Akureyri

Posted on by August 19, 2017

Somewhere between our cabin and the gangway I managed to misplace George. Thinking he was right behind me, I had grabbed my bag and camera. I even remembered to take my room key. Once on the pier, I realized that he was nowhere to be seen. Since his phone went straight to voice mail….. amazing how dependent all of us have become on our electronics.

Ah, well. I didnt think he was all that thrilled about my planned hunt for knitting needles.

My first choice – Flora – was closed for the week. Fold-Anna didn’t have hours posted and was closed at 1030. So I did what any self-respecting local would do. I went to the main shopping center. Located less than a km from the pedestrian zone it was easy to find. Just take the sidewalk past the Rathuis, continue past the soccer fields then make a left into a good size parking lot.

Nice normal shops and not a souvenirr or other cheesy thing in sight. Nettó was a treasure trove of goodies. Not just snack foods, but good food and produce, school supplies and a whole wall of yarn as well as knitting needles. The priced turned out to be lower than those at the shop in town with great choices.

I obviously spent time wandering around town. There are a lot of galleries; there are murals and bits of whimsy tucked here and there. Again, photos will be addef when I am not trying to post from my phone.

In front of the Art Museum

Seyðisfjörður

Posted on by August 18, 2017  

Even the overcast sky and intermittent rain coulnt slow my enthusiasm this morning. And it had nothing to do with docking after two sea days or free wifi in the terminal. I really enjoy port calls in Iceland. After all, how many countries can you think of where yarn is routinely found in the grocery stores.

I love looking at the mountainsides

 

With horizontal strata and low lying clouds

We hiked through the town (population 650) and along one of the main roads out of town.

Afternoon George headed off on a ships tour and hike. A lovely woman from Vienna and I joined a couple “local” professiosl photographers for a drive and perspective on the area. There are fabulous shorelines, old buildings from the herring industry and base structures left from the US military presence in WWII.

The fjord itself is 25 km long

Looking out to sea

We sail back out ~2000 tonight. I havent downloaded today’s photos yet. Will try and add them tomorrow if WiFi is available

SeaDay 2

Posted on by August 18, 2017  

And now there are only 8 hours of time zone change since we are headed to Iceland (GMT-1) today and another hour of fall back tomorrow.

I have now recovered, maybe, enough to discuss the flight, followed by a flight, another flight, a hotel overnight, a tram, a taxi and a five hour wait to board the ship.

On second thought, not.  It could have been much worse like that experienced by friends returning to the US through CDG. Shall we leave it at – late plane, immigration, running through the airport, getting to the gate only to be refused boarding because their seats had been given away? And, just to increase the pain, since most of the delays were due to CDG and not the plane’s lateness, they were refused compensation.

Any who – I am hanging out in the lounge and relaxing.  George is hitting the gym and going to lectures.  I am thinking about taking a nap and watching my hair grow…

 

Phoenix

Posted on by August 18, 2017  

Traveling on this line feels much different than the standard, mid-range US/North American focused lines.

There is one announcement per day, at around 1000 by the cruise director followed by the captain with the whole thing taking less than five minutes.  With less than 900 passengers the ship feel comfortable but not crowded.  There is a more than reasonable amount of lounge space and tea served in the afternoon. On the downside, the lounge that would be the most comfortable also has a smoking section. Inside, so that is off my list of places to hang out.

Considering the travel to get here, I am impressed that I only forgot one small container which I am sure is still sitting on my bed.  End result? I have yarn but no knitting needles. OTOH, I will be going through Iceland  where knitting is common and yarn can normally be found with notions in the grocery store.

So I will be working on a cross-stitch and, if my afternoon I see like the morning, spending a lot of time explaining what I am doing to a lot of people.

Out to Sea

Posted on by August 14, 2017  

And yes, I realize this is 2017, rather than 2018, but I waited too long to pull the information from the website – so just bear with me –

the route

 

and the general information on the trip  I don’t know how much I will actually be on line over the next three weeks. Depends on how often I can make off with George’s phone…..

Hafen an ab Ausflugsangebot
.

