Wildfires are spreading through New Mexico

It is so sad that to see that thousands upon thousands of acres of the wonderful Gila Forest in New Mexico are being destroyed. We were lucky enough to see parts of that area in the spring of 2011.   It is quite unsure whether this record-breaking fire can be contained or will spread until it either starts raining or it finds a natural barrier. Climate experts have been warning against potential massive blazes like this one for many years. This fire and many others are a result of a long-standing draught in combination with thunderstorms. Nature is speaking to us here and I’m not sure whether we humans have even started to understand its language. To contain a fire like the one we are now seeing in New Mexico takes an unheard of amount of resources. Over here we had another day with a lot of fog. Not my favorite, by any means, but we have to adjust. And the adjusting was done by working with fixing up one of the bedrooms. The room is wall-papered, but the old paper has it’s “loose ends” which needed to be done away with. After Bea had cut off all that, I entered stage with a terribly heavy 4.5gal pail of drywall mud. I had paper beads to cover the corners and I was mudding away all over the room. Hardly any corner which didn’t need to be touched. After drying the next step will be a dusty one – sanding over the mud. A second work-over will be needed as well and another sanding after that. Hopefully we’ll be all set for painting after that. Painting the ceiling will be the worst. Tomorrow a bunch of building materials will arrive, so I have to get myself down to the Canada Customs at 8am to pay the sales tax. By now I have customs receipts enough I could I sure paper our bedroom with it. Ok, and then we have the pics from yesterday and ‘yesteryear’. Have a gooood look at it. These 25 years are gone and I can see it. But where are they?   And here we go…    Pretty nicely decorated that cake   Geez…who’s that?                  Roses for the Lady Keep your eyes looking for more! Thanks for stopping by!

10 Years Back in Time and May 30

The year was 2002, May 30.  911 was just one year earlier and we had had grave thoughts about not making it to Canada. But now the plane was circling over Calgary. In less than 15 minutes we would be on the ground. There was an entirely new life waiting for us.  New jobs, new people a new home. New people! That was always the exciting part. Would people welcome us? Canada is a country where newcomers are welcome, so I had heard. Let’s move fast forward to today. 10 years have gone by and everywhere we went have people been welcoming us. Canada is our home. I had wanted it to be my home since I was 15 years of age. Why? I have no idea. It just appealed to me from the very first moment I read and heard about it. 35 years later I had set foot on Canadian soil – as a newcomer. There is more to May 30. It is the day when Bea and I joined up. On May 30 1987 we got married in a Norwegian church from the 12th century. The church is one of those old Stave Churches Norway is so famous for. And ours was one of the smallest in the country. Maybe it is the smallest. The doorway was so low I had to lower my head on the way out. And didn’t i bump my head? Yes, I did.                                                   Rødven Stavkirke                        The door we went through  - married 25 years ago  Our pastor that day said our marriage would be like the mighty mountains of Norway, which have been there since the morning of time. Nothing is gonna remove those mountains, and even if the rain, which used to be forceful in those parts, would obscure the mountain, it would still be there in all its glory when the sun came out afterwards. After 25 years, the mountain is still there. *************************************************** We received a message from Denise, (Sassy’s on da Road) that she has changed her mind and will not be coming over to Campobello. We hope she has a good and safe travel through Quebec.   We had been looking forward to see her and Benny. Thanks for following the journey!

