October 2013

happy belated birthday manygates, sounds like you had a great time, know what you mean about the technology I barely know how to use my computer, and I got a simple flip phone because the other one was confusing, have fun with your new kindle fire I hear they are great and can do lots of things not just books,

I am still here Ark, just enjoying the first night of leaving my windows open and it is now 1:30 pm and it is only75 with a strong breeze so no air conditioner
 the air is still a little humid but that is o.k it is worthit for this cool air I know it is going to heat up again but will enjoy this while I can

Trudy, happy belated birthday and have fun with your kindle....you will
get the hang of it cuz you are adventurous and curious and always doing something! So you go girl!
I hope ya had lots of cake too! yummy stuff!

Ellen will be waiting for more...lots more pics!

This isn't much of a picture, but the swan was a little over a quarter of a mile away.

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TRUDY, belated happy birthday to you. Your party sounds like you had a great day!
I love a true surprise party............

CB, hope you are feeling better by now.

SUNNY, is your car mess settled now?

ELLEN, you're having a great time with your new camera............

Keep the adventures coming RICK...............

Thanks, Graymare...I'm trying to do them in order and keep them around 1000 words per blog. Carol is getting way ahead of me!!

Love to all...Rick & Snoop (who DOES have a few things to say from time to time!!)

Greymare, I am taking the explorer to the mechanic on the 18th, and leaving it with him to fix all the major things that are safety issues and some that are cosmetic, the owner assured me that there would not be any out of pocket expense, I will believe him when I don't see a bill,

well I think fall is here, the air is drying out, it is much cooler at night and the daytime temps aremuch cooler, windows are open and I am a happy camper and will enjoy this while it lasts,

Looks like a great camera Ellen ... I always think I will get a new one, but never get it done. What did you say yours is??? You said it is pretty much auto pilot right???? I need something EASY!! LOL

Have had some really nice weather this week ... will be ending soon and going to the real October cooler weather, but gotta love this 70s stuff as long as we can get it. Trying to get stuff cleaned up and put away.....

Have a good one gang ...

Here is what I got, Carol. With the setting they call SR Auto, you can shoot almost anything. Very easy to use right out of the box, but it will do a lot more as you learn more about the extra features.

http://www.amazon.com/Fujifilm-FinePix-SL1000-16-2MP-Digital/dp/B00ATM1MVU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381508240&sr=8-1&keywords=fuji+SL+1000

ELLEN:
Nice camera! I love the swan photo. Does it stay around all year or does it migrate? We are in the midst of watching geese traveling over us, going somewhere for the winter. I love to hear them honking.   One day a flock went over our yard very low since it was foggy. You could hear them long before and after they flew by, but could only see them briefly. They were barely above the utility wires.

CAROL:
Are you packing up for the winter? It would be so nice if Ice could go with you to AZ in the winter. I bet you'd have lots of fun with him.

SUNNY:
I hope the auto guy does a very good job. Tell him he has folks all over the world waiting to hear how he does.  


TRUDY:
Happy 65th birthday! Wow, a surprise party must have been lots of fun! Congrats!!

SILVERDANCER:
You MUST be back from Wales by now! How did it go? Did you have fun?


My riding lesson got canceled yesterday due to drizzly rain most of the morning and part of the afternoon. I don't think Ivan minded that much. I am going to try to get a ride in this weekend to see how he is doing.

We are gearing up for Annie's 49th birthday on Sunday! Cake is ordered, presents obtained. She is ready to have a good time. 

Ark, the swans and geese around here don't really migrate. They find areas of moving water and ride out the winter. There are times that the swans almost hibernate. They will curl up with their heads on their backs and sleep for long hours at a time. Once in a great while, they get caught when they go to sleep in a little patch of open water and the ice closes in on them before they wake up.
I guess some of the geese migrate, but a lot of them spend the winters here. The mallards do too.

In the spring, there are other migrating waterfowl that stop here on the way to wherever they are going. That's one of the main reasons I got this camera so I could 'reach' them with the zoom. I've seen loons, hooded mergansers, coots, scaups, wood ducks, and a few others that I'd like to get pictures of.

