Tate

Today we went to the Tate Modern to see the Carsten Höller five-story slides, which have received a fair amount of attention since the opening this week. Following a foggy football morning, we drive to Chelsea and take the Tate-to-Tate boat, or aproximately 12 minutes East on the Thames. Favorite sightings are the London Eye, Big Ben (of course) and Parliament, Westminster Bridge and barges passed along the way. This photo taken in the turbine hall at the museum, while I chase the kids around while they dart between tourist and other visitors.

Art Yard

Madeleine, not to be out-done by Eitan below, shows us her best impressionism in a missive for Sonnet. Madeleine attends Art Yard once a week, where the kids make paper mache monsters, pictures from glue and sand, and finger paints and colourful drawings. Some time ago I introduced the kids to 'ooblix' - a home-made corn starch and water mixture which has the nifty property of being gooey and solid depending on hand pressure (Sonnet has put a ban on this, by the way). It's fun to watch the kids take in their surroundings and produce stuff that means something to them (and us).

Eric Connally, who lives in Somerville and teaches math at the Harvard extension school, has been writing a book for some many years (he is also a member of a group of authors of a series of math books used in high schools across the country). We have known each other from college, when we painted houses in Providence. Back to the story: Eric's book agent called today praising his work. Knowing Eric, a space will be made in our minds next to Pynchon and Vonnegut and others of same edgy and dogged style.

Robeco

I spend the day in Rotterdam, at this weird 30 story building which has wi-fi, with Hans and Mike who are partners at Industry Ventures. We meet with Robeco, one of three AAA rated, non-goverment banks in the world, to see if they wish to invest some money in Industry's fund. The presentation goes well, and I spend the afternoon at the Rotterdam airport to catch a late-afternoon delayed flight to Heathrow.

Sonnet and I drop the kids off at school. Madeleine is having hard time of it in the mornings - getting dressed, breakfast, putting on shoes - all these things are met with protests and tears. I recall that Eitan went through the same adjustment to kindergarten, so we cut Madeleine some slack.

Rana and Kambiz welcome their second - Alexander (Iskander) Foroohar, who is delivered at St Mary's and weighs in at 3.83 KG (8.4 lbs). Congratulations!

Sponge Bob

Sunday morning and the kids settle in front of the TV for one hour of cartoons. This after waffles, which they help prepare with Sonnet. Favorite programs are Spider Man and Ninja Turtles for Eitan, and Sponge Bob Square Pants for Madeleine. This morning, Eitan in our bedroom early and when he fails to convince me and Sonnet from bed, says: "What, are you going to just hibernate?" School comes with its good, and its bad.

I leave this afternoon for Paris to rejoin Industry Ventures.

Cool cats

Madeleine's binoculars a present from my trip to Dublin (Eitan got a walkie-talkie). There was a scramble of course around who could use the binocs when we arrive at the wetlands, but quickly I allow Madeleine to make the decision to share. Responding in her self-interest of course, she spends some time spotting a rock, a pigeon and some pond algae. Gone missing are the 160 bird species. Most of the ducks, geese, swans, warblers, kestrels and falcons are free to come and go. Only 20 to 30 rare birds have been brought in specially. Before becoming a bird sanctuary, the land hosted the Barnes-Elms reservoir, which ceased in 1989. Through the miracle of Sir Peter Scott, urban build was checked and the wetlands development cost of £26 million was covered by selling a bit of of the land. The wetlands opened to the public in 2000, and in 2002 was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Tonight Sonnet and I dress hip and have dinner at the Barnes Grill with Dana and Nathan to celebrate his 34th.

Susana Hong and Marco Rodzynek have their first baby 30/9 - Sophie Hong. Congratulations!

London Wetlands

We have a busy day, beginning at 0700 when the kids are up and active. 

After breakfast, Sonnet runs to the V and A to do some work while I take the kids to soccer. Eitan and Madeleine are in different groups at different times, so each finds an hour of free-time for themselves. Afterwards and lunch, we head to the London Wetland Centre in Barnes - 40 hectares (105 acres) of created wetland in the center of London supporting "nationally important" numbers of Gadwell and Shoveler duck. 

Yes, here the true British eccentrics (wackos?) turn out in their hi-tech bird-watching gear including various camouflage, army-spec observation equipment, tri-pods and cameras. For us, the centre offers a beautiful setting to run around and spot fowl, huge dragonflies, frogs and other creatures. There are inter-active spots where the kids can feed the animals, or scoop pond water to observe life in action. 

 Contentment occurs on the way out, when we share lollies and ice cream on the way to the car.

Der Fußball

This photograph of Allianz Stadium is taken with my mobile phone camera and from a taxi as we wisk by on the Autobahn towards Munich's center city. Home to professional football clubs FC Bayen and 1860 Munich, the arena holds 69,901 fans and hosted a number of this year's World Cup games, but not the final between Italy and France which was in Berlin. Depending on the time of year, or celebration, the arena changes color from red to blue to white - it makes me think of a weird cocoon. My driver reminds me that Octoberfest ended yesterday - a national holiday. 17 days of drinking from 1100 to late-night: "by then, the girls dance on picnic tables taking off their bras." He informs me that it is not unusual to drink ten liters a day. The Germans, you see, like their beer.