A Big Change in the Weather

When the weather changes to wind, rain and thunderstorms we cease to move around outside. Today is one of those days and according to the weather men more of that is coming. But even though it looked as we would get a lot of thunder  early on, the weather system parted in the middle moving north and south of us, leaving us with some rain only.  My productivity however, was limited to get some panels painted which I intend to  use for some wainscoting in the upper level hallway. I am lucky enough to own all kind of carpentry machinery, which is almost essential if one intends to start renovating an old house without wanting to call in the trades.  And matter of fact I ENJOY it. It’s what I do if there is nothing else to do, which rarely is the case. Tomorrow we will be starting on renovating one of the bedrooms. Old wallpaper will remain on the wall, but loose ends will be cut off. The corners have to be re-enforced with drywall tape, then ‘mudded’ and sanded before painting can commence. THAT is a type of work I enjoy a lot less, as it always means a lot of dust and dirt.  The next project has already lined up. It has to do with dry-walling as well, lots of it! Since we built the new entryway in the front last year it has been standing with studs and outside siding only. Now the turn will come to the inside, and I better get it done before our visitors from Norway arrive. That is if they come. But the last news about the broken hip is positive. So far, the thing is healing pretty good. Had to get an oil change done on the JEEP. Made an appointment with an auto shop and drove over in the afternoon.  30 minutes and 37 Bucks later I was back home and could enjoy a few of the last banana muffins made after Vienna-Bob’s recipe. I call him Vienna-Bob as there are too many other Bobs circling in blog-land and email orbit. Denise, from “Sassy’s on da Road” has taken up directions towards Campobello Island. We just hope that she isn’t running into all that thundery weather. Bea has been active with our video camera. She mounted it on our tripod, placed it on the kitchen counter and waited patiently until Mr. Hummingbird showed up. The little video clip beneath is just a bit of 1mb, so it shouldn’t eat too much band with. And more hasn't happened today! Thanks for showing up.

20km to the European Union

Would you believe if I told you that it is only 25km from Canada into the European Union? Their language is French, their customs are French, they have French license plates on their cars, their currency is the EURO and their Head of State is the French President, currently Francois Hollande. I am talking about an archipelago of small islands off the coast of Newfoundland. St. Pierre et Miquelon are a self-governing territorial overseas collectivity of France. It is the only remnant of the former North American colonial empire of New France that remains under French control. The islands are situated at the entrance of Fortune Bay, which extends into the southern coast of Newfoundland, near the Grand Banks. They are 3,819 kilometers from Brest, the nearest point in Metropolitan France, but just 20 kilometers off the Burin Peninsula of Newfoundland. The islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon were discovered by Europeans on October 21, 1520, by the Portuguese João Álvares Fagundes, who bestowed on them their original name of "Islands of the 11,000 Virgins". They were made a French possession in 1536 byJacques Cartier on behalf of the King of France. Though already frequented by Micmac Indians and Basque and Breton fishermen, the islands were not permanently settled until the end of the 17th century: four permanent inhabitants were counted in 1670, and 22 in 1691. By the early 1700s, the islands were again uninhabited, and were ceded to the English by the Treaty of Utrecht which ended the War of the Spanish Succession in 1713. That happened along with Campobello Island becoming British territory.  Under the terms of the 1763 Treaty of Paris which put an end to the Seven Years' War, France ceded all its North American possessions, keeping only Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, as well as fishing rights on the coasts of Newfoundland. After the long interlude of British occupation from 1714 to 1763, the islands knew little peace, but witnessed a significant rise in business and population, as they were now the last French territory in North America. Britain invaded and razed the colony in 1778, during the American revolutionary war, and the entire population of 2,000 was sent back to France. By the 1780s, about 1,000 or 1,500 people lived on the islands, their numbers doubling during the fishing season. The French Revolutionary Wars affected the archipelago dramatically: in 1793, the British landed in Saint-Pierre and, the following year, expelled the French population, and tried to install British settlers. The British colony was in turn sacked by French troops in 1796. The Treaty of Amiens of 1802 returned the islands to France, but Britain reoccupied them when hostilities recommenced the next year. The 1814 Treaty of Paris gave them back to France, though Britain occupied them yet again during the Hundred Days War. France then reclaimed uninhabited islands in which all structures and buildings had been destroyed or fallen into disrepair. The islands were resettled in 1816. The settlers were mostly Basques, Bretons and Normans, who were joined by various other elements, particularly from the nearby island of Newfoundland. This would be just the short version of being thrown back and forth between French and British rule. Today the archipelago which consist of eight islands, whereof only 2 are inhabited are indeed part of the European Union. Since March 2003, Saint Pierre and Miquelon has been an overseas collectivity with a special statute. The archipelago became an overseas territory in 1946, then an overseas department in 1976, before acquiring the status of territorial collectivity in 1985. France is responsible for the defence of the islands. The Maritime Gendarmerie has maintained a patrol boat, the Fulmar, on the islands since 1997. Law enforcement in Saint Pierre and Miquelon is the responsibility of a branch of the French Gendarmerie Nationale. There are two police stations in the archipelago. If you now decide you want to visit the islands and you are a Canadian you wouldn’t even need a passport. Americans though, do need a passport. Visitors can either fly in from various airports in Canada or take a passenger vessel from Fortune, Newfoundland. The new airport of Saint-Pierre, opened in 1999, was intended to make direct flights to France possible, but the situation remained unchanged with no direct flights as of 2007. Flights from and to Saint-Pierre all pass through Canada. Air Saint-Pierre’s ATR 42 aircraft flies from the Canadian airports of St John's, Sydney, Halifax and Montreal all year round. The archipelago is not a heaven for those who seek solitude in quiet forests (there are none) or want to get a sun tan on the beach. The coasts are mostly rocky and though the average year-round temperatures are higher than on mainland Canada, it is the sea fog which can make an otherwise nice summer day a rather wet and cold experience. The reason for that is the location of the islands at the confluence of the cold Labrador current with the warm waters of the Gulfstream. If you still want to visit the islands and plan to take a drive up there, just remember to leave your vehicle at the harbour in Fortune, Newfoundland. You can’t take it across! For more travel-related information go to:  http://www.st-pierre-et-miquelon.com/english/histoire.php    And that’ll be all for today! If you need me, I’m in my shop! Thanks for stopping by!