Yeah, Sunny. Tell that mechanic he better do a good job because there are a lot of foops waiting to hear that he did.

Will type slower and hope I am not kicked off before finished.

CB --- My grand son made Corp, up from PFC ---Yeah !!!!

Congratulations to your grandson! Sounds like he's doing well.

Yes Ellen. he is in Soph yr at Indiana State and ROTC. I am sorry he did not want Franklin where I went. Bet you and I have some mutual friends when you were at Columbus.

OL'MAN:
Congrats to your grandson!!  And I am glad typing slower worked, it is great to see you posting!

ELLEN:
So what happens when the swans get stuck in the ice of the lake? Can they be removed or is it the end for them?



We went to the Radford University Highlander Festival today. I do love bagpipes and watching guys in kilts march around   I got several Christmas gifts at the arts and crafts fair they have and we watched a sheepdog demo. Fun! When we got home it started drizzling and did it all afternoon. It was good timing on our part, but I bet a lot of people got drenched.

What a busy week this has been. Hopefully next week will be quieter. This retirement stuff is hard work, how on earth did I ever get anything done when I was working at the PO?

Thanks for the advice on the Kindle. My son Kevin, the computer hacker (he hates it when I call him that), actually he is a security specialist for Verizon, set it up for me, so all I have to do is figure out how to use it. I do have a wireless router for our lap tops. It's just hard for this old gal to learn new computer stuff.

ELLEN: Loved the swan photo. When we lived in Ohio we lived at Swan Lake Apartments in Huber Heights and the swans hung around the little man made lake. It was fun to watch them. They are beautiful creatures.

OLDMAN: Tell your grandson that George & I said "thank you for your service to our country". George gives out the Purple Heart award at the Bucknell ROTC banquet. It is so cool to see those young people in their uniforms, it's a very moving award banquet.

CB: Hope you are feeling better girlfriend. You sure have had a lot of stress lately.

SUNNY: Hope that mechanic does a good job for ya.

ARK: Love the photos of Areion and her progress. I also remember her as "speck" and now she is a grown up girl. Time flies...

Unfortunately for them, when the swans get stuck it's usually the end for them because the ice isn't thick enough for a person to be on it to rescue them. It's kind of that old 'survival of the fittest' thing. It doesn't happen very often
For a while, we were being over-run by swans. They were reproducing at a VERY rapid rate and running off all the other waterfowl, and eating all the food that the others would normally eat. They are a very aggressive and territorial critter and will go out of their way to attack anything or anybody that gets in their way. When they are nesting, I'm pretty leary about going out in the kayak since I really don't want to share my boat with a hostile 40 pound bird with a 7 foot wingspan.
So now, there is a man who goes out in the spring and finds as many of the nests as he can and oils the eggs so they won't hatch. He's done a good job of getting the number down to a more manageable number.
The swans are pretty, but my warm and fuzzy feelings about them have changed to indifference, at best.

Please note that this is a 2nd attempt….

….I had a Day 6 blog all completed and proof read aloud to Carol yesterday evening. When I went to post it, my “fumble fingers” hit the wrong key and it went ...poof! And was NOT retrievable. So with that, lets try again…

This day started as all the previous ones have here with Maris and Marko and the boys … a smorgasbord of delicious foodstuff for breakfast dining.

This is our last full day here with them and Maris wanted us to see more of Tallinn … the newer parts than what we had seen in “Old Town” earlier in the week. So, this was dedicated to seeing the large park near the Angel Monument, which includes the President’s Palace, Katarina’s Palace art museum, the Kumu Museum and a large lovely lake area with lovely gardens. After parking the car, we walked to the front of the President’s Palace and watched the guards for a brief time before descending another set of stairs to the garden area at the back of Kadrioru (of Katarina’s ) Palace. Yet another flight of outdoor stairs brought us to the front entrance to the Kadrioru. We have never been art lovers per se, but this one had some interesting wood carvings in addition to opulent decor of the era of the tsars .

