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Only small miracles

2012-01-05T06:47:00.000-08:00

Chach says there are no coincidences, only small miracles...Yesterday Donna, Chach, Mary and I went to the Gene Autry Museum and PF Chang's and Ikea...a big day for us small town girls. The museum was empty and I sat on the saddle and got to chase bad guys, or be chased...I am not sure which. I did not fall off, that I do know! But small miracle #1...I am reading the book Halfway to Heaven, about a man climbing all the "14ers" in Colorado...mountains over 14,000feet. One of the first ones he climbed is the Mount of the Holy Cross. He gives all the interesting background and I was intrigued so I looked it up. It had a big cross of snow on it and a photographer named William Henry Jackson took a famous photo of it, then Thomas Moran painted a famous painting.

We walk into a gallery and there is the Moran painting on the wall. I had just read all about it, and now here it was. live and in person. So fun!

Another book I read this week was Gold Mountain, Lisa See's book about her family's journey from China to America. Her great grandfather started the F. Suie One Co in Chinatown in LA. And guess what? Small miracle #2--The Autry Museum has an exhibit showing the F. Suie One Co! I had just read all about it and now here it was, (almost) live and in person! So fun!

Thanks Donna for driving your big red truck all over LA and even in the parking garage

Tigger or Eeyore?

2011-12-31T11:49:00.000-08:00

The last day of 2011. Good. Really what I want to do is sit on the couch all day wrapped in a blanket, with a cup of tea and an absorbing book. But, actually, that's what I want to do every day. We have been invited to Mary's in the afternoon, and then to see Robert Downey in the new Sherlock Holmes and then to Jay and Donnette's for a glass of wine, and so that is what we will probably do. And, we will have fun. I do not want to think back on the year that has passed, I want to wipe it from my memory! I don't really want to look forward, I don't want to know what is in store for us. I will just be happy for today.

Elves

2011-12-21T19:36:00.000-08:00

As usual, we bought the kids pencils with their names on them. This morning, I stopped them at the door to the classroom and told them that the Elves had come during the night and left a present for them on their desks. Not one child accused me of being the "Elf" but over and over this morning, children asked me how the Elves knew their names...

christmas card

2011-12-11T10:24:00.001-08:00

No amount of joy will balance out the burden of sorrow this Christmas
Nor any amount of water wash away the layer of grief and sadness
This will be the year that changed us all
Not stronger for the grief
The muscles of mourning help only to carry on to the end
Not to make lighter the weight

Surely

2011-11-23T17:54:00.001-08:00

Not happy, but still, I AM thankful. I am thankful for terrible things, like: Aiden did not have to live any part of his life in a vegetative state, and that three peoples' lives were saved by the donation of his organs. I am thankful for regular things, like: hot water in my shower, Sirius radio in the car and DVR on the TV; and important things, like: Imitrex, friends and family, Muna's big house that allows us to all gather in a "The Relatives Came" sort of visit, weddings and babies, and a nice class of kids that I am glad to spend the day with. I can recognize that yes, indeed, I am blessed.

Lauren "You're Not Listening To Me" Newkirk

(While the kids were here this weekend I caught Lauren sitting in front of Alex, with his face between her hands, staring into his eyes and saying to him, "Focus, Alex, focus, focus, focus!" Pretty sure he didn't have a choice.)

hmmm

2011-11-17T06:10:00.001-08:00

Today we are off to a 2nd grade field trip to the Feline Breeding Compound in Rosamond. It is like a little zoo with all kinds of cats, from Servals to Tigers...the kids are so excited to just go somewhere, anywhere. I always say that they would be just as happy to sit in the bus and ride around town. One little boy told me that he is going to take some Benadryl before we go because he is allergic to cats. Hmmmmm. With visions of the teenager who was mauled in the tiger cage at the SF Zoo in my head, I said, You are NOT going to be touching any cats! You are only going to be walking around and LOOKING! and once more for good measure, you are NOT TOUCHING any cats! Then we go the fire station in Mojave (and no touching any firefighters either...) and have lunch in the park. Back to school in time for afternoon recess and writing thank you letters and the day is done. The school day, anyway.

Tonight, Kath, Abby, Nate and I are going down to Mercy Hospital for a grief counseling presentation on surviving the holiday after the death of a loved one. Trying to figure out what to do about that very expensive tree we bought last year, the one Aiden loved so much. I have thought about trying to find a boy angel to put on top. Seems hokey...but we have needed a new tree topper for several years. The tree is the hardest thing to think about this year. Kath suggested doing new things and making new memories. She is going to Yosemite for Thanksgiving week.

Am I ok?

2011-11-13T07:41:00.001-08:00

OK, everybody, stop worrying about me. Am I okay? Yes...and no. Yes, I feel sad everyday. I miss Aiden. I feel sad for Scott and Abby and Sam and all the rest of the family who are also missing Aiden. But also, yes, I am going on with life. I go to work and enjoy the kids, and eat lunch with the other teachers and talk about their kids and husbands and dogs and vacations and I enjoy that, and I have family over and go to soccer games and play with babies and watch TV...while at the same time, there is always an underlayer of sadness. But I am not worried about me. I feel what I feel and I am fine. When I don't want to talk, I don't. But that doesn't mean I am not acknowledging my grief, I just don't want to dwell in it...to wallow in it. I have lots of private time to grieve and I do. Do I still spend fruitless time and energy wishing it had never happened? Yes. Do I still spend fruitless time and energy wondering about where he is now? Yes. Am I tired of having to tell people I am ok? YES!

Aiden giving the weather report at the Lori Brock Museum. It was very serious work!

A rainbow on the way home

2011-11-06T19:08:00.000-08:00

What a treat to spend the weekend being spoiled by my mom and such a bonus to get to spend a whole day with my sister and THEN to get to play with my adorable chubby little GREAT niece (though we have to make allowances for the Steelers jersey!) The sun was even out and dinner at The Italian Job and a cute chick flick movie, French Film, and a comfy night in the new queen size bed in the guest room.

CM on A Gifted Man; astrocytoma on Grey's

2011-10-21T19:41:00.000-07:00

I can't stop watching all my TV shows: House, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, A Gifted Man--medical shows that always have an optimistic outcome and these days I keep waiting for them to JUST once have a realistic outcome. I know, I know, who wants to watch a show that is supposed to be escapist fantasy and end up in a sad depressed puddle on the couch? But it would make ME feel better to have those TV people deal with the really hard stuff...that thousands of us normal people have to figure out...how to keep going on when the outcome is tragic...When we discover we have no control and there isn't a miracle?

Aiden movie

2011-10-10T18:44:00.001-07:00

This is a movie Aiden made of himself, just a few weeks before he died. I think on the same day as the heaven video. Blogger didn't download it very well, but I like to hear his voice and I thought that you might too. I usually stay away from watching the videos, but sometimes I can't help it and, like pouring salt in a wound, sit and watch them all.

Abby is babysitting Nate's brother's 2 year old son and I can't explain why, but it is hard for me to think of Abby with someone else's son. She seemed to have fun with him today, though, and I know that the money will be helpful to them.

Just to kick grief off the top of my blog

2011-09-21T17:17:00.000-07:00

I know Sheila, I haven't posted anything in a while...It is so hard to know what to say. No one wants to read my honest thoughts these days and I don't want to see them on my blog. So here are some things that are true:
--Leticia is back at work and today I came home to a clean house
--the peaches are ripe and SO juicy
--I have a classroom full of sweet, cooperative kids who are excited to learn
--SUSIE AND JOE ARE MARRIED!

A Grief Observed

2011-08-20T07:06:00.000-07:00

"If a mother is mourning not for what she has lost, but for what her dead child has lost, it is a comfort to believe that the child has not lost the end for which it was created." CS Lewis

You think about all the things Aiden didn't get to do in the immediate future: play on the big playground with Sam (the first day's recess was SO hard, I had to leave the playground), losing his first tooth (we also had a tooth come out the first day of school), learning to swim, ride a bike...

So is it a comfort to believe that Aiden is in heaven?

On a lighter note: Shopping

2011-08-11T10:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our annual school shopping trip. I hadn't even thought about the tradition I have of taking Leah and Sam to get a First Day of School outfit and a new backpack, so when Sam asked when we were going, I harrumphed and didn't really answer. Knowing that going without Aiden, who was SO looking forward to first grade, would be hard. But as with all decisions this summer, I had to make it with my head and not my heart, and my head said, no reason to sit at home and brood, go! I invited Abby, she invited Nate. I bribed Emma with the promise that we would go to Moo Creamery for lunch and she could have Just ice cream, explained to Sam that he couldn't go to our house and watch the Dodger game with Granpa because Granpa was working at school, and off we went. First to Moo Creamery, where Emma had Just ice cream, Abby had a Guiness Float, Nate discovered Basil Lemonade ("I am never going to drink lemonade without basil!") and Chris joined us for lunch. Then to Kohl's...Emma found an outfit that included a silvery sequined tie ("I am going to wear this everyday forever!") Then came time to check out. Here is how THAT went:
Cashier: Do you have a Kohl's card?
Me: Yes, but I am not going to use it today.
Cashier: Did you get a scratch off in the mail?
Me: No, would it save me money?
Cashier: Yes, I have one here, you just have to put it on your Kohl's card.
Me: (sigh) ok...
Scratch off--15% off, good enough.
Cashier: You don't have your card with you?
Me: No, I haven't used it in a long time
Cashier: Then put your SS # in and the computer will look it up....Oh, it says your account is closed. Would you like to reopen it?
Me; How much will it save me today?
Cashier: 30%
Me: It's getting better (this is now up to like, $60! off)
--Now I have to punch in lots of numbers to answer lots of private questions, but I am still thinking that $60 is worth it--
Cashier: Oh, you were not approved.
Me: WTH? How could I not be approved? Does it tell you why?
Cashier: It says you already have an account......
Me: BIG SIGH
Cashier: Don't worry I will still give you a discount because of all the time you spent on this.

