More climbing stuff and ball juggling too !!!

We decided that it would be a good idea to get up at a crack on dawn on Sunday (6am) and drive up 2.5 hrs to do some hard core outdoor climbing.

The problem was 'the rain'..... Ming - forever an optimist, said that it would be ok and that it would not be raining up in the 'Hampshire' New Hampshire that is. He was WRONG !!!!!

So we did the next best thing, went to Plain Jane and have enormous breakfast, then went to explore the 'Polar Caves'. Here is Rob climbing the inside of the cave wall.

And playing little red Indian with kiddies costume (we all did - but none of the pictures was as good as his - so.....)


Then we went on to play Frisbee and tennis ball juggling in the parking lot.

Here is Brian and Rob - swapping their balls with each other :-)

Eventually and due in no small part by Ming's insistence on checking out the parking lot wall and the meadows, we did indeed got to do some climbing.

I was the small figure at the lower half of the picture and Jason (in black) hidden amongst the leaves.

Lotus Tech Conf in Amsterdam

I went to the Lotus Technical Conference to give a talk unfortunately, most of the pictures I'm presenting are blurred - so here are some of extra curricula activities I participated in.

Taken at the restaurant at the end of the first day. Left to right: Eric, Herbert, Alan, me, Arjan and Gebhard.



Then we moved on to Karaoke Bar. At this point, we were a bit shy and only listen to others making a noise for themselves.


Next we got brave, this was Alan trying to mime to the music, using me as a prop. Poor Alan, I'm not exactly feather weight !!!!

Memorial weekend with the crowd in Arcadia

Nice that someone took time to arrange those rocks !!!

Bar Harbor is so called because there is a 'bar' of rock on the harbor.

This is my very first climb with Christie on belaying (from the top). Easy climb of about 60 feet drop.


This is a side view of the climb - nearly everyone started on this on as a warm up.

A bunch of us newbies also did our first rappel - mine was quite spectecular as I went down part way head first !!!

It is a good spectator sport. If you're not afraid of height !!!

PS: I was scare to death just looking down..

Table 1 at the BBQ - it was actually cold since we were in a giant tent.

In all, there were around 40+ of us staying at the camp site.

These are just some that made it to the farewell miniture golf.

Love to do it again and soon

Just us gals........

Taken at a birthday bash for Alex. For a complete pictures go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tenguspengus/sets/72157604749395976/

And http://picasaweb.google.com/ming.tung/04272008_Redline_Alex_Bday

It's not what you think ..........

Amsterdam's Restaurant is really something.


Only kidding, it's a fizzy sugar. But it can get up your nose and make you sneeze.

Winter wonderland

A view of my front door

And another - this time from my front door out onto Beacon St

Zürich

As usual, I managed to sneak a little sightseeing during my latest work excursion. This time only a Sunday outing along Lake Zürich and the Limmat.



I think this is a lovely city. Not as boring as being a Swiss city would have implied. Although everything has its place and everyone is terribly 'on time' - it's not even funny.







So my question is: 'How come there are so many Italians here?' Not that I'm complaining..............

Haute Nendaz

A pity that I didn't have any pictures of me 'tumbling' like a piece of laundry down the slopes. And there were plenty of tumbles :-)





But then again, there were plenty of sunshine, cloudless sky and warm mulled wine to unfreeze those pinkies...







Aaaahhhhhh






Cheese fondu, wine, flickering fire in the hearth, more wine, and a monster Jenga.

Roma - a gioco

Signore e signori - Benvenuti

That's just about where my Italian has got to. Not unlike Milano - Roma is full pleasurable sites, ancient history, little side streets that are full of wonderful shops.







And yes, I tell the truth !!!!!!

(me at La Bocca della Verità = mouth of truth)

In memory of the kitties I loved before....

Ollie - aka Gumby. The terror of the neighbourhood - he couldn't help it - he's blind as a bat.

And here is Stanley 'The tart" - this picture said it all......















Sir Percy sleeping on his favourite cushion. He got the name after Sir Perceval from Scarlet Pimpernel but affectionately known as Perse. Long stories


And here is Toffee, the nose.......... BTW, his full name was Travellers Fare !!!!






Young Tabsy (Tabitha) with her pal - Tom Kitten.


Lastly is Chi Chi Red Peakrush - commonly known as Red. He is wearing a fetching hat. Given a new meaning to "Red Hat"