On the VERGE

This will go down in history as a year of firsts. My first cruise across the Pacific Ocean, my first visit to Hawaii, my first day as a real senior citizen coming up in September, my first ride on the Eurostar train, my first visit to Belgium to celebrate my 65th birthday, AND the first time Vancouver had hosted the Winter Olymics.

The thought of turning 65 is a bit nerve wracking to say the least. Questions arise "Am I turning into my mother?", "Will you still need me, will you still feed me etc.?", and the biggie, "Should I totally eliminate the grey hair or continue to streak around them?"

My DH and I celebrated our 45th year of wedded bliss in Dec. 2009, but we were unable to get away that month so planned a February cruise from LA to Hawaii to celebrate. Vancouver was going to be filled with millions of Olympics crazed tourists and this seemed to be the perfect time to slink away to warmer climates. On Feb. 14th we flew to LA and boarded the Golden Princess.

Friends from Ontario, Lois and Karen B., agreed to house sit for us and care for our 2 cats as they wanted to experience the 2010 Olympics first hand. They arrived Feb. 10th with all the enthusiasm Vancouver was hoping for, and then some. Karen, shy & quiet by nature, really came out of her shell. If you know Karen you realize this is being said tongue-in-cheek.



The 4 day Pacific crossing from Los Angeles to Hilo, Hawaii on the Golden Princess was a great way to start our vacation. The meals were wonderful, maid service excellent, the pace relaxing and the sunsets in the evening were breathtaking. The most difficult decision we faced during the 4 days at sea was whether to have one or two desserts after dinner.


Hawaii was a surprise, in both a good way and a not-so-good way. The temperature was wonderful, the ocean was turquoise, the whales spectacular, the beaches golden, all this was good. However, I missed visiting the Polynesian Cultural Centre as it was closed, and missed attending a Luau as there was none on the shore excursion list. We also opted to not go to the USS Arizona memorial this trip. This leaves us with a desire for another trip to Honolulu for 1 or 2 weeks. Since neither of us are beach bunnies, staying at a beach resort is not as attractive as being in town, but we would like to be close to a beach for walking in the morning or evening.

We are now back into the normal chaos of our daily routines. ESL classes started the week after we got home, Don's audio business is busier than it ever has been, and our church activities are gearing up for the celebration of Easter.

I've finally accepted the fact that I do not have the time to continue being a facebook farm junkie, and have a real life too. Therefore I closed my 2 farms on Farm Town, my Farmville farm, my Cafe World restaurant and my Zoo. How Facebook will ever manage without me, I don't know. Surprisingly enough, since I shuttered the doors of my games 2 of my friends have done the same. Maybe we should start a 12 step program for Facebook Gamers??

I'm looking forward to this summer as we are expecting visitors, my sister and brother-in-law from Belle River, ON, and my cousin and his wife from North Battleford, SK. Living on the west coast is wonderful, but would be even better if our family lived closer to us. Who knows, some day, maybe, they MIGHT move west too.

Itchy Feet - Hochbaum History Part 1

Spring has sprung and I'm not going travelling. It even hurts to type that statement.

My mother was an immigrant from Wickerau, Russia, which is now part of Ukraine. Her great great grandfather, Johann Michael Hochbaum Sr., was originally from Tiegenort area in West Prussia and had moved to Wickerau in 1826 or thereabouts, I'm not aware of the exact date. Documents located by Tim Wahl indicate that the family was originally involved in silk farming. Johann Michael's grandson Frederich ran the family farm in Wickerau. My mom, Adele Hochbaum, was born there in 1921, and emigrated to Canada with her family in 1928 when she was 7 and her brother Otto was 2, so the pattern was set, our family has itchy feet. Knowing it is genetic does help explain why the urge to pack up and move hits me every 5 or 6 years.


My great grandparents, Frederich and Maria, had 10 children with my Grandpa Johann the 3rd child. The children were Friedrich b. 1897, Erdman b. 1899, Johann b. 1900, Alexander b. 1903, Adolf b. 1905, Maria b. 1907, Lydia b. 1909, Hermine b. 1910, Nicolaus b. 1915, and Martha b. 1918.  Their mother Maria Hochbaum died in 1936.

 As you see in the photo, Maria was a large, strong woman and a true matriarch in every sense of the word. My Grandpa(John)took after her in more than just size. My Grandma, Emma, was in awe of this woman who she shared a house with for a time. 

