The very last one...

...of the Austrian caramels my mother in law bought me when we were in Baden.

Blair Via Motorola Q Smartphone

Newton was a bit of an arse

The Scientists: A History of Science Told Through the Lives of Its Greatest Inventors by John Gribbin

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I started out loving this book, it gave glimpses into the men who helped form science. When we approached the modern era, a time when some of the scientists discussed are still alive possibly, the tone changed... the book stopped being about the people and more only about the science. It was this change that threw me off... I suppose there is a valid reason to not continue the quirks to include something like Richard Dawkins has had a propensity to wear short shorts in public places (which I have witnessed), but it was precisely that the insights into scientists like Newton and Linnaeus were so fascinating to me.

Plus the soap box on the end about how sociologists and historians malign science by not giving it its merited status and instead "consider" it as not quite theory and merely subject to the whims of people... I thought that was unnecessary.


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Austria - Day 4 : We start the Austrian Mafia: AKA the Godfathers. part 1

So, I am getting back into the blogging of things trip related. Since my goal was to try to do this in some semblance of chronological fashion.. we end up with my having only 2 or so hours of sleep and a trip to Traiskirchen, the Austrian village where Schatz grew up (he also grew up in Germany). It started out an an uneventful trip, until the last few minutes when Squink got car sick for the second time in his life. all over his baptism "suit".

Thankfully, I was able to get him cleaned up a bit.

So, I decided I was not going to try and make him sit through mass. He lasted a few minutes, but wanted to go outside. The church we were at had a moat. A lovely empty moat that had loads of dandelions. So, we worked out way down and I taught him about blowing them. He loved it, he loved going over as well as under the bridge for the moat.

After the mass, we met Father Gregor, who spoke Russian or German. And provided me with the instruction on what I was supposed to say... sadly, I still have no clue what it was, or what it meant.

We had a cup of coffee at the church and walked across the street to Schatz's sisters home to get ready for the baptism and wedding mass. Here we are with the most fabulous Godfathers ever.

Squink is trying to squirm out of my arms repeatedly saying he wants to go home.

Folks were nervous as to how he would handle the Holy water and oil, he was actually serious for this part of the ceremony.

And here he is with the oil, see, he was serious.

Then Oma und Opa had their wedding vows renewed for their 50th anniversary.

It was lovely.

But Squink was not ready to sit still. So we walked to a special area where you can light candles and we used his baptismal candle to light candles for Aunt Anne. repeatedly.

Here are the "Godfathers", they are mighty handsome! They are brothers too!

This is Lisa, the French girlfriend to the dark haired nephew. She is one of the loveliest women. She was funny, kind, gentle, and gracious. What a pleasure it was to meet her.

SO, they presented Oma and Opa to the congregation...

And since Squink is never one to shirk center stage, ran up and joined them.

He then told Father Gregor he loved him and held his hand as they walked out the church.

Coming soon; Austria - Day 4, the feast (part 2)

I forgot to add how lovely it was to walk on lovely flower petals strewn on ones path.

Blair Via Motorola Q Smartphone

Procession for the Feast of Corpus Christi

Well, it was quite a day. Here is a quick glimpse into the procession. It was exhausting... physically and mentally or possibly emotionally. I am still trying to process the experience.

Near the end I spoke with a woman who was from France and she spoke of how well the Squink was doing, and that this was more common back there... Schatz and I said it was part of our experience too, and how wonderful to have it here. She grabbed my arm and said, yes, it is finally here, and walked away.

Again, I am not catholic, nor do I feel any close affinity to most other religions. What I do have is a deep appreciation for ritual, and yes I do like the ones that are a bit more "over the top" like processions such as this. It brings back memories of gentle times, when I admired others faith. It fosters a sense of community.

It is interesting to note that most cars we very respectful, and stopping and waiting as the very long procession passed, the only exception being a adolescent male in a "souped up car" with the bass blaring a thunderous beat as he speed by, clearly thinking he was impressing the girl in the passenger seat next to him.

I was also lucky in that I had a friend join us for the experience. It was nice to have someone there, to make silly jokes, catch up and chat as we both fumbled our way through the liturgy the procession called for.

The most miraculous part; Squink walked the whole thing (about 1 mile). He even got down (mostly) on his knees when called for... which impressed Schatz.