Bremerhaven – Einschiffung
von ca. 15 Uhr bis 17 Uhr e)

 – 18:00

Urlaub auf See

 – –

Urlaub auf See

 – –

Kreuzen im Seydisfjord

 – –

Seyðisfjörður / Island ®

 09:00 16:00 Wanderung im Vesturdalur-Tal, Der malerische Osten, Skálanes Naturreservat
.

Husavik / Island ®

 07:00 09:00 Überlandfahrt Mývatn und Godafoss

Kreuzen im Eyjafjord

 – –

Akureyri / Island

 14:00 22:00 Godafoss und Laufás, Mývatn und Godafoss, Baden in Mývatn, Flug zur Insel Grimsey am Polarkreis
.

Kreuzen in der Dänemarkstraße

 – –
.

Grönland – Geplantes Programm *)

 – –

Ammassalik / Grönland/Dänemark ®**)

 -vormittags- Spaziergänge
S.

Prins Christan Sund

 -Durchfahrt-
.

Alluitsup Paa / Sydprøven / Grönland/Dänemark®**)

 -vormittags- Spaziergänge
.

Kreuzen in der Davisstraße

 – –

Überqueren des Polarkreises

 – –

Sisimiut / (Holsteinborg) / Grönland/Dänemark ®

 -ganztags- Besuch bei den Schlittenhunden, Kultur und Geschichte der Inuit, Panoramarundfahrt
.

Ilulissat (Jacobshavn) / Grönland/Dänemark ®

 -ganztags- Sermermiut-Wanderung, Bootsfahrt zum Eisfjord, Rundflug
.

Ilulissat (Jacobshavn) / Grönland/Dänemark ®

 -vormittags- Sermermiut-Wanderung, Bootsfahrt zum Eisfjord, Rundflug

Kreuzen in der Diskobucht

 – –
.

Kreuzen im Søndre Strømfjord

 – –

Kangerlussuaq / Søndre Strømfjord / Grönland/Dänemark ®

 -nachmittags- Landschaftsfahrt, Transfer zur Inlandeiskappe, Rundflug
.

Kreuzen im Nûk-Fjord

 – –

Nûk (Godthåb) / Grönland/Dänemark

 -nachmittags- Nûk Panoramarundfahrt
.

Paamiut / Frederikshåb / Grönland/Dänemark ®

 -vormittags- Spaziergänge
.

Kap Farvel / Grönland/Dänemark

 -Passage-
.

Urlaub auf See

 – –
.

Hafnarfjörður / Reykjavik / Island

 07:00 19:00 Panoramafahrt Reykjavík, Baden in der Blauen Lagune, Gullfoss-Wasserfall und Geysir
.

Heimaey / Westmänner Inseln / Island

 07:00 12:00 Spaziergänge
.

Urlaub auf See

 – –
.

Urlaub auf See

 – –
.

Bremerhaven – Ausschiffung
ab ca. 9 Uhr, Dauer 2-3 Std. a)

 09:00 –

A 33 hour day

Posted on by August 14, 2017  

You know all those times when you wish you had a few more hours in the day. Hours that you fantasied as being productive? A day in which you would amaze everyone and finish your to-do list!

Well, I will suggest that getting effectively a 33 hour day (nine hours of time zone change + 10 1/2 hours of flight + four hours of layover + two more flights – none of this includes getting up on Sunday to pack, go to the airport, hangout in the United Lounge) – is not all it is cracked up to be.

SAS is a lovely airline with great food and firm seats. If there had been a plethora of extra blankets I might have wanted 4-5 for padding. George slept for a few hours on the plane. I gave up and read. He also dozed in the Copenhagen SAS Lounge and on both of our connecting flights.

Did I mention that we were traveling on two unrelated reservations? I had that fare on SAS from last January that I couldn’t use, so converted it for this trip. But SAS doesn’t fly to Bremen meaning we had to get out luggage, then go check in with Lufthansa for the last two flights (one hour, ~ 45 minutes).

The hotel is right across the street from the airport and there are tram lines in front, so figuring out the connections to Bremerhaven tomorrow shouldn’t be that hard.

And – on my pillow

Gummi Bears!

