Arrival in Copenhagen

We flew from Detroit to Chicago, Chicago to Heathrow on British Airways, then Heathrow to Copenhagan - a real red-eye adventure! But here we are in Copenhagen!
The Copenhagen Airport thinks of everything!


Off to the Royal Radisson Hotel

The view from our hotel room.
Copenhagen Street SceneThe SAS Royal Radisson Hotel
We learned that Tivoli means amusement park all over Scandinavia.

Several buildings in the big cities are covered with Logos. I don't know whether it's advertising, or it shows what businesses are in that building.

European cities seem to be big on statuary of all kinds. We saw many great statues.

Fly Away!

So much luggage, such a small taxi! Bill and Jan each had to carry a bag on their laps on the way to Metro Airport.

We're Off!

We're leaving this morning! All that's left to do is zip up the bags! We'll be at Sniders tonight and fly to Copenhagen tomorrow evening. Arriving in Copenhagen at 3:30 Monday afternoon, staying at the Radisson Monday night, boarding the Crown Princess cruise ship Tuesday afternoon! And then we'll be sailing away to Stockholm.

We're not taking our laptops - there are computers on board the ship that are rented by the minute (!) - so we will occasionally check email (quickly).

Bon Voyage!

I Supervised

Here is the perennial garden as it appeared in early May. Some work needed to be done, some assembly required. It's my garden, and I wanted it to be spruced up for the spring and summer - but not by me! So along came the guys from Traverse Outdoor, and they helped me out quite a bit!




Here is the perennial garden as it looks today. The Michaelmas daisies, which have been taking over the entire garden, have been dug out, it has been raked, weeded, and prepped with compost. Whew! That's a job well done. I supervised!

Early Memorial

Oakwood Cemetery

New urns, new geraniums with really huge blossoms, good soil with built-in fertilizer - Mom and Dad should be all set for summer.

Buddha's Eye

Matthew 25 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

Thousands of people on the other side of the world are hurting, homeless and hopeless today. The cyclone in Myanmar may have killed 100,000 people (One Hundred Thousand), and now the earthquake in China has killed thousands more. Even the survivors are in peril because there's a shortage of medical care, clean water and food. These are dreadful events each by itself. Combined, it's very hard to imagine the horrors that men, women and children are having to face. There's an old spiritual called "His Eye is on the Sparrow (and I know He watches me)". Is it possible that Buddha's eye is not on these people?

It would be horrible enough if these were the only treacherous places in the world today. "Horrible enough" is not an adequate phrase. There are other shocking events in Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan - each an outrage in its own right. Aren't there supposed to be some gods keeping an eye on those places?

Support disaster victims in Myanmar & China: American Red Cross and/or Save the Children

Northern Michigan Antelope?

Back to the gym - everything was kind of low key there today - not too crowded. There's a new UBE machine - I used it right away - it's a lot like the old ones. All 3 technicians were there today - usually we just get one or two. I talked to Marge about our upcoming cruise and it turns out that she and her husband Bill had been in a lot of the places where we are headed. She said that they were in Helsinki in May, and there was still snow on the ground! I'm not sure how to pack for snow in May in Finland.


At the Omelette Shoppe we were catching up on our reading in the free handout papers. A lot of the conversation was about new restaurants in the area. One of the new places is called Radish - our waitress said that it is reminiscent of small restaurants in the San Diego area that just serve soups and salad. The paper said it would have a 60 item salad bar - sounds great, huh? It's just a little hole-in-the-wall place in Old Town - hope they do well.

Another new eating place which is a fun topic of conversation is El Dorado. They plan to serve free range wild boar and antelope. No kidding. How does a wild boar taco sound? How many of those do you want?! I don't understand how wild boar and antelope are really all that applicable to northern Michigan!

Returning books to the Library, we spotted some gorgeous geraniums at the new Depot City Market. Skegemog Nurseries has a great spot there at the depot with plants that are healthy, thriving and lush. We had purchased new urns for Mom and Dad's spot at the cemetery last week - got them all set up and ready for new plants. So today we planted these gorgeous geraniums in the new urns, and everything should look wonderful for Memorial Day - even though we won't be here.

Packing panic continues. I keep changing my mind about things...

Packing Panic

We bought two new carry-ons today. We're hoping that we'll be able to pack everything we'll need for two people for a 10 day cruise in one large suitcase, one garment bag, and the 2 new carry ons.

I spent the morning trying on clothes until I was more confused than ever. I had to take a break and call Sniders for a while. We had fun talking to Jan. She gave us the good advice to call the credit card company to let them know we're going to Europe so that they won't get suspicious and cancel our card. That happened to Bill and Jan out in California.

