We went to a piano recital at UMBC Last Sunday to hear Beethoven’s “Hammer-Klavier”. The description left out one critical piece of information. This work is 45 minutes long. They didn’t tell us that until we were seated in the auditorium. Too long, too long.

SOCA (our association name) has phones that use wired service that is no longer supported. We want to switch our phones to some kind of internet service. I spent several hours with some of the SOCA board members and our property manager. There’s lot’s of confusion.

Somebody helped themselves to some children’s books from Amazon using our credit card. Amazon promised to investigate and get back to me in 48 hours. They didn’t, so I reported the fraud to our credit card folks. It’s hard to prove anything because these are E-books. There’s nothing to hold or touch. In the mean time, the bank invalidated our credit card. We should receive a new card within a week. In the mean time, they sent the new credit card number so we can pay our online bills.

Ted Hartka passed. He was 85 years old. He is Danita’s first cousin. We went to the funeral yesterday (Saturday). We didn’t know any of Ted’s relatives. We saw Ed and Lynne. All four of us decided not to go to the reception. The funeral was at our old church near Kingsville. We took Cromwell Bridge Road to get there. Afterwards, we drove by Jamie’s, purveyor of very good subs and milkshakes. Strangely, at 10 of Noon there were no cars in their parking lot. We drove on and had lunch at the Sunshine Grille. We came back via Harford Rd, pausing for a drive-buy of our old house. It’s looking pretty good. The only thing we could tell about the back is that the fence surrounding the back yard has been removed. There wasn’t much change from Cromwell Bridge all the way down to Joppa Rd. They put in a very confusing circle at Harford and Mt. Vista. The Buddhists are building a temple on Mt. Vista at the Harford Rd intersection.

Today we had dinner at Ed and Lynne’s. Rick and Suzy are in town, but Suzy isn’t feeling well, so they decided to stay home. We decided not to pass up a great dinner and good conversation, so just the four of us had dinner together.

That’s it for this week. I hope everybody is doing well.

I wrote about our too-big tree. I decided I wanted to replace it with a Dogwood. I assembled the paperwork and submitted it to our HOA (Home Owner’s Association). I thought I could get the tree swap done in a couple of weeks. Wrong. The HOA rejected the application and provided wording that would meet their requirements. I modified the application to include their words, which included the requirement that the tree should be at least 8 feet tall (along with some other requirements). I figured a new application made the swap a sure thing. While waiting, I called a couple of tree specialists. They told me nobody sells an 8 foot Dogwood. A large one is 4 to 5 feet. I went to the HOA meeting and explained the problem. They said “Nope. It’s gotta be 8 feet”. If I want an exemption, I should have the tree specialist write a letter. Plus, I should take a picture of the tree I propose to buy. And by the way, there’s a specific specialist who works with a specific company I might consider consulting. Whatever. It’s clear I can’t get the tree done quickly. I didn’t want have my front yard dug up while construction was going on in the kitchen. I will wait until spring, gird my loins, and re-approach the board. There’s one silver lining. While going through all this, I found another tree that is even better. An Eastern Redbud is on the HOA acceptable tree list, it has a root structure that is less aggressive, and it doesn’t drop as much stuff.

We saw Downton Abbey movie. It was nice, but not compelling.

My hearing aid company came out with new devices that do a better job of cutting background noise. I’m skeptical, but I got a trial pair at no cost. In two weeks I’ll decide whether to keep them.

That’s it for this week. I hope everybody is doing well.

Concentration

There are a few more pics on the website.

It’s been quiet, but not totally without drama. I got my flu and Covid shots. Danita got her flu, but delayed the Covid to this coming Wednesday. Here’s hoping she gets her shot before RFK raises the minimum age to 75.

We went to a house fixtures store to select faucets, door handles, and other miscellany. There’s not a lot to think about, but the cost certainly adds up. And we didn’t pick the fancy expensive stuff.

We had a Chill ‘n Grill party. It’s well done hamburgers and hot dogs, paid for by the association. Everybody brings a side. Attendance was down a little, but the noise level was way higher. I spent the evening not understanding what anybody said. Still, who can argue with a free hamburger and some chocolate chip cookies?

