Interna

Stefan brought a cold from work. My immune system wasn't very impressed, but the girls went down with a fever. During the night they wake up every other hour, crying because their noses are clogged. After some of these nights, we're all cranky. I'm thinking the English word "cranky" might have the same root as the German word "krank" which means "sick." Luckily, the fever is gone now and we're on the way to recovery.

Lara and Gloria have enriched their vocabulary with the word "baby." Baby might be everything from small children over dolls and plush toys to pets. Gloria has developed an amusing body language in which she'll slap her palms to the sides of her head if she's uncertain what to do next. The other day, we were at the playground and a girl, somewhat older than ours, insisted on greeting Gloria with a series of hello's. When no reply came, the girl hugged and kissed Gloria on the cheek, which sent our blondie running away slapping her head.


We're still trying to teach them to eat with a spoon. They've understood that the spoon goes into the food first and then into the mouth, but the finer details of spoon orientation and aiming are still somewhat rough.

The girls are enjoying the summer, which means time out in the green with many things to see. For me it means recurring child-themed conversations with strangers. A common topic is the complaint of women my mother's age that their own offspring hasn't yet shown intentions of producing grandchildren. I find it a very awkward conversation to have with a stranger; I don't even know their children, so what can I possibly say? I usually settle on some vaguely sympathetic sounds and nodding.

Besides this, everything is moving forward and onward, slowly but persistently. The workshop I'm organizing is taking shape with the schedule about to be made next week. I'm preparing two talks for the Marcel Grossmann  meeting next month. I'm thinking of writing a larger grant application for the ERC later this year, which will need some preparation time. To accompany my efforts in songwriting, I bought a book on music theory, "Harmony and Voice Leading" (don't freak out over the price tag, I bought it used for $15), from which I learned words like "diminished 7th" and which gave completely new meaning to "scalar motion." I'm struggling with the dissonances though, they somehow refuse to make sense. I'm thinking I'll have to actually get some classical sheet music.