I really do get a little bit panicky - but I do have good lists, and everything usually does seem to turn out OK, but it's nerve-wracking.

Happy Mother's Day

What a nice day this was! Sharon is in town visiting Barb, and this morning they both came out for a really enjoyable visit. Everybody seems happy and in good health, which is a Very Good Thing. We had a chance to catch up on all of the kids' activities, and that's always the best! We sorted through some of the GenFest stuff so they wouldn't be buying duplicate things, and just generally enjoyed each other!

After they left, we went back-woodsing and set up a new Emma's Shrine cache - it's a bit bizarre, but very much fun. Then we went in search of cherry blossoms - not on the peninsula this time, but in the Elk Lake/Williamsburg area. The blossoms were very profuse, very white, and spread out as far as the eye could see. It was a beautiful sight.

A Rosy Day

This morning saw the arrival of roses from Tom for Mother's Day. They are very, very beautiful - a mix of white and yellow.

Today at the Visitor Center, Dick talked to visitors from Japan, England, Canada, The Netherlands, Muskegon, and even Wisconsin! There were 47 visitors in all on his shift. The Japanese didn't speak English that well, but Dick says that the lady from London spoke English quite well indeed!

When we watch people walking up and down Front Street, we can usually tell which ones are tourists - but we certainly can't always tell where they all come from. I really had no idea that visitors to this area were so diverse!

I had fun shopping for travel size items for our cruise - it's the most fun I've ever had in a drugstore. They make all kinds of things for air travel now which meet the requirements of the new regulations.

From 5 to 7 p.m. we all played Wow (the two of us, Tom, Jana, Laurie and Dylan). In honor of Mother's Day, Laurie and I got to choose the activity. It was great - I completed two quests and picked up 2 new ones. We had a great time!

Dick did fish and scallops on the grill - we are trying hard to stick to the low fat diet.

One week from today we'll be driving to Canton to stay with Bill and Jan and one week from tomorrow the 4 of us will fly to Copenhagen!!!!! The countdown has begun!

Highs and Lows

We didn't go to the gym today because Merry Maids came this morning. Bless Merry Maids. Bless all maids everywhere... even if they neglect to vacuum under the coffee table!

Dick doesn't groove on the Merry Maids, so he went geocaching on the west side of town - found 3 and did not find 2. It was rainy, damp and dreary but anything is better than Merry Maids!

After lunch we drove to the marina. The T.C. Fire Department was there launching a small fire department boat and for some reason three fire trucks, a police car, and a paramedical rescue truck had to be there to help launch the thing. Who knows what that was all about.

I went walking on the TART from the Open Space to the West End Beach. I used my ski sticks and it went well...a fast start and a slow finish.

Afterwards we had a lovely drive on this beautiful day which had turned from rain to sunshine and blue skies.

When we got home, Dick got started cleaning up the toy school house, and I uncovered the golf car for the first time this year. It's the best gift I ever got - I had a delightful time driving around the property.

Meanwhile on the other side of the world, in Myanmar, so many people are suffering and grieving, and are homeless and distraught after a cyclone last Friday. The first reports said 250 dead, which is awful enough. Now they are saying 24,000 dead, 40,000 missing, and one million homeless! It's unimaginable. I wish each survivor could have 10% of the comfort and security which I am enjoying right this minute - they would be in heaven. I'm puzzled once again about the inequities from one side of the globe to the other. We are counting our blessings and feel so privileged to be living our lives in beautiful, safe northern Michigan.

Grassy Grass Grass

The grass is green and looking very lush.

Dick has been busy busy fertilizing, scarifying, bagging the debris, sowing hardy grass seed, more fertilizing, rolling the lawn with the lawn roller....and probably more that I don't even know about!

Our grass looks great (OK, we do have some dandelions) and is bound to look even better soon.

Webfetti

Bloomers

Our yard is in bloom!
The purple-leaf plum trees along the driveway - the camera doesn't really do them justice......so I tried getting closer......and closer! I hope you can tell how beautiful these trees are!

This is the forsythia which has been lighting us up for a week now. In actuality, it's much more bright and yellow in person!
Here is Dick's new flag pole in all its glory; new paint, new yardarm, new flag. It wasn't easy - we really needed 3 men and a boy to help - but he did it all by himself, assisted for 15 minutes by me with the tractor. It looks great!

I haven't used the camera since Christmas in Palm City - here are a couple of pictures that have been hiding in the camera for 5 months: Uncle Tom and Dylan in a deep philosophical discussion (well, maybe not).

