This summer was the summer of independence for Jacob and Julia. First, the two of them went on an adventure, then Julia moved out. Let’s start at the end: last week was Julia’s 18th birthday. In the morning, Laura took her to the DMV to get her permanent driver’s license. In the afternoon we took […]

Yesterday afternoon, we took the kids to the airport and sent them on a 3-week vacation in New Hampshire. They are staying with Laura’s brother and they are helping him to fix up the house on Squam Lake where he intends to retire soon. So for the first time in 17 yeas, Laura and I […]

Yesterday morning, we had to take Henry to the vet to have him euthanized. His health had seriously deteriorated over the last few days. So when he could no longer get up or drink, it was time. He was 15 years old. Earlier this year, his health had started to decline after he had had […]

Today was Pi Day for my 1991 300D. This morning the car’s mileage rolled over 314159 miles and the number pi is 3.14159.

Today was Julia’s High School graduation. She was valedictorian of her class of 70 graduates from Middle College High School, so she got to do a speech at graduation. Her class got almost 1.5 million in scholarship money for college! We’re super proud of her!! In August, she will start studying at American University in […]

Last Saturday, we had dinner with our neighbors and then we lit a bonfire and had some more drinks. For dinner Laura had made a nice, Togo-inspired stew out of two of their roosters. The roosters had become a bit of problem in their chicken coop; the Rhode Island Red was very tasty while the […]

This is Blackjack, our black miniature Holland Lop. He’s not really the Easter Bunny, but over Easter weekend, he did enjoy his first outdoor run of the year. I built a small fence around his rabbit hutch and when we’re on the deck or in the back yard, the little guy gets to stretch his […]

Our driveway on a crisp, sunny evening in November. Unsere Einfahrt an einem sonnigen Novemberabend. Julia and Cleo getting ready to ride out. Julia und Cleo bereiten sich auf einen Ausritt vor.

(DEUTSCH) Last weekend was super busy and fun. Saturday, Laura and I went to a Bar Mitzvah – or rather a B’nai Mizvah (plural) for the twin boys of one of the professors I work for. We attended the service in the morning, and then returned for the party in the evening. Great fun! Sunday, […]

Let me introduce you to Sassy and Snoopy. They are our two female goats. The brown one is Sassy and the white one is Snoopy. Sassy was born March 10 and she is a Kiko/Spanish goat mix and her sister Snoopy was born March 18 and she is a Boer/Spanish goat mix. I bought them […]

So … it’s Labor Day and the gas grill is busted. What to do? Fire up the hobo grill, of course! My half-barrel burn barrel came in really handy today. We lit a fire in the barrel and chucked some charcoal on top and grilled our chicken kebabs and sweet corn – old school. This […]

Summer is here and today Laura, Jacob and Julia all embarked on a new adventure. Laura started her new job at Unique Batik, where she will help Sharon grow this great company, and take it to the next level. After her stint in an academic environment at Duke, my dear wife will now foray into […]

Today, we bought our third horse. we brought her to our place on Friday and introduced her to our two guys. Her name is R. U . Madison Saint and she is a registered Rocky Mountain Horse. This is not really a great photo of her – it’s windy and she had just had a […]

I’d like you to meet Henry … Henry is from Arizona and he moved in with us on Dec. 29. So he has lived with us for three weeks now. He is starting to settle in very nicely and he and our Russian Blue Koklo are getting more and more comfortable with each other. Henry […]

Last night, we went out to a strings concert by the Mallarme Chamber Players with the fantastic violinist Jennifer Curtis and … Dex Romweber (lead guitarist of the Flat Duo Jets). A bit like the Ciompi Quartett, this was another concert that broke down musical barriers and tied a variety of musical traditions together. Complex […]

It has been over a week since we last saw our 18-year-old old Maine Coon Sodabe. He was on his last leg last time we saw him. His kidney s were failing and he could hardly eat any more. Sadly, we think he wandered off to die somewhere in the woods. He was a good […]

Sadly, on April 17, our beloved little black poodle Meme passed away due to a terrible accident. We had inherited Meme in Oct. 2011 from Laura’s mom Dolores. Meme had been a faithful and cheerful companions to Dolores for several years, and so when Dolores passed away, Meme came with us to North Carolina. It […]

Today, our family bid a very sad farewell to my sister’s husband of 18 years, Karsten Hupfer. He died completely surprisingly on March 23 at a hospital in Waiblingen, Germany. He leaves a huge void in his and our family, and in my sister’s life in particular. Heute haben wir uns in tiefer Trauer von […]

Last night our 20-year-old Siamese cat died. We got her 19 years ago from the shelter, when she was just a young stray kitty. Over the years, Deha grew into a proud cat with a strong personality. When we brought Benson home, a 160-pound Great Dane, it only took her a couple of days to get that […]

Today, Jacob and I started training at our karate dojo again. It has been a couple of years since our last training, and it has been a couple of months since my last run. So I really feel the workout now. But that’s good – that’s why we went back. We’ll start practicing regularly again, […]