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of New Mexico and Arizona.

White Sands

Slider on White Sands Dune

Casa Grande Ruins

Chapel at St. Anthony's Monastery

Lower Part of Pump

Imperial Sand Dunes

The super cold weather was just descending on the northland when we headed south out of Sioux Falls two weeks ago. We made good time cutting across the country before stopping in Liberal, KS. It seems like a funny name for a Kansas city, but the town has been there more than 100 years. The most notable thing in it was the mountain of rotting waste from the local meat processing plant. It stunk!

Teresa and Joe Ruiz

The next day we continued southwest. Soon we were in New Mexico driving south on US 54 through some beautiful and desolate land. We arrived in the late afternoon in Alamogordo, NM. We came to visit my cousin Teresa Brinker Ruiz. It has been more than 25 years since I last saw her. Since then she has married twice and had three children. Her husband, Joe Ruiz, is a good and kind man. Her brother, Tim, yes another cousin, also lives in Alamogordo. We visited with them quite a bit. I also got to see Karen Johnson, Aunt Vonnie's sister, for the first time in more than 40 years. We only stayed a couple of days, but we did get a good sense of the area with its mountains and orchards. The valley they live in produces pistachios, pecans, almonds and wine. We also visited the nearby White Sands National Monument. The white sands looked like snow fields. The sand is incredibly fine, almost like powder, I suspect that the look of snow and the reduced friction of the powdered sand is the reason that folks bring there families there to slide down the giant dunes on snow saucers. Joe and Teresa were headed for a cruise on Sunday morning, so we departed on Sunday driving west.

Aunt Mary Lue and Bill

Keyboards at the MIM

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of Musical Instrument Museum.

We drove to Las Cruces and got on I-10. After nine hours on the road we arrived in Casa Grande, Arizona. My aunt Mary Lue and her sister, Esther, spend winters in Casa Grande. We arrived just before a little get-together at Mary Lue's house. It was fun to meet their friends. Esther left the next day. She was going to Portland to be with her son's family. She was going to enjoy being with her grandchildren for the next two months.

We did a number of things over the next several days. We visited my old friend David Groves in Fountain Hills. It was a nice visit. We visited the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix. What a fantastic museum! It is a very large museum with thousands of instruments from ALL over the world. The next day we visited a pumping station of the Central Arizona Project. The project moves water over 100 miles from Lake Havasu to south of Tucson. Later that same day, we visited a fairly new Greek Orthodox monastery, called St. Anthony's Monastery. Our final night we had diner at the community center.

The best thing about the visit to Casa Grande were all the conversations we had with my aunt Mary Lue. It was fun to talk about the family, which we did hour on end.

We left Casa Grande a couple of days ago. I had decided to drive on I-8, because I have driven I-10 between Phoenix and Riverside several times before. The landscape is much the same on I-8, except for the Imperial Sand Dunes. When we got to El Centro, we turned north on California 86. This took us pas the Salton Sea. We stopped to see a mass of dead fish, Cormorants fishing nearby and the strong odor of dead fish. We continued north to the I-10. In Palm Springs, where we turned north again on a highway that brought us by the Joshua Tree National Park. While we did not get into the park, we certainly saw a lot of Joshua trees. Just before sunset we rolled into Victorville and my aunt Tiny's home.

We have been in Victorville the past couple of days. My aunt had a severe stroke last August. Her recovery has been very slow and difficult. We are hoping for the best. It has been good to see her sons, Steve and Chuck, and her grandchildren, Troy and Tyler. We plan to head of to San Diego tomorrow.

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of New England.

Jonesport, Maine

Bar Harbor from across the Bay

Sandy Bar Harbor Beach

Camden Harbor

The Paul Revere House

Below Deck, USS Constitution

Montauk Lighthouse

Santa Fishing in Montauk

Hampton's Mansion

On the fourteenth of October we were on the move again. It seems like when we go, we drive all day long to get where we are going. So it was when we left Wolfville, Nova Scotia. We had hoped to find a place to stay in Saint John, New Brunswick, but alas it was not to be. We continued on past Saint John to cross the border at Saint Stephen – Calais bridge, back into the USA. We continued until dark, finally stopping at East Machais. It had begun to rain as we looked for an inn and by the time we found one, it was pouring cats-and-dogs.

The next day, Saturday, we set out to explore the Maine coast. We stopped in the little fishing village of Jonesboro and Prospect Harbor. Then we drove through the eastern part of Acadia National Park near Winter Harbor. Then we drove to the island where Bar Harbor is found. We spent the rest of the day in the Acadia National Park next to Bar Harbor. Little did I realize that so many tourists come to this place; even on the cool, short, windy days, there were hundreds and hundreds of tourists exploring the same territory that we were looking at. As the sun began to set, we looked for a motel to spend the evening. After that we had a great meal of fish and lobster.

Our Wonderful CS Hosts

Wayne and C.J.

Betty with Tomi Ann

John Mark and Bill

Sunday was the day to see the other half of the island. We saw the coast and the several little villages, like Tremont, Bass Harbor, and Southwest Harbor. We had a late lunch at a microbrewery that served barbecue, so delicious. Then we connected with our Couchsurfing hosts in Surry, less than a hour northwest of Bar Harbor. Wayne Smith and C.J. were wonderful hosts. Wayne Smith is a fascinating fellow. He is a language instructor, and he has taught 31 different languages to his students. We had a great visit with him and C.J., spending two nights with them.

On Monday, we explored the area east of Bar Harbor. There were almost no tourists on the roads. We visited several villages and one winery. Making wine is a growing cottage industry in Maine. This was surprising because the wine is rarely made from grapes. More than likely it is made from local fruit like blueberries. Wine made from other fruit can be good, but it rarely reaches the taste and quality of a good grape wine. The winery where we stopped was a typical Maine winery. The owner was a very interesting man. We had a long talk about wine making in Maine and how it was different from other places. In the end we bought a bottle of hard cider that we hope to drink at Thanksgiving with our family. The prettiest of the villages that we visited that day was Stonington. Here we stopped for a lunch of fish and chips and chowder. Besides the villages, we saw a panoramic view of the entire area from Caterpillar Hill, many bays and bridges, and a flock of turkeys. By the way, there were wild turkeys everywhere. In the evening we ate with Wayne and C.J. at a Thai restaurant in Ellsworth.