I am here with Industry Ventures who is raising ther fourth fund.

Rocket man

Eitan and I have been discussing the solar system and gravity this past year. To explain gravity in action, we watch the Thames, a tidal river, and discuss how the moon "pulls" the water in and out - gravity. This Sunday drawing pictured brings together Eitan's understanding of the planets around our sun, which is also now being discussed in school.

Yesterday afternoon we attend Dakota's first birthday party. Dana and Nathan have lots of friends over for the celebration, and there is an abundance of cakes and warm cheer. The kids play with Dareya and children they meet at the party. We, too, make some interesting new friends but refrain from playing hide-and-go-seek, and wolf-wolf-pig.

Gift wrap

Madeleine gets wrapped during Sonnet's birthday party festivities. Mostly she has done an excellent job accepting Eitan's center stage today. There were some tears this morning on our return from football, when she blurted out that "none of Eitan's friends will play with me." But I assured her that I would be there for extra time with her, and that she too would receive a present. This, and a promise of her fair share of cake seemed to do the trick.

Eitan turns six

Today, Eitan's birthday, is also the day of his party which we gamely host at our house. Seven boys and one brave girl join Eitan and Madeleine for, and I consider this carefully, a "free-for-all." Unlike prior fairly mellow gatherings, a group of six year-olds together is a chaos of wrestling, screaming, bull-fighting, and wild emotions. The kids re-united immediately hijack Sonnet's to-the-minute planning and run amuck. We watch in wonder. At one point I find myself in the scrum and hear a most fearful cry: "Hit him in the willie!" which all boys then aim for with their feet and fists. Somehow the two hours pass, in what feels like four, and the parents arrive to pick up their little angels while Sonnet and I shake our heads and promise each other never again.

Some entertaining commments from the birthday:

Me: "who knows where the birthday cake is from?"
Bertie: "IKEA?"

Samual on the cake: "I want the eye! No, the ear!" A fight breaks out over the nose and lips. Ghastly.

Imogen, the only girl and sitting on my lap while the boys rough-house, turns to me and states flatly: "At school, Eitan is mad."

Tobias and Harry play catch with Madeleine's doggy. She screams murder until I arrive to save doggy.

Bertie: "I can chew a banana with my eye-lids."

Words

Madeleine, angry with me for having her make the bed: "You are such a lazy lunker!"
Me: "Well, don't you think I work too?"
She: "If you were an airplane pilot, you wouldn't be so lazy."
Me: "Oh? Why is that?"
She: "Airplane pilots work so hard that they sweat all the time and have to take naps!"

Eitan today, one day before his sixth birthday, patiently sorts out two large bags of Milky Ways and Kit-Kat bars to take to his school classmates. I ask him if this has been approved by his teacher, which it has not. "Everybody does this, dad!" he asserts, welling up with emotion. A weak arguement by any stretch, but his anxiety about not spreading birthday joy over-comes my doubts. Off the kid goes - loaded with a bagful of grocery store stimulents more potent than anything I could otherwise find on the street.

Fly

Christian Wright was a bit disappointed about my last blog of him, taken in a pub in London where we watched the World Cup together (England v Trinidad-Tobago. We won.). Now, caught in his natural habitat in San Franciso, on his way to dinner at Delfina with me where he knows the waitresses who love him, the kid is living large. Christian is an Executive Director at CIBC World Markets, where he has been since '95 making the Big Bucks. Regardless of his cash flow, our boy has retained his Berkeley roots and remains a champion of liberal causes (he was a cheer-leader and fundraiser for the New York Democratic party when we there together from 1995-97). We now exchange enthusiasms about English football (ok, soccer) and Cal football (er, American football). We get worked up about this stuff. A similar taste in music is also fun - favorites today include the Arctic Monkeys, The Kooks, Razorlite and most acts with an edgy guitar and British twang.

Chili

"Real chili hot stuff" - words that end a barrister's livelihood. Now I am all for the good read of People Magazine or Tatler, but otherwise would never consider posting a scandel unless, of course, it somehow presents a certain - shall we say - cultural insite. That is why the case involving Brazilean cleaner Roselane Driza is so involving. According to our investigative press and the Old Bailey, two London immigration judges face dismisal after a "lurid" blackmail trial exposed their love triangle with Driza, a failed asylum seeker, who worked illegally for both of them. Evidence includes text messages, including "chili", and video used for the blackmail. Driza, you see, was convicted of stealing two tapes of judge #1, made of himself having sex with two women, one of them Driza and the other judge #2. If that were not enough, Driza was once married to a serial killer. She faces some jail time and deportation (we hope). According to one judge at the Old Bailey putting a positive spin on the affair: "It does rid us of our rather fusty image." Amen, brother.

Madeleine this morning over cornflakes informs me that she had an ear-ache on our plane ride to America.
She: "Do you know why I had an ear ache dad?"
Me: "No - why?"
She: "Because the plane was moving so fast it pulled my skin. My ear too."
Me: "Well, that sounds pretty painful."
She: "Don't worry dad - there wasn't any blood."
And thank goodness for that!