I’ve been doing wrong by Mom. When she goes to a doctor that’s not associated with Charlestown, I’m supposed to request a yellow jacket several days before the appointment. The jacket has her abbreviated medical history. The doctor adds his notes. I return the jacket to the nurses. I wasn’t doing this. Shame on me. So I went back and added a “YJ” reminders several days before each of Mom’s outstanding appointments. I made it a yellow event. My stupid phone saw a YJ for Mom’s dental appointment and decided to be “helpful” by replacing the yellow reminder with a picture of elves cleaning teeth. I don’t know why “they” decided I didn’t want to see the yellow reminder that I explicitly requested. Thank goodness for the good guys on the internet. There is a way to turn this useless feature off. All you have to do is know where to click. It’s a good thing I found the answer on the internet. I would never in a hundred years stumbled into the secret sequence of taps that make those silly pictures go away. Even Indiana Jones himself wouldn’t have figured it out.

The tree in our front yard is too big. It blocks our window and also our neighbor’s window. We’ve been having it pruned at a cost of about $500 per. This year it’s not clear we can prune enough away to clear my neighbor’s view. I’m tired of spending the money in any event. The tree is too big for the tiny yard we have. We need a smaller tree. The HOA says the yard is mine, but I can’t make changes they don’t like. What are the rules? I don’t know. They don’t seem to be written anywhere. Instead, I have to write a proposal and send it to the board. After a month or so, they will let me know if the changes are OK. Stupid HOA.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

Our home improvement project moved a step closer to reality. We approved the cabinets, countertops, and tile. This means they can start ordering the long-lead items soon.

My Mho’s surgery is healing nicely. I no longer need to cover it with a bandage.

Danita and I both got a cough from our cruise. We are finally well along in shaking this stubborn bug.

I got a few bike rides in this week. They were easy 10-milers. It’s a start. After taking the weekend off, I’m planning a 20-miler that includes some significant hills. I’m anxious to put this ride back in my active itinerary because the ride includes a stop at a bakery that makes excellent muffins.

Other than that, this has been a quiet week. I hope this finds everybody doing well.

We had a huge wasp nest on our deck. It would have been a long time before I noticed it because I don’t use the deck much. (I prefer the lower level porch.) One of my neighbors noticed it and let me know. This was far, far beyond a can of squirt-and-run. The bug guy said it probably took them two weeks to build this. And he said these wasps were aggressive. Unfortunately, he didn’t have his bee suit. I offered him a sun hat and netting. What are the chances a bug guy would not have netting, but I would? Pretty amazing.

The bug guy did a great job. But there was plenty of leftovers. The next day I grabbed the pressure washer and spent a few hours cleaning off dried wasp spit. Since I cleaned the deck, I decided the porch was overdue. While the pressure washer is out, why not do the garage also? All together, that was two days of pretty hard work.

We’re still hacking and coughing from whatever it was floating around the ship. So far, Danita’s doing better than I am.

My Mho’s surgery is coming along nicely. The good folks at the doctor’s showed me the correct way to apply a dressing. Their technique was a 5-layer wonder, but it had one slight problem. It wouldn’t stick to my face. I didn’t want to wrap gauze around my head, so I simplified. I now have a two layer technique using Vaseline and a rather large band aid. It’s not elegant. It doesn’t look pretty. But it sticks. The healing is coming along fine.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

We had perfect weather and a very good time in Halifax. We took a walk along “tourist row” and saw Cow’s Ice cream, reputed to be the best in town. We would never know whether it was good or not. Th shop was packed and the line extended outside and way down the walkway. Fortunately for us, there was another Cow’s close to the botanical garden. There was one person ahead of us. It is really good ice cream after all. That just shows the importance of visiting the gardens.

After the ice cream, the next most favorite stop was the Citadel. It’s a nice thing that we chose to take the tour. We learned a lot about weapons over the years. They used part of the grounds to simulate the D-Day invasion. They built reproductions of a German pillbox and an amphibious landing craft out of plywood, so we could get an idea of what it was like. We also learned that it took a long time to build the citadel. A typical setback was that the first engineer got drunk, fell of the wall, and died.

Just by luck, I was walking along one of the walls and came across a crew practicing the firing of the canon. They did an impressive job. When it came time to simulate lighting the fuse, the supervisor said “bang” rather softly. I couldn’t help from feeling “That’s it????” It was much more impressive when they actually fired the canon, later on in the day.

Here’s a shot of a bunch of kids having fun at tourist row. If you look closely, you will see the stone has the message “For your protection do not climb”.

