December 25, 2015 - Christmas

Today was our second Christmas celebration with the American presents and Austin joining us. We had a very nice morning with lots of fun, banter and joy. We used a flash for these images, which provides a lot of interesting shadows and contrast.

December 24, 2015 - Weihnachten

According to our family traditions, we celebrated the German Christmas today and opened the German presents, namely those from my Mom around noon so that we could call and thank her. Margo and Arno both got a very nice science set from her; Margo a setup to grow crystals and Arno a model of a combustion engine that we put together this afternoon.

December 22, 2015 - Skate Boarding

Margo and Arno spend the afternoon at home today and we all went out for a little bit to catch fresh air. It gave Arno another chance to try his skateboard and to get a few new scabs on his knee and elbow pads.

December 13, 2015 - Road Trip with Arno

Arno and I needed to conduct some business in Austin, which is just about 200 miles South of Dallas, and thus got up real early, jumped into the car and hit the highways. We made the trip in good time, procured a new set of cowboy boots for Arno while there and had a lot of fun walking up and down Congress Ave.

December 5, 2015 - Workshop on Separation

I am currently, and for the second time, taking a workshop with Charlie Kirk, a renown street photographer. Our assignment for the month was to find visual separation for the frame. What this translates into is that you arrange the back- and foreground so that elements overlap as little as possible. This concept is extremely important in photography and thus an exercise that you do every time you go out to shoot.

November 28, 2015 - Dinner

Did I mention that we have been cooking a lot? Yes, well, today we made a five course dinner with good friends and truly enjoyed the experience. It is so much easier to have two people in the kitchen and a lot of stuff just runs very smooth. We made a mushroom soup, followed by an apple sorbet and then the main course, which were short ribs, slow-cooked for 72 hours, which were phenomenal. Afterwards it was cheeses and a chocolate soufflé that Eric, Margo and Arno prepared from the round up.

November 26, 2015 - Thanksgiving

This is the week of cooking. Meredith created a beautiful Thanksgiving dinner for us today and we are already prepping for an afternoon of cooking with friends on Saturday. We had a lot of fun creating all kinds of dishes today and also found time to play quite a bit. Right now, we are creating a story about the adventures of a suitcase that travels with an old man and gets into all kinds of adventures ranging from escaping a gang of criminals in Egypt to finding a hidden treasure based on clues in Hamburg. Each day, we add a new adventure to the story and both kids contribute to how it progresses and ultimately ends.

November 22, 2015 - Goofing Around

Not much to report today. I took some images while everyone was goofing around.

November 15, 2015 - Museums

I took on five major museums in the Metroplex today. The first three were all in Fort Worth and the last two back in Dallas. It was a whirlwind tour that included a wide array of exhibitions ranging from Gustave Caillebotte to  Kehinde Wiley, Laura Wilson and Jackson Pollock as well as a phenomenal survey of the renown collection of the Dukes of Alba in Spain.

November 14, 2015 - JHG Tour of the Special Collections Library at UT Arlington

Following on the heels of Ben Huseman's talk about the relationship between Germans and Indians in Texas, we now had the opportunity to tour the Special Collections library at the University of Texas at Arlington where ben is the curator. It was incredibly fascinating to see all of the artifacts including an original Declaration of Independence (early on, Texas was a republic), maps from Alexander von Humboldt and the shareholder prospectus for the Mainzer Adelsverein, which arguably started the German settlement in Texas.

November 7, 2015 - Washington DC

Coming back from a business trip to California this week, I had a quick turnaround to head out for DC a mere evening later. We had the annual convocation there, which was really nice and I used the time to meet with Jerrold and Rita, who furnished an exquisite meal of salmon and ribs on the top of their roof overlooking Pennsylvania Ave with perfect views of the Capitol and the Mall.

October 31, 2015 - Halloween

Lots of excitement here! Margo visited a good friend and they went trick-or-treating in their neighborhood while Arno and I took on our neighborhood for a run at candy. It was a lot of fun for both of us.

