Scandinavia Interupted for a Trip to Sisters, Oregon

Summer activities just keep moving along. About a week and a half after coming home, my dear friend (and "other mother" to my children) arrived for a visit. Barbara came just in time to enjoy the Annual Fourth of July Parade in Alameda. The weather was perfect as we sat on the curb and enjoyed a true small town tradition.

Tuesday after the Fourth, we were joined by Phyllis, Barbara's friend from San Jose, for a road trip to Sisters, Oregon for the annual Sisters Quilt Show. Along the route north, we saw the magnificence of Mount Shasta and other mountain peaks in the volcanic valleys of the Pacific Northwest.On Thursday of our excellent Quilt Tour experience, we visited the Sisters Garden Club Home and Garden Tour. Here is a little of what we saw.

Poppies of all kinds everywhere. Incredibly beautiful colors.And quilts hanging out in the open among the gardens.

Friday night we attended the Picnic in the Park. It was a very organized event with high school volunteers bringing the food to the tables. The high school jazz band played in the background. Alex Anderson gave a retrospective of her quilts and Jean Wells-Kenan (the show founder) was honored for being inducted into the Quilters Hall of Fame.Saturday......................the Show! In order to secure a good parking space close to downtown, we left at 6:00 a.m. to drive from Eagles Crest Resort to Sisters. We sleepily arrived there around 6:30 a.m..........yawn, yawn. First stop was for coffee. Note that quilts are already starting to be hung up around town.
And now that we were awake, it was time to start seeing the show. We lasted until about 1:30 p.m And here is a little of what we saw.....including some "quilting celebrities".

Denmark Continued

Jim and I both agree that we didn't have enough time in Denmark. In fact, the only city we saw was Copenhagen.......and we didn't thoroughly see everything we could have seen there. If we return, Jim wants to travel more around the country and see where his ancestors lived. His great-grandfather immigrated from Denmark. He married a woman from Sweden after arriving in the United States. Somewhere along the line, the "en" in Sorensen became "on" thus confusing future generations into thinking that everyone was from Sweden.



This is the small town of Dragon on the coast of the island of Zealand. Zealand is the island where Copenhagen is located. It is a small village that was originally settled by Dutch immigrants who were brought in to farm the land.






All The houses in Dragon were painted this lovely yellow and they all had tile roofs. It rained that day so we didn't have good contrast for pictures.










In the late afternoon, we boarded an overnight ferry/cruise to Oslo, Norway. The cabin was tiny and compact but basically comfortable. Guess who got the upper bunk? It wasn't Jim. We had a delicious dinner buffet that evening and arrived in Oslo, Norway the next morning about 9:30 a.m.








We by-passed Oslo at this point and boarded a motor coach to begin our journey through the Fjord country of Norway. We began to see the real beauty of the Norwegian landscape as we passed lakes, farms on hillsides, and snowy plateaus.









Our guide told us that Spring has only just arrived about a week ago. Until then, people were still skiing. In some areas, they can ski all year long. Many people have summer cottages in this area. Notice the hairpin turns that our motor coach was constantly making. Made for some exciting rides.



So ends another blog entry on our travels. There was definitely more to see on this day as we traveled to the snowy plateaus of the Hardanger Fjord.

Wonderful Wonderful Copenhagen

The next morning of our excellent adventure we were up early for an incredible Scandinavian style breakfast buffet. Jim was in heaven with all the choices. He especially loved having several choices of cheese. By 10:00 a.m. we were on our "coach" with our local guide, Gordon Bayliss. As you can tell by is name, he is not Danish. In fact he was born and raised in Texas but now lives full-time in Copenhagen. He speaks Danish with a southern accent.

He told us that it takes three years of residency to become a Danish citizen. One of the requirements is that you demonstrate a working knowledge of Danish. But we also found out that all Danish students begin learning ESL during their third grade year.






Gordon accompanied us on a short walking tour along cobblestone streets. He was full of interesting information and history about the city of Copenhagen.





You can see by the sky, that we were having a spectacular day weather-wise.










Copenhagen felt very pedestrian friendly and welcoming.












Back on the bus and a visit to The Cathedral Vor Frue Kirke (The Church of Our Lady). The beautiful sculptures inside are by Bertel Thorvaldsen. The church was an example of neo-classical building art.
























Next Post will be about our afternoon on our own. At this rate, it will be somewhere around December that I finish my travel blog about Scandinavia. But I have a goal in mind since we have another trip planned for this fall. Have Time (yeah retirement!) Will Travel.