Relaxed and happy in the Florida sunshine!

Christmas morning cup of coffee

Typical Christmas joyful chaos - it even looks like fun today in May!

TGIF

In school in Ann Arbor, and later living in Wayne County for 35 years, I listened to the Bud Guest show on WJR on a daily basis for as long as it was on the air. Every Friday afternoon the band played and sang:

Thank Goodness It's Friday,
Man oh man am I beat.
I worked all week like a dog, you see,
And I'm as tired as a guy can be,
But on Friday I holler TGIF -
Thank Goodness It's Friday now!

So I like to sing that little song to Dylan every once in a while on a Friday. I didn't get a chance to talk to him today, but I was thinking of him. We taught him TGIF way, way, way back when he was in Kindergarten!

Dr. Burke called this morning - he said I just had one small gallstone and there no indications of problems so we're good to go to SCANDINAVIA!!!

More errands today - it's always something! Dick cleaned out his closet, so we went back to Goodwill with clothes and light fixtures. Then we were off to the mall where I went walking while Dick shopped for travel clothes. After lunch we did the Subaru cruise of downtown, and picked up the Euros at the bank. They are different sizes according to the denomination!

May Day

Kind of an ordinary day - gym, Omelette Shoppe, library, bank (to order Euros), Orvis to pick up Dick's new jacket, Visitor Center to talk to Kathee, and then home.

At the gym, it seems that we are all world travelers! Carol is leaving tomorrow for Peru and Macchu Pichu, Alice is leaving next Thursday for Europe, with a grand finale in Paris, and we are leaving on the 17th for our Scandinavian cruise!

Dick is still working on the flagpole. He also spent a lot of time today flattening all of the boxes from the lighting fixtures, and some boxes that had been in the garage for a while.

I was working on laundry, boat insurance, World of Warcraft, and Guiding Light! On the show, somebody wants to make a movie of Reva Shayne's life. So it made me think of how a movie of my life would be a real yawner! Ho Hum!

Happy May Day!

Outsourcing

1. Ultrasound - the tech said that everything looks OK - the doctor will call later. Looks like we're good to go!

2. Jeff came and did all of our electrical odd jobs - it's so nice to have those things taken care of. I love my remote control fan+light. We met Jeff through geocaching, and it was certainly fortunate for us. He's fast, efficient, and pleasant. Our fixtures and switches are all functioning and it is just terrific.

3. Steve from Traverse Outdoor came to evaluate the perennial garden. They'll be helping us get it cleaned up, dug up, and plants separated and relocated. I'll really enjoy supervising that!

Diamond Day

Talked to Dylan this morning - he's sounding so much better and we're so happy for him. He enjoyed telling us about the guinea pigs and their new sleeping arrangements - they really are a source of enjoyment and pleasure for him, as he is for us!

Wow, we had a good morning at the gym. As John Denver wrote, "Some days are diamonds, some days are stone." This was a diamond day. As soon as I started on the Nu-Step, it just felt better than usual. Dick had a great workout too. We went out to breakfast as usual, and this time we did the low-fat version of the Omelette Shoppe menu. It was very satisfying!

These are the kind of errands we do on a Tuesday: find a mail box, drop something off at the bank, take books back to the library, find a cache (puzzle cache - very much fun), shop at Meijer (low-fat diets with supplements are expensive!), locate the building for this afternoon's mammogram, and come home and put away groceries.

After all of that, I feel unusually good - (no cramping, no weakness) don't know whether it's a diamond day or a turning point for me. I'm kind of voting for turning point!

OMG! Sharon wrote and said that Kevin and Amy are expecting! I think that is wonderful news! I love to see the family expanding - and it gets better with every generation!

6:30 p.m. update: Worst mammogram of my entire life. It's never pleasant, and it's often uncomfortable, but there's never been any real pain until today. The Copper Ridge place is a beautiful facility with nice furniture and a flat screen TV in the waiting room. But next time, I'm going back to Thirlby Clinic.

Crisp

Clear,crisp spring day - perfect to get outside and do some walking. There was a new cache on part of the TART, so we went to find it. This cache was put out by the WayPoint Kid, and we were the first to find. I walked on the asphalt, and Dick did the woodsy part. We saw ducks in Mitchell Creek, and five tots on a rope from Daycare.

This afternoon Dick saw Dr. Dino, and learned that his troublesome heart valve is good for another 3 to 8 years! That is good news. There may be surgery somewhere in the future.