On Tuesday, we headed south. We drove all day long. We stopped along the way to see the town of Camden with its wonderful harbor filled with sailing ships. From here you can sail for several days on a windjammer. We arrived in the Boston area in the late afternoon. I needed to have my laptop checked out at an Apple store, because of a dead battery. They checked it out, and – yes – that was the problem. I decided to wait on replacing it. Just as it was getting dark, we made our way to Arlington. We had arranged to stay with another Couchsurfing host. Tomi Ann has had a lifetime of experience hosting and staying others through the Servas network. By the time Couchsurfing came along, it was second nature to her. She was a very good host. She helped us find the Boston Museum of Fine Art on a very rainy day. It is an excellent museum. The best of the museum was the large collection of American Impressionists.

On the 20th of October we walked the Freedom Trail. This is a daylong walk to all the main historical sites in Boston. It begins at Boston Common and ends at Bunker Hill. We saw the State House, cemeteries, the grave of Paul Revere, meeting halls, the Old North Church, and the U.S.S. Constitution. It was fascinating, going to the places that we learned about as children in the history of the Revolutionary War. As the sun began to set, we got on the subway to Arlington.

The next day, Friday, we headed for New London, Connecticut, where there is a ferry that crosses to Long Island, New York. We drove through Providence, Rhode Island, on our way to the ferry. After three hours we were at the ferry and almost on the boat. The ferry takes about 90 minutes to cross to Orient Point. We took our time driving down the north fork of the island before turning south to see some of the towns in the Hamptons. Finally, we headed to Montauk on the far eastern end of the Long Island south fork. John Mark was our very nice host. We spent the next couple nights in Montauk while exploring more the Hamptons.

We also arranged to see more of Long Island. We were hosted by the lovely Brekne family in Selden, which is in the middle of Long Island. We had planned to stay at least three nights. But we only stayed for two. We continued exploring, but quickly ran out of things to see and do. We stopped at several wineries to try their wares, however we tasted no wine. Every winery charged a fairly high fee to taste. We won't pay to taste, unless the fee can be applied to a purchase a bottle. It appeared to us that most of these wineries were not in the business of selling wine, rather they were in the business of selling tastings to tourists.

On our last day, we were able to meet Ann and Clara, my sister and her daughter, for dinner. It was a lovely get-together.

We had been planning to go to Philadelphia next. I had even arranged a place for us to stay. But Betty was tired of traveling, so we headed west. After two days of driving we were back in the Midwest and our autumn journey to Nova Scotia and New England was over.

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of Nova Scotia.

Fredericton's Saturday Market

View from the Lookoff

Rocky Beach at Scotts Bay

Royal Family as Scarecrows

On Friday the sixth of October, we drove all day long through Massachusetts, along the coast of New Hampshire and through central Maine. As the sun was setting we entered Canada at the end of I-95 and drove another 40 minutes to a beautiful new home overlooking the St. John River. Again a wonderful Couchsufing family hosted us. We spent all day Saturday exploring Fredericton, New Brunswick. The best thing was the Saturday farmers' market that looked more like a county fair than an ordinary farmers' market. There were dozens of vendors providing lunches. There were cheese and meat sellers from which we got some excellent sausage. And the fruit - mostly apples - and vegetables were a beautiful sight.

Eating Fish and Chips

Melinda Norris

Sunday was another long day of driving. In the late afternoon we arrived in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Wolfville is in Kings County and I had long wanted to visit Kings County. This is where my great-great grandparents came from; their surnames were Tupper and Porter. We were staying with a wonderful Couchsurfing host, Melinda Norris. She had the hobby of spinning and knitting wool and other hairs. One night she brought us to a country shop, called Gaspereau Valley Fibres - Farm Wool Shop. Betty bought two skeins of wool. From which she made two cute little scarves for our granddaughters.

Over the next five days we saw much of this extremely beautiful peninsula. One day we drove to Scotts Bay and Halls Harbor where my family came from. Both villages lay on the Bay of Fundy. While those ancestors were said to be farmers, they must have enjoyed the fruits of the sea, because the bay is plentiful with lobster, fish and mollusks. We enjoyed fish-and-chips in Halls Harbor. Another day we went to the other side of the peninsula, where we visited Chester, Mahone Bay and Lunenburg. These picturesque towns were a delight to see. We took lots of pictures. In Mahone Bay as part of a autumn festival, they had dozens and dozens of scarecrows in montages. Again we stopped for a lunch of lobster bisque for Betty and homemade meatloaf for me.

Our impressions of the Cornwallis river valley were very positive. The land along the river is very rich and two long ridges protect it. We saw many, many orchards with trees laden with ripe apples. We found the people friendly and helpful . We could see that the people had a good sense of humor too, because, like the Scarecrow Festival of Mahone Bay, Kentville and Wolfville had montages of pumpkin people. Checkout the photos to see for yourself.

On our last day, we visited the very small village of Annapolis Royal, which was the first European settlement in Nova Scotia. It is a nice little village that seemed geared to the summer tourist trade. We had a nice lunch of fish-and-chips. The nicest shop that we saw was full of Southeast Asian antiques and art. We could hardly believe that such a small village would have such a shop, but there it was. After talking with the owner, we learned that the shop was able to survive from the patronage of distant customers and the super rich summer residents that come to Nova Scotia. There are the remains of the very old Fort Anne in Royal Annapolis, but only one structure was still there. After Annapolis Royal, we checked out Digby. We did not find it an interesting town to visit.

Pumpkin People

Lunenburg

At Fort Anne

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of Ann Arbor to Northampton.

Troll Hollow

Alex and Betty

Betty and Sculpture by Henry Moore

Toronto Skyline

Bill at Niagara Falls

To view a very short video of Niagara Falls that I recorded, press HERE..

Bill by Lake Skaneateles

We were supposed to leave on September 19th, but Betty and Birgitta insisted that we delay a day so that I could visit a doctor. My back was killing me and my self-medication wasn’t working all that well. He prescribed a lidocaine patch that helped a lot as our travels began.

The first leg on Tuesday brought us to brief stop in Chicago. The really good thing about this stop was that we got to visit with Orlando Bryant. He has an apartment right downtown on Michigan Avenue. The bad thing was that we could only stay one night. Orlando, we promise to come back for a long week-end.