October 25, 2015 - Andrew's Birthday

We were invited to a birthday party by one of Arno's friends at a country club. They had set up a bounce house, face painting and a green screen photo station in the room while a magician performed Harry Potter tricks. It was a lot of fun and especially the face painting was phenomenal.

October 17, 2015 - Swimming Lessons

Arno and Margo have been getting swimming lessons this fall again. For one thing, it is good exercise and fun. For another, it adds safety given that we have the pool in our backyard.

October 11, 2015 - The Birthday Party

It is always fun to celebrate birthdays and with fifteen boys and girls there is a lot going on. We had hired a Superman actor to come in and play a bunch of games with the kids, which worked out great. He actually stayed longer than scheduled and literally played until the last kid keeled over. Arno really enjoyed it and he and his friends obviously had a lot of questions for Superman.

October 10, 2015 - Arno's Birthday

I really cannot believe that Arno is already seven years old. The day he was born is still a vivid memory and it seems like it happened yesterday. Mind you, I probably say that every year. Anyway, I promised to wake Arno real early, which I did, and then we proceeded to open his gift from my Mom, Austin and us. Since he has been itching to learn how to ride a skateboard, we procured a very nice one from California and got him all kinds of pads while we were at it. In the afternoon, we also attended the wedding of our babysitter, which was fun.

October 3, 2015 - Steak Dinner

Tonight, we prepared a proper steak with home made relish and a nice bottle of wine. It took about six hours for the relish to slow-cook, but the culinary result justifies all efforts. We basically make a sandwich with it and always throw an sunny-side-up egg on top of the steak, which is cooked sous vide and then deep fried.

September 20, 2015 - Smicker - Smacker

Arno recently joined the Lego Club online and really wants to create his own designs using Lego. At the same time, we probably have half a shipping create full of pieces that belong to some, long-lost piece that we cannot possibly ever identify and put back together again. So we decided to build our own spaceships, which Arno called Smicker-Smackers, out of these surplus parts.

September 19, 2015 - JHG Lecture Night

Today, we attended a very captivating lecture organized by JHG Texas on the relationship between German settlers and Indians and specifically on German children who were abducted by Indian tribes and grew up in their midst.

September 13, 2015 - Dancing the Night Away

We had an exciting weekend with lots of cooking, a fashion show and also quite a bit of creative outbursts that ranged from hip-hop to salsa dancing. All good fun!

September 10, 2015 - Immersion into Cartography

Today, Ben Huseman, the curator of special collections at the University of Texas, gave me an immersion into the cartography of the American West. It was incredibly fascinating to say the least. We only had a short time over lunch and I most certainly want to go back for a deeper dive soon. There were just so many interesting things. Who would have thought that early explorers thought that California was an island, separated from the rest of the continent or that Amerigo Vespucci's first map led to the naming of the country. It would have become the United States of Columbia otherwise.

September 8, 2015 - Meredith's Birthday

Meredith turned 29 yet again. We had a quick unwrapping of my Mom's present so that Meredith could call her and then everyone left for school and work. In the evening we had our official celebration along with a juicy piece of salmon. Meredith was surprised by our gifts and enjoyed the process as much as we all did.

September 7, 2015 - Cooking

The repairs of our kitchen are still on-going. Well, they have been for over a month by now largely due to the fact that we simply weren't here. The garden door has been replaced by a window and we have put a new vent on top of it so that we have a second cooking station for a pizza oven, deep fryers and a griddle. That means I can now grill indoors, which is totally not the way it's supposed to be done, but also nice and cool.

September 6, 2015 - Interior Designer

Margo told us today that she wants to become an interior designer. She started her career, today, with a concept for our yet-to-be-created TV room next to the entrance: fluffy white carpet, bean bags for kids and nice comfy chairs for two adults (which the kids apparently tolerate, for now). So, I took Margo to the Highland Park Pharmacy for lunch and we then went to a furniture store where she could pick out the stuff she wanted for the new TV room. I have to say that her taste is not only exquisite, but also clearly breaking the bank. I think we may have to wait a year or so before this particular project can be realized ...

