Trip to Europe, Bruges, Belgium (edited)

I have so many great memories from our trip to Europe. Seeing Ben's family is right up there at the top, of course, being a mother and grandma first and foremost, but there were some things that happened that make me smile whenever I think about them, or see the photos or videos. Those are the things I want to start sharing.

As I mentioned in my last blog overviewing our anniversary trip through Belgium, Luxembourg and Cologne, Germany, we really enjoyed our visit to these cities, and took many photos. I'll include just a few more with these videos. They're all pictures that I took around the town, either in the cathedrals or wandering the streets and riding in the horse-drawn carriage on the tour. Just seeing them takes me back there. I honestly never thought I'd ever get to Europe. This was such a great trip.

I couldn't seem to get enough time in the cathedrals. The statuary and paintings, the stained glass windows and tapestries, marble floors, wooden kneelers and confessionals, all elevated my mind to a different place.

I loved seeing the artistry and attention to detail. Today our artists are concentrating on other things, I think.

I can't imagine being able to carve a statue like this one—actually, like any of them.

The pleasure of roaming around Europe, where you can look up and see these old buildings, often eight hundred to a thousand years old, was constant. Now that I'm back home, I find myself wanting to contribute to our own historic sites, especially on the local level. We need to keep what treasures we have.

The extra detail work on the building exteriors add so much. It's nice to live in a city like Loveland, where they have an Art in Public Places Ordinance, the first passed in Colorado. It assesses one percent of all the city's capital construction projects of $50,000 or more for the purchase of art.

Without this sort of community action, buildings like these, and statues like we have here in Loveland, would never exist (except in private collections for the wealthy).

John didn't look like he wanted to get too close to the horse during our "feed the horse" break.

I never found out what this building was, but it's beautiful. All of Bruges had a charm and beauty that we really enjoyed. It's one of the places we'd like to go back to, but spend a little longer than arriving one day and leaving the next morning. Actually, I think we felt that way about all of Belgium that we saw...

Here's the part I had to edit:

I tend to get confused, but luckily cameras date things, so I always think I can figure out where we were when things happened. When I originally wrote this blog, I went by the date on the video camera. I forgot that Ben adjusted the camera for the correct European time after we returned, but not the video camera, which made everything on that camera off by about a day. It was in Ghent, Belgium that for some unknown reason they upgraded us to a suite when we checked in, not Bruges. I finally got the video edited, but decided to replace it, leaving it at the bottom of this blog. Who knows why...

As I said, though, when they upgraded us, they didn't even mention that they were doing it. They just smiled and gave us keys to what must have been the best room(s) in the hotel. I can't imagine anyone had a better view than we did. I found out later that the impressive building, which in my mind must have been some sort of monument or at least have some historic significance, was "just an office building." When I started sorting out my still photos from Ghent, there was that office building in among the still shots of Ghent. Oops. So it now says Ghent on the video, and when you see the next blog, you'll notice photos of the same building there.

Here is the short but sweet, much edited video of me getting very excited about our hotel room, which I now realize really was in Ghent, as I first believed, rather than Bruges, as the date on the video convinced me it must be. I know that as excited as I got it's apparent I have spent too many nights vacationing in a tent. I will say, however, that even if I hadn't, this was a really great room in a wonderful hotel.

Retreat Preparations

If you're wondering what I've been up to, I've been buried in a mountain of sheet music, getting ready for a retreat I'm going on this Thursday afternoon. I'll be gone until Sunday night, leaving enough leftovers (I hope) for John to fend for himself until I return.

I'll be one of three people doing music at the retreat. Having the weakest voice will be alright, since I don't know the songs yet. I've been trying to learn them, which has kept me pretty busy. I've been going over the sheet music, printing it out and putting it in sleeves in a book to take with me. It's not the most fun way to spend a few days, but the retreat will be worth it.

The retreat is known as "The Walk to Emmaus," and it's a nationally organized type of retreat. I've been going on these walks for many years, and no two are exactly alike, but all have touched me deeply. Sometimes I'm a cook. Sometimes I get lucky enough to be a musician. I've filled a lot of jobs since my first walk, when I didn't have to fill a job, other than participant. I've always felt lucky I was invited to go that first one.

When I take a break from that, I'm 3/4 finished with a baby blanket for my young friend Kelley and her husband Marty, who had baby Max this week. I'm late. The photos of him are beautiful. He looks so sweet. I need to have three of me this week, since I'm also cooking and doing laundry. Bummer.