Wednesday, we headed to Ann Arbor. We had hoped to visit with Bob and Brenda Montgomery before Ann Arbor, but they were not at their cabin on Lake Michigan. In Ann Arbor, we stayed with Cat and Alex for several days. Ann Arbor is a nice college town. We got see much of the campus and, while we did not attend the sporting event, we did get to see the enthusiastic Michigan fans after a Saturday football game. While there we went to an automobile museum with a great collection of old Kaiser and Hudson cars, not to mention some old GM and Fords. Another place we went was the little hamlet of Saline, Michigan. There we enjoyed a small art fair and a local musical group, called the Saline Fiddlers. We also visited University of Michigan Arboretum. It was nice, but Betty loved seeing the little troll community in the woods. I guess it is a good thing that we did not see any trolls as they can be quite the tricksters. Cat seemed loaded with academic work, which is typical for beginning PhD. candidates. Alex was still waiting on a job. They were really settling into the community. A week after we left, Alex called to say that he had gotten that job.

On Monday we were on our way to Toronto. We did not go directly to Toronto. While Betty’s great-grandfather, Francis, and his father, Thomas, and mother, Sarah, were born in Ireland, they immigrated first to Grey County Ontario. Francis married Johanna Younge there in 1860. They started a family there in Normanby Township. So we went to do some research and see the graveyard where Thomas, Sarah and Johanna are buried.

We spent two days in Toronto. We couchsurfed with Oliver Stock. He was a wonderful host who lived in downtown Toronto. We spent two days walking all over the city. It really tired me out, because my back was still aching some. Still we saw Chinatown, the St. Lawrence Market and the Distillery district. The distillery district was loaded with art galleries and we wandered. On Wednesday evening we went to an excellent play, called After Mrs. Rochester, at the Alumnae Theater. Afterwards we went out for beers at a nearby tavern. We had a great time.

We left Toronto on a Thursday morning. We were on our way to Syracuse. We passed right by Niagara Falls so we had to stop. I had never been there before. The falls is a powerhouse with so much water flowing down it. It is not as large nor as magical of Iguacu, but it was sight to behold.

We couchsurfed with Sarah and Annie for three nights in Syracuse. I wanted to stop here so that I could show Betty where my ancestors, Zenas and Nancy Miller lived. We found the cemetery where they are buried the Town of Scott. I am sure that they lived quite close to the cemetery. We also drove to Ithaca and Auburn and we stopped to walk by Lake Skaneateles and the town on its shores.

We are spending nearly a week in Northampton. I had wanted to come here because my ancestors lived up and down the Connecticut River valley with Northampton as the starting point and spreading out from there. There is a farm in Haydenville, just a few miles from Northampton, where the Millers lived for more than 200 years. The last Miller that lived there died in 1923. The first Miller that lived there was the first settler in Williamsburg, which was officially incorporated in 1735. We couchsurfed with Randy in Springfield on Sunday night then moved on to Shel and Dina’s home in Hadley the next two nights and now we are with Jim in Amherst. All our hosts have been great. Shel and Dina were really great. They are just a few years younger than us and they have very similar political views.

I met with a local historian to get a sense of the local resources. Most of my time has been spent in the Forbes Library in Northampton. We did get out to Haydenville and Williamsburg one day. I met a distant cousin, Russ Warner, and his wife Elaine. We spent several hours with him talking about the family tree, and our lives and our children. It was delightful.

Betty and I are headed to New Brunswick tomorrow and onto Nova Scotia after that. I will write again from Nova Scotia.

When I'm Sixty-Four

When I get older losing my hair,
Many years from now,
Will you still be sending me a valentine
Birthday greetings bottle of wine?

If I'd been out till quarter to three
Would you lock the door,
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I'm sixty-four?

oo oo oo oo oo oo oo oooo
You'll be older too, (ah ah ah ah ah)
And if you say the word,
I could stay with you.

I could be handy mending a fuse
When your lights have gone.
You can knit a sweater by the fireside
Sunday mornings go for a ride.

Doing the garden, digging the weeds,
Who could ask for more?
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I'm sixty-four?

Every summer we can rent a cottage
In the Isle of Wight, if it's not too dear
We shall scrimp and save
Grandchildren on your knee
Vera, Chuck, and Dave

Send me a postcard, drop me a line,
Stating point of view.
Indicate precisely what you mean to say
Yours sincerely, Wasting Away.

Give me your answer, fill in a form
Mine for evermore
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I'm sixty-four?

Whoo!

For many years, I threw a big party for my birthday. Then I turned 60 years old. That was the last time I had a big birthday party. I planned to to have one this year. However, my sister Gay Lynn is turning 60 and she is planning a huge party in two weeks. So, I thought it would be better to let all the lime light shine on her.

Still, I am 64 years old today.

The summer that I turned 20 years old, the Beatles release their Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. Roughly two years later, I really was getting into the Beatles. It might have even been at one of my birthday parties, that I was listening in the purple haze to "When I'm Sixty-Four" and laughing. I said to my friends "Will we ever be 64?" I think it was Greg Speltz or John Ganapes that assured me that, yes, we would be 64. But would we still be friends, sharing wine and spending time together.

I thought some about growing old over the years. I always knew that we might all get together again when I turned 64, because I would throw a party. Thankfully, many of my friends from 40 years ago are still my friends. And, of course, I have many new friends.

I will be at Gay Lynn's 60th birthday party on July 16th. I hope to see a lot of my old friends there. She will welcome all of you.

The lyrics to that old Beatles song haunt me a bit. But the answers the questions posed in the song are clear. You will be sending me a valentine, sending birthday greetings and sharing a bottle of wine.

I Am Sixty-Four

Taken 2 July 2011 in Bloomington, MN

Dad in 2008

Sid and LaVera 2003

Once He Grew a Beard
28 March 1992

Dad with Vernon and Elinor
1 July 1989

Family with Baby Ann
30 April 1960

Dad and family with
Vernon and Grandpa - 1961

Dad with Family - 1978

My dad died today.
Sadly and ironically today is Father's Day.

