The big fat Greek wedding was great fun. The actual wedding took place in a beautiful Greek Orthodox Church that had brilliant stained glass windows and many icons. The groom, Tyson Wisbrock, was truly handsome and his bride, Effie, couldn’t have been lovelier. She wore a strapless cream colored gown with an overlay sheer shirt that was trimmed in taupe ribbon. There were 23 attendants so it was a big wedding. I would guess there were about 400 guests. In the Greek tradition, the couple does not exchange vows. There were at least six priests officiating at the service. Some had minor roles and other major roles. There was lovely chanting throughout the service. All parts of the service have symbolic meaning and a handout was given to each guest to explain the symbolism. All in all it was a wonderful experience.
The reception took place at a beautiful country club about 20 minutes away. Oh my goodness the food was truly incredible and oh so delicious. There were hot appetizers of spinach wrapped in filo dough, skewers of chicken and beef, stuffed cherry tomatoes, mushrooms and pea pods and a table with hot suckling pig. The meal was lemon-egg soup, salad with goat cheese, poached pear and walnuts, the entrée was surf and turf with a thick beef filet and shrimp with a twice baked potato, carrots and pea pods. Dessert was wedding cake, ice cream and chocolate sauce. Then there was this table that was the entire width of the room that was stacked with about thirty different choices of sweets: fresh strawberries the size of your fist, pineapple, watermelon, grapes, chocolate cups with fresh raspberries (my favorite), and too many pastries to describe. I used incredible restraint. After dinner a Greek band played wonderful Greek dancing music and it went nonstop until we left at 10:00. I never saw Effie and Tyson sit down. They danced the entire time. And they were dancing as we left.
We got up at 6:00 on Monday and drove to O’Hare, almost two hours away. We had plenty of time to get checked in and board so there was no stress. We were eager to be home so were grateful when we touched down in Portland and caught the shuttle as soon as we got our bags. What luck. It was a sunny, warm day when we returned. Our yard looks so lush if not overgrown. All I could see was a zillion projects but knew each would get done with time. Our first task was to sort through 82 days of mail. Yikes! The newspaper goofed and restarted the paper March 7th instead of May 7th so I had two months of the Oregonian sitting on my kitchen counters. I had food in the freezer so only needed to pick up juice for breakfast and salad greens for dinner. It is so good to be home.
Today we spent a lot of time in the office, working on bills, sorting through paperwork and getting organized. This afternoon we took a bike ride after cleaning off our bikes that had been sitting for a year and a half. Tomorrow we start our exercise program as we both put on a few pounds eating in restaurants three times a day for almost 90 days..
Thursday
Ron went to our CPA today to pick up our 2006 tax return. Fortunately we only owed a small amount. That’s always good news. We are getting back in the groove here. We get up when we wake up, a great benefit of retirement. We do stretches, exercise, shower and have breakfast. Then we start our day. We try to do a little each day in the yard as the weeds have almost taken over. We are making progress. We had massages today and Ron worked in the office all day. I made out a menu for the next few days. We are eating healthy and that feels good. I have already dropped a couple of pounds. Does that mean I can have dessert? Oh guess not…we leave on the 21st to go see Ron’s mom and back here on the 30th. Then I take off for a weekend with girlfriends on the Umpqua River. And life goes on. Our next planned trip will be to Sri Lanka in July, our final trip there unless the proposal Ron wrote comes through. We may try to go to Thailand since we will be so close. Too soon to plan. I also want to go to SC to see my family there this summer. So our travels will continue. I don’t plan to do another blog unless we go to a new place. But will notify you if I do another one. This concludes the blog. Thanks for your readership.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
4-30-07
Gosh I am behinder than usual! We had a super visit with Sandi and Bill in RI. Again the weather turned sunny while we were there. Our timing has been good this trip. It poured rain the day we left but we left early so can’t complain. We took walks in the lovely town of Kingston. New England is so special for people like us who love older homes. Some in Kingston that we saw were from the early 1700’s. That’s more maintenance than I could handle but they were charming houses all the same. We went to Narragansett Beach to view the storm damage. They had part of the same sort that David and Anne had had in Maine. We also went to the historic home of Gilbert Stuart who was the portrait artist who painted the famous portrait of George Washington. Unfortunately, the museum/home was closed but we walked around the beautiful grounds and peeked in the windows where you could see the displays of colonial life. We feasted on fresh ‘lobstra’ as they say in RI and went out for Italian to celebrate Ron’s 61st birthday. Sandi and Bill had added a addition to their home about two years ago and we couldn’t believe how well it fit the house and Sandi did a stellar job with the décor. She is brilliant with color and the room was perfect in every way. It is a dining room filled with sunlight.
The train ride to Dc was a bit over six hours and the scenery was great with lots of water: ponds, bays and the coastline. New Jersey was not attractive however. I know there are pretty parts of NJ but our train didn’t go by those parts. And to our Surprise we saw dumping similar to what we experienced in Serbia and Sri Lanka. Trash dumped right down a small hill where the trash and old tires rested against a chain link fence at the bottom of the hill. Disgusting!
From Union Station we took a metro train to the last stop where Mark picked us up and drove us to Centreville VA where they live. This made for a hard day because we were schlepping one heavy suitcase each, a carry-on each and Ron had his very heavy briefcase that contains two computers and lots of paper. Ugh! In addition we had to wear our winter coats due to all we were trying to manage with the luggage along with escalators, train doors, etc. It got hot carrying luggage with winter coats on. Ron is lots stronger than I am and has a longer stride so at one point he ran to catch a train and stood in the doorway to hold the door for me. By the time I caught up with him the door had closed onto his suitcase. There was no way for me to get in and I had a vision of him leaving on the train and me waving goodbye on the platform. I whimpered “I can’t do this’. When he realized I couldn’t get on, he hopped off and we waited for the next train.
We have had a ball with Avi, our newest grandchild. He looks like a little man and could charm the horns off a billy goat. He, like his cousin Jacob, he is an easy child, always happy and a big flirt. On Friday Ron’s niece Leah came over for Shabbat dinner. On Saturday, we went to Fredericksburg, a charming historic town where many civil war battles where fought. We toured the home of Betty Washington Lewis, sister of George Washington. There was a portrait of Catherine Lewis Willis who was their great granddaughter and a distant relative of mine. What a trill and coincidence. I didn’t realize when we decided to tour this home that there was the connection with Catherine. So I wrote down all the information about her and sent it to my dear family history-loving sister. We have some book we read many years ago about Catherine. She moved to Florida with her parents after her husband’s death and her father’s financial reversal. She later married Prince Achille Murat, who was Napoleon Bonaparte’s nephew. They were buried in Tallahassee FL. Once when my mother came to visit me in college I took her to the cemetery to show her their graves.
We walked around Fredericksburg for awhile after visiting Kenmore, the plantation and estate of Catherine’s forefather. On Sunday we went to DC and visited the Franklin D Roosevelt Memorial. What a grand memorial. There are two statues of him. At the beginning of the memorial that is several blocks long, has a bronze statue of him in his wheelchair that he designed. It was modeled after a kitchen chair and had two sets of wheels, one made from bicycle wheels and one set of tricycle wheels. In between, there are numerous fountains and stone walls with various quotes of FDRs. There is also a statue of Eleanor Roosevelt, who was the first US delegate to the UN. The final statue of Roosevelt is larger than life. He is seated with a cape around him and it is a magnificent portrayal of him. The quotes are inspiring and are very thought provoking when read in the current context.
Today, Monday, Rachel and I went out for mani/pedicures. Rachel treated me for my birthday. After lunch we went to Babies R US and got a new car seat for Avi who has almost outgrown his first car seat. Then Ron and I came back to our motel and rested before having a dinner/movie date. Prior to leaving the US in February we saw the previews to The Namesake so finally saw it tonight. It was a great film. Of course, Ron and I are having a love affair with India so we pretty much like anything to do with India.