SK 936

Posted on by August 13, 2017 1

And if you think that sounds like a flight number, you are absolutely correct.

George and I are sitting in the United Lounge at SFO. He has a backpack full of stuff (no clue) while mine has the usual camera and computer equipment. Plus knitting since cross-stitch on an airplane is absolutely insane.

We are leaving Dani and Alex to watch the house –

along with the two girls watching us go down the driveway this noon.

Noah is home in about a week, just in time for school to start.

Oh, the flight? Here to Copenhagen. Then tomorrow (since of course it is an overnight flight) we catch Lufthansa and fly to Bremen. A night there and Tuesday we board a ship. More to follow – obviously.

Another Country

Posted on by August 13, 2017 1

Just in case you are worried, all that has been going on here is a lot of construction. Both ours and our neighbors who just happen to have a flat roof which in turn translates to horrendously smelling asphalt. In turn that lead me to about three days running of blistering migraines.

Everything is better with meds, but that means that I lose more than a few hours of time. More than a day or so, to be honest.

wall bracing for foundation pour

floor poured

So as you can see, progress has been made.

and I will not talk about the As and their ability to sustain truly embarrassing losses.

Choosing stuff

Posted on by August 13, 2017 1

I missed most of the challenges from the upstairs and bathroom renovations since we were still living in Germany. This time? It is amazing how many details have to be decided.

tiles

and counter tops –

none of which thrill me

so it is going to be another trip for Dani and I to find something that is reasonable, sturdy and won’t look like it is dirty all the time.

and we still have sinks and faucets and ….. to go.

Updates

Posted on by July 26, 2017 1

As I found out again, the WordPress App on my iPad just spins forever but doesn’t seem able to upload a post.

Happily humming along, I think I have been updating the blog.

Nope – the post is written and 30 minutes later it is still saying “Uploading” Thank goodness I can take a screenshot and save the post. Most of the words are visible and it isn’t extremely difficult to fill in the blanks covered by the box claiming it was working…. not that it was.

Otherwise it was a quiet day. George had board meetings, I worked on a couple of projects. We took Noah out to dinner at the end of the day before leaving him in New Haven and heading back to the hotel.

Guilford

Posted on by July 25, 2017  

as in Connecticut, not Surrey.

Did I mention that it was raining and that we had a briefcase, backpack, suitcase and one ladylike umbrella between the two of us as we hustled from the hotel to Grand Central Station? Thought not. If you live on the US East Coast, rain is just something you prepare for. Something that you might actually expect as you check the daily weather report.

Those of living in California? Prepared? Not so much. There are trains as often as twice an hour from Grand Central to New Haven, CT. The good thing about traveling after 1000 is that you can avoid the morning commuters of which apparently there are a number going north although not anywhere near as many, I suspect, as the hordes of lemmings headed into NYC.

It was still raining the 90+ minutes later when we disembarked and headed out of the station to the rental car place. Need I mention anything about hiking in the wrong direction first? Or going back into the station to find that the rental agencies offer courtesy phones and train station pickups?

Thought not.

After an afternoon of getting a tour of where Noah is doing his internship this summer, we headed to what turned out to be fancier hotel than expected in Madison Beach. I am still running fairly tired and it was lovely to have a location completely undisturbed by city noise.

Citi Field

Posted on by July 24, 2017  

What would a weekend be without a baseball game?

In this case, it was take the 7 from Manhattan almost all the way to Flushing.

I actually don’t mind some of the design of Citi Field. Certainly it is a lot newer than either the Coliseum or A T&T park. Some of the design features I do find issue with. The stairways are hard to find and ADA access? Absolutely no signage – you have to know where to go and how to find it. And we will not bother with discussing subway lack of easy accessibility…. not worth going there. The do have the sense of just wanding everyone which eliminated all the metal detectors. Actually quicker and easier!

The design of the stadium, however, does lead to decent right and left field bleacher ares.

FYI – the Mets – like too many other teams outlaws noise makers. The fans today lacked what I would call ongoing team spirit, perhaps fueled by what is now the Mets Sunday 2-7 record at home. According to Angel (Pratt grad along with the Maus) there is a solid bleacher group which primarily comes to home evening games and does a lot of supporting cheering.