Pentecost Sunday

Growing up during the fifties and the sixties was a whole lot different than what it is today. Parents were different as they practiced a different style with their children’s  education. Pentecost Sunday always makes me think of those days way back when I was a kid and either Easter or Pentecost rolled around. At every such occasion I had to be clothed like I was the son of the Republic’s President. Pentecost morning we had to put on a white shirt, white socks and our best pants. To me it always seemed like a masquerade and I hated it. My brother, 5 years younger, I remember, was a bit more cooperative, but me, I could get really wild and throw a tantrum. Of course, the more I was against, the more likely it became that I had to be dressed up for the day. What really was annoying about it was the fact that I could not play in my usual ways, which always meant getting my clothing dirty.      German “Isetta”, a BMW product after WW2 Why were our parents so hell-bend on having us run around like a city-slicker, when all WE wanted was getting outside playing in the garden or over in that vacant building lot where we could do a hide-and-seek game?          German kids of the Fifties  It was the time where such dressing-up-your-kids were common custom. Parents needed to show that they could afford proper dresses for their children. Kids who were not dressed appropriately were deemed to have poor parents.  I remember Al from the Bayfield Bunch had similar experiences and downright hated to be dressed up like a puppet. It was no different for us and probably many others. Pentecost was also the time when the first real fine and warm days came and of course, people went into the city parks or just walked down main street, to get a cone of ice cream. Showing off their kids in the finest was part of it. Today we look back and consider the fifties to be a period we associate with the first rock music, elegant cars and a positive life style. Our parents “were done” with the war, they had survived and life could go on. As we grew older, things got more relaxed and we got our first “jeans”, which, at first, we could not wear at official family gatherings. Actually, I bought the very first pair of my own money and without my parents knowing. I still remember the baluba that caused in our family. It took 10 more years and our parents were wearing jeans as well. Times change and we have to go with it. Before the weekend I did a clean-up in my shop. Looking into one of the drawers I saw a pile of those old license plates I have been collecting. Following a sudden idea I nailed them to the wall in my shop. There they are, and if they could tell about all the thousands of miles they been going on highways all over the U.S. and Canada it would fill more than one travel blog. I will keep them there and use the drawer for some other junk I undoubtedly will come across. ************************************************************************ Tomorrow is Memorial Day in the U.S. On Memorial Day the flag is raised briskly to the top of the staff and then solemnly lowered to the half-staff position, where it remains only until noon. It is then raised to full-staff for the remainder of the day. The half-staff position remembers the more than one million men and women who gave their lives in service of their country. At noon their memory is raised by the living, who resolve not to let their sacrifice be in vain, but to rise up in their stead and continue the fight for liberty and justice for all.   Keep those visits coming!

