CHRISTMAS 2018

   This year is exceptionally busy and my internet time stayed at an all time low. As I type my grandkids are playing downstairs with their  parents so I just took a moment to post a small update.
Christmas Eve will be at our home and we shall have an early dinner followed by gift sharing as the kids leave Christmas Day to be at the  inlays.
    Luckily they left UK before the drones took over Gatwick Airport halting so many planes and preventing folks from a pleasant trip to be with families. We are blessed they made it by coming a week sooner. 
   In November Buddy , hubby and I were in Vancouver B.C. where we managed to go to a Christmas Market while touring other sights too.
Buddy loved all the hustle and bustle at the market.

My favourite photo was this following, a large box of lights.

   May all of you enjoy your special time of the year. We know from past posts each of you will be celebrating in your own different ways. May it be full of joy and happiness.
MERRY CHRISTMAS 

Trump Putin and Money

As many of you are heading to polls if they let you or even if you mail in a ballot do not underestimate the unfortunate push to make votes not be counted or even go missing as the democracy of the current western countries is not without criminal messing.
The book by Unger has confirmed my suspicion for years. Putin is playing with the USA as well as Europe. 
I can only hope that the evil going on can be stopped by a united effort to stop Trump from further lies. He is not fit as the man to hold up the laws nor the military. 
Will NOVEMBER 6 be his downfall? The USA deserves better. Dictators have an evil way to create blind followers. Trump has many of them.
I am not American but I am an immigrant in Canada as the result of WWll and I have heard my family speak of how many Germans were duped by an evil leader. Once in power that man gradually made life hell all over Europe, even causing the Canadians and Americans a fierce battle off their shores, loosing many.
Back then Russia also played tricks. The evil leader switched sides to help defeat Germans but then took more than the fair share of the bounty changing many borders to be part of his property and that evil man continued a dictatorship that led to the cold war. It ended  Nov. 9,1989. That was a time when hate lost. But it needs constant reminders or it resurfaces. 
Today Russia still has issues. The leader controls freedom of speech and uses propaganda to have control. Putin has taken wealth and power.
Trusting Trump would include trusting Putin and all the illegal funds flowing between them. 
Trump never disclosed his source of income for a reason.
Powerful reading. 

Our Tour August 2018

Finally I was able to post photos. Above is a castle as viewed from the Rhine boat cruise between Rudesheim and St.GOAR.

The Dome in Cologne was super interesting and I have many pics but here is an  unusual angle shot. The Done is again getting a reno. 

Buddy is standing in the town square in Frankfurt on the Main.

Here is an old castle in Lauf Germany where we stopped for lunch after leaving Prague and heading to Frankfurt.

Prague is viewed from the Moldau perspective  There are pics of the castle and cathedrals too but I chose a water scene.

This is at the town square in Prague. We had one day to tour the city on our own the day before our larger group EU tour and we opted for a couple of hours by cab with a driver who spoke some English. He showed us places more dear to locals than our official tour guide that followed the next day. it was worth experiencing the city the cab way.

The Dresden Hauptbahnhof is getting a huge make over for bullet trains to run between Dresden and Prague to cut down travel time between to countries. This is a joint venture and it will be ready soon. EU is transforming in many ways. 

Buddy stands at the foot of a castle and winery just outside Dresden where we stayed in a lovely resort. It was great to do some rural touring too.

Our trip began here in Berlin on August 6. Buddy is sitting on he roof top restaurant where we enjoyed a fantastic breakfast overlooking the city. the day was hot but fabulous. Berlin was the place hubby asked to see. Our hotel was right in the heart of the fancy shopping district. He took a few hours to explore his favourite brands and only bought one outfit on sale. For him that took some self restraint.

In Berlin we also rented a cab for a personal city tour and our driver was very impressive showing us more than a tour bus might have. The cab's AC was much needed on this day as Berlin hit record high temperatures. In the distance is the old St.Nicoli church. 

Buddy is wearing his Marvel T-shirt at the Brandenburg Gate, one of the many stops our cab driver made possible.

This piece of architecture is around the area of the Gate and was located to the east. Berlin is now thriving after the reunification.

As you can see my photos follow no sequential order and I did not care today.My main aim was to reconnect my blog to photos and that goal was met. I shall try to share more soon.

PS. Our hearts go out to all who are now stuck in the horror of hurricane Michael. We send you our positive vibes.

Happy Thanksgiving 2018

   

  Today is our Canadian special harvest holiday and so I searched to find at least one photo that would let me post. The yummy rhubarb slice was served to me while in a lovely resort like hotel outside of Dresden on our August tour around the EU ending in the UK to spend more time with our little grandkiddies. Buddy and I stayed an extra three weeks and got royal tours of two castles , a manor and the seaside at Brighton. 