May 3, 2007
Tuesday Ron and I went into DC. We started the day with a tour of the Capitol, led by Ron’s niece Leah who works for Senator Lieberman (CT). It is pretty special to have your own private tour. I had never been in the Capitol but Ron had in the 60’s when he told Hubert Humphrey who was then Vice President that he would have his job in the 80’s. Life is what happens when you are making other plans! Then we headed over to the American Indian Museum and had lunch and a feast for our eyes, seeing beautiful crafts of the various tribes. There was no way we could see everything as it is a huge museum and we can only absorb so much. We enjoyed a special exhibit on Indian dress.
Then we went to the Brass Knob, an architectural savage store. Ron had bought an outdoor lamp fixture there the last time we were in town (Sept) and he had met his three criteria: big, old and heavy (cast iron). After picking it up we went to a Starbucks, read the paper and did a crossword while waiting to meet friends at an Indian restaurant for dinner. It was great to see Jon and Alice, Jon’s wife (Jon hired Ron for the SL job) and Corrine, who used to work for ICMA and now works for Montgomery County.
On Wednesday we had family portraits taken at a nearby mall then Mark dashed off to rehearsals. Rachel, Ron and I did projects. Ron put baby proof latches on all the cabinet doors in the house while Rachel and I sorted threw all the baby clothes she has, making piles of too little, too big, and just right. Afterwards, we went for a walk then Rachel had the hots for custard ice cream so at 6:00 we headed out. It was 7:00 by the time we got home so I fed Avi while Rachel took the dog out. They had an English bulldog. Then we started supper and finally ate at 9:00. By then Ron was grumpy from low blood sugar, mine on the other hand was still up from ice cream. He didn’t have any ice cream.
May 6, 2007
So we went to Chicago on Friday and stayed right downtown. Alexander Calder’s stabile “Flamingo” was right around the corner from us and Picasso’s “Baboon” was within a few blocks. What a thrill to see good art. We are here to attend the wedding of Tyson Wisbrock, son of our good friends Rollie and Dolores Wisbrock and Effie Manos. Friday night we attended the dress rehearsal dinner in Greek Town at a Greek restaurant and had a fabulous meal: appetizers, soup, salad and we opted for the spicy shrimp entrée. We met a woman at the party who grew up in Kandy Sri Lanka and now lives in Portland OR. Yes, it is a small world.
On Saturday we went to the Art Institute of Chicago. Talk about a thrill. They have a splendid collection of Impressionists paintings and they had a special exhibit: Cezanne to Picasso. Ambroise Vollard, a French art dealer had helped many modern artists so this show was featuring the works of many of those artists. It was very impressive and oh so crowded. We had to wait in line for about 40 minutes to get in and each gallery was crammed with viewers. I was in hog heaven seeing so much good art by artists that I really like. I had no idea that the Institute owned such a great collection.
Afterwards we grabbed lunch, rented a car and headed for Tinley Park, where the Greek Orthodox wedding and reception will take place. It is about 30 miles out of Chicago but we had lots of traffic (on Saturday??) to deal with so it took a while to get here. We lazed around the rest of the day and went exploring in the area that appears to be quite wealthy judging by the malls and homes. The wedding is at 3:00 today with the reception at 5:30. Not your typical 10-minute Protestant affair!
I will have one last entry to describe the wedding. We head home in the morning with about an hour’s drive with traffic to get to O’Hare airport. We arrive in Portland around noon and let me say the Bergman’s are not particularly weary so much as eager to be home in the great NW!! Ron has a gabillion projects lined up: creating box beams for the ceiling in the living and dining rooms, painting the entire downstairs and some of the outside of the house, ripping out the deck and redesigning it. Well you get the picture, we won’t get bored. I on the other had am eager to rip up the overgrown cutting garden and replant it and see what needs redoing with the rest of the landscape after having been gone for 14 months and SL then being on the roads for almost three months. It’s time to take care of the sanctuary at 112 W 28th St
Gosh I am behinder than usual! We had a super visit with Sandi and Bill in RI. Again the weather turned sunny while we were there. Our timing has been good this trip. It poured rain the day we left but we left early so can’t complain. We took walks in the lovely town of Kingston. New England is so special for people like us who love older homes. Some in Kingston that we saw were from the early 1700’s. That’s more maintenance than I could handle but they were charming houses all the same. We went to Narragansett Beach to view the storm damage. They had part of the same sort that David and Anne had had in Maine. We also went to the historic home of Gilbert Stuart who was the portrait artist who painted the famous portrait of George Washington. Unfortunately, the museum/home was closed but we walked around the beautiful grounds and peeked in the windows where you could see the displays of colonial life. We feasted on fresh ‘lobstra’ as they say in RI and went out for Italian to celebrate Ron’s 61st birthday. Sandi and Bill had added a addition to their home about two years ago and we couldn’t believe how well it fit the house and Sandi did a stellar job with the décor. She is brilliant with color and the room was perfect in every way. It is a dining room filled with sunlight.
The train ride to Dc was a bit over six hours and the scenery was great with lots of water: ponds, bays and the coastline. New Jersey was not attractive however. I know there are pretty parts of NJ but our train didn’t go by those parts. And to our Surprise we saw dumping similar to what we experienced in Serbia and Sri Lanka. Trash dumped right down a small hill where the trash and old tires rested against a chain link fence at the bottom of the hill. Disgusting!
From Union Station we took a metro train to the last stop where Mark picked us up and drove us to Centreville VA where they live. This made for a hard day because we were schlepping one heavy suitcase each, a carry-on each and Ron had his very heavy briefcase that contains two computers and lots of paper. Ugh! In addition we had to wear our winter coats due to all we were trying to manage with the luggage along with escalators, train doors, etc. It got hot carrying luggage with winter coats on. Ron is lots stronger than I am and has a longer stride so at one point he ran to catch a train and stood in the doorway to hold the door for me. By the time I caught up with him the door had closed onto his suitcase. There was no way for me to get in and I had a vision of him leaving on the train and me waving goodbye on the platform. I whimpered “I can’t do this’. When he realized I couldn’t get on, he hopped off and we waited for the next train.
We have had a ball with Avi, our newest grandchild. He looks like a little man and could charm the horns off a billy goat. He, like his cousin Jacob, he is an easy child, always happy and a big flirt. On Friday Ron’s niece Leah came over for Shabbat dinner. On Saturday, we went to Fredericksburg, a charming historic town where many civil war battles where fought. We toured the home of Betty Washington Lewis, sister of George Washington. There was a portrait of Catherine Lewis Willis who was their great granddaughter and a distant relative of mine. What a trill and coincidence. I didn’t realize when we decided to tour this home that there was the connection with Catherine. So I wrote down all the information about her and sent it to my dear family history-loving sister. We have some book we read many years ago about Catherine. She moved to Florida with her parents after her husband’s death and her father’s financial reversal. She later married Prince Achille Murat, who was Napoleon Bonaparte’s nephew. They were buried in Tallahassee FL. Once when my mother came to visit me in college I took her to the cemetery to show her their graves.
We walked around Fredericksburg for awhile after visiting Kenmore, the plantation and estate of Catherine’s forefather. On Sunday we went to DC and visited the Franklin D Roosevelt Memorial. What a grand memorial. There are two statues of him. At the beginning of the memorial that is several blocks long, has a bronze statue of him in his wheelchair that he designed. It was modeled after a kitchen chair and had two sets of wheels, one made from bicycle wheels and one set of tricycle wheels. In between, there are numerous fountains and stone walls with various quotes of FDRs. There is also a statue of Eleanor Roosevelt, who was the first US delegate to the UN. The final statue of Roosevelt is larger than life. He is seated with a cape around him and it is a magnificent portrayal of him. The quotes are inspiring and are very thought provoking when read in the current context.