The wind was out of the north, and the bay was a beautiful bright blue with big waves and lots of whitecaps - what a sight! The marina is beginning to fill up with boats.

Windows Live Writer

Testing 1 2 3 - I'm trying to figure out how Live Writer works - It says I can insert all kinds of things even though it's not on the blogspot site.  I'm not sure I entirely understand how this works, but...might as well try it out.

OK I can insert a picture.  This one is Tom and his biking friends making fun of another arm injury.

A table like this can be inserted...
	Not exactly sure what this would be good for...

Live Writer uses maps from Virtual Earth - you can zoom into any part of the globe.  It seems that they've never heard of Traverse City over there at Virtual Earth!  Looking at this map you would get the impression that the whole of Northern Michigan is uninhabited!

blogger Tags: geocaching

Tags can be inserted - not quite sure how this works but I think if you click on the tag, all posts with that subject tag will come up..

Videos can be inserted too, but it's too early in the morning for me to figure that out!

If this works, and actually posts to my blog, it will be great because this is a hassle-free way to add things.  Blogger is a little clunky in comparison.

Rainy, Foggy, Lightning, Gray, Low Fat Day

Perfect day to go to recycling!

Too rainy and chilly to walk outside today, so it was back to the mall. I'm an expert now on all of the shop windows - it's fun to watch them change. Dick ran a couple of errands while I was walking, and after lunch we went downtown to check jackets for him at Orvis but came out empty-handed.

After doing some internet research about proper diet for gallbladder disease, I printed out a chart of foods that are allowed and foods to avoid. The key seems to be digestibility - so it's mostly bland, non-spicy and of course low fat. We did a low-fat shopping adventure at the new Oleson's and bought lots of wonderful stuff. I'm sure I can do this, and Dick is a very big help.

Steve from Traverse Outdoor called and he's coming to look at the garden next Wednesday. Yaaay!

Our forsythia bush is in full bloom, and it's such a beautiful yellow. It's making it's own light outside the window on this overcast day. Daffodils are lighting up the driveway.

Bedding

After some serious consideration, we realized that we only need one new mattress after all. The Comfort Center was most cooperative, and our comfy new mattress was delivered in a timely fashion. It's great - it's a Serta and very cushy.

I spent the day washing bedding and sheets and making beds. Dick spent the day cleaning off the party porch, moving picnic tables, starting up the sprinkler system, leaf blowing, and I don't know what-all. He was uber productive. We also went to Bed, Bath and Beyond for a new mattress pad. We're also kind of casually looking for new deck furniture.

Traverse Outdoor was supposed to call to set up an appointment to come and look at the perennial garden, but the call never came. I'm still hoping.

The Wednesday That Was

An outline is a good way to start any writing task. This day has been so chock full of events that an outline is where I'm starting. I may fill in the outline later, but then again, I may not.

1. 9:15-appointment with Dr. Burke. He ordered blood tests and an ultrasound of the gall bladder area for Saturday. He's thinking that I will need to have it removed. I was quite upset at the prospect because of our travel plans. Luckily Dick was right there with me to say all of the right things. We're waiting for test results to see if surgery will be necessary. This is me patiently waiting to see how the results will affect our Scandinavian cruise.

2. Picked up my new glasses - I'm so happy with them. I'm stylin' now!

3. Met Tim and Susie for lunch at Maggie's in Cadillac. Susie is doing well since her knee surgery. She has some stiffness and some twinges, but it's not slowing her down that much. We haven't seen them for several weeks, so it was really great catching up with everything!

4. The four of us went geocaching for the afternoon - I think 6 or 7 caches were found. A lot of the finds were the first of 2008! The last find had Tim holding Susie upsidedown so she could reach under a bridge! I walked trails and parking lots with my ski sticks, and I'm sure I got in a lot of exercise.

5. Dick and I got back to TC in time to take advantage of Comfort Center's sale. Our two new mattresses will be delivered tomorrow.

6. On the way home, we were stopped for about a half an hour because of a single car accident on West River Road. Two ambulances left the scene with people inside. The third ambulance appeared to be empty.

7. At 7:30, Dick has chicken and veggies on the grill ready for dinner! It smells wonderful!

The Gall !

Sunday was a perfect geocaching day, and we went out to enjoy the mild weather - searching for caches and doing cache maintainence. Just by chance, out on Mayfield Road, we were looking for a cache by Dave (Lane973) when he drove up on his way to find our cache at Emma's Shrine! It was a fun coincidence, and we enjoyed meeting him. He seems like a great guy, but you do have to ignore the Notre Dame hat and stickers on his truck!