My mother and father divorced when I was two years old. He always lived far away from me. We would meet a few times each year when he returned to Minnesota for business or on vacation. Despite the distance, I always felt close to dad. I loved him and I knew he loved me. From the age of seven to sixteen, I spent three months every summer with my dad's parents, Anna and Simon. Almost every summer, while at grandpa's farm, my dad would bring his family to the farm for a visit. So, maybe that is why I always felt so close to him.

Those were not the only times that we spent together. Memorable to me was the summer of 1965, when I lived with his family in Montgomery, AL. And the month he spent with me in 1970. We had a good time. He was lots of fun and he got to meet many of my friends. Over the years, I often visited him in Mississippi and I tried to visit for a week or two. In the spring of 2008, I spent a couple of months with him.

I loved the stories my dad would tell. Everyone agrees that you could spin a great yarn. He had stories about friends and family. He had stories about business. He never failed to put me in a good mood when he told a story, even when I had heard it before. When I became a pilot, he would tell me stories about his friends who were pilots. When we traveled we shared stories about travel. And I always enjoyed his stories about his days as a boy in South Dakota. He also had some great stories about business. I especially liked his stories about his business in Japan. He had been a long-time customer of Japanese porcelain, but in the 1980's he started selling container loads of high-quality waterless cookware to the Japanese consumer market.

In recent years, his proudest stories were about Camp Victor in Ocean Springs. He did a lot to help the people of Ocean Springs recover from the Hurricane Katrina. Camp Victor was the Lutheran church's key vehicle to help with the rebuilding of the gulf coast. Camp Victor provided accommodations for thousand of volunteers from all over the USA and Canada. The camp also was a center to receive millions of dollars worth of building materials. Dad played a critical role in the start up and continuation of Camp Victor.

My dad loved his family and family stories. Perhaps that is why he became an avid genealogist. He introduced me to his hobby and we shared all of our tricks and methods to find information about our family tree. He also helped reestablish strong contacts with our Swedish cousins. He had visited them and they visited him several times. He often wrote and shared pictures with our cousins in Sweden.

I loved my dad so much. I will greatly miss him.

I wrote a brief obituary for my dad this morning. It follows:

Martin Sidney "Sid" Sundstrom, 84, of Ocean Springs, MS, died early this morning at St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester, MN, from pneumonia contracted during his recovery from heart surgery.

Sid was born 27 June 1926 at the Sundstrom homestead in Brooklyn Township near Beresford, South Dakota, to Simon and Anna (Johansson) Sundstrom. He lived at the family homestead until the late 1930's, when the family moved to Minnesota and farmed in the Lake Crystal area. Sid graduated from the Lake Crystal High School. He enlisted and served in the US Army during World War II. He was wounded while serving in Okinawa. Soon after returning to civilian life, he began a life-long career as salesman and then a sales executive. The career led him and his family to many places, including Indianapolis, Niagara Falls, Chicago, West Bend, Montgomery, Birmingham, and finally in 1970 to Ocean Springs where he lived the rest of his life. Sid was an active member of Christus Victor Lutheran Church. He play a significant role in the establishment of Camp Victor, which has been a leader in the recovery from hurricane Katrina. He was well-known and well-liked in the Ocean Springs community.

Sidney Sundstrom was warm and loving husband, father and grandfather. He will greatly missed by his family and friends and the Ocean Springs community.

Sid Sundstrom married twice. From the first union came his sons, Bill and Brian. Sid married LaVera Isabelle Dulitz at Brownsdale, MN, 30 December 1951. LaVera died in 2006. Sid and LaVera had four children: Katherine, Steven, Dawn and Ann.

Sidney is survived by all his children and their spouses: Bill and Betty; Brian and Judy of Orono, MN; Katherine Sundstrom of Connecticut; Steven and Ellen of La Crosse, WI; Dawn Sundstrom and partner, Mitzi Griffin, of Greensboro, NC; and Ann Tietel of Port Washington, NY. He is survived by eight grandchildren: Aricka, Bjorn, Birgitta, Dain, Edward, Shelby, Belinda and Clara. And he is survived by eight great-grandchildren: Athena, Ebin, Eva, Annika, Johanna, Lucianna, Abbie and Judah. He is survived by his brother Vernon Sundstrom of Madelia, MN, and his sister Elinor Daugherty of New Ulm, MN.

Sidney was preceded in death by his parents, Simon and Anna, and his beloved wife of 55 years, LaVera.

Sid will be interned at the Biloxi National Cemetery.

Lucy at the Park

Jo Says, Take That

The Kids on a Slide

Remember that you can click on any photo to view it full size.
If you prefer a slideshow, then press HERE! to see all photos of the grand kids' visit.

Good Food - Yum, Yum!	Some Tears
At the Corpus Christi Aquarium	Whales and Dolphins
Johanna Riding Angel	Lucy and Terri Davis

We acutally had more visitors than just our granddaughters, Johanna and Lucy. Birgitta drove all the way to Corpus Christi from Farmington, MN. They came for about two weeks and we had lots of fun with them. We brought them to the local playground several times. And, of course, there were several trips to both the beachs on North Padre Island and the Port Aransas Beach on Mustang Island.

There were two special events. The first was a visit to the Corpus Chrisiti Aquarium. They had a blast, especially the water show. Then there was a day of horse-back riding. The girls had a wonderful time at Gait and Grace Ranch in Gregory.

Seth flew down a few days before they left to help with the three day ride back to Minnesota. All in all, it was a great two weeks with Birgitta and the grandkids.

The same morning that they left, my brother and his wife drove up from South Padre Island. They spent two nights with us before returning to Brownsville. It was a really nice visit.

When we came down, we were thinking about buying property. I realized that I am not ready to spend every winter in the same place. And if I ever get to that time, Corpus Christi might not be the place. Life is slow here and there is not a lot to do, unless you like fishing. With a boat and a condo or house on the island, that would be a very sweat deal for a boater or fisherman. There is a lot of really inexpensive properties for sale on North Padre Island.

This our last week in Corpus Christi. We will be head north where we can enjoy another style of living.

Shark's Lunch	Johanna and Angel	I Like this Horse	We Are Riding
Lucy and Jo	Lucy on the Move	Jo is Flying	Hello, I'm Lucy

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of North Padre Island.

