Web site update

Just a heads up. My website will be undergoing a server change this week and so will be down for some of that time.

Rainy Day Blues

I'm on my third cup of jasmine-flavored organic green tea today after a half a pot of coffee this morning. My right shoulder aches and my thumb is twitching - my second bout of butt-in-chair induced pain - that no amount of the German version of Ben Gay ointment is going to cure and it's raining giant slop buckets so I can't go out and dig weeds or do anything...anything. I just threw a whammy into the whole goddarned outline of my fifth (and last, dammit) series book (now up to 20K) while I gather untold amounts of research material for the historical mystery I'm writing next despite being hopelessly intimidated by the historical writing workshop I just took which made me realize just how inadequate I am to even think I can write historical fiction. But I do have a field trip planned for next month :-)) For the day job I've got about two months to 'reacquaint' myself with modeling gravity data which I haven't done since 25 years or so when I wrote my M.S. 


But a few rays of sunshine sent me outside to admire the garden.

you can see why they call it Passion Flower - meet Lavender Lady

Ligularia being hidden by Silphium perfoliatum and white yarrow

rain-spots on roses backed by pink astilbe and weedy agastache

Clematis 'The President' blooming very late this year with companion pink rose disintegrating in the background

Telekia and Veronica coexisting as good neighbors

Books and Gods

Needing to get away from the computer last week, I visited the Römisch-Germanisch Museum in Cologne to see the current exhibit, The Return of the Gods, premiering marble sculptures and ancient paintings on loan from the Pergamon Museum and the Collection of Antiquities (through end of August, 2012), featuring such reliefs as  Neptune from Greek times.
 

I then revisited the rest of the museum which contains the (in-situ) Dionysus mosaic (at right).

The museum is a must-see for all tourists visiting Cologne. That means the locals (like me) often don't go. I frequent the Praetorium often, but hadn't been to the RMG in years.


The best part was browsing the Museum Shop afterwards. It contains an impressive collection of historical books about the Greeks, the Romans, of course, and, to my surprise, some excellent books on the Celts and the Germanic tribes. I bought three, all in German (sorry for those not fluent in German).

 Die Kelten by Martin Kuckenburg (ISBN 978-3-8062-2274-6), a nearly-coffee table size book with gorgeous color pictures and adequate coverage of the Continental Celts.

Die Germanen, by Bruno Bleckmann (ISBN 978-3-40658476-3), B&W pictures and much text. I'm looking forward to dipping into this one

Auf Römerwegen durch die Eifel, Thomas Schiffer (ISBN 978-3-93972247-2), a bargain buy, contains a compilation of the traces of Roman presence from Cologne through the Eifel region of Germany. This will be useful for side trips, especially when on the way to somewhere else.