much ado about nothing

so new year’s eve in the states is rather boring compared to the madness in leipzig or even small town zeitz: no fireworks (already gone on july 4), no crackers, no wild running children blowing up mail boxes, sand containers, or trash cans, no jolly stone fights between neo-nazis, left wingers, and police, no crowds roaming the streets as targets for mini-bombs. the allegedly most exciting thing going on is in times square in new york where they drop a big red, blue, and white blinking ball at midnight and a huge 2008 is switched on. that’s what the people get excited about. the tv reporter at the freezing scene was constantly trying to interview a group of prominent teenagers (didn’t know any of them) about being there in this magnificent moment. one girl with girly curls and matching white parka and hat just repeated that she feels “so blessed” being there and that it was so exciting and then she went back looking totally bored. the reporter was not irritated by that but announced excited that now confetti is falling. and that was it. we switched to the spanish channel where people really had a party going, danced salsa, and enjoyed more prosecco. cheers & happy new year!

new year's day in northern ohio came with loads and loads of snow piling up about 15 centimeters - definitely a prettier start than the tattered blanket of red paper scraps from exploded crackers in german towns.

there are romantic european style houses in the new world. this is my favorite one - the mysterious old gatehouse guards the entrance to the property.


what does the light mean? indeed mysterious...

so many flakes - i can barely see!