August 29, 2015 - Train Town

Given that we had been preoccupied with adult activities so far, we decided that we needed to find a place where Margo and Arno could roam and play for a bit. Luckily, we found a place called train town that has a bunch of rides for kids in what you might call a miniature theme park. They obviously loved it and had a very good succession of daring runs on a rollercoaster.

August 28, 2015 - The Wedding

Today was the wedding and, most of all, it was really nice to see how happy Shaunte and Georg were. We arrived early and took a walk around Fillmore, stopped for a coffee and met an older guy who had lived in the area since 1969. In the afternoon, we went back to our hotel in Sonoma, stopping at Viansa, which had once been a very good vineyard. However, a short tasting strongly confirmed that its past glory is no more and we moved on to the wedding dinner.

August 27, 2015 - San Francisco

We spent the weekend in San Fran for Georg's wedding and arrived early - Meredith, Margo and Arno from Dallas and I from Newark. The timing was perfect as our planes literally touched down on parallel runways right next to each other. We spent the day in San Fran, first going to Twin Peaks for a view of the city and then to Fisherman's Warf for a bit of touristy sight seeing. Most interesting, we visited a WW II supply ship in the harbor that has been restored to its original condition. It is hard to imagine how tough sea voyages must have been in the 40s.

August 24, 2015 - Newark

Given how much time I spend in Newark, taking a walk with my camera has long been overdue. There are a number of really cool art deco buildings which give the city lots of character and provide a feel for how the city must have looked some fifty or sixty years ago.

August 23, 2015 - Back to School

Our first full weekend at home was spend at a traditional ice cream social to ring in the new school year, working on our kitchen setup, trying a new pizza oven and swimming in what may well have been our last opportunity this year.

August 14, 2015 - Legoland

On our last day in Germany we wanted to do something fun for Arno and Margo before leaving. So we checked out LEGOLAND in Oberhausen, which turned out to be just like every other Legoland we visited. It was a ton of fun though as both ran around and played at the different stations. Naturally, the store at the end of the experience turned out to be quite an obstacle.

August 12, 2015 - Wenders Exhibit

I had been looking forward to a photo exhibit by the German filmmaker Wim Wenders for weeks by now. He does have a great eye for composition and cinematic perspectives e.g. many of his shots are long and thin, but they are worth-while seeing. The work was quite good with afew exceptions that do not really have museum quality e.g. shots that would have been better made by Shore or Eggleston.

August 11, 2015 - Nils & Family

We met with Nils and his family in Dusseldorf and started a day of explorations with a visit to the Benrather Schloss. While we were not able to get into the building, at least we could take a walk around the beautiful park. From there, we made our way back into the city via Milenwerk, which houses tons of vintage automobiles. In the afternoon, we went for a cruise on the Rhine, which was a lot of fun as well. We concluded a day well-spent with a fine cigar at Werner's.

August 10, 2015 - Okidoki

This place is a must-stop for us in Germany. In fact, Margo and Arno like it so much that they will behave extraordinarily well just to earn time at Okidoki. As parents, we do understand that any chance to blackmail our offspring is an uphill battle avoided. We make use of this fact every now and then in gentle way. As always, both really enjoyed the rides, climbing and hopping about.

August 9, 2015 - Düsseldorf

After a couple of relaxing days by now, everyone is doing really well with the time and climate. Today we visited with Marcus and his family for a coffee and dinner. Always extremely entertaining and great fun!

August 6, 2015 - Wild Things

First of all, everyone made it to Germany in one piece, which was not a given as we had some issues revolving around a stolen credit card and an unwarranted hotel bill that was quite high. We arrived at FCO three hours early and needed every minute of it to make it through the chaos and all sorts of checks. Anyway, Italy was a blast and big surprises are just a part of the fun. Today we visited with Conrad and his family in Leverkusen. They live on a beautiful and large property on the outskirts of town. Conrad has set up climbing ropes, a slide, downhill tractor racing, a pool and all kinds of other games for their kids. Throughout the afternoon we are able to witness a pack of unruly minors coming in and out of sight while we enjoyed a nice glass of wine and delicious dinner.