Making Chicken Enchiladas

Kicking Back with Marilyn and Greg

Greg and Marilyn

Gulls on our Balcony

North Padre Island is generally very quiet, warm, sunny and always very windy. And it has been that way since we got here six weeks ago. The only exception was last week when a lot of folks came to the beach for spring break. We try to get into the city twice a week to do some shopping and see a movie. There is no grocery store on the island, so its an eight-mile drive to the closest grocery store. In a pinch, we can pick up some items at the gas station or drug store. The island has good restaurants and we eat out a couple of times each week.

We walk almost every day from 40 to 90 minutes, which amounts to about four miles each day. We have walked almost every mile of the roads on the island. It is great exercise and a good way to get a close-up view of the homes on the island. There is a lot of real estate for sale on the island, some priced so low that is shocking. Most of the homes have a canal in the back yard with access to the gulf or Laguna Madre.

Our good friends, Marilyn Leonard and Greg Speltz, came for a visit on Saturday and left just this morning. We had fun: walking, talking, and eating, and drinking. We really love visitors when we are away from home.

In just a couple of days, Birgitta will be here with our granddaughters, Johanna and Lucy.

North Padre Island Beach

Dear Randy,

Recently I posted on facebook the following:
"Looks like the people of Wisconsin need an immediate change of regime. Can the governor of Wisconsin be recalled by the people?" There were 39 comments that friends and relatives added to this post; more than I had to any previous post. The discussion was good and interesting.

You kindly added a couple of comments. The most meaningful were two important questions for which I thank you. What you wrote follows "So public employes who work for the pubic need protection from the people who they serve? So, those who are non public employed are having a hard time creating revenue they need to sacrifice more so that the government employes can continue on with his life unchanged?"

I hope to answer your questions. But before doing that I think it is important to understand what Governor Scott Walker is really trying to do and some speculation on his motivations.

Gov. Walker is out to destroy public employee unions and weaken the the entire trade union movement. Governor Walker has a history of attacking public trade unions. When he was the Executive of Milwaukee County, he tried to replace unionized security guards at the county courthouse and replace them with contractors, which he promised would save the county money. The county board refused to replace them. But Walker took executive action on his own. The county was sued and lost, costing the people of Milwaukee half-a-million dollars. All the Wisconsin public unions have said that they would accept concessions to wages and benefits. Gov. Walker was notified of this concession and he was asked if he would drop the legislation. His answer was "NO!" His history is that of a union buster. Now that he refuses to negotiate with these unions it is clear that his agenda is not to protect Wisconsinites, rather it is to destroy public and private unions in Wisconsin and the rest of the US.

American workers fought long and hard for the right to have unions. They made this a great country for the common man. What Walker is really trying to do is make the US like every other poor country where his super rich, blood sucking friends make billions on the backs of a beaten-down and impoverished people. Randy is that really what you want for America? I doubt it. It is undemocratic to take away rights of workers, it is anti-American. I certainly do not want that. I hope that you and I can agree on stopping these blood suckers from ruining our way of life.

Randy, ask yourself why Gov. Walker wants to bust these unions, after all the state, county and municipal workers do not work for profit making organizations. He cannot be just acting to save the people of Wisconsin a few dollars. There are, in fact, several reasons. The most important are MONEY and POWER, money to influence elections and public opinion and the power to run the state with no checks on his power. Recently, corporations were granted the ability to give anonymously billions of dollars to candidates, most often but not exclusively to Republicans. Scott Walker and his party have greatly benefitted from this change. Unfortunately for Walker, trade unions give money to candidates too, primarily Democrats. Of course, they do not come anywhere close to the resources of large corporations, but their money means a lot and it can affect elections. If unions are weakened or eliminated, then there will be less money for Democrats. Further, Gov. Walker and all Republicans would find it easy to take POWER in the future. To be clear, Democrats are not are saviors, but they will not try to destroy our way of life like the Republicans are only too glad to do, as witnessed in Wisconsin.

Clearly, Walker wants to destroy the American way of life and ensure that his blood sucking friends will be able live higher and better for years to come, while we middle-class Americans are pushed into poverty. That is not what I want and I am sure that you do not want that either. After all, our personal well-being, our families' well-being, and the well-being of our communities are at stake. We have to be brave and stand-up to these attacks.

Comparison of Wisconsin
Public and Private Sector Annual Wages

Now, lets take a look at the excuses Walker presented to justify his demand to end public unions. He says that there is a huge state deficit. First one should ask, is that even true? The answer depends on your definition of huge, because the deficit is completely manageable and is not worse than the last deficit. So, Walker's excuse is a big fat lie. Second, he states that the unions have made and will continue to make unreasonable demands. Yet Wisconsin unions have already agreed to reduced wages and benefits. So, this too is a big fat lie. But it does not matter because he and his friends have already convinced thousands of others that unions are bad, evil groups out to enrich themselves and bankrupt America. I worked for 30 years for the City of Minneapolis and I always earned significantly less than people doing the same thing in the private sector. The chart on the right show how much less Wisconsin state employees make when compared to the private sector. The numbers are simply shocking. Clearly, public employees are motivated to work for something other than money. My own experience tells me that public employees mostly work out of a desire to serve the public good. Yes, my pension is a good one. During my last ten years working for the city, the only thing that kept me working there was the promise of a half-way decent pension. The promise of the pension and my desire to serve kept me from going to the private sector where I knew I could earn twice a much money. It was the promise of a future benefit that kept me there. I considered the promise of the pension as part of my compensation. And I contributed much more to my pension fund than what you pay for social security. Gov. Walker wants to steal that from the workers of Wisconsin, because he says that it is too much. I will come back to this theft below. It is immoral to promise to pay someone for something they have done and they NOT pay them. You are moral man, so I doubt that you would want to do that - but Gov. Walker does. He is thief, a thief of our livelihood, our dreams and the American way of life.
I say, DAMN Governor Walker - a liar and a thief.

Now, allow me to answer your first question. Historically, governments have acted in horrid ways. They have attacked and murdered people for demanding for basic human rights. In the last 150 years governments in USA have acted time and time again to oppress working people and people of color. Organizing public unions is not needed to protect workers from the people, but from oppressive government. The most important right for workers is the right to organize themselves and collectively bargain for better wages and working conditions. The people of the United States battled government and corporations from the late 1800's to the mid 1900's for the right to bargain collectively. In fact, the US has the bloodiest labor history in the world, because the US had the most powerful corporate owners in the world. Scott Walker is a modern-day shill for this same class of tyrants. They want to turn the clock back to the bad old days when workers had NO control over their lives.
What Wisconsin workers will never concede is their right to collectively bargain.
Randy, who will you stand with? Your working friends and neighbor or the the rich, blood sucking patrons of Gov. Scott Walker?