Today, Monday, Rachel and I went out for mani/pedicures. Rachel treated me for my birthday. After lunch we went to Babies R US and got a new car seat for Avi who has almost outgrown his first car seat. Then Ron and I came back to our motel and rested before having a dinner/movie date. Prior to leaving the US in February we saw the previews to The Namesake so finally saw it tonight. It was a great film. Of course, Ron and I are having a love affair with India so we pretty much like anything to do with India.
May 3, 2007
Tuesday Ron and I went into DC. We started the day with a tour of the Capitol, led by Ron’s niece Leah who works for Senator Lieberman (CT). It is pretty special to have your own private tour. I had never been in the Capitol but Ron had in the 60’s when he told Hubert Humphrey who was then Vice President that he would have his job in the 80’s. Life is what happens when you are making other plans! Then we headed over to the American Indian Museum and had lunch and a feast for our eyes, seeing beautiful crafts of the various tribes. There was no way we could see everything as it is a huge museum and we can only absorb so much. We enjoyed a special exhibit on Indian dress.
Then we went to the Brass Knob, an architectural savage store. Ron had bought an outdoor lamp fixture there the last time we were in town (Sept) and he had met his three criteria: big, old and heavy (cast iron). After picking it up we went to a Starbucks, read the paper and did a crossword while waiting to meet friends at an Indian restaurant for dinner. It was great to see Jon and Alice, Jon’s wife (Jon hired Ron for the SL job) and Corrine, who used to work for ICMA and now works for Montgomery County.
On Wednesday we had family portraits taken at a nearby mall then Mark dashed off to rehearsals. Rachel, Ron and I did projects. Ron put baby proof latches on all the cabinet doors in the house while Rachel and I sorted threw all the baby clothes she has, making piles of too little, too big, and just right. Afterwards, we went for a walk then Rachel had the hots for custard ice cream so at 6:00 we headed out. It was 7:00 by the time we got home so I fed Avi while Rachel took the dog out. They had an English bulldog. Then we started supper and finally ate at 9:00. By then Ron was grumpy from low blood sugar, mine on the other hand was still up from ice cream. He didn’t have any ice cream.
May 6, 2007
So we went to Chicago on Friday and stayed right downtown. Alexander Calder’s stabile “Flamingo” was right around the corner from us and Picasso’s “Baboon” was within a few blocks. What a thrill to see good art. We are here to attend the wedding of Tyson Wisbrock, son of our good friends Rollie and Dolores Wisbrock and Effie Manos. Friday night we attended the dress rehearsal dinner in Greek Town at a Greek restaurant and had a fabulous meal: appetizers, soup, salad and we opted for the spicy shrimp entrée. We met a woman at the party who grew up in Kandy Sri Lanka and now lives in Portland OR. Yes, it is a small world.
On Saturday we went to the Art Institute of Chicago. Talk about a thrill. They have a splendid collection of Impressionists paintings and they had a special exhibit: Cezanne to Picasso. Ambroise Vollard, a French art dealer had helped many modern artists so this show was featuring the works of many of those artists. It was very impressive and oh so crowded. We had to wait in line for about 40 minutes to get in and each gallery was crammed with viewers. I was in hog heaven seeing so much good art by artists that I really like. I had no idea that the Institute owned such a great collection.
Afterwards we grabbed lunch, rented a car and headed for Tinley Park, where the Greek Orthodox wedding and reception will take place. It is about 30 miles out of Chicago but we had lots of traffic (on Saturday??) to deal with so it took a while to get here. We lazed around the rest of the day and went exploring in the area that appears to be quite wealthy judging by the malls and homes. The wedding is at 3:00 today with the reception at 5:30. Not your typical 10-minute Protestant affair!
I will have one last entry to describe the wedding. We head home in the morning with about an hour’s drive with traffic to get to O’Hare airport. We arrive in Portland around noon and let me say the Bergman’s are not particularly weary so much as eager to be home in the great NW!! Ron has a gabillion projects lined up: creating box beams for the ceiling in the living and dining rooms, painting the entire downstairs and some of the outside of the house, ripping out the deck and redesigning it. Well you get the picture, we won’t get bored. I on the other had am eager to rip up the overgrown cutting garden and replant it and see what needs redoing with the rest of the landscape after having been gone for 14 months and SL then being on the roads for almost three months. It’s time to take care of the sanctuary at 112 W 28th St
Monday, April 30, 2007
On Wednesday we moved from the castle to a B& B down by the bay. I misquoted the cost of the castle: it was $259 a night not $330. We found out when we checked out. Still it was a bad experience. When the B&B owner picked us up at the hotel, she asked about our stay. We told her we were disappointed and she said they had a terrible reputation and that there was no resident manager. Apparently he manages another one of their hotels and rarely shows up at the castle. Anyway, our B&B was delightful and right on the bus line. After putting our luggage there we headed to town and revisited Design Yard, the beautiful arts and crafts gallery then went on a one-hour tour of Dublin Castle that was built on the foundation of the original castle built in the 1100’s. The building is still used for important meetings and dinners by heads of state and the like. Afterwards we had a good lunch nearby. Being starved for a good film, we went to the Dublin Film Center and saw Other People’s Lives, an excellent German film.
We came back to the B&B and went to the great award winning Pakistani restaurant where we had eaten our first night in Dublin. After much deliberation, we ended up ordering the exact same dishes that we had enjoyed a week earlier. Yum. Back to the B&B that was just a few blocks away and off to bed we went. Up at 5:00 to catch our plane. We flew to London, short layover and a breakfast, then on to Chicago, a short layover then to Boston where David met us and drove us to Portland ME. From start to finish we traveled 23.5 hours and slept for 30 minutes between Chicago and Boston. We quickly fell into bed and today we are moving slowly. The kids are in school and David and Anne are at work so we can rest in between laundry and computer time.
It must be 70 degrees at least here today. We walked to a nearby café for lunch and didn’t even need our sweaters. Maine has had their coldest April this year but something changed while we were here. It is sunny and gorgeous! Lucky us. We took an hour-long nap after lunch and feel almost back to normal after our marathon no sleep trip.
Tuesday April 24th
Time flies. Yesterday we had a great day hanging out with our grandkids Jacob (5) and Tess (2.5). In the morning we planted some shrubs we had purchased on Sunday and in the afternoon we took them to a fire station to see the big trucks. Jacob is crazy about cars and trucks so we thought is would be a fun surprise outing. He got very shy when we got there. But a fireman came sliding down the fireman’s pole from upstairs and that was way cool. He gave both kids a fire chief hat and a sticker badge. Jacob would only go in the cab of the fire truck after Ron went in and Jacob sat on Ron’s lap. Then we ran a few errands and came home. The kids had a special event at their school so we walked them to school and we came back since Anne was to attend the event after work and she brought them home. Anne’s mom came over to baby sit and we took David and Anne out to eat dinner at a neat place in the downtown area.
The weather continues to be unbelievably beautiful: sunny, warm days. We have been getting up every morning and walking for 45 minutes. Today we were very bad. We stopped by a bakery on the way home for a cup of coffee and you had to walk right by the pastry case to order your coffee. Well heck, who can refuse a warm, whole-wheat sticky bun smothered in pecans??? Not me for sure. So we walked and gained two pounds from the so-called breakfast we ate at the bakery. We took a trip to the dump to recycle all the yard debris we collected when we raked the yard this weekend. We can’t stay inside in this weather. The week before we arrived Portland had a big windstorm with 65 mph gusts and many trees and limbs came tumbling down. Many in the city were without power for three days including David and Anne. They didn’t lose any trees but the yard was a mess. After yard work on Sunday we went to the mall and had family portraits done. Would you believe that the last time I had a professional photograph taken was my high school yearbook photo in 1963!!!!!!!!!! Yikes, I am older than dirt. Then we went to Pat Parker’s house for dinner. Anne’s mom is a retired college professor and Anne’s dad still teaches in Japan but plans to retire in a year. They had just completed an addition to their already lovely home that sits on a hill overlooking a bay. Living on water is a very special experience.