Then later, we had another chance meeting, this time it was Matt and Amy when we were doing maintainence on the new View of the Bay series. It was a good thing we ran into them because that particular stage had been muggled, and Dick was able to straighten things out.

Altogether, on Sunday Dick found three caches and did maintainence on four.

Monday Dylan stayed home from school again - he has caught a really nasty bug. They went to their Dr. and got prescriptions for decongestion/antihistamine and for an antibiotic - we hoping that he'll soon be up and at 'em. He sounded very weak and congested on the phone. Poor guy!

Dick had his annual eye exam with drops at 9:15, so I was the designated driver. He felt a little weird all day - neither of us were exactly setting the world on fire. Laundry, of course, and grocery shopping. We just had hot dogs for supper. I went to bed early - couldn't keep my eyes open!

Today Dylan is still staying home sick, but the Dr. said he could go to school tomorrow if he felt like it. He still sounds pathetic on the phone. We went to the gym as usual, had a good workout as usual, went to the Omelette Shoppe as usual - but the unusual thing was that I had a gall bladder attack soon after being seated! I'm sure that's what it was - I looked it up after I felt better. Dick rushed me right home, I was sick, sick, sick for four hours, and then as quickly as it came, it left! So now I'm not feeling sick, just like a limp dishrag, as Mother used to say.

By the sheerest coincidence, I have a routine appointment with Dr. Burke in the morning - how lucky is that?!

It Has Sprung!

Spring has sprung,
The grass is riz,
I wonder where the birdie is?
The bird is on the wing,
But that's absurd,
We know the wing is on the bird.

Daffodils are blooming, the snow blower is put away, the grass is fertilized - what more evidence do we need! Oh, I know, we have open windows and fresh air is in the house. This is great - this is the season that proves to us how lucky we are!

Today I went out to lunch with Neighbor Mary, and then to the movies to see Smart People. We both agreed that the characters needed a good grooming session at the local salon, and that the movie was achingly slow-paced. It was interesting, just not lively and fun - although there were some amusing moments. Dennis Quaid is not very appealing in my humble opinion. For me the message of the movie is that we are all stuck with whatever human relationships we have accumulated, and that some are better than others and that even in a gloomy sort of family, love can prevail but not until the credits. Some might be left with the impression that Smart People are all gloomy! Not so, I assure you. Although Tom always says that he doesn't do "happy".

Speaking of Tom, this movie is set in Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). Once at MIT Tom got a letter from Kim, and the return address was a Central Michigan University (CMU) address label. One of Tom's friends glanced at the label and said, "Carnegie Mellon?" As Tom told me later, at MIT the students only relate to "real schools". I think that Kim did CMU proud by graduating and going on to medical school, moving to California and leading the very good life! I'm sure that she considers Central a "real school".

This has been a good week, as we've watched the weather warm up and improve daily. I walked Monday and Friday at the mall. Tuesday and Thursday we did gym and breakfast, and on Wednesday I had my annual eye exam with eye drops at 8:30 a.m. and didn't feel normal until around 3 p.m.

Dick finished the cache series on Wednesday. it was published on Thursday, and Dennis and Josh (rathergohiking) started searching for it right away on Thursday. They are having trouble with the breakwater section and Dick is thinking that he may have to go make that stage more user friendly.

Dylan has been sick, but he says that he is feeling much, much better. He caught some kind of a bug - had a fever of 102 - and slept all morning Friday. When he's not feeling well, our solar system stops revolving!

Let's Go Around Again!

Yesterday we went to the mall again for walking practice because it's chilly outside. This time I used a shopping cart from Target for stability, and it worked great.

Today we did the same thing for the same reason. This time I walked the .8 of a mile with only one sit-down. When I finished I felt like I could do it again - what a nice (and unusual) feeling! We saw Mary, Heather and Kimberly but we didn't have a chance to say hello.

We had lunch at Hunan - their buffet is the best! Afterwards we went to the Bay to double check some coordinates for Dick's new caches, and we ran into Dennis and Melanie (rathergohiking) in the parking lot. Seeing friends is always a highlight of the day!

Had a nice talk on the phone with nephew Ed this afternoon - we needed to know how he and Ruth wanted their names to appear on the T-shirts for GenFest. He sounds good, and he's very easy to talk with. He's doing well - likes his job - is conscientious about taking care of his vision problems - and also about shoring up Ruth during this rough patch that she's going through. She has taken a small apartment in Lake Ann, and misses her home, her dogs, and her land.