I Love Summer

What is nicer than walking barefoot along the beach, feeling the warm sand on your feet or splashing through the surf zone? I could do both today as it was extraordinary warm (23C) That’s right, even the cold waters of the Bay of Fundy were not too cold on my feet. Molly were on her own mission finding things she could eat, but when we saw a dead seal rolling in the surf, Molly was afraid of it. Her eyes widened and she backed off. I’d rather have that, than having her considering a dead seal as food. Do dogs understand the meaning of “soon”? When Molly wants to go out for a walk she always lets us know. But it is not always that we are ready for it right away. So I tell her we will go soon. That seems to be something a dog can’t understand. She keeps begging until I ‘m finally ready. The meaning of “Soon” as not right now but later is obviously not comprehendible.  If you have other experiences with your dog, I’d like to hear about it. What bird was here the other day? The answers were ---- well we’d better not go there. But Bea was right: It was an immature female black-throated warbler. Now the pics from yesterday’s trip:  Eagles on their Nest in the Moosehorn NWR   The mighty Saint John River   Trans-Canada Highway Two blog readers came by today We were seated on our porch when we saw a red pickup coming up the road. It slowed to a crawl, almost stopped, someone was waving from the window, then the truck stopped entirely. A lady came out walking up to us on the porch. It turned out that she had found this blog and started reading. She had found it after CBS brought the story about the Roosevelt Park and Campobello. It was the first time ever, that someone reading our blog had visited us. Peggy and Harold are from Bangor,ME and have been visiting Campobello for many years. I am sure that we will be meeting again with these nice folks. We also got three new followers. “Laura Cobb Photography” has some outstanding pictures in her blog, while “kipexplores” introduces her blog like this: I have reached a time in my life where I take time to enjoy the view. I love sitting on the porch and gazing out to the setting sun and basking in all that the day has brought my way. My vintage trailer, Lolita even has a back door to enjoy the view of each day. Come along and enjoy..... My Back Porch View. And what a nice way of philosophy is that! We LOVE sitting on our porch too. A bit earlier “Dana” came onboard and she must have done that quietly as I do not remember to have her welcomed. Hope you can excuse this as the result of my fading memory and attention. Dana has a couple of blogs and you might want to check them out. Always nice to see new followers come on here.

A Complete Knockout

We are knocked out. Completely. After 350 miles on the road we are dizzy and tired. Consequently there will be no long blog tonight. Just a few words about why we did the long drive today. At one point we had to take a look at our future sightseeing van.  It is based 175miles to the north-west over Canadian-style roads. Even Molly complained when the Jeep bounced through the potholes, shaking wildly from one side to the other. When we finally reached the Village of Bath the small hand of the clock was almost pointing to the 1. It didn’t help that our GPS gal was completely off and led us on a wild goose chase through the green woodlands of New Brunswick. We saw a lot of pretty landscape though, and I hope being able to show you the pics Bea shot tomorrow.

Was There Any Doubt?

As to the question whether there was any doubt about passing the driver exam, I must say, there is always doubt whether you pass or not. The fact that we are driving a 40ft. motor home does not mean that we are fit to handle an ambulance or a 24-seat buss the correct way. Simply, there are differences in road rules. As to f.ex. the fact I mentioned yesterday that we do HAVE TO carry 3 triangles and a fire extinguisher in a buss. Another example is that busses and a few other vehicles have to stop before entering a railroad crossing. Besides of that, there is the fact we older people tend to get a bit sloppy with our habits. How many times I have seen vehicles turning without giving a signal. Are we always having both hands on the wheel? Not me! It is over 42 years ago I did my drivers test. Rules of the road have changed and traffic has changed. So yes, there is always a doubt about whether we pass a test. But it is a good assurance that we can still be in traffic without representing a danger to ourselves and others. I took this picture yesterday evening from our balcony. Unfortunately, there is always that power line in our view. Some days we just have those beautiful sunsets. The day started actually with another fly-in of a little bird. It plopped against the window in the living room and when I looked out it was on its back. Didn’t look good so I went outside and picked up the tiny bird. I put on the window sill inside our entry and watches it. It rested on its beak and obviously was unconscious, but it was still breathing. It took about 5 minutes and the eyes opened. When I touched it carefully it came back and started fluttering up the window. Cautiously I took it into my cupped hands opened the door and there it was flying straight up into the apple tree. It really made my day! Here is a picture of it. It was about 3 inch long. Do you know what kind of bird it is? Remember, it is living along the North-East Coast. Just for the summer? Looking forward to your opinion.