After the dump run we came home, cleaned up and Ron took me downtown to Anne’s hair salon. God grief, the haircut was 50% more than what I pay in Vancouver. Do I live in a vacuum or what??? Well it feels good to have my hair trimmed.
Today we take David to catch a plane to Cambridge where he will be meeting on a work project and we head out in the morning to drive to Providence RI where we will hook up with Ron’s sister Sandi. We will turn our rental car in and she will drive us to her home in Kingston where we will stay until Friday when we head to VA to see Mark, Rachel and Avi, their son who is almost eight months old.
We came back to the B&B and went to the great award winning Pakistani restaurant where we had eaten our first night in Dublin. After much deliberation, we ended up ordering the exact same dishes that we had enjoyed a week earlier. Yum. Back to the B&B that was just a few blocks away and off to bed we went. Up at 5:00 to catch our plane. We flew to London, short layover and a breakfast, then on to Chicago, a short layover then to Boston where David met us and drove us to Portland ME. From start to finish we traveled 23.5 hours and slept for 30 minutes between Chicago and Boston. We quickly fell into bed and today we are moving slowly. The kids are in school and David and Anne are at work so we can rest in between laundry and computer time.
It must be 70 degrees at least here today. We walked to a nearby café for lunch and didn’t even need our sweaters. Maine has had their coldest April this year but something changed while we were here. It is sunny and gorgeous! Lucky us. We took an hour-long nap after lunch and feel almost back to normal after our marathon no sleep trip.
Tuesday April 24th
Time flies. Yesterday we had a great day hanging out with our grandkids Jacob (5) and Tess (2.5). In the morning we planted some shrubs we had purchased on Sunday and in the afternoon we took them to a fire station to see the big trucks. Jacob is crazy about cars and trucks so we thought is would be a fun surprise outing. He got very shy when we got there. But a fireman came sliding down the fireman’s pole from upstairs and that was way cool. He gave both kids a fire chief hat and a sticker badge. Jacob would only go in the cab of the fire truck after Ron went in and Jacob sat on Ron’s lap. Then we ran a few errands and came home. The kids had a special event at their school so we walked them to school and we came back since Anne was to attend the event after work and she brought them home. Anne’s mom came over to baby sit and we took David and Anne out to eat dinner at a neat place in the downtown area.
The weather continues to be unbelievably beautiful: sunny, warm days. We have been getting up every morning and walking for 45 minutes. Today we were very bad. We stopped by a bakery on the way home for a cup of coffee and you had to walk right by the pastry case to order your coffee. Well heck, who can refuse a warm, whole-wheat sticky bun smothered in pecans??? Not me for sure. So we walked and gained two pounds from the so-called breakfast we ate at the bakery. We took a trip to the dump to recycle all the yard debris we collected when we raked the yard this weekend. We can’t stay inside in this weather. The week before we arrived Portland had a big windstorm with 65 mph gusts and many trees and limbs came tumbling down. Many in the city were without power for three days including David and Anne. They didn’t lose any trees but the yard was a mess. After yard work on Sunday we went to the mall and had family portraits done. Would you believe that the last time I had a professional photograph taken was my high school yearbook photo in 1963!!!!!!!!!! Yikes, I am older than dirt. Then we went to Pat Parker’s house for dinner. Anne’s mom is a retired college professor and Anne’s dad still teaches in Japan but plans to retire in a year. They had just completed an addition to their already lovely home that sits on a hill overlooking a bay. Living on water is a very special experience.
After the dump run we came home, cleaned up and Ron took me downtown to Anne’s hair salon. God grief, the haircut was 50% more than what I pay in Vancouver. Do I live in a vacuum or what??? Well it feels good to have my hair trimmed.
Today we take David to catch a plane to Cambridge where he will be meeting on a work project and we head out in the morning to drive to Providence RI where we will hook up with Ron’s sister Sandi. We will turn our rental car in and she will drive us to her home in Kingston where we will stay until Friday when we head to VA to see Mark, Rachel and Avi, their son who is almost eight months old.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Did I mention that there are lots of palm trees in Dublin? It was a big surprise to see them here. We have been touring around the countryside and have been able to see quite a bit in the short time we are here. Ireland is best described as “tidy”. The homes and yards are quite tidy. Most homes are multiple dwelling units, the most common being what we would call duplexes or townhouses. Often they are two stories with both units facing the street. The yard is divided by a hedge four to six feet high, giving each unit privacy.
While Ron was in meetings on Saturday and Sunday I took two different country tours along the coast-one to the north and one to the south. In addition to seeing the beautiful Irish countryside I saw Malahide Castle the first day. It was built in the 1100’s and the same family resided there for 800 years. It was sold in 1976 when the owner died unexpectedly while traveling abroad. On the second day we went to Powercourt Gardens, the finest in Ireland, both for their design and their dramatic setting at the foot of the Sugarloaf Mountains. The house and grounds were commissioned in 1730s. The gardens fell into disrepair but in 1840 were restored to their original plan. New gates, urns, statues and ornamental gardens were added in 1858-75. The building was gutted by fire in 1974 but the ground floor and ballroom have been restored. About six of the partners went out there together and had delightful weather in which to roam around the gardens. My only regret was our limited time. There were numerous ponds with fountains, waterways throughout, beautiful statuary and enormous terraces.
We are staying at Clontarf Castle Hotel built in 1172 originally and it was demolished and rebuilt in 1837. It became the Clontarf Castle Hotel in 1998. It is a 4 star hotel and cost $330 a night for the cheap rooms. It has the poorest service we have ever encountered. For starters I had to bring our luggage in (it took four trips to the waiting car) because the desk clerk pointed to the concierge when I asked for assistance. He however was fully engaged with guests who needed help planning their day. After waiting five minutes I gave up and did it myself. There was no other staff in sight. At breakfast it took 25 minutes to being our order while those seated after us were served before us. This morning we were never given menus so Ron went back to the desk and picked some up. No one ever came by to take an order. The coffee that was served was undrinkable so I sent it back and asked for more. Today they told our friends they couldn’t serve scrambled eggs or omelets because the chef wasn’t here but they could order poached or fried eggs?????????????? I can’t imagine how you can fry an egg but not know how to scramble an egg….not my idea of four star.
On Tuesday ICMA took us on a tour to a Navan where the City Manager gave a brief overview of their economic development plan and then treated us to a tour of Newgrange (where we had gone last Friday, not knowing this was on the agenda) and to the Hill of Tara, a site of mythic importance and the political and spiritual center of Celtic Ireland and the seat of the high kings until the 11th century. We have been quite surprised at the quality of food that is served at the tourist spots like Newgrange and Powercourt. Not the usual junk food we have at such spots in the US but rather fine dining or something close to fine dining.
We ended the day with a banquet at Ye Olde Abbey Tavern in Howth, a small fishing village. We had a fabulous meal and ended with Irish dancing and music. It was a perfect ending to an absolutely delightful trip. We have Wednesday free to see whatever we missed and grab an early plane on Thursday to London, Chicago, and Boston where our son David will meet us and take us to Portland ME.
