Ziggy watches traffic on our street.

Chinese Tower beer garden in winter.

What, you expected it to be deserted just because there's snow all over the ground? It takes more than that to keep Munich out of the beer gardens!

The snow was melting in the sunshine that day, and water was dripping from every point on the roof.

Mmmm, Glühwein. And, of course, beer!

Winter fun in the English Garden, with downtown Munich in the distance. What a sky!

Sleds and snowmen are universal!

Check out this guy's passenger. Even four-legged friends like to sled!

The geese in the English Garden like to check everyone out just in case they brought food.

They aren't shy.

At least, not around us.

However, the combination of a puppy and a toddler was alarming enough to get them on the run!

In February, my chorus was practicing for the German barbershop competition coming up in March.

We had a whole weekend of rehearsals at a local aerobics gym.

On Sunday we completed most of the choreography for our up-tune, "Flirty Eyes."

This is the whole chorus except for the front row, practicing the new choreography.

Our intrepid leader!

Half of the front row practicing their moves in the mirror.

5/6 of the front row!

"I'm not trying to be wise,
but I know how to get the guys..."

It's even better when we're wearing our costumes!

On the Thursday before Fasching, you should never wear your favorite tie to work! It's Weiberfastnacht. You can read about it here.

On Saturday, February 21, I looked out the window around 1:30 PM and the sky was very, very red. And dark! I snapped a couple of pictures. An hour later, it was back to normal!

Later, I learned that it was caused by a sandstorm over North Africa blowing red sand into the atmosphere above Europe. Weird!

These two angels are part of an extensive exhibition of hand-carved nativity scenes kept in the Bavarian National Museum here in Munich.

Thousands of carved wooden figures make up these scenes. They were mostly carved before 1850 (some as early as the 1500s).

As you can see, they are exquisitely painted, clothed in exotic fabrics, and placed in lavish settings.

Under their sewn-on clothes, I think a lot of them look like these two fellows. Like these two, they are usually jointed so that they can be posed.

It's not only the story of the nativity that is told in these "Krippen," or cribs (the word for a manger). Other parts of the story are also popular, including the shepherds in the fields and the adoration of the magi.

The clothes usually represent the styles of the time and place where the figures were carved. I suspect these sheperds were from some part of Bavaria or Tyrol.

Sometimes the scenery is just as elaborate as the figures.

An entire army of figures!

The scenes were often commissioned by wealthy patrons (especially in the 18th and 19th centuries) and were often displayed in private homes rather than churches.

A detail of the previous scene, showing some of the dancing couples.

In the museum, each scene on display is shown in a specially-prepared vault in the basement. The settings themselves are very beautiful and dramatic.

A detail of the angel on the right in the previous picture.

This is probably a depiction of the flight into Egypt.

Even the animals are well-rendered. I loved all the dogs and horses.

This much more fanciful flight into Egypt showed Mary and Joseph crossing the Nile in a boat, with exotic and unusual monkeys and other animals on the shore.

This strange beast is a Succurath, which holds its young on its back, and protects them from the sun with an umbrella made from its spreading tail.

This man, his little servant, and their dog almost seem as though they could step right out of the scene! I love how every face is individual and different.

I think this was a depiction of the armory/treasury of the three kings (or at least one of them).

My favorite part in the armory was this dog's crazy haircut.

I think the woodcarvers used everyone around them as models -- probably especially their own families.

Read more about the Krippen here.