Back in Dublin

Look closely at the roofs of the buildings in the center of the photograph; they have solar panels installed. I took this picture from the bus station outside my apartment; i.e., this is Ireland! It made me wonder why there is not a solar panel on every roof in New Mexico.
While in Albuquerque we all went to see a performance of Cherish the Ladies, a group of women who play traditional Irish music. It was nice to hear and watch the dancers with my family, even if I had to come all the way to Albuquerque to do it ;-) Here in Dublin I don't go out enough to hear and see it live.
Before the concert started, the announcer told us to turn off our cell phones and not to text during the performance, which caused a chuckle from the audience. Anika did not understand why they found this humorous: It is obviously impolite to text in a dark theater where a bright phone screen would be distracting to others. I told her that this generation of listeners thought it was funny, because they could never in the world imagine why (and what!) you would text during the middle of a performance. To which Anika replied she hopes to never get so old and get so far removed from the technology that a younger generation is using to socialize.
I am back in Dublin and need to find a way to make me go exercise. There is just too much to do and it is so easy to push working out to the end of the To Do list, carry it to the next one, and eventually drop it on the floor. I need to sign up for a race...
Part of the problem is that I have been traveling and celebrating with friends and family. I spent Christmas and New Year's eve in Albuquerque, but last week I was in Switzerland celebrating my Mom's 80th birthday.

The picture above is from the party we had. No, wait. That's the Caran d'Ache display in the train station in Bern. They make very expensive but high-quality writing instruments and paints, and have elaborate ad displays like the window above. Growing up, it was always a treat to go to the main train station and run over to the Caran d'Ache window and marvel at the animated figures (usually resembling some kind of fairytale dwarf).
My Mom is doing fine and pretended, as a Mother must, to be glad to see me.

This is one of the better pictures I got of her. Like many of the others in my family, she has a tendency to grimace whenever you aim a lens at her and then to complain afterward that she looks horrible in pictures.
Other than partying, we also went for short hikes to enjoy views and have long talks. It was cold but also quite pretty.

That was on the way up to an observation tower where my brother and I went to take pictures of the sunset. It was so cold that my camera indicated an empty battery and refused to take any more pictures. I had to put the battery into my jeans pocket for a while to warm it up before it would function again. Although freezing, we were rewarded with a nice sunset and a beautiful view of the alps.

Behind those threes, in the valley, lies the city of Bern. I wonder how many solar panels the Swiss have.