August 4, 2015 - The Obvious One

So, when in  Rome, you have to go! There was absolutely no way we would have missed the splendor and luxury of these galleries and sheer abundance of fine art. I have never seen so many beautiful, valuable and truly magnificent objects in my life. I guess, if you'd need to be stuck somewhere over night, this place would be perfect! Obviously, we spend a considerable amount of time looking up towards the incredible ceilings in all of the galleries and hallways. We completed a very fine day with yet another incredible meal at Maccheroni and yet another incredible ice cream at Giolitti (watermelon has little chocolate pieces as stones!).

In the evening, we had a very interesting dinner at a private residence. Our hostess is a Roman food guide by day and, lucky for us, an excellent cook in her own right. We had several rather plain dishes (no protein), all made from local and seasonal ingredients, which made the experience very enjoyable. Most surprising of all, Arno beat everyone in the main course by having five (!!!) installments of pasta with tomato sauce. No small feat for a patron who shuns tomatoes on a regular basis. Before our dinner, we walked around the local area for an hour just to see a normal part of the city. Oh, and Margo and Arno had their first experience with a "thing called a pay phone", which obviously required some explanation as nobody in their universe operates without a cell phone.

August 3, 2015 - Best Of ...

Claudius, who knows Rome very well, sent us an incredible list of destinations and tips for  the city. Staring out with breakfast at the famous St. Eustace café, we promptly ran into a movie they were filming for Italian TV. From there, we headed to Giolitti for arguably the best ice cream in Rome (and our lives for sure). Later, we tried the Gelateria Del Theatro as well, but found the former to be far superior. Afterwards we climbed up a steep hill to peep through the Roman keyhole at the Order of Malta compound and walked through the Museo Capitolini for quite  some time. If we ever needed a grounding on high culture in the sense of realizing how little we know, this was it. I have only had a similar experience in the Louvre thus far. Anyway, we finished a hugely interesting day at Maccheroni, where the pasta is excellent and the ambiente is simply perfect. If we lived in Rome, this would be a weekly staple for sure.

August 2, 2015 - Catacombs

Our second full day was in many ways easier and everyone felt a little bit more adjusted to the time zone. We made a second attempt at the Villa Borghese only to find that they had "sold" all of the, on Sundays, "free" tickets the day before. Then we went to the Castel San Angelo in the Vatican and, realizing that people were waiting in line for hours just o get in, walked that side of the city in the morning. After a very fancy lunch in an air conditioned (!!!) bar, we set out to go on a bus tour of the cappucin crypts, catacombs and a second century church, which required long commutes. The bus thing in itself was as undignified as one might imagine, but worth it, given that we'd never been able to squeeze everything in ourselves.

August 1, 2015 - Rome

The first night after crossing the Atlantic is always the best on an overseas trip -you're going to slumber like a rock for about eight hours, The trick is to be disciplined to stay up until 11 and get up at 7. We did both and were ready for our first excursion into the city by 8am. Today was basically just exploration and we had no real objectives or places to be at. So we bounced all over, from the Spanish steps to Villa Borghese to the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain. It was great fun, but after about 8 miles of walking, everyone was ready for a break and a swim back at the hotel.

July 31, 2015 - Traveling

We started this trip on the 30th obviously, had made it to England by morning and arrived here in Rome tonight. It's been a very long day for all of us, but Margo and Arno both did really well. They kept going strong until we finally had dinner by the pool and I cold not even get Arno to stop talking when it was time to sleep. On the positive side, I got a near-complete immersion into superhero culture.

