Winter in Pennsylvania

E-Mail Musings

Winter has definitely arrived here in New Wilmington. Our flight was early
arriving in Cleveland. Jared’s flight was early arriving from Seattle. When
the winds are that strong from west to the east, there’s a definite big
storm here in the eastern part of the country. It’s been snowing all day —
a very light, fine snow with little accumulation so far. Tonight should be
a different story.

We’re here and having fun with kids and grandkids. Lots of preparation work
underway for tomorrow’s feast. Daryl has arrived in Pittsburg, Kirk’s
parents have arrived, so the gang is all here. Let it snow!
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Salt Lake Airport

E-Mail Musings

I want to stop flying out of this airport. For the third time this year I
was selected today for “special screening.” I haven’t had that opportunity
anywhere else except here! The screening folks were very nice and very
efficient. There aren’t many passengers here right now, so three people were
available to go through everything in my computer bag. The last time it
took me more than a half-hour to get through this screening. If I thought
it did any good or actually deterred anyone, I wouldn’t grumble about it so
much. But, we’re here, at the gate, and the flight is still on time. That’s
all goodness.
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Ready To Go Again

General

The suitcase is almost packed — just need to put in the ditty bag and breathing machine tomorrow morning. We’ll leave the house about noon tomorrow to drive to Salt Lake and catch a very little jet for a four-hour flight to Cleveland, Ohio. We’re on a Regional Jet which seats two on the left and two on the right. The seats are tight and there’s almost no shoulder space. Ugh. But, it’s frequent flier miles and a direct flight. All of that is goodness. Jared is flying in from Seattle and arrives a bit before we do. His good friend Arlene is flying in from Syracuse, NY and arrives about the same time. Then all four of us will drive to New Wilmington. James and family will be coming up from Kentucky. Daryl is flying in from Philadelphia. Kirks parents will be there from Spokane. I think this is going to be one full, noisey, and fun house for the weekend. I’m looking forward to the trip and the few days there. When we get back, we’ll be home for the next three months and that’s also a Very Good Thing!

We’ve had cold winter weather with no snow of any significance. The weather in Pennsylvania, however, looks to have all the elements of winter while we’re there. For instance…. Wednesday: 50 % chance of snow with accumulation possible. Thanksgiving: Cloudy with 40% chance of snow. Low in the low 20’s, high in the upper 20’s. Friday: 50% chance of snow. I think we’ll see some snow!!

The past several days have been fairly nondescript. I’ve spent most of the evenings selecting pictures and getting them posted on the website. Saturday afternoon we drove over to Soda Springs to take dinner for mom and dad. We had a delightful visit with them. Dad has been up on the ladder and scaffolding putting heat tape up on the roof and in the gutters to hopefully keep the load of ice and compacted snow from accumulating on the roof. Sunday was a busy day, particularly for Nina. I spent the morning at home while she was up at the prison for her meetings. I had been asked to substitute on the organ, but had been given the wrong song numbers (we had sung them the week before), so some time was spent chasing down the right music and getting that ready. I had choir practice after church and got home about 4:45 p.m. We went to the Stake Center for a fireside on Joseph Smith at 6:00 p.m. After that we made a Home Teaching visit and got back home about 9 that evening. It was a good day.

The fireside was very interesting. The presenter was, interestingly enough, not associated with the Church Education System, but rather a local anesthesiologist. For the past several years he has been researching the authenticity of a purported photograph of Joseph Smith. This photograph was copyrighted by Joseph Smith III in 1879, the year that Emma Smith died, and a copy of the photograph is in the Library of Congress. The question being researched was whether or not this photograph was a picture of a painting or a photograph of the prophet himself. The evidence pulled together so far indicate that the photograph is most likely an authentic picture of Joseph Smith. His evidence and the discussion of the remaining open questions was very interesting and well worth our time to be there. But, now we’re wrapping things up to leave for Pennsylvania! Perhaps I’ll be able to post something from there.

More Cruise Pictures

General, Travels

Maybe if I keep this up each night for the next week, I’ll get all the picture posted. Tonight I put up the pictures from the Ilse of Capri and a couple from Sorrento, Italy. Next will be pictures from Pompeii.

Capri was a lovely stop on a very enchanting island. I’m sure that the improving weather made a lot of difference as well. The Isle of Capri almost has legendary fame and it was a delightful experience as well.