I walk out of the store and look at my receipt and she somehow managed to give me TWO separate 15% discounts AND a 10% SENIOR DISCOUNT.

I am not even upset about the senior discount because I saved about $80!

Yay for the cute cashier at Kohl's!

How does having faith help? Don't know...

2011-08-10T08:46:00.000-07:00

For the last few years as I have lost (and I do not use this as a wimpy euphemism because I am reluctant to use the word die, I use it because it is how I feel after the people I care about have died, I feel that I have lost Frank, Penny, Carol, Dory, Dad, Kathy, Ray, Aiden) these people in my life, I have been trying to figure out what life means. Death/Life...can't have one without the other. I don't know what the purpose of my life or anyone's life is without some kind of faith in God. I have to believe in the soul, and I have to believe that it does not disappear into nothingness. And if there is an eternal heavenly life, what is the point of this life?

Thank goodness CS Lewis has trod this path before me. So in slowly reading his journal after his beloved Joy died, he asks the same questions I ask, and since he is SO smart and honest, reading his journal is almost like reading my own, if I were to keep one, which I don't because I am too lazy...

Like this:
"Talk to me of the truth about religion and I'll listen gladly. Talk to me about the duty of religion and I'll listen submissively. But don't come talking to me about the consolations of religion or I will suspect that you don't understand."

Yeah, I don't care about seeing them again one day "on that happy shore". I am mourning the life that we do not now have and the future that we will never have.

Not sure what the answers are, I haven't gotten to the end of this little book, I have a feeling there are no answers, but there are lots of questions and I will not flinch from asking them, as CS Lewis doesn't flinch. So I don't know where I am going, and even if I will know when I get there...

Now what?

2011-08-04T18:44:00.000-07:00

I have several unpublished half written posts, some of them not even complete sentences, because what can I say? We all miss Aiden, we can't believe he is gone, we wish we knew exactly what happened that night, we are afraid of a future that now is empty of him, the shape of our family has a hole that will never be filled. Some days we talk about him and are fine, some days are torture to get through. The summer is about over, school starts in a week, and we dread school without him and also look forward to a more productive routine to the day than we have endured this summer.

This is a video of Aiden dictating a shopping list to me. Filmed 2-20-2010.

Little things I miss:

2011-07-05T18:46:00.000-07:00

Little things I miss:

Playing Bookworm on the computer with Aiden snuggled next to me, suggesting words
The sound of Aiden's laughter in the funny parts of movies or shows
His little boogie dance to The Cat Came Back
Drinking Aiden's bathtub "tea"

Heaven Is For Real

2011-07-05T09:07:00.000-07:00

Just finished reading Heaven Is For Real. Some thoughts:

He makes a big deal about how much praying was done over his little Colton in their time of need, how he prayed and the congregation prayed and how God answered their prayers. If Colton hadn't been healed, would he consider their prayers answered, or would he feel abandoned by God?

Jesus told Thomas that blessed are those who do not see evidence and yet believe, so if Todd Burpo and all the people Colton told about heaven have had their strengthened by SEEING evidence, is it a lesser faith? How much harder is it for me to continue to believe in the face of Aiden's NOT being healed. We would be joyous and believing and spreading the word of the miracle if Aiden had survived. He didn't. Can we still believe that God loves us and answers prayers? If we can, then that is truly faith.

There are so many cliches and pat answers. And I know them all. They don't help me because they seem so shallow and not real. Unless you become like a child...simple faith.

Aiden explains heaven

2011-06-21T15:07:00.000-07:00

2011-05-30T19:46:00.001-07:00

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Happy 35th Anniversary, Scott!

2011-05-24T17:55:00.001-07:00

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Bird in the...toilet?

2011-05-16T19:18:00.000-07:00

Ok, here's the story. The picture gives away the ending, but I have to start at the beginning. I was sitting on the couch in the family room, when, WHOOSH, through the room, gliding inches above the floor, comes a bird, who then slides into the patio door. Patch jumps off the couch and I jump up and grab her. "Scott, there's a bird, come quick, I've got the cat!" He comes running with barbeque chicken in hand. I point to door and say "Over there!" He starts looking. No bird. I hold the cat. Scott moves curtains, dog bed, chair. No bird. I continue holding the cat and give excellent suggestions from the sidelines. "Look under the chair. Behind the TV. On the fireplace" No bird. Dinah shows no interest and Patch is ready to scratch my eyes out, so I lock her hissing and snarling, in the kitchen with Bella. (Sorry Bella...) and join the search. Scott, in all his manliness, grabs the heavy duty flashlight and we look everywhere. Under the couch. On top of the TV cabinet, in the cat house. Under the bookcase. IN THE BATHROOM! No bird. Really, Scott, I swear, THERE WAS A BIRD. But now I am starting to doubt my sanity. Really...!!!There was a bird and now there is not a bird. So where did it go? I let Patch back in, hoping she will find the bird, in all her cattiness. But she runs outside to roll around the patio. An hour later, I hear splashing in the toilet, and here it is, the bird. "It's in the toilet, I told you there was a bird!" I gently grab it and place it outside, with the cats locked INside. I think the bird is fine, it flew away. After a little bath in the toilet.

May Day

2011-05-01T09:12:00.000-07:00

It's a beautifully clear May Day today...still windy, but lovely sunshine and lilacs. I wanted to put a picture on here of a Maypole Dance we stumbled on in Kensington Gardens when we were in London with Mom and Ray, but the picture is on the other computer and I can't figure out an easy way to move it to this computer. So you will just have to picture it...warm summer day in the park, we hear fiddle music and come across a folk music festival in a lovely glade ("glade" is a word you only use when you are writing about England. Or fairies.) and off to the side there is a Maypole set up and children and adults are following the complicated directions of the "caller" (like in square dancing) to twine the ribbons around the pole. It was lovely. I know, that is the third time I have used the lovely in this paragraph, but it was. And I like the word.

A hard decision

2011-04-21T13:50:00.000-07:00

Poor little Rascal just had all the cards stacked against him, too many to overcome. If this was a book or movie and not real life, he would have made a miraculous recovery from his last obstacle, but really it was just too much for a 2 1/2 pound puppy. The compassionate decision was to end his struggle.

Rascal

2011-04-18T07:55:00.000-07:00

Aiden loves Rascal, but can't decide what to call him. Today he is "Scamper"

Patch is interested, but not yet mean to the baby

Bella's lazy life might be in for a bit of a change.

OK, so here is the complete story: Donnette's son and daughter in law were up visiting and for some reason they were at the vet here with their little dog. While they were there, a lady came in with this little puppy that she had rescued from the middle of 202/Woodford-Tehachapi. She said she almost hit him as he was trying to cross the road! He was very skinny and weak. The vet told her that they did not take in strays. (I know, I know, they can't be a dumping ground, but still...a 5 week old puppy!) The lady already had 8 dogs and would be in big trouble with her husband if she brought home another, so Glen and Lisa stepped in. Glen paid to have him checked out, and he was declared weak, but basically healthy. They bought all kinds of goodies, including a little collar and leash, and brought him home to Donnette's. They determined together that he was allergic to the very expensive canned mother's milk from the vet, but he could keep down the gatorade and baby food. We got him to eat a little last night, but this morning doesn't seem interested in the food. We are allowing him tiny drinks of gatorade. He is peeing and pooping, so we hope he will get stronger. I have visions of camping! and long walks! and playing frisbee in the park! Luckily, we are off for spring break this week and Donnette and Sharon both feel so guilty that they couldn't take him that they are very willing to help with puppy care for as along as we need it.

What do you do when you can't sleep?

2011-03-25T18:17:00.000-07:00

The only times I can remember not being struck with the 3am no-sleeps was when I was pregnant with Chris and when I got up every morning at 3am anyway to deliver 400 Santa Barbara New Press papers. So what do I do to while away the hours? I refuse to get up, because one thing I know is that I have no chance of falling back to sleep if I get up. I go through different stages of night time entertainment. Sometimes I sing Eeny Meeney Disaleeney Ooh Ah Ah Meleaney while I keep rhythm with my fingers and I try to keep track of which finger I stop on when the song is finished. I am not making this up, I have spent many many hours in this activity. Or I make up rhymes which do not have to make any sense, just have a nice rhythm and satisfying rhymes. Quickly and without thinking, like a jump rope rhyme, for instance:

My mother said to go to bed
And so I grabbed a dragon head
It bit me on the big fat knee
And so I put it in a tree...