I believe that I have already answered your second question about the willingness of the Wisconsin public employees to make concessions in these difficult times. But Walker just will not take YES for an answer.

Finally, I want to add a small ironic aside. How is it that so many pension plans are underfunded today? Not ALL of them are in trouble but many are. The primary reason was the financial collapse in 2008. Pension funds hired respectable Wall Street investment firms. In a diabolic scheme, these firms invested retirement money in risky hedge funds. When the bottom fell out, the retirement funds were left holding the bag. The government, through TARP, bailed out the banks but did nothing for the retirement funds. They stole billions from US workers in the greatest scam of all times. Worse yet them seem to have gotten away with it, as none have been jailed, just more government corruption and collusion with the super rich. The IRONY is that now these same blood suckers want to use the excuse of depleted pension funds to attack and destroy their last contingent of their mortal enemy, American trade unions.

Randy, your a workingman as your father was and your children will be. Trade unions have made your life much better. They fought for and won the 40-hour week, health care and workplace safety. If allowed to, unions will continue to serve and protect all American workers.
The time has come to stop disparaging the very people that brought you and your family a better life,
because it is time to praise and protect them. That is the RIGHT and MORAL thing to do.

The next time we find ourselves in the same city, I hope that we can sit down and talk about all these things.

   Your loving cousin,

     Bill

Biloxi Bay Bridge Mosaics

To view a very short video of all four mosaic panels, press HERE..

Katherine, Daniel, Rachel, Nanette and Terry

Our new car was shipped from Sweden after we dropped it off in December. We picked it up in Golden Valley on the 15th of January. Then we wrapped up our preparations to leave the cold, cold North.

The Twin Cities was cold as a snowman's nose on Wednesday, January 26th, being well below zero - that's colder than -20 celsius. Betty and I headed a couple of hours south to La Crosse, Wisconsin. We had come to visit Steve and Ellen, my brother and his wife. We had not seen them since last summer. It was great to visit. Steve is a wonderful cook and he made a great dinner. We had Martinis before dinner and lots of red wine during and after our supper. Betty was feeling awfully good by the end of the evening, which led to an annoying headache the next morning.

We left La Crosse early Thursday morning. We drove all day and finally stopped in Blytheville, Arkansas. The next day we drove the rest of the way to my father's house in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.

We spent several days with my dad. We were able to take several long walks. One day we hiked the beach from the bay bridge to the harbor club. We really enjoyed visiting with my dad; we talked and talked and talked. On Sunday we were treated to a dinner with dad and Paul. We really enjoy our stays with him.

On Wednesday, February 2nd, we drove all day long to Corpus Christi. We spent the next five days visiting with Terry and Nanette. They have three wonderful teen-aged children: Daniel, Katherine and Rachel. They were so kind. The thing I like best about Terry was his politics and his critical thinking skills. How such a liberal was ever able to survive and thrive for all these years in this very conservative county in beyond me, but it is surely a testament to his strong and intelligent character. His wonderful wife was just as bright and had a grand warm soul. The children are hard-working and very bright. They each speak multiple languages, from Chinese to Arabic to Italian. As many as seven! We loved the long discussions with the family about life and politics. Everyday was great, except for the weather, which had turned cold. On Friday night ice coated the houses, trees and roads, not inches of ice but maybe a quarter inch. Crazy as it sounds, they closed the freeways for nearly two days.

We spent our days looking for a place to rent or buy. I really did not want to buy before I knew how much I really liked the place. Terry had provided us the name of an excellent real estate agent. She found us a good but pricey rental on North Padre Island.

We moved in yesterday. While it is only a one-bedroom unit, there are four beds and it could sleep eight. We are looking for Birgitta and the girls to visit before we head north again.

The View from Our Balcony of Laguna Madre

Very Merry Christmas
and a
Happy New Year

Jo and Lucy with Santa

Press HERE to see a slideshow
of Christmas in Denmark.

In a Frozen Hjørring Alley

Birte and Ole

Our main purpose for coming to the north of Jutland was to visit our old friends, Bet and Niels Simonsen. We met them 16 years ago on the Playa del Carmen beach in Mexico. We have been friends ever since then and have visited them several times. Niel’s brother Kurt and his wife, Ulla, are also out friends. We certainly did not come for the snow and cold, but it has been here, none the less. More than eight inches have fallen in the past week.

Beyond cooking and talking with our friends we have not been doing much. Niel’s primary job is farming. He is a very successful strawberry grower. In the winter he works one day a week for Det Grafiske Værksted, a graphic arts workshop where artists can get their lithographs printed. We liked the some prints enough that we will probably buy a set. While I am on the arts, we also visited the local art museum, the Vendyssel Kunstmuseum. There was a good exposition but the best pieces were by Berit Hjelhot. The tapestries she made are really fantastic.

On Wednesday Niels and I traveled more than two hours south to Herning. We came to see the annual farm and agriculture exposition, called Agromek. There I saw a lot of the new machinery used by farmers in Denmark. The size and diversity of the machinery was unbelievable. The only company missing was John Deere, who sells more tractors than any other company in Denmark. When I was a boy and teenager, I spent every summer on my grandparent’s farm. So, I had a lot of catching up to do. Niels was kind enough to explain what the machines did and how they worked. I really enjoyed this show. I might even have to go to Farmfest next summer in Minnesota.

On Saturday, Niels and I attended the Christmas luncheon at Nordjyllands Ultra Light Flyveklub. The last time that I visited, some six years ago, I told Niels about my learning to fly and how much I enjoyed it. He decided to give it a try and now he too is a pilot. The club rents a nice grass strip and has two hangers where they house their two planes and the planes of its members. We had a great lunch. We started with herring, the we ate Rødspætte fish, followed by pork and brown potatoes. Like all Danish get-togethers their were musicians and songs that they sung and we all sang together. And aqvit. We had a wonderful afternoon.