In other news, J.P. will be attending Cranbrook School next fall! He auditioned for and received a scholarship which pays a small percentage of the tuition - but it has been worked out that he can go! We're as pleased as punch! Way to go Jackson!

I think Susie's surgery is tomorrow...our fingers are crossed :)

NMC Scholarship Luncheon

Another lovely scholarship luncheon for donors of NMC scholarships - today at noon at the Hagerty Center. It's always very nice and this was no exception. We sat with Kerry, Craig and Sandra.

Kerry works for the law firm of Smith, Haughey etc. She was fun and interesting. Craig works at NMC and is also on the board of Oryana, so we told him to say hi to Sarna.

Sandra was the student at our table, and believe it or not, she worked for Cherryland Electic as a lineman!! And she's just a small person! Even more unbelievable is that she survived a fall of 34 feet which really should have been fatal. She broke her back and she has a red scar on her face but she seems healthy and happy and recovered. It's quite a miracle story!

We saw Pete, Mim, and a gal from the Agency who was very sweet to us. We had a good time.

When we got home, Dick leveled on the game and so now our whole family is level 70!! How awesome is that?

Marathon?

Today was gym day, and gym was excellent as usual. Camaraderie abounds, and it's such fun to talk to everyone. We did Bob Evans for breakfast.

I haven't been walking on gym days, so I didn't do walking today. Unless you count walking around Menard's, which can sometimes feel like a marathon!

Mall Stroller

Mall stroller - that was me today. It was cool, windy and sprinkling, so inside I went. When you rent a stroller there, it costs $4.00. $5.00 to get one, and a dollar back when you return it. I rented one because I didn't want to use my cane or my ski sticks in the mall.

Next time I think I'll just cadge a cart from Target or TJ's. I'm just not confident walking for extended periods with no support, and if you lean on a wall or grab a column, people think you're in trouble.

They say that once around the mall is 4/5 of a mile, which would be .8 - so it's .2 farther than from Clinch to the West End.

It's harder to pretend you're in Norway when you're in the mall.

Global Geocaching

When we go on our cruise at the end of May, we'll be visiting seven different countries. There are geocaches everywhere that you go in the world, so Dick wanted to make sure that we find at least one in each country. He found email addresses for cachers on the the website, and sent some letters asking about caches that might be in the areas where the cruise ships dock. So far he has received three responses. This is the letter that Dick sent to all of them:

Greetings from the USA,
We are going to be in Gdynia/Gdansk Tuesday May 27 on a cruise. We have a limited amount of shore time and would like to find a cache in town in which we could leave one of our geocoins. Could you please recommend a cache in town that is, convenient to the docking area, not strenuous, and is large enough to receive a travel bug. If none is available, perhaps you might be placing one this spring?
Thank you,
Dick and Nancy of Basswood Bend
PS: As a reward/ thank you gift/ sweetener, we would be glad to drop one of our unactivated coins for your personal collection if you would like.

POLAND (Gdansk)
[GEO] basswoodbend contacting Topik from Geocaching.com‏
From: Richard Steiger (basswoodbend@gmail.com)
Sent: Tue 4/08/08 5:58 AM

From: Alicja i Sławomir Jędrzejewscy Date: 2008/4/7
Hello
Thank you for your message. We have been in Gdansk with our daughter and we've found few places to hide a cache. Before we'll do it please ask a few questions:- How much time have you got for searching this cache and from place will you start searching ( airport, railway station, old town)?- How will you move in Gdansk ( by car, by bus, walking )?- Could you reach a point view or you couldn't climb a little hill? Because of travel bug witch will be in that cache we suppose the cache should be registered in Geocaching.com. We send a link to most popular geocache portal in Poland: http://www.opencaching.pl/


FINLAND (Helsinki)

Date: Sun, Mar 16, 2008 at 2:49 AM
Subject: Re: [GEO] basswoodbend contacting reijamasa from Geocaching.com
To: basswoodbend@gmail.com


Hello Dick and Nancy!

I´m sorry to inform you that we do not know much about Helsinki´s
suitable caches for your needs. It must be over a year since we have
been caching in Helsinki area.

But what I can do is give you a name to ask from, he knows much better
than we do; he lives there.
Ask from Mikkozzz, I know he can help you, he has many local caches of his own.

Have a nice time in Helsinki.

reijamasa


SWEDEN (Stockholm)

Dick and Nancy,

For a really close cache that would hold geocoins I would recommend the
cache "Katarinahissen" (GCPCRH). It is about 300-400 meters away from where
the cruise ships usually dock so even if you only have a half hour ashore
you should be able to get there ;)

It's hidden in a stone wall and you have to go up some stairs from street
level to get to it. It's not hard at all (grabbed it during my lunch hour in
full "bank-suit"). Spoiler picture is really good.