Or I write stories. Last night I rewrote Little Red Riding Hood, as a chapter book, in my head.

I play a kind of scattergories games where I pick a category and try to think of an example for each letter of the alphabet.

I relive favorite days, or vacation itineries.

What do you do?

More Phoenix

2011-02-22T17:01:00.000-08:00

Brandon holding up

Casey, the mom who closely monitors sugar intake, let the kids have dessert for dinner. Which was fine until they had finished their dessert and our dinner was served. Now the kids were hungry for dinner! Casey gave them bread and beans and told them they could eat dinner when they got home. Brandon DID get to order a cheeseburger....he moved to the grown up table.

At the T-Bone Steakhouse on South Mountain. Casey and Gordon ride the horses up here and have dinner. The kids are all very impressed that there is sawdust on the floors. The smoked chicken was...smokin'!

First download of pictures from our trip to Caseyland

2011-02-21T16:55:00.001-08:00

On the road to Phoenix, just ahead of the storm

Shopping at the Arabian Horse Show

Cutest little cowboy in town. Cash wore this all day.

Brandon is so cool with HIS car. Can you see him shivering? It was SO cold. None of Casey's crew wore jackets. Maybe they don't know what a jacket is in Phoenix...

Kyla brought out the crazy in Leah.

Graffitti on South Mountain...in the parking lot, not on the rocks.

Jen and Mom wave to the camera at sunset on the mountain

Gordon wanted a picture without Cash, but see his little cap? He managed to get into the picture anyway...

Anaya

Kyla

Oliver

The 6 kids...Kyla is there, just camouflaged.

2010 in pictures

2010-12-30T15:35:00.001-08:00

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Ray's Goodbye

2010-12-27T10:51:00.000-08:00

On a very rainy Sunday, December 19th we gathered with the people who loved Ray and said goodbye. So, as Aiden said, we wouldn't miss him. Even Frankie, the farm cat, showed up. It was an afternoon full of love and laughter and memories and Ray would have loved it.

Many of the men put on one of Ray's hats

Frankie

The Faulkner Farm, Santa Paula

Friends from Ray's singing group, The Choraliers

Amanda and John

Mike Oldfield - In Dulci Jubilo

2010-12-21T17:24:00.000-08:00

I love this happy little Christmas song, and when the electric guitar comes in...good stuff! I think he is playing all the instruments, too. Merry Christmas, everyone!

We gather together

2010-11-28T16:23:00.000-08:00

Happy thanksgiving everyone. I have refused to participate in the FB challenge to list something everyday that I am thankful for. Although I have enjoyed reading everyone else's posts. Instead of being thankful for what I have, I want to be thankful for those around me who allow me to give to them.

"To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven. -- Johannes A. Gaertner

Snow in Virginia by Brian Deering

2010-11-21T08:36:00.000-08:00

Ray's son Brian wrote this on Facebook in response to my status that it is snowing in Tehachapi. Snow protocol in Tehachapi is about the same. Thanks Brian for giving me something to post on my blog. It's been a little sparse lately.

Here's snow protocol for Virginia.

Snow in forecast - "We never get snow here." General anxiety, a few people panic, some schools close early, Virginia readies its snow removal vehicle.

Snow starts - "Isn't this beautiful?" schools cancel, drivers become incompetent.

One inch - "it's not me that I'm afraid of. It's the other idiots on the road." Traffic inches (really) along the highway, the VA state pick-up truck with a snow blade is clearing the state's 1800 miles of major arterials, 2800 miles of primary roads, 4600 miles of secondary roads, and 8,900 miles of residential roads.

Two inches - "Will this never stop?" General state of panic, some people appealing to their deity of choice for help.

Three inches - "Holy crap! Will this never end? Good social order deteriorates; families collect at home and heavily arm themselves for what will assuredly be global panic. Home emergency supplies are dwindling.

Four inches - "We're out of cigarettes!" Warring bands of high school honor students reduce entire neighborhoods to rubble in some twisted battle of the brains competition. The VA pickup truck with the snowblade is feared lost in a snow bank.

There is no protocol for more than four inches – “Holy deity of choice, why do you hate us so?”

Some pictures from our weekend trip

2010-11-14T18:47:00.000-08:00

Well, it was a successful long weekend, fun was had by all, it was good to see everyone and we are glad to be home.

Amazing Race

2010-09-27T17:24:00.000-07:00

I was all ready to hate the beautiful volleyball players and the Home Shopping Network hosts, but darned if they didn't win me over in one episode. They were so nice to each other AND to the other teams too. And no whining either. The giggling fit about The Watermelon Incident was my favorite part of the show.

But surely anyone who goes on Amazing Race knows that you don't stop and help other teams. You say a quick thank you prayer that it is not you changing a tire, make an insincere offer of help and then move on...Those cute little a cappella boys better get their A game going.

And...

Are you a battlement?

And...

This is the first I have ever heard of Stonehenge.

And Mom's favorite...

The country of London.

...Tattoos...

Summer's End

2010-09-05T21:04:00.000-07:00

Well, Labor Day is the traditional official end of summer. We have autumn, with its birthdays and parent conferences and holidays ahead. But the kids have good memories of hot days with popsicles and toes in the pool.

Vacation food

2010-08-22T08:48:00.000-07:00

Here we are at Topolobampo in Chicago...trout escabeche, walleye veracruzano, sunfish ceviche, duck breast. I ordered a mango mojito that I didn't like and sent back and got a Goose Island Sofie beer instead.

But the hands down best thing we ate at Topo was the chocolate tart with goat cheese ice cream and homemade marshmallows with sea salt scattered on the plate. It's all about the salt...

This was the seafood salad we shared at a restaurant on the harbor in Trondheim.

We often ate back in our rooms. In Oslo we bought bread, chips, beer and that sweetish, soft, brown Norwegian cheese and were good for a couple of days.

Dried fish at the fish market in Bergen

I love my soft serve ice cream cones! This was an ice cream store on a corner tucked into the hilly, windy streets in Bergen.

After taking the ferry on the Sognefjord, we had an hour or so wait in Flam, so we had some pizza. This picture show the Burger Grill...hamburger meat shaped like a hot dog and served in a hot dog bun. I thought that was a great idea and intend to try it at home.

Spit roasted pork shanks at Haxenbaur in Munich.

Warm potato salad and wiener schnitzel in Salzburg.

Sacher torte at the Sacher Hotel in Salzburg.

Donnette and I really loved this dish of sauteed saurkraut and spaetzle at a restaurant in Fussen, the town below Neuschwanstein.

Our favorite German meal...pretzels and beer at the Chinese Tower beer garden in Englischer Garden.

We don't eat extravagantly when we are on vacation, but we managed to have some fun meals...from world famous to humble.

Sidewalk Art

2010-08-14T08:49:00.000-07:00

I started taking pictures of manhole covers in Spain when I wanted to remember how to spell the Spanish town of Sanxenxo. Since then I have noticed that they can be quite decorative, and every city has their own design. Some of these aren't exactly manhole covers, but they are in the sidewalk, so they count...I especially like the butterflies in the sidewalk in front of the Oslo train station. They are actual butterflies incased in resin.

Garmisch-Partikirchen

2010-08-08T09:53:00.000-07:00

Garmisch-Partikirchen was the perfect Bavarian village. It is a place we would love to go back to and spend time hiking in the Alps which rise over the city, shopping and eating and enjoying the Bavarian culture.

Our suitcases are waiting in the lobby of the Hotel Vier-jahreseitzen. This was the only mistake I made in all the travel plans. We arrived the day BEFORE we had reservations. But they were able to give us a room, so it all worked out.

See, the men really do walk around Bavaria in their lederhosen. And the women in their dirndls.

This was the view from our charming and very comfortable room. I am so glad we had a view of the Alps.

We found that the park in town was hosting a concert. The orchestra was very good and the man who was singing/reciting poetry was entertaining even though we couldn't understand him. I don't know WHY he wasn't speaking English...

This adorable little girl was enjoying an afternoon of culture with her grandma. The restaurant bordered the park and so we were able to sit and watch the concert. We realized later that the little girl's papa was playing in the orchestra.

I sipped a prosecco spitzer and Scott had a beer. I did not order the spitzer because it was orange.

The town was Sunday quiet. No stores were open. Until the soccer game, then the noise began.

Walking back to the hotel from the park we kind of got a little lost. So we got to see streets outside the tourist area.

The park with the band shell.

There were decorated cow sculptures all over town.

And...another boar. We didn't know about the myth of the Munich boar, so I am glad Scott rubbed his ear so we will go back one day. See the dirndls in the store window behind him?

Salzburg

2010-08-06T07:31:00.000-07:00

Salzburg's famous "skyline" with the castle on the hill above the city

We paid homage to Sound of Music and visited sites from the movie like this arbor

Gotta get the unicorn...

Another S of M picture...Can you picture Maria and the children?

Isn't Jaclyn a cutie?

Aren't Jay and Donnette cute?

