Kees' photos

The Isar river is just a 15 minutes walk away from where we live. Scan of a picture taken by my brother.

Die spätmittelalterliche Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche ist das älteste Gebäude Ickings und sein natürlicher Mittelpunkt. The medieval Holy-Cross-Church is the oldest building and the natural center of the community, lying opposite of our house. Scan of a picture taken by my brother.

Interior of the Holy-Cross-Church at Icking. Scan of a picture taken by my brother.

The old cemetery surrounding the Holy-Cross-Church. Scan of a picture taken by my brother.

Icking so um 1960 herum. Die Weiden sind grün, der Himmel blau, die Dächer rot... Genauso sollte es sein. Und wenn nicht: nimm deinen Malkasten! Icking around 1960 (give or take a few years). The meadows are green, the sky is blue, the roofs are red... That’s how it has to be. And if it isn’t: color it!

Icking aus der Vogelperspektive (in den späten fünfziger oder frühen sechziger Jahren). Wir erhielten diese Ansichtskarte letzte Woche von den vormaligen Besitzern unseres Hauses. Die meisten offenen Stellen sind jetzt bebaut worden, obwohl unser Haus noch immer ziemlich isoliert dasteht (sogar noch mehr als hier gezeigt: das Stationsgebäude und der Lechnerhof samt Austragshäusl, auf der rechten Seite, sind später abgerissen worden). Ich mag dieses Bild besonders wegen seines Detailreichtums, der natürlich am besten zur Geltung kommt im Großformat. Bird view of Icking, late 50-ies or early 60-ies. We got this postcard last week from the former owners of our house. Most of the open spaces are now gone, though our house is still standing rather isolated (in fact, more so than shown here: the train station and the neighboring farm, both on the right, have been demolished since). I particularly like this picture for its rich detail, best viewed in its large size version.

Our house in the 50ies: the big changes were yet to come... However, the road had been broadened and the long stairs leading to it had to make a corner. In the 60ies the concrete wall on the left was extended to the right: the house kept its address but lost its entrance on this side. This makes us hard to find; deliveries are often guided by phone calls...

The AlphaSmart 3000 changing trains in Duisburg, Germany. The insert shows an enlargement of its display, and allows to date the picture in the Summer of 2004. My scanner doesn¹t work as well as I¹d wish. So I¹ve manipulated the original color photo a bit. The screen shot, however, is true to nature.

The house where the poet Rainer Maria Rilke spent several years of his life (see also here). Irschenhausen is a part of Icking. It must have been founded centuries after Icking itself, but time has dealt more generously with it. It was, and to some extent still is, a center of artists and writers. Scan of a picture taken by my brother.

This is the tag I keep on my working bag, an ideal solution for anyone who wants to pass for an AlphaSmart salesman. ;-) In a strange fit of discretion I’ve removed the address. But don’t think you’re not welcome to visit us: just send me a PM...

Art has nothing to do with this: it is only to give you an impression of where I'm working. What you're seeing is part of our library; normally, large tables occupy the center where the people are sitting here. On the wall: some of thousands of boxes which contain the slips we use to write our dictionary articles. BTW, I still don't have a digicam. I was asked to document a little celebration, and used the KonicaMinolta Dimage (5 MegaPixel) camera of our press officer. He didn't know how it worked, and I didn't either. Actually, department store fingering let aside, it was the first time I held one in my hands...

Wie die Endung “-ing” in seinem Namen suggeriert, wurde Icking vermutlich im 6. Jh. gegründet. Es kommt aber zum ersten Mal vor in einem Dokument aus 806; deshalb werden wir seinen 1200. Gründungstag im nächsten Jahr feiern. Der Bürgermeister hat alle Bürger dazu aufgerufen, ein passendes Logo zu entwerfen; dieses stammt von mir. As the "-ing" in its name indicates, Icking was probably founded in the 6th Century. However, it first occurs in an official record of 806, and so we'll celebrate its 1200th anniversary next year. The Mayor has appealed to all citizens to design a logo to go with it; this one is mine.

So sah unser Haus vor siebzig, achtzig Jahren aus; seitdem hat es sich sehr gewandelt –nicht immer zum Besseren... This is what our house looked like seventy, eighty years ago; it has changed a lot since then -not always for the better...