Passed

We were off the island at 8.00am sharp heading towards St. Stephen. The Roosevelt Park was friendly enough to let us ‘borrow’ a driver for their 15 seat passenger van. Even though I took my first driver license back in 1970 and Bea a bit later, we were both anxious and quite a bit nervous how we would make out on today’s driver license extension. We reached Service New Brunswick's Offices at 9.30am and still had 30 minute to wait for the first road test. When the driver examiner lady walked up to us I let Bea go first. Done is done, I thought. After doing the pre-trip inspection of the van, Bea came back in – a bit long in the face. I was worried when I looked at her. And sure enough there was a problem – a big one as such. Driver examiner had found that the van didn’t have a fire extinguisher and was missing three warning triangles. So conclusion was she couldn’t do the test.  OMG – I thought and went outside to talk to the lady. It turned out she was nice, but adamant. No test without the two requisites. But then she suggested we get ourselves into shopping mood and go buy those items and we would be going forth with the test. So we grabbed our driver and off we went, first to Canadian (Crappy) Tire. It turned out they had a fire extinguisher but no triangles. Off again to the Quest Auto Parts. They were sold out – had only one triangle left. Next place further down the road was a little parts shop opposite a gas station. Under a lot of dust we found what we were looking for – a full set of 3 triangles in a red box. We paid in a hurry and were back at Service New Brunswick well 30 minutes after we had left. The road test could resume with Bea being first. She was gone maybe 15 minutes when she came back – with the van in good shape. Again I could spot sorrows in her face. This time the driver examiner had found out that she was prohibited from driving at night. We were both flabbergasted to say the least. Bea has always had the better night vision of the two of us. Somewhere someone had made a mistake along the line. Driver examiner went investigating and got on the phone. It turned out somebody had used wrong code for her having to use eyeglasses under driving. But she had passed the road test – she said. When her driver license was to be updated for the extension she checked the back of it --- and there it was again, the provision of driving by daylight only. Again a new driver license had to be printed. I was wondering whether we would be able to negotiate a rebate for quantities here. Next man to do the road test was me. I am eager to tell you that no complications turned up under the next 25 minutes. So when everything was paid for  you could see two happy faces in the mirror. Thanks for stopping by!

A Rather Grey Day

After several days with truly outstanding weather we got ‘rewarded’ with a foggy and wet day. Wet, but no rain that is. According to the weather guys it should have rained this afternoon, but it stayed dry. But we had a high humidity and it was warm. In fact it almost felt tropical. Bea had been off to St.Stephen early in the morning to get another test done at the hospital. After she returned we were off to the Roosevelt Park to familiarize ourselves with the Park’s 15-seat passenger van. Tomorrow we are supposed to take the van over to St. Stephen to perform a road test for the extension of our driver licenses. Two weeks later we will take possession of our own van, a 2006 Chevy Express Van. We will start the new venture on July 01 Canada Day. This will be our sticker for the van. There isn’t really anything more to say so I better quit.