But still? No banners? No flags? No drums or cow bells? It is part of the experience at home for the As.

Daniel Gossett managed to pull off five good innings before starting to lose it in the sixth. The relief pitchers held it together. Casilla after pulling his usual idiocy managed to get the three outs in the bottom of the 9th thanks in no small part do to excellent fielding on the part of Brugman in the outfield. A win is good, especially after pitchers gave away more than comfortable leads to lose the last two games.

We are off to Connecticut in the morning. My chance to see where Noah is working for the summer and ride the trains on the East Coast…

(photos not yet downloaded….

MoMA

Posted on by July 23, 2017 2

Once again, I agree with Maus – most modern art is a matter of taste. In this taste – I think 90+% has absolutely no business being offerred up anywhere. I think those critics and experts are perpetuating a hoax on the unsuspecting and generally naive public. We are told this is important – right? We are told it is good, says something, reflects deep meaning. Kvatch!

Meanwhile, there were two excellent exhibits –

Louise Lawler – Why Pictures Now?

who does some amazing work and

Making Space – Women Artists and Post War Abstractions.

which looks at the post WWII changes in the art movements and both women artists contributions and the channeling of those artists into traditional crafts (textiles, pottery) and generally being ignored whenever possible.

Unlike the exhibits on several of the prominent male artists – the MoMA didn’t even bother to produce a catalog for either exhibit. Says something, doesn’t it?

FYI – the As are here in NYC. For the second night in a row, they managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory…

Untied

Posted on by July 23, 2017  

There was a long time ago when we used to make fun of the airlines. Before a lot of consolidation and one actually depended on those trips that you would arrive on time, fed, and with your luggage. TWA  – Transworld Airlines was referred to as Tiny Weeny Airlines. Northwest was Northworst. Allegheny was Agony…. And United was Untied.

That was perhaps the best and most accurate of the nicknames. Today, once again United proved it. The first flight out of SFO this morning hit maintenance and was cancelled. Then, of course there was a bit of a weather problem in Newark. (sometimes I don’t think direct flights are all that great. The options for alternative routes can actually be better as you get further east). Our flight actually took off, after a “slight maintenance ” check but it was over 90 minutes late.

Since EWR was our destination, it really didn’t matter. Yes, being stuck in the last row in a middle seat between two gentlemen who would have each been required to purchase two seats did. Obviously, neither food nor moving around was an option for the entire flight. George was also middle seated, but across the isle.

Arriving late is not always negative, the traffic into the city had actually started to clear, Dinner was a different issue. Hotel grill had closed, fast food is mostly directed toward the working crowd and the prices in NYC on the menus are insane.

Absolutely nothing

Posted on by July 23, 2017

Seriously, this is one of those dry spells where days run into each other separated only by the presence or absence of an Athletic’s home game. The dogs are doing well and adore taking turns being a warehouse dog at Dani’s job. Gwen (the Golden Retriever)

Dog, reporting for duty

and helping with orders

and exactly why can’t I do the orders?

while the other pup (different day), just needed a nap after her hike to work (only 7 km…)

just give me a minute…

She has a lot more energy and it didn’t take her all that long to recover. A solid game of ball fetch over lunch let her keep it together for the rest of the day.

House construction is proceeding apace. The new foundation will be poured sometime next week.

And we head to NYC in the morning.

Thread

Posted on by July 23, 2017 2

Isacord – 40w poly. 423 colors

Let me take you back in history: a long, long time ago when I lived in Germany I bought a Pffaf sewing machine and brought it back with me the first time I lived in the DC area circa 1984. Carmen and her husband picked us up at the airport (me, Shana, a ton of luggage which included the sewing machine) and dropped us off at our new but empty house in Kensington. There was a small embroidery attachment and I had great dreams about “doing stuff.”

Over the years I added machines which included increased machine embroidery capability but never quite got the hang of it. I did accumulate a bit of thread (Sulky, Isacord, Maderia, plus a couple of other brands) which meant that I never quite had the colors or combinations that I needed and continued to add thread one spool at a time.