The warm potato salad and schnitzel with beer was a perfect lunch

The main shopping street with the required iron signs and the old monastery on the hill

Mozart's birthplace

I bought decorated eggs here, for everyone! They are being shipped but haven't come yet....

The square in front of the palace

Cool sculpture, huh?

The cemetery behind the cathedral was beautifully kept up, lovely flowers and shrubs

The Sacher Hotel, where we had the famous Sacher Torte. It got mixed reviews from our group...It was not very rich and chocolatey, more like a chocolate spice cake. The hotel is very elegant.

Norwegian countryside

2010-08-03T20:07:00.000-07:00

After taking the train from Bergen we got on a bus that took us down the very windy road through the mountains, past waterfalls galore. It was very rainy, so the pictures are through the windows...

This is our quaint little narrow gauge train we rode after we got off the ferry.

A beautiful waterfall that the train actually stopped at so we could get out and take pictures. Then a woman came out onto the cliff in front of the water and sang a "siren" type song...very touristy, but fun...

So tidy and colorful

The bus stopped at a hotel in this valley to pick up anyone who may have been staying at the hotel perched on the steep cliff.

Still lots of snow in late June

One of many lakes high in the Norwegian mountains

Rock Creek Trip 2010

2010-07-31T09:46:00.000-07:00

The whole group: Scott, Jennifer, Aiden, Sam, Susie, Emma, Rachel, Leah, Ian and Hawthorne

Ian and Sam in a cave at Long Lake

Aiden untangling his line in the creek

Scott fishing at Long Lake.

I am taking a break from Europe and bringing you pictures from last week's camping trip to Rock Creek Lake. We were lucky to get our favorite campsites, #7 & 8 at Iris Meadow and the weather was cool but sunny for the Little Lakes Valley hike. Sam caught a fish in the creek, Ian and Scott each caught and released a fish, many games of Star Trek Uno were played by all.

Munich

2010-07-29T10:19:00.000-07:00

This is the glockenspiel at the Rathaus. Three times a day the carillon plays a tune for about 15 minutes and mechanical figures act out stories of knights jousting. it is a big tourist draw to the main pedestrian shopping area.

Donnette and I are rubbing the boar. It is something you must do in Munich. Donnette says that if you do you will come back to Munich. She rubbed it ten years ago, and here she was in Munich again so maybe it is true.

The concierge at the hotel recommended this restaurant for authentic German food. Pork knuckles cooked slowly on a spit over a wood fire. We found ourselves here at lunch time and so gave it a try. The meat was very good.

Here is our whole group!

Outside one of the cathedrals

Skeleton of a early martyr in the cathedral

The famous Hofbrauhaus

Scott and his beer

Donnette, Scott and I took a walk through the Englischer Garden one night. Pretty sunset picture, huh? It was great that our hotel was so close to the park, we really enjoyed walking in it.

Fussen and Neuschwanstein

2010-07-25T08:43:00.000-07:00

Hurdy gurdy man on the path to the Marienbrucke. He sang Shenandoah when he realized I was American. I love Shenandoah...

View of the beautiful countryside from the castle

The quintessential fairy tale castle, just like Sleeping Beauty's, taken from the Marienbrucke. There were hundreds of American tourists pushing their way on to the bridge so I just put my camera up and took a picture. This is what I got! Lucky I didn't end up in the ravine below.

The first order of business when we arrived in Fussen, the charming town where we caught the bus to Neuschwanstein, was to play in the fountain...the blocks on top of the pillars rotate freely from the pressure of the water. On a hot German day, wet feels good! Here are Jay, Kristen and Jaclyn.

The cute shopping street in Fussen with the castle on the hill behind.

Our first view of the castle

There was a long crowded line for the shuttle that takes you up the hill to the castle, so Scott and I, Tim and Kristen decided to walk up. It is a steep but very pretty hike through the forest, we followed the road taken by the horse drawn carriages so we had to watch where we put our feet!

This is another castle that is down below the famous Neuschwanstein.

Nymphenburg Schloss

2010-07-23T08:49:00.000-07:00

Our last day in Munich we spent at Nymphenburg Schloss, an extravagant palace with 3 square miles of grounds. Since it was the day of the Germany vs Argentina, there were very few people there and we could wander around as though we owned the place...The formal grounds behind the palace were very neat and tidy and I could imagine princesses in big gowns strolling along the well manicured paths. But it was too hot to walk in the sun when we were there....

The first little outbuilding we came to as we wandered the shady paths was this little Hexenhus, or Witches House. There was a playgroup of little naked toddlers playing in the small creek behind the house.

We bought tickets that allowed access to the Hunting Lodge, the Bath House, the Pagoda House, and the Chapel. But not the main palace. This is the hunting lodge, which was beautifully covered in ornate silver leaf and blue delft tiles. We had an interesting conversation with the ticket taker, who recited the California towns that have trees in their names: Redwood City, Thousand Oaks, Walnut Creek, etc. But he said, Hollywood does not count because holly is a bush not a tree.

Lots of swans, geese and ducks on the lake.

Signs were appreciated so we could find our way out.

The chapel interior was covered with shells, stones, and stalactites.

After we exhausted ourselves exploring we wanted to sit and have a beer or an ice cream, but nothing was open because everyone had closed to watch the soccer game. So we had to make do with buying an ice cream at the mini mart/ gas station and sitting on the sidewalk in the shade. The strawberry ice cream bar was SO good...

Munch

2010-07-22T08:23:00.000-07:00

We spent a LONG time in the cemetery in Oslo trying to find Edvard Munch's grave. It was a beautiful cemetery, but the map was hard to follow and when we finally found the grave, we were proud of our accomplishment. The biggest memorial in the cemetery was to martyrs from the Norwegian Resistance to the Nazi invasion in WWII. We saw memorials to the resistance martyrs all over Norway. This picture of Munch's headstone is a little strange because the picture looks just like his famous picture, The Scream. Here's what it looked like after I retook the picture.Mom thinks that our Norwegian family name was Madsen, not Matson.

More Bergen

2010-07-18T09:32:00.000-07:00

Our second day in Bergen was rainy, and we happened to see that there was a free organ concert at the cathedral, it seemed like a good idea to stay inside, and the concert was great, classical stuff, not modern like what we heard in Hallgrimskirkja in Reykjavik. Afterwards we did some walking, walked through the courtyard of the Leprosy Museum, but there didn't seem to be much inside so we didn't go in. We continued our hunt for wine in several grocery stores, which we never did find. I don't know where Norwegians buy wine and liquor, stores sell beer and only until 8:00pm. We also got on the free city circle bus, it just travels in a big loop through the city, to encourage people to park their cars instead of adding to the traffic by driving in the city proper. It took about an hour, and it was nice to just sit and watch the rain through the window...We did have an umbrella, courtesy of the hotel, a big red one, but it was so wide other pedestrians kept walking into it and poking themselves. And then giving me a dirty look, like it was my fault...There is a large, shallow lake in a park by the train station, we walked around it and watched the other tourists, mostly Italians from a cruise ship that was docked. Also lots of teenagers just hangin'.At the top of the hill in this picture you can see where the Floibanen ends up, the big white building is the restaurant on the plaza up there.

Floibanen Funicular, Bergen

2010-07-17T06:31:00.000-07:00

Mt. Floyen rises steeply behind Bergen and there are houses all the way up, perched on the hillside. This funicular takes tourists and residents up and down the hill.

This is a going down picture with Bergen and the fjord in front of us.

When you get to the top, there is a wonderful plaza of marble steps looking over all of Bergen, the harbor, the ships. This was still our first day in Bergen, the sunny day. We were so glad we went up when we did because the next day was drizzly, rainy, cloudy and foggy. We wouldn't have been able to see a thing from the top of the mountain. Since it was June 22 when we were there, we could see many bonfires starting up in the distance...a midsummer's celebration. We watched the Queen Mary 2 sail out to the ocean.

It looks darker in these pictures than it was in real life. The sky was dramatic and the water was so silvery and mirror like...

There are hiking trails all over the mountain, with lakes and picnic areas. We did not know that until we got back down, however. We did hike around some, but since we weren't sure where any of the paths led, we stayed close to the top.

Coming back down...

And at the bottom of the hill, McDonald's, Norwegian style.

Bergen part 1

2010-07-16T06:46:00.000-07:00

We loved walking around the quiet streets of Bergen on our first afternoon there, the sunny day! The tall white houses and cobblestone streets were full of charm. Our hotel, the Bristol, was in a great location, right on the main shopping plaza. We were able to walk right from the dock where we got off the Kong Harald after our Atlantic fjord cruise. It is a very easily walkable town; we only took a bus once in Bergen and that was just because it was raining and we didn't have anything else to do. The Hanseatic quarter was fun to explore. This is the original Bergen, settled by German sailors. It is full of tippy wooden buildings from the 1700's. This part of town has burned down 10 times, until all fires in houses were banned, there was a central outdoor kitchen that cooking was done at. Between our hotel and the Hanseatic wharf was the fish market, where they were selling coyote furs...And in the harbor were these three children, babies really, rowing around by THEMSELVES! Police would have called to such a scene in California.