While Ron was in meetings on Saturday and Sunday I took two different country tours along the coast-one to the north and one to the south. In addition to seeing the beautiful Irish countryside I saw Malahide Castle the first day. It was built in the 1100’s and the same family resided there for 800 years. It was sold in 1976 when the owner died unexpectedly while traveling abroad. On the second day we went to Powercourt Gardens, the finest in Ireland, both for their design and their dramatic setting at the foot of the Sugarloaf Mountains. The house and grounds were commissioned in 1730s. The gardens fell into disrepair but in 1840 were restored to their original plan. New gates, urns, statues and ornamental gardens were added in 1858-75. The building was gutted by fire in 1974 but the ground floor and ballroom have been restored. About six of the partners went out there together and had delightful weather in which to roam around the gardens. My only regret was our limited time. There were numerous ponds with fountains, waterways throughout, beautiful statuary and enormous terraces.
We are staying at Clontarf Castle Hotel built in 1172 originally and it was demolished and rebuilt in 1837. It became the Clontarf Castle Hotel in 1998. It is a 4 star hotel and cost $330 a night for the cheap rooms. It has the poorest service we have ever encountered. For starters I had to bring our luggage in (it took four trips to the waiting car) because the desk clerk pointed to the concierge when I asked for assistance. He however was fully engaged with guests who needed help planning their day. After waiting five minutes I gave up and did it myself. There was no other staff in sight. At breakfast it took 25 minutes to being our order while those seated after us were served before us. This morning we were never given menus so Ron went back to the desk and picked some up. No one ever came by to take an order. The coffee that was served was undrinkable so I sent it back and asked for more. Today they told our friends they couldn’t serve scrambled eggs or omelets because the chef wasn’t here but they could order poached or fried eggs?????????????? I can’t imagine how you can fry an egg but not know how to scramble an egg….not my idea of four star.
On Tuesday ICMA took us on a tour to a Navan where the City Manager gave a brief overview of their economic development plan and then treated us to a tour of Newgrange (where we had gone last Friday, not knowing this was on the agenda) and to the Hill of Tara, a site of mythic importance and the political and spiritual center of Celtic Ireland and the seat of the high kings until the 11th century. We have been quite surprised at the quality of food that is served at the tourist spots like Newgrange and Powercourt. Not the usual junk food we have at such spots in the US but rather fine dining or something close to fine dining.
We ended the day with a banquet at Ye Olde Abbey Tavern in Howth, a small fishing village. We had a fabulous meal and ended with Irish dancing and music. It was a perfect ending to an absolutely delightful trip. We have Wednesday free to see whatever we missed and grab an early plane on Thursday to London, Chicago, and Boston where our son David will meet us and take us to Portland ME.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
On Monday evening our family had a farewell dinner for us. Tui said she never cooks but she prepared a feast for us. We had chicken soup with egg bean cake (a form of tofu) red curry, fried dried squid (we have not yet acquired a taste for dried seafood that is so popular in
We then went back to the house and started to wrap things up there. In a short time, Tui and Timm were at the door, saying we had given Timm way too much money. We explained how invaluable having the car had been. There is so much we were able to accomplish because we had the car. Everything from going shopping, picking up take out meals, shopping for household items, and on and on. I begged her to take the money and saying it was a small amount to us. I ended my plea by saying, ‘Khun Nattawan (her aunt) had suggested this amount”, assuming that Nattawan has the final say in the family. Thanks Nattawan for your suggestion! Timm then accepted the money.
Neither of us slept that well, probably a little anxious before yet another trip. Always so many details to track and god knows, we’re OLD so remembering those details is a trip in and of itself!! So we gave up about 4:45 and got up and finished covering the furniture with sheets. We do this to save having to dust everything. Tui comes down from
So two hours to the airport with almost no traffic. I drifted off for part of the trip. The new Bangkok airport is HUGE and gorgeous. We were struck by how quickly we got through all the lines, including the plane loading. We had a full plane and the woman who sat next to me liked to lift the chair arm so she to have a bit more space that was non-existent. For some reason it didn’t bother me. I liked how casual she was and as she sort of moved into my space and was physically leaning into me, she looked over and said, “Okay?” I said sure. The trip was 12 hours and although it seems short compared to our 26-hour trips to SL, I was weary before we arrived in London. The ibuprofen didn’t offer relief. We arrived in London around 6:30 pm (12:30 am body time) and went to our B&B near the airport. The room was one of the tiniest ever. My favorite was the “bathroom”. From a construction standpoint it was fascinating. It was basically an upright rectangular box that was retrofitted into the existing space. So from a user standpoint, you stepped up into the room. Hence it was easy to install the plumbing underneath without having to do a lot of infrastructure work. There was a toilet, small sink and perhaps the smallest shower ever. It was 18 inches wide and about 30 inches long. I laughed. I was looking forward to a long soaking bath to ease my weary bones but decided to fall into bed as it looked like a shower would be more work than fun. Again we didn’t sleep well. We are off our body clock by six hours and basically went to bed about 3:00 a.m. body time. Again we gave up around 4:45 London time and showered. It was refreshing. We never even opened our suitcases as the room was so tiny and we were so tired that we put on yesterday’s clothes, fixed a cup of tea. Ron worked on the computer and I started reading the Ireland tour book. At 6:00 we left for the airport. We arrived in Dublin and it was 57 degrees and the sun was shining. They have had eight days of sunshine, which is unheard of this time of year. I checked on the Internet and it is due to rain on Sunday so between now and then we will rejoice with the sun.
We had a delightful, talkative cab driver take us to the B&B where we are staying until Sunday when we move into the castle where we are staying for three nights. It costs more than three times the B&B, which is why we aren’t staying there for the entire time. Ron’s ICMA meeting is being held there.
After getting unpacked we headed to town, catching a city bus just down the street from our house. We are quite close to the ocean and got to see lots of shore birds at low tide. Tomorrow we will get up to exercise and walk down by the water. Once we got to town we were starving so ducked into the first restaurant we saw, a Cuban cocktail bar, complete with photos of Hemingway, Spencer Tracy and Fidel as a young man. I had delicious steamed mussels and Ron had fish and chips. Off we went on a walking tour of the area north of the Liffey River that runs through town. We were amazed at how much we got to see in a relatively short time. We went to the Customs House (1791) ,Moore St market with fresh produce and flowers, general post office (1818), St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral (1825) Around 4:30 we stopped for a espresso drink and a pear tart before heading home to put our very tired feet up. At a little after 7:00 we headed down the street to a Pakistani restaurant. It turned out that the restaurant has won numerous awards including Best Ethnic Restaurant in Ireland for 2007! Oh my goodness the food was incredible. We had a vegetable jalfrazi and a chicken dish with incredible spices and coconut cream. Rice and paratha completed the meal. We almost licked our plates it was so good.
We will retire early, as we are quite tired after two sleepless nights and a bit of jet lag. We were taken aback at how small Dublin appears. I had expected a metropolis with skyscrapers but never saw anything over five stories today and most buildings are two stories. We discovered that Dublin and the county have a total population of 1.1 million, much smaller than I had thought it would be. Bangkok by contrast is 14 million in population.
Thursday
We bought tickets for a tour in Dublin. We boarded a bus that makes 24 stops and you can get off and on throughout the day, choosing which sites you want to explore in depth. We saw impressionist paintings at the National Gallery, spent a long time at the Guinness Storehouse where we learned about how Guinness stout is made. You should know we stood in a long line to buy tickets for the self guided tour and paid senior rates of 19 euros. The storehouse is huge, seven stories and you visit each floor to learn about the history of 250 years of making brew. The facility is on 66 acres of land in the heart of Dublin that Arthur Guinness got 45 pounds per year lease for 9000 years! That’s what we call thinking ahead!! No pun intended. It is the largest brewery in the world. At one point they made 1000 oak casks a week to store the brew. The place was packed. We ate lunch in one of their many restaurants and it was delicious. Ron had a so-called complimentary pint (if you pay 9.50 euros to get in how can it be called complimentary???) Then he used my chit to get a second one at lunch. He never got pass drinking the first half of the second pint but it made for a very relaxed afternoon. Next we visited the National Museum where we saw an exhibit of contemporary ceramic artists, the history of clothes and Irish furniture. After the tour we wandered through what is known as Temple Bar (a bar is a riverside path). It is filled with cute shops and quaint restaurants. We had an espresso and came home.