This past Dec I had to change sewing machine manufactures. Pfaff is no longer made in Germany but China and all the attachments weren’t going to fit anymore. I bought a Viking (which is European made) and went for the relatively high end. It can do all sorts of things including embroider. I had a variety of stabilizers, I had the software. What I didn’t have was a thread set. When I did this for Alex

On the back of a jacket

I had to pull from five different thread lines to come up with the colors. It is not that it wasn’t appreciated –

the kids, the dog, the jacket

But I really wanted to avoid the hunt and color substitution agony that was involved.

Poly is not quite as shiny as rayon, but it is very washable and color fast which is why I bought what I did. I sorted through and found I already had about 20 colors. Even so, buying the set saved a chunk over individual spools, especially since the storage boxes were included.

FYI – Casilla managed to lose a winning game in the 9th by giving up two runs to Tampa Bay

Frozen Phone

Posted on by July 23, 2017  

Did I mention that my phone had an accident that involved water on Saturday?

I initially thought it was going to be fine. There were a few quirks – like taking a dozen screen shots related to nothing when it wanted to and not taking screen shots when I attempted the same task. But I was hoping that all was recoverable. I thought it would be happy spending all day yesterday and part of today in a bag of rice.

Oh, not so as I sadly found out. Charging the phone was not an option and nothing was working quite right.

So….. after we spent a couple of hours with our architect redesigning the kitchen from your standard apartment ugly to something everyone could live with (and adding a bit of lighting while we were at it) I went to the Apple Store.

The bad news? Phone might make it, but probably not. I could wait and see, but that would leave me in New York this coming weekend potentially without a phone. The Good News? George had purchased the Apple Care plan for my phone. It didn’t cost me all that much to just replace it, get a new screen cover and load the backup. (It is here where I remind you once again that if you are not good about automatic backups, please, please, please set them up so that they happen with frequent regularity on auto-pilot).

And when I arrived home? My new phone cover had been delivered. I am back to the wrist strap in hopes that it will help…..

Not that I needed this or anything –

Posted on by July 23, 2017  

Ok – the good news up front – A’s 7: Cleveland 3. Getting back and forth on the BART worked.

the rest? Meh –

 

These are screen shots that my phone chose to take.

That is right – it just fired off on its own. Along with changing channels on the radio, deleting email and otherwise driving me up the wall.

It could be because it got wet yesterday, but that would make it my fault and I would never want to own that expensive little errors. It will spend another night with rice since I elected to go to the game today rather than to the Apple store….

Bark in the Park

Posted on by July 23, 2017  

There is a craze which has hit major league (and I suspect minor as well) in the last few years.

You have hear of of “take your child to work? which in some areas of the country seems to have spread to “take your pet to work.”

Well, in baseball it is the annual opportunity to take your pup out to a ball game. Of course, an official ticket is required and there is a seating section reserved for dogs and their people. There is a dog play area set aside, judging for costumes (yes, really) with prizes for themes, cutest and a whole long list. Since the sponsors locally are a couple of pet food producers there are also samples. Nylabone (sp) is one of the multiple site sponsors, so that expensive ticket also includes a bone in the goodie bag.

The dogging parade went along the warning track which meant that we could look straight down from the right field bleachers. Of note, the kids costumes were as much fun as those on the dogs with cowkids, superheros and more than one ballerina. Alex came along for the game, but sensibly left dogs at home.

The As even managed a 5:0 win!

Maybe gray hair

Posted on by July 11, 2017 1

But what would you expect of a handsome man turning 69 today?

George

He certainly isn’t the shaggy haired guy that I married in 1978

10 Sept 1978

But then, I don’t exactly look the same either!

Last year we spent a weekend white water rafting and wine tasting. This year things are a bit tamer. Lunch with those in the family who are local (minus the dogs) and dinner for the two of us on Thurs. He is someone who actually appreciates both big bashes and birthday acknowledgements. But with the house under construction, a large shindig is going to have to be next year (and besides, 70 is something more fun to celebrate).

I’ll be happy to pass along greetings or you can contact him directly (georgeDOTRehmATicloud.com)