Sverresborg, Trondheim

2010-07-15T06:37:00.000-07:00

At Sverresborg there was a ski museum. For my mother: Is he real or fake?

Sverresborg was started in the early nineteen hundreds when a fisherman who had been using this 16th century church as a storehouse asked the city of Trondheim if they would like it...they said yes, moved it on to some property at the edge of town and the museum was established. The site is where King Sverres built a fortress is the way back days, I think around 1000. The walls at the top of the hill overlooking the current city and harbor are still there...there were some masons clink clink clinking on the walls while we were there. Since the first church arrived, many other farm houses, barns, outbuilding, cabins, and a whole city square with stores and businesses have been placed on the park grounds. Some of them are open and furnished and you can go inside. They even have a "family" (actors) who are going about the daily life activities of a farm family. When we were there, there were two women in the kitchen making lunch on the wood stove: sausage patties, mashed beets, bread; a man out in yard making logs for a log building, and two children who came running when the lunch bell rang. In another little cabin, a young woman was making flatbread over the fire. She invited us to try some. It is made of rye and barley flour and water. It was tasteless, but as she pointed out, they usually eat it with soup or with butter or jam. She said they made it only twice a year, at Christmas and in the summer, and stored enough to last them for six months.

The little door in the wall under the fortress is, I am SURE, a troll house door.

Scott has his hand here on the stave, the upright corner post of the oldest stave church in Norway. It was built in 1017 as a Catholic church and was converted to a protestant church after the Reformation...in the late 1500's. Most of the wood is original, they impregnated it with pine pitch to preserve the wood, and it has lasted for 10 centuries! It is a small dark church, no windows or pews, not very inviting, but SO old...

We ended our fun day with a coffee in the museum coffee shop, just as a tour bus full of noisy, chattering Americans arrived. We had had the place to ourselves so we felt lucky and were reminded of why we like to travel on our own instead of with a tour group.

Oslo Operahuset

2010-07-14T06:03:00.000-07:00

When it finally stopped raining for awhile, after we parked ourselves in a bagel shop and took shelter from the downpour for an hour or so, we walked to the Opera House. It is all marble and it is designed to be walked all over, the ramps and roofs and plazas and patios are all accessible. Since it had been raining you would think that the marble would be slippery, but there are textures and grooves so it is quite pleasant to stroll around and climb on.

The Opera House sits right on the water and there is this cool sculpture in the harbor...a glacier? a ship?

From the top you have marvelous views of Oslo in every direction, the islands in the fjord, the modern city skyscape which is referred to as the Bar Code I guess because of the upright rectangular lines of the buildings, the green hills behind Oslo, and the old buildings and boats of the Bryggen.

There was a convention of surgeons in town when we were there and we saw them everywhere. Here they are having a meal in the Opera House restaurant.

Trains

2010-07-13T08:43:00.000-07:00

We rode lots of trains. I mean we rode LOTS of trains. We like to ride the public transportation in the new places we visit, as opposed to a tour because that way we are surrounded by the local people instead of other tourists. The down side of that is always being a little unsure if we are in the right place, does the the train stop where we need to go? Are we going in the right direction? Do we have the right tickets? And, we are often dragging suitcases up and down stairs and across streets. In Europe, train stations function as more than a place to catch a train. They are city centers, often a mini city in themselves. With shopping malls, restaurants, post office and banks, and 30+ tracks. So when you buy your ticket in the Munich station and have 10 minutes to catch your train, you find yourself running full speed with your wheelie suitcase dragging behind to find the right track and board before the train takes off. We made it every time. Thanks to Scott, we never missed a train.Our first experience of Chicago was the El...the elevated train. This picture was right downtown where we got off the blue line from the airport. We still needed to find our way to the hotel, so with the help of so many friendly Chicagoans, we found the bus that took us straight to our hotel at McCormick Place, the convention center south of the city.We had to take a picture of this cute little Thomas train at Navy Pier.Oslo's train station with the Tiger.Leaving Bergen for the first leg of the Norway in a Nutshell tour.Cute little girl looking out the train window in Norway.The narrow gauge train we took from the fjord village of Flam to Myrdal, high in the mountains, took us through beautiful country.Through the window of the cog wheel train we took up to Zugspitze.I'll be happy to get from place to place in my own car for a while...but I am glad we travel the way we do.

Cruising the fjords

2010-07-12T05:37:00.000-07:00

We cruised on two ships. First we took the Hurtigruten ferry, the Kong Harald, down the western coast of Norway. We didn't know what to expect so I was very excited when I first saw the ferry. It looked like a miniature cruise ship. We had a nice little cabin with a big window, a bath with a shower, and two comfortable beds for our one night onboard. There were lots of places to sit, inside and out, luxurious lounges and libraries and decks. We met a retired businessman from Florida, of course a conservative Republican, and had fun talking politics! Really, we did! It was the kind of civil discussion that I always wish I could have...He was a big fan of McCain, but also liked Clinton. Liked Bush for the first term, but was disappointed by his second term. There was no name calling or Limbaughesque emotional outbursts. He invited us to join his tour group, and introduced us to Matt, his Swedish group leader with whom we discussed capital punishment and serial killers. Also an interesting talk. The weather was drizzly the first day, but then we got up the second day and the sky was blue and the ocean sparkling. A couple of days later we took a ferry that traveled deep into the Sognefjord, the second largest fjord in the world and the largest in Norway. This was just a typical ferry, with bench seats. It was raining pretty good that day, so we mostly stayed inside during the couple of hours long trip. Slowly cruising past waterfalls, green green hills, picture perfect farms, lighthouses and villages.

World Cup Soccer (Fusball)

2010-07-11T09:42:00.000-07:00

Today, in honor of the World Cup Soccer championship game, I bring you soccer pictures. First, we ran into the Netherlands vs Japan game while we were at the Akershus in Oslo. It was rainy that day, and we were wandering around the Bryggen area by the harbor.There is an old, old castle, the Akershus, on the hill overlooking the harbor and Scott was excited by the stone and dirt walls. So we climbed up to the windy top and lo and behold, down below us was the soccer game on a big screen. There wasn't much of a crowd watching, probably because of the weather. And the fans seemed evenly divided between NED and JPN. Needless to say, the Dutch prevailed! I had to root for them because of their orange uniforms...!!! A French woman took our picture, telling us that the French team was no good this year....Then when we got to Munich, Jay and Donnette hadn't arrived yet, so we walked over to the Englischer Gardens and found the Chinese Tower beer garden. Which is basically thousands of green picnic tables around a kiosk selling beer and food. Many families were there, having birthday parties and other gatherings. We found a spot at a table where we could see the screen and Scott went and got us beer and pretzels. Pretzels big enough to slide on his arm so he could carry two beers! He had the 1 liter size Hofbrauhus and I went for the smaller Weiss (wheat) beer. The NED vs Slovakia game was on the big screen and although Slovakia lost, the Slovakian fans were happy that they scored a goal in the last seconds and the entire crowd was very good natured. I don't know if this video will play...but it is the sound of Garmisch celebrating with much honking and whistling after Germany beat England. We were back in our hotel room by then, I took this video looking out the window. What a pretty view of the Alps we had! Even though I am not a sports fan, being in Europe during the World Cup games was a lot of fun because it is a way to be a part of the local culture and not just a tourist. The enthusiasm was infectious...I think I even hooted back at a motorcylist who sped by honking, waving and holding a huge German flag aloft. We also watched the end of the Netherlands vs Brazil game from the very crowded beer garden, so crowded that the only place we could find to sit was behind a tree. I could see some of the screen by looking around a branch and Scott could see around the tree trunk. I had just as much fun people watching as I did soccer watching. There was a birthday party happening at the table next to us for a 3 or 4 year old girl. Can you imagine Emma saying she wants her birthday party at the beer garden to watch soccer? So today, we have Spain and Netherlands playing for the Cup...not a big deal here, but huge in the rest of the world. I am still rooting for Orange!

Zugspitze

2010-07-10T10:24:00.000-07:00

Today I bring you pictures from the top of the world. Well, not the top of the world, but the Top of Germany. Zugspitze is Germany's tallest mountain peak in the Alps and is just under 10,000 feet high. And we went there! And we stood on the top! And we looked down!!! First we took a train from our hotel in Garmisch, which was just leaving the station when we were buying our tickets, so the ticket seller ran us out to the track and held the train so we could get on. (The same thing happened to us in Norway!) The train tootles through the charming Bavarian countryside where cows wear bells, men wear leather lederhosen and green felt hats with feathers in them, balconies are abloom with flowers and firewood is stacked with a precision that Scott admired very much. Then we switched to another train, a cog wheel train to get us up the steep ascent. We know exactly how steep it was because Scott pulled out the iTouch and used the level app to tell us that the grade was around 14%. Very steep!

This is not quite at the top yet. We still need to get on a cable car to take us to the very top.

This is at the top.

The gold cross is at the summit. The lake is Eibsee, and that is where we then had to take the cable down to. The cable car was not scary. The platform at the top of the mountain, however, gave me butterflies in my stomach.You can see that I am holding onto the railing for dear life. So I don't fall off, or jump off, or even get PUSHED off.