My Grandma, Emma, also mentioned that she nursed my mom's grandma through breast cancer until her death. I had thought this was Maria, but it must have been her own mother, Amelia (Jahn) who died in 1920.


While my grandfather was German he spoke some Russian. Therefore he sat in on the village council meetings and brought the news home to his parents and siblings. In 1928 word got out that all the farms in their area would be communized. When he learned this, Frederich advised his family of 13 children that they should get out of Russia while they could, bad times were coming. Always a man of action, my Grandpa announced to his wife and children that they would move to Canada, the land of opportunity. Friedrich died in Siberia in 1941. I believe it may have been in the internment camp in Novosibirsk, but have never seen documentation to support that memory. Several of my grandmother's sisters were also taken to camps in Siberia.


Grandma, a faithful young wife with a large extended family living close by, had no desire to go traipsing across Europe and the Atlantic ocean to a place they knew nothing about. Grandpa insisted they had to go quickly to survive and if she didn't want to come, well, he would go alone! Grandpa was very much a "My Way or The Highway" kind of guy. He decided they would head for Edmonton as word had it that the wheat grew tall there and land was FREE for the asking. Grandma waited until the last minute for him to change his mind, but to no avail.


Not wanting to be left behind, Grandma packed their big wicker chest with clothing, household items, seeds, strings of dried bagels and smoked sausages for the journey, and off they went with their 2 yr old son and my mother, then 7 yrs old. They made their way north where they boarded the S.S. Baltonia for England, then boarded the Empress of Australia which sailed to Montreal.By some quirk of fate they only got as far as Wilkie, Saskatchewan. A family from the same part of Russia had moved there several years before and invited them to come for a visit. They did, and went no further.


My Grandpa's brothers and his parents also planned to leave the country as they were going to be evicted from the large family farm. Their farm was mixed, grains and the usual chickens and cows plus they raised horses, the best in the district if one was to believe Grandpa. Since the farm was large and of some value they knew it would be expropriated by the communists. If the family resisted, and the boys were a stubborn bunch,their lives would be in danger.


However, by that fall the borders were closed and to my knowledge none of his 12 remaining family members managed to leave Russia. This picture was taken in 1929, shortly before they were ordered to vacate their home. The family was then split with some brothers and sisters sent to concentration camps, some killed outright, and some just disappeared never to be heard from again. In the early 1950's my Grandma did make contact with a cousin who had been in a Polish camp, escaped and made his way to Canada. He settled in Oliver BC where he worked an orchard, later retiring in Westbank.  

My Grandma had some contact with her siblings and of her 5 sisters only 2 were sent to camps. In the 40's she was able to write to them through the Red Cross, and later could write directly. The early letters were full of lines blacked out, every piece of mail was checked by the authorities before it was allowed in. Through all of this my Grandma kept her faith in God and in her husband. She was a true pioneer in every sense of the word.

Home Again

With my laundry done and half the jetlag from our European vacation dealt with, it was again time to put on my Snowbird suit and fly south to St. Petersburg Florida. The flight in and out of Dallas TX was rocky, but the service was excellent so all things considered I'd fly American Airlines again.

Once again my sister Barb proved to be the "Hostess with the Mostess". My bed was ready with scads of pillows, flavoured coffee served steaming hot when I crawled out of bed each morning and meals fit for a king (or queen in my case). Case in point is the gourmet Eggs Benedict served up with champagne and orange juice on the side. Again I must say THANK YOU to her and Don for their hospitality.

Each year Barb and I do a special Girls Trip and this year it was to the Palatka Bluegrass Festival, held at the Rodeheaver Boys Ranch outside Palatka, Fla.

http://www.rbr.org/

The ranch is a privately run residential home for boys at risk. Here they learn to farm and ranch, belong to the 4-H club and learn to grow up as all children should, in a safe careing environment. One source of income for the ranch is hosting the annual Palatka Bluegrass Festival.

http://www.aandabluegrass.com/Festivals/PalatkaBluegrassFestival.html

A huge covered site provides protection from the elements including both sun and rain on our weekend. Two large screens provide adequate views for folks sitting all the way to the back.

