Iceland is a unique island especially in the geological
realm of plate tectonics. Iceland is where the North American Plate and the
Eurasian Plate meet. This is one of the places on earth where the plates are
separating. Not too far from Reykjavik,there is a plain at the meeting of the plates. This plain has sunk 200 feet in 10,000 years, and the Eurasian Plate rises above the North American Plate some10 feet or so. It’s so impressive to see those two continents separated by just a few feet.
Monthly Archives: June 2011
Akureyri (that’s right, that’s what it says…LOL), Iceland
Akureyri, Iceland
Like Vanessa Williams once sang in the “ Save the Best for
Last”, “sometimes the snow comes down in June.” Well, it did in Akureyri,
Iceland on Thursday June 9, 2011 ;o)
We got to see waterfalls, mud fields (I stayed with Carter
and Ammon while they slept on the bus), and lots more. Our guide was Helga Rose
(cool name, huh?). She introduced us to some folktales I want to buy for this
coming Christmas. It’s about the 13 Christmas trolls that usher in Christmas.
If a child is good, they bring toys or candy, but if a child is bad they might
leave potatoes in their shoes! Helga Rose also sang for us in the Icelandic
language.
My favorite place that day was Godafoss Falls. It was cold and
windy so windy that when the wind hit Carter’s face, he was ready to go back to
the bus! I walked from the falls to the souvenir shop. It was chilly but what a
view!
Vacation Suggestion
This came in time for the 4th of July Holiday. It’s a suggestion for traveling from a personal perspective. I hope you all enjoy it.
http://www.advocate.com/Society/Modern_Families/Open_Seas_and_Open_Minds/
For emails: havensideals@yahoo.com
UTC finals
A couple of things
First, I had an awesome yearly physical exam Monday. For 2011
my weight is down, my blood pressure is normal, no aches or pains, and I feel
great. Praise the Lord!
The second thing is that I might not write for a day or two.
The summer mini-mester at UTC finishes this week, and I am grading the last
assignments, the final exam, and posting grades. Please pray that it all goes
smoothly. I am looking forward to blogging again ASAP. You all have a great
Tuesday!
Edinburgh, Scotland
When I was probably about 8 years old I first saw the movie, “Mary, Queen of Scots”
with Vanessa Redgrave in the starring role. After that movie, I had an
appreciation for two things. 1)Mary Stuart and 2)Scotland/Edinburgh. I could
write a dissertation on Mary, Queen of Scots, but she is probably my most
favorite “victim of history” of all time. My 2nd favorite is Tsar
Nicholas II of Russia. This isn’t a blog dedicated to Mary, but I have to
comment on her. I may change my mind in a few years, but it came to me that I
don’t think she would have the same problems if she would have been raised in
Scotland instead of France. Her French mother, Mary Guise, “held down the fort”
in Scotland while her French relatives and the French royal court raised Mary in Paris. If Mary could have been in Scotland around protestants and the John Knox crew, I truly
believe that maybe even if she remained Catholic, she would have had protestant
buddies and more Scottish support. Oh, well. She was so cool.
A lot of people do not know how intelligent, religiously tolerant, politically tolerant, and
clever she really was. However, she had a horrible taste in men. It’s also
worth noting that it is through her that we have our Elizabeth II, the future Charles III, and the future William V. It wasn’t from the barren Elizabeth I who ordered Mary’s death.
Sean and I were in Edinburgh for about 4 days in 2007.This
time we were there for 4 hours. LOL. Edinburgh castle is perched on top of an
ancient, extinct volcano, and that was our main focus for Nana and the babies
to see. The temperature was about 50, but it was VERY WINDY.
We enjoyed the castle. Remember how I said I had to climb
the lions at Trafalgar Square, or take swim lessons so I can swim better for
Carter and Ammon. I wanted Carter and Ammon to see that I wasn’t afraid to
dance. I engaged in a Medieval dance with a Scottish countess, Countess Euphemia. I enjoyed it!
Before Carter and Ammon I would have not dared do something like that!