Trolls

2010-07-08T06:43:00.000-07:00

Trolls live in Norway. Under bridges. Although they have a reputation for being cranky and unpredictable, the ones we saw were generally ugly but smiling. It was most surprising to see a real live troll on the ship we took down the coast. I had a hard time surreptitiously snapping a picture of him, so you'll just have to take my word for it that the white haired man with the big nose under the Norwegian flag was actually a troll in person.

Hot dogs

2010-07-07T07:13:00.000-07:00

I have decided it's time for the hot dog pictures. You may or may not be aware that we have a tradition of trying to eat a hot dog in every country we visit. Started by the famous Icelandic lamb hot dog. We have since discovered that hot dogs are a universal food...but what I call a hot dog may not be what you call a hot dog...a good example being the horrendous Scottish blob of meat on a stale hard bun and slathered with tasteless brown mustard. Which was actually the best thing about that meal.

Here I am eating a Swiss hot dog. We spent a few hours in Zurich on Sunday morning because of a long layover on our way home. There had been some kind of huge music festival the night before and an extensive clean up project was under way. Think New Orleans after Mardi Gras...smelled the same too, stale beer and piss and, well other things. Most of the food stands were just getting up and running for the new day, but this hot dog stand was open. The bun was a baguette that was cut in half and poked on a huge skewer, then the mustard was pumped in and the hot dog inserted. It made it easy to walk and eat. The hot dog was just a plain old ordinary hot dog. But the baguette bun was yummy.

Okay, here we are in Bergen Norway. I had read that the best hot dogs in Norway were at a little hot dog stand on Kong Oskars Gate (gah-tah...means street, not gate). We wandered around in the rain until we found it. Why do the best hot dogs come from little stands with no seats or cover? We stood under a store awning and ate these. What makes them special? These are the REINDEER hot dogs. I did have a creepy feeling of being under prancer's reproachful eye, but it didn't stop me. Especially since they were so GOOD! The hot dogs (polse) had a perfect snap to them and the mustard was good, even though it was brown instead of yellow...

This is the perfect Chicago hot dog, mustard and relish. Eaten at a table by the river. And it was NOT raining!

Chicago

2010-07-06T08:14:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed Chicago's architecture. I found out the night before we left that we could have taken a tour based on the book The Devil in the White City, given by the author of the book! Would have loved to see the places talked about in the book...maybe next time.

We stopped by the Wicker Park neighborhood on our way to the airport, walked around Beer Baron row (the fancy houses the beer money built) and ate tacos for dinner. This is the fountain in Wicker park.

From this view, the sculpture in Millenium Park looks like an eyebrow.

Norway: Can you name this place?

2010-07-05T07:52:00.000-07:00

These were taken on our first day in Norway, our little pensonyat was only a ten minute walk away. It was rainy.

Bavaria

2010-07-01T23:35:00.001-07:00

The trip is going well, eating and drinking well...lots of beer and beer gardens! Castles and trains and trains and trains...and churches. Home on Sunday.

Bergen

2010-06-23T06:27:00.000-07:00

We just checkedonto our nice modern hotel in Bergen. Scott was impressed because there is an umbrella hanging by the door for us to use. Of course this is the first place we have been where the sunis out. The boat ride down the fjords was beautiful and relaxing. Mary if you read this my advice is to bring some binoculors. There is so much to see as you slwly cruise past. Farms, boats, churches, villages... Now since the weather is nice we are going to explore Bergen acharming old city with brightly painted houses along the waterfront. Pizza for dinner tonight as it is the only way to eat an affordable meal...about $50 for a pizza...

2010-06-21T10:09:00.000-07:00

Today we went to Sverresborg. Like pioneer village but the Stave church they have there was built in 1171 and the wood is still holding it up! It was a catholic church until the reformation in 1530 something when it became Protestant. We had flatbread which was being cooked over fire by a young Norwegian girl. After a dinner in a restaurant last night that cost about 180$ we are back to bread and cheese from the storbuttik (supermarket). Even that was about $50 for bread cheese beer and chips. So is Norway expensive? Yes. We are looking forward to the boat trip down the coast and fjords tomorrow.

2010-06-20T11:26:00.000-07:00

We went to the frank Lloyd wright house in Chicago, the robie house. Great from the outside but dark and cold inside. Interesting tour though. In Oslo we saw the naked people statues in vigeland park and a naked man in the cemetery. Well actually hewasnt naked he just had NO pants on. We were looking for Munchs grave. Our pension was in a quiet street...until the French cultral center next door had a party last night. And since we are in the land of the midnight sun, we saw partyers leave in a taxi this morning when we got up! Ian we found your picture and took a picture, no posters available. Also saw The Scream of course just like the Mona Lisa , it is smaller than you would guess. And more colorful. That was one messed up dude. The painting was based on his own experience of no one noticing his desperation.
Today we took the train from Oslo to Trondheim with ascreaming baby behind us. So much for a peaceful trip! His parents did nothing to distract him. I wanted to take him for a walk or do itsy bitsy spider... Anything!! So glad when they got off after four hours!!! Very beautiful scenery, green and farms and colorful slate or sod roofed buildings and even some snow. Our hotel here is odd...it is associated with the hospital and it feels very much like a hospital room...nurse is on duty all the time and there are emergency pull strings all over. But free wifi so I guess it will do. Oh Mom I found a grave of Madsens in Oslo and took a pic.
We are wearing all our warm clothes. Even though there is some sun here today it is cold . We have been rained on every day but only in Chicago did we get drenched...and we even had the umbrella!!!
I'll try to writemore tomorrow

2010-06-19T01:30:00.000-07:00

We are in Oslo. Scott is in line to get our tickets. i just wrote a whole page and it is gone. so just know we are having a good time. ill try to write more later.

2010-06-16T15:45:00.000-07:00

I found free wifi at the wAter tower . Yesterday it poured on us!we thought it would be a good idea to take a walk along the lakke. We did bring an umbrella and a poncho but we were about a mile from the hotel when we heard thunder and then it really dumped on us with no shelter anywhere. We did talk to nice friendly people...a man walking a huskyix who said he should have brought shampoo and washed the dog! And a fishean hoping for white bass or perch but ok with rock cod. The hotel has a laundry room, so we were able to dry everything we were wearing while we ate a burger and drank a beer. Lunch was great today at Topo. Had Goose Island beer and a SO good choco tart and walleye and duck and trout and sunfish cebiche.

Test

2010-06-13T16:30:00.000-07:00

Just making sure that I can post on my blog using the iPod. It's hard to type and I don't know where we will have wifi access. And of course we won't be able to post pictures until we get back unless we find a computer that will allow us to download pictures

SF

2010-05-25T07:16:00.001-07:00

Pictures from SF

2010-05-25T07:14:00.000-07:00

Aiden loves Carina

2010-05-11T18:21:00.001-07:00

why I can't watch TV tonight

2010-05-01T17:08:00.000-07:00

It all started when we moved the couch into the back room so we could move the table into the front room. Then the apple green couch didn't go with the turquoise green walls, so we had to paint the back room. But because it was such a bright color, painting it is a big project involving primer. We got a late start because Ian showed up at Home Depot while we were there buying paint looking for a ride since he had dropped off his Suburu at Protech and when we stopped at the thrift store to drop off some bags that I have been meaning to get rid of for WEEKS Ian found a golf club he needed to buy, which meant we had to go inside the thrift store. We looked at beer glasses and books and DVD's and soup tureens, buying all of them, and finally got home. Then we had to eat lunch. So it was 1:00 before we started painting and there was lots of cutting in to do and the walls are rough and hard to paint. Scott is tired, so we will finish tomorrow after the Good Shepherd 50th anniversary party. In the meantime...no TV for me.

Ranch in Glennville

2010-04-20T20:02:00.000-07:00

We were so lucky to have beautiful warm weather on Saturday for the the reunion of the the jury. Not too many were able to make it, but the fun surprise was to see the bailiff. He did such a good job of babysitting us. He couldn't wait to tell me how the judge mentions me, every day!, in court when he gives the jury instructions about, yep, NOT BLOGGING about the trial.

Why my job is never boring....

2010-04-08T20:30:00.000-07:00

Occasionally I like to just let the kids talk because it is amusing to see where the stream of conscious conversation among 7 year olds goes. Here is verbatim what was said during our reading group time yesterday.
"Draw two pilgrims and a turkey." (This was the line in the story that Eli read.)
Eli looks up: "I feel like turkey."
Elinor: " I have two baby turkeys at home. I get to hold them in my hands."
pause
Elinor: " They go poop in my hands."
Eli: "My grandma's dog wipes his butt on the carpet."
Elinor: "Turkey poop stinks."
Eli: "You should smell my grandma's dog!"

I swear this is exactly what they said.

Talent Show

2010-04-06T18:57:00.000-07:00

We had a little talent show in the classroom on the day before Easter vacation. Or, should I say, Spring Break. We just did it for each other, didn't invite parents so it was low key and lots of fun. I had the kids sign up on the board.