Bet had to work on Sunday, but when she got home she still had energy for a hike. The snow was coming down and the visibility was less than a half-mile. Still Bet, Niels and I drove to the coast to hike on the Lønstrup sand dune mountain, called Rubjerg Knude. It was good exercise and it was beautiful out. I can say that, even though I am no longer a winter person.

In the evening we had a wonderful diner with Bet’s parents, Ole and Birte Breyen. They have lovely home in Hjørring. We had lamb for dinner, a rare treat for me. We had a good Italian wine with dinner. We talked for hours. During WWII Ole was a teenager living in Rome, where his father was the chief engineer for a battery plant. In 1944 the Allies bombed the factory and Ole’s dad survived when a air pocket formed around him as the walls collapsed. They returned to Denmark and Ole started medical school where he met and fell in love with Birte. The two doctors had a rich life together and eventually settled in Hjørring. Betty and I totally enjoyed the evening.

Tomorrow we will drive to Fredrikshavn, then we will take the ferry to Goteborg in Sweden. The next day, Wednesday the 8th of December, we will drop our car off at the Volvo factory and get a ride to the airport. Our flight leaves midday for Copenhagen. From Copenhagen we will follow the sun to Chicago. We will catch a flight from Chicago to Minneapolis. We will be home by about 10pm and be there for the holidays.

Bet and Niels Simonsen

Our Couchsurfing Hosts

Let me begin by saying THANK YOU to all of our hosts in Europe. And I convey a special THANKS to our couchsurfing hosts, who knew nothing of us and yet they kindly made space for us in their homes and lives. You can see a list of them on the right side of this page with links to their couchsurfing profiles. I encourage you to look at the profiles of these wonderful people.
While your are at looking at these profiles, take a look at our profile too.
Just click HERE to view our profile.

And I want to thank my friends and family who let us stay with them: my cousins Birgitte, Per-Erik and Anders Amnèus; my friends, Heike and Björn Günther, Pinu and Nilu Swami, Guille and Javier Burgos, Kurt and Ulla Simonsen, Niels and Bet Simonsen.

I LOVE couchsurfing.org and here is why.

Couchsurfing brings you much closer to the culture and people when you are traveling. When we stay with someone and their family, we get a special insight into who the people of a region or country are. We learn about their daily lives, from the food and wine they consume to what they think of their government and the region they live in. We learn about their families and often their histories. Often we find so much in common that we depart as friends.

Cousurfing hosts are a fount of information. They can tell you were the most interesting sites are, where to find fun places to spend a day or an evening, where to find good places to eat, and where there might be a good cultural event to see. Sometimes they bring you to a party. If you decide to settle in a town, they know where to look for an apartment. Information is gold when you are traveling and they have all the information that you could ever want - or know where to get it.

Couch surfing can make travel possible for those without lots of money. A place to sleep is often the most expensive part of travel. Of course, couchsurfing can reduce travel expenses greatly. For example, we have just spent three months in Europe and we have spent just $1000 for accommodations, where the average cost for a room is well over $60 per night or $1800 per month. This opens the door for many more people to see the world. The rich experiences of travel can be shared with a much wider circle of people.

These positive experiences are not just limited to the traveler, or - as we call ourselves, surfers. We have met many a couchsurfing host that never surfed themselves. We asked about what motivated them to host. The answers were clear: visiting surfers provided them a chance to get to know folks from the world over and very often they provided an opportunity to practice their English.

I encourage all my friends and readers to consider joining the couchsurfing collective. It is easy and it is free.
You can sign up for couchsuring by clicking HERE.
If you cannot bring yourself to join, please, tell your friends, who might like to join, about couchsurfing.

Pinu, Nilu and Bill

Cambridge Bidge of Sighs

Javier and Bill with the Nine Ladies

On Sunday the 14th, we crossed the English channel on a French boat. We had planned to cross with the chunnel train. Unfortunately, we had no idea that you must book weeks in advance to get the low price for crossing. Weeks ago, I had read the price was 39 euro. Great, I planned on using the train, instead of the ferry, which cost 43 euro reported on the internet. WRONG on both accounts! If you pull up to the chunnel entrance and ask for a ticket with out booking ahead, then you are going to pay more than 220 euro; in other words, 180 euro more ($240). And the 43 euro ferry was really 106 euro, which we reluctantly paid.

I was surprise how quickly that I adjusted to driving on the left side of the road, especially with the steering wheel on the left side too. The most difficult road maneuver is passing through a roundabout, which is used extensively throughout Europe and even more so in England.

Press HERE to see a slideshow
from England.

In Front of the Lichfield Cathedral

The Lincoln Castle

Our first stop was to visit the parents of Sanj in a suburb of London, called Canvey Island. Their names are Pinu and Nilu. Pinu is a semi-retired doctor. They were simply wonderful. Pinu was kind enough to cook a really great Indian dinner.

On Monday we pushed on to the north. We stopped in Cambridge for a brief hike around the town. We looked in on several of its famous colleges. After a couple of hours we continued north, heading for Nottingham. We were going to the home of two of our best friends, Javier and Guillermina. What? you may ask because you remember that they lived in Buenos Aires. Not so anymore, Guille got a post-doc position doing plant research at the University of Nottingham.

We have not been doing a lot. We have visited Nottingham and several of the nearby towns, including Birmingham, Lichfield and Lincoln. Javier took one day off work and we visited two ancient stone rings that had been created some four to six thousand years ago by the inhabitants of the region. It was a foggy day on the moors, which added a lot to the atmosphere.

We are sailing for Denmark later today. It is an 18 hour journey from Harwich to Esbjerg and we have a berth. I will let you more on my next posting.

Gille, Joaquina, Javier, Fermin and Betty

Press HERE to see a slideshow
of Southern France.

The Carcassone Chateau

The Village of Minerve

Midi Canal at Beziers

Arles Town Square

Betty by Door to Aix City Hall

Bill at an Aix Fountain

Red Clay Cliffs

View of Gordes

The Palace of the Popes

After leaving the Dali Museum, we drove about 20 miles north and entered France about sundown. We were not going far, but traveling at night in Europe on its narrow roads can be difficult. Our GPS helps out when bounding through the countryside. Our only hangup was a road closed for construction and the GPS got us out of the problem. We arrived at a B-and-B outside of Carcassonne in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of southern France. It was a nice accommodation that included breakfast for a change. The owner was a charming English woman who was kind and helpful.