We had another glorious day weather wise. It was chilly in the morning but all we needed was a sweater today. The sun was out the entire day. The flowering trees are in blossom, the tulips are blooming and birds are singing. At last we are experiencing spring. I should mention that we are so far north that it was still light at 8:30 last night. What a treat! That’s it from the land of redheads and rosy cheeks.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
4-3-07
It was so hot today we couldn’t get the house cooled down with both ACs going. Bummer. I am sweating as I write this in our bedroom with the AC on. When I was at the IC (internet café) I checked the temperature here today and it was 86 but with humidity factor it feels like 99 according to Weather.com. It is supposed to be in the low 90’s the rest of our time here so with humidity factor I reckon it will be hot, damn hot!
Ron worked all day on his proposal. He sent it off late this afternoon. Around 1:00 o’clock, the window blinds crew showed up. We ordered wooden blinds for the bedroom. They goofed on measuring two windows. Ron had suggested that the blinds be hung above the windows so the inside screens can be opened in order to open the windows and clear the blinds when raised but below the arch that is above the window so you could see the arch. When the man came to measure, he didn’t take into account the thickness of the slats so the blinds ended up being about 15cm short. It is what we call an ‘oh shit’ and I would imagine he said something similar in Thai when he saw what had happened. So one set got hung and two went back to the shop for adjustments.
Ron and I walk to the Internet café (IC) that is about three blocks from the house. There are twelve computers in the shop and usually it is filled with kids 12 years old and younger playing games. The bad news is they are playing violent games with soldiers, who have assault rifles, grenades, bayonets and handguns. Oy, if their mothers only knew the research on the effects on kids watching violence their little hinnies wouldn’t be in there. Some kids play a game with dancers. Yesterday I saw a game that at first looked like a pastoral scene with green grass and cute little animals. Then a pony-tailed girl comes onto the screen with some kind of stick weapon and beats the living daylights out of the cute little animals. Lovely. So far I have only observed three games but the place is packed every time we go. Today there were no computers available when I went in the late afternoon. The other awful part of this place is the noise. Bullets flying, grenades exploding and dance musical at a crescendo. Jeez when did I get so damn OLD? I am going to try and go at 9:00 a.m. when kids are hopefully in school and the place will be quieter. We went early today and had quiet until about 9:30 when two guys came in on motorcycles. The other funny thing that happens here is people take off their sandals outside shops and homes usually. But at the IC they take them off right as they step into the doorway so you have to watch your step as you walk in or you will stumble over a myriad of sandals.
One of the truly great pleasures of being in the tropics is the fruit. Tonight we had fresh mangoes off the trees on the property, rambutans, mangosteens (eat your heart out Larry) and another fruit whose name we don’t know but it looks like a small mango but has a different flavor. It was a feast!
After dinner we drove to an area of town we aren’t familiar with, it is a main commercial area that Jeap showed us on Saturday. We thought by walking around we could discover more of what is here such a dry cleaners, barber shops, etc. It was hotter than at the house due to the heat radiating off the asphalt and concrete from the heat of the day but we enjoyed exploring and will go back again to explore more streets. We did find a good size grocery store that is much closer than the Big C, which is way out of town. It has many of the staples we use but no produce. There are very few people who look like the Bergmans. I have seen one white person in Phetchaburi and he looked like a burned out hippie from the 60’s. I on the other hand am an aging hippie but not burned out! HA!
4-4-07
Out dirt was delivered this morning. Unfortunately the truck could not get to the house because earlier in the year Noi have put a carport roof over the drive near the front of the property and neither our moving van nor the dump truck can fit under it. Bummer. They will have to haul the dirt by hand from a very long way up the drive. The dirt quality here is quite different from home. At home you can get any mix you want with compost, sand, etc. There is even a grade called landscape grade. Not so here. We paid for a better quality dirt and got something that looks like clods of clay with roots, twigs, and god only know what else is in it. Such is life in the tropics. We will buy some compost in bags at the nursery to amend the soil. The bad news is we can’t bring compost or any plants to the back of the property until the drive way is cleared of the dirt and that may take awhile. One step forward, two steps back. A good lesson in patience for Americans who are so use to ‘having it my way’.
This afternoon we went looking for trees at a couple of nurseries. We are hoping to find some good shade trees. We didn’t find any that were suitable but we found a charming garden bench. It looks antique and will sit against the front of the house looking out at the river. The nursery offered to deliver it and we suggested Saturday hoping that by then the driveway will be cleared of the big pile of dirt. Things move slowly sometimes so we shall see.
We then went for a foot massage and thoroughly enjoyed it. That is the other wonderful thing about Thailand that I forgot to emphasize: massage. Thai body massage is usually 90-120 minutes and costs $10-$14. It is a clothed massage on a mattress that is on a raised platform. It is a very physical massage where you are manipulated or moved into various postures. The foot massage often goes way beyond the foot and includes the leg up to or above the knee. Sometimes, like today our arms, shoulders and head were massaged also. Pretty darn wonderful. Ron says we are sluts for massage!
Our fruit snack tonight was the best watermelon imaginable. Yum. That’s it from the land of tropical fruits, beautiful women and 99 degree hot weather.
It was so hot today we couldn’t get the house cooled down with both ACs going. Bummer. I am sweating as I write this in our bedroom with the AC on. When I was at the IC (internet café) I checked the temperature here today and it was 86 but with humidity factor it feels like 99 according to Weather.com. It is supposed to be in the low 90’s the rest of our time here so with humidity factor I reckon it will be hot, damn hot!
Ron worked all day on his proposal. He sent it off late this afternoon. Around 1:00 o’clock, the window blinds crew showed up. We ordered wooden blinds for the bedroom. They goofed on measuring two windows. Ron had suggested that the blinds be hung above the windows so the inside screens can be opened in order to open the windows and clear the blinds when raised but below the arch that is above the window so you could see the arch. When the man came to measure, he didn’t take into account the thickness of the slats so the blinds ended up being about 15cm short. It is what we call an ‘oh shit’ and I would imagine he said something similar in Thai when he saw what had happened. So one set got hung and two went back to the shop for adjustments.
Ron and I walk to the Internet café (IC) that is about three blocks from the house. There are twelve computers in the shop and usually it is filled with kids 12 years old and younger playing games. The bad news is they are playing violent games with soldiers, who have assault rifles, grenades, bayonets and handguns. Oy, if their mothers only knew the research on the effects on kids watching violence their little hinnies wouldn’t be in there. Some kids play a game with dancers. Yesterday I saw a game that at first looked like a pastoral scene with green grass and cute little animals. Then a pony-tailed girl comes onto the screen with some kind of stick weapon and beats the living daylights out of the cute little animals. Lovely. So far I have only observed three games but the place is packed every time we go. Today there were no computers available when I went in the late afternoon. The other awful part of this place is the noise. Bullets flying, grenades exploding and dance musical at a crescendo. Jeez when did I get so damn OLD? I am going to try and go at 9:00 a.m. when kids are hopefully in school and the place will be quieter. We went early today and had quiet until about 9:30 when two guys came in on motorcycles. The other funny thing that happens here is people take off their sandals outside shops and homes usually. But at the IC they take them off right as they step into the doorway so you have to watch your step as you walk in or you will stumble over a myriad of sandals.
One of the truly great pleasures of being in the tropics is the fruit. Tonight we had fresh mangoes off the trees on the property, rambutans, mangosteens (eat your heart out Larry) and another fruit whose name we don’t know but it looks like a small mango but has a different flavor. It was a feast!