For me one of the highlights is the food. The perfume of the day is a blend of corn dogs, BBQ smoke, cotton candy and roasting slabs of pork, chicken and ribs. Digging into the pulled pork on a bun at lunchtime and a real downhome BBQ chicken dinner at night. This is gourmet dining as only the South can serve up. Dinner is served in the ranch dining hall each night with boys from the residence providing 2nds on your iced tea, table cleanup and smiles.

Now, the reason for being there, the music. The lineup of groups was a dream come true for me. Dailey and Vincent have become our recent favorites and they didn't disappoint. Jamie Dailey proved that he deserved his IBMA male vocalist of the year award once again.

Rhonda Vincent & The Rage told us where to buy the best shoes in Boca Raton and told us why buying Martha White baking products was the only way to go. They also performed two driving sets that kept the audience glued to their seats with toes tapping.


Of course the star of the weekend was Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder. Ricky is on his way to becoming the Bill Monroe of this generation. Ricky has 2 young artists playing in his band, Cody Kilby and Andy Leftwich. Both these young men were child prodigy's and since their teen's have won awards for their playing. Cudos to Ricky for giving these young men the showcase their talent deserves.


The group most deserving of the title Up-and-comers to Watch is Barry Scott and Second Wind. Their performances here and their CD "In God's Time" will attest tothe talent these boys have. Barry played piano and sang tenor with Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver for 9 years before setting out on his own. I was simply blown away by the tight harmonies and perfect pitch of the group on their new gospel album, In God's Time. I shamelessly plug this CD as a must buy for lovers of Bluegrass Gospel Music.


Barb discovered that the annual New Brunswickers Picnic would be held at Fort Desoto Beach while I was visiting.Voted the Best Beach in The World 2005, it is a spectacular setting for a fun day. We arrived after the music had started but in time to buy our losing tickets on the gift draws. Sunshine, good downhome fiddle music, a picnic lunch, a walk on the beach topped off with a little nuzzling with your sweetie made it a perfect afternoon.

Any trip to Florida wouldn't be complete without a trip to Gulfport Beach, in my eyes it is the best kept secret in the state. Always loads of parking, the best sand in the Gulf, and never ever crowded.
To view all my photos of this trip, check out my flickr site at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/97425354@N00/

New Years Eve (almost) Disaster

As a special treat on New Years Eve I decided to prepare Beef Bourguignonne a la Barefoot Contessa as I'd received her cookbook as a gift for my birthday. Luckily the flat came with a Le Creuset dutch oven casserole so all I needed was ingredients including a bottle of good red wine.

Finding beef in sufficient quantity to do a full pot of stew is not easy in Edinburgh. Every city block has 2 or 3 small green grocers or Polish deli's but no real grocery stores. Going 4 blocks up the street we found a Scotmid co-op and a Tesco Express. By raiding their meat counters I found 3 packages of beef steak, depleting their stock by a full 50%. Both stores are 75% packaged cooked takeout foods, another 20% is wine, beer and junk food. Does nobody cook in Edinburgh??

Once back in the flat I trim and cube the steaks, slosh them with a good glug of red wine and prepare the veggies for the dish. When everything is ready I open the oven and discover that it is very tiny, totally filthy, and I cannot for the life of me get heat to come out of it.

I turn every dial every which way resulting in a headache but no heat. Getting more frustrated by the minute I retire to the lounge to cool down. With my trusty computer in hand I search the manufacturers webpage for help and SURPRISE, the FAQ section has several letters describing my exact problem. For some strange reason the oven will not operate on the Manual setting, it will only heat if you set it to start / end automatically. Go Figure!

So back to the kitchen, pop the Le Creuset into the oven, set it to auto start in 5 minutes and to cook for 1.5 hours. Set the heat to 250 as indicated in the cookbook and sit back to relax for the hour while dinner simmers.

Chris pops into the kitchen to check things out and calls to me "Mom, why is there smoke coming from the oven?". Sure enough, smoke is pouring out the back of the stove & we rush to pull the casserole out & see what's happened. Every single drop of liquid had evaporated and while it smelled delicious it should only be half done at this point. All of a sudden it dawns on Chris that I'd set the oven to 250 thinking in Farenheit, but UK ovens are all Celsius ! My stew had been simmering at 482 degrees!