I know, I've also got blogs to write on our European trip still. I promised. I just didn't say when, though, did I? And just think how good the photos will look when they finally do appear here. And I'll be able to put a little video along with the photos, too. It just won't be this week.

My Granddaughters Dance—Kind Of

Ruth is such a fun daughter-in-law, and even though she and the children are far away in The Netherlands with Ben, she brings them close to home with her blogs and photos. She and Ben both do such a great job with that, but this morning I went on FaceBook and got a big laugh. She had posted a movie card that she made. I'm posting it here with her permission. (Thank you, Ruth.)

I look at it, and it's hard to believe these girls are only 13 months and 33 months old.

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Maybe only a grandma could be this tickled by seeing those two faces pasted on disco dancers, but I think it's really cute and worth sharing. (I sure do wish my mom believed in the internet...)

Timberland Farm Museum Video

I finally got my video camera downloading problem sorted out, and it only took me about six hours to put together eight minutes of video from our two hours tour of the Timberland Farm Museum in Loveland, Colorado. I realize this is a long clip, but it's about a third of what it started out as, and remember: you don't have to watch it...

Anyone wondering if the place is worth visiting, though, will get a sense of how great the place is. These eight minutes barely scratch the surface of what we saw. I never got any good photos of the grand staircase, since it was so dark, in the brick homestead. I didn't get any photos of the outside of the yellow farmhouse. As I explained in the last blog, I hadn't charged my batteries. Bad Mama.

I did, however, export to the smallest format possible so that it would download more quickly for everyone on the page. Let me know how that works for you.

The Timberlane Farm Museum, Loveland, Colorado

It's been a strange week, but I'm back at the keyboard now, and want to start with the outside photos I took at Timberlane Farm Museum in Loveland, Colorado. We decided to drive out there while Ellen was visiting last week. Actually, it was her choice, and since John and I had never been there, it was a great decision.

I'll admit my stupidity up front. I failed to charge my camera batteries the night before, so I got still-shots outside, and video inside the farmhouses, which is the more interesting portion of the tour. Unfortunately, I'm still having problems downloading video. When I get it downloaded (hopefully soon, as I have been working on a solution) I'll put the videos where they should go, and then do a blog with links to guide you back. Fair enough?

The Timberlane Farm dates back to 1861, and is currently a museum that is being painstakingly reconstructed. We were given a personal tour, and although there was no charge, we left donations. It wasn't that we felt obligated. It was a feeling of wanting to join in the beautiful work being done on the site. Having just come from Europe, where there history is overwhelming, it seems important that we hang on to our own history. This property is some of Loveland's history at its best, and the work they are doing is remarkable.

These photos are from the farm part of the property, and don't include the two farm houses that we toured. The Timberlane Farm Museum has restored and furnished the two Timberlane Farm homes to period correct condition. I'll add those vodeos soon (God willing and the creek don't rise).

Ellen and John and I wandered around for awhile before the owner's assistant, Maureen, not shown in any of my photos, came out and gave us a wonderful tour. These pictures are all of the outside buildings and animals.

This old building is one that's scheduled to be rebuilt. So much work has already been done, but there's much still slated to do. We were happy to add our donations at the end of the tour.

John, of course, loved the old farm machinery and equipment, the tools and tractors. It was pretty close to a perfect day. If I'd charged my batteries the night before, it would indeed have been perfect.

I loved the chicken coop. They sell eggs, and the chickens seem clean and happy. One of the laying hens is called an Ameraucana, and lays bluish green eggs. I didn't know that was possible for regular eggs.

This is the Ameraucana chicken. She was sure running around happy and healthy looking, but seemed disappointed once she realized that Maureen wasn't bringing her food.

They have lots of animals at the farm, including pigs...

Cattle...

And beautiful horses. I think Ellen wanted to ride off into the sunset, but it was only noontime.

For some reason, I found their tack room particularly inviting. Maybe it was because I had been out in the sun too long. I'm not a sun worshipper, and loved the cool depths and wonderful smells of hay and leather in the tack room.

From here we went into the two beautifully restored farm houses where I had to switch to the video camera. I guess you can call this a cliff hanger...