I've attached to KML files (for Google Earth); one points out where the
ships usually dock and the other one is for the cache.

If you do head into town I would also recommend a few of my own caches
1) "The Stockholm Syndrome" (GCN14J) - Just outside the bank where a hostage
situation in the early 70's gave name to a certain psychological phenomena.
2) "Urban Squirrel" (GCKV2D) - "Quicky" outside the Prime Minister's office
(no way that would be possible in the U.S.)
3) "The Murder Weapon" (GCMB6V) - Hidden along the escape route of the
murder of Prime Minister Olof Palme. Cache is big enough to hold a TB

I will unfortunately be in Rome on the 22nd of May. Otherwise it would have
been great to meet up and I could have given you a quick tour.

Good luck and I hope you will enjoy my hometown

/Ulf Gerhamn

April Weekend +

Saturday -

I walked on Front Street while Dick worked on his new cache series. Four and a half blocks seemed to be my limit - with the help of my cane and frequent stops. It's obvious that there's a lot of work to do!

Afterwards we had lunch at Opa's, a new Greek restaurant in the Cherryland Mall. Alice and her husband were there, and it was fun listening to her tell about their trip to Norway and beyond in 2006.

Memphis and Kansas will play Monday for the NCAA men's basketball championship.

Sunday -

The plan was to have brunch at Dinghy's in Frankfort. But guess what? Evidently they don't do brunch anymore - they don't even open until noon! So we backtracked a bit and had brunch at the Brookside Inn - a lovely brunch in a unique, quaint setting - quite an elegant fallback position.

We had a nice drive around Benzie and Leelanau counties. My walk consisted of walking around the parking lot of a Betsie River boat launch area. I think I only walked the equivalent of a block and a half with my cane while Dick was finding a cache.

Monday -

Using my ski-walking sticks, I walked six tenths of a mile on the TART between the marina and the West End Beach. I believe I took a break on every single bench along the way! Dick is still working on his new cache series.

Kansas won the National Championship, and Sharon won the family bracket challenge. I came in third and Dick was fourth. Kansas was lucky to win - the game just barely went into overtime, and then Kansas took control. The final score was 75-68.

Tuesday -

Today at the gym, Alice brought her pictures of her Baltic trip. She has some great shots, and it was so interesting to us.

After gym, we met Dorothy for breakfast at the Omelette Shoppe. It was fun to see her - she is such a sweet, good-hearted person. She loves to tell stories and it's so much fun to listen to her. She's a bit flaky but in a good way!

Baby Drew

I practiced walking on Front Street today while Dick did some walking on the TART. He was checking out some information for some new caches that he has in mind. I was pretending to be in Norway - I want to be prepared to do a little walking around when I get there!

Afterwards we went to see Baby Drew, who is now 3 months old! Autumn and Brooke were visiting Aunt Shelly, so we got to see everybody! Drew is adorable, and such a good baby - it was delightful. He bonded with his Uncle Dick (great-great Uncle Dick).

Autumn is in the 3rd grade, and she thinks that their new house in Kalamazoo is cool!A kind of blurry Brooke and Michelle. Brooke is in Kindergarten and is already reading :)

After this very pleasant visit, we went out to lunch at Bubba's - and it was yummy! Then we drove around the old State Hospital grounds - it's amazing what's happening up there. Several of the smaller buildings have been done over and freshly painted, and businesses have moved into them - a coffee shop, a winery, and a cheesecake bakery and cafe among others.

Standings

Overall Standings

Group Standings
Rank Team Name Score Correct Best Score Best Correct Champion
1 Sharon 71 43 89 46 Kansas (129)
2 Melanie Henion 70 43 98 48 Kansas (169)
3 Susan Steiger 68 41 96 46 UCLA (123)
4 Chris Charland 67 40 95 45 North Carolina (148)
4 Nancy Steiger 67 41 95 46 Kansas (148)
6 Melissa Hoyt 65 39 93 44 UCLA (114)
7 derek washington 64 40 92 45 North Carolina (135)
7 Dick Steiger 64 40 92 45 Memphis (127)
7 Kevin Washington 64 41 88 45 Kansas (136)
10 Jackson Steiger 63 41 91 46 North Carolina (157)
11 Roger Steiger 62 39 86 43 North Carolina (144)
12 John W 61 39 61 39 Michigan St. (110)
13 Adam Hardy 60 38 74 40 UCLA (165)
13 Tom Steiger 60 38 84 42 UCLA (32)
15 Carla Mantel 59 38 77 41 North Carolina (143)
16 Barb Hardy 55 35 73 38 North Carolina (105)
16 Megan Steiger 55 34 79 38 North Carolina (133)
18 Michelle Charland 53 34 71 37 North Carolina (143)
19 John Lichtenberg 0 0 0 0 ()


