Mi casa es su casa?

Had a bird in the house today.  A house wren built a nest near our front door, and laid a clutch of three eggs.  We noticed the next and the eggs earlier this year, and have been avoiding the front door to keep from disturbing momma and her babies.

This morning, a visitor rang the front doorbell.  When the door opened, one of the barely fledged wrens fluttered into the house and hid in the family room.  A careful hunt found him huddled in a corner.

The open garage door gave him a path of escape.  Cautiously, I herded him toward the doorway.  After several false starts, he finally understood and flew out the garage.  Whew, that was enough adventure for one day.

Interview at The Nautical Muse

Doug Danielson posted an interview with me at http://www.doug-danielson.com/blog/this-story-writhes-its-way-through-florida-like-a-python-through-the-everglades/

He drew out some information that I've kept to myself for years!

Tribute to Norway

Land of fjords, mountains, waterfalls, forests, beautiful cities and beautiful people.  This poem was written several years ago and was published in the 2007 edition of Wordsmith.  It came rushing back to mind during our recent visit to Norway, so I offer it here with slight modification.

Climb with me the rugged stair

            With wonder gaze on mountain lair

            Breathe deep once more the cleansing air.

 

On bank of silver brook we rest

            Midst golden flowers dew caressed

            As eagles soar o’er mountain crest.

Unblemished waters in their flow

            Wash mountain stone with melted snow

            And nurture verdant field below.

Norway is incredibly beautiful.  We had a wonderful time on our vacation, but of course are glad to be home.  The picture above is one of over a hundred, this one was taken in Olden, a beautiful village of about 300 or so people.  We were privileged to visit Olden, Skjolden, Molde, Alesund, Bergen, Geiranger, and Stavenger.  Each stop was an absolute wonder of beautiful scenery and wonderful people.

DOG ISLAND continues to do well, thanks to all of you.  It would be great to see a few more reviews, so if you feel so inclined, stop by either Amazon or Barnes and Noble and post your review.  And the blog has now exceeded 1000 visitors, but no one offered a comment.  Don't be shy, let me know you have stopped by.

Trip to Amsterdam

Since I'm not a travel writer I hadn't thought about posting on our trip, but I am a writer, and I do travel, so here goes.

First, the flight to Amsterdam.  Using the last of my frequent flier miles, DW and I boarded Delta Airlines flight 33 to Amsterdam. 

Springing the extra $ for "Comfort Economy" was definitely not worth it.  There is very little comfort afforded by the very narrow, rigid sided seats, the "50% extra recline" allows the seat to go back an extra inch or so.  The extra leg room is nice, but I could not get my legs into a comfortable position the entire flight.

Dutch immigration was very easy, once our luggage was recovered from baggage claim it was simply a matter of walking out the "Nothing to Declare" door.  Sweet, the Dutch have figured out a way to simplify the process, maybe we could follow suit?

The Amsterdam Marriott people could not be better.  Our room is nicely appointed, clean, and fresh.  The concierge is helpful, and everyone goes out of their way to make guests feel comfortable. They helped us with train schedules to Maastricht for a day trip to our favorite city in the Netherlands.

Maastricht was very busy with weekenders enjoying the mid-summer festivities.  A violin concert in the Friethof brought large crowds who filled the outdoor cafes, enjoying the long summer day.  The shops offered large "korting", or discounts, on their merchandise.  It was a very enjoyable day.

One word of caution, however.  Europeans are migrating to credit cards embedded with chips rather than the magnetic stripes commonly found on American credit cards.  We ran into two occasions where our credit cards were unusable, resulting in the depletion of our stock of Euros.  Since credit cards offer better exchange rates and lower conversion costs, using the cards are cheaper than converting cash or travelers checks to local currency.  But if your card doesn't have the chip, it may not work in all cases.  Of course, hotels will still accept the magnetic strips, but we ran into one restaurant that did not and the Dutch train system did not, either.  So, check with your credit card company to see if they offer the embedded chip before you embark on your European vacation.

That's all for now, more to follow......

1000 Visitors

DW and I are going on vacation later this week, and will be out for two weeks.  I'll post more on the blog when we get back.

Meanwhile, we are approaching the 1000th visitor to the blog site.  Be sure to leave a comment, for the first one to leave a comment along with their email address will win a prize!

Hometowns

I grew up in a small town in Michigan. Attended the same school my mother attended.  The home we lived in is gone, but the memories linger.  To give a little back, I donated a batch of DOG ISLAND books for sale at the local museum - all revenue from the sale to be split evenly between the museum and the local volunteer fire department.

The results of the first weekend sales are in - DOG ISLAND sold a whopping six books.  Not bad for a town with a population of 350.  Salute, as they used to say on Hee-Haw.