Snow and Rome and Rain

General, Travels

Today we had snow. It didn’t stick and by the end of the day, it was pretty much gone. However, it is a portent of weather to come. The next few days will be cold but no more snow is forecast for the remainder of the week. It won’t last! Next week is Thanksgiving week. Nina and I will be on the road once again, this time flying to Cleveland, Ohio to have Thanksgiving with daughter Dawnmarie and family in New Wilmington, PA and to attend a grandson’s baptism.

The weather today reminded me a bit of the weather we had in Rome a couple of weeks ago. It was cold and it rained throughout the day. The difference was, we were in Rome and we were happy to be there. Today it was cold and snowed and I didn’t want to be here!

Rome is a beautiful city, even in the rain. It felt good to be there. We didn’t spend nearly enough time there. I want to go back. I want to go to the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. I want to throw some coins once again into the Trevi Fountain (we once spent a couple of hours trying to find this fountain). I want to eat and eat and eat in a real major Italian restaurant going through all six courses of a normal Italian meal. I want to walk all the way around the upper level of the Colosseum. I want to spend some time just taking in the city and all of its sites. I’m sure later this winter when the snow is here for real, I’ll think once again of Rome and rain and how nice it was to be there. That’s when I’ll call up my pictures from Rome and relive the day.

Livorno and Florence, Italy

General, Travels

Our second port of call was Livorno, Italy. The port of Livorno is about an hour and a half’s drive from Florence and was Florence’s port in the days when they were in competition with Genoa and Pisa for commerce and business. Again we had the choice of a number of tours available to us. This time we elected to do the Florence On Our Own tour.

When we were living in Germany in the mid-1970’s, we made a couple of trips to Florence. It was one of our favorite vacation spots. The downtown area had changed quite a bit, however. The market just off the Ponte Vecchio bridge was markedly different. The shops on the bridge are now all jewelry shops where twenty-five years ago straw and leather were the big selling items.

The artwork in the city has been for me the biggest draw. Everywhere one goes in the city there is lovely artwork, sculptures, architecture, and scenery. This time, however, we were there on a bad weather day. Rain showers punctuated with deluges were the norm for the day. In addition, for some reason there were lots of people in town. We were there on a Wednesday which was not a holiday, but even in the lousy weather the city had a plethora of tourists.

The picture accompanying this post is one my five favorite pieces of art in Florence. It depicts Perseus slaying Medussa and I like the snakes coming out of her severed neck. This is a very graphic sculpture and I just like it. The other favorites are Michelangelo’s David, the paintings on the Ponte Vecchio bridge, the sculpture of Hercules and the centaur, the Michelangelo Pieta in the Duomo Opera, and the altar in the Duomo. Because of the weather and the crowds, we only saw the Perseus and the Hercules. That’s OK since we’ll be back. A rainy day in Florence is still better than not being there at all.

Marseille, France

General, Travels

We only get a few hours in a particular place on a cruise. We arrived in Marseille, France around 8:30 a.m. and we were back on the ship around 5 p.m. There were several tours available and we elected to do the Marseille City Tour. We boarded a bus with a tour guide and drove around Marseille to see some of the city highlights. We stopped at the Notre Dame Basilica for a short visit and then had about a half-hour for souvenier shopping. The result was an overview of the city and not much more.

There wasn’t much about the city that would cause me to go back there on purpose. It is a huge seaport and consequently a very important commercial place. I was surprised to learn that Marseille is the second largest city in France after Paris. I knew that Marseille was the gateway to France’s African colonies, Algeria in particular, and that a lot of goods passed through the port. The book The Bourne Identity had it’s beginning in Marseille. I didn’t know much more than that and, even after visiting the city, I still don’t know much more than that. The downtown area is pretty run down. The city is putting in a new tram system so there was construction everywhere and that probably contributed to the run down look of the city.

Tourism, particularly French tourism is important to the city. The beaches are an important draw and lots of French take their summer holiday in this part of the country. I didn’t see much that would draw American tourists — particularly with Monaco so close. I did take several pictures in Marseille and have put them up on the website. I was happy that we stopped here at the beginning of the cruise since each successive port of call was better than the previous. As I said in a previous post, I’m glad we weren’t doing things in the opposite direction.