Some people think it’s important to try the local food, not matter how disgusting it is. I tend not to be so venturous, but we did try a local food here in Halifax. We got a Donair sandwich. This is basically a Gyro with garlic sauce instead oft tzatziki. It was good, but we won’t worry about finding a local source of Donairs in Columbia.

This is the last port of call for our trip. We should arrive in Boston Saturday and get home late in the day,.

Yesterday the ship visited Qaqortoq. This is another small town in Greenland. The tender process was on and off due to heavy fog. By lunch time, just about every seat in the Lido and at the pool was taken. The afternoon turned out to be a beautiful day, but we decided to stay on the ship. I don’t like crowds, so we ordered room service for lunch. The temperature was warm, there was no wind, and our side of the ship was facing the sun. We spent the afternoon reading on our balcony.

The next port of call was scheduled to be St. John’s, where we could see the puffins. Unfortunately, there’s a hurricane in the area. Nobody knows exactly where the storm will go. There’s a possibility it will pass near St. Johns. It’s a really bad idea to sail a passenger ship into a hurricane. The captain changed the itinerary. Our next stop is now Halifax on Thursday. Making a change like this in a cruise is quite expensive and puts a heavy workload on the crew. Many passengers are sad to miss St. Johns, but everybody we talked with is happy with the change. The next three days are at sea.

Just when we think we have seen Iceland, we come to a spot that is more powerful and beautiful than any that went before.

Very scenic site

Many colors

Scenic village

These lava fields are extremely rough, nearly impossible to traverse

I made a mistake, but I’ll circle back on this thought. We came to an attractive 250 foot hill called Helgafell. When the Vikings were pagan, this was considered a holy site. If unworthy people climbed the hill, the punishment could be death. after the conversion to Christianity, the Franciscans built a monastery on the site. There is a tradition that those who climb the hill without looking back and without talking can have three wishes fulfilled. And that’s where I made my mistake. I wanted to look back. I figured “What the heck, it’s just a wish”. But it was three wishes that I lost, not just one. Oh, well. Maybe I’ll do better on the next trip.

View from Helgafell

We visited a very modernistic church. The architect started out being a dentist. Maybe that’s why the building is so unusual. Could the church be an upper molar, the vertical stripes be the tooth’s root?

Modern Church

Church interior. I felt it gently inviting me to come forward.

I’ll bet these pipes fan fill the Church with music

This is our last visit to Iceland. What an amazing country. What amazing citizens. There are several more pics on the website, if you are interested.

The next two days are sea days.

I’m starting with an attraction we didn’t visit. The geothermal power plants take hot water from deep wells. This water has many dissolved minerals. The plant must separate the minerals from the water, or else the pipes and pumps will quickly get clogged. After separation, they pump the mineral water back into the ground, closing the water loop. Unfortunately, the injected mineral water backed up in one of the plants. By the time they got everything fixed, they were stuck with a 4-foot deep pond of warm mineral water that covered 2 acres. Oops. Before long, an employee who had a skin problem decided to try sitting in the pond. They claimed the mineral water helped. Before long, somebody decided to give the pond a slick name and charge admission. Today, a ticket to the Blue Lagoon costs $100 (or more, with various optional packages). It is one of the most visited attractions in Iceland.

Staying with the theme of failures, here’s a picture of a grinding stone. It is impossible to grow wheat this far north. The Vikings decided to try their luck grinding the local lyme grass. The stone ended up as part of the floor in the entry of a building.

Failure

We visited the Viking museum. Besides the stone, we saw that somebody built the ship 01_Vésteinn, very nearly identical to a Viking longboat. They sailed it to North America. The boat is indoors. It isn’t possible to get a decent pic. Fortunately, the people who did this were anxious to brag about their achievement. Here’s their pic.

Vésteinn

I shouldn’t have been surprised by the other thing I learned about the Vikings. They weren’t the first people in Iceland. That honor goes to the Inuit. The Vikings were farmers, looking for land they could use to grow crops. There wasn’t a lot of conflict between the two groups. It wasn’t that the Vikings were afraid of conflict. There simply wasn’t much overlap in how they used resources.

We saw some more prosaic stuff. I’ll leave those pics to the website, for those who are interested. Tomorrow we move to our last stop in Iceland.

Continuous water squirter

Lighthouse

Rugged landscape