A Swedish Artist

Today I would like to introduce you to a Swedish Artist of a special kind. His name was Carl Larsson and he was born in 1853 in Stockholm, Sweden. His parents were extremely poor and Carl had an unhappy childhood. When he was 13 years old, his teacher at the school for the poor had persuaded him to apply for enrollment at Principskolan, the preparatory department of the Royal Art Academy. For Carl it made all the difference in the world. But let me tell you how my attention was directed to his many masterpieces of art. It happened at my Grandmothers place. She owned a whole lot of old books and whenever we were visiting Granny, I was deeply buried in all those old books. One of them was a blue book named “Das Haus in der Sonne” (The house in the sun) It came out in 1909. It depicted the works of Carl Larsson. I still have that book. Back to Carl Larsson: His father was a loveless man without self control, drinking heavily, ranting and raving against everyone and everything. He once had said that he cursed the day when his son Carl was born. In contrast, Carl's endlessly working mother provided for their everyday needs through her job as a laundress. At art school Carl Larsson felt socially inferior and confused, but when he got promoted to ‘antique school’, he gained confidence and even became a central figure between his fellow students. Larsson worked as a caricaturist for the humorous paper Kasper and as graphic artist for the newspaper Ny Illustrerad Tidning. His annual wages were sufficient to allow him to help his parents out financially. Larsson moved to Paris in 1877, where he spent several frustrating years as a hardworking artist without any success. Larsson was not eager to establish contact with the French progressive Impressionists; instead, along with other Swedish artists, he cut himself off from the radical movement of change. After spending two summers in Barbizon, the refuge of the plein-air painters, he settled down with his Swedish painter colleagues in 1882 in Grez-par-Nemours, at a Scandinavian artists' colony outside Paris. It was there that he met the artist Karin Bergöö, who soon became his wife. This was to be a turning point in Larsson's life. In Grez, Larsson painted some of his most important works, now in water colour and very different from the oil painting technique he had previously employed. Carl and Karin Larsson had eight children (one died after 2 months)and his family became Larsson's favourite models. Many of his water colours are now popular all over the world.   One of the girl’s rooms    Carl’s bedroom When Granny gave me the Carl Larsson book ‘Das Haus in der Sonne’ it had a profound influence on my later life. It was the simplicity of Larsson’s home-making which intrigued me again and again. My love for charming old homes, my sense of using colors and materials in building a home, even the urge of living in the country, as far as possible from big cities, stems from Carl Larssons pictures. But there are things in his pictures which are hard to put words on. As a former caricaturist he had an eye for facial expressions and special characters. If I see the picture of the neighbour woman holding a cow with a rope I can hear her broad Swedish dialect when she is spreading the village gossip. Carl Larsson’s strong desire and attention to details are evident in every single one of his pictures. The fact that Larsson grew up in a poor family made him build his home in Lundborn close to the city of Falun with whatever materials he could procure. The result is a house within it’s own architectural class and style. Nobody else in the world has a house like the one Carl Larsson got built for his family. He put all his love, his natural being and wisdom of life itself into this house. To understand this, one has to view his pictures.    The Carl Larsson home in Lundborn Carl Larsson loved his wife in a special way. When he talked about her he would describe her as having a ‘potato nose’ and ‘beautiful big cow eyes’. Saying this to your wife might lead to a bitter divorce, however Carl had seen the special charm of Karin Bergöö and had special loving expressions for it. Carl Larsson got to be Sweden’s most famous and ‘biggest’ painter, while he was still alive. He died on January 22 1919 in his house in Lundborn. Of course, there is much, much more to say about Carl Larsson and his family, and if you like you can google him.         Daughter Brita             Self-Portrait Wishing you a lot of fun with that and thanks for stopping by

blogger Tags: Swedish painter, Carl Larsson, Lundborn, Sweden

An Incredible Beautiful Day

As it was Sunday, I decided not to do any work, and it was warm enough to enjoy breakfast on the porch.  Rather than working I started the day with a walk along Herring Cove while Bea went to Church. Molly was with me and she thoroughly enjoyed the many scents along the way. There was no wind and the sea was like a mirror. However, mysteriously big waves came rolling in every 4-5 minutes crashing onto the beach. Then it became quiet again. Way out was a fishing vessel at work. The chomp chomp chomp of its diesel engine was carrying over to me. I cannot imagine a more peaceful sound in nature. If you look closely you will see that the Chickadee has picked a larvae         from the apple blossom.   But the day had more in store. As I was checking my emails I read a comment from Sandie over at ”Where are the Dixons today” She had seen the CBS Sunday morning news whose crew had been on Campobello Island and at the Roosevelt Cottage. After I found the show on CBS I put it on the blog and on Facebook. It sure was a great PR for the island. Thanks to Sandie!   Quiet sea today                            looking north                                                                                               fishing vessel on its way to the nets Bea made some absolutely gorgeous Norwegian-style waffles which we enjoyed with strawberry jam and whipped cream. Delicious!  And since I have been a good boy today, I even got a super phantastic supper. I will only say Chicken breast with peaches! I hope she will put that on her blog. Maybe you go and check on her. But even the best weather and the laziest day makes me tired so I’ll quit with writing more today and rather show you a couple of my many pics I took today. How’s that for a Sunday posting?