We quickly dumped in my glass of wine, added another cup remaining in a bottle on the cupboard and opened another bottle to cover the meat so we could return it to the oven to finish cooking. Miracles do happen, when the full 1.5 hrs cook time had elapsed the meat, while overly brown in color, was done to perfection and was fork tender. We dined in style then turned out the lights and watched the midnight fireworks display on Calton Hill.

All's well that ends well.

"Jet Lag" Lag

One would think that 2 weeks would be ample time for a body, even a 63 yr old body, to adjust to the 8 hour time change from Europe to Vancouver. Don't kid yourself! For some reason my body seems to be hung over the Atlantic coast time-wise. At some point between 8 & 9 PM each evening my eyes shut and just as quickly they open wide at between 4 and 4:30 AM. I decided to use this to my advantage to live on Florida time as I'll be flying there next Tuesday for 2 weeks.

Europe 2008-2009 was a vacation of a different ilk. For months I made lists of where to go, what to see, what to do, edited and re-edited same, and when it came time to actually go / see / do we changed every thing at the last minute.

The original plan was 2 weeks in Glasgow to celebrate Christmas followed by 1-2 weeks in Sicily basking in the warm winter sunshine followed by a last week in Scotland to take a bus tour of St. Andrews and Fife, and a Distillery and Sterling Castle and a Loch or two.

The Actuality was quite different but flexibility is our middle name. We spent 4 days in Glasgow, 4 in Edinburgh, 4 more in Glasgow, 8 in Edinburgh then 1 glorious week in Lagos Portugal. On our return to Edinburgh the spastic boiler that provides both heat and hot water gave up the ghost, requiring someone (read that as WE the parents) stay and let the plumber into the flat on 2 days, catch the drips from the leaky radiator and generally 'be there' for our child who had started her new job on the fateful day the boiler died. Once the boiler was back in operation we discovered that we had missed the last tours for that week. A built in excuse to come back again next year!

New Years Eve and Hogmanay Celebrations are a BIG deal in Edinburgh. Hogmanay begins Dec. 29th with a torchlight parade from downtown Prince's Street up to Calton Hill. At the head of the parade is a mock wooden Viking ship and a full complement of hairy Vikings to pull it. When it arrives atop Calton Hill there is much playing of bag pipes, roaring of the fierce Vikings who then torch the ship creating a bonfire that can be seen all over the city. When the fire is burning at it's fullest, a display of fireworks is set off that rivals the competition we see over English Bay in the summer.

Lucky for us Chris's flat lounge overlooks Calton Hill so we had a ring side seat for the full show. On New Year's Eve they again set off fireworks, but this year it was not nearly as good as the Hogmanay show. Chris informed us that the torchlight parade was rained out last year so they had 2 yrs worth of fireworks to play with - lucky for us!

Lagos Portugal was gorgeous. A small city within ancient stone walls built on a hillside leading down to the ocean. The beaches are to die for! With temperatures ranging from a low of 9 to high of 14 we were blessed. Remember now, back home in Surrey our house and yard were buried by 2 feet of snow and bone chilling below zero temperatures. Here in Lagos we were within walking distance of the cliffs, beaches, waterfront and oldwalled city.

To be true tourists, before our last day holiday Chris and I lunched on the local specialty, kale & potato soup and grilled sardines. Don declined our offer to come along and chose to walk the waterfront and take photos.

If you have loads of time, check out my vacation photos on Flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/97425354@N00/

991 Things Left to do Before I Die.

4 years ago my daughter gave me a special book for Christmas. It was titled 1000 Things to Do Before You Die. The book was relegated to the reading room (you may know it as the loo) where I would pore over it daily, dreaming of seeing the world for real rather than from my armchair.

To kickoff my 1000 special places my husband and I went to a convention in Tuscon Arizona the year he retired. We added another week onto the trip and drove north, visiting various National Monument sites and the majestic Grand Canyon.
That was #1 on my list and I was in no way disappointed. I thought to myself, Now I can die happy!



However, the need for another trip started niggling at me.
Born and raised in land-locked Saskatchewan the Mediterranean Sea was the stuff my fairytales were made of; Azure seas, Canals in Venice, White cottages dotting the isles of Greece, walled cities in Croatia, the ruins of Ephesus, the Strait of Messina, the Acropolis in Athens and Trevi Fountain in Rome and on and on.

