquarters.

Shareprice:
The shareprice remains steady and gains are expected during the second quarter.

With love,
the CEO

PS: The are more photos of the wedding

This Demeans us Both

For all those who asked to see Copernicus being taken for a walk. Note the classic "three-quarter crouch-y" walk and unhappy tail position - a sure sign that he definitely is not having as much fun as me.

St Kilda Syndrome

Think back to 1997, St Kilda had just played in the AFL Grand Final. The very next year, Richard and I moved to Melbourne. It augured well. Richard was a Mordialloc boy - in the heartland of the Saints - and now he could wear his red & black scarf and beanie with pride, right?

Wrong. Soon after we arrived, St Kilda started losing - alot. Richard was steadfast, staunch even, in his continued backing of St Kilda. This was perhaps their problem.

Eight weeks ago we moved to Germany (exciting isn't it). Lo and behold, the place we live has a team in the Bundesliga. We take an interest - afterall - embracing the local culture is important when you are new. With one game in the season to go, our local team is coming second last in the competition and is doomed to relegation.

Coincidence or something more sinister?

Haus Frau Disaster #1 - The mashed potato incident

In Germany, things are different.

The "Haus Frau Disaster" Series will be a regular feature on this blog.

OK, let's get on with the humiliation....

I know that potatoes are not all the same - some are waxy, some are floury - and each is best suited to a particular use in cooking. At the time of the HFD, I did not know the German words for "waxy" and "floury", and took a punt on buying some good lookin' spuds at the market.

That night we had decided to pay homage to cross cultural cuisine and do the German version of Bangers and Mash (Würst und Kartoffel puree). Then came the fateful moment - time to mash the potato.

I knew something wasn't quite right during the mashing process, but I continued on valiantly - "a bit of butter will fix that", I thought, because as we all know, a bit of butter is always a good thing. But NO, people, it did not fix the problem, instead of fluffy, buttery mash, I had created a disturbingly yellow, highly viscous starch amalgam that would not be out of place in a petrochemical plant.

Who would of thought that mashed potatoes could go wrong?

Guess where we live now?

Bingen
Originally uploaded by heliospheric.

It has been over 2 months since we arrived in Germany, but due to lack of internet access, I haven't had an opportunity to post anything on the blog.

Here is Richard at the top of the Keep at Berg Klopp in Bingen as evidence that we are here and alive.

You can check out some of our other photos by clicking on the Flickr badge on the right hand side.