Report Updated as of: 3/29/08 11:14 PM EST

March

There's a poem in the current issue of the New Yorker that expresses the way I've been feeling about the weather for the past few weeks. The poem's title is "March" and the author is Louise Gluck. These are the two parts of the poem that appealed to me:

The light stays longer in the sky, but it's a cold light,
it brings no relief from winter....

It's a little early for all of this.
Everything's still very bare----
nevertheless, something's different today from yesterday

Today we had blue sky and sunshine, and the sun was stronger - it really felt warm. We went to the dump and to town and did a little geocaching and sightseeing. The Bays were both beautiful and blue, with occasional stripes of white ice. It was a great day for a drive, but for geocaching, the footpaths are still deep with snow. We also still have 18 inches on our deck.

Dick is third in our family bracket competition, and I'm sixth at the moment. The Midwest bracket (read Davidson) did us all in this year. Dick picked Memphis to win it all, and I picked Kansas. Maybe one of us will get lucky. This should be an interesting weekend. I'm a little nervous because Kansas has to play Davidson! I think that Stephen Curry is an alien.

The Big Ten is all washed up. Both Wisconsin and Michigan State lost by 20 points! I was counting on them each to win one more game each. At least State lost to a high seed - but then of course Wisconsin had to play (shudder) Davidson. The headline on the front page of the Record-Eagle this morning was "Sparty-Poopers".

This is Spring (???)

We went for a drive today essentially to go out to lunch at Art's Tavern in Glen Arbor, one of our all-time favorites. Even though it looks like a dive on the outside, it pretty much still looks like a dive on the inside! But It's comfortable with good food and friendly service.

We were trying out my birthday present - my new NUVI. It works fine - Dick only talked back to it a couple of times. I think it will be a great help when we're traveling in unfamiliar territory.

After lunch, we did a mini-tour of Leelanau County, and were surprised to see iceboats on northern Lake Leelanau. There was an iceboat race going on out on the ice, but it was too far away for us to photograph. These boats were moored close to shore. Makes it even harder to believe that Spring is here!



Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore Dune Climb
Avalanche? In Michigan? That's a first for me! Especially when it's almost April.

Shore Excursions

We're cruisin' with Sniders! It will be a tour of the Baltic for 10 days on the Crown Princess. We have picked out our shore excursions, and here is our schedule!

May 20
Depart
COPENHAGEN (Denmark)

May 21
AT SEA

May 22
WATERWAYS OF STOCKHOLM (Sweden)
STOCKHOLM

May 23
HELSINKI CITY HIGHLIGHTS
HELSINKI (Finland)

May 24-25
HERMITAGE MUSEUM -DAY 1
ST PETERSBURG (Russia)

EZ ST PETERSBURG -DAY 2
ST PETERSBURG

May 26
EZ TALLINN (Estonia)
TALLINN

May 27
AT SEA

May 28
EZ GDANSK (Poland)
GDYNIA


May 29
INTRODUCTION TO OSLO (Norway)
OSLO

May 30
Disembark
COPENHAGEN (Denmark)

Early Easter 2008

Happy Easter!

None of us will live to see another Easter that comes this early in the year. I found this interesting article on google:

Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Spring Equinox, putting Easter on March 23 this year.
(the Spring Equinox occurs March 20)

This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that Hebrew people used to identify Passover, which is why it moves around on our Roman calendar. Easter can actually be one day earlier (March 22) but that is pretty rare.

This year is the earliest Easter any of us will ever see the rest of our lives! Only the most elderly of our population have ever seen it this early (95 years old or above!). Moreover, none of us has ever, or will ever, see it a day earlier!

Here are the facts:

The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228 (220 years from now). The last time it was this early was 1913 (so if you’re 95 or older, you are the only ones that were around for that!).

The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will be in the year 2285 (277 years from now). The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. Therefore, no one alive today has or will ever see it any earlier than this year!

Any bunny that hops around our house today will freeze his little bunny bottom! Our temp is 25, and we still have a lot of snow on the ground.

I enjoyed this chocolate Easter bunny joke, and I hope you do too :)