yes i have been to another two movies on my "must see" list

Hereafter- very good to sit and see it coming towards me, not embarassing, no esoteric trip, just a very well made Clint Eastwood movie- I feel that I am closer to understanding him since I have been in Carmel and around the 17 mile drive and had a glance on his property from across the bay.

and

Another Year - a Mike Leigh movie, also very quiet and thoughtful, but much more upsetting, the difficult characters getting on my nerves, almost make me agressive.

and  Zusammenstösse (english title "Accidents")  by Yael Hedaya, another book, which I had kept on the shelf for years - I had to hit the right mood for this long and winding story, I enjoyed it now years after I had bought it. I like jewish/israeli writers, another world is open for me, and I can linger on the memories from the past when we travelled there in a very special way.

That leads to the other book by Franz Hammerbacher Bravo Hotel -about UN missions in Kosovo and Israe/Syria. We have been there in Damascus as Family of the Force Construcion Officer for 8 months and sometimes it would be great to talk to someone about that singular experience - as my daughter said "Why didnt we write a book about it?"

I met with a Canadian friend in Vienna and enjoyed the winter walk around the city and Schönbrunn, it was freezing cold and there was some snow - a wonderful blue sky and quite a icy breeze and we had lunch in a very special restaurant in Hietzing ..... so nice thank you Susan!

Posted by mrseccp at 4:29 PM CET

Updated: Wednesday, 16 February 2011 4:36 PM CET

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  ... oh   b.... s....    it´s been a long time again  .... it seems I never posted anything since I have the new laptop! (because the password is not stored...)

anyway, I am upset today - it is almost impossible to book my beach holiday in Turkey, all the cheap ( .... not really cheap) rooms are taken already, the aerobic timetable is not at all what I like , and it is just the location, I would love to see that beach again after so many years, it was a club med when I decided that I have to spend a holiday there - now it is a Magic Life Club, and the AFAS Crew does some aerobic there in June and still I am not happy - because I am greedy  I should just imagine it coud be my last holiday and pay!!

And I have been at the movies with Wolfgang:

http://www.smallworld-film.de/

nice actors, very nice music, the story by Martin Suter one of my favorite writers in German - because he is swiss I suppose

By the way SWISS:

I read "Die Sehnsucht der Atome" by the Swiss Writer Linus Reichlin - and  I enjoy it!

Posted by mrseccp at 4:06 PM CET

Updated: Friday, 14 January 2011 10:39 PM CET

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this is going to be a story - because I heard that everybody wants to be an author .... and actually me too  I found out - nothng new, but buried under other creative activities. So I give it a try and unburden my mind ..... and start with strange words.

Monument Valley

this is a guided tour named Western Wonders. For me it was clear that I would travel with an english speaking crowd, but surprise surprise, they were about 80 % German, which a disappointment for me, or to say it in a "polite or neutral" way, I detest Germans, and try to avoid their company.

The good thing was that there were a few Italian, Portugese and Spanish co-travellers, which are an attraction for me, because I sort of understand some words of their languages, mainly those I recognize from my Latin classes in school, and I feel on an educational trip, when I wreck my brain trying to understand them. Portuguese is a special challenge. Roman languages are my passion.

The Portuguese woman - I calles her Ines and I hope I will never forget her.

Looking everything else but Portuguese, she was middle aged, blonde and round, had dark shadows under her green eyes and she was not QUIET, her laugh echoed through the bus and from the table she was eating at. Her husband did not get a name from me, but he looked easy going and friendly too, gray curls and little pouch etc.

 Jan 2011 - this was meant to be continued - and it will be at some later stage of my life!

Posted by mrseccp at 4:12 PM MEST

Updated: Friday, 14 January 2011 4:26 PM CET

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talking about before and after Xmas!

 Regine is now Professor in Freiburg - woahhhh!

I had a sort of ok winter, bit of snow, no skiing, because we booked the Californian Adventure, "rodeln" once and all by myself on our local mountain Anninger ... and  not much more -- movies and books - quite a lot. 

Book: Women by T.C.Boyle - in inspiration to vist some houses built in and around LA by Frank Lloyd Wright.

And the trip to visit our daughter in Valencia near LA, and the bus tour "Western Wonders" - quite an experience and that is not only the sightseeing but also the fellow travellers on the bus.

Posted by mrseccp at 9:27 PM MEST

Updated: Thursday, 15 April 2010 9:49 PM MEST

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It was ok, considering that we were only the two of us, we even sang the first round of STILLE NACHT, and I did some singing before at the mass in the hospital chapel (it was so crowded, and I went there early, i.e. 30 mins before the start, so I had the perfect seat and it was very enjoyable, another one of the Xmas rituals I want to keep, like the visit at the cemetery, and the salmon sandwiches, and when sophie is there again I do the losbster and the shrimps with basmati rice - that would have been too much food for us)

I can feel the importance of the rituals, it seems these are the things to hold on to when getting old and weary ....

But the Xmas morning was a shock, the IE did not work, and I could not get it going til the evening, so I had a try with Firefox after some consultation with Regine and Nikolaus, and it works - so I did my own Xmas present just now before midnight.

