a butterfly tattoo for gabi

A little present for my girl-friend; I only fear it is a rather temporary tattoo, and that it won't last long. But that remains to be seen!

rax

latecomers

Those aren't supposed to still flower in october, even september would be late for them - but we had some warm and sunshiny weeks lately, which it seems prompted such late growth.

... autumn

veitsch

Some impressions from my last near ascent - to Styrian Veitsch peak, which I almost climbed on sunday (and sorry for the delay but I was without internet for a couple of days, again). Weather didn't look very promising at the beginning ...

... but then fog and low-lying clouds also can be quite nice, right?

The hill above isn't the peak yet, nor is the one below.

But this one is it - the so-called Hohe Veitsch (it is a female mountain, by grammatical gender in German language of course; or what else did you have in mind?), 1981 metres above medium sea level.

Well, I did wait for quite some time, with the clear intention of climbing the final peak; however, I had to wait approximately 50 metres away, and the equivalent of two flights of stairs below, as the peak was occupied by other mountaineers continuously - even before a group left the next one was already going up: they took turns of posing for the peek peak victory photograph. Which of course is extremely bad style, I never could do that.

So I had to give up after waiting for almost an hour. Unlike my compatriot Christian Stangl who lied about climbing K2 I am honestly admitting that I failed to conquer Veitsch peak, however I succeeded in my near-ascent of Veitsch, and triumphantly so! For that those photos are proof enough, aren't they?

Well, and when I descended again even the sun came out and awarded me with a spectacular panorama.

Of flowers there wasn't much to be seen anymore, not at this time of year - except for this gentina (Gentianella "styriaca", a more-or-less transitional group of Gentianella species) of which there were hundreds of thousands.

my knee hurts

On New Years Eve 2008 I went skiing on Stuhleck mountain - and hurt my knee in the process. Surgery was necessary, but for some reasons didn't deal with my cruciate ligaments. And today, my next near-ascent to an Alpine mountain took me back to Stuhleck; my knee began to hurt as I neared the place where the accident happened ... no really! (The place is awfully ugly in summer: some skiing slopes really look kaputt in summer. This shot was not taken there but on the other side of the hill.)

Anyway, after successfully avoiding the peak (which is rather busy with tourists; the shot above is taken from near the peak, with a panorama of Rax and Schneeberg mountain) I descended, and this time without hurting any part of my body. So some victory this was - Stuhleck mountain, I've finally overcome you!

(PS: I am especially proud of successfully having avoided all that cow dung lying around there. No, don't laugh - this indeed was the most difficult task of the whole operation!)

the green orchid

Two favourites for the title played today, and neither showed weakness: so the award for not cowardly playing superstars finally goes to the Netherlands and Brazil - the Big Green Orchid:

(The Huge Colourful Orchid however only will go to the winner, that is of course only if the winner will show some play worth watching.)

snow

I completely forgot to complain about weather, which was pretty nasty recently and only just today turned more-or-less summery; even so, it was very cold and windy where this shot was taken, at 1760 metres altitude:

Also, there was still some snow left here and there; here's some from only 1065 metres altitude (which could possibly be a record low, for summer), just in the centre of the dry stream, below the limestone block (and no, it isn't limestone - it is snow indeed):

Oh, and I also forgot to comment on yesterdays football matches. Well, you know the results by now, and you also know by now that the USA even finished better than England, this time around (they're both out at quarters, however the US won their group while the English didn't): and that's a first as far as I know.

Pity, really, that England again lost against Germany, aided by the referee of course as the match would have continued differently had it been equal scores at half time, but England anyway didn't really show much quality game in the second half, or so our commentators said: I didn't see it except for the last minutes which were already boring, as by a score of 4:1 it was all done and dusted.

So the Germans again prove to show their best form when it counts most. Very well then, so be it. I still can't support the German team, that's outright impossible. :D Anyway, my favourite for the title will soon be life on TV; I'm quite positive that they will proceed to the quarters but what matters even more is to show some good play, to build up confidence for the match against Germany - after all, the mindset is essential for good teamwork.

the first hurdle

So the first hurdle has been cleared, metaphorically speaking - the first cliff face has been left behind, either on top of it or far below.

Unfortunately, Portugal and Brazil decided in their match today that there's no need to show that they are number 3 respectively 1 of the world. Pity, and yet another big disappointment.

Well anyway. Have you noticed that two teams didn't score any points? North Korea and Cameroun, perfectly just and fair in the first case while not indicating at all the qualities of the second one. I think it is beyond doubt that North Korea has performed one or two categories behind all the other teams - the only thing which is unclear is whether it is actually one or two.

After that however it becomes very subjective. To me Greece is second best on the worst team scale - not because of their qualities (they've got actually some good players, and they could have performed much better), but because of their tactics (which was, never risk a thing except in case you outnumber the opponent by at least one player). And third place on this scale the French team - even though there are many stars playing in their team: but if the team isn't a team in the proper sense then it's only to be expected that they couldn't get anywhere.

After that, it'd be a choice of Algeria, Honduras, Cameroun, and possibly some more. Of those teams which could be expected to go through I'm especially disappointed about Serbia (even in their game against Germany they didn't play good at all), and of course Italy, needless to say. Positive surprises? That Argentina, after some problems in the beginning, indeed seem to be in the mood to go to the finals, and possibly even win there. Period - that's about it really. Sure, there were some surprises, like the US qualifying, or New Zealand not losing a single match, but those teams just played okay but not great.

My tip for finals: Argentina (sending England home) against the Netherlands (knocking out Brazil), and if it'll come to that I wouldn't really care who of them would win, I would be happy for both.

up up and away

The way up is tough, and some die by trying, as indicates the cross.

Who would have thought that Italy will not go through, and who on Earth expected Japan to go through in style? Will Spain be the next victim? Can Portugal qualify more-or-less easily for the knock-out round or will Ivory Coast score four or more goals against North Korea which would be sufficient for them if Portugal looses against Brazil? Everything's possible on tomorrow's last day of the group phase!