   I wish I could post more photos but my devices currently seem not to allow much likely because of some setting for sharing? Anyway I must say we three had a dream come true tour and I am ever so grateful for choosing Prague where my parents were married and much history was made along with many other well known places like Berlin, Paris, Cologne and Amsredam. ‘Wow’ is what Buddy had to say a lot and hubby was thrilled to be sitting on a boat on the Moldau and seeing Smetana’s tomb along with other Czech composers and then floating along the German Rhine past many castles and the famous Lorelei spot. 

   As we age all is harder but we still have the good fortune to try to learn and see whatever we opt for and that sure is a blessing.

Time Away

  How fast July passed. We had numerous birthdays and a sudden critically ill relative so we were rather busy,We did squeeze in a couple of days to spend time in Stratford to see three fantastic productions including a very unique version of Coriolanus by Shakespeare.  The use of our modern technology was very well applied to make the play seen totally relevant for today’s younger crowd, Comedy of Errors is always fun to experience up close in the smaller Studio Theatre. The costumes were rather unique but fun and transgender actors played well
 And we thoroughly loved To Kill A Mockingbird as too. We always stay a night or two when we go so we can enjoy the gardens and shops too. Being three to a room we find the Arden Hotel just right. I even made use of their pool and hot tub the morning of our departure day,

  Later today we leave behind out city and head off on an adventure in Europe. We’ll fly to Berlin where they are having an awful heat wave from winds of Africa, We will tour Berlin , Leipzig and Dresden till the 12 th and head for Prague to join our first ever tour group for the next 11 days, Since the tour ends in London of course we’ll stay a bit with our kids too.

While away who knows if blogging will fit in,  I shall try. I will be away till September 18, With my failing vision I hope to experience all I can while I can, Buddy is excited. 

PS No photos this time as my app is not working on my iPad.

Family Ties in CHUR

On June 8th I took a long weekend trip from UK by air to see my paternal cousin who lives in Switzerland. He is a couple of years my senior. The photo of us was taken on the 9th when we toured the mountains in his Prius.

 You can see his patio umbrella and one view overlooking Chur.He had his recent house built up the side of a mountain and one gets a 180 degree view all around.

 Having left his lovely home he took me all over into the local mountains. Arose is so close that the train for the ride up starts in Chur close to his place. I took it several times on other visit.

 We stopped for drinks at this cute family operated railway stop pub. Grandma and grandpa were in charge that week. Kids went on holidays. It was fun chatting with them.

 It is of interest to know that the river Rhein has it's origin i these valleys. Thee is an upper and lower Rhein.

                                    

 In contrast with many old churches found around Chur he took me to a super modern one known as Die Drei Grossen Steine, the three big rocks. It looked airy and roomy inside.

 And being seniors we enjoyed an afternoon watching old-timers race old cars wearing vintage clothes. The bonus was the weather allowed for an air show of three very old small aircraft to do some cool fly overs roaring in completion with the cars. The car route was in part along this lake.

 I was blessed with awesome weather upon my arrival and we ate our final lunch on the balcony with the view of Chur.

 I was very happy to reconnect with him now. While I just had a new granddaughter one of his granddaughters will shortly arrive in London for a Masters's class in violin at a famous music college. Then she will spend time getting to know my daughter and the wee ones. So cool!~!
My grandpa and my cousin's grandma were siblings born around 1890. They grew up in Sudetenland now the Czeck Republic. I got goosebumps when I think of how generations evolve. 
What about you?

Precious

  How tiny we are as we enter our life‘s journey and how little we recall of those very early years. Yet looking down on this little life with all my wrinkles and many years I am struck with awe. Generation after generation has led to this moment. I cannot imagine this baby‘s future. Many before me have said the same words. Time together is most precious.

P.S. It is her first day in our world.

Arrivals

Spring finally made it’s way into our area May 22 when these blossoms appeared. For our area that is quite late. But of course what arrives next is extreme heat and storms. That is our forecast for today.
Today is also my little sis’s BD. I recall her arrival in the 50:s vividly. She is a born Canadian.

My SIL shares a BD with my sis. Happy times as they came to my place to have fun.

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July marked the arrival of grandbabe in my sister’s arms first BD and Buddy’s. It was held at SIL’s house up by Lake Simcoe and kids went kayaking before heading nack to UK.
In three days I head to UK for the next grandbaby’s arrival. I hope to arrive before baby but it is getting very close as daughter is having some prelabour symptoms.
And for the first time Buddy and hubby will follow me two weeks later. I pray for their safe arrival. I shall try to stay calm during all this. It is hard.
Arrivals can be both fun and stressful.