2010-04-05T16:40:00.001-07:00

Got Carina all settled in at HealthSouth, a rehab facility to allow her to get intensive physical therapy.

School today

2010-03-04T16:39:00.000-08:00

One of Scott's students was reading with the reading aide and they came to the word, wastebasket. The aide noticed a vacant look on the student's face, so she asked, "Do you know what a wastebasket is?" The answer?
"I think it is something you wear around your waist and put things in."

Then...
One of Mary's students had a problem at recess today, which I couldn't solve for him. Or maybe, I just wouldn't. He explained that he forgot to tie his shoe. And... it just FLEW off. Right onto the school's roof. I was on yard duty, but I was not going to climb up and get his shoe. Mary sent him home with one shoe off, one shoe on. Just like the nursery rhyme.

Pastry or dogs?

2010-02-18T16:32:00.000-08:00

Spelling really is important. My top student wrote this sentence yesterday: "I ate toast instead of a beagle." A lot less furry, I think.

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T09:17:00.000-08:00

I got a box of See's from Scott. Yay! I have already eaten the scotchmallow. Those of you who don't think marshmallow, caramel and chocolate are perfect are living an empty life. Scott said he wanted to get me an iPhone or iPod, but truly, I would rather have See's. The only problem I have is WHAT TO DO WITH THE FANCY RED HEART BOX. It looks very pretty, but when you are done with the candy, the box is too pretty to just throw away, and yet it is not really a practical size or shape or store things in. So, everyone, give me ideas...what to do with an empty heart box...

Letter writing an obsolete skill?

2010-01-24T09:24:00.000-08:00

I caused quite a stir in the teacher's lounge the other day when I shared the light bulb of inspiration that had illuminated my poor little archaic brain earlier in the day in the classroom. One of our most worked on and most emphasized writing standards in second grade is writing a friendly (as opposed to business) letter. You know, that piece of writing from one person to another on a carefully chosen stationery, then slipped into an envelope, stamped, driven to the post office and personally delivered by postman to the cherished friend. The students I am teaching, I realized, would probably never use this skill of writing a letter. They don't need to know the five parts: date, greeting, body, closing and signature. Because they call, they email, they text, they twitter and they, yes, blog! But they don't write on paper. I used to love roaming the aisles of the local stationery store, thoughtfully considering the choice of stationery, sealing wax, and pens. But now the kids wallpaper their cell phones, and put badges and widgets on their social networking pages. Teaching them to write letters is like teaching them how to look up information in an encyclopedia. Obsolete! But we do still teach it, and we teach them how to look things up in an encyclopedia, even though no one even owns an encyclopedia (how proud I was to be able to spell that word in second grade!) We should be teaching them about privacy settings and how to edit in html and all kinds of other things that I don't even know that I should be teaching them. Maybe it's me that is obsolete...

Thanks, Marc!

2010-01-01T19:39:00.000-08:00

I finally got to see Marc's pictures from Spain and Portugal. I love this picture he took of the three of us in Seville from 2007.

Pictures from Sunnyvale

2009-12-27T19:07:00.000-08:00

Aiden enjoyed visiting with "my Grannie".

Pay attention! she said to herself.

2009-12-27T17:29:00.001-08:00

Once again I posted on Outrage when I meant to post on Orange. So if you are curious about what I spent my afternoon doing, you'll have to go to Daily Outrage.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

2009-11-20T15:19:00.000-08:00

This is what one of the first grade classes said about turkey. Sam of the turkey feathers is our Sam. And what is that red berry stuff anyway?

Maxwell: Eat turkey with pancakes. You can use pancakes if you’re out of biscuits. You pick up both sides of the pancake and
eat it when it’s only a few minutes old that way it’s still hot. The turkey can be older though.

Melissa: I like to eat turkey with gel. My mom cooks it. It takes a bunch of time, then it’s time to eat. First, put some water and a little milk and shake it with the turkey, and it’s all done.

Lilia: I just like it normal. My dad makes dumpling soup, that’s good, too. But I usually just like normal turkey.

Ariana: I just use one hand. It’s ok to eat the turkey with your hands, but not the other stuff.

Jakob: You can eat turkey legs with a side of stuffing. You have to open the legs and stick the stuffing inside. There’s a hole there for that. It gets messy. Mashed potatoes and corn go good with turkey, but they shouldn’t go in the stuffing hole.

Dylan: First, you cram stuffing inside the turkey while the turkey is still pink and soft. When it comes out of the oven, it will be hard and brown. That’s when it’s OK to eat it without throwing up.

Valerie: I like to slice it and give it lots of gravy. Make sure the dog hair is picked off before you put it on the table. SPAM is good with turkey, too. You can make sandwiches. Leave it cold and use lettuce. (Yes, she said SPAM ).

Robyn: Put lots of gravy on it, but don’t spill it on the good tablecloth. That’s a good way to make your turkey not good. I don’t like the good tablecloth.

Victoria: Make your potatoes like a volcano. Make them like a mountain with a hole in the top, then put the turkey and gravy inside the volcano hole. You can decorate it with corn if you’re really good, if not, you just pour the corn into the volcano, too.

Yasmine: You get a little bit of gravy and a little bit of corn. If you get too much, they will touch each other. It’s not good if it touches each other, but you have to eat it anyway.

Sam: Kill it, bake it, eat it with a fork. Save the feathers so you can play turkey chase with them. The turkeys will think you are a real turkey if you wear them, until you get close enough to scare them.

Matthew: First, I cut my turkey open and shove an onion in its hole. Grandma can put pineapple rings on it so it will taste good. When the house smells good, it’s time to eat it, but take the onion out first. You don’t want to eat it, it looks all brown,

Eric: Cut off their legs and eat them with gravy and mashed potatoes. You can make a bowl out of the mashed potatoes to hold the gravy and then dip the turkey legs inside before eating them. They have handles.

Miguel: Get a knife and kill the head. Bake it in the oven for 10 minutes. Eat it with red berry stuff. If you wear a white shirt they make you wear a bib like a baby, so DON’T wear that. What is that berry stuff made of?

Madison: My mom cuts off his arms – puts it in the oven- pours hot butter on it, and lots of pepper. The pepper looks like the turkey has freckles. Cranberry sauce makes your turkey look pink. Pink turkey is good.

Brianna: Put it in a pan, but only after it doesn’t have feathers. Take it out and put it on a big plate. Cut it. Take out the neck thing first. It looks like a snake. Daddy chases mommy with it. It’s sick.

Tony: Put it in the microwave. Wait for it to cool off. Eat it.

Damaris: Bake it without the bag of gooey stuff. Wait ‘til it’s hot, then eat it. Dogs can have the gooey stuff bag, unless your uncle is there. He likes that stuff. He said it puts hair on his chest. I will never eat that. I don’t want to have hair on my chest. He has lots. I think he should stop eating it, too.

Carla: Cook the turkey until it’s brown. If you wait too long, the house will get filled up with smoke and the alarms goes off. You can use lots of gravy on black turkey, but you don’t need as much if it’s only brown.

Sean: Mommy makes a hole with a butter knife and shoves the stuffing inside of it wither hands. It makes funny noises. Sometimes she gags. Stuffing is made of stuff. Set it out on the table, but you have to cook it first. It takes about a hundred hours. Then you have to dig the stuffing out of the turkey holes. It looks gray, but it tastes good.

Maria: What’s turkey?

Chris: First, they have to chop off its head. Then they stick it in a baggie, then in a pan. If there’s any feathers on it, they didn’t do it right and you should take it back to the store. If it has a head, you should take it back, too.

Jazen: Turkey is best when you smash it up with all the other stuff on your plate. You need a lot of gravy to make it all stick together.

Amy: If you are lucky, and don’t have any brothers, you can get the drumstick. If you lick it before they cut it off the turkey they will give it to you.

Daniel: If you just put the turkey in the oven and leave it there, it will be ready when you are ready for it. They take a long time to be ready. You have to start with the kind that doesn’t have a head. I don’t know where those come from. The turkeys I saw at the pumpkin patch all had heads and eyes and feet.

Stephanie: I like turkey best when I get to have corn and potatoes. I don’t like that green stuff my aunt makes. It has chunks in it.

Happy birthday, Mickey!

2009-11-18T16:04:00.000-08:00

This is what Savannah wrote in her journal today. It made me smile, so I thought it might make you smile too! The spelling is hers...and it really is Mickey's birthday!

"11-18-2009
Today is Mickey Mouse’s birthday. I will invite Mickey and Ploodoe and Dolnold and the girll duck. The food I will bring is nochos and sodu and sallid and dip. The party is going to be at Disneyland. The games we are going to play is molpoly and ckendey land. The decorations is going to be sporkoles and flowyers and a sing said Happy Buirthday!"

2009-11-07T08:41:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox photobook

The good grandma and the bad grandma

2009-11-03T15:56:00.000-08:00

Halloween was crazy and fun with all these kids. When we got home to eat dinner, the doorbell rang. Guests! Aiden shouted. More guests! All five costumed trick or treaters flew off their stools to go see the guests and hand out candy. Which was more fun than getting candy, apparently.