Bikes

Paul and I in Oxfordshire.
The slight "detours" occur after the batteries on Paul's GPS navigator quit.

"It's only 110 kilometers - how hard could that be?"

Paul, a fearless Dane, and I set out for Oxford yesterday in perfect cycling conditions, ie, no rain. Paul and I met during his company Shipserv's series b financing, which was about $6 million. Paul founded ShipServ, an internet shipping supplier, in '99 and today the company sees some $1 billion of transactions on its exchange p.a. Not bad. As for the bike ride, Mr Ostergaard was ready with the latest hi-tech bike and gear, which included navigational GPS, heart-rate monitor, pace settings, distance, speed, gradient, caloric and other trackers... this plus his mobile communicator (run off Microsoft) made us his roaming office. Meanwhile my mountain bike felt like it was dragging a bathtub. We arrived in Oxford 8 hours and 109 km later, resting at All Souls College (pictured) and very happy to take the return train to Paddington and home. Paul captured some interesting data on us, which can be seen at http://tinyurl.com/zt5yq.

Family fun

Nathan, Dakota and Dana

We spend the day together in Buckinghamshire picking fruit, discussing life, and comparing notes on parenthood. Dakota turns one this month, which is hard to believe as her arrival seems like yesterday. Dana and I met at Columbia in New York, and lucky us she moved to London in 2000 eventually marrying sweetheart Nathan in 2004. Nathan is a former scholar-athlete at Oxford, which shows while he endlessly rough-houses with our two blissed out, hyper-active kids. Their favorite: "the horse ride" where each takes a turn on his shoulders while "the horse" runs at top speed. Did I mention Eitan weighs 24 kg?

On babies
Me: "Do you know where babies come from?"
Eitan: "Well, they start as a dot in the mummy's tummy. Then it grows and grows until it has arms and legs. It becomes so big, the mum knows to bring it out."
Me: "How does the dot get there?"
Eitan: "She eats it."

Berries

Two years ago, Sonnet discovers a working farm in Bucks where we and the kids can pick blackberries, pears, plums and of course apples, depending on the time of late summer. Today, we return for the raspberries, which are red and fat in the warm Indian summer morning sun. Eitan and Madeleine compete to fill their baskets - I charge Eitan 1p per berry, which at first he's OK with, then his sensibilities take over. Upon being fired, I take my services to Madeleine, which draws a howl of protest from him. Dana, Nathan and Dakota join us for a picnic on the farm grounds, while Sonnet prepares to make a fruit tart for tonight. Lucky us!

Madeleine systematically pours water on to the floor during bathtime tonight. When discovered: "really, mom - it was an accident."

Sway

One more from the runway. Sonnet takes this photograph during Fashion Week in New York. The clothes are designed by Proenza Schouler, who is profiled in Sonnet's book.

Roger and I spend a fun few days together in Paris, finishing last night at a neighborhood restaurant in the 8th arrondisement where we gorge ourselves on foie gras and sardines while drinking red wine. During the day, we run up the Seine to La Cite and Notre Dame cathedral, then return through the Louvre and Touileries Gardens. The weather lovely and warm, with the trees starting to show their first autumn colours.

Eurostar

Roger visits London, Paris and Madrid for Microsoft, where he is Product Manager, client-exchange services which generates some $1.2 billion of revenue for Redmond. During this research trip, Roger and his reports observe email usage in a sterile environment through a one-way mirror to determine customer habits. This despite lovely Indian summer weather. I think of the interrogation room on Law & Order. In between we have some time to goof around and yesterday we saw the Modigliani exhibit at the Royal Academy. Today, we travel to Paris for work, and stay at the Le Faubourg in St. Honore. Roger was the best man at my wedding and a treat for us, and the kids, to see him and thriving.

Natalie and Justin announce the the birth of their third baby, a 8lb, 2oz boy. As Justin notes, the baby will be named "when one of us gives in." Congratulations!

Four!

Kambiz and Dareya

Dareya Foroohar celebrates her birthday with her friends and family in Hampstead, London (15/9/06). Cake, presents and sweaty kids pile up over the course of the afternoon, where considerable energy is expended on the jumpy castle and slides. Mum Rana is expecting in several weeks, and earns my vote for "Super Woman" (did I mention that she is also writing a lead story for Newsweek on the BP scandel?).

Model, etc.

From Sonnet, the designer here is Mary Ping, who showed her collection on models at the Paul Rudolf foundation, a modernist home on the upper east side. Mary is about 26 and graduated from Vassar College.

Sonnet returns Saturday morning on the red-eye, following a week in New York next to the cat walk (and back-stage). We decide to surprise her at the airport, 6:00AM. The kids set aside their clothes the night before, and promise not to be grumpy ("this is going to be a FUN thing" I say). Accepting the spirit of adventure, and pitch black start, we pile into the car and drive to Heathrow (Madeleine: "whoa, dad, it's really dark out there!"). Unfortunately, Sonnet's flight is delayed and I run out of stories about two hours later. Still, all is forgotten (forgiven?) when we see mum walking towards us with a happy smile.