The Scottish crown jewels are also at the castle. Several
other cool things: 1) a dog cemetery dedicated to the dogs of Scottish
soldiers,2) Mons Meg the largest middle ages cannon every built, 3)awesome
dungeons, and 3) St. Margaret’s chapel which dates back to about 1070. After the
tour, we ate lunch at St. Giles café, and we did some shopping. Oh, yeah, don’t
forget the bagpipes! It was an awesome day!
Blackberries!
I didn’t like the taste of blackberries until I was an adult. They are an acquired taste, but once you acquire that taste, you’re hooked! The unfortunate part is that they grow on briars, and it is inevitable that if you are doing some serious picking that will produce blackberry jam, blackberry cobbler, or possibly blackberry, homemade ice cream, you will get scratched by some thorns. However, the rewards are delicious.
Right now it looks like we are going to have a plethora of blackberries. I ate some Saturday during a mowing break. They were scrumptious: that tart yet sweet taste. All during my 20s I had a pet German shepherd named Judy. She enjoyed blackberry picking with me. She knew the difference between a non-ripe, red blackberry, and the ripe, black-purple blackberry. If there was a ripe blackberry at her reach, she would gently pluck it off and eat it. She was the best blackberry picking buddy I ever had. Here’s to you, Judy.
Insect Entertainment
I saw them on Friday. I thought I had seen them Wednesday, but I wasn’t too sure. On a
blackberry leaf near our barn, there sat some wonderful and entertaining….dum,
dum, dum….JUNE BUGS!
Oh,
my goodness, I have spoken about childhood memories, but I truly think my first
summer memory is of chasing june bugs, and yes, I did fly them on string. The
string is sewing thread because the little fellers cannot be weighed down. Now,
PETA, don’t get upset! No june bug of mine has ever suffered a severed leg nor
been mistreated. They have all been set free. Okay, one didn’t make it. What
happened? Well, I was 10 years old, and my sister and I had a pet chicken. Her
name was Woots. She was awesome. The summer Woots was a year old we spent a day
playing with our june bugs. At one point during the day, I was flying my june
bug, and it stopped. I bent down to show Woots, and I said, “What do you think,
Woots?” With a snap, snap, gobble my june bug was gone. Woots had eaten it. All
that was left was a micro-loop where a june bug leg had been bound. It was a sad
a situation, but there was a happy hen.
Okay, our june bugs are not in the open yard yet. I do
intend to buy some thread, catch some, and let Carter and Ammon experience the
tradition. If you’ve never done it, you should. It’s pretty cool.
Windsor Castle
It was our 2nd visit to Windsor Castle. Sean and I were there in 2007 as well.
Windsor Castle is just about as old as the Tower of London.
William the Conqueror built both of them after his invasion of 1066. It is
incredible that it has stood (remodeled and added on of course) for over 900
years. It is still Queen Elizabeth II’s favorite home. It should be. It is
where she grew up and still lives the majority of the year. Her parents and her
sister are buried at St. George’s Chapel along with her grandparents, King
Henry VIII, and his favorite wife, Jane Seymour.
Elizabeth the Queen Mother
I mentioned Queen Elizabeth’s parents. I had a special
liking for her mother, Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
Elizabeth the Queen Mother
She reminded me of my Nanny
and Granddaddy’s generation. Like many people have labeled them, I agree 100%
that they were the greatest generation. They had a sense of justice/what was
good and true in the world and a love of liberty that we just don’t have or
appreciate. During the London Blitz of World War II, The Queen Mother and King
George VI, Elizabeth II’s parents, would leave Windsor every morning by some
heavily guarded train system and go to London. As a matter of fact, the king
and queen were at Buckingham Palace for the day (13 September 1940) when
Buckingham was bombed! During all that time, the Queen Mother refused to leave
London/Windsor. She knew the city needed her. You see, I could imagine my Nanny
doing the exact same thing in Varnell. I know that if a Nazi storm trooper
placed a foot in her yard, she would get out her shot gun, a hoe, a pitch fork,
or whatever she could get a hold of to defend the land and the family she
loved so dearly.