July 26, 2015 - The Weekend

We had a very quiet weekend once again, which was great since we are leaving on our annual vacation in a few days. Arno recruited Margo and me for super spy training, we went swimming a lot and otherwise just hung out. Oh, and we also procured a new range hood and window for the kitchen, which we're remodeling a bit to make room for more stuff.

July 18, 2015 - Scotland Fest

Margo, Arno and I spent the day on adventures while Meredith got a massage and met friends. We decided to go to the Scottish Fest at the Kimbell in Fort Worth, which accompanied an amazing exhibition from the National Galleries of Scotland. Most surprising, we met a group of Viking warriors who fought against one another, which was great fun to watch.

July 17, 2015 - Cheerleading

Margo had the final performance in her cheerleading camp at Greenhill today, which was really awesome to watch. Not only was she able to bring all of her dance experience to bear, but she also received the Spirit Award for the student with the best attitude for the week.

July 12, 2015 - Hanging Out

Arno and I hung out at the house today while Margo and Meredith went to the former's weekly tutoring session at the school. We relaxed, checked out the news and had a good swim. To complete the mission, we went to the Lego store in the mall to get a chess set for Arno and stopped for a mandatory ice cream at Paciugo's. It clearly was a morning well spent.

July 11, 2015 - Deep Ellum

Deep Ellum is a very fascinating part of town. It is young and vibrant, run-down and artsy as well as a great drinking spot. After last week, I needed to find new and equally interesting subjects for the Strangers project and thus it became a natural choice to follow the hip crowd.

July 4, 2015 - South Side

I finally had a chance to get out and shoot for a couple of hours today, which turned out to be really productive. It was hotter than hell, as they say here in Texas, but still great fun. First and foremost, It was just roaming around and taking images of people.

July 3, 2015 - Saying Goodbye

Every so often we have to let go of things we love. For me, this is a 1979 Mercedes 450 SEL 6.9 that we have had for several years. It's become too expensive to maintain and really needs to driven by someone who knows how to work on a special vehicle like this one. Only about 7,000 were ever made and of those about 1,800 came to the US. The seven liter engine takes quite a bit more gas than is justifiable by any standard, but it's pure fun to drive. Even by today's standards, it's extremely fast and the acceleration can be scary.

July 2, 2015 - The Week

It was one of the few weeks this year where I was able to stay in Dallas and work from home. While there was lots to do, the evenings always are a great time to come together, cook a good meal and spend quality time as a family. I took these images on two evenings this week.

June 28, 2015 - Dallas Zoo

Arno and I went on a spiritual walk through the Dallas zoo with our German vicars, Katharina and Michael. It was super hot, but also really fun to explore the zoo from a completely different perspective.

June 27, 2015 - First Swim

We finally got around to hoping into the pool for the first time this year! First, it was too cold and then our pool was flooded with bacteria from heavy rains. So today was the day! It was a lot of fun and we're ready for a lot more of it. We also made a bunch of pizza including our absolute favorite, which is a shrimp and Gorgonzola concoction that I learned from Torsten, an old friend in Germany.

Here are a couple more in-water shots. Getting the little waterproof Panasonic camera was one of the best investments we've made in terms of documenting 0ur summer fun.

June 13, 2015 - Looking Up

I went on a walk around downtown with a fellow photographer (a real one, contrary to me), which was great fun. Initially, I had thought about shooting people more up close, but we ended up with a survey of the downtown architecture. Hence the title. It was great fun and I have learned a great deal. The light was a bit challenging as we went from sunny to dark-cloudy and back several times during a two hour period.

June 12, 2015 - Flying Fish

We took a film camera to Flying Fish for dinner today and had some fun. I normally wouldn't post series of images here as it is pretty boring for most viewers, but these were just too precious to resist.

June 7, 2015 - Margo's Jazz Dance Performance

Margo had her second dance performance at Powerhouse today. This one was less structured, but also very good. Her talent is quite obvious by now and we really hope that she will continue to dance. Unfortunately, we also had a bit of a scare in that Arno developed a lump in the back of his neck, which meant that we spent the rest of the afternoon in a hospital. It looks like a soar muscle and we keep our fingers crossed that it's nothing else.