After dinner we drove to an area of town we aren’t familiar with, it is a main commercial area that Jeap showed us on Saturday. We thought by walking around we could discover more of what is here such a dry cleaners, barber shops, etc. It was hotter than at the house due to the heat radiating off the asphalt and concrete from the heat of the day but we enjoyed exploring and will go back again to explore more streets. We did find a good size grocery store that is much closer than the Big C, which is way out of town. It has many of the staples we use but no produce. There are very few people who look like the Bergmans. I have seen one white person in Phetchaburi and he looked like a burned out hippie from the 60’s. I on the other hand am an aging hippie but not burned out! HA!
4-4-07
Out dirt was delivered this morning. Unfortunately the truck could not get to the house because earlier in the year Noi have put a carport roof over the drive near the front of the property and neither our moving van nor the dump truck can fit under it. Bummer. They will have to haul the dirt by hand from a very long way up the drive. The dirt quality here is quite different from home. At home you can get any mix you want with compost, sand, etc. There is even a grade called landscape grade. Not so here. We paid for a better quality dirt and got something that looks like clods of clay with roots, twigs, and god only know what else is in it. Such is life in the tropics. We will buy some compost in bags at the nursery to amend the soil. The bad news is we can’t bring compost or any plants to the back of the property until the drive way is cleared of the dirt and that may take awhile. One step forward, two steps back. A good lesson in patience for Americans who are so use to ‘having it my way’.
This afternoon we went looking for trees at a couple of nurseries. We are hoping to find some good shade trees. We didn’t find any that were suitable but we found a charming garden bench. It looks antique and will sit against the front of the house looking out at the river. The nursery offered to deliver it and we suggested Saturday hoping that by then the driveway will be cleared of the big pile of dirt. Things move slowly sometimes so we shall see.
We then went for a foot massage and thoroughly enjoyed it. That is the other wonderful thing about Thailand that I forgot to emphasize: massage. Thai body massage is usually 90-120 minutes and costs $10-$14. It is a clothed massage on a mattress that is on a raised platform. It is a very physical massage where you are manipulated or moved into various postures. The foot massage often goes way beyond the foot and includes the leg up to or above the knee. Sometimes, like today our arms, shoulders and head were massaged also. Pretty darn wonderful. Ron says we are sluts for massage!
Our fruit snack tonight was the best watermelon imaginable. Yum. That’s it from the land of tropical fruits, beautiful women and 99 degree hot weather.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Sunday
Yesterday we had just gotten out of bed and were moving around in the kitchen to start breakfast. We looked out the window and Jeap (chicken), the man we had hired to bring us from the airport to Phetchaburi and his wife Gop (frog) were approaching. Jeap told us Thai had nicknames after animals. They are neighbors and had brought us a traditional Thai breakfast: a salad of lettuce, cukes, tomatoes, corn, shredded cabbage and chicken and hum bao. Can you believe it? This is a prime example of the Thai people and their generous hospitality. He wanted to let us know that he was free on Saturday if we needed anything. We decided it would be good to have him take us around Phetchaburi to locate resources such a good hardware stores, restaurants, barber shops, etc. He speaks excellent English and was most helpful. We wanted to go for a Thai massage later in the day and Jeap told us about motorcycle taxis so he arranged for our pick up and introduced us to the lead guy who speaks very little English.
Ron spent about half a day working on his proposal. I think I mentioned that he got a job writing a proposal for ICMA while we are here. I went to the Internet café to pay bills. Everyday we stop by Khun bah Cha-Onn to say hello. She had gone to Bangkok on Friday for a checkup after her hip replacement surgery. We have been using her daughter, Timm’s car this week. Timm came by in the morning to return the money we had left for her to pay for the use of the car. She was on her way to Bangkok for the weekend with her husband Tum and would be taking the car. We are totally spoiled by ‘our family’ here. They bring us food; let us use their car, made sure I started using their UV umbrella instead of my rain umbrella and on and on it goes. We feel like royalty here and find it difficult to find ways to repay their kindnesses.
Promptly at 4:30 our two motorcycle taxis arrived at the front gate and away we went to the massage at the hotel in town, about a seven-miinute trip. Drivers in Thailand take liberties that we would be arrested for in the US. Motorcycle drivers are slightly worse at taking these liberties than auto drivers. So if access to the correct side of a street is blocked, rather than going the long way around to get access, they just drive the wrong way on the one-way side of the road until they can get access! So we had yet another adventure. It brought back memories of when I was twenty and was hitch hiking across Europe and Northern Africa. I caught a ride across Sicily on the back of a Vespa! Oy, youth….
The massage was fabulous although painful. But then I have never had a therapeutic massage that wasn’t painful but my masseuse had thumbs of steel and I couldn’t communicate to her to lighten up so just endured. The after effect was great. Our massage cost about $8.00 each for 90 minutes, not including tip. Ron is concerned that we aren’t taking full advantage so I am sure we will be going back to the Royal Diamond Hotel for more massages before we head out on the 10th. Since we had miscalculated our time for pick up with our cabbies, we decided to have a cold drink at the hotel bar then decided to grab dinner. Bad mistake. I ordered ‘crispy spicy catfish’ and got slimy spicy catfish. We ate the sauce over our rice and ate Ron’s veggie dish. Last time we dine at the Royal Diamond. It was our first bad Thai meal so we can’t complain given how many times we have eaten Thai food.
After dinner our cabbies appeared and off we went to home. A little later we went to the Internet café, about three blocks away, catching up on email then came home and off the bed. I had an email from Nattawan saying that when she was here, she turned on the two bedroom air conditioners and opened the bedroom doors in order to cool the entire house. I am trying it today, as the living area is unbearable during the day. It is a good place for a sweat if you are in the mood.
Today we were awake but not yet up and we heard a tapping at the door. There was Timm’s daughter Pear, about 13 years old I would guess and she had our breakfast in hand. Unbelievable! It was the same breakfast as yesterday and so good. Everyone seems to worry that we won’t have enough to eat. We can’t keep up with the food that comes our way. Today we need to work on eating the food that we have in the refrigerator or else!!
Yesterday I spied rambutan at a fruit stand. We were on the motorcycles at the time but soon I want to get some for the family here and for ourselves. I can’t believe my luck that they are in season while we are here.. They are one of my favorite tropical fruits after mangoes that are also in season right now. Only thing I am missing is mangosteens. Thinking of you Larry Brown.
What do I do while Ron is on the computer writing? All of our clothes are hand washed, dried outside and ironed by yours truly. When we did yard work, I sent our shorts and t-shirts to the laundry but usually we don’t wear t-shirts due to the heat. They are too heavy and we have a wardrobe from SL of very lightweight cotton shirts. In the tropics you need to dust and sweep daily and mop frequently so that keeps me of the street and out of trouble. I ‘prepare’ our food and wash up afterwards. Notice I didn’t say cook our food. We are buying take out and it has worked out just fine. So I make rice in the rice cooker or cook noodles to serve the various Thai dishes on. Our rate of consumption of food has decreased due to the heat. I finally started to drop some of the pounds I gained in SL. We ate in AC almost the entire time we were there so the heat didn’t deter my eating. Bummer!
A knock at the door and there is Nit who has been working in our yard to clear more debris with two packets of coconut ice cream. Almost all food is packaged in little plastic bags that hold about 8 ounces and sealed with a red rubber band. Mine had toasted cashews and fresh corn sprinkled on top and Ron had nuts and we’re not sure but maybe sweet potato on top. Yum! He also gave us four mangos off the tree. Ready to eat. IS this paradise or what??
I forgot to mention that there are four dogs here. One poodle and three other small dogs. Every night one family member makes the dogs’ food with a base of rice and I’m not sure what else. Not quite like America where we buy it off the shelf and now of course we have about a gabillion choices: the hallmark of our abundance and excess. Let’s see there is food for puppies, senior dogs, dogs on a diet. Well you get the picture.