On Sunday the 7th of November we spent the day visiting some small French villages. We started in Carcassonne with its fantastic walled chateau and ramparts. After an hour or so of exploring the town, we set out to see a few more villages. In one we found a working, artisan paper mill. It was set back in a woods where we walked to it. After this we drove through several more small villages. We passed a very old windmill. Unlike Spain there are not so many modern windmills in the countryside. Our last village stop was in Minerve, which is listed as one of the most villages in France. It was very beautiful. I only wish that the weather had been nicer as we were downright cold. These villages can be so small that you can walk through the entire village in half an hour. While on our walk, we stopped to taste and buy some local wine. Our final stop before going to Beziers was at a large outlet store for an olive cooperative. We got several things including two jars of olives. We have been eating so many olives of every type that we have really come to love them - especially the very fresh green ones. With some difficulty we found our hosts in Beziers. The problem was the GPS could not recognize their street and that they are on a small farm just outside the city.

Catherine and Etienne

Catherine and Etienne were wonderful hosts. They raise and race horses. Catherine is a trainer and former jockey. Their home is more than 250 years old. We loved our stay with them. We also got meet their lovely daughter Marine. On Monday we visited the town of Beziers where we found the 300 plus year old Midi Canal. The Canal connects the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The most amazing about the canal in Beziers was the bridge that raises the canal some twenty feet over the Orb river; just amazing! We wondered about the city after climbing the hill from the canal port. The nicest building was the cathedral, which we could not get into; we had missed the entry time by five minutes. After seeing Beziers, we drove out into the country, first to see an old Gallic ruin. Unfortunately, it too was closed. The view from near the ruin was spectacular. I especially liked the field that looked like a giant UFO landing pad - see my photo on my Flickr page.

Tuesday we left for Provence, some two hours away. We stopped in Arles. This was a great little city with a Roman amphitheater and colosseum. The theater is still used as is the colosseum, which is now used for French and Spanish style bullfighting. The other noteworthy thing about the city is the residence of Van Gogh. This is where he checked himself into the hospital for his mental problems. A cafe in the town was the subject of one of his most famous paintings, which is called Cafe Terrace at Night. After Arles we drove to St. Remy and we walked about the town for an hour or so. We found the home Nostradamus there. He is well known for his predictions today, but he was best known as an apothecary in his day and his research into cures for the plague. From here we made our way to Aix to find the home of our hosts, Sylvie and Christian.

Thomas, Sylvie and Christian

Sylvie and Christian were a wonderful couple. They have a lovely home a few miles from the center of Aix. Sylvie is a school teacher. We learned a lot from her about the French school system. Based on her description it is clearly a superior system to the USA. Christian works in a company that does software simulations for sound. We also got to meet two of their three children. Thomas is a university student, still living with his parents and Adrian has just finished with an EE degree and he is still looking for work. The one thing that they all love is hiking, especially in the mountains. Adrian is looking for work in Grenoble, which is in the Alps. We did not meet their daughter. Sylvie and Christian are planning a North American tour in a couple of years and we really hope that they will visit us then.

On Wednesday the 10th, we spent the day in Aix-en-Provence exploring the old city. There was so much to see from the central fountain to the city hall to its old churches. You will just have to look at my pictures to get a flavor of the place. Again the weather was not great, but it was not so bad that we could not make our way around.

On Thursday, we visited six or so villages near Aix. First we visited Lourmarin. Then we drove into a fantastic little valley with high cliffs all about. Our destination was Fort de Buoux, an ancient defensive ruin. It was a hike and a bit of a climb, but the country is so beautiful. Then we visited Bonnieux where it was a bit windy and cold. We climbed to the highest point in the village and could see for miles and miles. It was lovely place. Then we went to Roussillon, which is famous for its red clay hills. All the building in the town had that red glow from the local clay. It is also a prominent source for red pigment for paint. It was really pretty little village. Finally, we came to Gordes. Despite its great beauty, we were very tired. We walked around a bit, then stopped for a hot chocolate at about $5 per cup. Finally we headed back toward Aix. We were going to the home of a new host, Phillip, who lives about twelve miles north of Aix. Like so many of our couchsurfing hosts, we was kind and gracious. We enjoyed his company and we talked late into the evening.

Phillip - A CS Host

On Friday we went to Avignon. Avignon had a great history in the 13 hundreds when the popes left Rome and moved to Avignon. At that time Avignon was on the northern border of the Holy Roman Empire. Our main goal was to visit the Palace of the Popes and the old bridge that connected Avignon to France. Only half the bridge remains as much of it has been destroy by the flooding Rhone River over the centuries. The seat of papacy was in Avignon from 1309 to 1403. The Palace of the Popes is an astounding building. It is 700 years old. While the structure and its internal details are wonderful, it is just a shell with NO serious collection of items from those years. I suspect that nothing was left behind when the papacy moved back to Rome. After an day of wandering about the town, we returned to Phil’s house. Later in the evening, we all went into Aix to enjoy a local dish called Daube, a kind of beef stew, that was served on pasta.

On Saturday we got up very early. We planned to drive all day from the south of France to the north. It was hard going. We tried to avoid the toll roads, they are so incredibly expensive at about $1.40 to drive six miles. There are almost no alternative four-lane roads. Finally after we reached Grenoble, we took the toll roads. Our final stop was at a Formule1 hotel in Arras, about 60 miles from Calais. Just a note on the Formule1 hotels: They are the only chain of inexpensive hotels in Europe. They are clean but stark and with shared baths. They cost $48 per night plus or minus $10. The charge is per room and up to three people can stay in one room.

To say the least, I really like France. Both our visit to Aquitane and Provence we wonderful. The French are delightful. Their villages are beautiful.

Sunday we crossed the English Channel to England. I had research costs weeks ago. My experience with ferries in Scandinavia has been that you pull up and pay the crossing and that the price is the price. Not so with ferries to and from England. The 39 euro Chunnel crossing must be purchased weeks or perhaps, months, in advance. Try to book on the day you cross and you pay more than 200 euro. It was a shock to find this out. The same held true for the 43 euro on the ferry boat. Purchase a ticket on the day you cross and you pay 106 euro. Finally we are in England, where we will spend ten days visiting are good friends Javier and Guille.