Thanks to a Princess Cruise dream # 2 was fulfilled in May 2007.





Which takes me to #3, Pompeii, the ruins of a once-great Roman city buried by the ash of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. Dreamed about since I first saw articles on it in an old National Geographic issue my parents bought at an estate sale when I was a young child. So, at the end of our cruise we visited the port of Naples and took a guided bus tour to Pompeii. We walked over streets that were built 1000 years before Christ, touched brick walls that housed families like our own, walked through their courtyard gardens, saw outdoor bread ovens and indoor plumbing of designs still used by some cultures today. Now, I thought, I can die happy!

After spending 12 days touring the Mediterranean, it was easy to add #4, a 5 night stay in beautiful Barcelona and not to miss the Louvre, Eifel Tower and Notre Dame in spot #5, 5 nights in Paris I've blogged about our experiences there already so I won't bore you with more gushy descriptions.

We headed back to Glasgow in May. Again thoughts of just 1 more place to see kept coming to mind, Edinburgh Castle, a REAL castle, smacking of Lords and Ladies, Kings and Queens, Turrets and Towers, Granite Walls and Dungeons, Moats and Iron Gates. The stuff a kids dreams are made of! When I was 8 or 9 I spent every Art class drawing princesses with crowns living in high castles, never dreaming I would one day be close enough to actually see one! Surely this trip would satisfy my destiny and I could rest knowing I'd done it all. Off to Edinburgh we went. The castle did not disappoint, it is a foreboding gloomy rock that lords it over the city of Edinburgh, a show of strength and past glory. Now, I thought, with #6 completed I can die happy!


In the fall of 2007 the thought popped into my mind "Wouldn't it be great to take a cruise with my sister this winter"? A few weeks into the New year and off to Florida I flew, cruise ticket in hand. My younger sister and I sailed off into the sunset, actually we went east so should it be "sailed off into the sunrise"? and 8 glorious days with no cooking, no cleaning, no telephones, no kids or grandkids, (dare I say No Husbands) just pure luxury and I could cross #7 off my list. Now I can surely die happy!

Soon summer was here and once again my feet began to itch. Mount Rushmore! Great leaders of our neighbours to the south, etched forever in Granite Mountainside, can't you see it! The image wouldn't leave me. It was meant to be, this must be #8. Some long passionate discussions with my designated driver convinced him that I could never truly die happy unless I could visit Mount Rushmore. We packed our car in June and hit the road, not quite Thelma and Louise but with as much enthusiasm. We were not disappointed, it is breathtaking. There is an evening program that culminates with the mountainside being illuminated and all vetrans in the audience being invited to the stage to be thanked for their service to their country. I cannot tell a lie, my heart burst with pride and I'm not even an American. Now I can die happy!

On Dec. 16, 2008 we again find ourselves in Glasgow visiting our best friend and only child, thinking "This year we can just visit", when I came across a webpage for Holyrood Palace...We didn't get to it last year, we have the time this year, why not just do it, after all, I've always wanted to see a real palace, maybe Prince Charlie will be home and invite us in for tea? So, next week we're heading off to Edinburgh again with Holyrood Palace in our sights, soon to be #9.

Only 991 left to go, then I can die Happy!!

Oregon in April 2008

A one week hiatus in central Oregon state was like time travelling back to the days of Lone Ranger, Hop-along Cassidy, Roy Rogers etc. The lone pine tree silouetted against the ruddy sunrise and sunsets, cattle moseing along a dusty trail, coyote standing alert in a field of sagebrush and deer looking up at us as we pass by.

The first 2 days were warm and sunny with not even a hint of breeze. Perfect for relaxing on the deck with a hot book and a cool drink. Eagle Crest Resort is NOT a cabin in the woods, more like a luxury hotel with all the amenities one could wish for. We will be forever grateful to our friends for asking us to join them for this trip.

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On the drive down we stopped for lunch in the bustling metropolis of Troutdale, at Shari's, where we chowed down on burgers and Thai chicken salads big enough to feed 2. Did you ever wonder why the extra large servings don't cross the US-Canada border? Another interesting thing I notice is that wait-staff are more cheerful, maybe it's the iced tea. That is the 3rd thing I notice - every restaurant serves perfectly made, unsweetened iced tea, something yet to be perfected in Canada.

Sisters and Bend Oregon were day trips to break up our week