OLD TECHNOLOGY REVIVED

    Friday May 4th a powerful 110km wind howled through our area and knocked down trees and created huge power outages. The above photo is a candle on my highboy reflecting a bit off the photo of my three childres' collection. It was past 9pm and I retreated to my room to listen to an old walkman that I had in a nearby drawer. All it needed was fresh AA batteries and I had those too. I had intended to gift the walkman to a Cuban but it never left my drawer. It is pictured below. It needed headphones to pick up reception and to listen to anything. No built in speakers came with that model. It was also useful for playing and recoding tapes. I still have a few the kids made.

   It was a comfort to listen first to a thought provoking talk prgram and then to a comedy channel that presented jokes from comedians 
dating back to my youth, names like Jack Benny and Dudley Moore. By 10pm I had had enough so I removed my ear buds , switched off the battery supply and blew out the candle. After a few moments I  drifted into a deep sleep.

     In the morning I awoke to a silent house and I realized it was still   power is out . UGH!!! So I decided I needed to search for a transistor radio with speakers to listen to programs. With no power a bit of radio news and music would be pleasant. I soon found one. Although it was last used in 2013 the battery was still good. 

I just had to post pictures of my old devices that I once marvelled at and thought were once very high tech. LOL

What is remarkable is that these items were returned to us after a house fire 10 years ago. They had survived and were still in good working condition when I unpacked them from the boxes of saved stuff put together by the insurance people.(We are still waiting for money for the fire damage though!)

I used to have that transistor in the last photo on my classroom desk over 35 years ago to play classical music while my pupils did their math work. They enjoyed the background music.

Saturday afternoon we went to hubby’s office to charge our devices for the upcoming day. We stayed a bit and watched streaming videos while hubby did his thing. At 7pm we headed home. Since our gas worked using a match we were able to heat water and food. We had candle jight dinners both nights.

Our power finally came back that evening around 9:30 pm after we had relit the candles. Of course we took time to watch a bit of TV.

    Since the weather was cool our food in the freezer and fridge remained safe enough to be consumed. We were spared losses. Others were not so lucky.

Do you have any of your old tech around that still works?

What a Pattern

Buddy and I were amused at the way the snow melted over the day are happy to be out walking . Soon we hope to see leaves and green grass.

Crazy Icy April 2018

The final photo is how it looked on Monday April 16. There was more icy snow in the forecast and schools were closed. Today the snow is still all around. We had ice falling off our famous CN Tower. Businesses near by were closed to protect people from falling ice. We even had to shift a baseball game because of this dangerous icy mess that caused a hole in the stadium roof. A double header was played the following day. Most crazy was people still opted to drive like idiots causing over 1600 plus accidents with one fatality. Whoever says climate change isn’t real is living in a bubble and does not see the global picture. It is 29C in the London UK area. That too is not what is a norm.

 It srated fast on Thursdayafternoon.

 Ten minutes later ice pellets became very visible.

 Out front the road and walkways were an icy mess. We were warned to stay imdoorrs.

This is a closeup of the pellets found on our balcony.

Easter 2018

   Buddy and I wish you all the joys of spring Easter and any other special events happening at your end. We decorated a bit and coloured eggs too. Tradition makes it our annual thing to do. However our family gatherings have shifted to brunch away from home. It was fun to be out surrounded by other like minded people who preferred to dine out. People came dressed in all sorts of outfits from very fancy to a few who were a bit too casual though there were no torn jeans. An Easter bunny paraded from table to table and a piano player’s music was welcomed in the background. I am happy wewe able to spend this time and reflect on how fortunate and blessed we are.

Reshaped by Irma

   (January 15 to 22,2018 Memories Flameco Cayo Coco)
This photo taken from our corner balcony gave a great view of the cruel harsh makeover the hurricane forced onto this area of the keys in September. It wiped out entire forests of tall palm trees that used to give shelter all along the beach. The hard coral on the coast vanished under the sand. The ocean water receeded a lot thereby creating a wider surface of beach sand  to enjoy. I cannot imagine how an ocean can shift itself so drastically. But it does. I saw the before and now the after.
   Much work by every resort employee went into clearing up all the mess left by Irma and they toiled with speed and pride to get the resort back to a place that both they and their guests would enjoy again. 
   We sure did.  And having been there before we were amazed both by what a storm can do to restructure the landscape and how hard and fast the determined staff has managed to clear and rebuild all that was needed.  They were given the tools and supplies promply and they did whatever they could. Chefs, waiters, housekeepers all did everything needed until the place was ready for them to resume their regular roles. And they greeted and welcomed us back with big smiles happy to see us again. Incredible.
   Of course some took a moment to share their story of their experience and we listened with much admiration. 

Winter ExodusWin

  Winter is harsh and Buddy and I are heading south to be more active.
The photo is the view from my bedroom window. It is -20C and just too icy cold for winter fun. We hope some walks along cayo beaches off Cuba will get us more active and healthy.
  We hope the weather won’t impede our flights. 
  Let the fun begin as we leave today.