Schreinerarbeit (fertig!)

Hurra! Meine Schreinerarbeit ist fertig. Hier der Vergleich in zwei Fotos, vorher und nachher.

Der Durchgang vorher -->




Und nachher -->

Sieht doch viel freundlicher aus mit dem Holz! Und die geschnitzten Ornamente machen sich wirklich prima, finde ich. Ich bin stolz auf mein Werk. :)

Das Holz habe ich gebeizt und zum Abschluss klar lackiert.

Ein grosses Dankeschoen geht an meinen Vater, der mir seine Erfahrung in Detailfragen und seine ganze Werkstatt zur Verfuegung gestellt hat!

Biergarten

Here's a pic from today (Sunday) afternoon. I drove to Munich and visited my friends Andrea, Alex and Richard in one of those really gemuetlichen big Bavarian beer gardens (Biergarten).

Schreinerarbeit

Seit einer Woche Zeit verbringe ich jeden Feierabend und die Wochenenden mit einer Schreinerarbeit zur Verschoenerung meiner Wohnung. Und zwar will ich in den deckenhohen offenen Durchgang zwischen Wohnzimmer und Kueche ein Querbrett einziehen und das ganze senkrecht mit Holz verkleiden und zwei ornamental geschnitzte Konsolen dazusetzen, damit das ganze nett aussieht und sozusagen einen Bogendurchgang zur Kueche ergibt.

Das Design habe ich selbst entworfen, es ist ein keltisch-wikingerisches Knotenmuster. Meine Inspiration von Irland und Island!

Von der Skizze habe ich zuerst eine Reinzeichnung in Originalgroesse gemacht, dann diese zur Schablone geschnitten und auf die beiden Bretter durchgezeichnet. Als Holz entschied ich mich fuer Fichte 18 mm. Dann habe ich mit einer Stichsaege (feines Blatt) die Ausschnitte ausgesaegt, mit Rund- und Flachfeilen alles in Form gebracht, und schliesslich mit Stemmeisen und Schnitzmesser die Vertiefungen herausgearbeitet, so dass sich immer ein Band ueber und unter das naechste schlaengelt.

Das schreibt sich jetzt alles so schnell hin, aber es ist eine Schweinearbeit. :) Aber es macht auch echt Freude, mal mit Holz zu arbeiten und einen eigenen Entwurf von der Idee zur Realitaet werden zu sehen -- und ich bin sehr stolz, dass ich auch sowas kann. Wie's weitergeht, seht ihr dann in Teil 2!

Summer time...

...and the livin' is easy.

Finally it's real summer. Where the best place is outside, sitting "in the shade in the sun". Where you really enjoy swimming in a lake after work, or on the weekend, because it's not too cold but just nicely refreshing. Where you can sit until late night in the beer garden, wearing a T-shirt. Where you have your breakfast and dinner on your garden terrace. Where everyone seems to be in a lighter mood than usual. Germany is a good country in summer.

PS: my mobile phone is repaired and working again.

Space time

Ich muss euch noch ein cooles Geschenk zeigen, das ich von Marek zum Geburtstag bekam. "Die richtige Uhr fuer einen Informatiker", wie er meinte.

Es ist... moment... Raumzeit Freitag, 6 Uhr 51.

Celebrations

We had three celebrations in my family right after my return from Iceland. Also I'm back to work, so the past days have been busy!

First, there was my sister Monika's church wedding (the civil wedding ceremony had been last October, if you remember). Followed directly by their child Benjamin's christening. Followed by a big wedding party in Augsburg with more than 80 guests and Mike Herman, a Frank-Sinatra style singer.

The next day (last Saturday) was a summer party with barbecue and campfire at my elder sister's summer garden in Aichach. I used the opportunity to invite some of my best friends to this party to celebrate my birthday.

On Monday I worked again, despite the fact that Augsburg has its very special public holiday "Hohes Friedensfest" on the 8th of August. But I attended the "Peace Lunch" on the Rathausplatz, which was really nice. Everybody brings some food and shares it with their table neighbours, like a great picnic.

Back home

I have one more pic I'd like to show you from my last day in Iceland: This enormous relief map of Iceland is in the Reykjavík City Hall (Ráðhús). I walked around it slowly, admiring the detail and mentally re-tracing my travel route of the 4500 km done in the past three-and-a-half weeks.

What's new at home?

• Summer sunshine (at least today, Tuesday!)
• The garden is lush (enough rain in July here).
• My new mobile phone is malfunctioning. Warranty case, I must send it in. Don't try to call me at the moment, I'm available only on the land line.
• My improv theatre group takes a summer break.
• My parents have a new car.
• My nephew Benjamin has grown and is more agile than ever (I can't wait to see him!)
• Aunt Wendy has come to visit from England.

Note: I changed the blog's archiving again, from "weekly" to "daily", because in the weekly archives some posts, such as the one on the Morgunblaðið article, had been missing.

Íslandvinir

Now at the end of my 2011 summer holidays in Iceland -- I have never spent a vacation like this one before -- I can officially join the ranks of the Íslandvinir. Literally, the word means "friends of Iceland". De facto it describes foreigners who are Iceland addicts.

Together with Peter and Jaya, a German couple who stayed also at Gunnarshólmi Guesthouse, we visited Ylströndin Nauthólsvík. This is a beach in Reykjavík, with showers, changing rooms and two hot pots (all free). And here in the usual 13-15 degrees air temperature, hyped-up Íslandvinir Martin even had a little swim in the beach lagoon. The photo is proof!

After a last good lunch, I used the rest of the day to stroll very relaxed a final time through Reykjavík. The capital is nearly deserted this weekend because it's a public holiday on Monday where all shops are closed. I asked what holiday it is, and learned it's called the let's-all-drive-to-the countryside-and-get-really-drunk-weekend.

The photo with the beak-egg monument was my last impression. It's outside Keflavik International Airport where I had returned my rental car and dragged my heavy travel bag to the check-in, under a beautiful sunset with clear visibility to Snæfellsjökull in the north. I had a night flight back to Germany, and as usual I couldn't sleep in the plane, so I arrived in Munich really tired and worn out.

And now before I go to bed -- tomorrow I'll start work again -- I want say once more the two most important words in Icelandic: Takk fyrir. Thank you. Thank you all whom I met on my journey, who made my travel so enjoyable and unique. Thanks for giving me such a special welcome. Thank you, Iceland.