a mysterious image

this image is on some sort of electrical outlet device in the middle of a nearby meadow.... any thoughts?

recent rainbow (a postponed welcome?)

all right... this was actually shot two weeks back... but this rainbow appeared and asked to be photographed and posted....

equinox ritual

since we have changed the season, we have changed our image of the Green Man which blesses our house... the autumnal Green Man is made of oak leaves and acorns... blessings to one and all!

field trip with ropes course

last week i took my eighth grade homeroom class to a local park where we participated in a high-platform ropes class. we all put on harnesses and climbed thirty feet or so up. it was lotsa fun, especially for those who were afraid: they got to SHOUT and SSCRREEEAAAAMMMMM their fear out.

international peace of peace

wednesday was international day of peace, and so i decided that our little school should do something to honor this holy day. a hundred or so students and a few faculty-folks gathered on the roof and formed a huge Peace sign with arms reaching UPwards (rather than the normal peace sign which shows despair and resignation). we will put the time-lapse documentation of this event on-line somewhere.... stay tuned!

many students made art projects based on optimistic peace signs:

sheep dog working its flock right outside of the city limits

this was less than ten kilometers from the heart of leipzig. it is still a smallish city (half a million residents) and easy to escape into the woods and farmlands...

oom-pah-pah lives!

i was just cycling through the countryside and stumbled onto a local festival in honor of the onion harvest (i am not making this up!). i had a slice of onion cake and a bit of sekt (german champagne) before heading off to tilt at windmills.... this band was playing trad tunes in a tent... maybe later in the day people were dancing..... i was there too early....

my path to the lake

we live about six kilometers from lake called cospudener see. it was once a GIANT browncoal stripmine, but was turned into a recreation site after germany's re-unification. i like to cycle thither and then skate around the lake (eleven km) and then swim at the nude beach after a quick beer and a snack .

another view of the juggernaut festival

this shows the swarm of celebrants dancing in circles round the image of krishna.

hare krishna (german style)

we stumbled onto this festival of juggernaut. i danced thrice around the idol and felt much the better for it.

too much music!

so we have been in Leipzig for a whole month now. we can verify the rumours: it is a high-culture city!

the church where j.s. bach was kapellmeister is one of the most important venues: we have heard the boys' choir associated with thomaskirche several times, and even a professional quintet of young men who used to sing in the thomanerchor. this little group is called ensemble nobiles, and thy are tight. we heard them twice: in a local little church (where their voices filled the place mightily) and once in thomaskirche (where a quintet sounds small but holy).

this past weekend was the opening event for the world-renowned gewandhaus orchester: it was an outdoor concert which showcased their energy and the conductor's warm enthusiasm. earlier in the afternoon we heard a few little concerts by members of the orchestra: a brass band doing jazz; a pair of clarinettists playing mozart; a string ensemble playing viennese waltzes....

and the night before was the "passagenfest" in which many passageways (which are filled with shops) offered entertainment and stayed open until midnight. i saw a guy dressed in a Pan-costume which was the best i had ever seen-- stilts which became hooves and gave a bouncy spring to his step.