June 6, 2015 - Sebastian's Birthday

Arno and I visited his good friend Sebastian for his birthday. Most everyone went for a swim, a first for us, and they had a piñata with candy before the cake. It was really nice to meet a few of the other parents from our school as well. Afterwards, we went to the park where we took a couple of shots and had an ice cream.

June 3, 2015 - Fort Worth

I am speaking at a conference on supply chain innovation at TCU tomorrow. It started today and thus I went over to check out the venue and listen to some of the presentations. Having been an hour too early, I went to the Museum of Modern Art for a quick look and to take a few shots.

May 25, 2015 - Margo's Ballet Performance

We signed Margo up for a much better ballet school this year and it has paid off very well. The performances of all age groups were head and shoulders above what we have seen so far. It does require a lot more discipline from her though, which is understandably very difficult for her. We will have to see how much she can keep it up and we certainly do not want her to lose her joy and excitement.

May 25, 2015 - Jersey City

I flew into town today despite the public holiday and visited with Rick, who is bed stricken by surgery, in Jersey City. We talked shop and had a great steak on the roof of his apartment building. Here are a couple of iPhone snapshots from the week. It's actually quite a bit of fun to play with the reflections in glass, which a decent camera would not reproduce in the same way.

May 24, 2015 - Austin's Birthday

Austin came by today to celebrate his 21st birthday. We prepared a nice steak with Hollandaise and shrimp for him and gave him his present, which is a contribution to his travel budget for the summer. Afterwards, Meredith took him back to Denton while Arno and I went to the Meadow's for a glance at the incredible Abello collection, which had never been outside of Spain and includes a number of important Bacon and Modigliani portraits.

May 23, 2015 - Car Shopping

We are looking to simplify things and getting rid of the two cars that are virtually always broke is a good first step. It necessitates a replacement though and, based on a very helpful recommendation from Nils, we are now hunting for a mid-80s Mercedes that is a reliable daily driver. Today we went to a classic dealership to look at one candidate, which was a total scam though.

May 16, 2015 - At Home

Today was my Mom's birthday and thus we called early to congratulate her. Margo and Arno had painted a shirt for her that we did not get out in time, but at least they'll arrive in a week or so. Otherwise, we were pretty busy preparing a dinner with friends and had a really nice evening.

May 9, 2015 - Shopping for Mom

Margo really wanted to spend some time with me today. Given that we needed to shop for a nice present and two days worth of food, it worked out well. Arno and Meredith went on to help at a Mosaic BBQ while Margo and I looked for a present. 

May 8, 2015 - JHG Lecture Series

We had a truly fascinating evening with a lecture by Thomas Adam, a UT professor, on the historic developments that led to the division of Germany after WW-II and then what life was like behind the iron curtain as well as how the Wall finally came down in late 1989.

May 3, 2015 - The Party

OK, so this was the first time we did not have a party at home. From a personal point of view, it was great to skip the three days of cooking. Yet somehow we missed a lot of the character and "being together" when we went to Adventure Landing where dozens of kids were all running around separately and where it was impossible to keep track of everyone. Now, it was a great deal of fun for everyone and we need to let the kids do what they want ... Unfortunately, my camera battery broke down just as the party was getting started. As a result, we missed a whole bunch of fun images as well.

May 2, 2015 - Margo's Birthday

Can you believe that we are celebrating Margo's ninth birthday? Everybody I know has been telling me that they will grow up quick, that it'll go by real fast, but I had no idea it would be THIS fast. We had a great time though and Margo received a number of really cool gifts including new shirts from my Mom and a hamster named Stella.

Arno had another football game today as well, which was very exciting. They played their very first adversaries once more - a team who had beaten us by a far margin - and actually won! It is amazing how far everyone have progressed in terms of running plays and catching passes. Well done gentlemen!