The afternoon with the family was rather strenous, both grandchildren are so cute, but Peter is a pain in the neck, the food is everywhere, and one cannot talk because of all the noise and turmoil, I never thought that I would recommend a better education for my grandchildren, on the other hand: I still remember the South West African holiday and one of my travel companions (Andrew I guess) talking about the noisy German children, and for the first time I heard the sentence: Children should be seen, but not be heard! It made sense even then when I was much younger and had only one child. When I had the third I fully agreed and spent quite a lot of energy on keeping Sophie quiet (sort of ....)

Posted by mrseccp at 11:41 PM CET

Updated: Saturday, 26 December 2009 12:10 AM CET

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Still I do no reading - it seems that I have not found the right book, normally I get presents at Xmas, mainly books, and then I start reading again, but this year I doubt that I will get anything let alone books, and this is not as bad as it sounds, because I dont have to brood for ages about the presents I have to make. But wait, it needs a son like Nikolaus, who confronts me 3 days before the one and only sentimental evening in the year, that he needs some earphones for running. I still remember the last time I bought him such, that it was not easy to get and to decide what brand etc, - and he wants a pyjama size 80 for Lea!!!! and our car did not start today because of minus 11 degrees C, so I doubt if I can buy these things and if I buy presents for him I should do so for everybody - and frankly I cant this year with Sophie away- it just does not make sense. Wolfgang does not  appreciate presents, he does not like things he has not chosen for himself. I dont know if I like presents - I always liked Sophies presents though.

 The present I make for myself is that I go to the movies quite a lot, these sunday matinees are so nice - the movies are french or italian or spanish, and I love to sit in a small movie theatre , I feel cosy and safe there, I watch another world through a not to big rectangle, the thought crossed my mind, that "this must be heaven" the same thing I experienced in the aeroplane during an overnight flight to India, the lights are off in the cabin, I sit alone in a row and look out the window and there is a cloud and a light - maybe a sunray - it is dark around me in the plane everybody sleeping - quiet - warm - peace. (If the movie shown is some trash or blood dripping horror, or it is cold and not enough room,  this could be hell too - an interesting thought.........)

Movies seen: Abrazos Rotos (by Pedro Almodovar)  and Conte de Noel 

Posted by mrseccp at 11:02 PM CET

Updated: Sunday, 20 December 2009 11:36 PM CET

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Christkindlmarkt

I did a brief tour around the Rathausplatz yesterday - pretty awful, almost tourists only, too much "Punsch", uninspired food, even the potatoes tasted somehow boring .....AND I did not find anything for sending to California, or to give to the grandchildren. 

But before the big disappiontment I was at the movies again and saw  Le premier jour du reste de ta vie  In an inoffensive way it is all there (again ....) the fun, the pain, the emptiness and the surprises you experience in a normal life. The pic is from the fake guitar sequence, which left me completely ravished. There are chances in your life, which you miss so completely, that nothing can be done about it, never again, an still your life goes on and you have the memories and other things to carry on. 

French movies are my thing this season, there is still one to come, and then it will be Spain (Almodovar) and Italy (Moretti) again.

Posted by mrseccp at 11:37 AM CET

Updated: Monday, 7 December 2009 9:49 PM CET

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been to "Parlez moi de la pluie", the typical french movie, good acting, good humor, the content I like - family, feminism .......

and to the museum (KHM) to the "Charles the Bold" exhibition, where they accepted my free ticket, even if it was only for another part of the house. I love the stories about Karl, Maria his daughter and Maximilian, our emperor in the 15 th century .......

Posted by mrseccp at 12:49 AM CET

Updated: Monday, 23 November 2009 12:59 AM CET

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1. first things first: I cannot comment on comments so I put it here: this is the bloggers nightmare, one entry every two months - I cover my head...., but today I managed to see the statistics for the first time in my blogger life and I had 32 hits (wow) and two of them yesterday - this keeps me going ...
2. I have to go backwards, or I cannot remember:
3. Today I had half an hour in my private torture chamber with Joachim, he almost ruined my left (thank god) arm forever, see what happens in the next two days .... I hope he knows what he is doing...... it looks like I was hit with a pole!
4. I was in Brno last weekend by bus (very smart) met an old friend, widowed this year, had a sprained ankle and could not walk much, did talking for a month in one evening, feel old but very lucky and priviledged, even if I have no money compared to her. Brno looks quite allright nowadays
5. read two books by Jumpa Lahiri - I am still impressed, a young author of Indian origin, born in USA,  living in USA, and still does not  belong to East or West - the language is what impresses me most of all, but the setting of the stories is interesting too, so normal and still you deal with all the major problems of growing up and living your life. "Unaccostomed Earth" and "Interpreter of Maladies"                                                                                                                                                                                                       
6. saw two movies: "Der Vorleser" and "Wir sind alle erwachsen" (the latter is not so very interesting - but a lot of IKEA Furniture and even IKEA food) - I read the Book "Vorleser" by Bernhard Schlinck and liked the movie better than the book, the cast is just right and the movie is very carefully made, the woman played by Kate Winslet is easier to bear than the woman in the book.
7. was on holiday in Safaga, Egypt. There is nothing like snorkeling in the Red Sea. The Magic Life Club very efficient as usual - and our AFAS People were there too, which was sort of reassuring, I did not know Mauro, he is fun too.
8. and some social life: visitors - visiting - nothing exciting

What else? I dont remember! I miss my daughter and her boyfriend....

Posted by mrseccp at 4:25 PM CET

Updated: Monday, 23 November 2009 12:01 AM CET

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