That Göttingen Winter

Ok, I am on a roll here, getting the rest of the winter photos out into the world!

The official pics of the White Second Week of February are here.

Here's the view out back.

 And this is our giant house.  We live in the top two floors and our awesome friend Katharina lives downstairs.

I also think we have the best street in the city - normally we huff and puff our way uphill from the bus stop (though you should see Katharina on her bike!), but when it snows it's totally worth it because it's one of the few unplowed streets around.  So, we had our own sledding hill right out the door.

I think the moon and the street lamp were talking to each other.

 Another benefit of our hill, besides letting us live in a "mountain retreat" is that we have a view!  I've conveniently cropped the photo so you don't know that it's really further away than it looks, and there are some buildings you have to look between, but hey, we get what we can, right?  That's downtown Göttingen, with three churches visible.  The one in the foreground is close to Dan's office, the other two are right in the old part of town.

Speaking of Dan, here's the guy you don't see too often because he usually behind a camera or sometimes traipsing about the world doing his scholarly thing.

He's been playing with his panoramic camera lately.

Oh, you know how we say, "it's snowing" or "it's raining?"  Well, I found out this winter that you can also say "it's sparkling," in the same way (I give everyone permission).  On clear, cold days with a high enough ambient humidity, the water in the air simply freezes, without a cloud in the sky, and the air is filled with sparkles.  Totally magical.

Unless I come across anything I've forgotten, I think this marks the official end of the winter posts.  This is a good thing because now Göttingen is starting to be pretty again and I want to take spring pictures.

Oh, one last random thing, just for cuteness.  Our neighbor cat caught a mouse and was tossing it through the air so Merlin and I distracted him with praise and swiped up the little mousie.  We took her home, ostensibly to let her die in peace.  But, in spite of puncture wounds on either side, she actually recovered (and quickly) and exhibited her species' characteristic enjoyment of peanut butter.  She spent the night in the box and was released the next day.

:-)