May 1, 2015 - Goofing Around

Given that everyone in the family is a hockey fan, it was only natural that we set up the hockey set Arno got for his birthday and played a little inter-family tournament. After realizing that we had lost the puck somewhere over the past six months, we used a birch mothball instead, which was just as well. Lots of competition ensured. It was a really nice transition into the weekend, which, of course, marks Margo's ninth birthday.

April 26, 2015 - Whirlwind Art Tour

Given that we had no concrete plans for the day, we decided to see a truly outstanding exhibition by David Salle at the Contemporary followed by an art workshop on cubistic still lifes at the DMA. It was really interesting to learn how to look at everyday items very closely in order to draw or paint them. In many ways, this is very much applicable to photography as well.

April 25, 2015 - JHG Wine Tasting

We had our annual wine tasting at JHG Texas tonight to raise money for foster children. The theme was the judgment of Paris, which pitted Californian against French wines along the lines of the original 1974 event in Paris. It was great fun and we had a truly outstanding group of people once again.

April 12, 2015 - Dallas Art Fair

Today, Arno and I met Massimo and Alex for a really nice brunch in Northpark. Afterwards, we ventured into downtown for a run in the park and to check out the Dallas Art Fair, which was fantastic. Several dozen galleries, ranging from local ones to many from New York and London,  exhibited works by well-known artists. There were so many exhibits that we never actually made it through everything.

April 11, 2015 - Beauty and the Beast

Margo and I went to a performance of the musical Beauty and the Beast at the Irving Arts Center today. The musical was completely done by students from her school. It was very impressive to say the least. All of the singers were professional grade and the costumes were truly superb.

April 10, 2015 - Dinner ...

I don't know of any family that talks as much about food as we do. Even when we don't cook, there is never a consensus about what we should eat, where we should go or when. Everyone has at least two opinions and none of them overlap, which leaves us with upwards of eight choices as well as plenty of contention each time. Today we settled on a good, solid burger amidst screams, applause and plenty of unfolding drama.

April 5, 2015 - The Easter Hunt

We had a very uneventful Easter, mainly characterized by a lavish steak and asparagus dinner the night before. On Sunday, we started early as some people in this household apparently could not keep their anxiety at bay any longer. Thus, we began the Easter egg hunt followed by an outing to our favorite burger place.

April 3, 2015 - A Man's Game

This Spring Arno has begun to play flag football, which is very interesting to watch. Given that he comes from hockey and hip-hop dance, this must be the middle ground, I guess. The game was actually petty exhausting for the boys and Arno barely made it through dinner afterwards. For us, it was great to watch him be engaged and to relate to the other guys on the field.

April 1, 2015 - Southern California

Being on a business trip, I did not bring a camera with me. However, I came across several very interesting visuals this week and finally began to use my iPhone to take the shots below. The results are actually quite good in terms of composition, although the quality is obviously wide off the mark.

March 21, 2015 - Frankfurt Squaire

Already on my way back to Dallas, I spent the night in a hotel at the Frankfurt airport. My hotel was located in a fairly new structure called the Squaire. I was happy as can be to have at least this opportunity to take a few interesting shots during the train ride and of the architecture.

March 20, 2015 - Düsseldorf Art Forum

Unfortunately, I came down with a pretty severe stomach infection on my way to Krefeld, which put me into a bed for a few days. It nixed most of my plans to photograph and visit museums with my Mom. Today was really the first day that I was up and running again and we decided to see a two excellent photo exhibitions on Italian Neo-Modernism and from the permanent collection of the German Stock Exchange. Photography was, ironically so, banned from these exhibitions.

March 16, 2015 - Annie in Bonn

Everyone left on Sunday and quickly dispersed into all directions. Charlotte, Malte and I went to Bonn with their children where we spent the next two days cooking and talking with a fair amount of wine for lubrication. I took a couple of images of my new goddaughter while we were there.