Rock Collection

2009-09-26T07:04:00.000-07:00

So Tyler comes up to me yesterday and tells me that Reed has a rock in his pocket. ( That would not be tattling, Tyler would tell you, because it is TRUE). Before I even have a chance to say anything, Reed denies that he has a rock in his pocket, a sure sign that he does indeed have a rock in his pocket. It is the end of the day at the tag end of the week, when children tend to get in trouble anyway, so I ask for Reed's rock. He tells me that he didn't pick it up outside, (which would be against the school rules) it is part of a rock collection. Can I please see it? I would love to see a rock from a rock collection. So he digs out a smooth little piece of granite and hands it to me. And recognizing that he is danger of losing his rock, he starts explaining.
I bought it. It was a special sale on rocks, the second one is FREE!
I tell him that he probably shouldn't BUY any more rocks, and put it on my desk where it stays until the end of the day when he takes it home with him.
He is a quick thinker, that little Reed.

It is so much fun to smilebox

2009-09-12T18:30:00.001-07:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Make sure you watch the video at the end. And you can click on the pictures to make them bigger.

If Rachel can do it, then so can I

2009-09-01T18:09:00.000-07:00

;

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Summer is over, but we sure had fun!

2009-08-15T17:28:00.000-07:00

I don't know how little Rachel can hike with Emma on her shoulders like this. She is stronger than she looks!!
Ian caught 3( and kept 2) fish from this rock in the creek by our campsite.
Aiden on the trail.

Fun with Photo Booth

2009-08-12T10:50:00.000-07:00

Summer with the kids

2009-08-07T14:31:00.000-07:00

All the kids, except Sam who was sulking about something. In a few minutes more it would be Aiden who was sulking. I had to wait while Aiden sat with his back to the trail, in a fine full-figured snit. He eventually got up and hiked happily a long ways up the trail, but everyone coming back down the trail make a comment like, "Oh, so he is happier now?"
Emma and our wonderful next door neighbor Katelyn on the porch.
No explanation needed. Except...how is it that Emma, the dirty faced angel, has a clean face while eating bubble gum ice cream with gummy bears? (I know. Ick.)

Another pilgrimage to Rock Creek Lake and beyond

2009-08-01T09:13:00.000-07:00

We had some rain, thunder and hail...but no downpours

Aiden and I hiked up past Box Lake and took this picture to prove it!
The kids had a blast playing in the cold water here where the creek flows into the lake. And the men (and Sam) had a blast fishing.

Santa Tecla, Spain

2009-07-24T06:32:00.000-07:00

Santa Tecla, neolithic ruins of a village of over 3,000 high on a mountain above A Guarda, Spain. You can see the blue of the Atlantic at the top of the picture. On the very top of the mountain there is a viewpoint, along with cafes for ice cream, coffee and beer and stalls selling souvenirs. I was a bit bemused to see a topless witch who laughs when you walk by (think Big Lots Halloween decorations) hanging on a broomstick in one of the stalls. I suppose the connection being pagans...witches. Sonrisa thought that it made sense...

more pictures

2009-07-16T14:25:00.000-07:00

Scott took this picture in Guimaraes, Portugal. It was a little rainy that day, but we had to walk up hill to the castle, so the weather was perfect. By the afternoon, it was warm enough that I had a Cornetto, soft ice cream while the other three had coffees. That was our habit...
Scott and Marc on the walk beside the harbor in A Guarda. Our restaurants and tapas bar were right here at this end overlooking the water and our hotel, the San Benito convent, built in the 1500's, was at the other end. We loved it here.
Marc and Sonrisa having a brandy in the hotel bar after dinner.
Sunset in A Guarda

a few vacation pictures

2009-07-13T15:22:00.000-07:00

Cool scary carving at the Pena Palace, Sintra, Portugal
Bouganvillea, Lisbon
Boston...the wharf by the Constitution, which we did not get to visit because it was closed

2009-07-10T07:20:00.000-07:00

Yep, he's definitely two. After two days of being so good for grandma and grandpa, Alex reverted to his typical two-year old behavior last night at the restaurant with his mom. (Note: very often we see that kids are good at school all day every day and act like brats when they get home, I theorize that it's because they feel safe enough at home to Let It All Out!).

Lacey said "I think that it's time to G-O." Alex said "Nooo G-O!"

Then Lacey said, "You must hold someone's hand in a parking lot. That's non-negotiable."

Amd Alex said, "Noooo gotiable!!!"

He was actually pretty good...not as bad as Sam and Aiden were in restaurants at this age...

Porto, Portugal

2009-07-08T05:19:00.000-07:00

Scott snapped this great picture from the boat we took on the Douro River. We enjoyed a short hour long cruise, but they have longer ones, all the way up to 8 day cruises. The Douro River is the "highway" to ship the port from the vineyards up river to the caves, where the port is bottled and shipped out, in Porto. The house we rented was an hour drive up the river from Porto and from our veranda we watched big cruise ships slowly drift by. Porto is a very hilly city, a lot like San Francisco. The houses are as old as they look. The Portuguese seem to like the peeling plaster, rusty iron, loose tile look. In America, we try to replicate it, in Portugal, it is the real thing.

Boston ghosts

2009-07-05T14:39:00.000-07:00

OK....

So I was just going through our pictures from the trip and I got to this one. This is in front of the old State House, on the Freedom Trail.

Do you see what I see?

Hmmmm, I thought, there are no street vents that would make steam here, it is in the middle of the intersection. No fog...I took many pictures before and after this one and there are no smudges on the lens of any of them. So what is that wispy cloud behind Scott?

Scott, I say, I think we took a picture of some Boston ghosts.

I saw that too, he says, you know where that is?

Yeah, in front of the old State House...

No, the exact spot...there is a brass plaque on the curb there memorializing the...

Boston massacre!

I swear, this is the truth, I did not doctor this picture in any way. And I swear that I see the shape of a soldier holding a gun and wearing a tricorner hat...Don't you?

Dinner in A Guarda, Spain

2009-07-02T16:55:00.000-07:00

I have lots more pictures to show you, but this will have to do for now. This was our last night, in the unique and beautiful town of A Guarda, also known as LaGuardia. This is in the northernmost part of Spain, on the Atlantic coast, which was settled early on by the Celts. They speak a language there, Gallego, which has Celtic influences. There are some very cool looking ruins of a old Celtic village on a mountain above the town, Santa Tecla. They look like Hobbit houses, perfectly round walls and thatched roofs. You can see the harbor behind us, and a bit of the town built up on the hills. It reminded me a bit of Iceland, the way the houses are brightly colored and appear to be stacked on one another above the harbor. This is where we stayed in the old San Benito convent. http://www.hotelsanbenito.es/ was a lovely hotel decorated with 16 and 17th century antiques. We made friends with the owner of a tapas bar, his name was Pedro, but we called him Senor Tranquillo. He brought us plates of olives, tortilla patata, bread, and made a delicious pitcher of sangria for Sonrisa and me. We noticed women and girls in traditional clothing walking by and finally asked where they were going. He explained that there would be a parade and a show. Sure enough, a little later, the bagpipes and drums and many dancers from all over, paraded down the walkway where we were sitting and collected in the plaza behind our convent. Sonrisa took some video, it was fun to watch all the groups do their particular dances. It was not a tourist thing, it was the local people celebrating their traditions, all ages and from all over northern Spain and Portugal. We felt lucky to have stumbled on it...

from \porto portugal

2009-06-26T07:21:00.000-07:00

\\\\\i have been having a hard time figuring out how to type on a portuguese keyboard and blog. but somehow it just switched to english. we have noticed that farrah fawcett and michael jackson have died, but that is all that we know about what is happening at home. \i haven't been able to get any pictures from my camera. now my camera is full...oh no, a crisis! hopefully one that will be solved soon. so you'll have to wait until we get home to see the amazing pictures we have taken so far. we do like portugal. Twice we have asked for directions, only to have the man jump into his car and lead us through the narrow, twisty streets up and down the back alleys, and front alleys, to deposit us exactly where we wanted to be. \just like on amazing race. when they are being lucky. tomorrow we leave the house and head north, up to spain which really isn't very far. \marc and scott are anxious to be in a place where they can communicate. we have gone wine tasting, port tasting and my personal favorite...pastry tasting. we have made pests of ourselves at the local pingo doce supermarket trying to figure out what the various meats, etc are...scott and marc are having a cafe now while sonrisa and i do our computer thing. i think that it is time to go...\\\i probably won't write here again until we get home...Wednesday\\-

Itinerary

2009-06-11T10:15:00.000-07:00

People are having trouble opening our itinerary so in brief here it is. It is also posted on our refrigerator, with phone numbers.

June 12, 13 Pt Hueneme

June 14-16 Boston, Omni Parker Hotel

June 17-18 Lisbon, Residencial Florescente Hotel

June 19 Somewhere in Evora

June 20-27 Casa Dos Penedos, on the Douro River, northern Portugal

June 27, 28 ?

June 29 Oporto, Hotel Pedras Rubras

June 20 Hacienda Hotel, LAX

July 1 HOME

We will have Scott's phone with us, for emergency calls only. Don't call. We will also have his iTouch and can pick up email.