Several weeks ago, we had a splendid time at Windsor. Carter
and Ammon got to walk through the castle (I think their favorite thing was
Queen Mary’s doll house) and enjoy the grounds (their chicken nuggets at
Windsor Town’s McDonalds were good too). It was a beautiful sunny day, and a
good time was had by all. I especially enjoyed spending a few moments at St.
George’s Chapel paying my respects to the Queen Mother & George VI and thanking God for
her, my Nanny and Granddaddy, and all the freedom lovers of this world.
St. George’s Chapel: Windsor
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square is such a cool place in London. I like it
better than Picadilly Circus (pale in comparison to New York’s Time Square). Atop
his pedestal on his sentinel-perched monument, Admiral Horatio Nelson of Great
Britain looks over this awesome thoroughfare in the heart of London not too far
from Parliament and Westminster Abbey. Although the admiral was mortally
wounded in the naval Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) off the coast of
Spain during the Napoleonic Wars, the Brits won the battle and helped turn the
naval advantages to the Brits. To many of us, the lions at the base of the
monument are more intriguing than Admiral Nelson.
In both 1985 and 2007, I had problems climbing up to the
lions. In 1985, it had rained all day, the stones were slippery, and I was
wearing khakis and penny loafers! After a wet-week of trying again in 2007, I
finally made it, but it wasn’t too satisfying. However, now it was May 2011,
and I had to prove to Carter and Ammon that I could do it: Public humiliation
or not! I did it, and it was personal triumph! LOL ( you all are thinking “What a dits-o!”)
We also found a great restaurant near Trafalgar Square in
2007: a Tex-mex restaurant call the Texas Embassy. It is where the Republic of
Texas had its embassy in London when it was its own “country” 1836-1846. We ate
there twice this trip, and we highly recommend it.
Jogging on the River Thames
Jogging on the Thames
I truly enjoy exercising in both cardio and strength
training. Physical exercise invigorates my body, mind, and spirit. My favorite
cardio is jogging. I started jogging on a regular basis about four years ago.
We have approximately 13 mowed acres, and we utilize about 8 of those acres “manicured”
to use as a jogging track. In fighting middle-age fat, we’ve also had to up our
jogging time to approximately 45 minutes to help keep our weight off. The
sights and sounds of the mountain and fields keep us occupied, and often times
the 45 minutes pass by very quickly.
The deck of the Crown Princess we were on two weeks ago was
very “cut up”, and did not have an extensive track to jog on. Its only complete
track was tiny: 16 laps made a mile! It was terribly
boring. Sean and I started jogging up and down stairs and meandering around the
decks to make the 45 minutes go “faster”. When we returned to London for our
last two days, I needed a place a jog. What was I to do?
We were thankful to get a motel (the Park Plaza at
Westminster Bridge…I recommended it to everyone) in an excellent location. It was a block behind the
London Eye and the Thames River. Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and Big Ben
were in view from our motel room. We had seen joggers
every day and at all times of the day in that area. On Thursday morning
(6-16-2011) in London, I woke up about 6:00 a.m., and I decided to jog around
the river.
For 30 minutes, I jogged from the Westminster Bridge, beside the
London Eye, over the Embankment Foot Bridge, back along the river, and returned
to the London Eye side.
It was awesome! The two things I kept imagining were the Elizabethan era ships coming and going from that area, and all their Age of Exploration
cargo ships emptying their riches from “newly found places” and the Ancient
Female Warrior, Boadicea. Boadicea is on the Parliament side of Westminster
Bridge. Boadicea was queen of the ancient Iceni who fought against the Romans
who had taken over their lands. She lost and was killed in A. D. 60, but she was heroic none the less. I jogged under her statue and thought of the courage of this beautiful and regal lady.
When I finished jogging, I couldn’t help but consider the
stark contrast of my house’s calm, quiet fields with the ancient, rich history of London’s
River Thames, but it didn’t matter. Both are awesome places to jog! ;o)