March 14, 2015 - Annie's Baptism

The reason for coming to Luederitz was Annie's baptism. She is just over a year old now and Charlotte and Malte had asked me to be one of her godparents, for which I am truly thankful. The service in a small, eight hundred year old  church and the reception in a converted stable afterwards were just incredible. We celebrated well into the morning hours with lots of great conversation as well as laughter.

March 13, 2015 - Abandoned Factory

Having arrived in Luederitz, not far from Berlin, where Malte had picked me up at the train station, I went for a quick walk to check out a former East German factory next to his parents' home. It is pretty sobering to see these old halls and to imagine fifty or sixty people working there for many years. Maybe most surprising, someone had parked a sizable boat in the backyard.

March 8, 2015 - Visiting HPP

With nothing much to report, this update mostly has images from a visit to the Highland Park Pharmacy, an authentic 1920s soda fountain and one of our favorite hangouts. I took Margo and Arno there since they were able to sit on a bar stool fairly unassisted.

March 1, 2015 - Museum Tour

We had a very quiet weekend and stayed in for the most part due to the heavy winter weather. On Sunday, Arno and I went to the Meadows Museum and then the Contemporary for an art-filled afternoon.

February 22, 2015 - Lego Destroyer

It's been a while since I have had a chance to take photos, so I just grabbed what I could get. Just a few shots from playing around and finally building Arno's big Christmas present, which is a Star Wars destroyer he had purchased for the money he received from his Oma.

February 8, 2015 - Noodle Against Noodle

We basically cooked through the entire weekend. First, it was a new batch of hazelnut ice cream and then we made our own noodles. For one dinner we used the best Italian flour our money would buy and for the second we ground two different wheat grains into our own flour. So the race for the best noodle was on! It turned out that our flour tasted better, but was much harder to work with. In any case, it was great fun as everyone participated with lots of gusto.

February 1, 2015 - Workshop at the DMA

Margo and I had the afternoon to ourselves and decided to head over to the museum for another workshop. They change every month and this was our last opportunity to do something with weaving and fabrics in a while. Margo made a very beautiful necklace and also a present for me.

January 28, 2015 - Art Show

Margo and Arno had a showing of artworks at their school today. Both did a wonderful job with abstract expressionist paintings - Arno was clearly on the Jackson Pollock side of the trade while Margo stayed close to the early Robert Motherwell. Naturally, as parents we had to purchase their works from the school to support their fundraising. We went to a Korean place to celebrate these great accomplishments afterwards.

January 18, 2015 - Sophia's Birthday

We had been invited to Sophia's birthday party for a creative workshop in the Bishop Arts District. The place, Oil and Cotton, is absolutely fantastic and allows kids of all ages to play. Arno and Margo made figures - President Obama and a Queen - out of cardboard rolls. Arno's Obama actually had a towel wrapped around his waist and we were told that he had just taken a shower.

January 17, 2015 - Drawing Flowers

We went back to the DMA today for a second look at their Impressionist flower exhibition. Margo and Arno both took the opportunity to draw some of the floral images.

January 4, 2015 - Old and New

After spending so much time at home cooking, relaxing and playing, we figured it couldn't hurt to conclude our brief time off with a visit to the museums in Fort Worth. Both had very exciting exhibitions to offer. At the Modern, we saw a truly outstanding show on New York art from the 80s including works by Sherman, Schnabel, Mapplethorpe, Basquiat and Warhol. Moving on to the Kimbell, we then took in a selection of seventy breathtaking works from the Musée D'Orsay which focused on self-portraits by key impressionists including Cezanne, Degas, Redon, Caillebotte, van Gogh, Gauguin or Seurat to name just a few.

January 2, 2015 - Hamburgers

It has been a goal for a while now: we really wanted to make a hamburger from the ground up. For one, it shows how the end product compares to fast food and for another, it is just plain good, old fun. We mixed several cheeses using beer and binder, created the sauce with leeks, shallots, pickles, milk and lots of Vermouth and then ground several different meats as well. The patties cooked sous vide and we threw them into a frying pan to add a last crispy finishing touch. It took four hours but was well worth our time.