Time With My Sister

No, I haven't been keeping my blog up this week. I'm behind, and just having too much fun with my sister to worry about it too much. Her husband was kind enough (and busy enough with work) to send her here for her birthday week while he spent the time in Reno at the office. (He commutes from California.)

We've had a marvelous week, and I've taken photos to share—once the fun stops. She flies out tomorrow, so you can expect to see more of our European trip and the fun we had this week appearing shortly. For today, however, we're heading up to the mountains to see how much of the fall foliage has already changed colors.

Living in Amstelveen (Temporarily)

After lazing for a day with Ruth and the grandchildren, which was more fun than anyone who is not a grandparent can imagine, John and I took off on the bus to find Amsterdam. The first day we tried it, we got hopelessly lost. We got the man who was probably the only mean bus driver in the city. All he would say to us when we asked for help was "On or off, on or off!"

Like idiots, we got on, but didn't stay on long enough, then decided to try walking home, since we thought the amount shown on our bus passes was the amount spent, not the amount left. We didn't think we could afford to get back on the bus to go home. We walked for hours. Luckily Ben called to check on us, got on his bicycle and rode from work to find us and got us on a bus home.

While we were lost, we found some buildings we didn't recognize...

And even one that had a big name on it, making it easy to recognize as The American Hotel. And wow! It had a bathroom they nicely let John use free.

And I loved the tower.

In case you're not aware, and I may not have mentioned this before, it's very difficult to find a restroom in Europe, and when you finally do, you must be prepared to shell out some cash to use it. There's nothing quite so amazing to the American mindset as to pay for a meal and then go to the restaurant's bathroom and be met with a 50 euro-cent charge to get in. I wasn't going to use that much paper!

By the next day, Ben and Ruth had written instructions for which bus to get on, which stop to get on, how to find our way to where we wanted to go, and a plan of action. I really don't think we would have braved it without them pushing us back out of the nest, and I'm so very grateful. We saw so much. We walked so far and had so much fun together. As we gained confidence, we started leaving the main paths that we had planned. John was much better at finding his way around than I was, but I depended on him and it was probably good for his ego.

We went to the Rijksmuseum, which I wrote about extensively at the time of our actual visit. I was so impressed.

It will probably be an annual event, although I've been told I need to see Van Gogh and others, as well. Also, I missed the M. C. Escher museum, which was top of my list for this trip. I just about got there, but a wrong-way street and a GPS giving us bad directions to a parking garage that didn't exist had John so mad we left Utrecht without seeing anything. I do mean anything.

Going back to the day we were lost and walking though, I want to show a couple of photos that show how much fun you can have while you're lost. I don't want you to get a mental image of a couple of sixty-something retired people trudging down the street wailing and moaning. Far from it. John posed with a little "Smart Car" that someone must love.

And then I finally took a photo of a bicycle grown into a fence. We saw many of these, and never figured out why they would get overgrown like this. Ben told us (with a straight face) that it happens in about three hours. Thanks, Ben.

Now, the following day, when we had directions to get places, we went and bought more time on our bus passes. That took us to Central Station, the Amsterdam train, bus, and metro station that is built on ramps and pontoons, I believe. It's pretty interesting. I was sure I wrote about it, but I can't find it anywhere.

Homes in The Netherlands, and I'll admit I'm most familiar with Amsterdam, are tall and thin. The stairs are narrow, and you don't want to be trying to get furniture up the steps. Nope. Can't be done. Here's a typical (gorgeous) row of homes.

And if you look really carefully, at the top of each home, or at least most of them, you will find a hook. (In my house, growing up, we'd refer to it as a sky hook.) They throw a cable or rope over the hook and winch up whatever needs to be hauled up a floor or three, taking it in through the windows. If it's going up there, that's the only way it's going to happen.

The sky hook doesn't look bad at all. We never got to see one in use, though.

I went to four different free online translation programs to figure out what this sign says. I just knew it would be profound. I think it probably is, and I have a fairly accurate translation, but maybe somebody can clean it up for me a bit? It seems to say something to the effect of, "Those who give in to tyranny will lose not only their life and property, but their light as well."

It took several days, but we finally did find the I amsterdam sign. I got John to pose at each end. There were people climbing all over it, and many of them were making rude gestures, so I used a little judicious cutting. If you only knew how hard it could be to get John to pose for a photo. You'll notice he isn't smiling in any of them, I don't think. He looks pleasant, but he's not thrilled. Just tolerant.

What a guy. What a city. What a trip!