You can learn more about the Angel monument here and see a few photos of it also. As a side note, the cross was removed from the Angel’s hand during the time of Soviet occupation / rule of Estonia. It has since been replaced. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russalka_Memorial

Here you’ll find a nice picture of the President’s palace and guards ‘on patrol’ out front: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Presidential_Palace_in_Tallinn,_Estonia.jpg and here you’ll learn more about the building and is function. (I think it sounds very much like the White House in Washington, DC, USA) http://vp1992-2001.president.ee/eng/ametitegevus/Loss.asp

Katarina’s Palace … “Jewels of European and Russian art in a magnificent Baroque palace. The construction of the Kadriorg Palace was started by the Tsar Peter the Great of Russia in 1718. It was named Kadriorg (in German Catharinenthal) in honour of his wife Catherine I. The palace was designed by the Italian architect Nicola Michetti and its abundantly decorated main hall is one of the most exquisite examples of baroque architecture both in Estonia and in northern Europe.” … taken from an informational brochure. This web site explains more of the history of this building and has a couple / three photos also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kadriorg_Palace

After leaving Katarina’s Palace, we took a casual stroll (Hey...I’m OLD and ‘casual’ s fine with me!!) through the park to the Kumu Museum of Art. This was opened in 2006, and in 2008 received the Museum of the Year Award from the European Museum Forum. Again, I’m not much of an art fanatic, but I could see a definite evolution in art through the ages and also the effects of historical events such as war and poverty, etc. Here you’ll find a lot of photos of the museum’s building facility and some from the interior too. Can you find the artistic use for scrap tires? https://www.google.com/search?q=kumu+tallinn&client=firefox-a&hs=6P7&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=JehaUq_6AsqtkAfnz4HoBQ&ved=0CGEQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=579&dpr=1 Inside was a nice gift / souvenir shop with a comfortable bench just outside the entrance. Carol and Maris spent enough time there that I got to snooze a bit … another hit on the credit card!

After we returned home, we finally had an opportunity to visit a bit with Marko’s parents (Reet and Diit) when they brought the boys home. Earlier in the week, they had picked up the boys for some overnight (a couple / three nights) visit. These warm people only spoke just a couple words of English and we kept Maris busy talking for the four of us!! And like her parents a couple days ago, we all used the love we felt for Maris and Marko as a universal language well understood. They brought us each a large bar of Estonian Dark Chocolate and a small bag of green peas fresh from their garden. Reet made sure that Maris explained to us that “dark chocolate is better for your heart.” We ate the peas straight from the pod as a snack while sitting around the kitchen table. Sadly, our visit with them was all too short.

When Marko got home from work, he played a “symphony” on the grill with delicious salmon. Maris and Carol prepared the potatoes and salad and we once again dined around the kitchen table ‘family style’.

After dinner, Marko helped Carol some more with downloading pictures from her camera to her computer and a few to Facebook. Maris, the boys, and I visited a bit.

We had to repack everything to accommodate purchased treasures and rearrange what was needed for the following night in Helsinki, Finland. Our plan is to leave both larger pieces of luggage and one small piece in a storage locker at the ship terminal in Helsinki. The day ferry will dock right next to the pier for the overnight ferry that will carry us from Helsinki to Stockholm.

We have found over the years that you will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart will always be left somewhere else. For us, that is the price we so willingly pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place. Our spending these first 5 days of this journey here with Maris and Marko and their family has been the best possible beginnings of this trip. We absolutely love Marko and the boys and our love and admiration for Maris has deepened immeasurably since she was living with us so many years ago for part of one summer. She is such a poised, self-confident young woman and we are blessed to call her “ours.”

Tomorrow we sadly leave Tallinn and go across the Gulf of Finland to Helsinki.

Crumb Top Apple Pie about ready to come out of the oven...... hope it is good. never know how much sugar to put in as it depends on the apples ..... don't like it real sweet cuz it drowns out the apple taste. Hope I got a GOOD DO on it ... LOLOL

Lovely day today, but it is the last one ...... TRUE fall chills are on the way for the week...... Was nice while it lasted.

