Times have changed. A lot. When I was a young boy, we used to have a small and not too special garden, located in a small town in the East of The Netherlands. (Some readers may think ‘argh shut up Robin, you’re still a fucking child’ and although that may have some truth to it,Continue reading “It’s not pretty”
Monthly Archives: March 2021
Lockdowns, happiness and the millenial muppet
YEAH! Today was my last work day for a couple of days. It’s time for ‘staycation’, ‘homelidays’, and whatever other horrible terms people have come up with, because they find it so horrible to stay at home. To put this in perspective; 68% of the people on our planet will never leave their own country.Continue reading “Lockdowns, happiness and the millenial muppet”
I can’t handle this shit anymore…
This afternoon our group, the Terrestrial Ecology Group at the Technical University of Munich had the first session of its annual ‘postdoc retreat’. The idea of the retreat is to revisit our group’s vision and mission, by first discussing what a vision is and what a mission is. Some people think that what is aContinue reading “I can’t handle this shit anymore…”
A change of pace
As an ecologist that mostly focuses on plant-mediated interactions (above- and belowground!), I have worked with quite a few model systems, that I have gotten to know quite well. I have reasonable botany skills, too. Or well, good memory, rather. Of course, my knowledge is entirely limited to the severely depleted biodiversity found in theContinue reading “A change of pace”
Flashbacks
I had a bit of a flashback to about five months ago, inspired by something I just did. The activities are very similar, but in another sense could not differ more. About six months ago, Heike and I decided we would have another child. I will not explain the details here, but at some pointContinue reading “Flashbacks”
Small ideas
I’m staring at my screen and I have totally forgotten what I wanted to write about… what happened? One of the benefits I observe from having written every day for two months now, is that you tend to get these ‘small ideas’ for stories or conversations to write about and that keep bubbling up inContinue reading “Small ideas”
All the lovely stupid flowers – part 2
Today I’m on a tight schedule, so not a lot of time to write, or even think about words. The good thing about removing my ‘200 word concept’ means that I can go over 200, but of course I can also stay under. It’s my blog. The weather has been getting better and better theseContinue reading “All the lovely stupid flowers – part 2”
Green thumbs
In October, I started prep work for a field experiment that was planned to take place this field (spring and summer) season. It was supposed to be something small, merely to help out a new PhD candidate that we had selected, so she could arrange contractual stuff, and she would not experience delays because ofContinue reading “Green thumbs”
They were just holding hands…
The day started early today. At 05:00 in the morning. Or perhaps a bit earlier, at 03:00. Perhaps yesterday never really ended. It’s hard to tell. It was one of those nights were our boy Rafa was up all the time. It’s been a while since he was sick. If there’s one thing that hasContinue reading “They were just holding hands…”
The full-body NO
After a short ride in a huge pickup truck we arrived at a small and seemingly deserted harbour. It was freezing cold, and rain drizzled down upon us, which did not make us feel any warmer. It was a Thursday afternoon in early June 2019. Although it was almost summer, it was hard to recognizeContinue reading “The full-body NO”
Robin Heinen 