Scenes From Scandinavia

We've been gone. Finally! The big trip to celebrate retirement has happened. There has been a lot of life that has happened between December 2007 (retirement party for Jim) and May 2010 (trip to Scandinavia). Oh how we have needed that trip. It was inspiring and restorative to see the beauty of God's creation in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.

So off we went to San Francisco International Airport. Packed and ready to go with passports in hand. Couldn't leave without one last taste of Mexican food.















All aboard for an 11 hour trip to Frankfurt, Germany and then on to Copenhagen, Denmark. Lufthansa Airlines whisked us away to Scandinavia on a 747 full to the brim with international travelers.









We arrive to be greeted by our lovely and knowledgeable guide, Kristina Larsson, from Sweden. She gets us to the Marriott Copenhagen and this view out our window. In the distance you can see a tower at Tivoli Gardens. According to our bodies, it is Friday morning. According to the clock, it is now around 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon.


We meet our traveling companions that evening and then we are off on our first excursion to Tivoli Gardens for dinner and a look around. The dinner was delicious......fish fillet, boiled potatoes, vegetables, a complimentary glass of wine and a yummy dessert. After dinner we strolled around the lovely gardens. Tivoli Gardens is part garden, part amusement park and part entertainment venue. It is right in the middle of the city of Copenhagen. Soon we were all drooping due to jet lag so it was back to the hotel and to bed.















Isn't it lovely? It rained a little while we were there but we enjoyed it anyway. What's a little rain when you are half-way around the world in Denmark.






No. The Little Mermaid has not been moved to Tivoli Gardens. This is a small replica loaned by the Ericksen family. The original is currently "visiting" China.

So this begins my blog about our trip. More to come later.

Just Some Thoughts For Today

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood of the SF bay area of Northern California. The breezes are blowing. The air is clear. The skies are blue. The temps are perfect. Just another day in Paradise as we love to say around here.

While Jim was gone I sewed and sewed and sewed. I also hung a few things up to enjoy in my own little sewing room/guest room. Two are journal quilts made by me. I just finished the middle one though it was started in February 2008. The bottom one is a quilt made by a friend for Stephen when he was ill.





It is so beautiful outside, that I've removed the covers from the patio furniture. I've also fed the plants and trimmed the bushes. There are plums on the plum tree and lemons on the lemon tree. The strawberry leaves are lush and beautiful but I am still waiting to see some sign that I might have strawberries.



Three more pictures of lovely things for today. My favorite flowers......sweet smelling lillies on the dining room table. Sun shining through the window of the living room. A pot roast with vegetables aromatically stewing in the crock-pot for dinner. Life today is good. I even got up-to-date with bills. Soon I'll leave for a little play time with the DGDs. Yes. God has blessed this day.

LIfe Does Move On

I just read over my last post to this blog which was on March 15th. I do believe an update is in order.
Jim ended up in the hospital for 5 days. The final diagnosis was haemophilus influenza aka H-Flu.
It comes on suddenly with an extreme sore throat and fever. Yep. He had both those symptoms. As it worsens, swallowing becomes difficult. Yep. It pretty much became impossible. So he was admitted to the hospital and it took 5 days until he could come home. Along the way, he experienced pneumonia, respiratory distress, high blood pressure, and high sugar levels. But in the end, he survived and came home to rest up. Due to his weakened immune system, he also caught a virus after he came home. Fortunately we were able to survive that with OTC medicines.
The good news is that he is well enough to be at this moment in Salt Lake City, UT for two genealogical conferences.
That ends this update. I spent last weekend at a quilt retreat. More about that with pictures later.

Not Fair. Not Fair.

I've had enough illness and caretaking over the past two years. It wears me out and with Stephen's passing, it makes me anxious when my loved ones get sick. There are always the colds and viruses that the DGDs get on a regular basis. But then Jon and Lissa seem to pick them up. And then there was Violet's twisted ovary that had to be removed. That plucky little girl recovered just fine. Now it is Jim with an abscess on his throat that seems to have come on suddenly. He's at a definite level 10 in pain. That would be can't swallow, can't talk, tears come to my eyes kind of pain. Doctor has prescribed antibiotics and codeine for pain. A referral to see an ENT specialist has also been sent. I'm not waiting for them to call tomorrow. I'm going to call first. Right now................we just need to make it through tonight. Hope the antibiotics kick in and the codeine provides sleep and rest. It is not fun to force feed fluids, pills, and cough medicine to a husband with a really, really, really sore throat. OH.......also it is our 41st Wedding Anniversary today. Celebration of any kind is on hold.