Carol, one of my neighbors has an acquaintance who had a high producing apple tree this year. That person wasn't interested in the apples, so he and another neighbor loaded up on apples. He made an apple pie that was delicious. The other neighbor made an apple something that could be eaten just the way it was or over ice cream. Oh Boy! That stuff was FANTASTIC! She also made and canned a LOT of jars of apple pie filling, and even some applesauce. She gave me two jars of the pie filling, and a jar of applesauce.
Now, I just have to figure out how to make a pie or cobbler without ruining such a nice gift.  

Day 7…. The adventure continues

This was truly a sad / happy day for us as we would be leaving the comfort and security we have with Maris, Marko, Mihkel, and Martin and starting a new phase of this holiday experience. Maris had another fine spread of things to eat for breakfast and her wonderful homemade apple juice!! Marko stayed home to drive us to the ferry terminal as Maris was not quite sure of its location. We were glad to have this last bit of time to share with him. The boys were left at home for the hour or so that parents were gone. And besides … there are always games to play with! Good boys!!

We found the terminal and checked in and sat to “wait” for the incoming ferry to dock. The one-way crossing is no more than 1 ½ hours and it doesn’t take long to unload and reload with vehicles and people. Soon, we were in line to board. The very last thing I heard from Maris was “Bye, Daddy” and once again, I had tears in my eyes because of parting from her.

As indicated earlier, we knew that the Scandinavian part of the world would be expensive and had only scheduled one night in Helsinki. Our ferry arrived in Helsinki around 11:30 AM on Wednesday and the overnight ferry to Stockholm was scheduled to sail at 5:00PM on Thursday. This would actually give us a day and half in Helsinki, and by leaving 3/4ths of the luggage in a locker, it would be manageable.

From our having seen travel videos by Rick Steves, we kinda / sorta knew what to expect. In one of his videos, he mentioned the Kappeli Cafe as a good place to stop for a meal or refreshments. This just so happened to be right on our way to a tourist information stop and a Lutheran Cathedral that Carol wanted to visit. We stopped for hot tea and coffee and something sweet to eat. Folks I’m here to tell you that I had a nice thick slice of the world’s best carrot cake. On a “10 scale”, I would modestly give it a score of at least 17 … and this was AFTER having a second slice just to be sure that I was properly and objectively rating it. Carol had a chocolate dessert of something that looked delicious also. She tried to bribe me with a taste of hers, but I knew if I tasted hers, I would have to give her a taste of MY cake. My mother didn’t raise ALL dummies, so I declined her offer. It would have been nice to have been there for an evening meal and not be concerned about money. Read here and check out the photos for what this fine dining establishment is about: http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/Finland/Etelae_Suomi/Helsinki-242105/Restaurants-Helsinki-Kappeli-BR-1.html

After our late morning rest break at the Kappeli Cafe, we walked on up the street and up hill towards the Lutheran Cathedral. By that point, my fatigue kicked in and I just could NOT face anymore long flights of steps. I found a nice place to sit that was across the street from the cathedral and Carol made the trek up the steps to the building. She said she was impressed by its lack of fancy decorations, artwork, etc. … its simple taste. Here you’ll find a bit of information and a few photos both inside and out:http://www.sacred-destinations.com/finland/helsinki-lutheran-cathedral

More walking, walking, and dragging the one piece of luggage with us and doing a bit of souvenir shopping and we were ready for a mid afternoon light meal / snack of some sort. We had passed by our hotel, but could not check in till later. We found a small cafe / ice cream shoppe that was within two blocks of the hotel.