We got ants. I don’t think you can live in the tropics without them. So I had to put cereal in Tupperware then put the Tupperware inside a large zip lock bag.. Otherwise these industrious critters find their way into the cereal. I’d sure like to understand their communication system and we could all learn something from their cooperative attitudes. Ron had bought some crackers that were in a sealed bag, not yet opened and they chewed right through the packaging to get at those crackers. The hole was tiny and on the corner so I opened the package hoping to save the crackers, thinking maybe they were just eating the first cracker or two but no way, they were working the whole tray of crackers.
When we were out and about on Saturday with Jeap, we passed a place that had the neatest garden benches. We stopped to see how much they were. It turns out they were made from the wooden hubs and wheels of old bullock carts and were not for sale. It was someone’s collection that was being displayed. Bummer. They would have looked so good in our garden.
The property here has several old ceramic pots and Noi cleaned up three of them so we can use them in the garden. They are the ones that are two tones of brown with a dragon design Many of you have seen these in the US I’m sure although they are made in this part of the world. We are hoping to have dirt delivered this week and if so we can order a few trees and other plants to get the garden project really rolling.
That's it from lovely Thailand, the land of beautiful women.
Yesterday we had just gotten out of bed and were moving around in the kitchen to start breakfast. We looked out the window and Jeap (chicken), the man we had hired to bring us from the airport to Phetchaburi and his wife Gop (frog) were approaching. Jeap told us Thai had nicknames after animals. They are neighbors and had brought us a traditional Thai breakfast: a salad of lettuce, cukes, tomatoes, corn, shredded cabbage and chicken and hum bao. Can you believe it? This is a prime example of the Thai people and their generous hospitality. He wanted to let us know that he was free on Saturday if we needed anything. We decided it would be good to have him take us around Phetchaburi to locate resources such a good hardware stores, restaurants, barber shops, etc. He speaks excellent English and was most helpful. We wanted to go for a Thai massage later in the day and Jeap told us about motorcycle taxis so he arranged for our pick up and introduced us to the lead guy who speaks very little English.
Ron spent about half a day working on his proposal. I think I mentioned that he got a job writing a proposal for ICMA while we are here. I went to the Internet café to pay bills. Everyday we stop by Khun bah Cha-Onn to say hello. She had gone to Bangkok on Friday for a checkup after her hip replacement surgery. We have been using her daughter, Timm’s car this week. Timm came by in the morning to return the money we had left for her to pay for the use of the car. She was on her way to Bangkok for the weekend with her husband Tum and would be taking the car. We are totally spoiled by ‘our family’ here. They bring us food; let us use their car, made sure I started using their UV umbrella instead of my rain umbrella and on and on it goes. We feel like royalty here and find it difficult to find ways to repay their kindnesses.
Promptly at 4:30 our two motorcycle taxis arrived at the front gate and away we went to the massage at the hotel in town, about a seven-miinute trip. Drivers in Thailand take liberties that we would be arrested for in the US. Motorcycle drivers are slightly worse at taking these liberties than auto drivers. So if access to the correct side of a street is blocked, rather than going the long way around to get access, they just drive the wrong way on the one-way side of the road until they can get access! So we had yet another adventure. It brought back memories of when I was twenty and was hitch hiking across Europe and Northern Africa. I caught a ride across Sicily on the back of a Vespa! Oy, youth….
The massage was fabulous although painful. But then I have never had a therapeutic massage that wasn’t painful but my masseuse had thumbs of steel and I couldn’t communicate to her to lighten up so just endured. The after effect was great. Our massage cost about $8.00 each for 90 minutes, not including tip. Ron is concerned that we aren’t taking full advantage so I am sure we will be going back to the Royal Diamond Hotel for more massages before we head out on the 10th. Since we had miscalculated our time for pick up with our cabbies, we decided to have a cold drink at the hotel bar then decided to grab dinner. Bad mistake. I ordered ‘crispy spicy catfish’ and got slimy spicy catfish. We ate the sauce over our rice and ate Ron’s veggie dish. Last time we dine at the Royal Diamond. It was our first bad Thai meal so we can’t complain given how many times we have eaten Thai food.
After dinner our cabbies appeared and off we went to home. A little later we went to the Internet café, about three blocks away, catching up on email then came home and off the bed. I had an email from Nattawan saying that when she was here, she turned on the two bedroom air conditioners and opened the bedroom doors in order to cool the entire house. I am trying it today, as the living area is unbearable during the day. It is a good place for a sweat if you are in the mood.
Today we were awake but not yet up and we heard a tapping at the door. There was Timm’s daughter Pear, about 13 years old I would guess and she had our breakfast in hand. Unbelievable! It was the same breakfast as yesterday and so good. Everyone seems to worry that we won’t have enough to eat. We can’t keep up with the food that comes our way. Today we need to work on eating the food that we have in the refrigerator or else!!
Yesterday I spied rambutan at a fruit stand. We were on the motorcycles at the time but soon I want to get some for the family here and for ourselves. I can’t believe my luck that they are in season while we are here.. They are one of my favorite tropical fruits after mangoes that are also in season right now. Only thing I am missing is mangosteens. Thinking of you Larry Brown.
What do I do while Ron is on the computer writing? All of our clothes are hand washed, dried outside and ironed by yours truly. When we did yard work, I sent our shorts and t-shirts to the laundry but usually we don’t wear t-shirts due to the heat. They are too heavy and we have a wardrobe from SL of very lightweight cotton shirts. In the tropics you need to dust and sweep daily and mop frequently so that keeps me of the street and out of trouble. I ‘prepare’ our food and wash up afterwards. Notice I didn’t say cook our food. We are buying take out and it has worked out just fine. So I make rice in the rice cooker or cook noodles to serve the various Thai dishes on. Our rate of consumption of food has decreased due to the heat. I finally started to drop some of the pounds I gained in SL. We ate in AC almost the entire time we were there so the heat didn’t deter my eating. Bummer!
A knock at the door and there is Nit who has been working in our yard to clear more debris with two packets of coconut ice cream. Almost all food is packaged in little plastic bags that hold about 8 ounces and sealed with a red rubber band. Mine had toasted cashews and fresh corn sprinkled on top and Ron had nuts and we’re not sure but maybe sweet potato on top. Yum! He also gave us four mangos off the tree. Ready to eat. IS this paradise or what??
I forgot to mention that there are four dogs here. One poodle and three other small dogs. Every night one family member makes the dogs’ food with a base of rice and I’m not sure what else. Not quite like America where we buy it off the shelf and now of course we have about a gabillion choices: the hallmark of our abundance and excess. Let’s see there is food for puppies, senior dogs, dogs on a diet. Well you get the picture.
We got ants. I don’t think you can live in the tropics without them. So I had to put cereal in Tupperware then put the Tupperware inside a large zip lock bag.. Otherwise these industrious critters find their way into the cereal. I’d sure like to understand their communication system and we could all learn something from their cooperative attitudes. Ron had bought some crackers that were in a sealed bag, not yet opened and they chewed right through the packaging to get at those crackers. The hole was tiny and on the corner so I opened the package hoping to save the crackers, thinking maybe they were just eating the first cracker or two but no way, they were working the whole tray of crackers.
When we were out and about on Saturday with Jeap, we passed a place that had the neatest garden benches. We stopped to see how much they were. It turns out they were made from the wooden hubs and wheels of old bullock carts and were not for sale. It was someone’s collection that was being displayed. Bummer. They would have looked so good in our garden.
The property here has several old ceramic pots and Noi cleaned up three of them so we can use them in the garden. They are the ones that are two tones of brown with a dragon design Many of you have seen these in the US I’m sure although they are made in this part of the world. We are hoping to have dirt delivered this week and if so we can order a few trees and other plants to get the garden project really rolling.
That's it from lovely Thailand, the land of beautiful women.
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