Again, let me remind you that Scandinavia IS expensive and we had to be frugal and yet still had to be secure in clean and comfortable surroundings. Carol found the Omena Hotel chain on line that was inexpensive yet appeared to be comfortable. The deal is that there is no ‘front desk’ or hotel personnel on site. It is all done by computer control and you cannot check in before 4:00PM. She had made reservation … and paid … on line before we left home and was given a 5 digit code at that time. 24 hours before we arrived, she was given by email our room number which became part of the security code needed to enter the building and subsequently our room. The room was probably 16 feet deep and 10 feet wide and had a prefab bath (shower only … no tub) unit along one side wall. There was a small table and a couple comfortable seats that could have been made into a bed if pushed together. Also was a small microwave, coffee maker flatscreen TV. And free wifi. And NO Pictures or decorations. The room was spotless and the bed was very comfortable. Check this out as its pretty neat even if plain. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and on the left side click on “rooms” and you’ll get a pretty good estimation of what I’m talking about: http://www.omenahotels.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=hotel%20helsinki&utm_campaign=Helsinki+City+Terms+EN+-+Omena+Hotels+in+Helsinki

After getting into our hotel room, we were tired and Carol wanted to do stuff with her pictures and I wanted to have a little computer time and also rest. Therefore it was kind of late when we started looking for a place to eat. Believe it or not … and I find it hard to believe myself … we finally found a Mexican Restaurant that was still open at 8:45PM within a couple blocks of the hotel. So … in Finland for one night, we ate Mexican fare and it was delicious.

Good night...I’ll see you later. I am tired!!

Icky damp rainy day here ..... certainly not nice for me to breathe .... ACKKKKK

Where is everyone at???

I have two friends that each broke their arm............one slipped out of the shower, the other slipped on a cruise ship..........they're all sling'd up...............it sure doesnt phase their jaws, which is a good thing, as we have a big party on Thursday. Cards, good food, laughs etc...........we're making our winter plans. LOL, whatever that means.

Our sun is going down earlier now and it's almost full moon.............we are having gorgeous evenings here and the almost full moon is like a bright city light.........

God bless. Prayers for ALL!

Rick, I'm really enjoying your travel log. Just a suggestion... Type your entry into Word, then copy and paste to here. Then you won't lose everything by hitting one wrong button.

Awww, Graymare, I'm sorry about your friends' broken arms. That can be sooo inconvenient.

After several days of nice weather, it's cloudy and rainy for a today and a few more. Probably won't get to see the full moon this time. 70s are giving way to 60s and 50s. The leaves are turning, but it looks like they are going to turn slowly and deprive us of the big color show.

We haven't had a frost yet this year, so our leaves are mostly turning brown and falling off instead of having much color.   We still have lots of green trees.  

We took Kazi to Va Tech to have her feet looked at yesterday, over a week earlier than scheduled.  She has been limping off and on for the past month.  After x-rays, the vet said her joint inside her hoof is deteriorating more.  She hasn't had a laminitis attack, her left front foot's bones are just not doing as well.  They have her in glue on shoes with lots of support.   This is probably why she wouldn't walk when I tried to ride her a few weeks ago, my weight on her was too much for that foot.  She has always been good about letting me know when she isn't feeling just right.  No more riding for her.   We were at Tech for over 3 hours while a herd of vet students learned about x-raying hooves and laminitis and such.  Kazi was very well behaved, standing like a statue on the wooden blocks while they x-rayed her feet three different times, before and after trims and shoeing.    She is still limping, but seems happy enough.

Thanks, Ellen. I am SO slow on this computer stuff. For what its worth, I am on a MAC. I use a thing called "pages" for my blank sheet of paper. My problem was I just hit the wrong button. I was "highlighted" and getting ready to "copy"...and hit the "paste" button instead. Somehow all my work disappeared and I was left with the last thing I had "pasted" which was a reference in the story. I just have to remember at that point to take my time and double/triple check before hitting the button.

Hopefully I can get another day or so done tomorrow (Wednesday). Carol is a week ahead of me!!

Love to all,

Rick, and SNOOP who promises he has a couple "unvarnished truth" stories to tell also!!

Sorry to hear this about Kazi Ark ... She is such a nice mare that it is sad that she can't get more "action" .....

Sorry about your friends Graymare .... I have noticed how much MORE careful I have to be lately so I don't trip/fall ...... don't need NO broken anythings. !!!!